Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter belong to JKR.
A/N: Part of the idea for this came from scenes in AngieJ's Paradise series and Lori's PoU but also just from my own thoughts on H/Hr and their relationship being Destiny.
~*~*~*~*~
The Reward
Or Destiny
White light. Glowing, positively shimmering with some kind of energy and magic…
And then a voice, neither male or female but somewhere in between and somehow soothing to hear, "Welcome to the Beyond, Harry Potter. She is expecting you."
He didn't ask, somehow already knew, who this 'she' was. He just followed the figure as the light around the figure faded enough to reveal the form and features…
And Harry gasped slightly and stared.
The Messenger and Companion to the One smiled slightly at Harry's surprise. "I take a form that is of your previous life and would be comforting to you," the messenger explained.
Harry nodded dumbly. It was his mother and yet not…
They entered a large ante-chamber and the messenger turned to him. "Just a minute," the messenger said, before disappearing through the door on the other side of the room.
There was a simple inscription above the door: Your choices are your destiny.
The messenger returned in another minute. "You can go in now."
"Thank you," Harry said and smiled at the messenger who returned the smile before fading away, leaving Harry alone to go through the door.
The room was very large and yet somehow he found he could see everything in it. It seemed like the walls were composed of what looked like many television screens with smoky figures moving in them that he couldn't quite see, with one larger than all the others in the center which was the only one which was completely clear.
All this was absorbed in some small portion of his mind unconsciously.
At the moment all he was aware of was the woman in the center of the room. She was dressed in white and smiling at him. She wasn't beautiful in the classical sense of the word; her features were a little too distinctive, but she was striking.
"Welcome, Harry Potter. You are about to see something and be given a choice which very few other people ever receive." She paused and smiled a little. "Consider it our way of rewarding you for your service to the good in your life."
For the first time he felt something like confusion. "Excuse me but where exactly is this?" he asked somewhat tentatively, wondering if he was going to be hit by some sort of lightning bolt for asking.
Instead the woman simply laughed. "A very good question. This is the Center, the operation room of the fates, you might say. This screen," she said, pointing to the largest one, "shows what is happening in real time in your past life. The other screens," she gestured to indicate the rest of the room, "show various possible other lives, alternate lives, which you may have led, had certain circumstances, events, or choices been different. Those screens answer all the 'what if' questions you may have had about your life and more."
"Look," she went on, gesturing to the largest screen.
Harry looked and felt tears well up in his eyes. In it, his Hermione was weeping as Ron tried to comfort her, a valiant attempt but unsuccessful as Ron himself was struggling to keep from crying. He reached out a hand involuntarily, trying to touch Hermione's face, to let her know that he was fine, that he was watching her…
It suddenly occurred to him that his hand was that of a very young man and he glanced down, his other hand going up to his face.
The One watched him with a mixture of amusement and sympathy. "Yes, you have been returned to your 20 year old physical form for this." She sobered and returned her gaze to the largest screen, drawing his attention to it again. "Your Hermione has been very strong until now. She's met all the well-wishers who have come to express their condolences, comforted your children and their children as much as she can. All this, without shedding a tear in public."
"Yes, I know, it's like her to do that," Harry managed to say, his voice husky with emotion from watching his Hermione grieve for him.
"She's only just now allowed herself to crumble when only Ron as her most trusted friend right now is there to see."
The One turned to him. "You have lived your life, Harry, made your choices, experienced where they all brought you. I am here, now, to show you what your life might have been like if things had been different…"
She waved a hand at the larger screen so that the image blurred and shifted rapidly becoming what seemed like a slideshow of pictures from his life. "In this life, Harry," the One began, speaking crisply as she summarized his life, "your parents were murdered and you lived with the Dursleys, never having real friendship until you left for Hogwarts at the age of 11. You became friends with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger and eventually learned the truth of the Prophecy that had been made concerning you. You found the strength within you to defeat Voldemort and you married Hermione three years after that. You had three children and lived very happily, except for occasional moments of danger, for the past 30-odd years. You died suddenly, a Muggle accident, at the age of 54." She paused in her recitation of the very condensed summary of his life, her voice softening, "Now, here is where your choice comes. You have had more than 30 years with your true soul-mate, which is longer than most people ever experience, among the few who actually meet with their true soul-mate. Most people, you see, fall in love with what are called partial soul-mates; they generally live very happily with them and they will never know their true soul-mate, the one person who was genuinely made and meant for them. A select few do meet and marry their true soul-mate, as you did. However, I'm afraid that a Muggle accident was not the foretold or expected way for you to lose your life. Not that it was entirely an accident, nothing is, but then our lives are not predestined completely; people are given free will to make choices which affect their lives in ways which we have very little control over. You made a series of choices which all led to your being a casualty of the accident. But because of all that you've done in your life, not just defeating Voldemort but more for all the sacrifices you've made for the greater good, for the way you always tried to protect those weaker than you, every little decision you made, from when you rushed to save Hermione from a troll to when you had pity on Pettigrew, all those choices have accumulated until now when we have decided to give you a choice. You may accept the life that you have led and wait here in the Beyond for your Hermione to join you; we cannot tell you how long you will have to wait, however. Or you may choose one of these alternate lives and live again, although again we cannot tell you how the rest of those lives go. All we can tell you is what has occurred so far to make it different from your life."
