Disclaimer: They belong to JKR, I'm only playing.
A/N: I'm so sorry, I know I promised this much sooner than this. My only excuse--technology (Aaarrrgh!) Now that I'm finally here, let me warn you that this is teeth-rotting stuff. I just had to, needed to write them happy for once *smiles dreamily*.
So the journey ends here my friends: I don't know about a sequel yet but there will be other stories. And I have a leftover scene from Voiceless that I might post later on if you want me to. You guys have been simply amazing, I can't thank you enough for the kind words and encouragement, but most of all for reading and always taking the time to comment.
And a million thanks to miconic; much of the credit for the story must really go to her. If it wasn't for her, I'd never have started posting.
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Epilogue
"Come, we have been silent
Far too long.
Here's the music; sing me
Another song."
Mary Stewart, The Music Lesson
***
Hermione stepped out of McGonagall's office and closed the door, her ears burning. She wondered what Harry would say when she told him. She bit her lip. She had reason to think he would be put out; she herself was quite disappointed.
And to tell the truth, somewhat scared.
But of course, the Professor was right; positions came with responsibilities. And responsibilities must be honoured. She sighed and pulled away from the door.
She opened her palm and looked at the badge, her heart fluttering. It glinted under the drooping torchlight along the deserted corridor. She pocketed the badge and set off towards the stairs.
It was very early, and since it was Saturday, the castle was even quieter. The muffled echo of her footsteps followed her steadily down the stairs. She reached the bottom and stopped. Professor Dumbledore was standing next to a portrait, deep in conversation with its resident. When he heard her, he turned and smiled.
"Up early, Hermione?"
"Yes, Professor. I had something to do."
"Ah, I see. How are you?"
"Very well, thank you."
"I hear you've been catching up very quickly in all your classes, not that it's any surprise. And Professor McGonagall mentioned that she would like to see her Head Girl return to her duties, if she was willing."
Hermione smiled. "Yes, Professor. That's actually where I've been." She reached for the badge and held it out. Dumbledore's blue eyes crinkled.
"Very good, very good, Hermione." He nodded. "I'm sure many of us are delighted to see you back in your position. Not the least of whom will of course be Harry and Ron." His eyes twinkled. "In fact, I'm rather relieved. The way Harry responded to you returning your badge, Professor Tiresias and I both thought we might have to crawl under my desk for cover." He chuckled softly. Weariness seeped through his laugh-lines. "Well, I'll let you get back to the common room. I'm sure they will be waiting for you."
He inclined his head. Hermione hoisted a smile up her face and walked past.
Harry had never mentioned anything about talking to Dumbledore about her badge. Or maybe 'talking' was the wrong word.
Wondering whether she should ask him, she stepped around a corner dark with the receding night and blown-out torches.
But before she could reach the stairs, she was grabbed around the waist and pushed against the wall. A flash of Gryffindor quidditch colours swished around. Then she was pinned beneath a warm mouth.
"Where have you been?" He wailed. "You know I can't wake up fully without my good morning kiss."
She beckoned his tongue and pulled back when he danced in to respond.
"What? You mean for the past six years you've been sleepwalking?"
He looked at her and smiled, his playful eyes suddenly serious.
"Pretty much."
She leaned in. His mouth wasn't shy anymore. He left imprints in crevices that had formed just for him, wandering in through doors opened because of him. She angled his head with hands tangled in his hair.
"You know--" She gasped. "We shouldn't be doing this out here like this--mhhm--I, I have to set an example."
He moved down her jawline. "Why do you suddenly have to set an--" He pulled back, eyes wide. "Oh."
She took a breath and reached inside her pocket. The look in his eyes almost lifted her off her feet. She held the badge out.
"So this is where you went so early in the morning." His voice was hushed. He picked up the badge and looked at it for a moment. Then he pinned it on her robes.
She held his face between her hands and kissed him softly.
"So." He sighed dramatically. "This means 'no' to a lot of things, I suppose."
She grinned. "Yeah, it seems so. In fact, erm--"
"What?"
She tried to ignore the blush rushing up her cheeks. "It's just that Professor McGonagall mentioned I must be careful about having visitors in my room after curfew."
He groaned and leaned his forehead against hers. "That's unfair! It's not like we were doing anything!"
"Yes, but that's not the point, Harry. I have a responsibility and she has a responsibility to make sure that I'm clear about it."
He sighed. He met her eyes hesitantly. "But what about your nightmares?"
She shrugged with more conviction than she felt. "They'll pass." She kissed the corner of his mouth. "Besides, I can always come and find you."
He smiled.
She laid her face in the crook of his neck and let herself be held, heavy with something light and radiant, empty but full of something clear and warm. After a long moment, she drew back.
"We'd better get a move on. You have a match to win."
"Yeah." He sighed.
"Nervous?"
"You have no idea."
"You'll be fine."
"But what about my team?"
"They'll be fine too. You're their captain."
They linked hands and walked down the stairs. A landing halfway down was set with two arched windows. The morning pulsed through them, still dark but dewy.
