A/N: Ahhhh… you though I had abandoned it, didn't you? I NEVER abandon what I begin. Well, almost never lol. Third part at last. Not sure though if there is going to be a fourth part though… we'll see.
It's fluff time! I hope you like it; I certainly do like how it has come out :D It might have scenes a bit high-tones, so take that in count. Please R&R, you know and I can't stop telling you how much I love your reviews. Even a "Great job!" or a "You suck, throw your pen to a box and seal it under seven keys" is cool! Lol.
A Wrinkle in Time
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free.
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.
(.- Blackbird by The Beatles)
PART THREE
It was done; all he had left to do was watch as the life of the two greatest heroes the Wizardring World had ever seen faded away. At least they are happy… he thought with the last amount of hope he had left running through his veins.
He sat there, unwilling to move from his best friends' side as their life escaped them. Soon after the spell had been successfully cast, Neville had cried out for help from the other two, but Ron just couldn't move and Luna knew why, so she decided to aid the young healer after giving Ron a small kiss on the forehead. "I will be right back," she whispered.
Ron didn't even acknowledge her kiss or her leaving. He just blinked a couple of times and stared at Harry and Hermione, so close to each other… even in death. He would've loved to be there with them but knew he couldn't. They wouldn't have wanted him to abandon everything; they would want me to move on…but how? His mind kept repeating even though it was absolutely for nothing. This time is theirs… at last he finished in his head and sighed; just watching, and waiting. The consummation of the love they had never been able to really live with the war raging in the outside world… at last, he repeated silently.
Ever since the two had started falling, Harry had always been too worried in finding the Horcruxes and Hermione had stood right besides him, just like he had. But it had been different with them; it wasn't noticeable, but the "emotional range of a teacup" of Ron's had always known better. From the glances they exchanged often to the way she helped him with the spells and a number of other small things that only someone who knew them so well could perceive.
Ron reached out and caressed Hermione's blood-stained cheek. "Oh, goodness. You always knew, didn't you?" he asked her as her chest barely rose and fell.
His clear blue eyes, filled with unshed tears, landed then on Harry. His glasses were broken, and a lock of long raven hair covered half his face. Ron pushed the hair away to discover the scar and sighed. "And to think I thought it was so cool when I first met you…" he trailed off with a shallow laugh.
"Now I sort of understand Sirius, you know? He had to find your parents dead back then, and he couldn't even give them this; he was alone," he added with grieve engraved all over his cracked voice, and then kissed Harry's scar, like Hermione had done so many times before. "My best mate, you'll always be," he said as the tears finally came and Ron didn't make the faintest effort to hold them back or make them stop. He had to grieve; he wanted to grieve for the two people he had loved the most in his entire life.
The pain in his chest was unbearable, and he felt light headed. "You are taking part of me with you," he whispered at the two. "Because I am sure that this pain can only mean that I am joining you…" he added to the air.
A moment later, Ron fell back from his knees to his feet and sobbed to the fresh night, looking up at the sky, oblivious to the rest of the world. The stench from dead and injured bodies, the cries from the survivors and the screams of the Healers crew that was coming to them could very easily had been in another dimension, for all he knew.
He felt soft steps on the ground behind him and then long blond hair entered his field of vision, just as a small hand's weight fell on his shoulders. "Luna…" he whispered and took his hand from Harry's head to hers on his right shoulder.
She leaned and kissed him, kneeling next to him. "Ronald, the healers must take a look at you," she told him softly.
"No, I'm not leaving them. Not until they stop breathing and their hearts stop beating…never," he said; his voice sounded so far off… Luna nodded and just stayed there with him, understanding his statement completely.
A healer came from behind. "We have two here!" he screamed. "Miss, you all right?" he asked and his gaze traveled from the red head to Luna and then to Harry and Hermione, tangled onto each other.
Luna nodded. "Yes, I am fine, thanks," she told the healer and gave the man a pointed look to Ron's left side, which was bleeding pretty badly. She didn't want to tear him from his friends but if that wasn't taken care of, he was likely to join the two in the other world… which she was sure he could be wishing for at the moment.
The healer's eyes widened at the big wound and he wondered how he was so steadily sat. He hurried to Ron. "Sir, we have to get you to St.Mungos," he told Ron and took his arm.
The tall man yanked away from him surprisingly violently, given his state; and in the blink of an eye, he had the healer at wand point. "Don't dare do that again," he warned, his eyes returning to Harry and Hermione, who now had small smiles creeping at their mouths. Ron smiled with them but it didn't last much; just as he held his wand against the healer's neck, a sharp pain invaded him and he doubled over, not letting out one single cry.
"Ronald, please!" Luna pleaded.
"No! I am NOT leaving them!" he yelled, straightening with a fierce move.
