Author's Notes: Right so here's what you lot have been waiting for. It's a little rough. But I think i've done it right. My Beta's are busy though so this is likely to have some issues. Regardless, this would actually have been longer except I felt it ended best the way it is. Sorry for torturing you with the angst and the cliff hanger. Enjoy.

Chapter 21: Fulfilment.

"Harry?" Hermione said, her voice a little unsteady. "I need to speak to you about something…"

Something in her tone caught his attention and he glanced over at her worried. Hermione who was usually fairly self assured, suddenly appeared uneasy, uncertain. She glanced away, her eyes darting around the room, not meeting his eyes.

"Hermione?" He asked, concerned. "Are you okay? You look upset…Did I do something wrong?" He asked, wondering if he'd done something while in her mind which she had taken offence to.

She gave a start, finally looking back to him. "What? No, no nothing like that." She rushed to assure him. "It's just—there's something important we need to talk about and I'm not sure how to…" She trailed off.

He was surprised. Hermione, wasn't generally one who could be at a loss for words. She paused and seemed to think about it then started, grimacing with determination. "Harry, we've been friends for a long time…" She began, gaining strength. "You've been a good friend. You've been kind and I really want you to know I appreciate it."

He quirked a small smile, "It was hardly a burden Hermione, being your friend. In fact it must have been harder on you than it was on me…" He teased. "I mean think of all the things I've dragged you into."

She smiled a bit wanly. "I didn't mind, not really." She noted his dubious look and waved it off. "Oh I was scared at the time, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." She locked eyes with him, "I'll always be there for you Harry."

He smiled again. Unsure where she was going with this, but pleased she thought so. "Thank you, I can't tell you how much that means to me, having your support…"

She cut across him. "And, I wanted to—I wanted you to know, whatever you need of me, I'll do it. I'll be there…" He watched her in silent consternation as she stuttered a little. Why was she so anxious? "Whatever way in which you need me. I'm willing…"

"Thank you Hermione, I'm glad to have you as my friend." He assured her. Was she afraid he intended to leave her?

She paused, and stared at her hands, her expression almost accusing, before she finally gathered herself. "No Harry…you don't get it." She said sighing and shaking her head.

"Hermione, I'm confused, what's wrong?"

She continued to stare at her hands for a time and then glanced around marshalling herself. She looked at him before leaning forward and gently grabbed his hands and held them in her own over her knees. "Harry, I don't know how to say this, so I'm just going to say it…I only hope you…" She trailed off for a moment. "Harry, I will be your friend, no matter what, but I will if you need me to, if you want me to, be your friend and your confidant. But more than that…" She took a breath. "If you want…" She shook her head, and her eyes hardened. And Harry began to understand, not that he comprehended just yet. "No, I want—I want more than that. I want to be your friend, your companion, your confidant yes." She stared hopefully into his eyes. "But I was hoping that maybe, just maybe I could be your girlfriend." As her nerve started to waver she looked back down at there hands, which she had clasped tightly together. Not seeing the look of wondering spreading across Harry's face. "And maybe your lover, your wife and maybe, some day…the mother of your children" she whispered.

Her voice was trembling now, and she still couldn't look at him. "I want those things, and I'm hoping maybe you want them too. I know I'm not that…" She babbled but stopped when his hands gently withdrew from her own and froze only to jerk when they reappeared cupping her face, drawing her eyes up to his.

Harry, couldn't believe it, he was stunned, his throat tightened, his heart thumping a thousand miles an hour. He smiled at her. "Hermione…" He drew a breath and looked deep into her eyes, both a beautiful chocolate brown. "I would love nothing more than for that to be reality." He told her, and her eyes widened as he continued. "You are everything to me, and…" he stuttered. "What I mean to say to you Hermione is this…" He saw hope dawning in her eyes. "Yes, I would be honoured to have you in my life. Yes I want that too."

He pushed to his feet and leaned across the distance between them, slowly at first, and then moving more quickly as he saw the permission in her eyes, kissing her. And as they kissed, the tension left her, her shoulders loosening and she leaned in kissing him back.

