Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit
Acknowledgments: Rpeh on the beta work.
Hollow
The first crack of apparition left him in disbelief. They'd argued before. They'd always argued. Arguing was a part of life. But they'd always gotten over it fairly quickly. Hell, most their arguments were long forgotten less than a hour later. When Ron left the tent Harry had assumed that his friend needed some air and would be back in minutes.
And when Hermione followed him out of the tent he'd assumed she was going to try to calm him down and get him back inside. It was a routine of sorts. It hadn't been the first argument in their time together and he'd doubted it would be their last, either.
Before he could even contemplate what the sound meant, he heard another distinct crack mere moments after. He froze. It couldn't mean what he thought it would mean. There was just no way they would do that. That didn't prevent him from storming off to the exit of the tent to check.
The icy December air hit him full on in the face. Snow fell around him but there wasn't enough of it to blanket the ground as of yet. Although he thought that would change come the morning if it continued at this rate. Either way, there wasn't enough of it on the ground for there to be footprints to track.
"Ron?" he asked, his tone level as he looked to his left and to his right. There wasn't any sign of him. He called again only for there to be no answer other than the wind as it blew around him. He paused and waited for a response that he somehow knew wouldn't come.
"Hermione?" he called again. Still, there was no answer from the forest around him. He called both their names one or two more times, stepping out from the tent and looked around. He gave it five solid minutes, before the cold became too bothersome, and he ducked back into the warmth of the tent.
They'd left him. He walked toward the fire, standing next to it and letting it warm him as the one thought echoed through his head. They'd left him. That was all he could think about. They'd left him. It hurt every time he thought it, a sharp pang through the middle of his chest. There wasn't anything he could do about it.
He sat at the chair in front of the fire and looked around. Her saw Hermione's beaded bag on the kitchen table. It had been Ron's turn to get everything out and clean up and he hadn't done so.
He spent a moment rummaging through Hermione's bag. He recognized the charms on it easily enough. She'd been so proud of it that he hadn't felt the need to comment that the enchantments weren't that difficult, and that mokeskin would have likely made a better base than the cloth she used.
But he'd only known that because of Katie's father. He'd refused to leave Katie's hospital room when the Weasley's and Dumbledore eventually found him. It had been quite a scene from the adults. Lots of yelling and threatening and finally bartering. Harry answered with in a calm voice each time. He wasn't leaving. And that was all there was to it.
The adults argued some more. Harry found the entire situation rather tedious. It wasn't until Healer Patel came in to inform the Bells that they had finally received the necklace from the ministry and had started to run a series of tests that they thought had promising results that anything changed.
The healer snapped at all of them. Well, except for Harry who was merely sitting quietly by Katie's bed holding her hand. She'd told them their commotion could only be bad for the patient and if they were going to keep it up she'd have to ask them to leave.
Mrs. Weasley took it as an excuse to leave with Harry but the healer countered that Harry was close enough to family for her taste. And given that she was in charge of that wing, her taste was the only taste that mattered.
In the end, two Aurors wound up stationed outside her room as protection for Harry. Which Harry thought was a bit odd as it just made it obvious where he was. And Thomas Bell agreed to keep an eye on Harry and make sure he didn't get into any trouble or sneak off.
In the end, he got to stay. He spent the rest of his winter vacation with the Bells. They seemed to be happy for his company although, to an extent, he felt a bit like a third wheel. Especially at first.
But that changed quickly. Penelope stayed with Katie at pretty much every moment. But, as Harry found out the next morning, Thomas returned to the conservatory daily. Apparently some of the rooms at the Hospital had their own floos that could be connected to other places depending on the patient and it was a simple floo trip right from the room back to the Bell home.
Thomas asked Harry to go with him on that first morning. He was a little surprised at being asked, but given that the Bells had done him a rather large favor he agreed to go. Thomas then asked him to help around the sanctuary. And Harry readily agreed.
It wasn't quite like working with Katie. It wasn't as fun. But it was very similar to working with Hagrid. The man never left him on his own devices as they went around and checked on every animal at the sanctuary.
Staff and volunteers did most of the work, often stopping and talking to Thomas as they walked through the park. Even Hagrid was there to help out. And he seemed quite thrilled to see Harry outside of Hogwarts.
The three of them spent most of the day together after. Thomas went over each animal in far more detail than Katie had and Hagrid added in his own tidbits here or there. By the end of it the older men were both smiling and Harry thought Thomas looked rather a lot younger than he had just hours before in the hospital.
After they'd finished they returned to the hospital. Harry sat with Katie while Penelope and Thomas talked of the newest news about their daughter. There wasn't an update but it seemed to be something they wanted to do.
Toward the late afternoon Penelope returned home to make dinner. Harry thought it was mildly odd behavior but he didn't comment on it. He knew from his time at the hospital visiting Mr. Weasley that food would be provided if the guests wanted it. And really, the food hadn't been that bad.
But, the more he thought about it, the more he thought it might be some type of catharsis. It gave her time not in the hospital, doing something productive, to distract herself from the fact that her daughter had been comatose for three months. She came back with three plates of food. Harry thanked her and they ate in silence.
Hours later, long after Harry realized that the term 'visiting hours' must have ceased to apply to the Bell Family, he found himself dozing off. Penelope woke him at some point later and the two of them returned to the Bell home while Thomas maintained his vigil over Katie.
Penelope led him to the same guest bedroom he'd used the previous winter and Harry slept. Thomas woke him in the morning and they settled into a routine. Harry helped with the animals and learned more about the conservatory and spent the rest of the time at the hospital with Katie. The Bells alternated which parent spent the night in their home but refused to make Harry sleep at the hospital. He did often travel back to the house with Penelope to help with cooking or any housework she needed done. And it was Thomas who took him to the train station on the final day of his vacation. They'd even hugged before he got on the train.
Ron was moody with him the entire ride back to school but Harry was too lost in his own thoughts, visions of Katie's sunken face filling his mind, to bother with his friend. He secluded himself from the rest of his housemates that night, but made a mild effort to be more personable the next day. He also made a note to update Leanne on what he'd learned about Katie. Despite not providing much in the way of new information, she appreciated it.
Winter dragged on. He kept up fairly regular correspondence with the Bells and spent a great deal of his free time either on his Firebolt or with Hagrid. As a whole, it kept him out of trouble.
Healer Patel was true to her word and after only a couple of weeks with the necklace she discovered a way to begin to counter whatever it had done to Katie. But it was slow work. Still, even Harry noticed that the Bells' letters grew more and more excited as the weeks came on.
He must have read the one Penelope wrote about how an unconscious Katie squeezed her hand that morning in the rain, because he didn't remember the splotches on the parchment when he opened it.
