A bang startled Holly awake; it was a noise she was unfortunately used to hearing in her childhood, so Holly was immediately alert when it happened. Though even if she hadn't been alarmed by the noise itself, she would have been with the pillow Holly was using, which was not actually one. Professor Snape, the dungeon bat himself, was allowing her to snuggle into him without a single complaint, and that was enough to wake her up completely.

Holly glanced up at her teacher and felt pale as he shot her a mocking look from above. With a high pitched noise, she retreated. Holly scooted backward with a gasp nearly bowling over Sirius, who decided to tackle her from behind at that moment. Sirius fell forward, narrowly catching himself before he sunk to the ground embracing her. Automatically Holly reached her hands up and wrapped them enough his back as she realized where she was and what had happened.

"Pup, my pup! Kiddo… Holly… I thought- I thought I lost you." Sirius shook in her arms, his body heaving with relieved tears. Tighter and tighter, he gripped her, and Holly didn't protest as she glanced over his shoulder at Snape, who stood gingerly, bracing his palm against the hallway wall. He was quite pale, she noted, more so than usual, then again Holly suspected she was likely the same considering the battle they'd gone through. "Never do that to me again, Holly, never again. I can't handle it." To Sirius, there was no world that he'd survive if she didn't, it took the knowledge that she might be dead to make that clear. She was his last tie to reality, and while he'd never tell her that, he knew it was true. If she died, he'd follow her.

Sirius tugged Holly in tighter reassuring himself that yes, she was alive, she was real and not a corpse to be buried with her parents. When she gave a soft: "Ouch."

Sirius pulled back instantly alarmed when she recoiled from his touch. He'd rubbed his hand right against the mess that was her arm, it quickly brought to mind how many dark spells had struck her during the battle. She very likely needed a healer. "Snivellus! What did you do to her?"

Snape rolled his eyes and Holly sagged with a sigh, she had so hoped her god-father would ignore the professor. She wasn't in the mood to explain everything yet. In fact, now that Holly's prophesied mission was complete, all Holly wanted to do was vanish into the country-side to rest for a month, at least. Unfortunately, Holly highly doubted she'd get the chance now that the Dark Lord was dead. Not after all the damage he'd done and all the expectations heaped upon her.

"I had thought you were intelligent enough to come to the correct assumption, foolish of me to assume you have anything resembling inductive reasoning."

"What was that!"

Holly tugged on Sirius' arm before he pulled away to attack Snape, who was probably injured: "Sirius… he saved my life, so lets not okay?"

Sirius sagged and grumbled out a soft: 'fine,' before the fight started. And thankfully, neither man had the chance to continue their ongoing battle as the floo exploded with noise, and a high pitched voice caused them all to cringe.

"Severus Snape! What sort of message with that?!"

Poppy Pomfrey had arrived.

Nami waved away her list, feeling relieved. After the dying incident, her soulmate had far fewer options to select, and it seemed she'd reached a peaceful moment in her life. This allowed Nami to relax, and hopefully earn back the points she'd spent saving their life. Long ago, Nami had learned that a soulmate could be revived multiple times from premature death. With each death, the cost increased depending on the damage of the lethal injury taken and the number of times you'd saved them. Nami was also practical enough not to want to go through that panic again, even if Luffy would likely launch into the sea as many times as it took to help. So she'd be giving herself quite a nest egg of points for the future.

Shaking off her thoughts, Nami continued onward along the dirt path of her home island. Laid out before her was the place she considered her prison. The place she'd learned to swim by force, where she'd discovered how to use CPR, where Nami had bloodied her fingers on a hundred maps that she had no wish to make. The place she decided to stop fighting for her soulmate… the place she would have lost them if Luffy hadn't fallen from the sky to save her.

But this time, this time, she wasn't walking toward it as a prisoner. No, she was a spy awaiting her backup, and that made a world of difference.

"Eh? Why does Nami have to go alone!"

"Because… because… uh… why again, Nami?"

"Because Zoro needs medical help from an actual doctor, and if I'm late, then Arlong will kill someone from my village so… basically, you'll go visit the Doctor, and I'll keep him calm until you can come."

"I don't like it!"

"Just do it, Moron-Captain!"

Nami pushed open the doors and felt the terror building in her chest. She looked at the demons of her life, the beings that could kill the strongest warriors with their great strength. Those from the Grand-line itself who'd kill Luffy, Usopp, Zoro, and Sanji- No. No, they could handle this, Zoro had faced Mihawk without flinching, Luffy had shattered Krieg's armor, Usopp had protected Kaya. They'd be fine.

