Where are you going?
Neville and I need to have a chat.
Harry could feel Hermione mentally skimming through his plan.
I hope that you know what you're doing, Death Walker.
I do. There can be no room for doubt.
I trust you. Be safe.
Harry shared his love with her beautiful soul and closed the link between them for the first time in a very long time.
She didn't need to feel this.
…
Harry and Neville faced one another in the burned, empty wasteland that was once a graveyard.
Maybe it still was. Just far wider, with a much greater population.
Harry considered his friend. Neville had grown; he now stood a solid three inches taller than Harry and his frequent training with Harry and runs around the lake had left his long body toned and strong.
"Are you sure, Neville? This will not be pleasant."
Neville's resolve within his soul did not waver.
"Yes."
"So be it."
Harry took slow steps and started to circle around his friend, working his way closer. His voice reverberated eerily in the dusty, desolate air.
"You're angry. And scared. Of this… Bellatrix Lestrange, who took from you a life that you long for."
Neville's eyes followed him as he spiraled.
"You wish to bring unto her the pain that you feel when you stare into your mother's empty eyes."
Neville turned to stay facing him as he stalked forward.
"You want your hatred and your grief to matter."
Neville's blue eyes were wary and apprehensive, even as he clenched his fists.
"You need her to know what she did."
They were within arm's reach now.
"Then hit me."
Neville's eyes widened. "What-"
Harry felt his friend's jaw shatter under his fist.
Neville tumbled backwards across the blackened ground, writhing as he clutched at his ruined face.
Harry kicked him savagely in the ribs and felt them crack as he floundered in the ashes.
Then Harry reached down and healed his friend.
"Get up."
Neville looked up at him with watery eyes, clenching the teeth of his newly repaired jaw.
Harry kicked him again, sending him rolling and bouncing across the ruined earth like a ragdoll.
He walked over and healed him.
"Stand up, Neville Longbottom. You want your voice and your soul to matter?"
Harry grabbed his friend by the shirt collar, roughly yanking him upright and placing him on his feet.
"Then hit me!"
Neville looked bewildered but pulled his arm back.
Harry ducked under the clumsy attempt and kicked Neville's knee, breaking it with a horrifying snap as he fell back to the ground with a cry.
Harry healed his friend.
"Get up."
Neville pulled himself to one knee and Harry kicked him in the face, breaking his jaw again and throwing him back into the dirt.
"The world does not heed the voices of those who kneel, Neville Longbottom!"
Harry healed his friend.
"Would you beg others to end your Enemy for you?"
Neville pulled himself to his feet and threw his fist at Harry's face with a strangled yell.
Harry batted it aside.
"Every beat of your heart brings you closer to the Dark. If you want to be heard, you must SCREAM YOUR DEFIANCE TO THE WORLD!"
Neville swung again and Harry ducked, throwing a counter that cracked the ribs in Neville's side.
His friend's breath left his lungs in a gasp, but he stayed on his feet and threw another punch.
Harry caught Neville's arm and held him, his emerald eyes boring into pale blue orbs. Harry's voice came out in a hiss.
"The world does not hear the voices of the weak, Neville. Does it hear the voice of your mother? Your father?"
Neville's eyes darkened as he wrenched his hand free. Harry healed his ribs.
"Don't you feel it? The anger, the loathing, that they were weak enough to break and leave you all alone?"
Fire lit behind Neville's eyes.
"Look around you. Did the people here have voices, Neville? Did their wants and dreams matter when the hellfire burned the flesh from their bones? Did their screams matter, when they are so WEAK?"
Neville panted heavily as he glared into Harry's soul. Harry felt his friend's power rising in his bones, the pressure like a volcano moments before the desolation. It was time.
"The universe does not care about the hopes of the pathetic. The dreams of the powerless do not MATTER, Neville Longbottom. DID YOUR PARENTS' DREAMS MATTER AS THEY SCREAMED INTO THE DARK?"
Neville roared and lunged.
His fist shattered Harry's chest and spine, exiting through his back in an explosion of viscera.
Harry's body dropped like a marionette with its strings cut, held aloft only by the arm passing all the way through it as feral yellow light shone in Nevilles eyes.
"Well done, my friend." Harry spoke in Neville's mind since his lungs were currently pulp. "Now, when we find Bellatrix Lestrange, let's do the same to her, shall we?"
…
"Harry, that was… I… I don't know how I feel about that, Harry."
Hermione sat propped up against a tree beside him in their clearing by the lake.
"It was the best way that I could think of to give Neville what he wanted. We're both fine, now."
"I don't know if you're really fine. Some of what you said…"
"I don't think that anything that I said is the complete truth. The universe is full of paradoxes, conflicting truths."
She let her head fall against his rebuilt chest and pressed her cheek to his collarbone.
"What I said… is not necessarily untrue. From a certain perspective, wants and dreams only matter to the extent that you can bring them into reality."
Hermione hummed uncertainly.
"But on the other hand, I don't think that a lack of ability means that your dreams don't matter. Just by dreaming at all, we reach for something better, even if we don't have the strength to bring it about."
They sat in silence and looked over the mirror smooth lake for a while.
Hermione looked up at him. "Do you ever think about after… all of this?"
Harry ran his fingers through her wild hair and looked down into her golden eyes.
"Yes. Voldemort is just one obstacle in the path of our lives. We will end him, and we will make the world a better place. Somewhere where people do not need to scream for their dreams to be heard."
He let his fingers glide over her cheeks as tears welled in her eyes. "Together."
She pulled herself up and pressed her lips to his, her kiss joyous and worried and happy and scared all at once.
"Together."
…
Harry laughed as he twisted and dodged around tree trunks and branches while he flew through the ancient forest.