And then, finally, it happened. They hadn't told him it would. But reading through the lines of the letters it didn't surprise him that much. Hagrid asked him to help out on a Saturday morning and Harry figured he had time before Quidditch so he agreed. As he was walking into the entrance hall he saw her.
She smiled at him and his world stopped. He was on her in moments, his arms wrapping around her, his lips hitting hers. She was breathless almost instantly, pushing on him after moments. He eased up his grip and looked at her, finding himself confused about her response until he did so.
She looked awful. But she smiled at him. Her eyes were still sunken, her arms seemed thin and she looked small in general.
"Hi," she said, catching her breath as she spoke. He resisted the urge to hug her tighter.
"Hi," he said back.
"How are you?" she asked, her voice timid and quiet.
"I'm okay," Harry said, fighting the urge to not chuckle at the banality of the conversation. "You?"
"Tired," she said. And then Penelope and Thomas Bell entered with Hagrid. The half-giant clapped him on the back as he shifted away from Katie and together the group of them walked up toward the Gryffindor Tower.
Her parents helped her get situated again, which, to his annoyance, happened mostly in the girls' dormitory. He waited in the common room, alternating between pacing and sitting on a couch near the fire.
It was about a half hour before the Bells returned. Some students were starting to loiter in the common room and there was an explosion of noise as the students saw her again. That took the better part of the morning and it wasn't until after lunch and reuniting with Leanne that they were finally granted some semblance of privacy.
They spent the rest of their afternoon cuddled close on the couch by the fire in the common room. Katie didn't remember anything after running to the restroom at the Three Broomsticks and Harry didn't press her on it.
After dinner McGonagall made Katie accompany her to her office. Harry waited outside, despite being told he should go back to the common room. Katie looked annoyed when she emerged but waved off Harry's initial questions until later in the evening.
McGonagall didn't think she'd be able to catch up on the lessons she missed. Katie didn't care, she still wanted to attend them. McGonagall advised that if she wanted any hope of doing well on her exams she would likely have to repeat the entire year, and as such, she openly wondered if there was even a point in Katie returning until she felt better. Especially given that she clearly didn't look fully recovered.
Katie wanted to be back at school though. She didn't care if she felt lost. She needed to be doing something. Harry pointed out that she could work at the sanctuary but that earned him a glare that he hadn't expected so he dropped the questioning.
Instead he held her, loving every moment where she was in his arms. At some point they fell asleep on the couch in the common room. None of the prefects seemed to think it was appropriate to wake them and send them to their own beds. The feeling of waking up with her was nothing short of sublime.
His spring sped past. It took them a couple of weeks of following the exercise and potions instructions left by the healers to get her up to playing Quidditch. Even that had to be somewhat limited through, as she grew winded rather faster than before the necklace.
After the first month, though, she looked far better. She wasn't gaining weight as fast as Harry thought she should, but her eyes were far less sunken, and she could keep up with him. As the year wound down he found himself once again making plans to visit over the summer.
"Did I hear arguing?" Katie said from behind him. Her voice brought him back to the present and he turned and looked over his shoulder and saw her emerging from the room she and Hermione were sharing. She wore a white bathrobe, tied tightly around her waist, and was towel drying her hair.
"Yes," he said stiffly.
"About what?" Katie asked.
"The necklace, our lack of progress, Hermione's cooking, my own incompetence, you name it," Harry said.
"Oh," Katie said. "I assume no one made dinner?"
"Hermione started something," Harry said. Katie frowned and moved through the tent toward the kitchen.
"So where are they?" she asked. Harry was silent for a few minutes as he listed to her rustle in the other room. It took a while, and the first time he tried to speak the words didn't come. But eventually he managed a reply.
"They left," He said. There was a contemplative pause from the kitchen before the noise resumed. He sat for about fifteen minutes before she came into the living area of the tent. She'd changed out of the bathrobe into flannel pajama pants and a t-shirt. She was carrying two plates. She set one down on his lap and sat on the couch across from him.
Harry looked down at the plate. It contained a bed of rice, some boiled broccoli and potatoes, and a couple of chicken legs.
"I'm not sure what she was starting, but the legs were salvageable and the rice hadn't burned yet," Katie said.
"Thanks," Harry said. He didn't spare much more than a glance at the food. Katie ate quietly, peering over at him. It was a few moments before she commented.
"I'm not going to feed you," Katie said.
"I'm not hungry," Harry said.
"I'm also not making you food in four hours when you change your mind," Katie said.
"I'll be fine," Harry said.
"Eat," Katie ordered. He recognized the tone. He'd used it on her before when she'd insisted she wasn't hungry after returning to Hogwarts. He sighed and obliged. Once he'd started, he found he was a lot more famished than he realized. It didn't take more than a couple of minutes to clear his plate. After she took it and he followed her into the kitchen, pouring glasses of water while she cleaned up with magic.
It wasn't until they were back into the living room, both seated on the couch, that Katie insisted on talking to him.
"You don't think they're coming back," she said, her head resting on his shoulder.
"No, I don't," Harry said.
"Why not?" Katie asked.
"The look on his face, the vitriol he spat, the pained look when she left," Harry said.
"I see," Katie said. "Because he doesn't think you know what you're doing?"
"Yes," Harry said.
"Yet they're the ones that don't want to go to Godric's Hollow," Katie said.
"Well Hermione didn't," Harry said.
"So let's go," Katie said.
"You think so?" Harry asked.
"I've never been against the plan. You tend to have good hunches. You feel like you want to go there. Let's go there. I have a decent idea where it is," Katie said. She shifted so her head was in his lap and stared up at her.
"Let's go then," he said. He slid a hand into her hair and twirled it around her fingers.
"Okay. We should wait a few days though," Katie said.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"In case they come back," Katie said.
"I don't think they will," Harry said.
"Regardless, let's give them the option," Katie said with a yawn.
"Tired?" Harry asked. She nodded.
"Yes," Katie said. It was still rather early but ever since the necklace she confessed she had less energy than normal. She'd commented that it made her chores exhausting over the summer.
"Should I let you go to bed? I'm just going to sit and brood," Harry said.
"Mmm brood here," Katie yawned. "But if I wake up with my hair in knots I'm going to hex you."
"Okay," he chuckled. She closed her eyes and the tent grew silent, the only sound the crackling of their fire. Within moments she was asleep. Harry peered down at her. Sleeping was the very reason she was even here.
When Dumbledore took him from Hogwarts to find the locket he'd told Ron and Hermione to include her at the first sign of trouble. Somewhere along the line that hadn't happened.
After the dust had settled that night it was Ginny that approached him and not Katie. She'd hugged him and tried to get close to him and then looked affronted when he'd pushed her away and turned on Hermione.
Katie was asleep, Hermione said. Passed out through the commotion. And she hadn't thought it in her best interest to wake her.
Harry didn't like thinking on his memories of that night. They confused him, for lack of a better term. He remembered getting the fake locket easily enough. And getting back to Hogwarts.
