Summary:
Yes! I'm not dead yet! I come back to with a band for Cry of a Restless Soul! Now with chapter twelve, Harry and Hermione rush to escape the prison of Azkaban, yet, when Voldemort still lurks within Harry Potter's mind, Death Eaters are dispatched to head them off. The two friends still run, knowing their pursuers are not far behind...
Chapter 12:
Unclean Death
Screams still ringing within his mind's ears, Harry ran along the corridor, dragging the frightened Hermione Granger along with him. Not following a fixed path, the only Potter alive this day periodically changed directions, hoping he wasn't running in a giant circle.
A few Zombies blocked their path at some points, only to be cut down by either Hermione's spells or Harry's blade.
"Har….Harry," the mumble startled the boy in question, making him halt in his run. He let his hand fall to his right side, while Hermione started to massage her hand while breathing rather deeply and speedily.
"Oh… uh… sorry about that," Harry slurred rather apologetically, pointing his free hand to her seemingly injured wrist where Harry had gripped her moments before. Hermione immediately looked taken aback, letting her grip fall away quickly.
"N-no… no need to be sorry," She smiled weakly. "I should be thankful for your quick reflexes rather than…than"
"Disappointed by them," Harry supplied with a grunt, looking away from her tired expression, he gazed at both ends of the straight corridor, in case any sort of visitor decided to show up.
He moved towards the stone bricked wall to his left, dropping down onto the floor with a long breath of air sliding out of his mouth and into the clammy and dreary air of Azkaban. Shutting his shinning green eyes, Harry now pushed all of his senses into his hearing. He found that he could hear Hermione's tired breaths, the thundering waves outside of the complex periodically hitting the rocks below him. Harry Potter looked at the stone floor beneath him, sighing deeply, wanting nothing more than to be worried about homework, upcoming tests, or even exams.
Now he was fighting for his life, following a guide who seemed to be as lost as him! Harry looked up at his most trusted friend and, by the look on her face; he could tell she was thinking the same thing.
"Let's keep moving." Harry said, trying to keep an optimistic view on the situation. "Good ol' Voldy has probably sent some of his stupid people over already." Hermione chuckled, but nodded and started to walk onward, Harry in tow.
What surprised the Boy-who-lived was the lack of… anything around them. Harry suddenly stopped, alerting his friend as well. She looked at him with a questioning look and Harry lifted his arms in dismay.
"Hedwig's gone!" He said, cursing under his breath for not noticing sooner. Hermione exclaimed something rather ineligible, a simple noise of panic. She started to look around wildly while Harry mimicked her.
A sudden hoot alerted the two Gryffindors, they both realized it came from outside and the two of them ran to the nearest window, seeing the familiar white owl seemingly treading air right at their level, looking rather confused at the sudden search pause of the two friends. The two humans present sighed with equal relief and departed once again, their wands drawn and Hedwig flying outside of the complex.
Soon the one lane corridor split into two different corridors, Harry cursed, knowing Hermione would want to split up.
"You want to spi-" Harry shushed her and shook his head.
He pushed up his glasses so that they actually covered his emerald green eyes; he looked right into Hermione's bright eyes. "Aren't you the guide?" He said with his eyebrows raised with a sarcastic hint thrown in. Hermione looked down at the stone lined floor beneath them, stuttering.
"I… I.. fo…" She looked up from the floor and blurted out. "I forgot the route." She immediately turned her eyes away from him, as if she were embarrassed by this out-of-character intrusion.
Though, the Hermione's seemingly great surprise, Harry laughed, trying to not to be too loud of course, while trying to pass on the message that Hermione did not need to be embarrassed by this.
Hermione, apparently not catching on to Harry's plot, crossed her arms, finding this rather ridiculous. Harry stopped laughing, shutting any trace of it far away. "We're not splitting up." He said in place of the laughter.
"And why not?" She asked with her arms folded still.
"We split up in Schmitz's dungeon because we knew we were safe in it, even if things were looking drastic someone would apparate and get us out." Harry lifted his arms, trying to add on to his explanation with what visuals he had available. "Here, in Azkaban, the prison of Death Eaters, we are not safe. That is a fact, and splitting up would just make us… make us even more… what's that word…"
"Vulnerable?" Hermione suggested and Harry shrugged.
"Sure," he said simply, and the girl shrugged as well.