"You know, while I was talking to Professor Dumbledore, he mentioned something that made me very curious."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. He mentioned that he had reason to be scared for his life around the time I handed my badge in. And he might have mentioned your name somewhere in that sentence."
He stopped and looked at her. She bit her lip to stop grinning. His cheeks were pink.
"Oh. That." He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Harry."
"Well, he deserved it."
"Harry!"
He dropped his head. His jaw worked. When he looked at her, his eyes burned with defiance and supressed shame.
"He could've stopped a lot of things from happening, Hermione. He's always talking about how safe we are but look at what happened to you! And that Charm--he could've figured it out much sooner if only he tried hard enough and you would've gotten better much sooner!"
Hermione crossed her arms and glared.
Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"I, I'm sorry. That was--harsh."
She raised an eyebrow. "Yes, it was." She sighed and reached for his hands. "Harry. What happened to me…simply happened. You can't go around blaming anyone for that. And you know Dumbledore did everything he could. He's kept you alive all this time, hasn't he? Given what could have been, we should just be thankful that--that we're okay."
Harry held on tight to her hands and shrugged. Hermione decided to change tack. "What exactly happened that day when I handed the badge in?"
He blushed again.
"All right. I was--I was quite upset about your badge and I sort of walked into his office and er, yelled at him. Just a little bit. But I didn't mean to make a scene, I swear. I just wanted to do something. Anything. I was angry because you didn't seem to be getting better, no matter how many Healers they had in. What? Hermione?" He touched her cheek.
She blinked hastily. "Nothing. Nothing. I…just--" She swallowed. "I was furious with you because you took it so…calmly, that day. I thought you were becoming totally resigned to the whole thing." Seeing the look in his eyes, she grabbed his hands again. "I--I know that's silly but it was the scariest thing." She shrugged. "Well, now I know you weren't."
"I would never, I could never--"
"I know."
She pressed his hand against her cheek. They stood there for a long moment, tranquil in that tiny moment between night and day where the only sounds were the quivers and murmurs of things slowly waking up.
Finally, she tugged his hand and skipped down a couple of steps. He stared after her.
"Come on, we'd better hurry." She grinned.
They set off along the floor that housed most of their classrooms. The castle was filling up with a hundred faint noises all rolled into a series of muffled hums and thuds. Windows were half-open all along the passage. Cold air blew in. She wrapped his arm around her waist and inclined her head thoughtfully. He wanted to kiss her, kiss that particular look to make it stay with him always, cradled in the marks she left in him with every touch. But then, he didn't want to interrupt the look and make it go away because then he wouldn't be able to look at it. So he kissed the side of her head instead.
"You know, I should have asked Dumbledore, I've been wondering about why the Death Eaters' curses didn't work on me. I mean, it doesn't make sense. I wonder if he knows. Did he mention anything to you, Harry?"
She turned to look at him. His hand dropped from her waist. She narrowed her eyes.
"He did, didn't he?"
"Er, no, he didn't."
She quirked an eyebrow.
"Professor Tiresias did."
She rolled her eyes. "So?"
He looked so serious and quiet and confused all of a sudden that her heart lurched. After a long pause, he spoke.
"It's--it's because of something called Cariad magic."
For a few beats, neither of them blinked. Her eyes widened. Her arms fell at her sides.
"Oh."
"Yes."
"You mean, you…you and I…"
"Yes."
"Are you--are you sure? I mean--how did they know?" He had to strain to hear her.
"Because I felt it. While you were missing and ever since then, I've had this feeling inside my skin, like I can hear the blood flowing inside me. Professor Tiresias figured it out."
She couldn't tear her eyes from his. His familiar beautiful eyes, full of hidden shades overlying each other, shades visible only up close, only when her face lay a breath away from his.
"So--you were there…"
"Well, yes. In a way."
"Oh, I was so afraid to ask you about that again, because…because I thought that was just my mind…oh...you were there…"
"Yes."
"But how--I mean, I've heard you need to have been…together for a long time for it to work."
"The Dark Mark. The Dark Mark transmitted it."
"Oh."
One of her favourite feelings in the world was this feeling of everything falling into place, but right now she was too distracted to savour it. She stared into his eyes and felt like she was held in the middle of a bursting star, held by brightness and heat and a million jumbled colours which, at their heart was quite simply green.
"Hermione?"
"Yeah?"
"What does it…really mean? For us?"
She swallowed and stepped closer.
"I don't know." Her fingers fluttered near his, not quite touching. "But we'll have years and years to find out, won't we?"
Harry thought of all the promises waiting in that question, breaths held, eyes wide, holding out a hand for him to take. Were they promises he could keep? And he thought of how the question itself was a promise that she was making. Was it a promise he could accept? Because the ground was never solid beneath his feet, his path never clear ahead.
Hermione watched the emotions slide and slant across his face and waited. The grey dawn opened a crimson eye. Pearly light fingered the cold passage through a high window.
Harry smiled, a little hesitant. She almost reached for his hand but held back.
A long unblinking moment wound tightly around them. Finally, Harry let out a breath. He stepped forward and took her hand. Because it was so easy to stumble and get lost along the murky, shifting way ahead and there she was, offering him a hand.
"Yeah, we will."
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