But then he was in the tower with Malfoy and Dumbledore. He remembered Dumbledore's body bind preventing him from moving. And then he heard talking. It was clear from the conversation that Malfoy was responsible for the necklace. And Dumbledore knew.
A cold fury washed over him. A fury the likes of which he'd never felt before. He fought against the spell locking him in place. But it didn't matter. He could wiggle some but he couldn't break free.
And then Snape was there. At first he felt relief. But then he remembered Slughorn's party and the relief was reborn into fury. He wasn't surprised when Snape killed Dumbledore. There was a sort of mundane finality to it as the body fell out the window and down to the ground below. And then he screamed, a burst of magic blew off his cloak and he found himself standing between Snape and Draco.
Draco sneered at him and leveled his wand, a far more confident look on his face then when he'd faced Dumbledore moments earlier. Harry raised his hand in reply. He meant to yell something coherent but words didn't come. Instead a blast of force threw Draco into the wall behind him.
Snape leveled his wand onto Harry but he too was pushed back from Harry's blast. Draco recovered, pulling himself to his feet as Snape reached out with an arm to try to protect him. But he fired a spell at Harry. Harry swatted it away and shot another burst of force at Draco. He wasn't thinking about the specifics of the spells, it didn't matter. It hit Draco full on and he staggered backward.
Harry's third spell was more formed. A cutting hex that hit Draco square in the chest. Blood burst from the wound and Draco's eyes went wide with alarm as Harry turned Sectumsempra onto him.
More blood burst from Draco's chest. He gagged something as he staggered back, slipping as he fell against the wall. Snape lunged for him but Draco shifted away from him and slipped backward. He fell to his side, and then back. A wall should have caught him. But he was standing near the window. And moments later he joined Dumbledore in a fall from the tower.
"You idiot," Snape hissed as he spun around and fired a cutting hex Harry's way.
"Both of you," Harry snapped back, his promise echoing through his head. His bludgeoning hex smashed through Snape's cutting hex and hit him square in the chest. Snape raised his arm and fired another hex at him but Harry hit him with another bludgeoner in the chest. He coughed blood onto the floor of the tower.
Harry leveled his wand, fully intended to make good on his promise. But then the door to the Astronomy Tower burst open. Harry spun and slashed his wand in their direction. Death Eaters, he recognized the leader immediately, the werewolf Fenrir Greyback.
There were six or seven of them. He knew he wouldn't be a match for that many. But he had nowhere to go. He shifted his stance as they saw him, their own glances resting on him. They smiled almost in unison as they readied for a fight. He could see in their eyes, a gleam of eagerness, wondering which of them would be the one to present Lord Voldemort with Harry Potter's corpse.
He closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath to steady himself. The blackness of his clear mind calming him, seeming to slow everything around him. Help me, he thought. He wasn't sure what he expected of the two words thought off into the void of his own mind. Nothing, probably. But they steadied him, and when he opened his eyes he acted almost before he knew what he was doing.
"Conflagratio!" he yelled, slashing his wand down toward the werewolf. A stream of fire lulled out from his wand. The werewolf shielded himself with his arm. The small flames lingered on his robes. Greyback looked down at them after a moment and laughed.
"Really Potter?" he snorted. Harry knew werewolves were resistant to magic. He knew it would take a great deal of focus and power to harm the man. But those thoughts shifted from his head. He wanted nothing more than to destroy him. To destroy all of them. Everyone who hurt him or his friends. Everyone who may have been even remotely responsible. "Is that it?"
"No," he said, slashing his wand back upward and repeating the incantation. The werewolf laughed after nothing came from Harry's. He turned to the other Death Eaters to laugh and then he exploded.
The small flames that lingered on his robes flashed out around him with a booming force. The sheer power of it knocked Greyback down as the fire engulfed him. The Death Eaters near him jumped away as the man fell. In moments the flames cleared. The top half of the head was still mostly recognizable, as was most of the left arm. But the rest of the body was a blackened briquette of flesh.
The Death Eaters looked at it, surprise evident on their faces. The expressions quickly changed to fear, as it dawned on them what had just happened. Their leader, the bruiser they used to threaten others, the man whose name sparked fear into most of the parents of wizarding Britain, was dead before them. And he'd been killed by Harry Potter. And it had only taken one spell.
It didn't make sense. Harry Potter was a mere boy. One that they knew their Master had struggled to capture. But it always seemed like some extenuating circumstance prevented that, most often Dumbledore's intervention. Except now Greyback was dead. And it hadn't even appeared to take Harry effort.
They reacted with surprising intelligence. They turned and ran. And the hunt began.
Harry didn't remember most of it clearly. He struck down two of them, leaving the bodies where they fell in halls of the school, not caring in the least who saw as students started to emerge from the common rooms in response to the uproar and screams from the invaders. A third almost made it off the grounds, but Harry hit him with a blasting curse near Hagrid's hut.
The commotion of the fight must have roused Hagrid. He burst from the door of his hut as Harry and a fourth Death Eater approached. The Giant seemed to understand what was going on, his eyes shot to the mark above the Astronomy tower, and then he reached out and grabbed the Death Eater by the throat.
Harry wasn't sure he'd ever forget the crunching noise as the man went limp in Hagrid's hand. He tossed the body aside and rushed to Harry. But by then the rest of the Death Eaters had escaped. Hagrid gathered up the body as they moved back to the castle. That was where Hermione, Ron and Ginny found him.
And that was where he'd yelled at them about Katie, wondering where she could possibly be, assuming she must have been hurt in the crossfire as there was no other reason she couldn't be there.
But they'd assured him that wasn't the case. And frankly if she wasn't there then they held no interest for him. He told Hagrid what happened, they found Dumbledore's body, and Malfoy's, and then the three other Death Eaters as other members of the Order of the Phoenix arrived, followed shortly by Aurors.
Snape was alive when they made it back up to the Astronomy Tower. Harry leveled a wand on him, preparing to finish off his promise from all those months earlier. The injured man called him a fool and told him there was so much he didn't know.
Hagrid convinced him to listen to the man. As Dumbledore trusted him. The sentence enraged Harry further but he obliged and moved to Dumbledore's office. Snape talked, and when Harry snorted his disbelief used Dumbledore's Pensieve to show him the truth. But, in the end, it all felt rather empty to Harry. The man who had tormented him, the man who had known Katie's attacker and done nothing, that man sneered at him as he explained it all, like he was such a better person than Harry could ever dream of being, like he was a brave, noble hero.
Harry laughed. He couldn't help it. The entire situation was absurd. Whatever response Snape had expected, that certainly wasn't it.
In the end, only Harry and the giant left Dumbledore's office. Hagrid didn't say anything, and Harry found himself content in the knowledge that he'd kept his promise.
