~ All There Ever Was ~
Author: Bachy A
E-Mail: screenwriter7@msn.com
Website: www.remnant-archive.0catch.com
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter...neither do I own J.K. Rowling. I don't own Warner Brothers – basically, I own nothing even closely related to Harry Potter. This story is meant to be pure fiction created by me using the characters of this series.
SPOILERS: OotP – some spoilerage in here, including a major one at that (the death of someone we loved).
WARNINGS: A bad word (but nothing worse than what Ms. Rowling used in OotP).
UPDATES: That last chapter, as I said, was somewhat of a cliffhanger. Will things make a little more sense here? Well...read on and find out!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 4: From One
The sound of steps echoed down the small residential street. Trees swayed slightly in the evening breeze as the sun set below the horizon.
Hermione ran, her heels clicking sharply against the pavement. Her breathing heavy, she ran and ran, tears falling from her eyes, every fiber of her body trying to put as much distance as possible between herself and what lay behind...
In an instant, she lost her footing – with a small cry of surprise, she fell over, stumbling (luckily) into a patch of grass.
The weight of the world crashed down on her as she lay, sobs shaking her slender frame.
Why........??? Why had he been there...? Back to invade the patchwork realm of her life...???Her tears fell like rain as the horrors of the past began to creep back into her tortured mind.
It had been hard enough to experience those nightmares in real life...and once upon a time, she had thought that those evils had been buried deep, away from reality.
It had taken only one evening to eradicate all that.
Answers would not come to her, would not respond to her silent screams for understanding.
Instead, the memories of a life long gone flooded back into her, forcing her to relive times she would have begged to erase forever...
* * *
"Harry...?"
Hermione ran through the once flame-lit hallways of Hogwarts – now they fell in darkness.
But this was no darkness created by the passing of the sun...it had come because some evil had descended on the school, blanketing the walls with its evil.
Since that day of the End of the Year Feast, it had grown worse. People were afraid to leave what little protection they felt Hogwarts had left.
It was something foreign to all of them – never, not once in their time here, had they known the castle to be under the influence of some other forces.
Something was taking over their home...
"Harry," she called out desperately, the need falling from her voice. "Where are you...?"
Her worry for Harry had only increased in the time since Sirius' death. Distant, cold...he was no longer the Harry that she had come to know and love as her best friend.
The coming darkness had blinded everything, had fallen over what had always been sacred – and yet, it had seemed to hit one person harder than the rest.
She ran, frantically searching for him, knowing that Ron was only a few floors below her, doing exactly the same thing.
It was more than just concern for her friend that drove her body – it was a primal fear, above all others, that something was playing him...toying with him.
And that if they didn't stop it...
...that would be the end...
~{:*:}~
It had been hopeless – she, the most thorough of people, had searched every facet of any place she thought Harry might be.
Nothing.
It was unbearable: the thought of her friend, alone in the dark, letting the pain of recent events consume him...moving further and further away from all he loved.
And then...
She almost didn't hear it – a soft breath. She stopped, her ears straining to hear...
Again, the breath sounded...right next to her.
She spun to the side, but there was nothing there. Just a wall of the castle's brick.
Again, again, again, the breathing sounded, definitely coming from that wall.
She looked down the hallway, and suddenly, realization hit her. She knew where she was, and where the breathing was coming from.
Desperately, she thought of Harry, of needing to find him...
Slowly, she opened her eyes...and there it was...
The door leading to the Room of Requirement.
She moved forward and slowly opened the large wooden door (which, thankfully, didn't make a sound).
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, but when they did, she quickly held in a gasp with her hand.
The Room looked much the same as the last time she, along with the rest of DA, had set foot in it, seemingly ages ago.
But now, entirely, it was somehow different. Darkness plagued the Room – whereas before, torches had glittered upon the walls, now the Room fell in shadow.
And there, at its center...
She could only see his back, but in an instant, she knew it was him. His hair, ruffled slightly, shone out against the sparse light that filtered in from the outside.
She heard his breathing again, it sounding more and more labored. With a choked whisper, she called his name.
"Harry..."
Immediately, his shoulders stiffened. For what seemed like an eternity, he stood there, his back to her, seemingly a statue of stone.
With painful slowness, he turned...until he was facing her. Another gasp came from her, and this time, she didn't bother to stifle it.
His face was the same, but a pure, unadulterated rage sat on it. Never, not once in their long years of friendship, had he ever looked at her that way.
And that was when she noticed his eyes. No longer were they their usual emerald green...
