"Harry? Harry, is that you? Wake up!" The voice seemed to echo from somewhere far away in Harry's head, which was throbbing quite loudly at the moment. As he slowly cracked open his eyes, a small stream of light silhouetted the figure of a man that was leaning over Harry's body. A man with long, dark hair, and hallowed, sunken eyes. Harry's eyes shot open as he put a recognizable face to that haunting voice.
"SIRIUS!" Harry cried happily, and tried to throw his arms around Sirius's neck, immediately realising this wasn't going to happen. As he attempted to sit up, a rush of pain swept over his body, and he could feel the dank, cold ground underneath him. Sirius rested a gentle hand on Harry's shoulder and shushed him lightly.
"Lye still, Harry," Sirius said as he rubbed Harry's shoulder, gingerly. "You hit the ground pretty hard and the effects of whatever spell hit you," he thumbed the corner of Harry's tattered robes, "hasn't worn off just yet I would imagine. I almost thought I was seeing things when I saw you fall through the veil. What happened?" Harry shook his head groggily. His hand floated aimlessly by the side of his head as he tried to process the spew of odd sentences Sirius had just thrown at him.
"Woah, woah, wait. I fell through…..what?!" Harry spluttered.
"The veil of enchantments, Harry." Sirius gazed about the eerie location with glazed eyes. "A place where you aren't dead, but not entirely living It's a place where YOU shouldn't be…." Harry eased his upper body up with the back of his hands. He couldn't think lying down.
"The same veil I saw you--"
"Yes," Sirius broke in. Harry surveyed this new, ghostly place he had found himself in. The place looked a lot like the grounds of Hogwarts at night, only there was something very surreal and paranormal about its aura. There wasn't any moon or stars, but misty light was cast across the brown grass and trees so they were sickly illuminated. The area looked barren, and dead, but somehow, very alive. Harry and Sirius were sitting in what appeared to be a more open area of the land, with little brush. A faint, chilling breeze mussed Harry's hair. Harry looked up to his right and nearly jumped out of his skin.
"WOAH!" he yelped, and backed up a few feet. Sirius turned his head in the direction Harry's horrified eyes had been gaping. An enormous dead skull with a snake slinking through it's mouth hung ominously in the air. The Death Mark: Voldemort's sign.
Sirius let out a heavy sigh. "It will stay there until he is dead," he murmured.
"No," Harry stammered, still trying to repress his shock, "he--he is dead…I kill him..I--"
"What happened, Harry?" Sirius urged yet again. Harry swallowed hard and took a deep breath before he blurted out the whole story.
"Voldemort and a hoard of his Death Eaters attacked Hogwarts at the commencement ceremony. There were wands going off everywhere….blood….muggles, witches, wizards, dying…everywhere….." As the memory came flooding back to Harry, he found that his chest was beginning to cave. He bit his lip to suppress the tears, but regretted this almost immediately as there was a fair sized gash on his bottom lip. Wincing, and dabbing a bit of the blood with his tongue, he continued. "I saw them all die. Ron and Hermione were with me the whole time, trying to act as a shield. I kept….trying to push them away….but they wouldn't budge….they wouldn't…." The tears wouldn't stay back any longer. Harry's thoughts had turned to his loyal, loving friends. He wondered now, horrifically, if he would ever see them again. "They wouldn't move, and Hermione had hexed a magical rope around her and my waist….she…." Harry sniffled and heaved another breathe, "….she said…."
"You're not going ANYWHERE without me, Harry Potter!" Hermione called loudly as another explosion set off from a bright green light ten feet away. Harry stared at her in shock. Ron looked at her like she had gone completely mental, but began to utter the same curse before Hermione grabbed his arm. "No, Ron. No sense in all of us dying."
"You're mad!" Ron cried.
"He's right, have you completely lost your mind?!" Harry bellowed back to Hermione. He reached into his back pocket for his wand, but Hermione merely smiled.
"You don't know the counter curse," she uttered, smartly. Another explosion caused a mound of dirt to fly towards them, and they quickly shielded their eyes. Hermione took this as a sign that it was time to move. She clutched Harry's arm, and as they ran off towards the main gate, called over her shoulder to Ron, "I'm going to get him out of here!"
