Chapter 16
Harry sprinted to an apparition point after he was notified at the end of his simulation that he was needed at home. He dreaded the worst, and he didn't think he could be faulted for worrying about that. Fate seemed to enjoy fucking with him.
Especially because he and his dad had made so much progress in recent months. When he'd left Hermione he'd returned to Potter House and spilled his guts. And he'd thought that for once in his life, his father had actually understood him. But now he worried that fate was dealing him another terrible hand.
Several months of wonder and misery had followed his return home. Wonder because he was so happy to see Astrid again, to get to know his dad and godfather again while viewing them through a different lense. There had been a time when he'd considered himself to be so worldly, but his time with Hermione had him questioning if he'd ever really considered his father and his godfather's perspectives. Misery because he missed Hermione, that was a wound he was certain would never fully heal, but it had also been wonderful to be back. In large part because he knew that she would have been proud of him for investing in his family.
He had already experienced so much grief in his life, he had known to brace for it before he'd left Hermione. He just hated it. But he had made promises to Hermione that he wouldn't let that grief- grief that she understood all too well that he would have to live with- ruin him.
So, he went back to work- this time with the consideration to actually make a difference. He considered his strengths and his weaknesses, and where he felt like he could better apply himself. The ways in which he could not just survive, but thrive and contribute. He decided that he didn't want to leave the DoM, but that he might enjoy helping out in the DMLE when they had a need.
Which they did, often, but Harry couldn't even care that they were obviously using his name to attract recruits if it meant that he was allowed to ensure that the recruits were properly trained. He was the last person to believe that anybody should walk into a battle unprepared, and if he could weed out those who couldn't handle life or death situations early, he discovered that he was happy to do it.
He hadn't had a choice in his own life. He wanted everybody who came after him to be given one. He had also done stupid things while he was fighting for his life, and he wanted to prevent others from making his mistakes.
Meeting Hermione could probably be listed in that category of stupid things he'd done, though he would never agree to that description. But in the recesses of his mind he knew that opening that egg had been a very, very stupid move. It would just feel like a betrayal of what they had built together to admit it.
On the other hand, his experience on the other side had emphasized to him that reckless people could- by their nature- do very foolish things, and for the good of humanity, he needed to be on the lookout for such things. (And yes, he recognized the hypocrisy of his actions, but it was what it was.)
He could help as a DMLE trainer, and he'd found that the work brought him a certain amount of pride he hadn't expected. He'd started in order to keep his promise to Hermione, but he'd continue for himself.
It added a little pep to his step that he knew that Hermione would also approve of this slight change in career trajectory, and it gave him a new determination to dive into his DMLE assignments.
Especially given that upon his return home the healers had told them that his pneumonia was almost beyond treatment, if he hadn't universe jumped into the lab of a brilliant witch, who had then been willing to house, feed, and help him, and then find the means to get him back just in time, he would have died. For a lark. But instead he'd accidentally found the most beautiful human he'd ever met, and she loved him. So he had decided to spend the rest of his life earning that, even if he couldn't have her.
He had been home mere months. He thought he was repairing things with the family he had left, with his career, and with himself. But now he had been sent an urgency beacon. It hadn't called him out of the simulation so he hoped it wasn't as serious as he feared, but he knew that the way the Ministry coded them was not always true to the emergency on hand. (They might have not considered it an emergency for them, thus keeping him in the simulation, but that didn't mean he wouldn't consider if a personal emergency)
He practically dove out of the floo and rushed towards the main living area of Potter House calling for his father. He didn't even care if it was dramatic.
He stopped in his tracks when he saw her, perched on a couch across from his father and Sirius. He noticed his dad starting to rise, but Sirius stopped him.
"Hermione, my Hermione?"
He knew that it was her. Even with a hundred other doppelgangers in the room he would have been able to pick her out. But he still couldn't quite believe that he was looking at her, so he had to ask.
"Yeah."
He strode towards her.
"You're not going to leave me?" He knew the answer, she wouldn't be here simply to play with his feelings, but again, he had to ask.
"No, I promise," she vowed. "Did you try to find Hermione? The one from this world."
He stopped a half step in front of her and closed his eyes. "I did, Sweetheart, I couldn't find her, I really did want to make sure that she was okay. But it was like she never existed."
