Unofficial Portkey Archive

Lily and James were walking along in silence not really talking about anything in particular. James sighed and Lily looked at him.

"What?" she asked.

"Lily, I have a problem!" James said.

"A problem…?" Lily asked.

"Yep, you see, I just love you so damn much…" James said, "…and you're hiding things from me!" Lily stopped walking, shocked by what he had said.

"James…?" Lily asked softly.

"Lily, ever since we have been back, you avoided the fact that we have been gone for fifteen years. You acted as though nothing happened, like we were here the whole time." James said turning to face her.

"Well, how am I supposed to act, I mean, James we have been gone for fifteen years, we didn't just go on a trip, I can't ignore it, but I don't want to face it…" Lily said

"Well, tough! Lily we need to talk about what happened that night, what went wrong. I got the whole Peter thing but you, you left that night and came home right before we died, where were you?" James asked; Lily looked away.

"Why does it matter where I was that night; it was over fifteen years ago!" Lily said, not meeting his eyes.

"Because, this is the way I see it, you were either cheating on me," James said

"James that's silly…" Lily said

"…or you went to go talk to someone!" James finished. Lily just stared at him, "Who was it?"

"Why does it matter…?" Lily looked at James, "Fine, I tried to stop it, I tried to make us live!"

"Live…what do you mean, live! You didn't know we were going to be murdered…did you?" James asked, confused.

"We both knew or else we wouldn't have put the charm on us if we didn't know. I didn't know it was going to be that night, but I knew it was going to be soon, I could sense it!" Lily said, "Anyway, I went to…Sever…Snape's to beg that he would spare us, convince Voldemort to leave us alone, I begged him, and I pleaded with him, but he refused." Lily paused and studied James' face, "Then, just before I left, I told him that he was a pitiful excuse for a human being," she said with a laugh, "and that it was no wonder he could never get a girl! Then I turned to leave and he told me okay, under one circumstance." Lily looked down.

"What circumstance?" James asked.

"That I…that I…" Lily stopped and took a deep breath and looked into James' eyes, "That I leave you…" James sucked in a breath, "…for him!"

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Hermione refused to look at Harry and she didn't dare glance a Draco, she knew they were worried about her which infuriated her, confused her, and flattered her all at the same time. They were walking down the cave when Hermione stopped all of a sudden and looked around.

"Haven't we been here before?" Hermione asked. Harry and Draco looked around and shrugged.

"How can you tell it's a rock cave, you've seen one, you've seen them all." Draco said. Hermione turned to face him.

"Thank you, Draco, but we've been walking for what seems like ever, shouldn't we be, oh, I don't know reaching another task or something along those lines." Draco looked at her and shrugged, then, letting his arms fall to his side, he strode towards an open place and unsheathed his sword.

"I don't know what this cave has planned for us, but I for one can take it!" Draco said swinging his sword around like an idiot. Hermione laughed and looked at Harry, she smiled and opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly she saw Harry and Cho together, they were standing over her and Draco, Cho whispered the killing curse and Harry pointed his wand at her chest, smirking evilly. Hermione was suddenly brought back and she looked at Harry.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Harry asked stepping towards her. She stepped away.

"You're going to betray us!" she said.

"What…no…" Harry started.

"I just had a vision, Cho, she killed Draco, you were going to kill me, I saw it in your eyes, oh my God; you are going to freaking kill us!" Hermione screamed, she stepped away and unsheathed her sword only to have it taken by Draco.

"STOP!" he said standing between them, "Hermione, I thought you knew better…"

"What, to not trust anyone…" Hermione began

"No!" Draco said, "Hermione, we are in the cave of Deception, key word, DECEPTION! It's trying to divide us; it wouldn't send us visions to help us know what is to come so we can change it." Draco said, he looked at Harry and turned to Hermione, "Hermione…" he said lowering his voice so only she could hear, "…betrayals may not always be all that they seem!" Hermione stopped, the woman, she had said that, her eyes shot up to his.

"Draco…?" she asked, he gave her, her sword and turned to Harry,

"C'mon, I have a feeling we are close!" he said walking ahead, leaving confused Hermione and even more confused Harry.

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Lavender and Ron were the first to reach the central chamber which held tasks they had to finish together, they had each, like Hermione, faced a task where they saw the other betraying them. Most were not as lucky as Hermione and Harry were, Sirius convinced Remus before any harm was done, but Lavender had to knock Ron out, and James had to force Lily's sword from her. Harry, Hermione and Draco were the last to arrive at the center. Lily immediately came over to Harry making sure that he was okay, then going to Hermione and doing the same. Harry walked around the chamber; there were four giant walls, all obviously hiding something that each group would have to face. Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned to see Hermione.

"Harry, I'm sorry I jumped to the conclusion that you would betray me, I know you love me; I just got scared." Hermione said quietly.

Harry looked down, that wasn't what was on his mind, "Hermione can I ask you a question?"

"Yes…of course!" Hermione said without hesitation.

"Why are you so threatened by what I had with Cho?" Harry asked. Hermione looked at him with surprise, but to be honest she wasn't that surprised.

"The same reason you are so threatened by what I had with Krum! We don't know what happened last summer, I mean we could have shagged our partners and we wouldn't know it, because we never bothered to ask. She could be pregnant and you might not know it. She knows things I don't, and that scares me." Hermione said looking him in the eye.