...now, they had turned gray, give their appearance and air of lifelessness.
She moved forward slightly, her arm extended...her need to touch him, feel that he was still real, overwhelming every other coherent thought...
"Don't touch me!!!"
She jumped back at the sound of his voice. It wasn't Harry's – he would never have spoken to her like that.
He growled, a strange inhuman sound, and took a step towards her.
"You filthy Mudblood
– how dare you come here. Trying to gloat in my face??"
Hermione's mouth dropped slightly as tears started to form in her eyes.
He had called her Mudblood...Harry, her dearest friend, had hit her with the foulest slur imaginable.
And now he thought she was here to gloat??
"Harry..."
"DON'T YOU DARE SAY MY NAME!!"
He took a few more steps towards her, causing her to shuffle backwards awkwardly.
"You are the reason Sirius is dead. You are the reason Voldemort hates me. If it weren't for you and your wretched kind, Voldemort wouldn't give a damn about me!"
Confusion rocked Hermione – this didn't at all make any sense...
Harry sneered.
"Don't look like you don't know what I'm talking about! You know perfectly well!"
With a sudden surge forward, he had her by the scruff of her shirt, his powerful arms lifting her into the air.
"I hate you!!!"
With a sudden motion, he threw her forward, causing her to smash into the Room's door and back out into the corridor.
She hit the floor hard and skidded back into a wall. Tears flowed freely from her eyes as she looked up at him.
What...what had happened?? Not three weeks ago, at the Feast...he had been different, but still the Harry she knew.
Now...
She stood up, blind panic overriding her sadness and confusion. She whipped her wand out.
"Flippen..."
"EXPELLIARMUS!!"
His words cut through hers, and in an instant, her wand clattered on the floor, far from her grasp.
A look of pure malice came across his face as he raised his own wand – his gray eyes seemed to glow.
"CRUCIO!!!!"
Pain, pain like nothing she had ever felt before, filtered through her body. Her screams shook the hallway.
And then, just as it had begun, it was over.
"Oh, you think it's over, do you? You haven't tasted my wrath yet, Mudblood!"
He raised his wand again, opened his mouth...
But the incantation never came. Instead, a jet of red light hit Harry in the side, causing him to fall heavily to the floor.
Disbelief, along with her slowly draining adrenaline, ran through Hermione. Slowly, she looked up.
Ron stood there, his wand pointed at where Harry's body had once stood. He continued to look, dumbfounded, at his fallen friend before allowing his eyes to find Hermione's.
In an instant, she was up, running towards him. She flung her arms around him and sobbed into his robes. He held her tightly, his eyes closed.
When he opened them again, he realized that they were not alone. A tall figure now stood over Harry's body, eyes sad through the glassiness of the half-moon spectacles.
Ron knew what it was that Dumbledore felt. It was the same thing that he felt now.
And as he stood there, holding a shaking, crying Hermione in his arms, he began to realize that evil had penetrated further than he had ever thought imaginable.
And with that realization, tears began to fall from his own eyes.
* * *
Hermione lay there, on that green expanse of grass, her sobs quieted down to soft hiccups.
"Hermione..."
She looked up, and saw him there. He reached down and helped her to her feet.
"Come on, let's get you home."
She nodded slightly, allowing Ron to gently lift her up and carry her. Soon enough, the soft rocking of his stride brought her into slumber.
For his own part, Ron hated the fact that Hermione, even about himself, was having to relive memories long ago buried.
And as he carried his friend onward, he wondered how long it would be before he and all he loved would be free from evil's deathly grasp.
He wondered how much longer they would all endure...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: I'm fairly certain that you will be a little stumped as to how things fit together so far, but bear with me. Suspense, suspense, suspense!
Emerald Prongs: Hey! Thanks for all your support. I really appreciate it – sorry it has taken so long, but school wears ya down. :-\
A.L.T2: Aww man, I'm especially sorry to you – I know you hate to be kept waiting. I hope to post more in the months to come.
Lily: Hehe, glad you like so far – I'll be interested to know if, since last chapter was creepy to you, this one was moreso. Thanks for your reviews!
Darkwriter: Haha, thanks for the review. I hope to see more of you in the future.
MLynnBloom: Hahaha, sorry to leave you hanging as well – hope this whets your appetite for a little bit. Thanks for being such a loyal reviewer – it means a lot!
Jessie C: Hey Jess! Thanks for the reviews! Sorry I haven't been around FF.net for a while, but school is killer. ;)