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What is love?

CHAPTER XXXI

Tying loose ends

I can see
When you stay low nothing happens
Does it feel right?

It's all around
Getting stronger, coming closer
Into my world

(.- Stand my ground by Within temptation)

Last chapter(s) in What is Love?...

Things finally settled down after saving Luna and Ginny and facing the Falange (remaining servants of The Dark Lord, who want to (what's new?) bring him back. In chapter XXIX, Harry and Hermione accepted their responsibilities in the hell they put each other through the past years and apologized to each other. When they got to St. Mungo's, they told Lupin and Ron about them; that they are giving it another try despite everything that's happened between them. Fortunately, Lupin is a wonderful guy and he's all right with it, and Ron now has Luna, so they were both really ok with it.

Luna woke up and the Medi-wizard who was in charge of her, thanked Ron for saving her life; he praised his magic skills and told him how honored he was to meet him. Tonks also woke up after days, and was thrilled to see Neville and Ginny back together and apparently forever.

In other couples… Lariana decided to live with Draco temporarily and a spark awakened between them. Neville and Ginny are back together and went to get some rest in the Aurors' secret room in St. Mungo's

One would think this is the happy ending, but NO! There's still the Falange to deal with, so that's what we'll do now!

Auror's quarters at St. Mungo's - 2004

It was a quarter to two in the morning and Harry awoke to his wand-alarm. With a silent groan, he untangled himself from Hermione and kissed her cheek softly to avoid waking her up, like he had done for the last four nights. He stood and put on a black t-shirt and a pair of comfortable pants to meet with Neville, Remus and Draco. They'd been informed that Tonks had been finally released from the hospital and would join them for the nightly meeting, for which he was glad; it had been some very tense days with all that'd happened.

While Tonks and Luna were hospitalized, he and Neville had been stationed at the Aurors' quarters at St. Mungo's; Neville and Ginny had taken up what usually was Harry and Neville's room, and he and Hermione had taken Tonks and Remus'.

After he put his clothes on, he turned to check on Hermione and was knocked breathless by her beauty; she looked so peaceful and happy… almost as if she knew their future, as if they were already living their 'happily ever after'. Harry wanted so bad to believe that as well, but there were still so many things going on; so many perils coming their way. He simply wanted to hide Hermione and their unborn child from anything and everything; he wanted Ron, and Luna, and Ginny to go on and live their lives carefree… but he knew that was impossible, and it was killing him.

He walked out and met with Neville's blue, sleepy eyes; the young man smiled and met him in the centre of the room, where the round table was already placed with six chairs.

"Morning."

"Can't say 'good' either. I wish we could have these meetings at a decent time…" Neville grunted and sat. He yawned and waved his hand to materialize two cups of espresso in front of them both. "How's Hermione doing?"

"All right, I suppose, she was little queasy after dinner… guess veal doesn't really agree with the baby."

"Don't even want to imagine how Ginny will be…"

"You really are diving head-on this time, aren't you?"

"Definitely, I don't want to screw things over this time."

"You won't, trust me. You're both in the same boat, judging by what I've seen these past few days."

Neville smiled warmly at his partner and nodded. "So, how are YOU holding up?"

"I have no bleeding idea of what I'm doing," he said sincerely and shook his head. "Yesterday I ordered a muggle book; should be arriving in the morning. Maybe that'll give me a clue as to what to do next."

"How far along is she?"

"Almost four months, although she's not showing yet."

"And Ron?" Neville asked, voicing a fear Harry had buried deep down, trying to focus on the immediate future, unable to really think ahead after all that had happened.

He stayed quiet for a moment. "Strangely all right with it."

Neville frowned. "Really? I would've thought he'd burn down your house or something."

Harry had to laugh at this. "Yeah, me too. I saw him holding hands with Luna... really weird."

The other young man reflected for a moment. "Well... maybe not that weird. Remember how Luna worshipped him back in school? I don't think she ever got over it..."

"Or maybe she saw something."

"So much weirdness couldn't come for free?" Neville asked, echoing their mocks of so many years ago with a fond smile on his face.

Harry rolled his eyes and smiled as well. "Who knows. I hope it's for the best. I sincerely didn't know how much I missed Ron, and how much it..."