"I suppose you're right…"
Harry laughed at this comment. "What is this? The first time ever?" Hermione chuckled at this, the sound of laughter not escaping between her lips.
"Let's keep going," she said in a monotone voice that Harry knew didn't belong to her.
"Damn that stupid Voldemort." Harry said in his mind, following Hermione along the right corridor since the left one would lead them further into the complex and they would lose sight of Hedwig. "This possessing thing is getting old!"
"Is it now Harry my dear?" Harry cursed, smacking his head with his free hand since the other one gripped his wand, in a hope that it would send Voldemort scurrying away like the rat that he was. Though, as usual, he laughed in the same eerie tone as ever. "You can't escape from me forever Harry, as I am dwelling in your mind still. Run coward! Run as fast as you can!"
"Wh…what?" Harry said out loud, drawing his friend's attention.
"It's amazing." He paused, Harry frowning while Hermione watched without any noise coming from any part of her body. "How gullible you are Harry"
"HARRY!" Harry looked up at the familiar cry of Hermione's frightened voice. He looked at his friend, not seeing any change of expression on her face. Voldemort then laughed wildly in Harry's mind while the Boy-who-lived groaned. "You see?"
Harry started to walk onward, trying to omit the voice of Voldemort as he howled in laughter in his mind, Hermione followed him, a look of worry on her face, though Harry was merely concentrating on getting as far away from the Dark Lord as possible.
The linked boy then heard the same Dark Lord call out an unfamiliar name; one that Harry couldn't bend his tongue in the proper way to pronounce it properly, then, out of the shadows around him, came laughter. An unnatural hissing laughter, one then sent chills up Harry's spine.
And it wasn't Voldemort. Harry knew that as a fact. He turned around, holding his wand out defensively while cloaked men of every shape and size walked forward, their wands resting at their sides.
Only one Death Eater – who else could it be? – was speaking at all. The tallest of the bunch, his hood was lowered to reveal messy black hair and a pale white face, or maybe that was just the moonlight seeping in through the few windows around them. The Death Eaters halted, an echoing silence all around them as the one man made his way forward.
"I have been looking forward to this Mr. Potter." Harry felt his mouth gape open, that voice… it couldn't be.
The man started to laugh again, the same hissing noise that Harry had gotten used to by now. He held his wand with a seemingly lazy grip, the wood on it chipped in several places, but Harry, knowing Death Eaters, knew that he it still held power within it. He moved his gaze away from the wand and returned it to the familiar face, he couldn't place his finger on the person… but really… he looked a lot like –
"Sirius…?" Harry whispered unbelievably. In truth this person did look very akin to Sirius Black, the white face, the messy black hair, the bony tall body. He laughed yet again though. Though Sirius was dead, there was no possible way he could be standing here; right in front of h-
"It's a shame really." The tall Death Eater said, interrupting Harry's thoughts, and moving to the window while crossing his hands behind his back. Looking out at the vast sea, he continued. "That my dear brother is dead while I, Regulus Black, am still alive when I was thought to be dead for… what? Sixteen years?" He laughed again, turning back to the younger humans present.
"Sixteen years is a long time my young friends." He continued, his wand still gripped lazily in his left hand, so Regulus was a left hander, Harry backed away toward the window ever so slightly, not drawing the attention of any of the other Death Eaters just yet. He knew if he tried anything stupid he would be dead in less than a second, he did not even know how many Death Eaters were present, because of their black cloaks; they all camouflaged with the darkness. "You are both sixteen correct?" Harry made no move to answer him, but kept his eyes planted within his; the taller man shrugged and raised his free right hand.
Immediately, what seemed to be, a thousand wands rose, all pointed at Harry and Hermione. The Death Eater Regulus looked back at him, a smirk on his face. "You talk, you live longer." Harry laughed openly at this, a smirk of his own appearing.
"Amazing how original you puppets are." He said, drawing hisses from every direction, hisses of utter distaste.
"Puppets eh?" Regulus said stopping his pacing when fumbling noises came from the crowd of Death Eaters behind him, a short man scrabbled out pointing his wand right at Harry and breathing loudly.
"In… Inferior! AVAD-" before the curse was uttered; Regulus pushed him back into the crowd rather roughly, causing the short Death Eater to trample on top of others.
