Author Note: An expansion of a blurb from R's Ramblings.

(BEGIN)

Neville had often wondered what happened to Harry and Hermione. They had vanished just after the Ministry fell to briefly reappear at the final battle. Dark angels of death who casually rendered Death Eaters into chunky salsa. Moving like dancers through the spell battles in a ballet of fire.

Then just before the sun rose on that day they left. They did not say goodbye to anyone, did not leave to join the celebration. Luna claimed they had gone into the west to be with the other great heros but then Luna claimed that her knickers kept getting taken by Nargles. Neville chuckled that his wife was odd, but fun.

The next decade had seen rumors of their reappearance to hunt down and deal vengeance upon those Death Eaters and pure-blood supremacists who had escaped the battle. Some of them took extraordinary measures but eventually everyone who carried the Dark Mark had finally died.

Over that decade Neville had followed the rumors and sightings andfinally thought he had found them. He travaelled to an abandoned ruined chapel in the Scottish Highlands. It was deep in a valley where little sunlight reached and even fewer tourists journeyed.

Crawling into the ruins he felt a chill as the sun sank below the horizon casting the last few rays into the chamber. In the fading light he beheld a half naked Hermione sprawled across a grave that held Harry. The two of them were so pale and still that they must have died recently. Neville grieved until the sunlight had faded from the chamber.

In the darkness he heard a stirring rustling sound causing him to cast a lumos. In the light he saw Harry sitting up and Hermione languidly moving across to another coffin to pick up her shawl.

"Hello Neville. Long time no see eh?" Harry sighed in a breathless whisper.

"Uh yeah. I didn't come at a bad time did I?" he tried to chuckle but his mouth had gone dry. He had not believed the rumors about what had happened to them, unfortunately it was rather obvious now.

Hermione smiled, "Relax Neville we have enough control. You're safe."

Neville chuckled, "I never doubted it."

Harry just shook his head as he gave Hermione a kiss then with a nod to Neville he transformed into a bat and flew out a high window.

Hermione smiled as she gestured to a stone chair that had grown out of the floor, "Relax Nev. I can hear your heart racing."
"Right of course." Neville tried to calm down but was not have ing much success.

"Do you mid turning the Lumos off. Our eyes are a lot more sensitive to light." Hermione requested in her breathy voice, "I promise Neville you're safe."

Neville took a deep breath and cancelled the lumos. After he did a pale soft blue light like a fulll moon filled the chamber.

"See, I like you Neville but not for dinner."
"Thanks. I uh. I see you can make jokes about this." He said nervously. He was calming down as Hermione had settled onto the tomb across from him. Her shawl covered her upper body now so he was not distracted by her bare bosom.

"Well the only other option was to go insane and embrace the beast. Neither Harry nor I liked that plan." Hermione said with a shrug.

Neville swallowed as he wanted to ask so many questions but he didn't know where to begin or even if he should begin. Fortunately Harry returned with a large ram under his arms.

"You might want to step outside for a few. We'll come out and meet you as soon as we're finished." Harry said.

Neville nodded and made his way out under the stars.

...

A bit later Harry and Hermione said he could rejoin them. Carefully approaching the chamber he saw it was clean and there was no trace of their meal. Sitting on the stone he smiled at them, "So uh. Feel better?"

Harry shrugged, "I are like eating junk food but since we ran out of Death Eaters and blood purists we'd rather not take the alternative."

Neville nodded. He was glad to see his friends had retained some degree of humanity. Although the implication they had eaten the Death Eaters made him a bit concerned.

"So why did you come to find us Nev?" Harry asked after the three of them had sat silently for several minutes. Neville studying the two of them carefully. They sat so still and unmoving, like fine marble statues, unblinking eyes focused on him.

Neville pondered that question. He had asked himself that same thing multiple times. Luna seemed to understand, but then she understood a lot more about the world than he could ever hope to.

Taking a deep breath of the stale musty air he replied, "I wanted to know what happened to you both. If the stories and rumors were true. I wanted to thank you. I guess."
Harry looked sadly at the ground while Hermione looked like she might have sighed if she still breathed. Another memory from the long ago classes floated to the surface that vampires only breathed when they needed to hunt or speak.

"We did not do this for thanks Neville. We did it for revenge at what happend to us. For what they did to the world we had been promised." Hermione bitterly said.