"Burdened you?" Neville finished his thought; he had always been the most insightful of them.

Harry thought for a moment. "Yes... burdened me, until he looked at me without that... hatred?" Harry said, unsure, not liking how that word sounded associated with him and Ron.

His partner picked up on it immediately. "Probably not hatred, but I know what you mean. I'm glad you've patched up things between the three."

"I wouldn't call Victory yet. There's a lot of water under the bridge."

"You'll get through it. You three always do... but how will you manage with all that's going on?"

"I can only-"

They were interrupted by the click of the secret door. A second later the aurors they were waiting for entered, each of them looking just as disheveled as Harry and Neville at little over two in the morning on a Thursday.

"Chief," Harry and Neville saluted Lupin with a smile.

"Cut it out, it's too early," the older man responded and shook his head.

"Why can't we have these meetings at humanly hours?" Tonks asked what each had in mind.

"Oh, boy, have you been away…" Harry responded.

"She's got a fair point," Draco drawled inbetween yawns. "Immediate danger is all around; I don't see a reason why we should keep doing this."

"That's exactly why," Harry countered Draco's proposal.

"Guys, guys, please, let's cut this to the chase. What have you got, Draco," Remus interjected before the argument could go further.

"All right then. Obviously, there has been a lot of movement. Tonks recognized a dark-magic signature inside the hospital at about five in the afternoon yesterday."

"But they didn't do anything," Tonks added before anyone could panic.

"Still, they are probably monitoring us."

"Indeed. I am thinking they did all this with two purposes: the first one, we know; the leaders of the resistance, naturally. But I am pretty sure their first move wasn't the definitive."

Neville frowned. "How's that possible?"

"You guys have been out of the loop for years now; most of us have come into magical maturity in these past five years or so."

"Meaning?" Harry added grumpily.

Draco sighed. "Do you ever read 'Hogwarts, A History' or 'A short guide to magical development'?"

"Uh… duh?" Harry responded, unable to repress the immediate answer.

"Harry!" Lupin reprimanded.

"What?"

"What are you, twelve?" Tonks did Remus the favor of answering.

"Hmph. So?"

The Slytherin sighed again. "A wizard comes to magical maturity between the ages of 17 and 27, and in that time, their magic strengthens and if a witch or wizard has any special abilities, they come to life full-on in these years, like Luna. How on earth did you manage to get Head Boy at school?"

Harry made a face to Draco and then winked. "I just did." He almost stuck his tongue out to his former enemy but refrained upon seeing Remus' face.

"And? What's it got to do with the first strike?" Neville asked.

"They were monitoring you, to see how you've evolved as far as I can tell."

Harry laughed. "Fuck."

"I know."

"We need to involve all the others then," Harry said, devoid of emotion.

"We do. I'm sorry, Harry," Lupin said, reading into Harry's words.

He rested his head on both his hands and shook his head. "What else have you got, Draco?" he asked.

"I think they have moved to Wiltshire," he pointed at the map that had just materialized on the table. They all stared. "Underground."

Silence fell and they all but stared at each other.

"Well, that isn't good," Tonks aired their thoughts.

"Are you sure?" Remus asked.

"I got word from a friend at a local newspaper there. There was an earth shake with the epicenter in Stonehenge. Nothing was destroyed."

"But the Stonehenge Guards?" Neville prodded.

"The only way there could be an earth shake in that area is if magic is involved," Remus provided.

"So you think they've killed them?" Harry asked, worry growing inside of him.

"That's the problem. I don't know. They are unspeakables, so we wouldn't know unless we went there"

"There's a tunnel system old Celts used. It leads straight to the center…"

"But the magic is so powerful there…" Tonks commented, barely above a whisper.

"Do we have a choice?" Harry raised his face to Lupin and Draco; hoping for an impossible answer and the two shook their heads.

"They will still come after them otherwise, and you know you are stronger together."

"I don't want to use that spell again!" Harry said intensely.

"Harry, it is the only way to really finish them! If they…"

"No! I won't do it! It almost killed them last time!" he screamed.

"You think I don't remember, Harry?" Remus responded just as loudly.

"There's got to be another way!"

"Another way to what?" A female voice asked from behind the meeting table.