Katie chose that moment to stir against him. She yawned as she opened her eyes, staring up into hers. She blinked a few times until the recognition became apparent in her eyes. Then she smiled. She shifted against him, attempting to stretch out.
"I think maybe it is time to bed," she said as she stifled her yawn.
"You can go," Harry said.
"Obviously. I don't need your permission," Katie rolled her eyes at him. "But I'm also not brewing a pain potion for you in the morning when you fall asleep in that chair and can't move your neck."
"I'm sure I'll be fine," Harry said. He sighed and continued before she could argue with him. "But perhaps you're right, bed sounds better."
"Yes, it does," Katie said. And they left the living room. They went to the separate bedrooms. Harry to the one he'd shared with Ron and her to the one she'd shared with Hermione. They only offered the briefest of good nights and a chaste kiss before they separated.
Harry thought his bedroom felt uncomfortably empty. He glared at Ron's bed, resisting the urge to curse it as he changed into pajama pants and crawled into his bed. It took rather a long time of staring at the ceiling to finally fall asleep.
Sleep would not prove restful. He dreamed of the previous summer. Of his flight from Privet drive. Of his time with the Weasleys where he grew progressively more annoyed with them. Of his surreptitiously inviting Katie to the wedding and his annoyance when they'd tried to make him take Polyjuice at it.
He rolled back and forth in the bed, recounting their time in London, their plan for the locket, and their time on the run. There were very few fond memories in there. There were far more arguments than anything else. Although Katie never grew harsh, the horcrux and the circumstances had them all on edge.
At some point he must have fallen asleep. It didn't feel like it, but after a moment he was opening his eyes and they'd felt heavier than they had a moment before. So he must have been asleep. He heard the creaking of his door and rolled over to look at it. A small part of him expected to see Ron come in. And his heart leapt at the thought.
But it wasn't Ron. No, instead Katie stood in the doorway, a fuzzy blue blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Harry groaned.
"What time is it?" he asked. He reached toward the bedside table where he'd left his watch.
"I don't know," Katie said, her voice soft.
"Four-forty," Harry groaned. "Please tell me it's not time to get up." He let his head rest back on the pillow and squinted at her until her blurry form started to resemble more what he expected. Although that was most likely due to her walking toward him.
"No," she said. "Although I can't sleep."
"Me either," Harry said.
"The room feels really empty," Katie said. Harry nodded, understanding that feeling as he spared a glance in the direction of Ron's bed.
"Can I join you?" Katie asked. She looked down and away from him as she spoke, a flush rising in her cheeks. Harry answered before he even had a chance to ponder her words.
"Of course," he said, pulling the blankets back to free up part of the small bed. She climbed in next to him, keeping the blanket wrapped around her as she did. He threw the other blankets back around them as she cuddled up next to him.
She reached out toward him, her bare arm emerging slowly from the blanket, the charm bracelet that almost never left her wrist jingling with the motion. She cupped his face for a moment before sliding her hand down around his shoulder.
He pressed his forehead to hers, unable to stop the smile from forming on his lips as he peered into her dark eyes. They were silent for a few moments as their eyes closed, although Harry doubted sleep would come quickly. He took a deep breath and then spoke before his brain could catch up this his mouth.
"I love you, Katie," he said. She took a sharp intake of breath and stiffened against him. Harry paused for a moment and when he opened his eyes hers were already wide and locked onto his.
He had to think. He knew he'd said the words to her before. But had she ever been conscious for them? Things were so confusing and busy and he wanted to focus on her recovery more than anything for the end of his sixth year. It hadn't come up then. Then they were apart for most of the summer.
Sure, he'd wanted to say it at the wedding during their dance. But their dance was interrupted well before it finished. And then after had been, well, whatever this had been. They'd tried to not flaunt their relationship too much in front of Ron and Hermione. It occurred to him that she'd likely never heard him say it before. He felt the blush rise to his cheeks immediately.
"Oh," she said. She blinked slowly, twice, and bit her bottom lip before she continued. "I love you too."
"Good," he said. He reached around her and pulled her body close to his and whispered. "I wanted to tell you that for a while."
"Me too. But it never quite seemed…." She let her voice trail off.
"Like the right time," Harry finished for her.
"Right," she said. Her eyes were starting to look rather wet as she blinked a few more times.
"Thank you for staying with me," Harry said.
"I can't imagine doing anything else," Katie said. "Although…"
"What?" Harry said, a sinking feeling emanating from his chest as her lips curled into a frown.
"At the rate we're going, well, I'm not looking forward to repeating my seventh year when I'm twenty-two," Katie scoffed. Harry stared for a moment and then the absurdity of it all washed over him and he laughed.
"Your parents are really going to make you?" Harry said.
"Well yes, but I feel like I should anyway," Katie responded.
"I'm not sure I could sit in a classroom again, not after all of this," Harry said. He tried to picture himself enduring a lecture from Snape on how inferior his homework was. He couldn't. Of course, no one would ever have to sit in a classroom with Snape again. But Harry wasn't sure he could bring himself to sit in on another lecture in his life.
"I think I understand that feeling," Katie said. "It all feels…."
"Trivial," Harry finished.
"Mmhmm," Katie intoned. She shifted and pressed her forehead back to his. He could feel her breath on his skin when she spoke. "But that's worries for another day. We have more pressing things to worry about now."
"Like surviving this," Harry sighed. He wouldn't say it aloud but each day that passed made him more convinced that he wasn't going to come out of this unscathed. Each moment felt like it could be final one.
"Like that," Katie affirmed in a small voice. She sniffled once before she admitted. "I'm scared."
"Me too," Harry said. "But we're together. And we'll get through it."
"I hope so," Katie said.
"We will," Harry said with as much bravado as he could muster. Katie nodded, an almost imperceptible motion against his forehead. She took a deep breath and then shifted to kiss him.
He could tell she intended for it to be a soft meeting of their lips. A little topping to their admissions to each other. And a way to end the conversation before it grew too morbid. He could sense that she expected them to doze off, that the night was now ever and that anything else could wait until morning.
But it couldn't.
Harry felt the longing rise into him as soon as her cinnamon lips touched his own. He wanted to give her what she wanted. He wanted to hold her, to comfort her, to protect her. But he also wanted so much more. He wanted her. All of her.
As she started to lift her lips from his he pulled her closer to him, keeping his on hers, deepening the kiss. He felt her moan into his mouth as they kissed and it only served to make him want her more.
His hand slid up her arm, under her blanket and slid around her shoulder, tugging on the strap of her tank top as he kissed her. Her own hands found his chest as the kissing continued.
Harry didn't stop until her hand was on him, pressing hard against him through his pajamas. His eyes widened and he lifted his lips from hers. She didn't say anything. She didn't need to. Their eyes met and they both knew they were ready.
