chapter 4-visiting the past
Harry woke up to the feel of Hermione's hair on his face, tickling his nose. He sat up and wiped the dried tears off of his face. He left the bed and covered the sleeping beauty that had slept beside him. His heart broke with the thought of having to tell her, after all of this time. He knew he loved her, and didn't want to hurt her. In his heart he prayed that she would understand. He knew that she was strong enough for the truth, but still. He was fighting the worst battle of his life- the battle in his heart.
Hermione turned over to face Harry. He was gone. Her face was dry and crusty from the tears. She wiped them away. She forced herself up. She walked out of the bedroom and started a seach for Harry. She found him in the dining room, alone, save a cup of coffee. She looked up. There was a faint snow falling. It was breathtaking.
"Oh, Harry," she started.
"Don't try." he said coldly. The warmth that had been in his voice and arms last night had gone. In its place was sorrowful regret. "It's today."
She turned and went to her room and got dressed. In respect to the dead, she wore black pants and a drab purple shirt. She returned to the morbid Harry.
"There's some oatmeal if you're hungry." Harry pushed the bowl in her direction.
"No thanks." She stated as coldly as the ice she had awoken to. Her heart melted for her friend's grief. "Harry," she walked over and sat down next to him. She put a caring arm around him. He softened at her touch. He turned back to look at her.
"I can't believe it's been three years." he put his head in his hands. "He was one of my best friends."
"He was one of my best friends, too."
"I got a double whammy, thought. My family, my only family. My only tie to love as a child. All gone. Those fat slobs of relations that I have are no good to me. They never even wanted me."
"Don't you count me as your family?" came her hurt reply.
"Yes, I do. I.." he trailed off. The rest of the sentence stayed on his tounge. It was, I love you.
"Do you want to go for a quick apparate?" she asked.
With tears in his eyes, he smiled.
Harry found himself at a small, secluded graveyard, deviod of any signs of life, save a good sized tree in the center. In Harry's mind, the ending of the Great Battle flashed. He remembered his rage, and how he had thrust Ron's wand into the ground, and as some last effort from beyond the grave, a tree sprung up.
Back in the present, the two lonley graves of the world's finest heros laid to rest. The only people who knew of the graves were the friends and family of the deceased. To muggles, a charred clearing was all that could be seen, surrounded by a bountiful and beautiful forest.
"Harry, would you please give me a minute alone." Hermione asked in such a quiet whisper that she could barely be heard. Harry nodded mutely and walked off to stand alone and lose himself in his thoughts about how to finally tell Hermione what happened. He just stared up at the sky as if asking for help. He noticed that dark clouds were rolling in, it seemed befitting to the mood that was in the air.
Over by the grave that belonged to Ron, Hermione was kneeling down talking to the grave as if the person was sitting right in front of her still alive. "I know you told me to tell Harry how I feel, but how could I? I was going to tell him at the end of the year but then you died and that day a part of Harry died too. He wasn't the same for months afterwords. I do not know if I should tell Harry how I truly feel. If only you were here to help me but, then I wouldn't be in this mess. Forget the mess I am in. You should be here right now anyways. You were only seventeen. You had your whole life ahead of you a job waiting for you after you graduated and maybe a wife, I heard you talking to Harry about wanting to propose to Lavendar. This shouldn't have happened to you." She paused in thought, stood up with so much anger radiating from her body. In that anger their was, sadness, regret all mixed in together leaving Hermione standing there with so much energy coming from her body. Finally she let it all come out. "I HATE LIFE! I HATE GOD FOR TAKING RON AND SIRIUS FROM ME! I HATE THE WORLD!"
Birds went flying from the trees at the sudden break of the peace and quiet. Harry turned to Hermione shocked at her very unexpected outburst of frustration. Harry saw that the outburst took much of Hermione's energy. He ran towards her quickly seeing that she was going to collapse any moment. Luckily for Hermione, Harry had arrived just in time to catch her and wrap his arms around her to support her long enough for them to go and sit together under the single tree in the clearing.
