A/N: This chapter just didn't want to write. I've had a really shitty last couple of weeks (though I got some wonderful news in the middle that somewhat took the edge off), and didn't feel motivated considering what I needed/wanted to write in this chapter. It's taken me far too long, and I can only apologise. Your messages mean the world to me, thank you so much for your continued support.

This is my first time writing smut, so please forgive me if it's not any good. If it's not your style, you can skip ahead to the next page break.

Needless to say, I hate this chapter, but it needed to happen or else I'd never get to go past the dreaded Chapter 13 slump I've gotten myself in.

Chapter 13: The Bag

The next morning, Harry was rather rudely awaken by Hermione bouncing excitedly on his bed. She was still in her pyjamas, her hair falling out of the braid she put it into the night before. Her eyes were shining in happiness as she stared lovingly down at him. He could feel his heart swell at the look, knowing it was just for him.

With a soft, playful growl, Harry grabbed her hands and pulled her onto the bed with him. She squealed as she fell, then laughed when Harry wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. He nuzzled his head into her neck, breathing in the sweet, fruity smell that only Hermione seemed to have.

Merlin, he loved this woman.

"Harry," Hermione whined, though mirth was still dripping in her voice. "We have to get up! It's a big day today."

"It's Saturday," Harry muttered into Hermione's shoulder. He gave a soft kiss to her bare skin. "Nothing is more important than sleeping in. Well, maybe a couple of things…."

"Oh yeah? What like?" Harry loved the playful edge Hermione had in her voice. He'd not seen her with it before which made him feel guilty. Would she have always been this playful if they didn't have the threat of Voldemort hanging over their heads?

Technically, they still did, but it's not the same as it was in their world.

Harry kissed his way slowly from the curve of her shoulder to the smooth skin underneath her ear. He felt her shudder underneath him as his lips caught a particularly ticklish part of her skin.

"Well," Harry whispered into her ear. "Snogging my beautiful girlfriend all morning certainly tops the list."

"Yeah?" Hermione's voice was breathless as Harry began to nibble gently on her earlobe.

"Most definitely. I've not been able to have a moment alone with her all week and it's driven me mad," Harry growled, pulling her even closer to him. Hermione tightened her grip on his arms and let her be held tighter to him. She could feel every inch of him pressed against her. It was delicious, he was intoxicating, and he was all hers.

"Harry," Hermione whimpered when he started to kiss along her jawline. She tilted her neck to allow him more access. She didn't want this to stop, but there was something that needed doing today, something important. Hermione waited all week for it but she just couldn't, for the life of her, be motivated to leave Harry's strong embrace and loving touch.

"I've waited so long for this moment, Mione," Harry whispered, kissing his way back up to her ear. He began to run his fingers over her stomach gently, teasing her with the light touch. He smirked into her hair when she shivered at his touch. He just loved what he was doing to her. "Let me have at least a little more time with you before we have to go anywhere."

"But…" Hermione's brain short-circuited as Harry's fingers teased with the waistband of her pyjama pants.

"Hmmm?"

"Jeans, Harry," Hermione breathed, her hand squeezing his arm as his fingers continued to tease her skin. She knew that he knew exactly what he was doing, and she both loved and hated him for it. They hadn't done anything more than sharing a good snog since they'd gotten together, and she would be bare-faced lying if she said she didn't want more with Harry.

She'd had dreams every night that proved how much she wanted him.

"I'm sure Selfridge's can wait an hour or two before you raid them of all their wonderful denim, love," Harry said, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. He gave her skin a light nip and smirked at the small gasp she made. "I'll even buy you all the pairs of jeans you want."

"Promise?"

"I promise." Harry chuckled into her shoulder. He wouldn't be surprised if she managed to get him to buy her a few books while they were out too. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for this woman.

"Okay, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to wait a bit." Hermione conceded, though she didn't sound too put out by it. "There are more important things to do on a Saturday morning, after all."

"Yeah? What like?"

"Well, I heard that a great way to spend the morning is having a moment alone with my boyfriend. So I suppose that's what I'll do." Hermione turned her head to peer at Harry. He met her glance, their eyes burning with desire for each other. She gave him a wide smile before she leaned towards him and captured his lips in a sweet kiss.

