Another big thanks to everyone who has been reviewing. It really makes me happy to see all of the reviews!
Author's Note: I'm terrible about cliffhangers. Most of the chapters in this story do end with them (sorry!), but you typically won't have to wait more than a few days for each chapter in this story to be posted in this story, seeing as how it is completed.
Italicized text is a flashback.
See Chapter 1 for disclaimer.
'He chose now to become perceptive. Why, Harry, did it have to be now?' Thoughts raced through her head. 'I can't...'
"No, Harry, nothing."
"Hermione, I've known you for seven years, been in all or your classes, lived in Gryffindor Tower with you. I know when you're hiding something. You have the same look on your face as when you had the Time-Turner back in third year- I didn't recognize it then, but that's aside the point..."
"Really, Harry, it's nothing. I'm just... tired." She gave him her best fake yawn, and looked at him, hoping that she was concealing her secret well.
"No. It isn't nothing. You have something that you are hiding from me. And Hermione, after everything that I told you, there is absolutely no reason why you can't do the same. Well, not the exact same, but you know."
"I'm serious, there is nothing. I'm not hiding anything."
Harry shook his head. "You are. I'm not arguing with you. Look at me, Hermione."
She gazed up for the umpteenth time into his green eyes. He looked down at her with such caring and gentleness that she hardly recognized him. There was no joke in his eye, no element of constant intensity. Just kindness and... love. 'There will be time for that,' she thought, 'and I think that time is fast approaching.'
"No secrets."
Those two words broke her resistance. No walls that she put up could resist that. All of Harry's secrets were out in the open. And with him looking at her like that, she knew that she couldn't keep hers bottled up much longer. She broke the eye contact and looked down again. She couldn't say it. Why she couldn't she did not know. He had told her everything. She knew that. So why was it so hard to say it? Noticing that she had broken eye contact, he reached out and tipped her chin up with his hand. She reluctantly looked back at him.
"No secrets, Hermione."
That was it. She took a deep breath. He let her chin go, but she didn't break eye contact again. She instead reached for his hands and held them in hers.
"Harry, you're right. I am hiding something. I don't know why it's so hard for me to say, but it is. I need to say it. Just promise that you'll let me talk. No interruptions. Just let it flow, because if you stop me I won't be able to start again. It's a long story, be patient. Okay?"
He nodded wordlessly, but the look that he gave her told her that she was safe to speak.
"I guess we have to start at the beginning. The beginning, in this case, is a lot longer ago than you might think. When I met you, and we became close friends, you told me about the protection your mother gave you when she died. Me, being the bookworm that I am, became really interested, and... well... I went and researched it. In your case, your mother's life was taken, but she gave you protection against ever being touched by the one who killed her, well, until he got a hold of your blood. There are many other different kinds of protective sacrifices. Generally, if a person is protected by love, they get resistance against either the person who attacked them or the curse that was used. Obviously, your mother's protection did not protect you from the curse itself, because you are still vulnerable to Avada Kedavra. There is, however, another result of the protection that your mother gave you before she died, one that she undoubtably knew about. It would assist you in the future when someone else tried to make the same sacrifice."
Harry looked very confused.
"O.K. I know that it doesn't make sense right this second. But you'll understand. Just keep that in the back of your mind, and fast forward a few years."
"Just so I have a frame of reference, how many years forward are we talking about?" He knew she had said not to interrupt, but he really was lost.
"I was getting there. Be patient. You'll understand soon. I think. I hardly understand it myself--"
"Hermione. Uh, back on track, please? Madame Pomfrey will probably be back in an hour or two to check up on you."
"Right. Sorry, this is just hard to get out... ok, think back to- well, now I guess it is two days ago," she said, looking up at the clock. "We were talking about the war. You had just told me about the prophecy."
"Hermione, I know that it's hard to comprehend... I didn't believe until this year."
"When... how long have you known?"
"Dumbledore told me after our fifth year. That's what the prophecy said. It was Professor Trelawney's first real prediction."
Her voice grew quieter. "We know that the war culminates tomorrow. We know that it's going to be a major battle. But, let me see if I've got this right..." she grew quieter yet, and her voice cracked. "You're telling me that someone is going to die tomorrow, and it's going to either be Voldemort... or..." She couldn't get it out. It couldn't be true. "It can't be, Harry. This can't be the last night that you sit here with me. It's not. You're going to be here and finish the year. And you're going to become an Auror, and coach the Quidditch team for Gryffindor. And you're going to be here, sitting next to me, tomorrow night. You just are." Her eyes brimmed with tears.
His eyes watered, too. "No, Hermione. I needed you to know, before we go tomorrow. You need to know that this is the only way, and that I may not be here tomorrow. But, Hermione, if that's what it takes- if I vanquish him, but I die in the effort, then that's the way it was destined to be. Anything to save everyone else. Dying is not my fear. My fear is losing. The weight of the world is on my shoulders, Hermione. I'm the only one that can do it. And I'm afraid of losing more people that I care about. You, and Ron, and Remus, and Tonks, and Ginny, and everybody else. I've lost so much, and I know that if it takes my life to protect the rest of the world, I don't mind. If I have to die there, I want to die fighting, and I want to die knowing that I've done what I was destined to do."
Her mouth ran dry. "Yes. I know. I understand, and I would give my life, also, to protect those I love. But the threat isn't on my head, Harry. I just can't believe it. You are the Boy Who Lived, and it's probably the first time since I met you on the train our first year that I thought that. You're just Harry Potter. Why did you have to be the Boy Who Lived? I like it better than the Boy Who Died, but it just puts so much pressure on you. The fate of the world is up to you. I wouldn't be able to take it. But I hold faith that you will be able to endure, and I want you to know, Harry, that I will be right there with you, and while I can't actually carry out the deed, I can give you support. I can help you, and I will do everything in my power, Harry Potter, to make sure that you come back here alive. I would give my life if I could only take this burden from you, but I know I can't. If I have to die tomorrow, it will be in battle, and it will be helping you. Don't tell me no, because it's what I'm going to do. If you have to die, I will die at your side, protecting you. You've been through too much. I'll be right here, always, even if always only extends until tomorrow."
He was holding back sobs. She let hers go, and there they sat, on the plush burgundy couch of the Common Room, comforting each other, preparing for the most difficult and possibly last challenge of their lives.