A/N: If you clicked on 'Latest' and it brought you here (not sure how it works), you need to go back to Chapter 13.
Love Will Come Through
Epilogue: Love Came Through
Hermione rushed up the stairs, cursing her rare decision to wear high heels to work as she continually tripped over the cold stone steps. Finally she reached the fourth floor, sharply turning to the right and almost knocking a passing Healer to the floor as she raced down the corridor. She did not need to push the door open, for it flew aside for her, and she saw him… them immediately, a Healer at each of their sides.
"Harry!" she yelled.
Luna was already there, her hand in Ron's- he had a jagged, bloody gash down the side of his face, nastier than the one that had already become careworn over his left eye, but otherwise he appeared quite healthy, and was sitting up. Both of them were looking over at the neighbouring bed- Luna's hand lay upon the edge of the bed's mattress.
Harry, in contrast to his partner, was lying down, and, as Hermione neared, she could see that his eyes were closed. The Healer, a stocky, balding man in his late forties, was pouring some potion Hermione couldn't see the name of onto Harry's right arm- where, she saw to her horror, there had been an enormous slice of flesh taken out of- had Harry been a Muggle, he would certainly have been excreting an enormous amount of blood.
She gasped and ran to his side. "Harry! What's wrong with him? Is he-"
"I'm okay, Hermione."
His voice was raspy, but she saw that his eyes had been closed simply from the pain- every application of the liquid made him wince. In addition to the obvious injury, there was a grizzled chunk of his hair missing over his ear, and one of his eyes was horribly bloodshot.
In spite of all this, she threw herself upon him. "I thought… I…" she choked out. Harry, in his constricted position, did his best to comfort her. Finally she leant back again, tears running down her face.
"What… what happened to you?" she demanded quietly.
Harry smiled weakly. "Ask Ron," he replied.
Hermione frowned and looked up at Ron. "Ron?" she prompted.
Ron shifted uncomfortably, appearing to tighten his clasp on Luna's hand. "You knew what we going to do," he said in his gruff voice. It was not a question, but Hermione nodded. "We were ambushed before we could get there. Ten of them. We managed to Stun about half of them, I think, but then one got Harry… sliced that nice bit out of his arm," he grimaced, gesturing to where the Healer was still working, seemingly oblivious to the scene around him. Harry had closed his eyes again to try and bear the evident pain.
"I got a couple more and went to help… there were two of them on him, they must've been the only two left… They used Crucio on him, both at the same time." Hermione gasped and looked wide-eyed at Harry, who, his eyes shut, did not respond. Ron continued. "So I… I didn't think, I just ran at them… so they went after me instead." He looked momentarily away. "And then Harry stunned them and bound them all up and sent for help."
Harry's eyes snapped open. "Ron…" he said warningly. "Show her."
Hermione, confused, looked from Ron to Harry and back again. Luna was whispering feverishly to her husband, pulling at his sheets, but Ron held them firmly down and looked inscrutably at Hermione.
She, however, was not to be deterred. "Show me, Ron," she said in a loud whisper, moving around Harry's bed to the foot of Ron's. "Please."
Ron gave her a painful look and reluctantly drew his sheets back, very slowly.
Hermione gasped. Where Ron's left leg should have been was a rounded stump covered in bandages.
"They couldn't save it," said Ron roughly, throwing the blankets back across his body. Luna's hand gripped his more tightly. Ron tried to smile. "But, hey, now I can be like Mad-Eye… all I need is one of those eyes."
No one seemed to appreciate this rather inappropriate attempt at humour- Luna, particularly, looked like she was about to burst into tears, which they all knew was a very rare occurrence indeed.
Hermione swallowed. "Ron…" she began tentatively. He looked at her. "You saved Harry's life. You sacrificed yourself for him. Thank you." Ron nodded gratefully at her.
But Hermione was not finished. "I forgive you," she added simply.
It took a moment for Ron to realize what she meant. It had been, she reflected, over six years, and they had, as she had requested, not spoken of it since. But she saw realization in his eyes, and he looked slightly shocked.
"It doesn't matter," he replied softly. "It never did. All I ever needed was for you to try."
Hermione could barely stop the tears from forming. "Thank you," she said again, croakily.
