Chapter 51: The Death of Hallows
Wednesday, 26th July 1995.
Sirius stood firm, staring at the pitiful little shack.
He could feel the two teens standing directly behind him, hands clasped as they ever were when they planned to cast incredible magic. Their presence was helping him to ignore the echoing call of the ring now lying in the doorway to the rundown hovel. He could feel it calling to him, as it had been since the moment Harry opened the box, he assumed. He couldn't be entirely sure, having been outside at the time.
Harry was right, though, it was the most difficult thing he had ever done, resisting the siren's call from the ugly little piece of gold. A confident yet near-silent whisper in the back of his mind that promised everything he had ever dreamed of.
He knew, from the discussion he had overheard, what lay on the other side of the small trinket. Harry had intentionally laid it facing into the shack, ensuring that the Unspeakables never saw the small stone set in the ring directly. While Sirius would still back the kids in a fight between them, it was better not to give the Department of Mysteries a temptation of that scale. Not when another of the blasted things was sitting in Dumbledore's hand right now.
He too was being watched, though far more subtly by Bones as she, Shack and Gordon formed a small ring around the man. Sirius tried not to think about the many amazing things he'd seen Albus perform with the mythical wand he'd carried throughout the previous war. And whether those incredible feats had been due to him or the wand.
Sirius knew far less about the mythical Deathly Hallows than he did the other dark magics that filled his family's library, but you would be hard-pressed to find a pureblood who didn't know the Tale of the Three Brothers. At least well enough to recognise the family crest that Harry had explained the black stone bore. Purebloods were all very familiar with their fellows' symbols and crests. Having intermarried in and out of one another for centuries now.
The remaining Aurors and the Unspeakables stood to the left, and everyone seemed to be ready. Everyone but Sirius that is.
"You don't have to do this." Harry's quiet voice sounded in Sirius's left ear. "I'm sure we can find another way."
"You know that I'm supposed to protect you from stuff like this," Sirius replied, smirking at the boy over his shoulder. "But thank you."
Harry's right hand softly landed on his shoulder and he could feel the boy imbuing him with his young magic. It was warm and comforting, helping to silence both the call of the ring and the doubts he had in his ability. He could see why Hermione had become so completely addicted to his godson's presence.
Sure, he'd successfully cast and suppressed fiendfyre before while training, but it had taken everything out of him that day.
He was so wrapped up in his thoughts and the feeling of Harry's booster that it surprised Sirius to receive another from the other side. Hermione was copying Harry and they were now sharing their magic with one another through Sirius himself.
It was like the one time he'd been too curious for his own good at Lily's old place. Prodding at the strange plastic square on the wall with the tip of his wand had given him one hell of a kick. And a quality Evans-bollicking to boot. But unlike the harsh pain that time, this filled him with strength.
"We ready?" Sirius asked aloud, directing the question to the other adults. It was very clear that the kids were with him no matter what.
The Unspeakables lived up to their name by saying nothing, just nodding their heads. At least he assumed that's what the barely perceptible movement of the dark hoods had meant. The aurors all gave short sharp nods as well. A response he recalled being standard practice from the Department from their few interactions while fighting Death Eaters so many years earlier.
Dumbledore took a deep steadying breath and Sirius was impressed despite himself. He still mistrusted the old bugger, more now after what he'd learned today, but it seemed that he was fighting an even stronger compulsion than Sirius was right now. If Sirius truly thought that that stupid Stone could bring Lily and James back to him for real, he'd have lunged for the damn thing too. And he'd only just learned about it this week. Sure, he'd heard the Beedle story in his youth, but Babbity Rabbity wasn't someone he expected to meet down the pub either.
Even after years of using that incredible Cloak with James, it had never occurred to him that such items might be real. Until now.
"Ready." Albus finally said, raising his wand and focusing Sirius back on the matter at hand.
Sirius felt Hermione's hand tighten on his shoulder slightly and he knew that the girl was watching the man, and keeping track of his magic to ensure he didn't try to summon the ring to safety or some other last-minute effort to get what he thought he needed from the horrid thing.
"Do it, Black," Amy said and Sirius had no cause left to delay.