That wasn't enough for Harry. With a moan, he gripped her hips and spun them so he was leaning over her, his leg between hers, his arms resting by her head to hold his weight. He pressed his lips to hers with a bruising passion, desperate for her touch. He kissed her like he was like a man starved. A hand curled around the back of her head, pulling her closer to him. Harry tilted her head backwards, lightly biting her lower lip for entrance. With a soft gasp, Hermione allowed him access to her mouth. He licked her lips gently, teasing her before her tongue met his and the battle of dominance began.

Hermione placed her hands on the toned abs of his stomach and slowly, teasingly, made their way up to his shoulders. One hand gripped his shoulder tightly while the other found its way into his messy hair. She gripped his hair, pulling lightly on his locks to distract him as she tried to take over. He moaned into her mouth, a low and guttural sound that went straight to her core. His free hand stroked her skin softly as he made his way down the side of her body, his fingers following every curve on the way down.

He squeezed her bum gently, causing her to rock her hips into his at the touch. They both moaned at the feel of each other as they pressed closer to one another. Wanting to feel him pressed against her once again, Hermione rolled her hips into Harry's, relishing in the hard feel of him pressed at her warm centre. Her nerves were alight from the touch. She wanted more, she needed more.

She felt Harry's hand at her waistband again and didn't hesitate to lift her hips for him, inviting him to take her trousers off. Hermione was sure that she was soaked by now. How could she not be by what Harry was doing to her?

Harry pulled away to look down at her questioningly. They hadn't moved beyond innocent touches and heavy kisses, and neither had they talked about going further. He certainly wasn't going to keep on if she wasn't ready to go further with him. They didn't need to have sex, but there were certain wants that Harry would love it have fulfilled.

Like feeling her around his fingers and seeing the look on her face as he made her cum.

There was only so much he could imagine alone at night before he had to experience the real thing.

If Hermione wasn't ready, he would wait.

Harry would wait forever for her.

"Are you sure?" He whispered to her, giving her nose a soft kiss. She looked delectable in the early morning light. Her lips were pink and bruised from kissing, her honey eyes shining with her lust for him.

"More than anything." Hermione whispered. She leaned up and kissed him softly, then hesitated when she went to say more. "Harry, I… I haven't…"

"I haven't either." Harry admitted. It was a relief to him, knowing that they both hadn't done anything more than a kiss with anyone else.

"I want to, with you," Hermione told him, giving him a shy smile. Then, a complete contrast to the smile she had on her face, Hermione rolled her hips into his again. A moan pulled from his throat at the contact. "Please, Harry."

Instead of answering, Harry kissed her again. This time it was soft and passionate, rather than hot and needy. If they were going to do this, they were going to do it right. Harry was going to take his time with Hermione, show her exactly how he felt about her. He can be heated, needy, and desperate the next time they're together.

Their first time was going to be magical, excuse the pun.

His hands found the waistband of her trousers once again. Just like before, Hermione lifted her hips for him and he pulled them off agonisingly slowly. He trailed kisses down her right thigh, his lips following the trousers. Once they were pulled off and thrown haphazardly behind him, all Harry could do was stare.

Merlin, she was beautiful.

He voiced it to her, looking up into her eyes. Hermione had propped herself up on her elbows, uncertainty shining in her eyes.

"Do you think so?" She asked quietly.

Harry hated how little she thought of herself, especially since the war. Her self-confidence had taken a hit, especially since Bellatrix and Greyback had gotten their filthy hands on her.

It was his new mission to make Hermione feel just as beautiful as she looked.

"There is nothing more beautiful in this world than you, Hermione." Harry told her honestly. The beatific smile he got in response was all the encouragement he needed to keep going. He started to kiss up her left leg, taking extra care to be gentle on her healing wounds. He needed to thank Remus for the suggestion of Muggle stitches the next time he saw him.

Harry kissed his way up to her inner thigh, licking his lips when he came to her centre. He took one last look up at her, smirked lightly at her watching him, before he nudged her legs open with his nose. One hand squeezed her knee softly, urging her to relax for him, while the other trailed patterns up her thigh as it made its way to her soft folds. She was clean shaven, allowing Harry to see every glorious inch of her.

"Fuck, Hermione." Harry muttered, more to himself than her, as he slowly trailed a finger through her warm folds. She gasped at his touch, bucking into his hand, begging for more. No one else had touched her like this, and it felt so much better than whenever she would touch herself for relief at the end of the day.