"Harry, will you finally tell me what happened during the battle? I know you want to protect me from having to deal with those horrible memories but I need to know for my own benefit and for yours, too. Do not pretend that you are not affected by the terrifying memories that are replayed many times during your sleep. I saw last night what it does to you. The memory is eating at you everyday and I need to help you, and I can by sharing this burden with you." Hermione stated forcefully but with compassion in every word that escaped from her lips.
Harry knew that every word she spoke was the truth and nothing but the truth. Finally Harry was able to form his thoughts into words and started to tell the tale of that fateful day. While he was telling the story it all played like a movie in his head.
*******Flashback*******
The day was a perfect day in the normally dark and stormy December month. Their only seemed to be one problem to the seemingly perfect day. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, Lupin, and Sirius were holding a meeting up in Dumbledore's office. They had been in a meeting talking about the strategy the Order Of The Phoenix how it should be used next against the dark forces that seemed to be growing stronger by the day.. The next thing they knew they were in a secluded clearing in what to be a very thick forest that went on for miles. None of the group seemed to know where they were or why they were there.
The group had not been standing there long before a high cackling laugh broke through the air like piercing arrows. Everybody froze in there tracks straining to listen to from where the noise originated. It did not take long for them to find out, for a gangly cloaked figure emerged from the darkness of the forest. He dropped his cloak hood to show his scarred and weathered face that looked worse than Mad-Eyed Moody's face.
Finally the laughing stopped and instead Voldemort took to talking to the group. "So this is all that is left of The Order of The Phoenix. This is the best the light side could come up with, three teenagers, a werewolf, a falsely accused convict, and an old windbag who probably should have retired years ago. Well, I say that the dark side shall have no problem defeating the light side once and for all. Sadly enough you are the only people stopping me from controlling the world. Once I have gotten rid of you six I shall once and for be ruler of the world. It will not be long before my forces kill you all."
From behind Voldemort the order saw numerous hooded figures stepping out of the darkness of the trees. "Deatheaters" Hermione whispered to them all but none of them needed to be told who the cloaked figures were. None real knew who cast the first spell, it all happened so quickly and it was quite disorienting having all sorts of spells zooming around everywhere and having to think of one yourself to protect yourself from threatening curses while thinking of curses to send to as many deatheaters as possible.
Nobody really knew when Sirius had died but Ron had fallen at the end of the battle. He actually was not killed by the curse that was sent at him right away. Hermione actually knew the counter curse and ran to Ron ready to cast the counter curse as soon as she was in distance for it to work. Voldemort saw this though and raised his wand to send a spell at Hermione to send her away from Ron. It worked causing Hermione to go flying in the air until she was forcefully smashed into a tree where she banged her head which in turned made her lose her memories of that day. Harry saw Voldemort raise his wand and panic stricken Harry thought Voldemort was going to kill Hermione. This caused so much energy and magic to start pumping through his veins that he sent the curse of death to Voldemort. Although he was too late to save Hermione from the spell, he did hit Voldemort with the killing curse that once and for all finished the Great Lord Voldemort.
Harry's mind went fuzzy from that point on. To Harry it seemed that he was in a dream world. It looked as if his best friend was dead along with the love of his life. When he saw Dumbledore stoop over Hermione and revive her relief went coursing through Harry's body. He had no such luck with Ron or Sirius. When he finally saw that Ron was dead so much anger and frustration was running through his body that he slammed Ron's wand in the ground which in turn changed into a tree.