"Wait!" Ron yelled, and started after them until he heard a scream. A chill sputtered down his spine as he recognized who it was. "Ginny," he muttered, and saying a quick prayer that his friends would be all right, he ran off in the direction of his sister's cry for help.
As Harry and Hermione charged down the hill, they looked for a way to the front entrance. When they reached the bottom, Harry slung his hand from Hermione's hold and barked,
"What do you think you are bloody doing?!"
"Saving your life!" she rounded at him. She as panting hard and sweat was shimmering across her forehead. There was a cut across her forehead that curved down into her eyebrow that was seething blood.
"You're not suppose to Hermione," Harry yelled over the explosions and shrill screams of the battlements. A tortured look crept across his face. "You can't save me. You know the prophesy." Hermione could not think of a single time in her entire life she had been more frightened, not because of the onslaught which was ensuing around her, but from that petrified look in Harry's eyes. "Undo it, Hermione," Harry said loudly, a hint of panic in his voice. Hermione didn't move. Harry reached for his wand and started waving it at the roped that bound them. "Undo it!"
"No!"
"Undo it, now!"
"NO!" His wand sputtered many different colors that did not unlatch a single string from the rope. Hermione snatched Harry's wand from his hand. "I'm not going to let you do that!"
"What should you die with me?!" Harry flared. Her act of loyalty was penetrating his heart with pain. The last thing Harry wanted was for Voldemort to find the two of them together. "He'll kill you Hermione!"
"I don't care!" Hermione stammered. Tears were coming into her eyes as she opened her mouth to say something more, "I--" when a shot of blue light from a distance smashed her in the back. She and Harry flew off the ground, and landed hard with a burst of yellow light shattering the ropes that held them bound. As Harry rolled over in pain, he saw Hermione wasn't moving. Her eyes were closed. A sickening feeling catapulted to the pit of Harry's stomach as he crawled toward her calling her name.
"Harry," a snake-like voice hissed. Harry slowly craned his neck behind him and saw the cloaked and dark figure of Lord Voldemort behind him. His red slits for eyes were peering behind that black hood, and his wand was pointing right at Harry's heart. Cold, petrifying fear swept through Harry, as he clutched Hermione's wand from behind him. He did not move, but stared Voldemort right back in the face, determined not show him how afraid he was. Voldemort gurgled a laugh which Harry used to stand. He walked toward Voldemort slowly. "Brave hero…you should have known that you would not live a second time…."Harry whipped Hermione's wand from behind his back as they both cried,
"AVADA KEDAVA!!!!"
"It was the last thing I remember before I woke up here," Harry said to Sirius. Then taking a moment to pause added, "But if we both got hit with the Avada Kedava curse at the exact same time, then, well, why aren't I dead?" Sirius sighed and sat himself comfortably next to Harry, and cast his eyes out to the barren land.
"It was such old magic," Sirius muttered with a dry, disbelieving smile. "I can't believe it worked…"
"What's going on, Sirius?" Harry demanded. "I think I have a right to know." Sirius gazed deep into Harry's green eyes.
"Before you began your fifth year at Hogwarts," he began, "Dumbledore found out that the magic which had been protecting you all these years would soon be spent. We didn't know at the time, that a certain young witch was listening at the door." Sirius laughed as a confused look crept over Harry's face. Sirius continued, "We only knew of one other way to renew the spell. A very…VERY dangerous way. A spell which had to be performed by the person who loved you more than anything, and anyone. There was of course only one person, and well, she knew what was at stake. Clever witch knew the consequences."
"You performed a spell on me without my consent?!" Harry snapped. Sirius's voice grew slightly with indignation.
"As long as this person lived, then so would you. She did it voluntarily, but we didn't know if she would survive after it was done. We all loved you Harry, but we knew that Hermione was the only one who could perform the spell." Harry was struck dumb. "She couldn't tell anyone Harry," said Sirius rising and walking away a bit, "especially you. Can you imagine how much that must have hurt her? Hermione became your Soul Keeper, Harry." Sirius turned back to look at Harry, still on the ground, unable to speak. "She drank a potion that Snape mixed up for her every night for almost two weeks. The…..screams….that came from her room…"Harry felt as though the wind had just been knocked from him.
"Screams….?" he whispered, barely making a sound.