He ducked under some leaves as he heard Luna's melodious giggle somewhere ahead. He just managed to catch sight of her brilliant ivory wings before she was gone again, spiraling between the trees with ethereal glee.
He couldn't help but grin as he took off after her.
On the forest floor below, Neville was finally able to keep pace with them, even though he couldn't fly yet. So far, he seemed more comfortable channeling his power through his body than the rest of them, his leaping strides long and powerful as he raced through the undergrowth. He was still practicing and getting comfortable, but he was already as fast as Harry on the ground and far more controlled.
Neville rocketed along beneath them, his magic a brilliant yellow that glowed behind his eyes and crackled down his long limbs as he ran. His stride was more instinctual than any of theirs, pushing off of roots and tree trunks with natural ease as he sprinted between the wooden spires.
Hermione caught up to them in a burst of icy azure power. She smiled widely at him as she soared over, grabbing his hand while they flew in harmony. Their familiar souls intertwined with one another, and their magic sang a joyous chorus while it danced along with their friends.
…
The following weeks passed quickly. There were no further signs of Voldemort, despite their attempts to track him down. None of the known Death Eaters seemed to have contact with him, and none of their manor houses lodged any escaped convicts. Whatever the Dark Lord was preparing for, he was being cautious.
Harry sat through classes and did enough of his homework to pass. He still wanted to technically graduate, or at least get his OWL's so that he didn't need to fight with bureaucrats for the rest of his life. Hermione said that was a shallow reason to do the bare minimum in school, but she had been laughing when she said it.
Snow covered the ancient castle and he and Hermione stayed at school over the Christmas holidays, as they always did. The only unusual part was that Luna and Neville stayed too, this year. They all felt closer now that they could share their magic without anyone feeling left out. Their morning runs became more regular as they got used to their power mingling and intertwining.
Harry went to sleep on Christmas eve feeling more at peace than he had since Voldemort returned.
…
Cool marble flowing under his scales.
The door. A man under a cloak.
Blood and Venom and Death.
…
Harry gasped as he awoke and instinctively leapt out of bed.
Arthur Weasley was dying.
Harry called out to Hermione with his soul and Dumbledore with his magic.
"Arthur Weasley has been mortally wounded in a hallway of black marble. Where is he, Albus?"
Dumbledore's reply was a bit groggy but prompt. "The entrance to the Department of Mysteries. Guarding the prophecy."
"I'm going to get him; let Fudge know just in case."
He felt Hermione consider coming along, but then decide that he could move faster through the Dark without her.
Harry flew through the wall at top speed, heading towards the edge of the castle wards.
As soon as he felt the magical barrier pass over him, he apparated to the entrance of the Ministry of Magic, just outside their wards.
Flying down through the earth and the stone and the ceiling of the atrium, he shot towards the barely flickering spark of Arthur Weasley far below.
He passed through floor after floor before finally reaching the bleeding man, sprawled on the marble tile of the black hallway just as Harry had experienced in his dream.
The door remained closed, and there was no great snake to be seen.
Harry flooded his power into Mr Weasley, bolstering his failing soul as he knit his body back together. The venom was nasty and fought him every step of the way, but it eventually burned away under his magic and the wounds closed.
The wizard gasped and sat up, scrabbling for his wand.
"Mr Weasley, Arthur, deep breaths please. You just came very close to being a very religious corpse."
Mr Weasley pulled in a shuddering breath as he took in Harry's form, crouched in front of him.
"I… wha… sorry, religious?"
"You were quite holey, you see."
Harry got a vague echo of Hermione groaning into her pillow. Worth it.
…
"Maybe a reconnaissance mission?" Albus mused.
"He must already know how we are defending the prophecy. I'm just not sure what sending the snake accomplished."
Harry and Albus once again sat in their familiar chairs on either side of the headmaster's desk.
Harry tapped his finger on the desk thoughtfully.
"What… hmmmm… what information does Voldemort have now that he didn't have before the attack?"
"He already knew we had guards posted. I suppose he knows that the night guards sometimes doze off…"
"He knows that I will know if he attacks directly."
Dumbledore sat up straighter. The old man continued down that train of thought.
"He has expanded his knowledge of the connection between your souls. He has confirmed how and what will trigger it, and what your response will be."
Harry got up and paced in front of the desk.
"I must be more wary in the future. He could send me incomplete, misleading or completely false visions."
"Yes. Do not trust any information that your Enemy wishes for you to find."
"Agreed. At least we can be reasonably confident that the prophecy is his current goal. He doesn't know if it contains necessary information or not, and he doesn't want to take risks while I know it and he does not."
"Indeed. We will increase our security."
"Which he would expect. I hate this game of cat and mouse. I don't know which I am."
"It is possible to be both, as counterintuitive as it sounds."
"Hmmmm. I think I need to go back to bed. If there's nothing else, Albus?"
"Not right now. Thank you, Harry, for saving Arthur. I'm sure that the rest of the Weasleys appreciate it greatly."
"Like I've said before, I would do it for anyone."
…
Harry and Hermione appeared in the front hall of her house to have Christmas dinner with her parents. They hadn't been able to last year because of the Yule Ball, but the ability to apparate made it easy to make the trip home.
"Mum, Dad! We're here!"
Hermione's mother appeared in the opening to the kitchen with an easy smile.
"Welcome home, both of you! Oh, it's so good to see you." She reached out and hugged Hermione. "Thank you for coming again, Harry. I'm happy that you managed to remain corporeal this time."
Harry couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm doing my best to avoid a repeat of my time as a friendly ghost. The adjustment to having a body again wasn't super fun."
"That makes sense. Puberty is kind of a crappy time to have a body even on a good day."
"Muuuuum."
"You ruin all my fun. Come on, dinner's almost ready. Let's get to it before your father loses a finger trying to carve the turkey or something."
…
