Snow-Covered Hills

I took my love, I took it down
Climbed a mountain and I turned around
I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
'till the landslide brought me down

May 20th 2000

"Whose deal is it?" Ron asked looking around the table, waiting for someone to respond.

"Neville's" Luna said, smiling tranquilly at her friends.

Hermione came in from her the kitchen of her flat, carrying a big bowl of popcorn and five bottles of Butterbeer levitated in front of her. She set them down in the center of the table as Neville began to chuck cards at his fellow players. Ron won that hand of Exploding Snap and Ginny was about to deal when Luna spoke up.

"It's not the same without Harry," she plainly. They all involuntarily looked to the empty place between Ron and Luna where Harry should have been sitting. "And I really miss him," Luna spoke again.

Hermione breathed deeply. They never talked about Harry anymore. Their weekly card games had not been the same since they had all been at school, but they kept having them in hopes they would find some type of solace in each others company. Now, nearly two years later, no solace had been found and the card games were still boring, leaving each of them missing their friend more and more every week. Hermione was no exception. She needed a best friend to complain about Ron to. She could not exactly bash Ron with Ginny. That was only her surface reason though. She really did want Harry back.

"I miss him, too," Ron, the most emotionally inept person at the table, said with heart-wrenching sadness in his voice. Sure he had other friends but Harry was his best mate. He doubted he would ever have another friend as true as Harry again. Harry was the ultimate friend, maybe a bit grumpy but you could do anything with him, from playing quidditch to battling a bunch of bloodthirsty Death Eaters.

Luna sniffed. She had not dated anyone since Harry. She was just waiting for him to come back. He was the first person who had shown her a bit of interest and made it possible to have these other friends now sitting around her. What was she supposed to do without him there?

Neville thought on the boy who had always been kind to him. He had shown him who he could really be and Neville had defeated everything that came against him because of Harry. Neville trusted Harry more than anyone else. Harry was supposed to be there right now, he deserved it.

Ginny passed a hand over her eyes. Harry. She and Harry had had a deep connection for a long time. He had saved her when they were kids, but also he was the only other person she knew who had been possessed by Voldemort. He knew what it felt like to be used and manipulated, to have someone else in your mind. There was no one else she could turn to.

Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love
Can the child within my heart rise above
Can I sail thru the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life

Things had changed since the early summer day they had received the news by reading the article in the Daily Prophet during the morning post at Hogwarts.

HARRY POTTER PRESUMED DEAD

ON MISSION TO STOP

HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED

Harry Potter, who left several weeks ago in search of You-know-who, has not been in contact with any officials overseeing this mission. "We were up in the mountains in Romania," said a distraught and worn Remus Lupin, "We were attacked from behind by Death Eaters and engaged in a battle. Harry and Voldemort on a cliff above us and suddenly there was this scream and a burst of white light. Everyone stopped and looked up, and Voldemort rose in the air and kept screaming then he just floated to the ground. We defeated the Death Eaters and sent them back with half of the Order of the Phoenix. Then someone went over and made sure Voldemort was dead and he was. Harry was still standing up on the cliff looking down at us. We looked away for a minute and then back and Harry was gone." Several people have verified this story. Albus Dumbledore also spoke with us: "We do not currently know Harry Potter's whereabouts. Extensive searches have not yielded any results. We can only hope that he is safe and will find his way back." If you have any information on this please contact The Order of the Phoenix, #12 Grimmauld Place.

Ron, Neville, Hermione, Luna, and Ginny had grown up in those two years. There had been a public and private ceremony for Harry. They had all cried, even though Ron did not like to admit that. But they had moved on, or at least tried to. Guiltand sadness influenced their every thought. They all thought they should have been there, as they had been at all the other times. Maybe they could have stopped it but there was no way to change it now.

Well, I've been afraid of changing
'cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
I'm getting older too

It seemed that every time they took one step forward, grief made them take two steps back. Life piled in on them, and although they tried to find strength in each other, they were all too weak.

When they looked back on those days, they were amazed at what they had come through together. The hills and valleys they had walked, looking for a little bit of salvation, with Harry in the lead the whole time. Then it had seemed like the time had passed slowly, long days with agonizingly long classes, just waiting for something bad to happen. Yet, when they reflected on it, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Neville realized that they had not had enough time at all.

Oh, take my love, take it down
Climb a mountain and turn around
If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well the landslide will bring it down

"I have a photo album of him…if you want to look at it," Hermione said startling everyone out of his or her remembrances. They all looked up eagerly.

"Well," Ron said, "Bring it on, girl!" Hermione smiled at him and scurried to her bedroom. Several minutes she came out with a photo album with a think layer of dust on it. She obviously hadn't looked at it lately. Moving the popcorn and the cards off the table, she now set the album in the middle and flipped the front cover open.