Hermione let out a shallow breath as Harry repeated the motion, gently stroking her and going slowly inside with each stroke. She gripped the back of his head suddenly when he blew gently on her, the cold air sending a light shockwave through her.

"Harry!"

Harry watched as Hermione's eyes fluttered shut when he pushed his finger all the way inside her. He tried to hold back his moan at the feel of her around him, and began to slowly pump his finger inside her. She felt glorious. She sounded glorious. He curled his finger on its way out, making her gasp put his name again when he hit a sensitive side of her. He listened as she made that same noise again when he repeated the action, curling his finger on its way out as he continued to pump at her. He decided to add another finger, stretching her more for him as his fingers continued to work their magic on her.

"Oh… yes… Harry… yes…"

Spurred on by Hermione's breathy moans, Harry used his thumb to rub on the bundle of nerves as his fingers pushed their way in as far as they could go. Hermione shuddered around him, her hips thrusting up into his hand.

"Fuck, Harry…"

Hermione was mesmerising to watch as she lost herself around him. Harry continued to fuck her with his fingers, her walls tightening around him with every rotate of his thumb on her clit and every time he pushed his fingers deeper into her.

"Harry, I'm going to… fuck… shit…" Hermione's words became a garbled mess of noise and moans as her hips thrusted harder onto Harry's fingers, riding him as she chased her release. "Please…"

"Cum for me, Mione." Harry whispered into her thigh as he watched her come undone around him. "Be a good girl and cum for me."

That was all the encouragement Hermione needed. With a strangled cry of his name, her walls clamped round him one last time as her orgasm hit. Her legs trembled as shockwaves ran throughout her body, white lights behind her eyes almost blinding her.

She'd never had an orgasm that intense before.

With a smirk, Harry pulled himself up and over her again. He brought his fingers, covered in her juices, to his lips and sucked on them. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as he finally tasted her. She tasted just as good as she looked.

"Harry," Hermione whispered, pulling him closer to her. She ran a finger up his jaw and placed it at the nape of his neck gently. She kissed him, tasting herself on him. "I need you. Please."

Harry stroked the side of Hermione's face gently with his clean hand, looking deep into her eyes. He nodded once, brining his head close to hers once more for a deep kiss. He needed her too, the feel of her walls fluttering around his fingers was almost too much.

"It'll only hurt for a moment," Harry promised as he lined his thick, hardened cock at her entrance. He teased her folds gently with his head, getting himself lubricated with her juices before he slowly pushed into her. He paused when he felt the resistance of her hymen, then pushed against her when she didn't stop him. "Fuck."

Hermione froze around him, momentarily blinded by the pain. She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her forehead against his shoulder.

"Merlin, Hermione, I'm sorry, I-"

"Shut up and move, Harry," Hermione urged, rolling her hips against his. "Please, Harry."

Harry kissed Hermione's forehead before he began to move against her. She locked her ankles around his hips, pulling him closer to her. They both moaned loudly at the new angle that brought and the pleasure it brought with it.

"Fucking hell, Hermione," Harry muttered, pressing his forehead to hers as he rocked into her. If he thought she felt incredible around his fingers, it was nothing to the feeling of her around his cock. She was fucking perfect in every single way.

Why did it take them this long to admit their feelings for each other?

Their time in the tent while on the run would have been spend a lot differently if they had said something sooner.

"Harry!" Hermione lifted her hips and rolled them against Harry as she fought for more friction. He felt incredible, his thick cock stretching her in the most glorious of ways. "Merlin, Harry!"

Harry kissed his way down Hermione's jaw to her neck. He paused when he felt the scar from Dolohov's curse when they were in the Department of Mysteries in Fifth Year and began to kiss his way along it, going as far as his body would let him as he continued to pound into Hermione. He kissed the swell of her breast, pulling a nipple into his mouth and sucked on it.

"Oh!" Hermione breathed, arching her chest into Harry's mouth. His hand found her other breast, squeezing softly before his fingers tweaked her nipples gently. "Yes…"

Harry moved onto the other breast as he felt Hermione's walls tighten around his cock. She was close, and he was even closer. He needed to hold out just a little bit longer, there was no way he was going to get his release before she had a chance to have another one.

"Harry… please… I'm going to…"

Harry's other hand found its way between them and pressed his thumb against her clit again. He rubbed circles into it, lifting his head while his lips were still around her nipple to watch her fall apart around his cock.