***************Back in Present day***************
When Harry had finished telling Hermione what happened during the battle then it all came rushing back to her. All the images were so clear as if she had experienced it yesterday. Hermione stared at Harry who had turned his toward she sky and crying while between sobs he whispered 'why?' Hermione skooted closer to Harry and grabbed his face gently with her delicate hands. She forced Harry to look into her eyes and when she gazed into them she saw so much sadness in them but there was something else, Love. Hermione knew how much Harry must have loved her to protect her from all of the memories. So Hermione did what seemed to be the natural thing to after figuring this out. Which was to lean over and kiss Harry. It was a short and simple sweet kiss that sent shocks through their bodies but it seemed to bring them a little closer than they had already been. They connected at that moment and held each other while they cried and mourned for their lost friends.
I'll always remember
It was late afternoon
It lasted forever
And ended so soon
You were all by yourself
Staring up at a dark gray sky
I was changed
In places no one will find
All your feelings so deep inside
Was then that I realized
That forever was in your eyes
The moment I saw you cry
The moment that I saw you cry
It was late in December
And I've seen you before
You were always the cold one
But I was never that sure
You were all by yourself
Staring up at a dark gray sky
I was changed
In places no one will find
All your feelings so deep inside
Was then that I realized
That forever was in your eyes
The moment I saw you cry
I wanted to hold you
I wanted to make it go away
I wanted to know you
I wanted to make your everything, all right....
I'll always remember...
It was late afternoon...
In places no one will find...
In places no one will find
All your feelings so deep inside
(forever was in your eyes)
It was now that I realized
That forever was in your eyes
The moment I saw you cry
Baby cry
The moment that I saw you cry
I think I saw you cry
The moment I saw you cry
(Mandy Moore-cry)
A/N I changed the song slightly to fit the story better and for it to read more easily. OK now go read the other authors note.
(A/N) Well, that song seemed to really fit the story plus I love that song. If you noticed this chapter seemed a little different than my other chapters its because I had a friend write half of it when she spent the night at my house. We collaborated on the story and that would explain any inconsistancy in writing style. I could end the story right here and I might. I don't know yet. Tell me what the readers think. I do not really care either way you would just have to give me tad bit of time to think of a couple of more storylines but it shouln't take me long. thank you to the readers that are reading and reviewing. please people r/r. its what makes my day. r/r
Harry woke up to the feel of Hermione's hair on his face, tickling his nose. He sat up and wiped the dried tears off of his face. He left the bed and covered the sleeping beauty that had slept beside him. His heart broke with the thought of having to tell her, after all of this time. He knew he loved her, and didn't want to hurt her. In his heart he prayed that she would understand. He knew that she was strong enough for the truth, but still. He was fighting the worst battle of his life- the battle in his heart.
Hermione turned over to face Harry. He was gone. Her face was dry and crusty from the tears. She wiped them away. She forced herself up. She walked out of the bedroom and started a seach for Harry. She found him in the dining room, alone, save a cup of coffee. She looked up. There was a faint snow falling. It was breathtaking.
"Oh, Harry," she started.
"Don't try." he said coldly. The warmth that had been in his voice and arms last night had gone. In its place was sorrowful regret. "It's today."
She turned and went to her room and got dressed. In respect to the dead, she wore black pants and a drab purple shirt. She returned to the morbid Harry.
"There's some oatmeal if you're hungry." Harry pushed the bowl in her direction.
"No thanks." She stated as coldly as the ice she had awoken to. Her heart melted for her friend's grief. "Harry," she walked over and sat down next to him. She put a caring arm around him. He softened at her touch. He turned back to look at her.
"I can't believe it's been three years." he put his head in his hands. "He was one of my best friends."
"He was one of my best friends, too."
"I got a double whammy, thought. My family, my only family. My only tie to love as a child. All gone. Those fat slobs of relations that I have are no good to me. They never even wanted me."
"Don't you count me as your family?" came her hurt reply.
"Yes, I do. I.." he trailed off. The rest of the sentence stayed on his tounge. It was, I love you.
"Do you want to go for a quick apparate?" she asked.
With tears in his eyes, he smiled.
Harry found himself at a small, secluded graveyard, deviod of any signs of life, save a good sized tree in the center. In Harry's mind, the ending of the Great Battle flashed. He remembered his rage, and how he had thrust Ron's wand into the ground, and as some last effort from beyond the grave, a tree sprung up.