"We HAVE to take you to the hospital or else you'll die!" the healer matched Ron's loud voice and then darted forward just as the young man collapsed to the ground, unconscious. "We need to be quick; he's getting close to the other side."
"Yes, take him. I'll stay with Harry and Hermione," Luna assured.
The healer had stood with Ron in his arms when Luna mentioned the names, and his eyes widened. "Are they-" he started, uncertain.
"Yes, and please don't disrupt them," she added with finality in her voice.
The man hesitated but at last obliged Luna's tacit order and handed her a few pain killing potions. "This shall do for now," he told her and vanished in the air, with Ron in his arms.
Harry and Hermione clung to each other in the same position they were at the battlefield for a moment. Finally, he pulled back and took Hermione by the shoulders. "Let's go then!" he exclaimed with a grin that was a little cynic, but was sincere in some way.
Hermione looked down and away with a small smile and then turned to Harry with a grin that matched his. "All right, on our way then! We don't have that much time," she informed and took his hand, getting up from the bed.
They came out of the Head Boy's Chambers and walked out of the Portrait Hallof the Gryffindor Common Room. Instinctively, Harry put a hand in front of Hermione and looked left and right for any signs of Mrs.Norris or someone but sagged a second later. "Right, no one in the castle"
Hermione was chuckling not-too-softly when Harry said this, and he turned around with a frown and a smile. "Are you making fun of me? You can't really blame me… after so many years of sneaking around," he said defensively.
Hermione's chuckles subsided and she shook her head. "No, Harry, I', not making fun of you. I was just…"
"What? You were just what?"
"Look around, Harry. Where are we?"
"Uhm… school?"
"Exactly! Isn't it strange that instead of appearing in some strange and exotic place, we both chose to end it all here? Where it started?"
He looked around and a small smile tugged at his lips. "You're right, it is kind of strange. Guess that no other place felt so much like home, ever," he said with a shrug.
"Home is the place where you've felt the happiest…" Hermione muttered and squeezed Harry's hand softly.
"With you… and Ron," he finished the sentence and kissed the brunette's cheek tenderly.
"Home…" she repeated as they reached the great oak doors of the Entrance to the castle.
They walked, holding hands all the way through the grounds, past Hagrid's Hut and into the Forbidden Forest; to the limit where they could finally apparate to Hogsmaede. "I have no idea where we are going…" Harry said casually when they materialized in the beautiful village. The road was covered by a thin layer of grass and all the small houses looked amazingly lovely under the spring sun.
Hermione just walked around and smelled with sadness the air of peace… and tranquility; something non would have in real life. But there was a small smile on her lips that said she knew they had this time and nothing would spoil it. Not an attack, not Lord Voldemort, not even Ron and his eternal complaints on how mental Luna was; even though he loved the girl more than even he knew.
Harry watched her walk and look at the sky with a content expression. He needed nothing more than her… He squeezed her hand as to call to her attention and grinned when she jumped a little. "Easy, love," he said and kissed her softly on the lips. "Where d'ya want to go? You already have the clothes…" he said, looking down at her in amazement.
"And so do you…" Hermione added with a laugh.
She was wearing a knee-long navy skirt and a lavender, rather tight, t-shirt. Very comfortable, very flattering to her slender figure. At the same time, Harry was into a pair of dark blue jeans and a maroon v-neck that had a thin, amber line across the chest. Curiously enough, it also said good things about his own thin yet muscular body after almost three arduous years of training for that wretched final battle, Hermione's mind thought, without her consent.
"I would even dare think you dressed me, Mr.," the girl said instead, looking down at herself and what she was wearing; she didn't remember having clothes like these.
Harry blushed a little and laughed. "What about you?" he said, looking down at himself as well.
"What about me?"
He laughed louder and kissed her head. "Nothing, love, nothing…" he whispered. "So, what yeh want to do?"
She thought for a moment, biting the nail of her right thumb slightly, as she always did when she was making an important decision. The way she leaned her head to a side and two locks of hair fell to her face was something Harry had always loved.
He felt an urge to just wrap his arms around her and never let go off her in hopes that maybe he could help what was imminent to the both, but he held back and just waited as the beautiful woman in front of him finished.
At last, she looked up and her eyes sparkled like a little girl's on Christmas Day. "I want to have one of those sappy, romantic Hollywood movies days, where it feels like the whole world's rearranged itself just for us," she said with hope and innocence in her words.
"I want to go somewhere safe where no one knows us and no one will want to harm us, where we don't have to be who we usually are so we can just be who we want to be right now…for this one time," Hermione continued and emotions rushed up to her head in an unstoppable eruption.
She paused a moment, biting her lip and then continued speaking. "I want strangers to see us on the street and feel envious and wish that they were in love like we are. I want to feel like those pop songs say; I want old couples to see us and remember how they were when they were our age."