Harry took this chance and grabbed Hermione's hand, breaking the glass shielding the window with a simple spell and leaped through it. He ignored Hermione's loud screams as they fell through the air; Harry gripped the small hand of his friend tightly, not wanting to be separated from her in midair.
Soon they fell on rock, crashing and rolling down while crying out in pain from the fall. Then, with a loud splash, Harry was under water, the bitter coldness of the seemingly black water struck at him immediately, sending chills throughout his body and making him rise out of the water and reach out for any sort of salvation. But then the coldness of the water flowed away at the thought of Hermione. The Boy-who-lived scrambled around, looking for his dear friend while trying to not sink in the water.
He looked up at the rocks above him, seeing no sign of her there, then glanced at the surface of the water near him and saw nothing that indicated she was anywhere near him.
"Damnit!" He yelled out, diving into the freezing water yet again and seeing her immediately, swimming as fast as he could, he scooped her up, seeing that she was unconscious and swum upward, finding that she was quite heavy even underwater.
When reached the surface he gasped for air, finding the lake outside of the beloved Hogwarts school much warmer then the ocean water around Azkaban. He reached for the rocks with his free hand, grasping one and rising out of the water, dragging Hermione along with him. He lay down under the moonlight, shivering quite profoundly.
Moments passed in silence as Harry watched the stars blink high above him, when he felt dry enough to think he saw that Hermione was up as well, attempting to dry off her clothes by ringing out the water from different sections of her robes. She noticed Harry's presence and frowned at him, abandoning the water.
"What was that for!" She said rising up from the rocks, Harry cocked his head in confusion while she crossed her arms. "You… you toss me out of a window, only to land on sharp rocks and then sink… sink into that… ruthless ocean water…"
Harry shook his head, rising up from the ground, and keeping his tone soft and calm. "Would you rather rot in one of those cells with a Zombie or two staring at you f-…for two… I don't know… years maybe?" Harry looked up at the window they had just fallen from, he noticed, for the first time, a slight breeze the swung his raven black hair in every which way. He moved his gaze back to Hermione, surprised that her features, which were blazingly angry a moment ago, were now yielding and rather interested. "Listen, if we… we didn't jump out of there…"
"Who knows what mi-might've happened." She finished for him, looking down at the grey rocks around her feet. "I'm… I'm sorry Harry. You just saved my life and here I am…" She looked up at him with an apologetic look on her face, "complaining about everything as usual."
Harry shrugged and looked at the ocean before him, the water occasionally splashing up at his feet while rocks toppled into the deep, cavernous, depths of the water. "You're used to everything being perfect." He moved his gaze back to her face, smiling widely. "Nothing wrong with that," he said, bringing a smile on Hermione's features.
Soon the two friends were settled down on the rocks, watching the tide move backward, then inward, waiting for anything to happen. Hermione, as impatient as always, paced around while Harry leaned against the towering Azkaban wall behind him, he watched her progress around the small space they occupied with mild interest.
"So you going to tell me what happened while I was… unconscious?" Harry asked, trying to spend some time with at least some productivity. She turned to him sharply, raising her eyebrows in a questioning look.
The Muggle-born Witch turned away after a moment's eye contact. She opened her mouth the start her explanation, then closed it the next second, rethinking the story. Harry watched these transactions with calm interest, waiting patiently for the fruits of information to come to him. "Well, after V…Voldemort took over you and tried to make you kill Malfoy, you disappeared, something just… exploded… I don't know what made it. But, for some unknown reason, you were gone. McGonagall immediately took drastic measures, alerting Dumbledore and everyone-"
"Everyone?" Harry questioned with raised eyebrows.
The golden brown haired girl stuttered over several different prefixes while trying to come up with a satisfactory explanation. "You know…" she finally said. "the teachers… the students… custodians…"
"Custodian," Harry corrected finding that if anyone had previously joined Flich's custodian office, they would have quit before the end of their first day at work. Hermione nodded and continued nonetheless.
"Anyway, after you disappeared, classes ended, priority was given to your location. Teachers searched high and low for you, except for Vector I remember… I found her in the library… crying…"
"Crying? I don't even know V-"
"No Harry, not about you." Hermione interrupted, shaking her head. "I asked her and she said didn't care if you were dead… she would have been glad… to…"
"Glad to…?" Harry questioned after a long moment's pause.