And yet she was scared.

"Nami, welcome back."

He sat like a mockery of a king before her, surrounded by his men like they were on vacation. Half of them were drunk on their human drinks, which they claimed to despise. Still, as it did the first time, his voice sent chills down her spine. She could do this, she could do this. Nami would save her village, she'd protect her precious people, Luffy would come once Zoro was-

"Is that him then?"

Nami shrieked; she launched to the side in alarm, looking back and to her left. Standing there with that stupid expression on his face, was Luffy. Straw hat perched on his head, a smile etched across his face, still open wounds from his fight with Krieg on his hands. Her moronic captain.

Why had she expected him to do as told, she was as stupid as he was!

"Breathe witch."

She gasped again as Zoro dropped his arm on top of his head. Her own crisscrossing stitches still holding his wounds closed- he hadn't gone to a doctor. Panicked frustration built in her chest, protectively, defensively, she rounded on him, forgetting for a moment the shark now at her back.

"You idiot!" she hissed, grabbing his arm and yanking it off her head, holding it, she pushed him back slightly. He let her, to appease her anger, to avoid further pain from his wounds or just because he felt like it. Zoro backed off smirking, but his true attention never left the enemy as hers did. "You're hurt, you're going to get yourself killed-" anything but that, these people couldn't-

"Nami-swan! Not to worry! We'll handle these villains for you without injury!" Sanji tossed Zoro away from her and got in her space, giving her a good view of Usopp standing behind and whose legs were visibly shaking. At that, she nearly dropped her head into her hands to groan. But in the end, it was probably better to be underestimated.

"Is that him?!" Luffy demanded again, "Which one of you is Arlong!"

Well, she'd decided to trust these four. She'd joined this crew, accepted their help. If she was going to die… then she would die with them. Nami had chosen her path.

"It's him." She pointed loosely as her boys flanked her, "the ugly bastard with the saw nose."

Arlong left his chair, tauntingly he towered over them. It was a position of power. For once Nami wasn't intimidated, knowing what she did about Arlong and Luffy both, she would be nervous to have Luffy glaring at her rather than the demon of her childhood. But, of course, that was no surprise. Luffy was going to be the pirate king, one day he'd rule the seas, and beings like Arlong wouldn't be able to handle him even looking their way.

Nami twisted her staff in her hand; she knew all their weaknesses, knew their strength, knew which ones didn't train, and slept all day thinking no one would ever come and challenge them. They could handle this.

Luffy punched his fists together and stepped forward, leading them: "Arlong! I'm going to beat you up!"

Their wounds were slightly more numerous than previous battles.

A reopened chest wound on Zoro with an additional slice crisscrossing the injury, thankfully shallower than what Mihawk did. Usopp received a broken nose quickly healed by Kaya. He'd then regaled his soulmate with a four-hour conversation all about the Fishman he'd defeated and the island he'd helped save, all true to her surprise. Sanji had ended up with a lung infection, a painfully bruised shin bone, and a nasty head wound. None of which Sanji complained about as he danced all over the island to sample her islands specialty foods. Nami had personally been stabbed in the arm, but it hadn't been healed because she wanted to keep it. While Luffy suffered several stab wounds that had been healed hours later, her captain bounced all over the place as the hero of the island for defeating the tyrant of a decade.

Arlong was defeated. The corrupt marines had been turned in, and Nami finally realized that everyone on her home island knew precisely what she'd been doing all this time. On top of that, the civilians of the island arrived en mass to witness Arlong's defeat. They had trusted in her and trusted in the Straw-hat's victory because of her.

She was free, but mentally she was still catching up at that as the island exploded in a victorious party.

Nami took a long swig of her drink while kicking her legs, and she debated how to answer Usopp's question. "I… I've never bought a hint before." She hadn't the points before, and when she'd gotten them, she'd spent all them on helping her soulmate. She had been paying back everything they had done for her. Now though, she was up again from her soulmates temporary death… so she could.

"Never?" Usopp sounded surprised, but of course, he would be, he actually knew his soulmate. He'd found her early on and could now communicate with her every day as a result. Nami knew he spent much of every night chatting with Kaya all about his day and often brought them all messages from the kind woman. "I spent some the second I could, all little hints." Usopp tapped his fingers absently. He could remember every single hint he'd gotten about Kaya, and it was one of the few things he'd never lied about.

"Blonde hair, pale skin, depressed, orphan…" he added sadly. "Kaya got some about me too, curled hair, excellent aim, liar." He snorted slightly 'long nose' was what made her suspicious."