They continued to kiss for a time, slow and sweet, only breaking apart when they needed breath. And to their surprise, found themselves surrounded, by a warm golden glow, white motes of light twisting in gentle vortices about them, and Harry felt his heart swell, felt his spirits soar skyward. Tears began to collect in his eyes, as he realized he'd done it, he'd found the one meant for him. The one he in turn was meant for.

It took a moment to collect himself, but finally he spoke as Hermione peered at the lights in wonder. "Hermione…they say great minds think alike, and while I'm not sure I'd classify my own as great. I want you to know something…" He smiled at her his whole countenance glowing. "I want you to know, I've wanted this too, for a while now really. I was working on how to tell you." he confessed, then smiled ruefully at her. "But then again you always were quicker on the uptake than me."

But there are things I need to say, and things I need to show you…" He muttered, brushing his hair worriedly. What if…No he couldn't think like that, not now. "I want you to know, that when I think of beautiful people I think of you. When I imagine the future, it's you I imagine by my side." he rubbed his thumb across her cheek. "Hermione Jame Granger, I want you to know, that…I—I love you."

Awe and wonder entered her face and he continued. "Hermione, I can't imagine me with anyone else. Hermione…will you please be my girlfriend and…" he paused his voice failing him. He grimaced momentarily and cursed himself. Come on Harry, you saw the glow, you know what it means, you know what you want. And you know how she feels. Fortune favours the brave, and today you are very fortunate! He gulped and looked into her face again. "Hermione, would you—someday—be my wife?"

She teared up and leapt at him, recapturing his lips with her own, they spun, only parting at long last with great reluctance. She gave him a faux serious expression, which was belied by the smile which keep fighting its way through. "Yes!"

And for the first time in week, the world seemed right and for the first time in what felt like an age, he felt truly alive, truly reborn. He felt hope.

—-

They could have, if they had their way, stood there forever. Simply enjoying the comforting warmth of each other's embrace.

That was truly what Hermione desired more than anything to do right then. She'd done it, she wanted to hoot and holler in triumph, she'd done it! She'd screwed up her courage and told Harry how she'd felt. For a moment there she'd been afraid she'd gone too far, saying far more than first intended. But to her everlasting relief he hadn't taken it amiss.

Instead, the incredible had happened. He'd told her he felt the same. Something she'd barely dared to dream of. He'd asked her to be his girlfriend. But more than that, he'd told her that he loved her.

And to her vast amazement he'd implied he saw them together, as far more than that in the future. It was a golden vision in her mind, one which was it appeared, despite all expectations, a reality.

But, even this, shining, golden, perfect moment, like all good things, had to come to an end. In this case it came gently, as they pulled back smiling at each other.

A peculiar expression spread across Harry's face and she cocked her head at him, still smiling. "What is it?"

"There are things we need to talk about aren't there? Things I haven't been telling you?" He asked, clearly loathe to even bring it up.

She considered him, it was true, she knew he'd been keeping something back, and if he felt this was something that needed to be mentioned now it was important. "I think there are."

He nodded, looking worried. "I want you to know, that I—The only reason I haven't spoken to you about these things is because I couldn't…It was a matter of can't not won't. But things are different now and I know you are allowed to know them too given that…"

She considered his worried expression. "I'm not going anywhere Harry, I promise."

He chuckled. "You always were the bravest and boldest of those in Gryffindor…" He nodded to himself. "Perhaps I should show you, but is it wrong that I just want to stay here and hold you…"

She smiled, and pecked a kiss on his lips. "I'd like that too. But if this is something I need to know…"

Harry watched her for a time, just smiling to himself. "Okay, I'll show you. And I think I know just how to do it….Do you want to look at my mind now?"

She was surprised by the offer, then nodded, a touch worried now. Whatever this was it was big, and important. They sat themselves once again in the chairs across from each other. "I'm ready when you are." Harry assured her.

She drew her wand and ignited it murmuring the incantation. She extended the wand to Harry's temple and his eyes went distant. Then she raised the wand to her own and once again the world washed away.

—-

Hermione's vision resolved as she appeared in what for all appearances was the corridor of a castle, though not one she was readily familiar with from Hogwarts.

As she looked around she found Harry standing next to her, examining his feet with a serious expression. He looked up as she continued turning to examine her surroundings. Eventually she turned her attention back to him and he spoke. "You know, I have no idea how to tell you what I need to?" He noted smiling wryly.