"Glad to kill you herself." She said quickly, turning away and looking at the vast ocean before them. Harry fumbled over his thoughts, why would a teacher he had never seen want him dead? Why would this Professor Vector be so angry at him? "Harry," Hermione's composed voice drew the Boy-who-lived away from his thoughts. He looked up at the girl, her hair moving with the breeze, Harry found himself concentrating on her only and omitting every other thought and presence in the world. "She loved Snape… I think."
"What!" Harry exclamined, rising up from the rocks, "that's… why…" Harry started to pace, suddenly feeling despair grip at every emotion present in his body. The Boy-who-lived heard the girl move forward and grab his shoulder in an effort to comfort him.
"Harry, it's not your fault that Snap-"
"How is it not my fault!" Harry yelled at her, shaking her hand off. "I'm ashamed that I even forgot about that… I murdered him Hermione… I mur…murdered him…" He fell to his knees, the rocks scratching at his exposed skin through the tears in his jeans, and causing the only Potter alive this day to wince slightly.
"Harry, Harry! Forget about Snape!" The boy she was speaking to rose from the ground, turning to face her with red eyes, Hermione immediately looked taken aback, Harry Potter, the Boy-who-lived, was crying.
Small droplets of water streamed from his two eyes while his lips trembled, he fell to the ground again. "I-I can't… I can't forget about him Hermione. I killed him!" He yelled, punching the rock, he didn't care that it stunned the bones inside of him, he didn't care about the pain, he just wanted… he just wanted…
What did Harry James Potter want out of life? Harry smiled, knowing the answer at once; he didn't want to be Harry Potter.
The boy in question rose from the ground, startling the girl attempting to comfort him, he turned to the ocean and leapt into its depths, hearing Hermione call after him.
As Harry sunk into the water, he thought of the peace that death would bring the escape from all the pain, all the suffering, the damned stone, and the Death Eaters. He let his body float around, he closed his mouth, shutting his eyes and waited.
Then, quite abruptly, someone pulled him upward; he opened his eyes, fumbling to escape the grip of this idiotic intruder. What did he know about life? Did Harry Potter care?
The suicidal boy dragged his arm away from this supposed saviour and swam down again.
"HARRY!" The cry was muffled, yet Harry understood it completely, opening his eyes again, he saw the blurry outline of Hermione Granger, treading only a couple of feet away from him.
He shook his head and continued to sink into the depths of the ocean, he heard her cry again, but then it started to echo, and Harry's world turned to black.
The bright sunlight stunned Harry as he coughed out what water remained inside of him, he rose from the rocks he was lying on to a sitting position, punching his chest to get as much water out as possible.
A snort of laughter came from his right and he looked over to see Hermione smiling at him, he punched his chest again, a gulp of water streaming out of his mouth.
"Wha… what happe-" he then felt a convulsion within him and more water spewed outward from his mouth. He jerked forward, holding a hand to his neck while Hermione stood up, a concerned expression on her face.
"Yo… you alright?" She asked tentatively while Harry choked a laugh. He shook his head with a slightly curled smile still on his face.
"He-heck no…" he coughed out some more water, struggling to stand up, he noticed the sun was now up in the sky and wondered why no wind came from any direction, yet the tide still moved in the same, oddly predictable, pattern as the night before. He spoke his concerns to his friend who shrugged, not knowing why. Harry laughed openly at this, unusual it was to have Hermione say "I don't know."
"What're you laughing about?" She asked frowning profoundly. The Boy-who-lived choked slightly, water spraying out of his throat again - why was this never shown in movies after someone nearly drowned? – looking up to meet her expression.
"It's… unusual fo-for you to say 'I don't know'." She nodded slightly, sitting down on the rocks while watching the ocean tides. "You going to continue you…your story?"
Hermione looked up at Harry in confusion. "What… oh… oh right." She opened her mouth the start, but then a resounding crash erupted from behind them, sending both of them, screaming, into the water, soaking their clothes yet again.
From under water, Harry watched blurry shapes look down at them, something in one of their hands. Then, rather suddenly, he was pulled out of the water by seemingly nothing. As he drank the fresh air, he looked down at Regulus Black, holding him suspended in mid-air with his wand.