"Oh, Harry!"

He couldn't hold it any longer. He pounded into Hermione with a ferocity he didn't know he had. His thumb continued to rub circles into her clit as he begged her for her release.

With one final cry of his name, Hermione came around his cock, her walls milking him if his own orgasm as he came with her.

"Fuck, Hermione." Harry muttered as he rolled off her. He pulled her into his side, feeling more exhausted than he had ever felt in his life.

"Why didn't we do that before?" Hermione asked, nuzzling her head into his chest as she felt her eyes grow heavy. She was aching deliciously, her body tingling from the aftershocks of her orgasm.

"I dunno, but I'm so happy it happened." Harry whispered, kissing her on the head. He looked down at her and saw her falling asleep on him. He gave her a soft smile as he rested his cheek on her head. He pulled her closer to him, covering them both with his duvet. "Sleep, Hermione. The shops will still be open after a little nap."

"Love you…" Hermione whispered to Harry as she was pulled into a gentle slumber.

"I love you too, Mione." Harry answered as he went with her.

oOoOoOo

When Hermione woke two hours later, it was to the sound of banging at Harry's bedroom door.

"Who the bloody hell is that?" Harry muttered into her shoulder, but still didn't make a move to get up. Rather, he tightened his hold on her and pulled her closer to him.

"Why don't you get up and find out?" Hermione asked, peppering kisses on his chest. "We still need to go shopping."

Harry groaned, burying his head deeper into her shoulder. After a moment, when the banging continued, he let out a heavy sigh and rolled onto his back. He stared up at the ceiling and slowly counted to ten, hoping that once he reached the final number, the banging would have stopped.

He wasn't so lucky.

"Harry! Oh, Harry!" James' voice sang front be other side of the door. "Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!"

"We've been ordered to collect you and Hermione for your visit to Muggle London!" Sirius shouted gleefully, "But we just can't find Hermione anywhere!"

"I wonder where oh where could our lovely Hermione be!" James was far too happy. From the tone of their voice, Sirius and James knew exactly where Hermione was.

"Hermione, if you're in there, I've been asked to give you the Muggle money you'll need from Headmistress McGonagall." Lily's voice joined Sirius and James, but she wasn't as gleeful at the situation they found as much as the boys. "James, move your fat arse before I move it for you."

"Do you promise? Go gentle on me." There was a sound of skin slapping skin. "Ow! Hey! Lily! I was only joking!"

Hermione groaned and sat up, glaring at the door. Harry covered his eyes with his arm and was using his other hand to blindly look for his glasses.

"If it helps," Sirius' voice came next, his voice losing some of its mirth, though they could tell he still had a big grin on his handsome face. "I've brought Hermione's bag."

Hermione was suddenly alert. She looked at Harry and gave him big doe eyes. He lifted his arm slightly to peek at her through squinted eyes and shook his head with a whine.

"Nuh-uh. No way. I'm not getting out of this bed." Harry said to her, trying to hide his view of her doe eyes behind his arm again. "It's your bag. If you want it, you get it."

"Please, Harry." Hermione leaned down, her hair creating a curtain around her face. She gave his hand a soft kiss, her fingers tracing light patterns on his arm. She smirked when she saw his arm flare up with goosebumps at her touch. "I didn't plan on getting dressed so soon, but I'm going to have to if you don't go for me."

Harry let out a groan at the thought of more naked time with Hermione getting cut short because she had to get dressed. He then followed it up with a pathetic whine when he stuck his foot out of the cover and felt how cold his room was.

Why did it feel like December when it was still only September?

He blamed global warming, even though it wasn't really a thing in the 70s yet.

"Alright, alright." Harry relented, sitting up in bed and throwing the covers off himself. He quickly chucked on his pyjama pants and jogged to the door, making sure Hermione was still covered before he opened the door. "You owe me."

"Add it to the list." Came Hermione's cheeky reply as she slipped out of bed and dashed to his en suite bathroom before anyone saw her.

Harry rose an eyebrow as he took in the sight of James and Sirius stood in the doorway. They both had big, shit-eating grins on their faces. Sirius waggled his eyebrows suggestively at Harry while James winked far too many times for it to look casual. It looked like he was having some sort of psychological breakdown more than anything. True enough, Sirius held Hermione's trusty beaded bag in her hands. Lily was sat on the sofa, flicking through a book Hermione had left on the table.