He paused considering as she waited patiently. "Maybe I should tell you about some of the things I've found out and what I know about my life?" He speculated.

She smiled encouragingly. "However you want to tell me. I'll listen." She promised.

He smiled thinly in gratitude. "Why don't you walk with me?" He suggested and they began pacing along the corridor. He appeared to think about it for a while before picking a place to begin. "This was years ago you understand, years before even my parents were born I think…" He began. "Dumbledore was still just a teacher at Hogwarts at this point. He was given the task of bringing a young orphaned halfblood into the wizarding world… He was of course as now always willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, but…when he found that boy in that orphanage, even then he knew something was wrong about him. The boy's name was Tom Marvolo Riddle."

She nodded soberly. "Voldemort…"

He agreed, "He brought him to Hogwarts of course, but the school did nothing to temper him, if anything having some power made him even worse. But people ignored Dumbledore's concerns, he was a fairly charming boy at that age I'm told…" He hesitated. "Anyway, I don't know if this was something he'd always had inside him or was something that developed with time. But He apparently became obsessed with the concept of death, he was terrified of it. I think maybe just maybe he was afraid that dying would make him just like everybody else, just another mortal. Either way he started searching for a method to defeat it."

Hermione shook her head, one didn't need to have read the stories to know that quest was folly.

"He happened across a reference, probably in some book which has long since been forgotten, but he found what he believed to be a lead, so he needed to know more." Harry noted, pausing as they came to a door. "As I said he was charming, charismatic, he persuaded a teacher into telling him about what he was looking for."

"He found out that there was a method, forbidden for a reason, to split your own soul and store the pieces in an object or creature. A person who'd been…shattered like this would not die so long as those pieces were bound to this world." Harry pondered as he opened the door and gestured her through. "These fragments of soul, when stored outside yourself are known as Horcruxes. He liked the idea, even though it came at a cost. You can only shatter your soul by committing atrocities, most commonly by murder." He frowned.

"I can't say for certain but I believe it was Myrtle's murder which he used to fuel his first Horcrux." Hermione frowned considering what a person must be like to even consider such a thing. Harry continued. "but you know Tom, he couldn't be satisfied with just creating one of these things. He wanted to be the next best thing to godlike he wanted to be untouchable."

"He wanted seven. Anyone who knows the least bit about arithmancy can probably guess why." He noted bitterly. Hermione nodded as they paced through a courtyard snow on the ground beneath a starry sky. Seven was the most potently magical number she knew of. "He left Hogwarts soon enough, and began to gather his army of followers around him, he intends to make himself an immortal ruler over everything. Why? I don't know, possibly simply so he has complete control of his world. He spent years planning and creating his Horcruxes. He had to find appropriate artifacts to house them, and he didn't want such a significant creation to be made with any old kill. He chose his victims carefully. He'd made six that I know of, by the time my parents were married."

He shrugged. "Of course by this point he was fairly certain of just how secure his position was, even if he didn't have all seven yet, he'd began his war on the Wizarding world."

"Things changed one night though. Dumbledore now running Hogwarts went to the three broomsticks in Hogsmeade to interview a new teacher for the position in divinations. Trelawney actually. She of course provided a less than impressive showing of talent and Dumbledore was about ready to turn her down. He didn't think much of trying to teach such a…fluffy art at Hogwarts. But that stopped when she had a real vision right in front of him. The kind they keep records of in the hall of prophecy."

She recalled the prophecy Harry had recounted to her, the one which predicted him being forced to fight Voldemort to the death.

"Unfortunately, Dumbledore was not the only one present for the vision." Harry growled irritably. "Snape, who at the time was a loyal Death Eater was there too, and listened in. Well—up until he got caught and thrown out that is. Still he repeated what he'd managed to overhear to Voldemort. Who naturally didn't like what he heard."

Hermione listened carefully as they reentered the castle. "Voldemort knew someone who might destroy him was about to be born thanks to Snape, and when the specified date came and two children were born who fit with the vision, he took action."