A picture of Harry, about seventeen, sat blinking and smiling at them. It was how they remembered him, how they had last seen him. Flipping the page they saw many of him at Hogwarts, most of which had been taken by Colin, whom was now a photographer for the Daily Prophet.

Luna gasped and giggled when they found one of her and Harry seated on the edge of the astronomy tower observation deck. Whoever had taken it had been standing on the ground, roughly nine stories below, but even so, you could see Harry lean in and kiss Luna, their heads framed by a nearly full moon. They watched as Luna cried a little, letting her tears drip down her face before wiping them away. She fingered the photo. Her heart broke each time they watched him lean in, but it also healed as she remembered him.

"Who took this picture?" She asked, tears still glittering but she was smiling in fond memory.

"Ron and I," Hermione said, "We were planning on blackmailing him into restarting the D.A. but then he went and did it himself so we just kept the picture to ourselves."

The next photo depicted Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Bill, and Charlie playing quidditch at the Burrow during the summer. Ginny and Hermione were lying on a blanket below the boys, cheering when they scored. They all smiled, but each girl was flicking away tears now. Neville and Ron seemed to be having a bit of trouble with their throats as they continually cleared them.

Then there were bits of things about Harry: newspaper clippings, including the one announcing his presumed death, notes Hermione had confiscated from Harry and Ron during class, some exceptionally good tests, the string from his whistle from the Room of Requirement, letters from over the summer. There was a sealed, now-flattened scroll between the last page and the back cover. Hermione lifted it out.

"I forgot this was here," She said turning it over in her hands, "I found it in his things at the end of seventh year. I meant to give it to you, Luna, but you were so sad I decided just to save it."

Hermione now handed the letter over, and everyone could clearly see "Luna" printed on the front of it in Harry's boyish handwriting. Luna took it shaking hands, her tears dripping down onto it. She slit the seal and unrolled the parchment, reading it aloud in a shaky voice:

"' May 28th, 1998

Luna,

I don't know how to say this. Things are never easy for me to say. I'm better at showing, but I'm writing this because I might not get a chance to show you.

I might never see you again, and although this may sound cowardly, that really scares me. It's like, Where's that Gryffindor courage when you need it? But I just am scared. There is so much riding on me. They want me to save everyone, except for Voldemort. I don't know if I can kill him. I want to. He took away my life and made me be the "Boy Who Lived." I'll never have a life in England if I survive. People won't be able to look past my fame. He took away my chances. But he is still stronger than me in so many ways. Dumbledore says it is my heart that will save me in the end. That it is what has saved me all along. Which is what I want to tell you. Luna you mean everything to me. I want you to know, if I never see you again-'" Luna choked on her tears as she saw what he wrote next. She was crying quite strongly now. She gave a little laugh and continued, "'I want you to know, if I never see you again that I love you. I have never told anyone that. Not even if I do love them, I just can't say it. I am so sorry I haven't said it before now. But I am leaving in five minutes. I'll leave this letter in the bottom of my trunk. It'll be easy to find when you go through my things.

Love,

Harry

P.S. Make sure Ron gets my broom servicing kit, Hermione my text books, Ginny my things from Zonko's and W.W.W., Neville my notebooks (so that he can right things down to remember them). Make sure the money in my vault is transferred to the Weasley's. And I'm leaving my broom to you Luna. Have a good ride.'"

The five friends gathered at the table grinned. That was exactly how they had divided his things up. They knew their friend well. Except for the broom. They had left that with Professor Dumbledore. Luna decided that maybe she would go get it the next day. Neville was rereading the article about Harry's Death.

"Don't you think it is a bit strange that Harry just disappeared? No tracks or anything. Just kind of melted into the mountains without a trace. I never really thought about it before, I was too shocked that he was gone. But something isn't right about this…"

"Neville he's gone. Just gone. That is all there is to it," Hermione said sadly.

Luna glanced back down at the letter "Dumbledore says it is my heart that will save me in the end. That it is what has saved me all along... I'll never have a life in England if I survive. People won't be able to look past my fame. "

"No, your right Neville something isn't right. Dumbledore said he would survive. Here, look at the letter," She showed them the part she had just read, "He didn't think he would be able to have a real life here. He didn't die, and he's still out there."

"Then why hasn't he come back?" Ron asked bitterly.

"He didn't want to just be the "Boy Who Lived…Again"? But Neville and Luna are right, something doesn't fit," stated Ginny.

"So what should we do?" Hermione questioned skeptically.

"Go looking for him?" offered Neville.

"Yah," whispered Ron, still a bit doubtful, but not ready pass up a chance to have his best mate back, "Yah, we should go looking for him. We've done loads of things tougher than a little hike in the woods."

They looked around at each other, unsure but they still smiled. It was decided. They would go looking for Harry.

If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well maybe the landslide will bring it down