He allowed the children's magic to swirl deeper into his own as he pulled it together inside his chest. The training his abhorrent mother had hammered into him in his youth and the techniques he'd learned from Robert in their still ongoing sessions both helped him to clear his mind now that he was fully focused on the task at hand.
Sirius felt the telltale bubbling in his magic as the dark curse began to form. Another gift from his childhood, Sirius knew that dark magic didn't corrupt the soul as so many 'good' folks tended to believe. But it was addictive. The feeling it wrought in one's magic either left them feeling grimy inside and out if they were entirely pure of heart, or gave them a thrill unlike anything else. Sirius was far from pure of heart, but he still hated the feeling that it left in his magic afterwards.
Were it not for the cleansing effect that the Family had on him, he would have never attempted the spell in the first place. Now it would help him to undo some of the darkest magic on this Earth. And Sirius could live with feeling a little bit dirty to achieve that.
"Pestis incendium." Sirius incanted, pointing his wand directly at the shiny ring in the doorway as the building magic inside of him roared down his arm and leapt angrily from the tip of his old dogwood wand.
"Contain it to the house!" Bones shouted as the flames poured forward, splashing over the ring and snarling as they sought to claim all of the magic out of the objects in its path.
Sirius was surprised that he had managed to aim the spell so perfectly but quickly focused his mind on retaining control of the wildfire still flowing out from his wand. If he broke the spell, the flames would immediately gain a mind of their own and seek out anything that contained even a modicum of magic. The closest large sources being all of them standing nearby.
His focus was now the only thing keeping Harry safely behind him, and that thought alone imbued Sirius with the strength he needed to keep the reins on the dark fire. The continued support from the boy he sought to keep safe certainly didn't hurt either.
"Keep going. It's still there." Harry said, and Sirius didn't need to glance back to know the lad was sensing the sliver of soul inside the ring resisting their efforts to destroy it.
They had been lucky so far. Usually, a Horcrux could exert a lot of resistance to its destruction. Manifesting horrible taunting images or even possessing if the item was given enough strength. Either in the protections placed by the original caster or some poor fool stupid enough to use it before attempting to destroy it. While it had been years since he had read up on the subject, Sirius could still well remember some of the descriptions that had been given of such events. They still sent a chill down his spine even all these years later.
While he hadn't personally witnessed the destruction of any of the others, from what Harry had told him, the Diadem simply melted to slag that had been easily vanished afterwards. Nagini had fought, but she was a snake. It was in her nature to resist death.
All they were seeing here was the flames spreading across the house. Snarling and snapping as they consumed everything within. They were leaping from one surface to another like a hungry predator searching for prey to consume. Sirius could feel its pleasure soaking back up his arm as the flames fed on the former possessions of the Gaunts. Though from his reading, the pleasure might have been his own.
The Gaunts were a horribly apt example of the worst of pureblood society. The kind of depravity that saw his mother and father marry and have children. Despite being second cousins. They were inbred for years before the last daughter of their line gave birth to the monster they now sought to destroy. So far inbred that they were shunned even by the likes of the Malfoy's. Despite both families sharing an intense hatred for muggles and their offspring.
"Keep going," Harry said again, squeezing Sirius's shoulder even tighter and Sirius wondered just how damned resilient this stupid thing was. "There!"
Harry's shout was immediately drowned out as the fiendfyre exploded suddenly. Cackling orange, green and blue flames roared outwards until they splashed violently against the shield that the others were conjuring to contain the spread. Within two seconds the ball of fire had grown to fill the entire containment field, pushing and gnashing at the magic keeping it from slaying them all and spreading until it could grow no more.
Sirius was stunned at the sight as a familiar visage grew in the fire. The animalistic tendrils had coalesced together into a flat sinister face of green flame with glowing red eyes. Riddle's ugly deformed mug stared out at them, mouthing words they could not hear through the thick magical barrier keeping them protected.
It wasn't until the ball grew even larger, pressing the shield outward that he realized he had lost his focus at the shocking sight and the spell had broken free.
"Help them with the shield!" Hermione shouted to him as she stepped forward and grabbed Harry's once again free hand. The two pointed their wands at the inferno and cast some silent unknowable magic.