"The other potential target was Neville by the way." Harry noted soberly to her. "But Voldemort didn't focus on him. Instead he fixated on me. Perhaps because we are both Half-Bloods, or perhaps because of other similarities we shared, I don't know." He shrugged, then once again paused. "Ironically Snape who of course was aware of Voldemorts plans was the one who informed our side of the coming attacks. You see at one time Snape had been in love with my mother, though she didn't return his affection. He tried to save her by telling Dumbledore what was coming." Hermione gave him a shocked expression at that revelation.

Harry sighed. "but we all know how that turned out. Pettigrew betrayed my parents, and Voldemort came for us at Godric's Hollow. He thought it would be fitting to use my murder to make his last Horcrux." Harry grimaced. "Again I don't how exactly but my mother came up with a way to protect me. She fuelled a protective spell she had found with her love for me, and sealed it with her sacrifice in my defence. It worked, as we both know, and Voldemort was killed. But the fragment he created by attacking me was fused to me in the process…"

"You know most of the rest, he died and the wizarding world celebrated. I was sent to my aunt and uncle, blah blah blah. Eventually I ended up coming to Hogwarts. And I suspect my numerous run-ins with Tom were not coincidence, It's possible Dumbledore allowed them in the hopes I'd succeed in killing him once and for all. But I don't know for certain."

They started down a staircase. "You know I have no idea how to cover this next part…" He noted, grimacing.

Hermione was ready, she wanted to know what had happened this summer to change things. "It's alright Harry, whatever it is you can tell me."

He sighed. "I suppose just saying it is really the only way to go isn't it?" He looked at her speculatively. "Hermione…this is not the first time I have lived this life."

—-

Harry watched her expression as she came to a halt, she appeared stunned to say the least. "What? What do you mean…you've traveled in time?" he nodded. "Like with a Time Turner?" She asked confused. He could understand why, time turners didn't work the way he was suggesting.

He shook his head. "No, the method I used was a bit different, and significantly more painful." He noted tiredly. "Why don't you let me tell you how it went last time, and we'll go from there?"

She nodded numbly. "Uh—yeah, maybe that would be best…"

"Last time I went through this, things were…worse for me. I had just gone through the events of the third task and you and Ron didn't send me messages that summer." He saw her apologetic look and he smiled reassuringly. "Umbridge ended up as our defence teacher that time," he chuckled at her repulsed and horrified look. "It was torture, in more ways than one. At some point I started having dreams about a doorway. You warned me not to trust them but I was too angry that year to listen." He noted bitterly. "Late that year, I had another dream, this time showing Voldemort, in the Department of Mysteries, with Sirius as a hostage. Attempting to torture information out of him." He smiled wanly at Hermione. "You can guess how I reacted."

"I ended up dashing off, half-cocked, on a mad rescue mission leading you, Ron, Luna, Ginny and Neville to the Department." He sighed. "It was a trap, because of course it was. Sirius wasn't there, he never had been. I learned too late it was a trick by Voldemort to get me to breach the protections around the record of the prophecy."

Grief was seeping into his expression and Hermione felt dread. "The Order came to the rescue of course…But Sirius was killed by Bellatrix Lestrange in the fighting."

"Oh Harry," Hermione groaned, she could just imagine what that had done to him.

He continued regardless. "You were wounded, nearly dying from a curse from Dolohov. Ron, Luna, Ginny, Neville? You all almost died because of me…The next year was even worse."

"The Ministry could no longer deny Voldemorts return, he and Dumbledore had a fight in the main plaza of the Ministry. That statue was destroyed…But since he no longer needed to hide Voldemort began striking openly. It was chaos."

He drew a shaky breath. "Perhaps it was Sirius dying, or the way I almost got you killed…But you and I were not as close as we had once been. So when I started raising concerns that year about Malfoy's behaviour, you wouldn't be convinced. You and Ron were dancing about each other, in a way nobody could miss…I ended up with Ginny, we know why that is now…Regardless we argued a lot." He grimaced. "Dumbledore decided he'd teach me as I would need to face Voldemort. But his idea of teaching was to tell me small fragments of the truth once every couple months, eventually coming to a mad mission, just me and him for a Horcrux he had located. That was how I learned Voldemort's past."

