Everytime

Chapter 3 – Just a Simple Plan

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. That is owned by J. K. "Owner of Several Small Islands" Rowling.

Author's Note: Thanks a lot to my reviewers—

EE's Skysong – Whoa...thanks a whole lot. Hope a day after your review is soon enough...XD

ronandmion4ever – And again, whoa. I'm flattered that you think that my story is so good. Thanks for reviewing, and I hope that you enjoy the latest installment too!

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Your seventeen hour and twenty minute waiting period begins now, the voice said. Call me when you are ready to go back again. I suggest you use all of the time available to make your plan.

What? I thought, shocked. Does this mean that I have another chance?

But the voice had once again retreated into the darkness.

I had another chance! I was amazed. This time I would have to get it right, or I would die forever and so would Harry and the hopes of the wizarding world.

A loud scream of terror was coming from Hermione, and before I could do anything there was a blinding flash of green light.

Hermione's dead body lay in front of me, her face frozen in a determined expression, her eyes wide with terror.

She had taken the Killing Curse for me.

I shuddered—or, at least, I would have if I had a body. The memory had been haunting me ever since it had happened the first time, and its repetition just increased its horrible effect.

And then it hit me. A final, foolproof idea that couldn't fail. It literally couldn't, or else there would be no second chance.

I spent about three times as long as I had previously working on the plan, making sure that it was foolproof. I couldn't have anyone ruining it by discovering what I was up to, and I had to make sure to carry it out at just the exact time. Finally, I was ready.

Erm—hello? I ventured, unsure of how to contact the being that had spoken to me earlier.

Its presence filled my mind immediately. Are you finished? it asked. Please be aware that you still have—

I'm ready, I thought quickly, cutting it off before it could speak—if what it did could be considered speaking.

Very well, came the voice. To what time would you like to be returned?

Two o'clock in the afternoon, I answered firmly. The day before I died. I could've started earlier, but I wanted to make sure that I had enough time.

There was no response this time, nothing to foreshadow the wave of blackness that came out of nowhere, sending me into the void.

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"—and then Harry'll come at it from the side. That way, it can't get away, not even Voldemort—honestly, Ron, are you even listening?"

My eyes snapped open. There I was, standing in the middle of an open field a mile or two away from the Riddle House. In front of me were my two best friends—and this would certainly be the last chance I had to save them. I once again resisted the urge to give them one of my mother's bone-crushing hugs and instead locked eyes with Hermione, causing her to look away quickly. I smiled and said, "Just resting my eyes, 'Mione. As you were saying?"

Hermione cleared her throat. "As I was saying," she said, "We know Voldemort lets Nagini out to hunt in the fields around the Riddle House. If what Dumbledore told Harry was true, then Voldemort—honestly, Ron—should have no idea that we're coming, much less that we destroyed all of his other Horcruxes. With Voldemort employing Occlumency against Harry, he has no way of extracting the information from his mind—especially not now that Harry's learned Occlumency so well," she said, beaming at him.

I could learn Occlumency as well if I had the most feared wizard in the world after my blood, I thought bitterly, but said nothing when I realized just how stupid that sounded.

"And just how are we supposed to find Nagini?" asked Harry blankly, unaware of the knowing smile on my face as Hermione turned on him, her magnificent brain working overtime.

"Because you'll broadcast it to her," said Hermione, and Harry almost fainted.

"W—what?" he asked, completely shocked. "Broadcast what to her? And how?"

"It's very simple," said Hermione, slipping into what I like to call "lecture mode", although of course only in my head. "Nagini is Voldemort's familiar, which basically means that she's an animal that amplifies Voldemort's magical power. The bond between familiars and their bonded allows for instant communication of thoughts between them—which is how Voldemort was able to order Nagini around instantly," she continued, and I found my thoughts slipping involuntarily to Nagini's attack on my dad—Harry's scar connection had been all that saved his life that night.

"Anyway," Hermione continued, "that means that, given some work, you should be able to send thoughts to Nagini using your scar connection, Harry. That's what all that work we've been doing on Legilimency was for, in the end—of course, this wasn't the only thing, but I had this in mind..." She trailed off, seeing the strange look on Harry's face.