Sirius quickly raised his wand again and added his magic to the field keeping the fire contained and, within a moment, the kids had somehow forced the flames to decrease in size. Riddle still snapped and snarled at them from inside. His eyes flicked from one to the next as his lips gnawed at the shield keeping him at bay.
"The ring is dead, but that bloody Stone is holding on," Harry shouted, twisting the wand in his left hand in spirals and giving short jabs at the fire. Each jab caused the field to compress tighter around the flames, squashing the fake Riddle inside down deeper with each move. It was almost comical to watch the face distort under the pressure they were all forcing down onto it. If it weren't so horrifying to begin with.
'Hermione." Harry said, his meaning lost to Sirius as the two stepped forward again. This time he followed, unwilling to allow them further than arm's reach with such a dangerous thing swirling in front of them.
Even through the shield, he could feel the immense heat of the sinister magical fire.
"Now!" Hermione shouted and the two stepped forward again, pushing their wand arms out into the shield itself this time, forcing the field inwards and Sirius felt all the hair across his entire body standing on end at the amount of magic pouring back at him from their bodies.
With one final desperate snarl, Riddle vanished as the flames suddenly rushed inwards and collapsed down into nothing, the darkness that followed their disappearance so thick it almost seemed to be corporeal.
The teens lifted their wands and stumbled back, Sirius wrapped his arms around them both and pulled them to his body, stumbling backwards onto his bum as he blinked at the sudden darkness under the thick tree cover. As his eyes adjusted, he stared at what was left of the Gaunt home and Riddle's Horcrux. There was absolutely nothing visible but a thin pile of ash within the bounds of the shield, and a single shuddering black object in the very centre of the stain.
"That is a surprise," Harry murmured, ducking out from Sirius's arm and standing, staring at the now-moving black shape.
"Do you think that's how they first came to be?" Hermione asked, not pushing free of Sirius's grip, just watching her boyfriend as he approached the tiny thestral foal now standing up on shaky legs amid the burnt wreck.
"Maybe. They have always had the link to death." Harry said, offering his hand forward, clicking his fingers and dispelling the shield that the others had still been maintaining in their stunned disbelief.
The foal stumbled a couple of times as it walked over and sniffed Harry's hand. Sirius's brain was broken as to how a living creature could have survived inside of that hellfire. And yet, Harry was running his hand along the tiny horse's neck, sweeping back its mane.
"You should head to Hogwarts. You'll find many friends there." Harry said, staring into the leathery horse's eyes.
It nuzzled its face against him before it stepped back. Spinning in circles for a moment it unfurled its wings and with a mighty flap, it soared up into the sky, quickly disappearing behind the thick trees above.
"Fuck me." Bones said aloud, shattering the odd moment and leaving the two kids laughing at the impropriety of the normally buttoned-up head of the DMLE.
"Language." Hermione chided, finally climbing up out of Sirius's arms and over to Harry.
The adults laughed, but Sirius watched silently as Harry focused on the residue. He deftly used his wand to gather all of the ashes up and Hermione conjured a small jar for them to go into. The fine grey powder quickly filled the container and Harry stood, turning to face Albus once again.
The boy didn't speak as he stepped forward, only holding out his hand to the old man.
Albus looked at Harry for a moment before he placed his wand in Harry's hand and nodded.
"Thank you. Seeing it destroyed might have finally freed me from this burden." Dumbledore said, staring at Harry with his searing blue eyes.
"Good. And if it's any consolation," Harry said in his inimitable cheeky manner, "you are kind of old. I'm sure you'll pass on soon enough. And then you'll get your answer."
Dumbledore smiled at him and nodded again. "Indeed I will. I shall take my leave and continue my research. We still have two unknown artifacts to find. Likely in two more mysterious locations from Riddle's life."
"We'll leave you to it, Professor," Harry said.
It made Sirius smile that this horrid experience had been cathartic for Harry as well. He had finally broken the grip that Albus's magic had held over him for so many years. Harry tried not to show it, but Sirius knew his godson well enough to know he was looking lighter than he had since Sirius had returned to his life.
Albus too looked younger than Sirius had ever seen him. And he had lost that aura that had always raised Sirius's hackles. Whatever secret he had needed the answer to, it seemed he'd truly made his peace with it at long last. Sirius thought he may actually find it in himself to eventually forgive the old fart someday now. Though still not yet, nor without some form of amusing retribution.