She finally stopped and focused on Harry for the first time, just to see the man she loved, blinking back tears; and she was speechless as he took her hands in his and kissed them, shutting his eyes tightly and letting his lips rest on the soft skin beneath them.
"What?" she said, concerned she'd done or said something wrong. "Harry, what?"
"I don't want it to end," he said in a choked voice. "I feel like I'm seeing a whole new part of you and it only makes me love you more," he said and looked down. "I feel we've been in this twilight zone for so long and I-it is not fair! I want it, I want us. Why weren't we given the opportunity!" he questioned angrily and lifted his face… and she saw just then that he was actually and really crying.
Hermione thought her heart would break at just seeing those innocent tearsrunning down his scarred face; and she wasn't talking about the damned scar in his forehead; she was talking about all the tolls that battles throughout seven years had left; and only now she was noticing them.
Harry's face dropped again and Hermione wanted so badly to just take the pain away from him; give this man the happiness he deserved! And to think that they only had a day to live what they were supposed to live forever…or at least for a long time. But it seemed that her body didn't agree with her instinct, and she just stood there, watching.
At her silence, Harry looked up and sighed; a deep and shuddering sigh. "But it has to, doesn't it?"
She nodded. "It's awful, I know," Hermione agreed, swallowing back the tearsthat threatened to overcome her willpower. "But we can't dwell on it, or we'll lose it, Harry…" she said softly, brushing away the tears from his face and kissing his scar in hopes of transmitting all of her love to him in that small gesture.
He drew back, forcing a smile. "Then no more regrets. Let's make the most of the time we have. We'll go wherever you want to go and have that perfect day. Even if it is not real, I want to believe that it is."
"Good," she said, kissing him again. "So where should we go?"
"Well, judging by how things have been happening, I daresay we can go anywhere we like. Somewhere romantic? Paris? Maybe Rome?"
She thought for a moment. "Actually, there is one place I've always wanted to go."
"Lead the way then," he said and took her hand firmly, closing his eyes to let the magic of the spell take them were Hermione wanted to go
When she opened her eyes, her first though was Ginny was right. Venice was the most beautiful and romantic place she'd ever seen. The air seemed overflowing with passion and scents that inspired the mind to thoughts filled with warmth and ardor the coldest of persons.
When she'd proposed the whole "sappy movie romantic day" idea, she hadn't sheltered many hopes that it would actually live up to her expectations, but by probably the second block of walking, she'd decided that the fates (or Ron and Luna, more likely) must have known this was their one chance for a few idyllic hours, so they'd decided to cooperate. It was just as perfect and magical as she could've ever imagined. Even more so than the proposition, if that was possible.
It was cool enough to walk without feeling all sticky, but warm enough not to require coats. The sun was shining and a light breeze teased their hair with fresh peace that none had ever experienced. Everyone was friendly, and the streets were filled with flowers, happy tourists and colorful locals. There was even a natural-food market and an outdoor movie festival. She'd never felt so beautiful or light of heart as she did on that day, and he had never looked as handsome to her as he did now.
Not an hour had passed, when they jumped into one of the traditional "Gondolas" of Venice. The man with the red and white striped shirt had the same stick they had in postcards; it was almost like a dream; a dream of freedom that was to end soon, but not just now.
They spent over an hour sailing through the chanells of the "city of water streets", just looking around, breathing the cool and clean air and enjoying each other's company in almost silence. What the two were thinking at the moment, didn't really matter, nor they were going to vent it, which was rather good, considering the situation. They exchanged glances every minute or so and smiled at each other, kissing occassionally, but never letting go off the hold they had of the other.
After they went back to solid ground, they spent most of the remaining afternoon walking and seeing the sights. Just the fact that they were walking hand on hand with not a worry in the world was enough to distract the two from pointless brain overworking and psychological traumas, but Hermione was constantly having to stop any extreme brain waves from taking place at risk of spoiling the moment. It's okay, she reassured herself. You've been given a gift most people never get…the chance to experience what it would be like to have your deepest, most secret wish granted, she kept repeating, and apparently, it worked, for everytime she told herself that, it gave her a longer moment of enjoyable giddiness.
When the two realized they were extremely hungry, they made a few inquiries (curiously enough, the two spoke perfect italian) and found just the kind of restaurant they were looking for; somewhere they could just chill and chat over a glass of wine and candlelight and not feel self-conscious about constantly gazing at each other with stupid face; something they had both failed to do after assuming the determination on 'no regrets'.
Perhaps sensing their mood (or perhaps due to the spell), the host sat them at a secluded table near a window and bid them to take their time, and they did. They enjoyed for the first time in their lives a long, unperturbed evening.
When they emerged from the restaurant it was dark, and the lights of Venice had transformed it into a twinkling wonderland. They walked hand in hand without a destination, content just to walk together; and yet, with the sunset came a new sobriety.
