Somewhere in the Forbidden Forest, During the last hours of the Battle of Hogwarts.

Voldemort's voice echoed in his ears and he struggled not to let anything show on his face. If he was going to die, by Merlin, he would do it with some bloody dignity. He raised his chin and stared into those red eyes, waiting for the spell he knew was coming.

For a moment they were stuck like that, just staring at each other. None of the Death Eaters dared move, and Harry had no intention of fighting them. Voldemort tilted his head, like he couldn't understand why Harry wasn't reaching for his wand. Still, no one said a word, and Harry hoped it would happen soon. Before the fear overwhelmed his pride, and he lost what little control he still had of himself. He closed his eyes, desperately thinking of anything but what was happening at that moment. The feeling of Hermione's hugs wrapped around him, the taste of treacle tart on his tongue, the sound of Sirius laughing. In the end, he never saw the flash of green that lit up the sky.

o-O-o

The next thing Harry knew, he found himself alone in the empty void. There were no walls around him, no furniture- just an endless sea of white in every direction. He had no idea how long he stayed in that place. It could have been seconds, or maybe even days. But eventually, the world seemed to shift around him, and everything slipped back into focus.

It felt almost like he was waking up from a dream. Slowly, his senses returned to him, and the pain was the first thing he noticed. The incessant throbbing in his head, the stinging in his wrist, and his whole back felt like it was one massive bruise. It took him a moment to put all that aside and really pay attention to the world around him. Suddenly, he realized just how cold he was, and that he could hear the faint sound of sobbing from somewhere above him.

He opened his eyes, blinking against the sudden rush of light and colors before a familiar mane of bushy hair filled his vision.

"Thank God your awake! I tried calling your name, but you wouldn't stir. Professor Lupin had to use a reviving charm." Hermione said frantically, her face barely a foot above his.

"Mione?" His voice came out hoarse and his throat felt scratchy. Why is Hermione here?

"Shhh, I'm here Harry." He felt her fingers gently carting through his hair and he leaned into her hands before she could pull away.

He cracked his eyes open again and looked up at her. Her curls fell about her face like a halo and even with her damp cheeks and rumpled uniform, she still managed to make his heart speed up a bit. God, I was such an idiot. Why didn't I ever tell her that while I was still alive? "You look beautiful 'Mione, I can't believe I never told you that before."

Her cheeks darkened with a blush and she bit her lip. "You must have hit your head pretty hard if your calling me beautiful Harry."

He rolled his eyes, "I've always thought you were beautiful, I just didn't know how to say it… When did you put on your robes? Where are we? The last thing I remember was…" He couldn't bring himself to say it, not to her. He could barely acknowledge that she must have died sometime before he did.

"It was a dementor Harry. It came into the compartment and you just collapsed. Your scar started bleeding horribly and I didn't know what to do. Merlin, I was so scared! Thankfully, Professor Lupin was able to drive it off. He cast some sort of barrier charm, I've never seen it before… Don't you ever do that again, I thought you bloody died on me!"

What is she talking about? "A dementor?" He rubbed his forehead, trying to think more clearly. Was all that just a terrible nightmare?

"They're the guards for Azkaban, the wizard prison. Professor Lupin said it was looking for Sirius Black." He felt Hermione grab his wrist and start twisting it to get a better look. He hardly noticed, still trying to puzzle through her last comment. Why would dementors be searching for a dead man? "Harry, when did you get a tattoo?!"

"What?" He looked over and felt his heart stop in his chest. There, on his wrist, was the symbol of the deathly hallows. Suddenly everything clicked into place. Professor Lupin, the Dementor, Sirius… Bloody hell, what does all this mean- and do I really want to know? Were the hallows really some form of time magic? Is that what this is? I refuse to believe that I'm some kind of master over death, and certainly not just because I found a few artifacts… I mean, it's possible that it was all just a figure of speech anyway. Getting a second chance at things can certainly be considered "mastering" death… Right?

He took a deep breath, he needed to say something, but the truth sounded utterly insane. And did he even have a right to put that kind of burden on her shoulders? This wasn't the same Hermione that had suffered the horrors of their past few years, she was still so young at this point.

He bit back a sigh, he could work out the details later, but for now, he needed to give his friend some kind of an explanation. "I'm sorry Hermione, it was a spur of the moment decision." He hastily tried to think of a reason he'd get a tattoo of all things. Hopefully, she just took his word on this.

"It's a symbol that's associated with death in the wizarding world. It's from a fairytale, but I thought it fit closely enough that it could represent my parents, and the sacrifice they made for me. I feel like I have so little control over my life sometimes, I guess I felt a little desperate to do something on my own. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner 'Mione, but I was planning on telling you tonight, when we got to the common room." He ran his fingers through his hair sheepishly. "I wasn't sure how you'd react, so I figured if it went poorly, you would have the rest of the night to cool off and I could just hide in the dorms 'till the morning."

She visibly bit back whatever retort she was going to say. "I can't say I'm happy about your plan but I forgive you Harry, it's not like you were going to keep me in the dark forever. I hope we'll still have that talk though, when you feel like you're ready for it… I promise I won't yell or nag, but we should talk about this."

She let out a sigh and eyed his wrist again. "You are my friend Harry, and you matter to me. This is something you felt so strongly about that you literally had it inked onto your skin. It may have been an impulsive decision, but you clearly thought about it. If you promise to talk to me about it at some point, then I won't be so cross with you. Deal?"

He couldn't help but smile. Even when she was upset, she still supported him. "Deal, but only if we can stay like this a little longer."

She smiled and rolled her eyes, "Really Harry, being cute won't work on me." Regardless, she gently ran her fingers over his cheek before going back to playing with his hair. "This is only because you're injured," she muttered under her breath.

i {o,o}
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i -"-"-

AN: So, for some context, Harry still dated Ginny in his past life. However, they were separated for the entire time Harry was on the hunt, and Harry got very close with Hermione throughout that last year. Ron was his usual unhelpful self, and at some point during that time, Harry realized he had feelings for her. They had a closer connection than he ever got with Ginny, largely because of all the history they had together. He never told Hermione though, because he felt like it was the wrong time and he didn't want to damage their friendship, especially when everything felt so unstable.