"Well, you shouldn't be scared!" Harry said leaning in to kiss her, Hermione kissed him back, then pulled away and walked toward the group. Harry thought maybe he was imagining things, but he thought that when she turned he heard her whisper `I wish I could say the same!'

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Harry looked at Draco, "Are you sure this is how it works?" Draco shrugged and looked at Hermione.

"Hermione is this righ…" Draco started

"Boys, would you listen to me, I already explained this once." Hermione said taking her sword, "We put our swords in there and it will open to reveal our task."

"So, let me get this straight…" Harry began, "…we are supposed to go in there powerless, defenseless and clueless?"

"Harry, you do that everyday in your classes why should this be any different?" Lavender yelled from across the cave. Harry gave her a pointed look and focused back on Hermione.

"I don't know, but there is only one way to find out!" Hermione said lifting up her sword, "All of us must do this at the same time so, on three, one…" Hermione said lining up her sword with the slot, "…two…" she said looking at Harry and Draco, "…three!" she said thrusting her sword into where it went as Harry and Draco did the same. They were all forced back as their swords disappeared and the wall went up. They slowly approached it and looked inside. Hermione, standing in the center, grabbed both of their hands and stepped inside pulling them with her. When they stepped inside instantly the wall went down, they were trapped.

"You won't get out now!" a voice said from the corner. They all turned to see a woman emerging from the shadows; all three of them looked at her in shock. "Yep, it's me!" the three looked at each other.

"You know her?" they all said in unison. All of their heads turned to the woman.

"I appeared to each of you in your sleep, giving each of you advice on how to go about this, I told you each something different, I told Draco to trust in his heart, and in your friendships. I told Hermione and Harry to trust in his friendships and trust in love." The woman said, "But I made a mistake…" they all exchanged glances, "…or should I say Hermione made a mistake!" Hermione looked like she might have fainted if she hadn't been so intrigued. "Hermione, as noble as her intentions, was not supposed to tell anyone what happened. Now, things have changed, and now you must rely fully on the trust you have built amongst one another." She sighed, "I cannot tell you anything more than that!" she said, pausing. "I know that all of your friends and family went into the other caverns, but that is just to keep them busy. You know you will have to get the book, and you know that the second you step forward you'll have to face something in which you trust each other, and I can only imagine what is going through your heads right now. But, I assure you; as long as you trust each other you will be fine."

"How can you be so sure we trust each other?" Draco asked hesitantly. Her eyes snapped to him.

"Mr. Malfoy, you may think you're dark and mysterious, but your not, if any of the three of you, it's not in your heart my fear lies. I believe you trust more easily than you would let on. My worry does not lie in you or in Mr. Potter; my worry lies in Hermione, because I know what is in her heart. I know she wants to trust you two, but she refuses to let herself give in." she finished, her eyes turning to Hermione. Then with the blink of an eye she was gone!

Draco turned to the other two, "Should we trust her?" Hermione, who was looking at where she had been, turned her eyes towards him. He looked at her and she looked away.

"I guess we have no choice!" she said holding back her tears, and how much the woman's words had stung her. Hermione began to walk forward, slowly and cautiously. She turned to face them, "There's something about this cavern!" she said, "Something more than what they have been telling us!"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked

"Well," she said turning to walk forward, "this is obviously about trust, they keep telling us to trust each other, trust in our friendships, our love, but what I really think it's about is trusting ourselves."

"Trusting ourselves?" Draco asked, "I'm pretty sure we all trust ourselves."

"Do you?" Hermione asked, raising one eyebrow, "I mean Draco, do you trust that you won't become like your father? I know it's your greatest fear, I can see it in your eyes, but do you trust yourself enough to resist your father and the power that comes along with it?" Hermione's eyes turned to Harry, "And Harry, I see it in your eyes; you don't trust that you won't fail. You think this all relies on you defeating Voldemort single handed. Well, guess what, it doesn't, you have friends and we are sick and tired of you beating yourself up over it!"

"Well what about you…" Draco said, "You're not little miss perfect like you lead people to think, you don't trust yourself either."

"You're right!" Hermione said simply, "None of us trust ourselves or each other, and we can't take one more step until we do."

"What are you talking about; we all trust each other, that woman was just mad." Harry said

"Really, is that why we all told each other about the dream, vision, whatever with her in it?" Hermione said sitting down on the ground and leaning against the cave wall. "Listen, Harry, Draco, it's not that I don't trust you, it's just, I'm afraid of giving you my complete trust because you might hurt me." Hermione stood up, "You have given me no reason too, but that doesn't change the fact that I do!" Harry looked down and then up at Draco who gave him a look. Harry turned to Hermione.

"Hermione, I trust you!" Harry said stepping forward and taking her hand. Draco was next he came forward and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You know, I've given you no reason to trust me, and you vice versa, but I do, that's good enough for me." He said, Hermione smiled at the two of them and opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a rumble they all looked to the wall that they had entered through, it was moving up. But, it wasn't the same chamber they had come out of, Hermione smiled and walked into the chamber.

She turned around and smiled at the boys, "We did it!" Harry went to take a step forward, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a hand reach out and grab Hermione and slowly putting a sword to her neck.

"You may have done it, Ms. Granger, but we did it first!" came the drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy.

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