He stopped as they entered a large chamber and turned to face her. "The mission didn't go well, he was…injured by the defences around the Horcrux and it turned out it was a fake anyways…" He huffed a deep breath. "We managed to return to the school, just in time for Malfoy to open a way past the defences. Death Eaters stormed the school." he reported grimly. "Snape and Draco cornered us on the Astronomy Tower, Snape was the one who killed Dumbledore."

"In the end we drove them out of the school, but it was bad Dumbledore was dead. You can imagine what that did to anybody who opposed Voldemort." She nodded, agreement. Dumbledore was all that gave the average witch or wizard any hope of beating the Dark Lord.

"The Ministry fell that summer, Voldemort showed up to kill the Minister personally. We…were at Fleur and Bill's wedding when the Death Eaters came for us." He said, remembering the panic and confusion of that night all too clearly. "We fled, you, me and Ron. We decided to search for the Horcruxes on our own. We couldn't return to Hogwarts now, considering it was now run by Death Eaters. We spent a good portion of a year on the run. Things were bad. Muggleborns were being rounded up and imprisoned or worse. Big surprise, Ron didn't handle the stress well, he bailed on us soon enough, though he did come back like two or three months later."

He drew a deep shuddering breath. "But I slipped up. I made a mistake when I got frustrated. I said his name, which he had placed under a taboo…" he paused to see if she understood, she nodded that she did. "Voldemort's followers found us…"

He looked across the room, and her eyes followed his. There set into the wall was a great door, of glowing white fire. "We were taken to Malfoy Manor to await his arrival. I don't know why he took his sweet time coming himself, possibly to just rub it in that he'd caught us. You…were tortured," he shook his head and looked away from her. "Do you remember what the Doctor said about the complications of long term Amourtentia exposure?"

She nodded, clearly dreading what came next. "Your heart gave out, and you died just before I could reach you. I had escaped the basement where we were being held, but it was too late…" He drew himself up. "I killed Bellatrix for killing you, but Ron scarpered soon after, and I was alone when Voldemort arrived. Long story short I killed his current body, but not before he strained me to the breaking point, my own heart gave out. I held you as I died, just praying you would wake up…"

He turned back to the door. "I woke up…somewhere else. I was informed while I was there, that time is a battlefield…" He said, his eyes darting back and force considering the doors glowing surfaces. "An endless war is being fought between God and the Devil. I was informed by a very—exuberant Angel of Death that my life was a "Critical Node" in this war." He heard Hermione's breathing hitch and he looked over, she appeared stunned.

"My life is apparently a point in time where things will either get better or worse in this battle between Heaven and Hell." He noted ironically, smiling slightly at her wide eyed expression.

"I was told that like all wars, those participating have limited resources. I found out that some of those resources had in the past been expended to send me back. Though I had no memory of it." He considered her then the door again, and ran his hand over the material, it was both cold and warm at the same time…"I have been sent back, I am told, a grand total of forty seven times, each time in the hopes that this time it would work out and I'd secure this node for the good guys. And each time I failed, and a few more resources were lost…"

"You see, apparently because of oaths God swore when he created Humanity Heaven is limited in how much they may interfere with free agency. If they break this oath, the binds which hold the Devil and his fallen Angels in hell are broken." He saw her wince at the idea. "The point in all this is, that by the time number forty seven ended, Heaven's resources for that field of battle were all but spent. So they came up with a new plan, one last hurrah before calling it quits. The plan was simple. Spend every last bit of what they had left sending me back, one last time. Only this time I would have a little help…This time I'd get to keep my memory of my previous run through, this time they'd warn me about Ron and Molly. This time they nudge things here and there to make my first little while back run more smoothly. And they informed me, that there was someone out there who could complete me.

He chuckled slightly at the oh expression she got at that last part. "I met my Angel of Death while I was there, I think I mentioned that already? A grim reaper, a probationary Angel. The soul of a person who died and who now served in the hopes of making up for past mistakes they'd made. She told me, that I could only tell one person all this. My soul mate."

He smiled and turned to her "I was told how to recognize her when I found her. So you can imagine my happiness when she told me she loved me a few minutes ago. Those fireworks we saw were the confirmation."

"Me?" Breathed Hermione.