Sirius had a legacy to uphold, after all.
"Yes." Bones said, breaking the moment once more. "The paperwork on this is going to be interesting. Not that I can file any of it until we're done."
"Best of luck with that," Albus said firmly, turning in on himself and vanishing in the telltale flicker of apparition.
"Right. Always too busy for that bit." Bones mused to herself. "Shall we head back to the Graveyard? We did come here for a reason."
Sirius looked to the teens to see that they were doing their usual thing of speaking without words. He was sure it wasn't a literal passing of actual words within their minds, but the two had always been able to simply look at each other and hash out whatever they needed to before speaking.
"Sure," Harry said at long last. "We'll meet you back down there in half an hour. Just have to make a quick detour first." He finished, tapping the lid of the now sealed jar.
"I'll come with you," Sirius said immediately, stepping over and laying his hand on Harry's shoulder.
The boy looked up at him and smiled. "Of course." He replied.
Taking Hermione's hand, Harry waved to the Ministry employees and the three of them popped away.
ϟ
Thanks to the thick branches that had been above, Hermione could see perfectly fine at their destination, despite it also being incredibly dark.
There was no form of natural light entering this room, given how deep underground she knew that it lay. And yet, after a few seconds, there seemed to be an ethereal glow washing over the large stone archway standing on the dais, high above the moat-like base where they now stood.
"Woah, what are we doing here?" Sirius asked, looking about until his eyes came to rest on the archway. "Stay back, you two." He said firmly, stepping in between them and the entire reason they were here.
"It's ok Sirius," Harry said, passing Hermione the wand in his hand and touching the twitchy man in front of him. "We know it is dangerous. We're not going to touch it. Just have a delivery to make."
Harry turned to her and lifted the sealed jar while nodding at the wand she now held. "I'll throw this, you throw that?"
Hermione was about to nod in reply when another thought came to her. "Or…"
Harry looked curiously at her as she unseated the cork lid on the jar in his hand and placed the lid in her pocket for a moment. Then she raised the mythical wand of doom in both hands and brought it rushing downwards against her knee.
Her boyfriend smiled at her as the slender wood snapped loudly in two, her body shearing straight through both the wood grain and the hair inside.
"What are you doing?" Sirius asked, turning at the snapping sound.
Hermione remained silent as she snapped the two pieces into four and prodded the broken ends into the fine ash inside the jar, leaning inwards so that none of their lengths extended past the edge of the jar. Then she pulled her familiar elder wand from the pocket of non-reality in which house-elves kept items they wanted to store. She had been curious about that state of temporary non-existence the moment that she'd learned it existed, and she and Harry had tested sending all kinds of things through it. They always reappeared later in perfect condition. Making it the perfect place to hide something as useful as their wands.
With a short circular swirl over the top of the jar, Hermione cast the spell she wanted down into the ends of the wood that were sticking up out of the opening and they all caught fire. They looked more like thin cigars or thick incense as the wood burned instantly to a cinder, slowly slipping further and further down the ancient wood. The ash left behind in its wake tumbled softly down into the jar, joining the residue of the other Deathly Hallow already inside.
When both parts had fully burnt down, she pulled the lid back out and fastened it over the ash once more.
"Just to be really sure. You can throw both now." She said, smiling at Harry who just rolled his eyes.
They had done hours of research on the Hallows and their myths once she had identified the Stone in Slughorn's memory. And they both knew the stories all claimed that mastering all three brought special powers. But neither of them was remotely tempted by such things. They already had all the power they would ever need. Power like this always had a cost that was far more than sensible folk should be willing to pay.
And as much as Harry had liked meeting his parents' true souls again during his brief death in the graveyard, neither of them would be tempted to torture those souls by bringing them to this plane of existence again. Were such a thing even possible and not a scam meant to torment the wielder to insanity and death instead. The portraits were more than enough for now.
"Fine. Make me do all the work." Harry replied, sounding entirely put out, though the smirk on his face showed his true thoughts.
Harry placed his free hand on Sirius's shoulder to comfort him as he walked around the man. But Sirius moved between him and the Veil once again.