"I suppose it's you two that I have to thank for ruining my morning?" Harry asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He tried to look intimidating, but realised that he probably failed while stood in his pyjamas.

"Morning?" James laughed. He slapped his knee and wiped fake tears of mirth from his eyes. "Good one. It's afternoon now, Harry. Morning had well and truly sailed."

"Merlin, is it really?" Harry grabbed the pocket watch that was still chained to the waistcoat that hung on the back of the door and checked the time on it. Sure enough, it was almost one in the afternoon. "Bollocks. Mione's going to kill me. We were supposed to go shopping today."

"The day is still young, my friend." Sirius said to him cheerfully, clapping him on the shoulder. "There is still plenty of time to get yourselves some new clobber."

"You haven't been shopping with Hermione before." Harry muttered, looking down at the pocket watch again.

"Yes, well, I've heard all women are a nightmare to shop with so I'm quite thankful that we've been banned from leaving school grounds until November." James sounded far too proud of himself as he stuck his hands into the pockets of his trousers.

"November?" Harry looked up at him and raised an eyebrow at him incredulously. "What on Merlin's green earth did you do to warrant that? We've just had the first week of school!"

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies." James winked at him, tapping his nose conspiratorially at Harry. "Though I'm sure you'll be able to find out once you leave. It's not hard to miss, really. I'm surprised you didn't hear it last night, to be perfectly honest with you."

"Hear what?" Hermione asked from behind Harry as she finally made her appearance. Her hair was wet and was left to hang around her shoulders, some water dripping onto the floor. She had her pyjama bottoms back on, but instead of the thin strapped top she had on before, she was wearing the blue shirt that Harry had worn the day before.

Needless to say, Harry's mouth went dry at the sight of her in his clothes.

He wondered what she looked like in his old quidditch jersey.

"These idiots," Lily stressed the word as she glared at Sirius and James from her seat on the sofa, "Set off at least two dozen sets of fireworks from the quidditch pitch last night. One particularly fiery firework managed to smash its way into the 6th Year Ravenclaw boys dormitory via an open window. Luckily nobody was hurt, but the dorm was ruined."

"We keep telling them to close the windows at night, but no! No one listens to us Marauders." Sirius pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. "If they had, it wouldn't have found its way into the castle."

"You shouldn't have been letting off fireworks at one o'clock in the morning anyway! How did you even get them on school grounds?"

"Ask me-"

"Ugh, forget it." Lily scoffed, cutting James off. He looked rather put out at her interference. He clearly liked saying that line far too much. She looked over at her Professors and smirked lightly. "I thought you had separate rooms?"

"Yes well, needs must and all that." Hermione blushed, trying to look everywhere but at Lily, Sirius, and James. "My shower wasn't working and Harry let me borrow his."

"Was your bed not working too?" Sirius asked with a smirk. He barked out a laugh as Hermione's blush deepened. "You're too easy to tease."

"Right, well… don't you three have anything better to do than harass your teachers all afternoon?" Hermione asked as she tried to fight back her blush. She crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hip, trying to look intimidating even though she was the smallest in the room.

If you asked Harry, he thought she looked rather adorable.

Though he was incredibly bias.

"You know, now that you say it, Snivellus hasn't been harassed by us for at least a full day. What do you reckon, Prongsie? Fancy a game of Hex the Bat?" Sirius grinned at his best friend.

"Are you kidding? That's my favourite game!" James looked positively gleeful as he skipped to the portrait door. "Have fun you two! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"James!" Hermione and Lily scolded at the same time. "You're Head Boy!"

"You know, it's scary when you do shit like that at the same time." Sirius said, walking backwards so he could keep an eye on the two irate witches. He dropped Hermione's beaded bag on the coffee table as he passed it. "It's down-right unnerving."

"You haven't even seen the half of it with this one mate," Harry said to him, the smile on his face the only indication of his teasing. Hermione rolled her eyes and swatted his arm lightly.

"I'm not that scary." Hermione said, though there was a proud smirk on her face. "At least, not when you don't deserve it. And many people deserved it many times."

"Right. Well, we'll just leave you to your day, Professors." Lily said as she stood up from the sofa. She pulled out a small leather coin purse and left it on the coffee table. She waited as James opened the door then proceeded to shove the both of them through the opening.