"Ah Mr. Potter, you cease to bore me." He grinned, his yellow teeth showing quite clearly, Harry cleared his throat and noticed the uncomfortable pull this spell seemed to have to his neck, it made him feel like he was… being strangled. Though he could breathe normally, yet this strangling feeling that accompanied the spell made him suspended on nothing.
"Wh… what'd you want?" He knew Regulus could have killed him already, yet he continued to toy with him, moving him through the air at a low speed.
"Tell me where it is." He stated simply, the grin long gone. Harry stuttered, not knowing what he was talking about.
"What the he-" he was cut off as he fell from the air, the strangling grip pulling him into the water. Now he couldn't breathe at all, he struggled against the spell, trying in vain to block it out with his mind power.
Before he got a chance to try, he was pulled out of the water, and was back in the air where he could breathe normally. Regulus grinned at him, placing his arm around the neck of-
"HERMIONE!" Harry screamed, reaching out towards her, two black clad Death Eaters held her tightly, while she resisted their bindings and looked up at Harry with fearful eyes. "Damnit," he groaned, moving his gaze away from the hostage and back to Regulus. "I swear I don't kno…" he coughed out some water, watching it drip to the rocks below him, he didn't care that some of it was still leaking from the edge of his mouth, as if he were drooling. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about!"
The supposedly dead Death Eater smirked, chuckling slightly; he motioned to the Death Eaters who nodded, then took out their wands and pointed both of them at Hermione's face. Harry could literally hear the fearful panting coming from her mouth. Harry grunted a curse while Hermione shook her head repeatedly.
"TELL ME POTTER!" Regulus yelled, his eyes turning from a dark grey colour to blazing red, Harry indistinctly tried to move backward, finding his entire body immobile. "WHERE IS IT! WHERE IS THE STONE!"
Harry was reminded, in this spur of the moment, of Quirrell's desperate attempt at finding the Philosopher's Stone. His mind, as weak as it was because of Hermione's, now his mind shoot backward in time, Harry finding himself seeing his memories of his first year at the magnificent school of Hogwarts.
"YOU!" Harry gasped, his finger pointing to the long deceased Quirrell who smiled, white teeth showing quite clearly. Harry started to stutter, but then Quirrell's grin faded away and his mouth opened to tell his tale.
"Me," he turned his body fully, his purple cloak floating along with him, swaying against the stone floor below him, he looked up at the eleven year old, the grin returning. "I wondered whether I'd be meeting you here, Potter."
"But…" Harry said, looking at the floor and shaking his head, his world collapsing around him. "But I thought – Snape…"
"Severus?" The Defence against the Dark Arts teacher bellowed a laugh, the usual quivering tone long dismissed to be replaced by a sharp, clean yet threatening, tone. "Yes, Severus does seem the type, doesn't he? So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat, but next to him, who would suspect p-poor st0-stuttering P-P-Professor Quirrell."
Harry stepped forward with his right foot, his hands trembling. "SNAPE TRIED TO KILL ME!" He seemed to be arguing with his own mind, his own theories, this couldn't be true…
"No, no, no Mr. Potter. I tried to kill you." He grinned widely, yet it soon disappeared to have a frown of frustration swap it. "Your imbecile friend Miss Granger accidentally knocked me over as she rushed to set Snape's robe on fire." Harry had a sudden rush of gratitude for having the young girl as his friend.
"The idiot broke my eye contact with you! And you rode away free. At least Snape didn't pull off his counter-curse, then my master would have killed me right there and then." He glanced to the mirror behind him for a second before returning his gaze to the first year's face, adding with a mumble. "Damn wandless magic…"
"Wait…" Harry mumbled. "Wait… Snap… Snape tried to save me?" Quirrell snorted at this.
"Of course, why would he want to referee your next match? He was trying to make sure I didn't try to murder you again, though his efforts went to waste, for I couldn't really do anything with the idiot Dumbledore there. It was good that every student and teacher was trying to make Gryffindor lose, so no one paid me any mind, though he did make himself quite… unpopular."
"Though it matters not, for here we are, all alone. I'm going to kill you right here and now Harry Potter." Snapping his fingers, robes magically sprang out of thin air and wrapped themselves around Harry.
Squirming around, trying to free himself from the binds, Harry barely heard Quirrell's speech. "You're too nosy to live, Potter. Scurrying around the school at Hallowe'en like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at was guarding the stone."