"No, Harry. It's too dangerous." He said, holding up his hand in warning.
"I know," Harry replied, looking his godfather right in the eye. "But so are these. It's time that Death had them back."
"You've already destroyed them. Just leave the jar at the manor somewhere. No one can get in there without you anyway." Sirius argued.
Harry sighed, and Hermione knew that Sirius worried for his godson deeply. Anything that put the boy at risk was anathema to him. But there was no danger here. Harry did not need to stand anywhere near the archway to throw the jar through it.
"I can't throw accurately that far from down here, Sirius. And I don't want to levitate it through. That would leave a link of magic for the Veil to potentially use back to me. So unless you want to do…"
Harry had not even finished his sentence when Sirius snatched the jar from his hand and stepped up onto the dais.
"Fine. We'll stay down here." Harry said. "But don't you go getting any closer either. I've plans for my godfather that don't involve you passing on for at least another couple of years."
Hermione shook her head at the two stubborn boys. "And don't miss." She said, stepping up next to Harry as they stared at the flickering Veil only a few dozen metres away.
Sirius stood firm as he turned away from them. He tested the weight of the jar in his right hand a few times as he lined up his stance to the large archway. The ash inside rolled and shifted as he did and Hermione could see the man was calculating how best to throw it so that the movement didn't affect the throw.
"You can just lob it underarm." She said to him, and Sirius turned to look down at her. "This isn't baseball or cricket. It just has to pass inside the arch. Preferably before any Unspeakables come looking." She finished, with a smirk at the older man.
"Just toss it already, old man." Harry jibed.
Sirius smiled at them both before he turned back to the Veil and with a quick swish of his arm, lobbed the ash-filled jar into the flickering ethereal Veil inside the arch.
The small glass object seemed to distort the fabric-like surface for only a moment, sending a ripple through its entirety before the glass sharply shattered on the stone floor on the far side. But there was no ash spilling out across the floor when it broke open. In the instant where it had rippled the ethereal fabric, the ash had vanished and left behind the conjured glass and the wooden stopper.
Harry and Hermione shuddered as it passed through. They felt a sense of disappointment that they knew was not their own. Nor had it come from the other. It had come from the being that had enjoyed the path of chaos that those little trinkets had woven across the globe for the past seven hundred and fifty-odd years.
"Yeah, well get over it you jerk. You've taken way more than the original four hundred with those bloody things." Harry snarled at the sensation.
"Harry." Hermione chided, taking his hand in her own. "Please don't sass Death."
He rolled his eyes before he nodded. "Sorry. I'm just glad they're gone."
Harry swiped his hand through the cool air in the room and the broken remnants of the jar vanished. With the task complete, Sirius hopped back down from the dais and looked at them both.
"Is that it? I figured he might show up and give a speech."
He seemed almost disappointed at how perfectly normal the whole process had been.
"I told you there was nothing to worry about," Hermione said simply. "Unless we keep Madame Bones waiting too much longer. Shall we?"
"Yes, do let's," Harry said with a smirk as they both took one of Sirius's hands each.
With a soft pop that resounded in the near-silent room, they left behind the Veil of Death. Safe in the knowledge that the Deathly Hallows would never harm another soul.
ϟ
A/N: Implied underage nudity and relationship stuff.
Harry lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling of the large room.
It was clearly an attempt at replicating the famous ceiling of the Hogwarts Great Hall, showing the glimmering stars and the deep void of space in which they soared. But it was a little patchy. In places, the moulding of the room was visible beyond the stars, but that only made Harry love it all the more.
After all, this room had been a test run made by his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-aunt Beatrix as she prepared the design of the rest of the room. One that she built into that ancient Scottish castle back around the turn of the 18th century. Give or take a few dozen years. One couldn't be entirely certain as, despite the popularity of the design she created and her resultant fame, Beatrix never actually had a portrait commissioned. So Harry couldn't just ask her.
Yet the woman had been famous enough that another famed Brit was named for her when she was born nearly a century later in the late 1800s. Born to the muggle children of a squibbed line that had now 'died out' by pureblood standards. Harry personally preferred the younger Beatrix Potter's works to that of Beedle. But the elder Beatrix definitely created the more practical end result.