Harry rolled them, pinning her to the bed as he resumed kissing her. He wanted nothing more than to taste her. He let his lips trail over hers, before sliding them across her cheek to her ear, down around her neck and shoulders.
Katie offered no resistance as his hands slid under her top and pulled it up, giving him so much more of her to kiss. Harry took his time, savoring every inch of her, learning her reactions to his touch on every bit of exposed skin.
The entire time Katie clawed at him, cooed for him, whispered to him, begged him. He wasn't sure exactly how it progressed, or how long he spent teasing her and being teased himself.
He remembered her telling him to have her. She whispered how empty she felt, how she wanted him, how she wanted to be his. Each word spurred him to new height and so he took her.
He remembered her pained expression when he did. He remembered the sinking feeling in his stomach that she wasn't enjoying herself as much as he was. But that feeling faded quickly as she kept pleading with him for more. He remembered loving her.
And he would never forget the warm feeling of her body against his after as he held her so tightly he thought he would break her for sure. She'd told him to not let go, to not even think about letting go, and so he obliged her.
He remembered falling asleep once more, her body still entwined with him as the perfect serenity of the moment washed over them both. He doubted anything else in his life could ever feel as perfect as she did with him.
He remembered waking up with her, their eyes seeming to open at the same time hours later, his lips finding hers on instinct. He remembered the sheepish smile she gave him, as if she wasn't sure if she should be embarrassed about her naked body against his. And he remembered the way she looked at him, and the exact tone of her voice when she asked if he wanted to do it again.
They spent the next five days together in the tent in various stages of undress. While they both hoped Ron and Hermione would return, neither of them were particularly put out when they didn't.
Of course, after the first couple of days, Harry knew that it wouldn't matter what Ron or Hermione said, he wasn't going to spend a night without Katie in his bed. Even without the sex there was something to holding her as she drifted off to sleep, and being woken by her wiggling as she tried to get out of bed without waking him.
The took turns cooking, the results were mixed. So mixed that they even slipped to the nearby muggle town for takeaway one evening, restocking a lot of non-perishables and a bottle or two of brandy, while they were in the town as well.
Which, Harry decided after a glass and a half, he did not like. It did not prevent him from drinking more of it, though. Somewhere in there Katie decided she was a bad girl. Which also intrigued Harry. Almost as much as the short bathrobe she tied loosely around her waist, letting it fall off her shoulders enough to see the golden locket resting in her bosom. She repeated that she was a bad Slytherin, and, well, things went from there.
On the sixth morning, though, they knew they'd tarried long enough. Harry watched her dress in the morning, she slipped on the mokeskin tunic and pants she wore for protection against magic, a last-minute gift from her father, before sliding on more casual clothing over it. She didn't wear it often. She kept the necklace around her neck.
They packed up the tent slowly in the morning, taking rather longer with it than they needed. There was a sense of finality to it. They knew that once they left it would be that much harder for Ron or Hermione to find them again. But, as they finally did, a weight seemed to lift from them.
By the early evening they were in Godric's Hollow. Harry walked up the stone street slowly, Katie at his side. Inside the houses they could see families sitting around fires and trees and going about their lives. It was an odd notion to Harry, the normalcy of it all. He thought he'd see more dour faces or something of the like.
He was wondered just how he felt about that when Katie tugged on his arm and gestured to the town square. He saw an obelisk and wonder what her interest was in a memorial of the First World War, but as his eyes focused on it the structure changed. His breath hitched as he saw the monument shift to his parents, his mother holding a baby in her arms.
Katie didn't say anything as they walked toward it. They both stared at the statue for a few moments. Harry sniffled as he stared. Katie held onto his arm, resting her head against him as they stared.
After a few moments it was too much for him though. He turned and started to walk away, further into the town. He could see a church at the end of the street and the sudden notion that his parent's graves may be there.
Halfway up the street though, they ran into a destroyed house. Harry stopped in his tracks and Katie whispered.
"Oh God, I had no idea," she said. Harry read the plaque outside the house. It said it was his house. Or had been for some point of time. The destruction of it preserved as a memorial. There was graffiti on the sign. He stepped toward it, staring at the ruins as he did.
"Either did I," he said. He peered into the wreckage, knowing there was nothing there, but doing everything he could to imagine the home as a home. To think of what his life would be like had he grown up in that house. In that neighborhood. He looked down the street, wondering who would have been his friends, where he would have spent his time, how his life would have been different.
"Harry?" Katie asked. He looked back toward her. She was holding up her wand, the tip of it glowing slightly as she peered at the sign.
"What?" he asked.
"Let's sign it," she said. He looked at her then at the sign. "I know it seems incredibly juvenile…"
"Let's do it," Harry interrupted. He took her wand from her and signed his named with a flourish on a small corner of the plaque that had yet to be graffitied. She added her own next to it, with a sobriquet that they were there.
Harry liked the way it looked on the sign as he wondered if anyone else would even notice it. He liked to think so. He turned back to Katie and kissed her.
"What now?" she asked.
"I want to see if my parents are in the graveyard," he said. She nodded and they started to walk toward the church. Snow started to fall as they approached and Harry found himself thinking of his third year, when he nearly took her off a broom in the snow. He smiled at the memory as they approached the church.
The Graveyard was empty that evening. And it only took a few minutes to find the graves of Lily and James Potter. Harry stood before them as Katie hugged him from behind, peering around him at the graves as well. He didn't say anything as he read the inscriptions. The dates sticking out in his head. He'd always imagined his parents as far older than him. But that gap was closing rapidly.
He tried to imagine himself, married with a small child in the middle of a war. And, honestly, he couldn't do it. It seemed like such a foreign concept. Although, as he felt her warmth press against him, it wasn't too hard to think of who he would like that wife to be.
But he wanted to live more. He felt like Voldemort had dominated his life. When this was all over, he wanted to do more than settle into a monotony. He wanted to travel, to accomplish something, to be able to be his own person outside of the shadow of the war.
Of course, he wanted her with him as he did all of that. But still, the thought of being utterly settled by twenty, that scared him nearly as much as the thought of Lord Voldemort. He turned around and looked at her for a moment, until a shape behind them startled him.
"What is it?" Katie asked, to her credit she had her wand out nearly as quickly as he did. They both aimed at the figure ambling toward them.
"Who is that?" Harry asked. Katie squinted against the snow.
"I don't know," she said. "It looks like an old woman."
"Bathilda Bagshot?" Harry asked, remembering some gossip from the wedding. In his mind he linked that she knew Dumbledore and wondered if she could be a member of the Order. Although, he wasn't quite sure he wanted to run into a member of the Order.
"I have no idea," Katie said.
"Mrs. Bagshot?" Harry called. The figure seemed to shudder and paused a few feet away from them.