Harry turned, dreading what was to come. "To nothing, Mione, go back to bed, please."

She rubbed her eyes sleep-free. "No. You usually don't get worked up like that. Tell me," she said, walking forward while her nightgown changed into a pair of pants and a t-shirt.

"I want to know too…" another female voice added.

"Oh, bollocks," Neville said, knowing they had little choice now.

"And why are you up and in a meeting at this time of night?" Hermione demanded. She studied them. "And this is not the first time you gather like this. Why?" she asked.

"Auror business," Harry said curtly.

"To another dog with that bone, Potter. Now, speak."

"Exactly," Ginny completed and came to stand next to her friend.

Hermione turned to her as to thank her for her support, but instead of a smile, her face transformed into a worried frown. She took her hand to Ginny's scarred cheek. "What happened? How did this not heal properly?"

Ginny took her hand to the scar and sighed. "I'm thinking the blade the blasted Death Eater used for taking a piece of my face was enchanted with dark magic."

"What? When did they do this to you?"

"The day of the attack on the Quibbler. Before they took us to the old Ministry. Why?"

"How come no one noticed this before?" she confronted the aurors in the room.

"Well, we didn't pay it much attention, Hermione. There was a lot going on," Remus started, increasingly worried.

"I just thought it would disappear in time," Neville continued.

"Could you please explain?" Harry and Draco said at the same time.

Hermione huffed angrily and she walked towards Harry. He pointed at his lightning-bolt shaped scar. "Doesn't this give you a clue?"

"Hermione! Stop it with the clues!"

"Argh! Only dark magic scars do not heal with healing spells!" Everyone looked at her expectantly and Hermione made a disbelieving face at them. "Dark magic is used for potions and spells of dark magic! Remember your nail, Harry?"

"My nail? What are you talking about?"

"When you were attacked, your index finger had no nail. It grew back, but still. There's GOT to be some significance to this!" she said and paced, deep in thought.

"Hermione, stop right now, please. You can't get more involved than you already are," Harry started to send her and Ginny away again but was stopped by a gesture from Remus.

"We have to tell them."

"No, we don't. We can handle it!"

"Obviously you can't. If you haven't resolved it yet," Ginny said defiantly.

"I told you, Remus, I don't want them involved!" he said with such intensity, you could almost feel the magic in the air.

"Harry!" Hermione shut him down with a word and he turned to her, then looked away. She closed the distance between the two and placed a hand on his arm. "We'll be all right," she said softly.

"No, you won't, Mione."

She summoned a pen and wrote something on the corner of the map; with a smile, she pointed at it.

WWJLPD? Harry read and shook his head with a chuckle. "What Would Jean-Luc Picard Do? Really." he said and turned to Hermione, much to the other wizard-born people in the room's confusion.

"Really, captain," Hermione responded with that smile that was only Harry's, "we will," she countered even more gently, with another smile she hoped was reassuring.

"I don't like it," he said, as if speaking to Hermione only and placed a hand on her cheek. "I don't…"

"I know, but that's what we do…" she whispered, resting her hand on top of his and softly kissing him.

Harry's lips lingered on hers and then he swallowed. Turning to the others, he nodded. "All right then, let's fill them in, but we need to call the others too," Harry agreed and the group proceeded to summon Ron and Luna.

About an hour later, the group was complete and the information was released to them. When Hermione added her theory on Ginny and Harry's missing parts, Ron stopped dead in his tracks and looked at Luna.

"Can I see your arm, baby?"

Luna looked at him bewildered and raised her sleeve to show a faint line all the way through to her shoulder. "Luna said they took a piece of her arm before they…" he couldn't bring himself to say it and Luna put a hand on his arm.

"They took this and said something about only missing something from the other three…"

"The other three… you think?" Harry started, looking at his best friend and girlfriend.

"Yes, I do," Hermione responded as Ron nodded gravely.

"But we won't know what's going on until we get there…" Remus finished with a heavy heart.

"I guess we're going to Stonehenge then…" Ron said after a moment to take it all in. Like Harry, he did not want this; he did not want more death, and more war, and more pain… but it was the only way. He couldn't just sit around and wait to see if his sister and the two most important people in his life came back in one piece from this mission.

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