Harry lifted his head at this statement, the binds around him forgotten at the moment. "You let the troll in!" Harry asked astonished, he probably never thought that Quirrell and trolls could fit together.
"Certainly. I have a special affinity for trolls – you must have seen what I did to the one in the chamber back there? Unfortunately, while everyone else was running around like maniacs, Snape, who already suspected me, sped off towards here." He lifted his arms, indicating the resting place of the Philosopher's stone. "No doubt planning to head me off, unfortunately, my plans failed me yet again here. Since, not only did the troll fail to beat you and your pesky friends to death, but the stupid dog didn't manage to bite off Snape's head, instead biting at his leg and only chipping part of it off."
"Now then Potter, wait quietly. I must examine this mirror more closely." Harry saw him turn around, yet his vision started to become blurry and Quirrell's turban seemed to unravel towards the floor, revealing the pale white and smiling expression of Lord Voldemort.
"YOU DIE POTTER!" The voice cried out, echoing throughout Harry's mind and tearing his conscious apart piece by piece, he felt himself crumble to the ground and the next second –
He was kneeling in front of Regulus, who was currently kicking his chest repeatedly.
"Get up you imbecile!" He growled while the Boy-who-lived groaned and rolled over, clutching his pained stomach. Regulus, at least Harry thought it was, kicked him again growling. Harry laughed, knowing the voice of Regulus all to well, and the distinctive growl belonged to one of his peers. Crabbe, the bulky yet thick-headed Death Eater, it seemed that he was taking after his father, who was also a Death Eater.
"Get up!" This time, another foot landed into his stomach region, somewhat harder than Crabbe's kick, Harry laughed again at the pity Crabbe was showing him. Harry Potter then opened his eyes, his vision blurred and the sun's beam of light shooting right from above him, he shut his two eyes again, groaning at the pain. He attempted to push himself from the rocks using his two hands as leverage against the rocks.
It was successful, and Harry was soon on his two feet, his emerald eyes opening up to see his late godfather's brother in front of him, his arm still around Hermione's neck. Her eyes were closed and her head fallen, she looked like she was unconscious, but it could be misleading, she could actually be under some sort of spell made up by Regulus Black, or she could even be…
Harry took a deep breath, opening the latter possibility was not indeed true.
"Are you going to tell me where it is or not!" Regulus said through clenched teeth, his expression seething. "Or are you going to faint again!"
The Boy-who-lived turned his gaze from the unconscious Hermione to Regulus, taking a deep breath before speaking. "I don't know what you're talking about." He immediately regretted it when one of the two shrouded Death Eater's lifted a wand, pointing it at Hermione/
"Avada Kedavra." It was a female voice, but Harry didn't care, he screaming loudly, the savage green spell colliding with Hermione's neck before Harry could reach for her, her body turned an eerily pale green colour, her head rising and her two eyes opening wide. The next second she was on the ground, lifeless.
Harry crumpled to the ground, his hands turning into fists while Regulus dismissed the two Death Eaters and grabbed him by the collar. Harry didn't even feel part of the grip; his mind was focused on the vast amount of memories with Hermione Jane Granger.
"Was that even her middle name?" Harry questioned in his mind, laughing hollowly at it, he felt so empty now, truly alone in the world.
"It's at Hogwarts…" Harry mumbled, knowing Regulus would go away once he told him the truth, he laughed openly, releasing his grip on Harry. Harry felt no difference as he fell to the ground again, deciding to go to sleep and hoping that he would wake up in his bedroom in the Dursley residence, with none of this having occurred.
"Now that wasn't so difficult was it Harry?" The Death Eater said slyly, Harry didn't care what he was talking about. He felt at fault for Hermione's death, because of his wavering, because of his… because…
"She's dead…" Harry mumbled while Regulus laughed coldly.
"And so are you Harry! I have no more use for you!" He pushed him into the water, Harry didn't bother resisting, death would be nice right about now, he could see his Hermione again… her amazing golden curls… her remarkable chocolate brown eyes… her expansive knowledge of facts…
He welcomed the water around him, shutting his eyes, feeling his salvation nearing. He could barely hear Hermione's empty body pierce the water as well, it seemed Regulus didn't want to bother burying either of them after their deaths, let the tide take them.
Harry was fine with that; he could be with Hermione… for eternity.
A/N No, it's not over yet! I'm not quitting once I've gone this far!