Author's Note: I KNOW!! I haven't updated in forever. I have no excuse except I lost focus on where I wanted this story to go. But I want to finish it. I WANT to finish out the second part as I see it in my head. We shall see how well that works for me huh?
Disclaimer: I still own nothing Harry Potter oriented. I own the plot and Mags. That is it.
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Mags stood at Oliver's window that night and stared sightlessly out the window. Her whole being seemed to be focused on that spot outside of herself. She wasn't here but she wasn't really gone either. Oliver woke and reached for her – finding her gone he sat up and watched her. His eyes taking in her slim frame, her soft eyes and the way she was in limbo. He got up quietly and went to wrap his arms around her from behind.
"Where are you love?" he whispered in her ear. He felt her jerk in his arms. Then she stiffened before sighing softly and relaxing against him.
"I don't know. I just was not really here. I was in another plane of my being. I think I was almost home." She whispered back.
"Home? Like back in the states home?" he asked pulling her to the bed and taking her in to keep her warm.
Her eyes flew to his face in disbelief, "Not home is this world. My soul is immortal. Only this body is new. When I say I was almost home I mean the Great Hall of Valhalla. The home of the Gods and those we deem worthy. I think I was in the area between this world and the next…like someone wanted me to come home."
Oliver just looked at her, "You mean when this is over you have to go back?"
She shook her head, "No, once this body is used up I have to go home. But I am all yours till then, and after as well if you would like." She replied sniggling into his arms.
"I am just not used to this. You are so different from anyone I have ever known. I want to know everything about you."
Tears made Mags' eyes grow misty, "You are quite possibly the sweetest man I will ever know."
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Mione looked up from her homework when Draco walked into the room. Her eyes softened as she looked at his tired face and the droop of his shoulders. What was old hat to her was very hard for some of these people to pick up on. She got up and silently went to stand behind him and started to rub his shoulders. He sighed and let her fingers knead into the tense muscles there.
"You were great up there tonight. Rallying the troops and what not. Want to talk about the worry in your eyes?" he asked as he put a hand over hers, stilling her fingers.
With a sigh she looked down at him exasperatedly, "Did I ask you to read my thoughts? It really isn't anything major. I just have a bad feeling. Nothing horrible like the world is ending feeling. Just bad."
"What did Fudge and Dumbledore have to say about last night?"
"Fudge wants us to bump up the training and selection time tables. WE disagreed of course. We can't have all of our plans go down the drain now can we? But I am afraid if he keeps pushing Mags is going to push right back. If it comes down to it she is more powerful than I am. She could walk away from all this and I would be screwed."
Draco pulled her around the couch and then into his lap and he wrapped his arms around her, "How do you mean screwed. You are a Valkryie. You have the power of the Goddesses within you."
"But she is the Heir of Valhalla. She is the True Valkryie Queen. I am more like the second runner up. Much more powerful than any mere wizard or mortal. But still not as strong as her."
Draco looked into her eyes, "And you honestly think she would leave all of us in that kind of a pinch?"
"No, not really. For all of her faults my cousin really is an amazing person with an overly large and soft heart. Our memories, she is using them to build a wall up around herself, to protect her heart. Oliver is making great progress at breaking it down. But will he be able to convince her to listen to it again?"
Draco looked at her with sad eyes, "And after this battle? What comes next?"
"I get to chose whether or not I am going to home – To Valhalla. Mags has no choice. Her life force is directly tied to Valhalla. To leave it behind would slowly eat away at her soul and body until she dies a slow painful death." Hermione said slowly, staring into the dancing flames.
"Where does that leave her and Oliver?"
"I don't know. I think she is going to be heartbroken. Because she is going to have hurt both of them and leave him behind."
"What if he dies in battle?"
Hermione looked at Draco incredulously, "You think she would allow that to happen? She will make sure he lives even if she has to leave him, because in her mind she is only a passing fancy to him and she thinks he will move on and be happy."
"And you think?" Draco prompted.
"That he loves her like I love you. And that it is going to destroy a part of him to be left behind."
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Mags walked through the next day in a haze. She had lied to Oliver last night. In a relationship he believed to be based on honesty she had lied to his face. Once this was over she had to go back. She didn't have the choice that Hermione had. In her heart she knew her cousin was going to stay behind and live life as a mortal until her death. Her friendships on this plane were too strong to be denied. Not to mention her love for that mortal. With a sad sight she wandered outside and walked down to the lake. She could have sworn she had heard Odin calling her last night. Calling her home to her post at his side. He was the closest thing she had to a father and she loved him so! But now having met and fallen in love she hated her duty. Because though she could lie to her heart her mind knew one basic fact. Once she had saved the race of men from that horrid snake person – she had to go home. Her heart and soul was aching for the Valhalla. This could never be her permanent life. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she stared into the blue abyss of the lake.