"Hermione, you're bloody brilliant!" Harry cried, sweeping her into a hug. She stood rigid before responding, hugging Harry with a smile on her face. I felt something gnawing at me, some monster inside me crying out, but quickly pushed those feelings downward and focused on the situation at hand.

"Now, Harry, you're going to have to get a picture of yourself, me, and Ron all tied up together on a gravestone," said Hermione, and Harry shuddered at the thought—hell, I shuddered at the thought as well, but Hermione didn't notice. "Picture that in your mind. We're going to send that to Nagini to trick her into coming out into the graveyard—"

"Whoa, wait a minute," interjected Harry. "How do we know that Nagini won't go straight to Voldemort with the news that we're down in the graveyard?"

"I thought of that, too," said Hermione quickly. "You see, the main fault of the familiar connection is that it only works one way."

"You mean—Nagini can't tell Voldemort things?" asked Harry, and Hermione nodded.

"The animal mind isn't complicated enough to formulate messages and send them across the link," said Hermione, and I blinked. "Because it lacks sentience, it can only behave subordinately."

I blinked again. "What?" asked Harry, his voice showing his extreme confusion.

Hermione sighed. "Nagini isn't smart enough to give orders, only to obey them."

"Well, why didn't you just say so?" asked Harry, and Hermione gave a fake sigh, although clearly amused.

"Moving on," she said, "the hard part is getting to Nagini using your scar connection. You're going to have to use your Legilimency not only to seek out Voldemort's mind, but also to find Nagini's presence within. And then you're going to have to plant the idea in her mind. Do you think you can do that?"

Harry looked uncertain only for a second before nodding. "Yeah," he said bravely. "Just—just keep watch, Hermione, Ron, please. We're too near the Riddle House for comfort."

Hermione and I nodded and assumed positions on either side of Harry. The first time, I had been shocked at the premise that Harry could perform Legilimency without eye contact, not to mention on the most powerful Occlumens remaining in the world. But somehow he must have done it, for within moments Harry was up and on his feet.

"Bloody—bloody hell," said Harry, shaking his head. "That was—unbelivable. The weirdest thing I've ever done, Ron, mate, and that includes sticking my wand up a troll's nose."

I snorted and gave him a nod, too preoccupied with my own thoughts to really know what he was saying. I could see Hermione, however, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder. "What happened?" she asked curiously.

"It was like—it was like I'd forgotten how to think," Harry said, shuddering. "Like I was just a robot or something, existing only to do Voldemort's bidding. Bloody hell," he repeated, and I turned and absentmindedly performed a Calming Charm on him before continuing to follow him towards the Riddle House.

"Whoa—what the hell was that, mate?" asked Harry. I told him, and he resumed his walk with a somewhat impressed look on his face.

"Okay," began Harry when we arrived in the field behind the Riddle House. It was overgrown with weeds, and the house itself seemed to be giving off an evil energy that chilled me to the bone. "Everyone remember the plan?"

"Yeah," I said—I still remembered it from last time.

"Okay, then," said Harry. "Here she comes."

He pointed to a slithering noise coming from the brush ahead of us, and we all split in different directions, Harry taking on the snake, Hermione and I breaking off to sneak up on it from the sides. Suddenly Nagini emerged from the grass hissing with what I supposed was anger. Harry answered with what was probably a scathing remark—although they could have been exchanging invitations to tea for all I knew. Parseltongue is creepy to see spoken in person.

Nagini reared up and lunged at Harry, but he dodged and retaliated with a Stunning Spell, which missed Nagini by inches and burned a seared patch in the undergrowth. Hermione nodded at me as we neared the snake, and I struggled to concentrate. What had happened last time?

There was another flash of light from where Harry tussled with Nagini, and a Killing Curse burned through another patch of grass.

"Ron!"

What was going on? Who was that—Hermione. And suddenly it came to me—I'd been so busy planning what I was going to do later that I had completely forgotten the plan—I had waited a second too long to act.

And a second was all that it took. Hermione's curse went flying towards Nagini alone, and, instead of Stunning the snake as we had planned, it only served to anger it further. Hissing furiously, Nagini abandoned trying to kill Harry and began to move toward Hermione, writhing in strange patterns on the ground.

And neither Harry nor I was going to get there in time.

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Author's Note – Review, dammit!