"There were so many times at night as Molly watched over her that we were sure she would die. But she kept insisting. I begged her to let ME do it, but she threatened to disclose to you our entire idea if we tried to stop her. Plus it was too late, the potion was already in her bloodstream. To stop it could have been more lethal than letting her continue. So many nights, she was in so much pain as the potion drained her of her energy…." Harry shot up off his feet and charged at Sirius, pounding his fists against Sirius's chest, and shrieking,
"WHY DID YOU LET HER DO THAT FOR ME?! YOU KNOW I WOULDN'T HAVE LET HER!!! WHY?! WHY?! WH---"Harry became suddenly light headed, and felt as though he would black out as the brief fury subsided from him. His knees collapsed and he fell into Sirius's arms.
"Do you think we had any other choice," Sirius said as he eased Harry back down to the ground. "Hermione knew, and don't you thin she would have brewed the potion herself if she had to, behind our backs? It was a good thing we knew she had overheard so that we could at least be there with her if something went wrong. That's why we let Hermione do it, or did you miss that part? She loved you more than any of us." Harry smiled slightly at the last sentence.
"Hermione….loves me…?" he muttered softly. Sirius nodded with a smile.
"The spell must have also gotten transfixed into her wand as well. As a result, when you tried to kill Lord Voldemort and he you, it backfired, landing you here somehow." Harry then heard a small hissing sound coming from behind him. He raised an eyebrow in curiosity, and shook his head to make sure he knew what he was hearing. "But he's not dead," came a voice from behind Harry. From Sirius, but quite unlike….Harry's head snapped around to Sirius in fear. Only Sirius's kind, dark eyes had turned into small, red slits. Harry scrambled backwards as fast as he could from the cloaked figure that now stood before him. He could feel his heart pounding in his ears. Voldemort laughed as Harry as Harry searched his robes. "Don't waste your time, boy. You won't find a wand anywhere." Harry was heaving heavily. No wand? What was he supposed to do now?! "The fools. They didn't think I would find out about your girlfriend's petty sacrifice, did they? Well, it helps to have informants on the side of the light!" Harry's face squenched up in putrid hatred as he knew immediately who he was talking about.
"Snape," he snorted lowly.
"Know this Harry, all her suffering will have been for nothing. Now that I know, she will not live to see another day. Her love for you will be the thing that seals her tortuous, painful end!" Voldemort laughed as he soared up to a dark opening in the sky. Harry's angry scream followed him as he disappeared through the overhead veil.
"SIRIUS!" Harry cried happily, and tried to throw his arms around Sirius's neck, immediately realising this wasn't going to happen. As he attempted to sit up, a rush of pain swept over his body, and he could feel the dank, cold ground underneath him. Sirius rested a gentle hand on Harry's shoulder and shushed him lightly.
"Lye still, Harry," Sirius said as he rubbed Harry's shoulder, gingerly. "You hit the ground pretty hard and the effects of whatever spell hit you," he thumbed the corner of Harry's tattered robes, "hasn't worn off just yet I would imagine. I almost thought I was seeing things when I saw you fall through the veil. What happened?" Harry shook his head groggily. His hand floated aimlessly by the side of his head as he tried to process the spew of odd sentences Sirius had just thrown at him.
"Woah, woah, wait. I fell through…..what?!" Harry spluttered.
"The veil of enchantments, Harry." Sirius gazed about the eerie location with glazed eyes. "A place where you aren't dead, but not entirely living It's a place where YOU shouldn't be…." Harry eased his upper body up with the back of his hands. He couldn't think lying down.
"The same veil I saw you--"
"Yes," Sirius broke in. Harry surveyed this new, ghostly place he had found himself in. The place looked a lot like the grounds of Hogwarts at night, only there was something very surreal and paranormal about its aura. There wasn't any moon or stars, but misty light was cast across the brown grass and trees so they were sickly illuminated. The area looked barren, and dead, but somehow, very alive. Harry and Sirius were sitting in what appeared to be a more open area of the land, with little brush. A faint, chilling breeze mussed Harry's hair. Harry looked up to his right and nearly jumped out of his skin.
"WOAH!" he yelped, and backed up a few feet. Sirius turned his head in the direction Harry's horrified eyes had been gaping. An enormous dead skull with a snake slinking through it's mouth hung ominously in the air. The Death Mark: Voldemort's sign.
Sirius let out a heavy sigh. "It will stay there until he is dead," he murmured.