Nami cocked her head at her crew-mate, thinking of the pair of them, Kaya and Usopp, and how well they matched. Both following their dreams despite being the ocean apart, a choice they agreed with the night after Kuro's defeat. "…will you tell me the story of how you met?" Nami requested gently, and Usopp puffed up his chest lips tilting up at the memory.

"Of course!" Usopp took his typical story pose, "I had already been visiting her for a few years by then, telling Kaya stories to cheer her up ya know? But I didn't realize she was my soulmate, not then anyway. She was just someone I liked and was drawn too… I mean, it's a big world out there and the chances that we lived on the same island and knew each other, bit astronomical that."

Nami nodded along, and Usopp continued.

"So, I was telling Kaya a story about two legendary soulmates. A pair of pirates who challenged the world to keep their forbidden love alive, and she suggested we both buy hints… she told me later she'd been a bit suspicious thanks to the story and her other hints. She realized they all matched me, but she wasn't sure because I hadn't said anything." He smiled fondly, and Nami swallowed away the thickness in her throat; what she wouldn't give to love someone like that, "so we did… and I got, 'right in front of you.' And she got the exact same hint. It was almost like Fate had enough of our dancing around each other." Usopp cast his eyes skyward. He lifted his hand to open his communication page, after that story, he couldn't resist sending Kaya a message filled with his love of her. It was spontaneous, but he knew it would make her smile just as her encouragement had been perfectly timed for his battle with Chu.

"So, we talked about it, and she brought me inside her room. Even then, though, Kuro had been controlling, so we agreed to keep what we were secret. She wanted to let our relationship grow before we told anyone, and… it wasn't like anyone would believe me anyway, so I agreed," he tilted his head, "you guys arrived a few months later."

"Is it hard being away from her?"

Usopp frowned deeply: "it's… weird, I suppose. I can still talk to her and-" he blushed, "-do things with points, which is impossible to time since I share a room with three other guys! But we both agreed I'd follow my dream… still, I miss her, the ability to just… reach out and know she was there instead of a whole ocean away." He bit his lip and subtly wiped at his eyes, "honestly, I think it's better I know she's there, and we can still talk, then not knowing who she was at all. So I hope, even if your, Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy's soulmates stay on their own islands, that you meet them."

Nami scoffed and turned away so he couldn't see her pensive expression: "well, mine will join us. But who knows what kind of soulmate the demonic three will have."

Usopp laughed, trying to picture the people who'd be perfectly matched to Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy… and couldn't. "What if they've already met them?"

"Sanji hasn't," Nami said with confidence, but Luffy and Zoro… it was possible.

"Let's ask." Usopp decided and started waving toward Luffy, who was closest. He happened to be passing by, wandering through the area with an enormous drumstick in both hands and a euphoric expression on his face. "Hey, Luffy! Did you meet your soulmate yet?" No prep for the question, Usopp just went for it. Which really seemed to be the best method when it came to Luffy.

Luffy bounced to a stop beside them and squatted, then he shook his head; "no nope, they're a mystery still!"

"Did you buy any hints?" Nami wondered while debating how she could stop Usopp from asking Zoro, she had a feeling she didn't want to know if he'd met his or not.

Luffy nodded energetically and lifted a hand listing off; "he has dark hair and spots-"

"Spots?" they echoed, shocked.

"-and he has tattoos and insom-ia, and… he's a pirate!"

Nami and Usopp stared and realized quickly that Luffy had been spending a lot of points on bigger hints, which was giving them a very firm image of Luffy's soulmate. Nami noted the last bit. If he was a pirate, he might have a wanted poster that they could use to find… some spotted person.

"Insomnia." Usopp corrected as she thought that, "it means he doesn't sleep much."

Luffy shrugged and wolfed down one of the drum-sticks, "he's a mystery person still, but when I find him, he'll join the crew!"

Nami dropped her head into her hand, fondly: "just like my soulmate, huh?"

"Nami's soulmate too! And Sanji's, and…" he paused, glancing at Usopp before suddenly yelling: "oh! Sanji has something interesting!" Their captain rushed off, and Nami wondered if his leaving off Zoro had something to do with her theories. She wanted to ask if Luffy knew the truth, whatever it was. All Nami currently had was a theory that built as not one of Zoro's wounds healed when even Sanji had lost a few.

Usopp, deciding to dismiss Luffy's soulmate, returned to the topic of Nami's: "So, why don't you buy a hint now?" he suggested, and… why not? Arlong was no longer a concern, she was free of him. Free to make her own choices, to buy her own hints, and continue to earn points to help that stranger.