He nodded, smiling fondly. "As for the Angels of Death. I met two of them actually. One was named Ezekiel, an Arch Angel. The other you've met as well actually, though you don't know it."

Her eyebrows rose until they almost disappeared under her hair. "Really?"

He chuckled. "Yup, you know me. I can't help but open my mouth when i shouldn't. I got in an argument with Ezekiel…Actually it was more me yelling at him and him just looking at me as if I were crazy. Point is I felt that the Angel who had helped me deserved her own second chance at life. After all I'd gotten forty-seven tries at life, why didn't she get another?" He asked, shrugging, and smiled sheepishly at her.

"To my surprise, he spoke with God and they actually listened to me. They offered her a second chance, on the condition she used her new life to help me on my mission." He smiled at the look of dawning comprehension on her face. "Kara, couldn't believe I stood and argued with an Arch Angel. You should have seen how mad she was." Hermione at this point was pretty much stuck with her jaw hanging open a little bit. So he decided to move on. He pushed at the door and it swung open, he concentrated and a trio of orbs floated lazily out of the light beyond the door.

He pointed to each sphere in turn. "This one is my memories of that last life, some of them anyways. This one is what I remember of Heaven and my Mission. And this one…" He hesitated. "This last one is my memories of our deaths. I don't know that you want to see that, but it's here if you want to."

She just stood there gaping at her for a time, long enough that Harry was starting to worry he might have sent her into shock. She stuttered as she finally regained control of her tongue. "Harry, you understand what you've just told me right?" She asked, half disbelieving. "You are telling me, that not only were you sent back in time by Angels. One of whom happens to be Kara, a cantankerous American from Jersey. But that me and you….we're soul mates?"

He was uneasy hoping he hadn't blown it. "Yeah, pretty much. I know—It's a lot to take in. But I swear it's the truth…"

She stood there considering him. "You know, I don't think the word wow, covers this…" She muttered before turning to look at the orbs. "How long will it take to see these?"

He shrugged. "I don't know actually, they're memories, so anywhere to as long as it took for them to actually happen, hopefully not, to no time at all…"

She nodded, "May I?" She asked indicating the first sphere.

He smiled slightly. "Of course, that's what they are there for."

She nodded absently, ignoring the note of humour in his tone, before reaching out to caress it.

—-

Harry watched her closely as she withdrew her hand from the orb a minute or two later. She stared at it as though it had grown an additional digit, only briefly glancing at him before hurriedly over to the second and touching it.

Again, it was only a minute or two before she withdrew her hand again. This time when she withdrew her hand she was shaking her head in disbelief before stalking over to the last. Here she hesitated, no doubt wondering if she dared, if she really wanted to see what it had to show.

This time she seemed to linger there longer than expected. It seemed an eternity each second that passed with her hand engulfed in the light. Harry saw tears were beginning to stream down her face when she finally reeled back.

He hurried forward to keep her on her feet and she glanced at him, surprised to see him so close. "Harry—" She murmured, shaking her head. "This is…so much to process."

He nodded, sobering further. "I understand, and—If you can't handle it, and if you—don't want to be with me anymore, I promise…"

Her hand snaked out and she placed a finger across his lips. And then to his surprise she laughed. "Boys are SO stupid some times, you know that?" She asked him cocking her head to one side.

"You know, I just found out that my boyfriend is on a mission from God himself, to save the world. As if it weren't shocking enough to find out God definitely exists. On top of that, MY boyfriend, needs me to help him survive his mission, and not only that." She shook her head. "Not only that, he loved me enough, even under the influence of an ungodly amount of potion which was actually killing him…He loved me enough to sacrifice himself avenging me. I saw it Harry!" She said chuckling. "I saw you hold me as you died, how you felt losing me, and yet you suggest I leave you?" She asked.

She reached up and cupped his face. "I never dreamed anyone, let alone you, could feel that way for me…" She whispered.

She leaned forward and kissed him, and the two of them stood there, just breathing each other in for what seemed like time unending, before she finally pulled back. "I'm not going anywhere Harry Potter, and don't you forget it.

He broke into a smile and opened his mouth to reply, but there was a deep gonging noise and the both looked up.

The noise was recognizable, despite their less than normal surroundings. Someone was knocking at the door.

Author's Note:

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