Hermione's giddiness had left her, and midnight was approaching fast. She sensed the awareness on Harry as well and had to stop a moment to talk about it, but neither seemed to want to speak and possibly say something that might cause them to acknowledge that this was going to end very soon, so she reengaged their way, looking down at the polished stones of the floor.
Suddenly, the grey floor started turning like a portkey, and Hermione gasped, instinctively grabbing Harry's arm. The floor materialized on a different kind of stone and she frowned, looking up at an equally bewildered Harry. "Wha-"
"We're back at the Head Boy Chamber..."
"Back to the beginning."
"Guess Venice had nothing more, huh?"
Hermione sighed and looked down, knowing that the time was quickly approaching for the two. But when she looked up, she had a smile plastered on her pretty face. "Yeh, the boats and that stuff are boring after a while..." Her smile failed a moment and then softened when she swallowed.
Harry nodded and just grabbed her, holding the woman he loved close. He took a hand to her face and they were looking into each other's eyes. "I love you," he kissed her, "thank you for the best day ever," Harry whispered and kissed her again.
She kissed him back and wrapped her arms around him, placing intermitent kisses on his lips, nose, cheeks, slowly at first, as if by making it slow, she could stretch the Wrinkle, which was impossible.
Harry's kissed grew hotter as her lips reached the rest of his face. He kissed her passionately; a hand cupping the back of her head and the other one on her shoulder, and traveling down as the intensity of teh kissed grew and the warmth teh two emanated started to be felt by both.
They were already kissing every avaliable part of the other's body when they got close enough to the bed. They stumbled a few more steps along and then she gasped as Harry suddenly picked her up. It felt dizzyingly erotic to be literally swept off her feet and carried off to be thrown to the bed. It was indeed a little too cavesmen, she had to admit, but she couldn't say it was an utter turn on.
He set her down in the darkened bedroom. They had only a few precious hours left, and they didn't intend to waste a single second of it. He embraced her from behind, molding his body against hers, his hands sliding down her chest and under the t-shirt, which had, conveniently enough, just grown buttons.
"Oh, Harry!" she cried with a giggle as Harry started unbuttoning it slowly, with a few well-placed kissed per button undone.
Hermione felt her flesh shivering and warming under his touch as he cupped and caressed her belly and breasts. "Champagne cup..." Harry muttered.
She couldn't help the goosebumps that formed all over her body at his breath on her skin. "What's... champagne?" she asked between hesitant moans.
"Champagne cup size..." he muttered with a smile. "I..." he kissed her right breasts, "don't want to sound rude..." he traveled to her left, "but you have..." he kissed in the middle, "perfect breasts..." he finished, his arousal more intense with every passing second.
Hermione threw her head back as his tongue made contact with her bare chest. "Harry..." she moaned. She kissed him deeply, putting her own arms around him and taking off his shirt, letting her hands wonder to his butt afterwards. "I can't believe how good this feels," she said against his mouth. This was most definitely not their first time, but it was probably their last and their first as a "married" couple at the same time; something that probably hightened their senses to the maximum.
Harry drew her close and lowered her gently to the bed, stretching out next to her. They finished undressing each other slowly, taking their time, following each piece of clothes with quite a pleasant amount of caresses and kisses in the newly stripped body part.
All of a sudden, a sharp pain cut through Harry's mid-section, and he cried out loud. "Merlin! Harry! What's the matter!" Hermione cried desperately and pulled away from over him, touching him, trying to feel around for what was wrong.
"I-don't-know-" he breathed, his eyes misted with painful tears.
She felt around, trying to find the source of his pain to heal it or at least do something about it! She then felt something warm wetting her hand and she gasped, pulling her hand back and seeing what it was with a horror that froze her very insides. "Oh, goodness! You're bleeding!"
He let out a few unintelligible words; muffled by his clenched teeth as to not cry out loud. "Harry, don't speak… stay with me pl-aaaaahhhh!" Hermione let out a scream that sounded as agonizing as the Cruciatus Curse. "It-it's happening…" she said with a mix of a whimper and horrible dread.
A/N: A one or two page Epilogue is the most likely. I hope you liked the chapter. I started on the latest chapter of What is Love? But it was SO HORRIBLE! I deleted three pages cuz they just sucked! I'm serious! I will see what I can do about it.
I've already started the Epilogue, so if everything goes well, you will have it soon. Hopefully I will get round to What is Love?, Was and Will Be, Darling Jo, Death and Paradise in Rome and others soon. Not to mention my novel and the script I'm presenting for "Project 48" of TNT (Yes! I will be participating! Yay!)
Anyway, enough about me. You are very much welcome to discussion, requests, questions, doubts, some horror (not error lol) of the author as she wrote a chapter, pickyness from you (because I know that I am a pain in the arse when I review, hehe) in grammar or spelling, etc. at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BrainstormQuill