Her eyes filled with tears. "Well she did. She does. She is me. I am her. That's the reason you couldn't find her."
Harry had been given a lot of shocks in his life, but he thought that this might have been the biggest. "'What?"
"I'm okay now that I'm home with you, and I don't plan to go anywhere ever again. It's kind of a long story. Also, happy birthday."
He strode towards her and hauled her into his arms, practically forced her legs around his waist. She was wearing a light green summer dress and the flowy skirt worked perfectly for his intentions.
"Sweetheart?"
"I hope that's okay."
"Okay?"
"I know I just showed up. I can go find another place to stay…"
"You insane witch," he growled. "I don't want you going anywhere."
The hope and relief in her eyes nearly broke his heart, He was not unpracticed at holding her and was able to keep them upright with her legs around his waist while he moved one arm to cradle her face even as she sobbed into his shoulder and her entire body shook.
"It's alright sweetheart, it's alright."
"I've missed you so much."
"I know the feeling," he hugged her closer.
She laughed into his neck.
"Are you okay, have these two reprobates upset you?" He looked at his father and godfather half in jest, but half accusation.
"No," she whispered, working the fingers of one hand into his hair, "they were very welcoming." There was a pause. "Okay, Sirius did attempt to hit on me but I told him he was behaving like a creepy old uncle at a family reunion."
Harry snorted. "Gods, I knew there was a reason that I loved you."
"I think he's mostly an idiot and it's not really his fault," she whispered.
"That would make sense, I was raised by idiots, you've seen the evidence."
She giggled again but clung to him even tighter.
"Are you okay?" He asked."Are you safe?"
"Safe, yes, Okay, maybe? Very happy to be here. I love you so much."
"I love you too. I'm going to take you someplace private so that we can talk."
"Your dad," she murmured.
"Can wait until we've discussed this together, okay? I know he will understand." He was speaking of the man as if he wasn't in the room but he could feel that he was watching him, but for once he was absolutely certain that it was with approval, he could practically hear him screaming 'go take care of your witch, we'll be here when you're ready.'"
She clung to him a little tighter.
"I'm going to apparate us now, okay Sweetheart?"
"Yeah."
They appeared in the middle of his new flat- her old flat. He rubbed her back and waited for her to lift her head.
"Harry?" She questioned when she finally did.
"Yeah, I might have bought your building. Or at least this world's version of it. I've rented out the lower floors and I combined the upper into one flat. I mainly stay at Potter House, but I needed to be able see the view from the roof for my sanity."
She laughed. "That's either the most romantic or the most insane thing I've ever heard. The building, Harry?"
"It needed a lot of work. The owners were elderly and needed out. I thought you would approve."
"I love you, you know. You can set me down though," she said even as she burrowed against him.
"I think, for my own peace of mind, I'm just going to carry you to the roof."
"I suppose I can deal with your highhandedness," she replied primly while simultaneously freeing his hair from its elastic and running her fingers through it.
When they reached the roof he lowered them carefully onto a lounge chair but was hesitant to let Hermione go. Fortunately she just moved in sync with him and settled against his chest.
"How are you?"
"I guess a little shaken from the whole leaving my whole world behind thing, but mostly just happy to be here."
"Can you tell me?"
"Ha! About how the hell I got here, you mean?"
"Yes. Well, actually I don't care that much right now. I just need enough to convince me that this is real and that you're not going to disappear the minute I close my eyes."
She squirmed, reached one hand between them, and then produced a familiar beaded bag from the waistband of her skirt. Harry knew it was the same bag she'd taken on the Horcrux hunt with her Harry and Weasley. And then with what seemed to be a great deal of regret she re-situated herself so that she was squeezed onto the chair beside him, instead of on top of him.
"Your dad and Sirius told me some of what you've been up to since you got home. They're really proud of you. I am too."
"Thank you."
"I wanted to do you proud too. Do you remember how I told you I considered translating the 'Tales of Beedle the Bard' that Dumbledore left me but I'd never found the time?"
"Yes."
"Well, I thought that would be a good project to start with. It wasn't my own work, but it would keep my mind busy and I thought I would enjoy the challenge."
"That makes sense."
"I hadn't opened that book for years, or even really thought about it except in passing. I forgot that after Harry's funeral Professor McGonagall gave me a letter from Professor Dumbledore, I was in no shape to even think about it, so I stored it in the book. I forgot about it. I think I probably wanted to."