Curious at what had been left for them in the leather purse, Hermione made her way over to the coffee table. She was fully aware of Harry's eyes following her every move and tried to fight down the blush at the look she imagined to be on his face. She risked a peek, looking back at him shyly. True to her vision, he was looking at her with a gleam in his emerald eyes, a soft smile on his lips as he drank in every inch of her.

Hermione flipped open the metal clasp holding the purse closed and gasped at the amount of Muggle money that had been left in the purse for them; at least £300 each, and that was just the bank notes she saw. There was a noticeable clanging at the bottom of the purse that alerted her to the presence of coins too. There was no way they needed that much money, but Hermione was very grateful that McGonagall thought to supply so much money for them. Her eyes caught the attention of her beaded bag next, and she almost squealed in glee at the sight of it. She grabbed it from the table and opened it, her magical signature instantly allowing access to the never-ending depths of the bag.

"Thank Merlin Sirius was the one to find this," Hermione said as she felt Harry come to stand behind her. She jumped slightly as she felt him put his hands on her hips lightly, but relaxed into his embrace. "Your cloak should still be in here, Harry."

"That will be handy," Harry muttered, nuzzling his nose in to the crook of her neck. "Anything else important in there?"

"It should be as we left it, to be honest. Your mokeskin should be here somewhere. I can't feel it, so maybe it's fallen somewhere." Hermione told him as she went elbow-deep into the bag. She was trying her best to ignore how Harry was making her feel with his light touches and soft kisses, but knew she was failing miserably. "The sword, unfortunately, will still be with Ron."

"Does that mean we have to kill that basilisk again?" Harry whined. The last thing he wanted to do was give that snake another visit. The first one when he was twelve was enough for him.

"Possibly. Only if we can't find basilisk venom in Knockturn Alley or any other Black Market place." Hermione then frowned as her fingers landed on a thin box that she didn't recognise. She slowly pulled it out of the bag and looked at it. "What's this?"

Harry peered over her shoulder at the thin black box in her hands. It looked like it was made of hawthorn and shone when it caught the sunlight coming in through the windows. It reminded him of the box his wand first came in when he went to Ollivander's for the first time when he was eleven, but he didn't remember them being made out of wood. He watched Hermione tentatively open it, and barely managed to hold back his surprise at the sight of the very familiar wand buried in the purple velvet cushion.

"Isn't that Dumbledore's wand?" Hermione asked breathlessly, unable to believe it herself. "The Elder Wand… but why do we have it now?"

Harry bent down to pick up a piece of parchment that fell from the box when Hermione opened it. The penmanship was unfamiliar, the note itself written in a rich blue ink.

For the true owner of the Elder Wand.

"I don't understand." Hermione whispered as she read the note. "I thought Dumbledore was the true owner?"

"No, he wasn't. Not in the end anyway." Harry took a small step backwards as he remembered a night that haunted his dreams to this day. "The Elder wand changes its allegiance to whomever is able to defeat its current owner. People thought it was by death, but that's not true. That might, on the Astronomy Tower, Draco disarmed Dumbledore before Snape killed him, so the allegiance of the wand changed to Draco. When we were escaping Malfoy Manor, I took Draco's wand from him. I essentially disarmed him, when I took it from him."

"So, you're the true master of the Elder Wand?"

"Hermione, I think it's a bit more than that. You still have my cloak. I now have the Elder Wand. And I'm pretty sure neither of us took the snitch out of my bag." Harry said to her quietly as she spun around to look at him. She was confused for a second, before it dawned on her too.

"The Stone is still in the snitch. You never figured out how to open it, did you?"

"When I found you, I'd already seen Snape's memories." Harry confessed to her. He couldn't seem to look her in the eyes, so instead stared at a small freckle on her collarbone. "I knew what I needed to do, which was why I was on my way back to you. You still had my bag, so you still had the snitch. I realised what I needed to do to open it and have the Stone, but then things got a bit weird with this time and universe travel."

"Harry, you know what this means?" Hermione asked him with a small smile. She brushed back his hair and stared at the scar that she had realised looked fainter than before. Was it finally healing?

Harry finally looked up at her, worry shining in his eyes. He knew what she was going to say, and he didn't know if he wanted that burden on his shoulders, even though it could make their mission here that bit easier than before.

"You're the Master of Death, Harry."