"Hello?" Katie asked. The figure shuddered again but didn't say anything. After a few moments she lifted her arms slowly and pointed at Harry then made a gesture to him, asking him to come closer.
"You want me to come with you?" Harry asked. The figure nodded again. Harry stepped away from Katie and moved toward the figure. But he only made it a step before Katie's hand locked around his wrist.
"Don't," she said, her eyes locked onto the figure.
"But she might know something," Harry said.
"I'm not sure," Katie said. "There's something wrong."
"What?" he asked.
"There's something wrong," Katie reiterated. Her voice growing harder as she spoke.
"She might be instructed to only deal with me," Harry said.
"If so, then have her say that," Katie said. Harry nodded and looked toward the figure.
"You want me to come with you, alone?" Harry asked. It gave another shuddering nod. Harry stared for a moment and shook his head.
"Harry…" Katie started but he spoke before she could continue.
"Not good enough," he said. The figure shuddered again and then opened her mouth.
"Come," the word came out a hiss. Harry nodded and stepped forward again but Katie pulled him back.
"That was parseltongue," she said.
"What do you want," Harry hissed at the figure, only vaguely aware he no longer spoke English. He felt Katie tense against him. Her wand hand trembled as it pointed at the figure.
The figure didn't respond. Instead it started to melt away, the skin falling apart as something seemed to burst from the inside of what could have only been a corpse.
Harry watched in horror as the face split clean in half, chunks of flesh falling down to the ground before the robes joined them. And, moments later, a large dark snake rose up before them. It hissed as it reared up and charged straight at Katie.
Harry reacted on instinct. He threw his body in front of Katie just as the snake was going to strike and threw up the most powerful shield he could on such short notice. The snake, which Harry suddenly recalled was called Nagini, bounced off the magic with a pained hiss.
She coiled around, looking for any weakness in the shield. Harry spun to try to keep protections around them but the snake was too fast. She shot around them and threw her body underneath the shield and against his legs. Harry stumbled against it, falling away from Katie as the snake coiled around to strike once more. His wand fell toward the earth as he fought to regain his footing.
This time her teeth found their mark, she struck once in Katie's left shoulder, then twice, her head flashing back so quickly Harry could barely register her movements as he steadied himself.
Nagini reared back once more but this time slammed her head into Katie's chest. The impact knocked her onto her back. Harry saw the flash of gold of the locket as it popped out from under her shirt. For a moment he wanted to lunge for it, to grasp it in his hand and have it end the game. At least until he remembered that it wasn't a Snitch. And that this wasn't a game he could end so easily.
The snake lifted herself once more and then struck at Katie's midsection. Katie screamed with each impact. Harry's eyes darted toward the ground before him. Panic rose in him as his eyes darted from Katie to the snow-covered ground and back.
It seemed to take an eternity. Fear rose in him with every passing moment. After the necklace he'd sworn he'd protect her, that nothing bad would happen to her while he was around, that he would keep her safe. And now at the first opportunity he was failing her. The words exploded in his head.
He was failing her.
His fear evaporated away in moments, replaced by anger. He felt the muscles in his shoulders and neck tense as it filled him. His eyes flashed, landing directly upon an end of black wood sticking out from the white snow. He grabbed his wand and without as much as a thought sent the strongest blasting curse he could at the snake's body as she coiled next to his lover.
The light hit the mass of scales, the power of it throwing the beast into the air. She recovered in midair, rolling around and landing with more grace than Harry would have thought possible. She charged at him as soon as she hit the ground. Her eyes narrowed into a clearly recognizable fury.
Harry slashed his wand at her once more, casting as many cutting spells as he could in quick succession, trying to rend the animal into as many pieces as he could. Most of the spells missed, but he heard it hiss in fury two of the jets of light pierced into it.
"Stupid Boy!" Nagini hissed at him as she pulled back and curled into a defensive position. The snake slithered around his continued spells, sliding through the graves and as if she hoped the headstones would offer some cover.
Harry paused as he remembered he could understand the creature, and it him. Suddenly a thousand questions flowed into him. How had she known to be there? How had Voldemort known what he would try. What did Voldemort think they were doing? Why was the snake so loyal to him? And so many more.
"Stop," Harry hissed, knowing full well that the creature wouldn't obey him. He leveled his wand on the headstone it curled behind.
"You will die," she hissed back. She slipped away from him, between two more headstones as she fled from him. Harry fired a curse at the gap of land between them, but the snake weaved around it.
"What do you want," Harry hissed back, command rising in his voice as he spoke. The snake hissed in annoyance as it fought against the magic of his words.
"Locket. Kill you," It hissed. "Present corpse to master to prove myself. Kill both of you."
"I won't let you kill Katie," Harry responded, certainty rising in him as he spoke. He moved toward the headstones, toward the snake and toward, he realized Katie.
"Already bit her. Venom will finish job," Nagini responded. "Will get you too."
"Maybe," Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders and a smirk. "But you should have paid more attention."
"What?" the snake hissed and moments later Harry watched as part of her tail exploded in a flash of golden light. Nagini hissed in annoyance and spun around as Harry brought his gaze up to see Katie.
She stood perhaps twenty feet away from him. She moved with a limp, there were puncture wounds on her stomach, the golden locket stood out against her dark clothing. Her left hand covered a wound on her neck, he could see blood on her fingers. Her right hand leveled her wand on the snake. She staggered closer, and bit the cork off of a glass vial and spit it out before drinking the entire antidote within.
"How are you?" Harry asked as the snake coiled around, glancing at her mangled tail. It tried to slither away but Harry threw curses at it hampering any direction it could move.
"Woozy. Swallowing a bezoar is harder than it looks," Katie answered. She wobbled on her feet but kept her wand on the snake. She swallowed hard, Harry assumed forcing the bezoar further down her throat. "We can't let it escape."
"I know," he said. She weaved around the graves again, seeming to look for a way out of the graveyard as Harry and Katie threw spells at her. But Nagini was resilient and quick. She avoided the magic and stalled them, doing her best to keep the two casters apart as they fought. Even with her mangled tail she could cover ground with a surprising alacrity.
Harry tried to circle toward Katie. And he almost reached her, but as he closed the final few steps Nagini hitched back and lunged toward him. He sidestepped out of her path as quickly as he could, but the snake caught his sleeve in her mouth and with a shocking tug ripped it clean off of his arm. The sheer power of her jaws shredding his clothing forced him down.
Nagini rose up as he fell back. He pressed himself backward, sliding on his rear, pushing himself away from the snake as quickly as he could as he tried to regain his balance. But he knew he wouldn't be able to escape her bite. Her yellow slitted eyes widened and if Harry didn't know better he would have sworn she smiled as she positioned herself to strike.
Harry raised his arms to defend, wordlessly summoning another shield and hoping the magic would materialize before the creature pressed through.