Ron smiled warmly at her and let Luna kiss him; Hermione knew the moment was over.
She turned to her husband. The Healer had departed; she had not noticed in her emotional state. More astonishing, however, was that Harry's arm, despite the bandage now wrapped around it, now appeared to be fully whole again; evidently the unknown potion had done its job.
Feeling a lucid, eerie calm descending upon her, she summoned a chair from across the room and sat down at his side, carefully slipping her hand into his, fingertips gingerly feeling the edge of the bandage.
He turned his head, scar faded on his famous forehead, his dazzling green eyes as bright as ever. One was still bloodshot, and the green and red sat uncomfortably next to each other. Hermione was reminded rather vividly of Harry and Draco Malfoy streaking down together towards the Snitch, brightly coloured blurs on broomsticks.
He was smiling gently at her. She reciprocated, trying uselessly to stave off her welling tears. As they dropped, it was silently, sliding silkily down her face and onto the bed sheets, which were marked for a split second before instantly drying themselves.
"I remembered," he whispered. She gasped- those words, those simple words, had come to mean so much to them both; a simple signifier they had developed, letting her know another memory had reappeared in his head, and another piece of their jigsaw puzzle had been clicked into place. Luna's experiment in the hospital wing all those years ago might have been dangerous, but her imagery had come to be symbolic… and now here was Harry, telling her that, if they weren't very much mistaken, that the last piece of the puzzle had been put into place.
He was complete.
"Really?" was all she could manage to say. Of course, she had never not loved Harry unconditionally for not having all the memories, but this meant that he was finally free of those events- they would never have to think about them again, they would haunt them no more.
It was strange, really- the speed of his memories' return had been entirely random, moving in fits and starts for almost two years, though her attitude towards him had not changed- she loved him, she always would. But there was one memory, one enormous moment, which had, for some reason, decided it would not return. It was not a happy one, and Hermione refused to show it to him- and yet without it she knew Harry still felt incomplete. But she would not show it to him through her eyes- she could not ever let him do that, not ever let him witness it again.
"Yeah." He squeezed her hand. "It was while they were Crucio'ing me… I know it's stupid, but two at once… it felt like death, Hermione, like I was going to die," he confessed, paling slightly. She gripped his hand tightly. "And then I saw it…"
Hermione tensed. She did not want to hear this, though she had readied herself many times. She knew he would say this, when he remembered, but she did not deserve…
"You sacrified yourself for me, Hermione… at least you tried," he added, smiling slightly. "You were ready to die for me. I don't deserve…"
Hermione put a firm finger over his lips, stoppering his words. "No, Harry," she said softly. "You deserve everything you have. I was nothing compared to you."
But Harry would not be deterred. "You are far better than I am. You did something you did not need to do… you put your life in danger to help me. No one asked you to. But you did anyway."
Hermione leant forward emphatically. "Because I loved you, Harry," she intoned. "Wouldn't you do the same for me?"
Harry looked affronted. "That's different," he said immediately. "You should never be hurt by anyone."
Hermione smiled. "Harry, I love you- but you are an idiot. Don't you understand that's exactly the way I feel about you? I'd do anything to put you out of danger- just like you would for me. This is a two-way street, mister," she teased.
Harry looked pensive. Hermione touched his cheek, and he jumped slightly. "You remember," she reminded him in a whisper. "You remember everything." She kissed him lightly, feeling his soft lips tugging back at hers for a second before she pulled away again. "It's over now. All gone."
Harry smiled. "Nothing's ever gone, Hermione," he reminded her softly. He glanced at Ron, who was hidden by Luna's crouched form. "We just find a way to move past it."
Hermione sighed gently, and whispered. "I love you." She kissed his forehead. "I love you so much." She kissed his nose. "And I'll never let you forget that," she finished, kissing his lips lightly again.
She felt him smile against her mouth. "You know," he said teasingly, "I don't believe that you will."
And then the door of the ward burst open once more and Neville and Ginny strode in, hand in hand, and, as they approached the two damaged, brave men in the beds, Hermione was silent in her chair. She squeezed Harry's hand once more; and in the flurry of talk and emotion around them, they looked at each other, and they were content. And for the rest of their lives, they would remember this moment, for they were finally free.
The End