Back in the present, the two lonley graves of the world's finest heros laid to rest. The only people who knew of the graves were the friends and family of the deceased. To muggles, a charred clearing was all that could be seen, surrounded by a bountiful and beautiful forest.
"Harry, would you please give me a minute alone." Hermione asked in such a quiet whisper that she could barely be heard. Harry nodded mutely and walked off to stand alone and lose himself in his thoughts about how to finally tell Hermione what happened. He just stared up at the sky as if asking for help. He noticed that dark clouds were rolling in, it seemed befitting to the mood that was in the air.
Over by the grave that belonged to Ron, Hermione was kneeling down talking to the grave as if the person was sitting right in front of her still alive. "I know you told me to tell Harry how I feel, but how could I? I was going to tell him at the end of the year but then you died and that day a part of Harry died too. He wasn't the same for months afterwords. I do not know if I should tell Harry how I truly feel. If only you were here to help me but, then I wouldn't be in this mess. Forget the mess I am in. You should be here right now anyways. You were only seventeen. You had your whole life ahead of you a job waiting for you after you graduated and maybe a wife, I heard you talking to Harry about wanting to propose to Lavendar. This shouldn't have happened to you." She paused in thought, stood up with so much anger radiating from her body. In that anger their was, sadness, regret all mixed in together leaving Hermione standing there with so much energy coming from her body. Finally she let it all come out. "I HATE LIFE! I HATE GOD FOR TAKING RON AND SIRIUS FROM ME! I HATE THE WORLD!"
Birds went flying from the trees at the sudden break of the peace and quiet. Harry turned to Hermione shocked at her very unexpected outburst of frustration. Harry saw that the outburst took much of Hermione's energy. He ran towards her quickly seeing that she was going to collapse any moment. Luckily for Hermione, Harry had arrived just in time to catch her and wrap his arms around her to support her long enough for them to go and sit together under the single tree in the clearing.
"Harry, will you finally tell me what happened during the battle? I know you want to protect me from having to deal with those horrible memories but I need to know for my own benefit and for yours, too. Do not pretend that you are not affected by the terrifying memories that are replayed many times during your sleep. I saw last night what it does to you. The memory is eating at you everyday and I need to help you, and I can by sharing this burden with you." Hermione stated forcefully but with compassion in every word that escaped from her lips.
Harry knew that every word she spoke was the truth and nothing but the truth. Finally Harry was able to form his thoughts into words and started to tell the tale of that fateful day. While he was telling the story it all played like a movie in his head.
*******Flashback*******
The day was a perfect day in the normally dark and stormy December month. Their only seemed to be one problem to the seemingly perfect day. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, Lupin, and Sirius were holding a meeting up in Dumbledore's office. They had been in a meeting talking about the strategy the Order Of The Phoenix how it should be used next against the dark forces that seemed to be growing stronger by the day.. The next thing they knew they were in a secluded clearing in what to be a very thick forest that went on for miles. None of the group seemed to know where they were or why they were there.
The group had not been standing there long before a high cackling laugh broke through the air like piercing arrows. Everybody froze in there tracks straining to listen to from where the noise originated. It did not take long for them to find out, for a gangly cloaked figure emerged from the darkness of the forest. He dropped his cloak hood to show his scarred and weathered face that looked worse than Mad-Eyed Moody's face.
Finally the laughing stopped and instead Voldemort took to talking to the group. "So this is all that is left of The Order of The Phoenix. This is the best the light side could come up with, three teenagers, a werewolf, a falsely accused convict, and an old windbag who probably should have retired years ago. Well, I say that the dark side shall have no problem defeating the light side once and for all. Sadly enough you are the only people stopping me from controlling the world. Once I have gotten rid of you six I shall once and for be ruler of the world. It will not be long before my forces kill you all."