"Argentum!" Katie yelled. Harry watched as liquid silver shot from her wand. It formed into a spike as it shot toward Nagini. The Snake coiled around at the sound of her incantation, but it was too late. Before it could dodge the spike pierced clear through the middle of the creature, impaling it into the ground.
Nagini hissed in a mixture of pain and rage as her eyes narrowed. She pulled herself against the spike but her body didn't move. She coiled around her top half and redoubled her efforts of striking Harry, but Katie had distracted her long enough for him to get out of her range.
Harry stared at the creature. They'd won, he thought. It had to be over. But then his eyes were drawn to her tail, where Katie's explosive curse first hit. The wound was closing itself, already the tail looked almost complete.
Despair shot through him. Just how much power did these dark objects have? How could he stop something like this? They'd hit it with enough curses to cripple anything, and still it fought. Harry stared until he saw Katie fall to her knees.
"I can't," Katie said after a few moments, her hand falling from her neck. She looked incredibly pale. The snake turned from Harry and focused on Katie. And then it moved. It wasn't quick, but the creature pressed itself forward. Harry watched as it eviscerated itself on the spike. He watched her skin shred and rip as she forced herself free of it. And he reacted as quickly as he could. He turned and sprinted toward Katie, giving Nagini a wide enough berth that she could not strike at him.
He slid to his knees next to her, his hand flying to her neck. Her pulse was there, beating softly against the mostly closed wound, forcing her blood around his fingers. He healed her neck as quickly as he could with magic, cursing her for not doing it before she'd cursed the snake, even knowing she may not have had the time before it would have stuck him.
A pained hiss brought his attention back to Nagini, only a few inches of her remained on the spike, her entire body nearly a perfect vee by that point. His eyes shot back down to Katie. He didn't know how he could possibly stop this monster. Just how much dark power could those cursed objects have? How durable could they be? How could they be stopped.
His jaw locked tightly as he looked down at Katie, knowing he'd failed her, knowing he'd failed them all. But it was worse knowing she would die for it. He could die, that wasn't too bad of a fate, but she deserved better.
And then he was distracted by a flash of gold. How much of his life could be described with that same sentence? How much if it involved Katie? A thought rose in him. How much power did those objects have? How much power was there in a soul? Well, it was time to find out.
Clarity rushed through him as he ripped the locket from her neck and pulled himself to his feet. An odd sense of faith washed over him as he felt power rise in him. Nagini freed herself from the spike and charged toward him, her blood and entrails streaking the snow behind her as she moved.
He lifted his hand, his movement seeming slowed as he turned to the snake. He could feel his lips curving up into a smile as he held his right hand up, his wand still gripped tightly in his hand, joined by the locket of Salazar Slytherin and his lover's blood.
Warmth spread through him as a tranquility surrounded him. He fought off the sudden urge to laugh as his mind washed away his own negativity.
"You want this?" he asked, thrusting the locket toward the snake. Her eyes narrowed as her vision focused entire on the golden bauble in his hands. She charged toward him, rising up and launching herself at his hand.
He watched his hand disappear into her maw. He watched her fangs sink into his forearm. His eyes met hers and in a hazy moment he could sense her victory, her pride at accomplishing what so many of her master's minions had failed to do. It was an exquisite triumph. She would be praised above all else for all eternity.
Harry smiled.
And then he tightened his hand on his wand and yelled.
"Defaeco Exustio!"
Purifying, uncontrollable fire shot from his wand inside of Nagini. She had no time to think as it consumed every bit of her. Harry watched as it exploded out of her, trailing up and down her scales, wrapping around her jaws as they evaporated against his skin. Her joy stayed fresh in his memory as her carcass melted into carbon.
He saw the fire continue around him, melting the snow in a clear circle around him. He wondered what the residents of Godric's Hollow would say in the morning when they saw what would undoubtedly be a swath of destruction in the graveyard.
Harry watched as the fire continued on, spreading up his arm and toward his shoulder. It was odd, he thought, as he watched it consume every inch of his arm, that it didn't hurt. It merely felt warm, a stark contrast from the chill of the evening.
The fire continued to spread up his arm, rolling over his shoulder and engulfing his neck. It seemed to move in slow motion as it spread down over his chest. In moments it flashed in front of his eyes and then the pain came.
In the back of his mind he wondered how many people in the village would be awoken by his screaming. His thoughts turned only to the pain of the fire around him. Somewhere in his head he knew it was odd. It felt like the only part of him that was burning was his head. But that couldn't be true, he'd seen the fire everywhere. He must not be able to feel it anywhere else. The flames surrounding his head had to take precedence.
He felt something being shoved into his throat. He gagged on it as he was forced to swallow. But that didn't make any sense. How could he swallow something when he was surrounded by flames? He could still feel them, flickering around his face. He could imagine, quite clearly, what his charred skin must look like.
He coughed on a liquid after. But most of it made its way down his throat. He sputtered against it, wondering why they wouldn't pour it over him instead, wondering why it wasn't being used to douse the flames.
Then he suffocated. The air pressed from his lungs, seeming to force him into a smaller and smaller space. Just when he was sure it would all end, the air came back. And the chill of it encompassed him. And that was when his senses failed him.
Later he felt himself come back to reality. His body felt sore and exhausted, like he'd spent far too many hours on his broom. His eyelids felt unnaturally heavy, like all he wanted to do was curl into the warmth that felt to close around him.
But his mind, he noticed, felt far lighter. His thoughts shot around his head with such rapidity he wondered how he could even keep up with them. It felt like a muscle that after toiling for far too long had finally accomplished its goal and now wasn't sure how to relax. There was an insult in there, but he was too busy wondering where the strain had gone to come up with it.
A moment later he felt something soft and cool press onto his forehead. It dabbed at him and after a moment he groaned. The cloth rested against his forehead as his pillow shifted and his eyes opened.
"You're awake?" Katie asked. She was leaning over him, his head was in her lap and strands of her dark hair were falling down toward him, nearly caressing his face. Her clothing was torn in places, the mokeskin underlayer visible through it. She had a bandage affixed to her neck. It only took him a moment to register that they were on the floor of the tent, near the fireplace.
"whmf," he started, only to find something in his mouth. He brought a hand up and spit it out. He stared at the bezoar in his hand for a moment before he tossed it into the fire. It left an odd, mineral taste in his mouth.
"What happened?" he asked after another moment.
"I was hoping you would tell me," she admitted. She brought her hand down to caress his cheek gently. Harry felt himself nuzzle into her touch as she continued speaking. "One minute I'm sure the snake is going to get me. And the next it was latched onto your arm and then there was fire everywhere."
"Yes," Harry nodded. "How did we get out? It was…surrounding me. Surrounding us."
"I don't know," Katie said. "It didn't burn you. Or me."