Harry squeezed her hand causing her to look abashed briefly. "Still it is nice to see you. And I suppose we owe you the truth about what happened."
Neville licked his lips but said, "Only if you really think it would be appropriate."
Hermione smiled, "We'll leave out a lot of the messier details."

"Thanks." Neville said gratefully.

Hermione took a deep breath which meant she was going to be talking a lot Neville expected, "Ron had just abandoned us on the Horcrux hunt. Harry and I was almost captured by snatchers but managed to get away and wind up here. In the nest of a vampire. He captured me. He had been alone for a very long time and decided to make me his bride and use Harry as our wedding feast." She ran out of breath and paused with her eyes closed like she was remembering things.

After another long breathe she began again, "He turned me. Then when he presented me with Harry to feed I resisted. Something inside me managed to overcome his thrall over me as my master and I turned on him. I fought and destroyed him."

Harry took a turn to speak, "When I saw her finish him off I thought she might destroy me after all but she cried tears of blood as she hid in the corner of the tomb. She needed to drink but refused to kill me. I realized I loved her and couldn't live without her. That I would rather feed her than be without her."
"So the fool took and cut his wrist. I was so hungry and crazy that when i smelled his sweet aroma I couldn't help myself. I drank from him. I managed to stop myself before it was too late and I turned him too." She said in shame. "I hadn't wanted him to die. So I instinctually embraced him. Somehow instead of becoming my slave Harry became my partner and my equal. "
"By then the dawn had come and we fell into torpor, fortunately I guess we were far enough back not to be reached by the sunlight. The next night after we woke we debated what to do. We decided after much debate." Harry's smile made Neville think that it was not a quick or quiet debate. "That we would vanquish them beyond any hope of ever rising again. We would send a message from the darkness that they would not escape."
"So we began to use our powers to hunt them. To finish seeking the Horcruxes. After the battle we couldn't stay. We knew some of you wouldn't undeerstand or you wold fear us. We still remembered what happened with Remus." Harry said with a frown. Neville had a fair idea who he was talking about.

"So we continued the hunt. Ending bloodlines. Completely." Hermione stated coldly.

Neville nodded, "The Ministry went crazy trying to find you. You were not very subtle."

"At first no. We were angry, we were still learning to control the beast within us. We made a few mistakes but we at least never created any more." Harry said looking sadly.

"That's good then. I suppose." Neville said unsure of what to say.

Hermione smiled at him, "So tell us what has happened. We've been so focused on our task that we lost track of everyone and everything else."

"Are you sure you won't need to hunt?" Neville knew they had to have several pints of blood a night and he doubted that ram had a full meal in it for the both of them.

"When we are just sitting still existing we do not burn through our meal as quick." Harry explained.

Neville did not remember that but accepted it since Harry and Hermione should know. He gave a nervous titter as he realized how strange that sounded.

"Somethign funny?" Hermione asked with a smirk.

"Sorry. I was just thinking how surreal this is."

"I know. So how has your life been?" Harry prompted.

"Well Luna and I got married. We have two kids and one on the way." He noticed Hermione give a sad rub of her stomach which caused him to grimace. Vampires coudl not have children, at least not in the normal way.

"I've accepted it Neville. Don't feel bad." Hermione said sympathetically. "It's just a minor emptiness, like after having a tooth pulled you still probe the socket."

As he had never lost a tooth he simply nodded, "Well still. Uh Luna runs the Quibbler still and takes care fo the estate. She also writes novels now. Stories for muggles about our world couched in fairy tale terms. She says maybe someday she can carry on her father's work to reunite the two halves."

"That would be nice." Hermione said. "And what do you do?"

":I teach. Herbology after Professor Sprout retired." He said with a smile, "The Hufflepuffs like me, I'm not too sure about the Gryffindors but oh well." He said with a proud chuckle.

"So how are things at the castle." Harry asked wistfully, "We thought about going back but haven't wanted to risk it."
"I think you'd be welcome. Minerva has pushed through a lot of changes. We have a lycan student, and a half-goblin. She also made sure Hagrid got his wand so he could be a proper professor." Neville said causing Harry to look like he was fighting back tears.

"Wow. That does sound nice." Hermione said, "So what else?" She sounded eager for news. Neville supposed it did get rather lonely.

"Well Poppy is still there. Slughorn retired so Lavender took over. She married Seamus. Ginny teaches defense." Neville said with a slight hesitation. He had walked in on her crying one day looking at a picture of Harry in the hall.