"A small one then." She decided, opening her options and scrolling to a small hint, a mere ten points. It was extraordinarily cheap, odd because it had cost far more before then. Selecting her option Nami tapped 'accept' to spend the points, then watched as energy twisted in front of her face and popped out a single word.

"'mermaid.'" She read utterly confused, "what?!"

Usopp equally confused tilted his head: "maybe they're a mermaid? Or your meeting has something to do with one?" he made a face, "or they could be around a mermaid right now… maybe a big hint would be better?"

"Mermaid… seriously?" Nami huffed angrily. Why had she gotten such a hint after the day she'd had, what even was the points system! Someone had to be messing with her. "No, I'll save for now. Just in case she dies again!"

"Wait… she?" Usopp jerked in surprise, "she's a she?"

Nami heaved a sigh: "yes, Usopp… she's a she, that a problem?"

"Nope." A wicked expression raced across his face, "but I cannot wait till Sanji finds that out."

"Don't forget the tent! You don't know if you'll be able to find shelter!"

"I know Hermione; I packed it…."

"And books! Just in case you need to learn a new spell, here I bought you and Holly a few on enchanting! You'll never know when they could be useful."

"Thanks, Hermione…"

"Oh! And this, backup clothes in different styles! A new world might dress completely differently than we do here."

"… yeah… right."

Holly flexed her hand under her pillow as Ron and Hermione packed. It seemed all three of them were in very different spots mentally about leaving their world. Hermione was the most excited, this was because she no longer had a tie to their world after the war ended. The school was not doing a repeat year for seventh-year students, and the ministry was scrambling to fix itself up after Voldemort's fingers had been within it. Countless people had been arrested, numerous more positions had to be filled. Yet despite Kingsley hired on as the Minister for magic, Hermione could not get a job without her Newts. Newts she'd have to take in the ministry after self-study, Newts given in the ministry once the system was fixed up, which would take years.

Basically, Muggleborns and anyone missing their seventh year were screwed for a while if you wanted anything outside a casual shop job. On top of that, Hermione could not reverse the memory charm she'd placed on her parents to protect them. They would never again remember her. Hermione threw herself into preparing, into packing for the unknown soulmate that existed a world away and tried to get Holly and Ron to join her excitement.

Ron, on the other hand, was packing at her insistence but didn't want to. Many of his brothers had offered him a job, something to tie him to the world on top of family, something he could use to support himself in the future. From the twin's shop to assisting Charlie or Bill at their jobs. Even Arthur was pulling strings trying to keep his youngest son close. The fact, however, remained, Ron intended to leave, but accepting that it was actually happening now was a challenge.

Holly, on the other hand, was not packing, but also did not want to stay. Kingsley, the public, the order, the ministry, the staff at Hogwarts, everyone wanted something from her. They wanted her to be the public figure against the death eaters at large. To be an Auror making the sheep feel safe. They wanted her to teach defense, so they finally had a professor that would last beyond a year. Everyone was pulling at her, demanding a piece of her, telling her she had to do this.

Holly wanted nothing to do with it. Even if she didn't have the escape out of the world, she never intended to teach, be an Auror, or remain in the magical world. Yes, it was the place she was born in, the place Holly had given her life for, but it wasn't truly hers. The unknown world of her soulmates drew her far more than the people who put her on a pedestal, called her the girl who lived, then abandoned her because she could speak to snakes or because Fudge lied. She cared nothing for those who kept demanding she fix the problem and did nothing to protect themselves, then blamed her for the deaths that occurred.

She wanted to leave. To take her chance in obscurity, where she lived in a world where no one knew her damned name.

Holly would miss the Weasley's, Remus, and Snape, who had managed to get out of his Azkaban sentence with her testimony. She'd miss Ron and Hermione who'd live a whole world away. Where their only possibility of communication lay in a mirror Sirius, Remus, and her father had crafted when they'd been fourteen years old. But most of all, she'd miss her god-father.

She didn't want to leave him even if she knew she would.

"Holly, did you pack your mirror?"

"Yes, Hermione." She pressed her face further into her pillow thinking of the matching one Sirius had presented her several days previously. He'd given it a massive power boost, using Remus to test it across considerable distances to ensure they still worked. He'd smiled then, fondly presenting her with her last Christmas gift all the whole trying to hide how heart-broken he was. His fingers had clutched the matching mirror as she held her own.

"Moony and I have been working on it, it's an upgraded version of what we used as kids. If you say my name into it, it'll connect to the mirror I have. Like those Muggle cell phones… I was hoping they'd work across worlds… so I can still see you even when you're… gone. We tested them across continents, and they still work so… maybe?