Harry blinked. This was too much to take in. He had a chance at a second life? A chance to live again, make different choices…
The One continued, gesturing to different smaller screens as she spoke.
"If you had not chosen to be in Gryffindor…" He saw himself talking to Draco Malfoy, he and Draco laughing at-he caught his breath-they were laughing at Hermione, whose book bag has split open from the weight of her books. He saw himself and Hermione, older now in their 7th year it looked like, arguing over something until he said something that made Hermione stop short. They stared at each other for a moment and then they were smiling and then grinning. The One continued. "Yes, even then, you and Hermione ended up together. It took much longer, admittedly, but there are some things that, once decreed, cannot be undone even by human choices."
She paused. "If you had listened to Hermione in your 5th year and not gone to the Ministry of Magic…" He blinked back tears as he saw Sirius, his face looking healthier and happier than he'd ever seen it, speaking to Harry. The One's voice, when she spoke, was soft. "Sirius' name was cleared in your 6th year and the tide of public opinion in his favor weakened Voldemort's a great deal and Sirius was instrumental in helping you with Voldemort's final defeat. In this life, you and Hermione remained only best friends until you were both nearly 30 when Hermione was kidnapped and that changed your entire relationship forever."
And so it went… Screen after screen with its changing scenes, moments in the lives he might have led… All different, some happier than others… Hermione was the only constant in them all, somehow, some way, she was always there… Even in the lives where he and Ron never became best friends, she was there…
He didn't know how much time had passed-did time even exist where they were?-before the One finally stopped speaking, and the smaller screens went back to their original clouded state.
"Now you know… You can have some time to make your decision, Harry."
He spoke without conscious thought. "I don't need time; I know." His voice was soft but certain. He looked at the largest screen, where Hermione was now sleeping, having exhausted herself with her tears, thought of the years they'd had together… The smiles, the tears, the joy, the sadness, the fights, the worries… The love…
He looked at the One. "All these other lives, this chance, I don't need it. I've lived. I would have liked to have a longer time with Hermione, tell her I loved her one more time, had more time to watch our grandchildren grow up… But I don't need it. I can wait for Hermione to join me here. I have no regrets big enough to make it worth it to want another life."
The One smiled and nodded slowly. "You speak wisely, Harry. Albus Dumbledore was right when he said that it is your choices that make you who you are. These other lives; they are all other incarnations of who you could have been… They are not who you are." She waved her hand, and the smaller screens went blank. "You lived well, Harry. Lived your destiny, loved your true soul-mate, and gave so much… No person could ask for more." She smiled. "Well done, Harry."
And suddenly the light around them brightened until he had to close his eyes against the radiance.
From somewhere, he heard her voice say, "Your reward…"
He opened his eyes to find himself in his bedroom, with Hermione still sleeping, and understood.
Thank you, he thought, as he bent over and kissed Hermione softly. She didn't wake; he knew she wouldn't. These last few moments were for him, to say goodbye…
He spoke softly, knowing, too, that Hermione would hear him, only in a dream as it were. "Hello, love. I wanted to tell you again, I love you. For all that you gave me, for all that you are… It's always been you, darling, and always will be. I'll be watching over you, waiting for you. Tell the children I love them. Hermione, all my life and all my love is yours, forever…"
He bent, kissing her with all the tenderness and all the love he felt, feeling tears prick at the back of his eyelids.
When he opened his eyes again, he was alone.
He knew that somewhere nearby, his parents, Sirius, Hagrid, were all waiting for him to join them, and he would. In a moment.
He smiled a real, sincere smile, speaking his last farewell to Hermione. "And so, goodbye for now, my Hermione…"
Somewhere, not very far away, the One smiled as she watched Harry turn to where he knew his parents were waiting, where he would wait. She had granted him some time, a short time admittedly, but time to say his goodbyes. And the dream of it which she'd inserted into Hermione's dreams would comfort her in her moments of weakness.
She looked down at the Book of Life before her and watched the words being formed on it in careful script, the last entry for Harry's life.
Harry James Potter. Life Complete.
~*~*~
The life that I have
Is all that I have
And the life that I have is yours.
The love that I have
Of the life that I have
Is yours and yours and yours.
A sleep I shall have
A rest I shall have
Yet death will be but a pause.
For the peace of my years in the long green grass
Will be yours and yours and yours.
- Leo Marks