"Hermione-" Harry breathed. He didn't know exactly where this story was going, but he knew how his version of Dumbledore had been, and he suspected that he was about to hear about how the love of his life had her heart broken yet again.
"Do you remember when you told me about Ariana?"
"Yes."
"And that I was surprised that she was alive here?"
"She's since passed."
Hermione blew out a breath. "I'm sorry to hear that."
Harry frowned. "She came to speak to my dad while I was gone though. Said some really weird stuff."
"Well, that doesn't surprise me." Hermione let out a long breath. "In the world that I grew up in, Ariana died as a preteen. Albus Dumbledore blamed himself. Whether he was actually to blame, I suppose that depends on your definition of the term, if you have to cast the curse to be at fault, but anyway her death haunted him. He was willing to do almost anything to get her back, or to gain absolution. And at some point in his studies he was introduced to the idea of alternate universes."
Harry felt like somebody had just landed a bludger to his stomach.
"Hermione-"
"He became somewhat obsessed with the Deathly Hallows but they were, of course, difficult to track down. He settled, I guess you could call it, for checking in on the Ariana of another universe. Ours were the most closely linked, and he found her here, alive and well, if a little eccentric."
"Maybe he would have been content to just watch her forever, to see that some version of her was happy and thriving. But then Voldemort came along. Because of his experience with Ariana he kept a close eye on all students who exhibited exceptional bouts of accidental magic, especially muggleborns because we were more likely to come into contact with muggles who might react badly. But he got distracted fighting a dark lord."
"Hermione, you don't have to- " Harry knew that he shouldn't stop her, but he also knew that his witch was about to tell him something terrible, and he wished he could shield her from it.
She shook her head. "I do, and we both know it. We've both been through the wringer, Harry."
He nodded and kissed her temple. "Go ahead."
"In November of 1981 he learned that Hermione Granger had a bout of accidental magic in a public park. From what I can tell she retaliated on a group of kids who were teasing her for being 'a freak.' She was removed from her parents because the authorities feared abuse. She died in custody three weeks later."
Harry's breath caught. "But she was just a toddler."
"We both know that doesn't necessarily matter," Hermione looked up at him with watery eyes. "People react with fear: you've experienced it, I've experienced it, Harry experienced it."
"Yeah," he croaked.
Hermione shook herself. "Anyway, Dumbledore decided that he had to take action to make sure that what had happened to his sister, and to Hermione, wouldn't happen to me."
"So, he just came and took you?" Harry cried.
"He came to talk to Ariana, or at least that's my personal belief. He justified it by saying that this Dumbledore hadn't been through what he'd been through, and he was the only one who could keep me safe."
"Well that's all sorts of fucked up."
She snorted and Harry considered what she was telling him.
"But how did you survive? I got sick in a matter of months."
"Well, you're pretty amazing, but you're no Albus Dumbledore, and you didn't have access to the Elixir of Life."
"He gave you the Elixir of LIfe?"
"I guess one dose works for the normal lifespan of a human. I don't think it had ever been tested with universe jumping, but it did seem to work for me." She looked up at him and rolled her eyes to emphasize how foolish she thought this plan was.
"And he just wrote this in a letter?"
She laughed humorously. "Of course not, on the surface it was a lot of platitudes and well wishes. Luckily for me I thought it was odd enough that he'd sent me a letter at all, so I investigated further. It was actually a book cipher keyed to the version of "Tales of Beedle the Bard' he left me in his will, which led me to the collection of texts I needed to put the ritual together."
Harry worked furiously to absorb this information. "You only got that letter when Harry died."
"Yep," she huffed. "He couldn't risk me jumping ship before I fulfilled my purpose of helping his other chosen child save his world."
"Right," he placed his head on her sternum. "And I thought that I was self-centered."
He placed a kiss between her breasts as he tried to gather his thoughts.
"Harry?"
"I'm thinking very selfishly at the moment. I'd like to think it was because you were ripped out of your own life and put into a different world. And your parents were manipulated magically and emotionally. But fuck, Sweetheart, what I would have given to have you here with me. And I know it might not have worked out but-"
"He had absolutely no right to play God," she interjected.
"He absolutely had no right. But I thank whatever gods are out there that you're here now."