Here at the End

Here at the End

By

Ahn Na Blue

Rated PG-13

Chapter Ten: Back into the Water

Disclaimer: I hereby claim Harry Potter in the name of H/Hr shippers everywhere! MUAHAHAHA! And I can do that, because I’m delusional. So there.

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“How shall we go? Should we Apparate?”

“We can’t do that; we don’t even know where it bloody is.”

“But we have the image from the talisman…I think if we focus….but perhaps you’re right; maybe we should just take Buckbeak…”

“You’re really obsessed with that hippogriff, you know that?”

“Well he’s fast, and strong, and….what business is it of yours, Ron!”

“It’s plenty of my business if you intend to stuff me up onto his back with the both of you! And you’re in the middle, there’s no way I’m going to be straddling Harry for miles…”

“You won’t be ‘straddling’ anyone besides Buckbeak-!”

“Shush, both of you,” Harry whispered sharply. Ron and Hermione fell silent in the dark. It was hours before sunrise, and the fire in the Common Room had gone out. “We’ll go by broomstick.”

“And I’ll take Buckbeak,” Hermione said.

“No Hermione, we don’t know how far it is to that lake, and I don’t want to have to stop to rest him.”

“But-” she said hesitantly. “But, Harry, I can’t fly that well.”

“Then you’ll ride with me,” he said quickly, and was suddenly very glad that it was too dark for him to see Ron’s expression. He hadn’t known that he was going to say that; telling Hermione to ride with him just seemed…natural somehow. And then Ron surprised him by clapping him on the back cheerfully.

“Good,” he said. “Maybe my Cleansweep will be able to keep up with your Firebolt for once, what with the extra weight and all.”

“Extra weight!?” Hermione hissed.

“Oh come off it Hermione, that’s not what I-”

“Shush!” Harry said, stepping between them in the dark and taking Hermione by the shoulders, physically turning her away from Ron.

“Lumos!”

Harry squinted at the unbelievably bright light shining from the tip of Ginny’s wand. She was standing on the stairs, pointing it at them accusingly. Harry quickly removed his hands from Hermione’s shoulders.

“What’re you doing up?” Ron demanded.

“Me? I heard Hermione leave the dorms. What’re YOU doing up?” Ginny’s eyebrow arched as her gaze moved from Ron to Harry.

“It’s none of your business,” Ron said tersely. “Now get back to bed!”

Harry winced. If there were two things that Ginny hated to hear, it was that something wasn’t her business and that she should go back to bed. Harry watched with a detached kind of awe as her face turned a very Weasley red.

“You’ve discovered something haven’t you?! You’re going off adventuring somewhere and you were just going to leave me here, as usual!” She cast a seething look in Hermione’s direction, and Harry felt Hermione step slightly behind him, as though embarrassed.

“Yes as usual!” Ron snapped. “It’s dangerous, all right? Can you imagine what Mum would say if she thought I was just going to let you go traipsing around-”

“I can take care of myself just as well as you can,” Ginny growled.

Harry felt Hermione moving behind him, and saw her flick her wand in the direction of the girls’ dorms, and then walk to the boys’ staircase and do the same. She was using a non-verbal silencio, he realized, and smiled. And it was a good idea. Ron and Ginny were quickly losing control of their voices; they were liable to wake the whole school. And Ginny was waving her glaringly bright wand about in all directions. It was sure to attract attention, and the last thing he wanted was to be trapped in Headmistress McGonagall’s office, listening to her call him ‘Potter’ and peer at him through her spectacles.

Harry looked over at the cold fireplace and cleared his mind. It couldn’t be that hard, after all, he’d managed it once or twice in class….he focused his energy carefully and took a deep breath. Incendio. The word resonated between his ears without ever leaving his mouth. And a bright fire crackled to life amidst the dead embers.

Ginny and Ron stopped bickering and stared at it. Harry himself was still speechless, although quite pleased, and Hermione was trying not to smile as she added fresh logs.

“Tell him I can go, Harry,” Ginny pleaded, after the moment had passed.

Harry looked at her awkwardly. He wanted to hex both Ron and Hermione for waking her up; he had enough to worry about without wondering what to do about Ginny.

“Listen Ginny, Ron’s right,” Harry said, and forced himself to meet her eyes. “It’s just too dangerous.” He tried to speak with an air of finality, but she didn’t seem impressed. She just stood there with her hands on her hips, looking increasingly furious.

“I’m not a child! I can help! And I heard you say that you were taking broomsticks, and I can fly…even faster than Ron…”

“You can not!” Ron sputtered, insulted, and Harry exchanged looks with Hermione.

“Oh, you’re listening to HER, are you?” Ginny scowled, and before Harry could say another word, she was advancing on Hermione with her arms crossed against her chest. “Well of course SHE doesn’t want me to come along! She’s so used to having you all to herself; she can’t stand that I’m in your life…that I’m your GIRLFRIEND!”