"No," Harry stammered, still trying to repress his shock, "he--he is dead…I kill him..I--"
"What happened, Harry?" Sirius urged yet again. Harry swallowed hard and took a deep breath before he blurted out the whole story.
"Voldemort and a hoard of his Death Eaters attacked Hogwarts at the commencement ceremony. There were wands going off everywhere….blood….muggles, witches, wizards, dying…everywhere….." As the memory came flooding back to Harry, he found that his chest was beginning to cave. He bit his lip to suppress the tears, but regretted this almost immediately as there was a fair sized gash on his bottom lip. Wincing, and dabbing a bit of the blood with his tongue, he continued. "I saw them all die. Ron and Hermione were with me the whole time, trying to act as a shield. I kept….trying to push them away….but they wouldn't budge….they wouldn't…." The tears wouldn't stay back any longer. Harry's thoughts had turned to his loyal, loving friends. He wondered now, horrifically, if he would ever see them again. "They wouldn't move, and Hermione had hexed a magical rope around her and my waist….she…." Harry sniffled and heaved another breathe, "….she said…."
"You're not going ANYWHERE without me, Harry Potter!" Hermione called loudly as another explosion set off from a bright green light ten feet away. Harry stared at her in shock. Ron looked at her like she had gone completely mental, but began to utter the same curse before Hermione grabbed his arm. "No, Ron. No sense in all of us dying."
"You're mad!" Ron cried.
"He's right, have you completely lost your mind?!" Harry bellowed back to Hermione. He reached into his back pocket for his wand, but Hermione merely smiled.
"You don't know the counter curse," she uttered, smartly. Another explosion caused a mound of dirt to fly towards them, and they quickly shielded their eyes. Hermione took this as a sign that it was time to move. She clutched Harry's arm, and as they ran off towards the main gate, called over her shoulder to Ron, "I'm going to get him out of here!"
"Wait!" Ron yelled, and started after them until he heard a scream. A chill sputtered down his spine as he recognized who it was. "Ginny," he muttered, and saying a quick prayer that his friends would be all right, he ran off in the direction of his sister's cry for help.
As Harry and Hermione charged down the hill, they looked for a way to the front entrance. When they reached the bottom, Harry slung his hand from Hermione's hold and barked,
"What do you think you are bloody doing?!"
"Saving your life!" she rounded at him. She as panting hard and sweat was shimmering across her forehead. There was a cut across her forehead that curved down into her eyebrow that was seething blood.
"You're not suppose to Hermione," Harry yelled over the explosions and shrill screams of the battlements. A tortured look crept across his face. "You can't save me. You know the prophesy." Hermione could not think of a single time in her entire life she had been more frightened, not because of the onslaught which was ensuing around her, but from that petrified look in Harry's eyes. "Undo it, Hermione," Harry said loudly, a hint of panic in his voice. Hermione didn't move. Harry reached for his wand and started waving it at the roped that bound them. "Undo it!"
"No!"
"Undo it, now!"
"NO!" His wand sputtered many different colors that did not unlatch a single string from the rope. Hermione snatched Harry's wand from his hand. "I'm not going to let you do that!"
"What should you die with me?!" Harry flared. Her act of loyalty was penetrating his heart with pain. The last thing Harry wanted was for Voldemort to find the two of them together. "He'll kill you Hermione!"
"I don't care!" Hermione stammered. Tears were coming into her eyes as she opened her mouth to say something more, "I--" when a shot of blue light from a distance smashed her in the back. She and Harry flew off the ground, and landed hard with a burst of yellow light shattering the ropes that held them bound. As Harry rolled over in pain, he saw Hermione wasn't moving. Her eyes were closed. A sickening feeling catapulted to the pit of Harry's stomach as he crawled toward her calling her name.
"Harry," a snake-like voice hissed. Harry slowly craned his neck behind him and saw the cloaked and dark figure of Lord Voldemort behind him. His red slits for eyes were peering behind that black hood, and his wand was pointing right at Harry's heart. Cold, petrifying fear swept through Harry, as he clutched Hermione's wand from behind him. He did not move, but stared Voldemort right back in the face, determined not show him how afraid he was. Voldemort gurgled a laugh which Harry used to stand. He walked toward Voldemort slowly. "Brave hero…you should have known that you would not live a second time…."Harry whipped Hermione's wand from behind his back as they both cried,
"AVADA KEDAVA!!!!"