"Oh, I'm so excited!" Hermione gushed, "can you imagine! A whole new world."

"Yeah…" she answered, unable to keep eye contact. But was it the right choice?

A world way, Zoro, Luffy, Sanji, Usopp, and Nami placed their heels on a barrel as the wind sped through their hair. The water sprayed at their skin, and the Grand-Line stretched out before them. Together they swore to complete their dreams, to be the freest there was, and to live. The barrel cracked under their heels as they did so. While in that same moment, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Holly Potter stood in the living room of Grimmauld place. With bottomless bags on their shoulders and teary relatives wishing them the absolute best.

Ron had said his goodbyes and tried to hide the tears rushing down his face as his mother desperately tried to cling to her youngest son, leaving her for good. Hermione rubbed her hands together, nervous but excited as she convinced herself that this was her best choice. While Holly tried not to notice how desperately Sirius was trying to hold himself together for her. As he put her needs in front of his own and smiled as he prepared to lose her forever.

Together, the three of them stepped forward in a triangle. They were ready, they were packed, their goodbyes had been said.

"Are you ready?" Holly asked them. This moment, it was almost ritualistic. The golden trio standing together with the war over and the future before them.

"I'm ready." Hermione gripped tight to her bag, she was, she definitely was.

"I think so." Molly was crying behind him, Arthur was comforting her, the twins were making jokes about what might happen, Ginny was avoiding eye-contact, Percy had actually come… and Bill and Charlie were supportively stoic.

Holly nodded to them both, the first friends she'd ever made. The people she'd died to protect, the two she may never see again. Carefully Holly reached forward and placed her hand between them. A split second later, Ron's hand landed on top of hers, then Hermione followed suit.

"Let's do it then." She stated and reached up, opening her options. Countless points, a number too high for the system to even calculate lay before her. She'd saved the world and every life in it. Holly would never need for points again.

Opposite her, Hermione and Ron followed suit. All three of them reaching forward at the same time to select the option then.

"Goodbye," Hermione whispered.

"You better call me," Ron stated firmly.

"I… love you guys." She told them both and energy surged. Ron hit accept, and his world twisted away, to the viewers frantically wishing him goodbye it looked like he'd simply apparated. But he'd never return to their sides again. Hermione was a split second behind, with terror in her chest and Gryffindor courage moving her hand she slammed down on accept and vanished with tears in her eyes.

And Holly was left standing there staring into the face of her god-father.

And she couldn't do it.

A moment passed as Molly wailed, and she stared at Sirius, and she still couldn't do it. In the end, it was Sirius who had to break the silence between them with a forceful smile.

"Pup?" Sirius asked, trying to keep up his smile, to act fine. "Aren't you going? They're waiting for you."

"No," She breathed in realization. She couldn't abandon Sirius like this, she couldn't… she- "No, I'm finding another option." She stepped toward him, "I can't do this without you. So we can find something else, some other way… I want to go together."

"Pup." Sirius firmed his resolve, "this is your only option to find that girl of yours. She's out there waiting for you, and this world… it doesn't need you, it doesn't deserve you. You should go. You'll be happier there, freer there."

"No." Holly stepped away from the triangle, unwilling to admit that she was scared. Some Gryffindor she was, Holly couldn't do what Ron and Hermione had. She couldn't leave Sirius, she didn't want to be alone again, not again. "Sirius… I need you, I need my dad." And she confessed the truth shattering the resolve he'd been trying so hard to keep.

Sirius sagged, wiping at his face to hide the emotional tears of relief that had escaped. A moment later, he surged forward, then she was in his arms. Resting in her god-fathers grip her options twisted like some kind of cruel test that she seemed to have passed, Holly's eyes flew open as she stared at her new choice and knew the gods were watching her.

'Travel worlds, +1.'

Holly burst out laughing and reached up for it: "are you ready to go, Sirius? With me?" he pulled back slightly, still holding her shoulders and gave her a confused look. "The gods offered me a plus one… apparently." But of course they did, the point system worked on desire. To be healed, you had to want to be, if you didn't want to lose a scar or have a wound healed, then it wouldn't happen. So, because of how dearly she wished to keep Sirius with her and because of how much he wanted to join her. The gods allowed it to happen all the while costing her a fortune, which, to Holly, was a mere blink to the unlimited number points she had for saving the world.

"Let's do it," Sirius said, "while the gods are still offering it."

"Lets." She agreed, making sure she was holding Sirius tight so that he would not be pulled from her. Holly tapped the option and accepted it.

And the world she'd died for twisted away, never to be seen by her eyes again.