And his extended family had only added to the functionality of the massive bath through the intervening two hundred years.
There were almost a full two hundred taps surrounding the enormous cavity in the floor. Though, unlike the Hogwarts version, the Potter bath was not rectangular like a swimming pool. Instead, it had a more natural border.
When filled to the brim, and with the taps sunk into the floor, it often looked like a small lake. The deep green tiling that led to its edge even looked like the thick green grass one might find around such a water feature. The many charms that had been laid down on it left it almost feeling like grass to lay on after a good long soak as well. Just without the slightly uncomfortable jagged tips of the blades of grass, making it even more comfortable.
There were also no paintings in the room. One of very few in the large Manor where true privacy could be had. Harry didn't often feel the need to seclude himself away from his massive family, but when he did, this was one of the most likely rooms in which he could be found.
While privacy was not his goal right now, after the day they had just endured, the long soak he was enjoying was almost a requirement.
Though, today, the bath looked less like a nice English lake. What with the thick multi-coloured layer of bubbling foam that rested on the surface. Only Harry's face was visible above its upper layer as the soft bubbles continually popped and reformed, gently scrubbing away the dirt and massaging his skin and muscles in the process.
This particular foam was a combination of eighty-seven of the many taps around the bath, but was heaven on those days when his tutors had been particularly rough or gruelling in their instruction. Today had not been that physically taxing, but the massaging bubbles helped with his present emotional drain as well.
"Knut for your thoughts?" Hermione said, floating on her back nearby, also layered in the thick foam.
She was the only one that Harry ever shared the space with anymore. He had long since surpassed the need for the elves to wash him. Not that he intentionally kept the others out, but Harry was so entirely open with Hermione that he had no safe space where she could not join him if she wished. He did not want such a space, as more often than not, her presence was far more relaxing than solitude could hope to match.
"I actually wasn't thinking anything at the moment." He replied, sweeping his fingers through the warm soothing water around his body.
The concoction within was slightly more buoyant than normal water, but more than half of his body was still in the liquid. Enough that he could easily navigate the bath using such small movements without disturbing his relaxed position.
"That is a relief." She replied, as her soft hair tangled into Harry's fingers as he moved closer to her. "I thought you might be dwelling."
Harry smiled. It wasn't uncommon for him to do so. And today had brought its fair share of hits.
"You feel content," Hermione said after several moments of silence.
Harry considered the words for a moment, his fingers delicately playing with the soft brown hair floating on the water nearby. It amused him that the only way that the both of them could 'control' their wild hair was when it was doused in water like this. It was why he kept his so long, enabling him to sweep it all back into a tame ponytail. Hermione though just loved to leave hers wild ever since she had learned that Harry liked it that way. He thought it showed her inner strength and unpredictability. To everyone but him, at least.
"I think I am. I mean, there is plenty I wish we could change right now. But I'd call today a success. Three horrible things removed from the world with only two objects."
"And him? You haven't said anything about it, but you feel lighter, Harry."
He smiled again at how well she read him. Though it was certainly far easier for the girl given she had a connection to his emotions at all times.
"I'm glad we were finally able to put it all to rest. You know how he bothered me over the years. But I was serious about what I said a few weeks back. I am through with living my life afraid of one man. Be it Riddle or Dumbledore. Now, I just know why his magic felt so needy back then. That feeling used to scare me, now I understand what he was so urgent for."
Harry heard the water surge as Hermione rolled to a vertical position, her hair slipping from between his soapy fingers. He could see her face approaching him from the side.
She paused next to his body and Harry remained silent as her deep brown eyes stared into his own, her gaze caressing him almost as delicately as her fingers that now gently ran up and down his spine under the waterline.
"You wish you could somehow give him the answer he sought, don't you?" She asked, watching him closely.
"I wouldn't be opposed if it were in any way possible. But we both know the story of the Stone. It could not be used safely. Not even by me. The world is better off done with it. I don't regret what we've done for a moment." Harry paused and closed his eyes, letting the bubbles, water and fingers soothe him. "We aren't supposed to know what is on the other side. We know that ghosts are what happens when folks are too afraid of the Veil to pass on, but Dumbledore's obsession is what happens to living people who can't let go of those who have crossed over from this side as well."