"It was the last thing I remember before I woke up here," Harry said to Sirius. Then taking a moment to pause added, "But if we both got hit with the Avada Kedava curse at the exact same time, then, well, why aren't I dead?" Sirius sighed and sat himself comfortably next to Harry, and cast his eyes out to the barren land.
"It was such old magic," Sirius muttered with a dry, disbelieving smile. "I can't believe it worked…"
"What's going on, Sirius?" Harry demanded. "I think I have a right to know." Sirius gazed deep into Harry's green eyes.
"Before you began your fifth year at Hogwarts," he began, "Dumbledore found out that the magic which had been protecting you all these years would soon be spent. We didn't know at the time, that a certain young witch was listening at the door." Sirius laughed as a confused look crept over Harry's face. Sirius continued, "We only knew of one other way to renew the spell. A very…VERY dangerous way. A spell which had to be performed by the person who loved you more than anything, and anyone. There was of course only one person, and well, she knew what was at stake. Clever witch knew the consequences."
"You performed a spell on me without my consent?!" Harry snapped. Sirius's voice grew slightly with indignation.
"As long as this person lived, then so would you. She did it voluntarily, but we didn't know if she would survive after it was done. We all loved you Harry, but we knew that Hermione was the only one who could perform the spell." Harry was struck dumb. "She couldn't tell anyone Harry," said Sirius rising and walking away a bit, "especially you. Can you imagine how much that must have hurt her? Hermione became your Soul Keeper, Harry." Sirius turned back to look at Harry, still on the ground, unable to speak. "She drank a potion that Snape mixed up for her every night for almost two weeks. The…..screams….that came from her room…"Harry felt as though the wind had just been knocked from him.
"Screams….?" he whispered, barely making a sound.
"There were so many times at night as Molly watched over her that we were sure she would die. But she kept insisting. I begged her to let ME do it, but she threatened to disclose to you our entire idea if we tried to stop her. Plus it was too late, the potion was already in her bloodstream. To stop it could have been more lethal than letting her continue. So many nights, she was in so much pain as the potion drained her of her energy…." Harry shot up off his feet and charged at Sirius, pounding his fists against Sirius's chest, and shrieking,
"WHY DID YOU LET HER DO THAT FOR ME?! YOU KNOW I WOULDN'T HAVE LET HER!!! WHY?! WHY?! WH---"Harry became suddenly light headed, and felt as though he would black out as the brief fury subsided from him. His knees collapsed and he fell into Sirius's arms.
"Do you think we had any other choice," Sirius said as he eased Harry back down to the ground. "Hermione knew, and don't you thin she would have brewed the potion herself if she had to, behind our backs? It was a good thing we knew she had overheard so that we could at least be there with her if something went wrong. That's why we let Hermione do it, or did you miss that part? She loved you more than any of us." Harry smiled slightly at the last sentence.
"Hermione….loves me…?" he muttered softly. Sirius nodded with a smile.
"The spell must have also gotten transfixed into her wand as well. As a result, when you tried to kill Lord Voldemort and he you, it backfired, landing you here somehow." Harry then heard a small hissing sound coming from behind him. He raised an eyebrow in curiosity, and shook his head to make sure he knew what he was hearing. "But he's not dead," came a voice from behind Harry. From Sirius, but quite unlike….Harry's head snapped around to Sirius in fear. Only Sirius's kind, dark eyes had turned into small, red slits. Harry scrambled backwards as fast as he could from the cloaked figure that now stood before him. He could feel his heart pounding in his ears. Voldemort laughed as Harry as Harry searched his robes. "Don't waste your time, boy. You won't find a wand anywhere." Harry was heaving heavily. No wand? What was he supposed to do now?! "The fools. They didn't think I would find out about your girlfriend's petty sacrifice, did they? Well, it helps to have informants on the side of the light!" Harry's face squenched up in putrid hatred as he knew immediately who he was talking about.
"Snape," he snorted lowly.
"Know this Harry, all her suffering will have been for nothing. Now that I know, she will not live to see another day. Her love for you will be the thing that seals her tortuous, painful end!" Voldemort laughed as he soared up to a dark opening in the sky. Harry's angry scream followed him as he disappeared through the overhead veil.