"But," Harry said, his eyes quickly shot toward his own skin, his arms, his body. He was dressed as he was before the graveyard. He looked entirely normal, if not for the four small puncture wounds on his arm. The skin there was a faded pink, nearly completely healed, and a horrible shot rushed through him. "How long was I out?"
"Uhm," Katie pursed her lips and peered toward the clock in the kitchen before answering, "a half hour, maybe?"
"Impossible," Harry said. "The snakebite is almost completely gone."
"That isn't all," Katie said, her voice soft, filled with concern. He sat up and turned to face her. He saw puncture wounds across her chest and stomach from the snake's attacks. He could see the wounds on her and they looked fresh.
"What?" he asked. She stared at him for a moment before deciding it was best to say it.
"Your scar is gone," she said.
"What?" he asked again, the alarm rising in his voice. She reached for a bag next to her and pulled out a small compact. She opened it and handed it to him. The face that looked back at through the powder-stained glass was his own. But still, he barely recognized the man that looked back at him. A key feature was missing. His eyes shot to his own forehead, a hand reaching up to check.
It wasn't gone, not entirely. He could still feel the small line where the flesh was blemished. But it was certainly fading. He had to squint against his glasses to really see it in the mirror.
"What did you do?" she asked.
"I'm not sure," he admitted. "It was a spell in one of the defense books Sirius gave me years ago. An ancient incantation for purifying fire. I think the book went as far as called is soul cleansing. It was described as the opposite end of the spectrum as Fiendfyre."
"Had you ever tried it before?" Katie asked.
"No," Harry admitted. "But something about it, in that moment, came into my head. I figured if we were fight against pieces of a soul, perhaps cleansing them would work as well. Nothing else seemed to be doing the trick."
"Well," Katie started as she rummaged through the bag once more. After a moment she pulled out a few links of charred chain and the remains of the locket. The cover was completely gone and only about a third of the face remained. "I think it worked. I don't feel nearly as scared, or angry, when I hold this."
"Good," Harry said, his voice filled with more anger than he intended. But anything that made her feel like that deserved a far worse fate. Then he took a moment to take her in once more. "Are you okay?"
"I think so," she said.
"Are you sure?" he asked, looking her up and down. There were a smattering of bruises visible on her skin in addition to the tears and bite marks in her mokeskin.
"A little light-headed. Exhausted. Hungry," she said. "But I think those antidotes and the bezoar negated the poison well enough. And I started feeling a lot better once the snake was dead."
"Me too," Harry said. "Where are we anyway?"
"The Southern Fells," Katie said. "It was as far away of a point I could get us to. I set up the tent and then got you inside. I only put up a few of the defensive enchantments. Just the ones I could do quickly. None of the anti-muggle ones."
"I should check on them," Harry said. He pulled himself to his feet. It took a moment to regain his bearings. Katie nodded.
"I could start fixing something for dinner," she said.
"I'll do that," Harry said. "You should rest."
"I'm not the one who immolated themselves," Katie said.
"I honestly feel great," he admitted. Katie raised her brows at him.
"You don't need to act strong for me," she said. "I already know you are."
"I'm not," Harry said. "It's hard to explain but, honest, I feel good. A bit sore…well…everywhere. But I feel lighter. I don't know. It's like, well, it's like something I've been fighting for years is gone. And the energy that was reserved for fighting it is looking for another outlet. I guess sort of like I've taken the training weights off when flying."
"Only you," she shook her head but smiled.
"So let me go double check the charms, and then I'll make something," Harry said.
"I want to stay close to you," Katie admitted. She crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself as she admitted it.
"Okay," Harry said. He offered his hand to her and she took it after a moment. "But if we're staying close then I think you should change out of your armor."
"You are the worst," Katie laughed. "You should change too!"
"Good idea," Harry said. He could feel his lips curling into a smirk as he spoke.
"But food before fun," Katie said.
"Okay," Harry said. And in moments they were outside. She'd done good work on the charms. Harry refreshed them while adding a few of their more used anti-Muggle jinxes. And, once they were sure no one would be able to find them, they walked back inside. They did change, resisting the urge to pounce on each other as they did. Or perhaps they were simply both too tired and too hungry.
Harry baked a couple of chicken breasts, the last remains of one of their most recent Muggle shopping trip. He baked a couple of potatoes with them and boiled some green beans as well.
Katie revealed a bottle of wine she'd smuggled from the wine cellar at Grimmauld Place for a special occasion and they sipped from it as they loitered around the oven. Once the food was done they ate it standing around the counter in the tent's kitchen. It wasn't his best effort but it was warm and filling and they had each other for company.
It wasn't until they found themselves on the couch by the fireplace a few hours later, well after the bottle of wine was emptied, that Harry had time to reflect on the day. Katie dozed against his chest as he stared at the flames. He waited until she shifted against him, waking herself up for a moment, to speak.
"You know," he started, his voice quiet. "I think this was one of the best Christmases I've ever had."
"What?" she asked, raising her head to look at him.
"I mean it wasn't quite as much fun as the Yule Ball," he said. "And the Snidgets were technically the twenty-eighth so I'm not sure if they count."
"If you want them to then they do," Katie said.
"Well, still, one of the better ones," Harry said.
"That's so sad, Harry," she said.
"Well Christmas with my relatives was never fun. I didn't really see the point of it until then. So there's not that many to compare to," Harry said.
"I know, but we almost died," Katie argued. She shifted around so she was facing him. Her eyes were wide and wet as she stared into his own.
"I guess," Harry shrugged. "But we also destroyed two horcruxes and, well, we're together."
"Three," she said, she leaned over and kissed his forehead gently, right over where his scar was fading away.
"Three," he agreed.
"I guess there's worse ways to spend a holiday," she scoffed.
"Oh there are," he said. He slid his arms around her and pulled her against him. After a moment his lips were on hers.
"Merry Christmas then," she whispered against his lips. He couldn't help but smile.
"Merry Christmas indeed," he responded.
"I love you," she whispered as they continued to kiss.
"I love you too," he responded, a warmth filling him as he spoke that he was sure must have been from the wine. It felt nice to admit it, to know it. And as he held Katie against him he thought, for perhaps the first time, that he might be able to accomplish the task entrusted to him. But he had no interest in doing it for them.
No, he wanted to do it for her. So he could be with her. So they could spent the rest of their days together without worrying for their lives. And now, he realized, he was far closer to that goal than ever before.
"Bed?" she whispered.
"Yes," he said, standing and carrying her to the bedroom as he wondered how many days they could spend holding each other before the urge to finish their quest won out.
Author's Note: I don't normally do this but shrug. In the end I didn't think this story was very good. I'd planned it two ways, one more or less as seen here, and one that was essentially only chapter three but extended about ten thousand words with more focus on animals. I think that would have been the better option, despite not having a more complete story vibe to it.