Hey hey guys! I apologize muchly for the months and months in which I disappeared off the face of the earth, or portkey anyway. No excuses forthcoming, but I'm very sorry. I'm happy to find that you've been eagerly awaiting the next instalment in my crazy story, so there it is! Read and enjoy folks, love you all!
Elizabella
'I Love You'
Harry pushed open the door of the Hospital Wing, wincing at the squeak of the hinges. He stepped inside, closing the door again behind him, once again cursing Filch for not oiling the hinges properly. Surely that man must be good for something other than terrorising students? He looked around but couldn't see Hermione, the ward was deserted. Then his eyes fell on a screen at the far end of the room, by the windows. He walked silently past the empty beds either side of him and peered around the screen. He smiled at the sight that greeted him - Hermione sleeping peacefully, looking more like her old self again. Her hair was shiny and washed, although, of course, still full of curls and waves, the way he liked it best. Her face was clean, the dirt gone and she was smiling slightly in her sleep. She looked peaceful, she looked like she had come home and knew it.
He sat down on the chair by her bed and pulled off the invisibility cloak and put it at the end of Hermione's bed. He studied the Marauders Map again and saw that Madame Pomfrey was tucked up in bed and Filch and Mrs Norris were prowling about in other parts of the school, so he put the map on top of his cloak on the end of the bed and turned his attention to Hermione.
She looked so beautiful laying there, oblivious to his presence. Harry suddenly realised how lucky he was to have someone like her. She was always there for him, and it had just hit him that she had saved his life so many times that he had lost count, and she was always ready to follow him into any dangerous situation. She was what kept his feet on the floor, and drilled common sense into him and Ron when they needed it. Without her there over the past few weeks he felt like the floor had been pulled from under him, like that awful second when you miss a step going down the stairs, before your foot hits the one below. That feeling of falling, with no support, that's the only way he could describe it. And then the relief now that his foot had indeed found the next step, and his heart could start beating again.
He reached over and brushed a stray curl of hair from her face, causing her to stir slightly. She frowned in her sleep and muttered something. Harry smiled and ran his fingers through her hair and whispered her name.
Slowly Hermione blinked and opened her eyes, brought out of sleep by someone calling to her. She blinked again and sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes. She opened them again and smiled when she saw Harry sitting next to her bed. "Oh Harry!" her cried and flung her arms around him, hugging him hard. He hugged her back, just as hard. "Oh Harry!" she said again, pulling away "I've missed you so much!"
Harry grinned back at her. "I've missed you too Hermione. More than you can believe." He suddenly looked really guilty and stared at his knees. "I'm sorry I never came for you" he whispered. "But I tried to find you, really I did." he said urgently, his eyes bright with tears he tried to hide, "You've got to believe that Hermione. I really did try."
Hermione smiled at him and took his hand in hers. Her heart swelled with joy at him playing the hero again. I'm glad you still are, don't ever change! "I know you did Harry. Once, I felt… I don't know, it was so strange, it felt like you had suddenly come into the room…or were watching over me or something…I can't explain it" she said frowning, looking questioningly at him.
Harry nodded "That must have been when we tried scrying for you. Dumbledore made a big wall of water in the air and attempted to find you by scrying. It worked for a while, we saw you, and you looked up, it felt like you were staring right at me but couldn't see me. But then the water exploded and we all got soaked. Do you know what happened?"
Hermione shook she head. "Rookwood came into my room and shouted about spying and such. She said she'd laid traps so if anyone tried again, what they were using would explode, like the water did." She grimaced. "I'm so glad you weren't using glass, I was afraid that you had because of what Azalea said to me, it wouldn't have been water hiting you." Hermione said. "I was worried about you, I really hoped you wouldn't try anything stupid to try to get me. Thank god you didn't!"
Harry grinned. "Another few days and I probably would have. It's been hard, not knowing if you were ok or not, if you were even alive." he swallowed hard and blinked away tears. "If anything had happened to you Hermione…I don't know what I would have done. You mean the world to me…I… I love you." he told her, looking into her eyes. Hermione smiled and said "That's the first time you've said that Harry. It means so much. And you know what? I love you too."
Harry lent over and kissed her softly, Hermione's arms winding round his neck, hands in his messy hair. He deepened the kiss and she responded eagerly, glad to be back in his arms after so long without him. She had missed him so very much, and showed him just how much in her kisses that night. They stayed together most of the night, wide awake, catching up on everything that had happened at Hogwarts. Harry asked her a few things about Rookwood, but Hermione remained distant, or just refused to answer, it was all still to fresh, too real. So Harry relented and they spent happy hours talking and kissing and laughing. It felt so strange for them both to be laughing again after weeks without happiness, and they welcomed it.
Finally, Harry asked "Hermione, you came back with the Staff of Amaror in your hand. What happened? How did you get it? And how did you use it?"