From behind Voldemort the order saw numerous hooded figures stepping out of the darkness of the trees. "Deatheaters" Hermione whispered to them all but none of them needed to be told who the cloaked figures were. None real knew who cast the first spell, it all happened so quickly and it was quite disorienting having all sorts of spells zooming around everywhere and having to think of one yourself to protect yourself from threatening curses while thinking of curses to send to as many deatheaters as possible.
Nobody really knew when Sirius had died but Ron had fallen at the end of the battle. He actually was not killed by the curse that was sent at him right away. Hermione actually knew the counter curse and ran to Ron ready to cast the counter curse as soon as she was in distance for it to work. Voldemort saw this though and raised his wand to send a spell at Hermione to send her away from Ron. It worked causing Hermione to go flying in the air until she was forcefully smashed into a tree where she banged her head which in turned made her lose her memories of that day. Harry saw Voldemort raise his wand and panic stricken Harry thought Voldemort was going to kill Hermione. This caused so much energy and magic to start pumping through his veins that he sent the curse of death to Voldemort. Although he was too late to save Hermione from the spell, he did hit Voldemort with the killing curse that once and for all finished the Great Lord Voldemort.
Harry's mind went fuzzy from that point on. To Harry it seemed that he was in a dream world. It looked as if his best friend was dead along with the love of his life. When he saw Dumbledore stoop over Hermione and revive her relief went coursing through Harry's body. He had no such luck with Ron or Sirius. When he finally saw that Ron was dead so much anger and frustration was running through his body that he slammed Ron's wand in the ground which in turn changed into a tree.
***************Back in Present day***************
When Harry had finished telling Hermione what happened during the battle then it all came rushing back to her. All the images were so clear as if she had experienced it yesterday. Hermione stared at Harry who had turned his toward she sky and crying while between sobs he whispered 'why?' Hermione skooted closer to Harry and grabbed his face gently with her delicate hands. She forced Harry to look into her eyes and when she gazed into them she saw so much sadness in them but there was something else, Love. Hermione knew how much Harry must have loved her to protect her from all of the memories. So Hermione did what seemed to be the natural thing to after figuring this out. Which was to lean over and kiss Harry. It was a short and simple sweet kiss that sent shocks through their bodies but it seemed to bring them a little closer than they had already been. They connected at that moment and held each other while they cried and mourned for their lost friends.
I'll always remember
It was late afternoon
It lasted forever
And ended so soon
You were all by yourself
Staring up at a dark gray sky
I was changed
In places no one will find
All your feelings so deep inside
Was then that I realized
That forever was in your eyes
The moment I saw you cry
The moment that I saw you cry
It was late in December
And I've seen you before
You were always the cold one
But I was never that sure
You were all by yourself
Staring up at a dark gray sky
I was changed
In places no one will find
All your feelings so deep inside
Was then that I realized
That forever was in your eyes
The moment I saw you cry
I wanted to hold you
I wanted to make it go away
I wanted to know you
I wanted to make your everything, all right....
I'll always remember...
It was late afternoon...
In places no one will find...
In places no one will find
All your feelings so deep inside
(forever was in your eyes)
It was now that I realized
That forever was in your eyes
The moment I saw you cry
Baby cry
The moment that I saw you cry
I think I saw you cry
The moment I saw you cry
(Mandy Moore-cry)
A/N I changed the song slightly to fit the story better and for it to read more easily. OK now go read the other authors note.
(A/N) Well, that song seemed to really fit the story plus I love that song. If you noticed this chapter seemed a little different than my other chapters its because I had a friend write half of it when she spent the night at my house. We collaborated on the story and that would explain any inconsistancy in writing style. I could end the story right here and I might. I don't know yet. Tell me what the readers think. I do not really care either way you would just have to give me tad bit of time to think of a couple of more storylines but it shouln't take me long. thank you to the readers that are reading and reviewing. please people r/r. its what makes my day. r/r