He took a deep breath before continuing. "I think that I would do some terrible things if I truly knew it meant I could hold my parents again. Even after the vision." He had internally agreed to never again call that experience what it truly was. Especially not to Hermione. He would not intentionally remind her of what she had endured in that moment. "But I accept the reality we exist in. That's not possible. Death is the final barrier between us all. A one-way mirror through which they can watch us, but we remain ignorant of them until we join them on that side."
Harry opened his eyes and saw that Hermione was beaming at him from a rather short distance, her face filling nearly his entire vision.
"Sometimes, you're a bit too mature, you know that?" She said softly, leaning down and pressing her lips to his own. "I'm almost a year older than you and you often have me beat in those stakes."
"Says the girl who finished her entire muggle schooling at fifteen," Harry replied, making the girl blush. "Who constantly teaches some of the cleverest people we know things they had never considered about magic before. And we both know you're definitely more mature than I am in other ways."
Her blush deepened and she sank into the bubbles until only her nose and eyes were visible. Harry rotated upright to match her and carefully ran his fingers along her sides under the waterline.
"I know that you're eager. I'm just not quite ready yet." He replied, referring to the fact that his older girlfriend seemed a little bit frustrated at times with the fact that Harry wasn't ready to become any more physical than they currently were. He was still enjoying the kissing and snuggling parts of their relationship.
"Sorry." She replied meekly, the bubbles around her mouth spraying outwards slightly.
This was one of the only topics that left her embarrassed like this. "You don't need to apologize. You're sixteen soon, I get it. I've read that girls do mature faster than us boys." He said with a soft smile.
Harry shifted from the gentle up-and-down movement his fingers had been doing, slipping his arms around her back and pulling Hermione closer. She gasped softly as they came together and he kissed her softly once again. Her wet arms wrapped him back, but she kept from entirely encasing him in her limbs as she so often did when they kissed like this. They were both highly aware of their present state of undress. As eager as she may be, Hermione never pushed him to do more than he was comfortable with.
Harry pulled back and looked at her face, noticing the look of bliss that had replaced the embarrassment. Though she was no less red in the cheeks, it was now for a very different reason, he was sure.
"Magicals can live for well over a hundred years. I simply don't think that we should be in any rush to do things."
Hermione nodded her agreement. "I know. Thank you." She whispered, not letting him go as they floated softly through the soothing water. "I needed that. It was difficult going back there."
Harry slowly ran his left hand up and down the girl's spine, comforting her as he felt her mind drift back to their experience after leaving the Veil behind. The Little Hangleton graveyard was just as triggering for her as the selkie village was to him. A place where something awful had happened right in front of them. Harry at least had the advantage of knowing Hermione had helped to build the massive icon in the centre of that village. The statue to which she had been secured was gone forever, and the one that presided over it now was their combined handiwork. It certainly helped to keep him from panicking when they visited now.
"I'm here if you need to talk about it." He said, squeezing her a little tighter as well.
"It helps that you were there the whole time. I could see and feel you there. Instead of lying on the ground." A shiver ran through her entire body and Harry pushed his magic through her in the opposing direction, trying to force the uncomfortable twitch out of her system with his presence.
Hermione pressed her forehead to his and simply looked into his eyes for a moment. Brown and green held in an unending exchange of reassurance. They were both there and they were both alive. It would take a lot more than Riddle to take either of them away again. They were entirely free of all promises and bindings now. Completely able to use all of their magic to fight or flee from any future encounters.
"That will never happen again," Harry whispered. "The only promise I make now is to you. I am yours, Hermione Granger. Nothing can alter that but you. No one but you is strong enough to sever what we have."
"I never will. I am yours, Harry Potter. And I will shred anyone who dares to try to take you from me again. Body and soul. I swear they shall never enjoy the fruits of whatever truly lies on the other side."
Harry felt his face flush at the intensity of her words. It was incredibly sexy when she got this worked up.
"You want to kiss me right now, don't you." She said, still looking into his eyes.
Harry nodded, moving her head as well given they were still connected at the forehead.
"Then what is stopping you?" She asked, a mischievous grin on her lips that he needed to clear away with his own.
It would be some time before either one of them was ready to leave the bathroom.