Hermione sat still for awhile, wondering what exactly to say. "Well, Azalea was activating it, that's why she needed me, because she needed, um, help to get it working. But then the Staff started glowing, it went bright blue and basically ripped the room apart, with us still in it. We were both knocked unconscious, but I woke up first and took the Staff. I knew that somehow it could be used for travel, so I thought hard about Hogwarts, but nothing happened. Then Azalea woke up. I was so scared, and thought about you, and how much I just wanted to be with you right then, and how much I loved you." she said softly, looking into his beautiful green eyes. "And then everything went weird. The room sort of…I can't explain it… the room… turned inside out if you like, and went all twisty and odd. Then suddenly I was in Hogwarts, and Azalea's stunning spell hit me hard, and I woke up here, washed and dressed in clean clothes" she shrugged. "I don't know how to explain it better."
Harry held her eyes and nodded, knowing she was holding something back about how the Staff was activated, but he knew that it was best to let it pass now, and ask later. "So nothing happened to you other than being knocked out when the Staff started glowing?" he asked. Hermione shook her head, but then frowned. "No, I'm fine, but I'm not too sure about Rookwood though." she said. "She was holding the Staff when it tore the room apart. It must have done something to her, affected her in some way. Her eyes glowed! Bright blue, like the light around the Staff. When I woke up and saw her laying on the floor, I thought she was dead, and I… Harry I know its wrong but I wasn't even sorry! But then when I took the Staff and tried to use it…her eyes just snapped open and focused on me straight away! It was so scary Harry. And I swear they were glowing that weird blue colour when she shot that stunner at me. It wasn't normal. I think that the Staff has done something to her. She looked really crazy actually. But I think she was quite crazy before though." Hermione mused. "I wonder what happened to make her that way."
Harry shrugged. "I dunno, some people are just like that. Mad." he looked out the window and saw the sky was beginning to lighten. "I've got to go before the others wake up, I don't want them asking questions" he said and grinned at her. Hermione grinned back and hugged him again. Harry stood up and picked up the map, scanning it carefully. "Ok, Madame Pomfrey is out of bed and on her way, I've got to be quick" he said and pulled on his cloak after kissing Hermione goodbye. "You better get better soon Hermione. I don't know how me and Ron are gonna cope in lessons for much longer without you!" he said before disappearing under the invisibility cloak.
Harry reached the door of the Hospital Wing and reached for the handle. He saw it turn and sprang back out the way as Madame Pomfrey bustled in humming to herself. He waited until she disappeared behind the screen to check on Hermione before he pulled the door open again and slipped out into the deserted corridor. He made his way back to Gryffindor tower without major incident and quickly went up to his dormitory and got into bed just as the first birds began to sing. He grinned to himself as he closed his eyes. Hermione was back and safe, and loved him, Ron was speaking to him again, and he had a quidditch match later in the day. Things couldn't be better.
~*~*~
Azalea screamed in frustration as she saw the young witch disappear before her eyes with the Staff of Amaror. "Nooo!" she screamed, sobbing. The unfairness! All her hard work come to nothing, now Dumbledore, Dumbledore!, would have the Staff in his hand. How could this have happened?! She screamed until her throat burned and then crumpled to the ground, sobbing and shouting out curses at the world. The rage built up inside her and made her scream again and again, her throat felt like it was on fire!
She suddenly felt the need to destroy something. The manor would do. She flung out her arms and drew deeply on her anger and pain, unlocking the new power that had settled inside her after activating the Staff. She now opened up her mind freely and completely to the energy and felt herself powerless to resist its influence. She saw spots of azure light dancing over her outstretched arms, and the air crackled with the power radiating from her. She released her restraining grip on the power, sending it coursing through the tips of her fingers.
In a matter of seconds the Manor that had once stood tall and proud was no more than a great black smouldering blemish on the ground. There was nothing left, only scorched earth and the smell of sulphur and brimstone.
Azalea Rookwood stood in the middle of the destruction she had created and laughed. She had levelled a building and killed the dozens of men inside it. All in the space of a few seconds. She looked over the scene and felt detached, like she was slipping away.
She fell to her knees, exhausted. And she laughed. Or someone like her laughed. She didn't know, she was loosing her grip on reality. She didn't feel like her any more. She felt as though in a dream. She wasn't controlling her own actions any more.
The pain she had gone through as the power of the Staff consumed her was unimaginable. It had ripped her from her body and taken her into the depths of madness and terror. She had, in that eternal pain filled moment, sensed the existence of every witch and wizard who had ever wielded the Staff of Amaror and all the deeds they had done with it. For that moment she wasn't the evil, powerful, twisted witch she had become. She was the young, beautiful Azalea, pride of the family again, before she had turned to darkness. In that pain-filled moment she had looked into the soul of the Staff's creator, of the great Amaror herself. She had seen the evil in the beloved Amaror and realised that she wasn't the misguided witch who everyone thought she was. She hadn't just stumbled on the creation of the Staff by accident. She had sought to create an object of immense power and evil. And she succeeded perfectly.
But the Staff had consumed her soul and stilled her heart. Amaror's soul had stayed locked away in the blackness of her Staff for hundreds of years, but now, now it had found a new being just as corrupt as itself. Azalea Rookwood was the perfect being in which to store the powers of Amaror. And now her soul could come to life again. Amaror Ollivander would live again!