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Hermione walked through the halls lost in her own thoughts. What was she to do when the battle was over? Abandon her post and her family to fulfill her own dreams to stay here with Draco and all of her friends? Was that so very selfish of her? To want to be happy seemed like a simple enough of a request. However, that would leave her believed cousin alone. And was that fair? Mags had a hard enough life. Her heart was so fragile and no one knew of the nights she had wept in Valhalla after bringing a child's soul home to rest. Or how she fought to keep peace and order in the warrior's heaven. She was the strongest person she knew. But she would fly into a rage if Hermione went back just for her.
On the other hand if she didn't go back, could she live with being a mortal? Could she give everything up? For people when it came down to it were just going to leave her. Her eyes drifted shut and a flood of memories flooded her. Her and her friends and then later her and Draco. Then came the memories with Mags. Her cousin. Her partner. Her only remaining family.
Why did it have to get so HARD!
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Oliver soared through the air. For once the freedom and joy he felt in the air, wind in his hair was missing today. All he could see, feel, was the lost look in her eyes last night. The way she had gotten up with the sun and stared out the window while she thought he was dead to the world. He sighed and sent a few choice thoughts up to the heavens on what he thought of them. How could they send her down here, let him fall for her, and then make him give her up? Was this some kind of sick joke to them?
He landed thoughtlessly on the bleachers of the Quidditch Pitch. His eyes took in everything that had once been more important than breath. Quidditch had been his life. He had been damn good in his job. Keepers still got hurt though. And his damn knee had gotten hurt one time too many to be quick enough for professional play. When he had come back here to lick his wounds he had no thought beyond that. He wanted to sulk and cry and scream. It was as if the world had ended. Then he ran into Her that first week back. She had been so different. She had resisted his every move, his every overture. Now he knew why. She was protecting her heart and probably his as well. But it wasn't as if he had been given a choice in the matter.
And now to find out that she was going to be going back as soon as the final battle was over? Going back to a place where he couldn't see her or hear her voice whenever he wished? How was this fair? Who had he pissed off up there to warrant this?
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Hermione finished her walk and ended up back in front of the fire in her Common Room. She didn't even notice when Draco came into the room and sat next to her. Her eyes were closed and she was having a mental battle within herself over her choice.
He watched his girlfriend in silence. He had finally done his homework. He now knew more about her than she had shared with him. He knew that she could stay with him and become mortal. All she needed was Mags' permission and a potion only Mags could make and only Odin himself could bless. But what would her final choice be? Eternal life or life with him?
He closed his eyes wearily and let his head fall back onto the couch. Damn life could suck sometimes!
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Mags watched as Oliver landed and watched him stared off into space occasionally glaring up at the sky. She smiled sadly, while on the inside she was screaming. Odin was the closest thing she had to a father. But right now she would rather be anyone, ANYTHING other than who and what she was. A girl who had fallen in love. But she had to sacrifice that love in the name of DUTY. The potion and blessing that were her cousin's way out was unavailable to her. She was the only true Heir to Valhalla. In the unholy event that something happened to Odin she was the next in line to rule over the Immortal planes. Without her the warrior heaven would vanish and never be seen again.
She closed her eyes and leaned back against the tree, mentally damning Odin to Loki's hell.
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Dumbledore watched later that night as the two young women led the trainees in mock battles with the sparring partners. The wandered between people and watched them closely. His eyes momentarily lost their twinkle when he saw the look in their eyes. This was killing them easier than Hinds blood would have. He entered the Great hall and stood off to the side and picked up the list. It already had names crossed out or with stars by them. The elimination was already beginning. His eyes swept over the group before him and pride swelled in his chest. These children were the hopes of the future. They were the reason he kept going…to give them something to fight for.
Hermione looked up and grinned, "Hello Headmaster. How are you this fine sweaty night?"
"Doing very well and considering less sweaty than your students seem to be." Dumbledore said with a soft laugh at the sweaty but proud faces in front of him, "I was just stopping by to offer you my best wishes. You are all making me very proud." And with that and a wink the aging professor was gone.
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Draco held Hermione tight that night as they quietly talked about their day. Then all of a sudden she sat up and grinned, "You know what?"
"What? And come back down here. You are letting the cold air in."
"We need to do something fun tomorrow. We are both done with our homework and we have no prefect duties or testing tomorrow. After class lets get out of here for a bit. I need to get away from the curious looks I keep getting around here."
Draco smirked his old smirk and winked, "Dinner and a trip into Muggle London daring enough for you love?"
"Why Mr. Malfoy I do believe that sounds perfectly perfect."
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AN: Okay so I had to brighten it up a bit. And I did it a bit at the end. I wanted to get some of the angst out of the way. So I hope this satisfies some of you. And if you see my muses tell them to stop making minute changes to the plotline. Arg…