Chapter: Their Return.
'Terrible things happen to wizards who meddle with time.'
She remembers saying that once. Hermione muses on the wisdom of her younger self with fondness. It won't stop her. She was always so determined, so headstrong and stubborn once she'd made up her mind. This was no different.
She listened to the ticks, mentally counting down.
They'd timed it all perfectly.
She had only 40 more ticks to go.
Hermione let her mind reflect on memories she'd long buried.
She thought about him.
"Did you feel like this? Alone, knowing it would soon be over. Is that how you felt when you left us?" she asked the darkness.
It was cold, but that probably had more to do with her naked state than anything. He should already be inside by now. He should be close to it now. She only had 19 more ticks to go. Hermione took a breath and began to chant and could feel her magic start to work. The runes carved into her flesh grew heated the more she chanted till the pain became unbearable. She pushed herself to continue chanting, despite how her words started to sound more like shrill screams.
10 ticks left.
She finished the last of the chant and felt as if her entire body were on fire.
She'd long fallen and curled on the ground.
But she was satisfied.
5 ticks.
"Harry…"
4 ticks.
"Wait for us…"
3 ticks.
"We're coming…."
2 ticks.
"We'll fix it….."
1 tick.
"Ron…."
*BOOM*
~(*)\(*)/(*)~
"He must have known I'd want to leave you."
"No, he must have known you'd always want to come back."
Ron laughed madly at the memory. He could hear the consequences of the chaos he'd caused loud and clear. It was a distraction that would have made Fred and George proud. The security had improved greatly from the last time he'd been here.
"STOP! STUPEFY!"
Ron easily ducked and rolled out of the line of fire. He flicked his hand and the silent curse he cast struck true. He grinned at the result before getting to his feet and running faster. They were barking orders, spitting curses wildly but still failed to detain him. Their shouting turned into roars of his name.
Ron smirked as he spotted Kingsley among the torrent of madness. Just as their gazes met, Ron ensured he waved before letting the doors close.
"WEASLEY!" They cried.
It had been too long since he'd heard someone cry his name so angrily.
He could barely stop himself from jumping due to all the adrenaline and magic.
30 ticks to go.
He couldn't fail.
Not this time.
And he wouldn't.
The ding announced his destination and Ron hurried to move. He needed to see it, he had to see it first. He's so close- so close to… Ron sharply inhaled as there it was. It looked no different from the last time he'd seen it.
Lie.
He had never seen the spirits that danced around it. They whispered to him, lured him close much like a siren would a sailor. Ron felt his lips stretch till the skin split and his cheeks ached. He walked towards the arched veil with clouded blue eyes.
20 ticks to go.
"Stop where you are Weasel."
Ron only stops because of how unexpected the encounter was. He turned and stared at the worn and aged figure of Draco Malfoy. It had been so long since he'd last seen another his age that was not Hermione.
Hermione.
15 ticks to go.
Malfoy watches him with cautious silver eyes. Ron wonders what the ferret sees; wonders if he still recognises the weasel he'd once been? When he speaks it's a mix of both a laugh and a sneer. The words he speaks are friendly but the tone is filled with dark threat. Ron suddenly realises that between the both of them, the black soot tainting his soul is darker than the man before him.
He grins with sharp teeth that tingle with want for blood.
"Here to stop me, ferret?"
10 ticks to go.
Draco watches him, his wand aimed to strike his heart. The blood that drips from his arm to the floor is the only sound among the silence. Ron feels his temper thrum as he is running out of time.
"I'm shocked, Longbottom hadn't been wrong with his suspicions."
Ron barks out a darkly crazed laugh and relishes in the uncertainty Draco eyes reveal. He shrugs off the robes and reveals the carved runes all over his arms and chest. He grins wildly at seeing Draco's eyes slowly widen with horrified realisation.
"Neville always was too soft. When you see him, be sure to let him know there was nothing he could've done to stop us."
5 ticks.
"WEASLEY YOU CAN'T!"
4 ticks.
Ron runs and easily ducks the spells cast his way.
3 ticks.
He's howling with maniac laughter as the runes in his flesh burn and devours his magic.
2 ticks.
He twists just in time to see the rest of the ministry burst onto the scene. Ron jumps and falls back into the veil with open arms. He embraces the whispering lure and finally feels at peace.
1 tick.
"Harry…."
*BOOM*
~(*)\(*)/(*)~
The Veil explodes and the surrounding wizards and witches are thrown back from the outburst.
A few miles away a certain home explodes at the exact same time, causing the surrounding civilians to scatter with screams.
Draco Malfoy scrambles to his feet and searches the wreckage only to find nothing.
Neville Longbottom falls to his knees as he stares at the destroyed building- home to the last of his friends.
Minerva McGonagall is nowhere near these locations, yet she feels the spike of magical change that ripples throughout the air. Seconds later a rather harried Professor Flitwick joins her and they stare into the distance.
"Minerva…."
She can only look to her friend with solemn eyes and nod her head in confirmation.
Flitwick cries and his sobs are contagious as Minerva finds tears silently stream down her cheeks.
News spreads quickly across the seas to the entirety of the wizarding world.
~(*)\(*)/(*)~
Ronald Weasley, 1/3 of Britain's Golden trio of saviours: Confirmed Dead.
Hermione Granger, 1/3 of Britain's Golden trio of saviours: Confirmed Dead.
"May they find peace in Death; safe in the arms of those they once mourned and never forgot"
- Neville Longbottom
~(*)\(*)/(*)~
There was nothing to be found.
No bodies to be buried.
Still, Neville saw to it that their graves were placed beside him.
Draco finds him still there long after the sun had set. If anyone had told 11 year old Neville that he would one day find comfort in the presence of Draco Malfoy, he would name you a liar and laugh.
Yet here he is, feeling his shoulders ease and his posture relax.
"Weasley called you soft."
Neville chokes out a laugh because it was the truth.
In four words, Draco has successfully broken him and freed him all in one swoop.
He looks to the blonde haired man and finds no pity.
Neville smiles as he wipes the last of his tears.
"There was no stopping them."
Neville nods and the wind that blows cause his cheeks to redden. He stares at the marble stones, the only remaining markers of them in this world.
The gods couldn't say he did not try.
"A fitting end don't you think? At least now, they can be whole."
Draco scoffs and sneers at the three graves before them.
But he does not comment, and for that Neville is grateful.
They swear an oath of promise before the three graves.
A vow to never be shared.
A secret never to be told.
It's better this way.
The world does not need to know of the truth.
They did not need to know of the darkness that devoured the surviving 2 of Britain's Golden trio in their final days.
~(*)\(*)/(*)~
On the eve of Halloween, 1981 a flash of green light saw the end to the lives of Lily and James Potter by the hand of the Dark Lord Voldemort. As Voldemort turned his wand on the babe in the crib, the spell he cast rebounded and he shrieked as his soul was torn from its physical self.
Harry James Potter, by all rights should have died on this fated night.
A family of red heads startled awake at the shrill screaming of their youngest baby boy.
A young couple did their best to quiet the screaming of their precious baby girl.
But….. Death had a promise to keep and with a rather ominous chuckle, he kissed the babes brow.
"Until we meet again….. Young master…" Death soothed.
On the eve of Halloween, 1981, three babes slept soundly but come morning a scar will come to exist on all three.
A mark of sacrifice.
Life raged but could do nothing.
Fate fought her binds but Change kept her still.
Time looked to Chaos and Magic who dined happily on either side of him and he dreaded what was to come.