"Did she, did she ever find someone?" Harry asked reluctantly. Hermione held his hand.

Neville shook his head, "No. I'm sorry Harry. We've all tried to be her friend but she, she says she's okay."

Harry nodded as a single red streak began to roll down his face. "She never got closure after we broke up."

Neville shook his head, "No I don't think so."

"What about Ron?" Hermione asked since Harry was looking like he was focused inward.

"Well he and his brothers have several magic shops. They sell more than jokes and stuff. He lives in Hogsmeade with his wife and kids. He wound up marrying Hannah Abbott, that was a surprise." Neville laughed as he started regaling them with tales of their friends, the people who they had left behind. Harry and hermione laughing silently at some of the stories, crying a few red tears at others.

How Ron had started to get soft in the middle already. How much Minerva had modernized the school. When he told them about the memorial to the people they did lose and how the two of them were the first ones honored they looked ashamed but merely shook their heads.

Neville had talked so much about everything that happened he didn't realize the night had gone by until he realized the gray twilight of pre-dawn was coming.

"Oh wow. I talked the night away." He yawned. "I'm sorry. It just felt so much like old times talking to the two of you."

"Yeah it did." Harry said standing up. Hermione stood and fluidly went to another stone sarcophagus and retrieved her beaded handbag.

Coming to him she pressed it into his hands before giving him a kiss on the lips. It was like kissing a porcelin doll before she pulled away, "Here give this to Luna for me please. It has my diary in it that she can do what she wants with. I've kept it up since, since the night."

Harry nodded, "Please tell Ginny. I cared about her. That if I had lived who knows what might have happened but I never wanted to hurt her."

Neville nodded to the both of them before he realized they were walking towards the outside valley. The valley that faced the rising sun. "Guys the sun is getting ready to come up."

Hermione stopped with a shuddering breath she said, "We know Neville. We took down the last one of the escaped Death Eaters a few nights ago. Our task is done. Anything else is up to you guys."
Harry turned and placed his hand on Neville's shoulder. "Its been too long since I saw a sunrise."

Neville put his hand on Harry's houlder leaning his forehead against his friend's. "I'll make sure Ginny understands what happened. I'll see she gets closure."
Harry was crying openly now, "Thank you. You were a good friend, and a brother."

Neville had begun to cry and looked at Harry who nodded with an easy grin. The streaks of red running down his cheeks the only thing ruining his youthful appearance.

Harry and Hermione walked outside in the growing light, finding a nice spot in the open they stood holding each other's hands. Neville was hesitant to watch but felt that he had to force himself. To somehow witness thier goodbye to this world.

Just as the first rays of the sun broke over the rim of the valley they threw their arms around each other in a tight embrace. Their lips meeting as the sun touched them with its warm caress. The golden glow infusing them as they smoldered and rapidly turned to ashes. Their forms holding their shape for a split second before sliding and falling to the ground to be distibuted by the wind.

Neville knelt sobbing as he said a prayer that their souls would be at peace. That they would be reunited with the people who loved them and that they loved. That whatever deity there was would accept them and grant them mercy.

Once he had cried himself out he stood taking Hermione's handbag and putting it into the pocket of his travelling cloak so it would not get lost he walked to the small bits of ash that was left. He looked into the sky watching a pair of birds dancing and swooping overhead. Smiling he said hopefully, "Farewell my friends. I'll see you again someday."

Review Responses

kimjo2: True words indeed. I have friends in the Navy. A lot of their stories do not involve excitment and adventure, a lot of polishing things and trying not to get caught being naughty..lol.

Katmom: Cool. Glad you think so.

OfficerDonNZ: Its okay. The episode was one of the weaker ones as it involved an alien being evolving into a higher plane of existence and the repressive government trying to prevent that. A bit preachy with the message hammer so I think I was going to have that go off the rails thanks to the chaos that Harry and hermione would cause. I agree with Harry too. And yeah I figured as Hermione loves to read and is smart she would be a sci-fi geek in this one.

Dennisud: I'm curious to know how this would turn out too. One reason its still in the Works in Progress folder. I've been going through to put a few lines into some of the stalled out ideas while my mind tries to get back into gear on the main stories. I'm prettysure I was goingto take the weak episode and turn it intoa Q. Or at least try. Q always made things so much better. One reason Ds9 didn't need him. They were already the best! Lol.