Harry was silent. Not surprising. Before long he joined Ana on the steps leading to the headmaster's desk and sat heavily beside her. A few more seconds ticked away before he asked the question Ana knew was coming. "Did you know."
He was expecting an answer. The query was spoken as a demand. He turned his head just enough to see her response. All Ana could do was nod her head.
"Why didn't you tell me? You must have been told around the time Dumbledore was teaching me about Voldemort's past."
'He asked me not to say anything until this moment.'
Harry dropped his head dramatically between his knees and spoke lowly. "And now the moment is here, what did he ask you to say?"
Ana raised Harry's chin and turned his head to level with her eyes. She released him and signed slowly and deliberately. Maybe she was trying to stall for time. For all she knew it might be the last time she saw him alive. The clock was nearing the hour.
'He said you can beat him. He said you would face your past trial once more. And if you make the choice to continue living, you can bring him down.'
"Make the choice? What did he mean by that?"
Ana shrugged. 'He was very vague about the details. I suspect only you will find out what he meant. The point is you have a spare portion of soul inside you. That's how you survived the last killing curse, and that's how you can survive it again. One more time.' She touched her hand to his cheek and locked on his eyes. Ana held a single finger up to him. One.
Harry grasped at Ana's hand and kissed it chastely before hopping to his feet and heading for the door. Ana followed and grabbed his shirt roughly. Was he insane? Harry turned back to her. "I have all the information I could possibly have asked for. It's almost time. I can't be late or you're all in danger."
He tried to twist away from her, but Ana merely threw another hand out for a fistful of shirt. Harry took both her hands in his own and drew her close. "Ana, I have to go. Too many have died already. I have the chance to stop this and wither I come out alive or not I have to take it."
Ana let go with one hand. 'And if you don't do you think Voldemort will just stop?'
"No, but I'll figure it out." He placed his hands on her face, on either cheek. "I'm the chosen one, remember?" It was a poor joke and only serviced to well Ana's eyes with tears. Harry delved his lips into Ana's. The taste was bittersweet. He kissed her with such passion Ana had never felt from him before. He was kissing her for the last time.
As quickly as he had come into her he was gone, rushing away from her and out the door.
Ana watched the door close before moving herself. He would kill her for this later, if he lived to find out, but Ana wasn't letting him go on this suicide mission alone. She sprinted out the door after Harry and took an alternate route out of the castle toward the Forbidden Forest. With any luck she could beat him there and assonate Voldemort before Harry had the chance to get himself killed. They were supposed to end this together, Dumbledore had said so himself. Who was she to prove the wisest wizard who ever lived wrong?