Hermione’s eyes were wide. “Ginny, I-”

“ ‘Ginny I’ what? You’re supposed to be my friend!”

“I am! I am your friend!” Hermione said desperately, and glanced at Harry.

“Don’t even look at him!” Ginny screeched, and pushed Hermione roughly.

“Hey!” Ron said angrily, and grabbed his sister by the arm. “You can’t just go around shoving people-”

“Get off of me Ron!”

They continued to bicker, but Harry barely heard them. He was too busy staring at Hermione, who was wearing a shocked expression and leaning against the wall she had just been pushed into. All of Harry’s vision seemed to go red.

“Ginny, we need to talk,” he said very clearly over the tumult. Ron and Ginny stopped wrestling immediately.

Hermione brushed herself off. “I’m fine, Harry,” she said softly, and he looked over at her just to be sure.

“Hermione, you and Ron meet me in the Room of Requirement.”

“All right,” Ron said carefully, and moved to collect Hermione from the wall. Harry heard him whisper “You ok?” to her as they ducked out of the portrait hole. And then the passage swung shut, and he and Ginny were alone.

She was biting on her lip and looking away from him. “Look, I know what you’re going to say, and maybe you’re right, maybe I shouldn’t have pushed her, but let’s not forget that she HEXED me!”

“You tried to hex her first,” Harry said flatly, and Ginny twisted her head to glare at him, her red hair flying. “Hermione’s going to go with us. You’re not.”

“It’s not fair, Harry,” Ginny said, but he shook his head. He had lost all patience with her. It would be better just to get it over with, here and now.

“Yes it is. She created the talisman; if it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t be going at all-”

“Oh that’s just perfect,” Ginny snapped. “Genius Hermione, making herself indispensable again!”

“Don’t Ginny,” Harry warned, bristling at her. “Conjuring that talisman was brilliant.”

“Of course it was! Everything precious Hermione DOES is brilliant, isn’t it?” she sighed, and her shoulders slumped tiredly. “I swear Harry, sometimes you act as though she’s your girlfriend instead of me.”

“You’re not my girlfriend,” he said quickly, and looked away as her eyes grew large.

“What’re you talking about?” she said suspiciously. “Harry, if you think you can be noble again- I’ve had enough of that-”

“No,” he said gently. “Listen Ginny, I don’t want to hurt you…but you-I…We’re not getting back together. And I’m not trying to be noble.” He watched her guiltily as she began to tremble. “It’s just not meant to be.”

Ginny was shaking her head. “Harry, if you’d just let me come….You’d see what I can do, that I can help….that it’s not just her that can-”

“I know that you’re a great witch, all right? That’s not it. You’re not coming because it’s none of your business,” Harry said flatly. “It never has been, really. And neither am I.” He turned away from her, and walked towards the portrait hole. He didn’t stop when she said his name. He didn’t stop when he heard her start to cry. And remembering the way that she had pushed Hermione, he couldn’t quite manage to be sorry.

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When Harry entered the Room of Requirement, Ron and Hermione sprang up from where they were sitting and tried to look busy. Neither one of them looked at him. Hermione was moving from shelf to shelf selecting spell books and tucking them into her bag. Ron was studying his wand as though something new and interesting might suddenly grow out of it.

Harry cleared his throat and Ron looked up. “Everything all right, Harry?” he asked uncertainly.

“Everything’s fine. Are we ready?” He looked around the room. His Firebolt and Ron’s Cleansweep were leaning against the far wall. Hermione was scooping a few more items into her bag. “Do you really need all of that?” Harry asked, watching her pack a very familiar-looking jam jar. “You just might weigh down the Firebolt after all.”

Hermione scowled. “You can’t be too careful, Harry. Who knows what we’ll run into,” she said, and, picking up a vial of dark liquid, “or how much blood we’ll lose.”

Ron swallowed audibly. “That’s cheerful.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “You’ll be grateful when it saves your life,” she said, and scanned the room. “All right, I think we’ve got everything.”

Harry looked around at the shelves, which Hermione had ransacked and left nearly empty. He was just about to accio his broomstick when his eye passed over a clump of what looked like slimy green rat tails. Harry pointed quickly. “Hermione, take that would you?”

“What? That mess of slime?” she asked incredulously.

“Yes,” Harry said excitedly.

Hermione looked at it doubtfully. Ron lifted his wand. “Er…Accio….mess of slime!”

Harry scowled at them both and walked to the shelf, scooped up the pile and stuffed it into his pocket. “It’s gillyweed,” he said, exasperated.

“Oh!” Hermione exclaimed. “Of course! Of course we would need that. The horcrux is at the bottom of a lake! How could I have forgotten…you used that during the second task of the Triwizard Tournament!”

“Yeah,” Harry smiled sheepishly, feeling flattered that she remembered. “Um, let’s have another look at the talisman map.”

Hermione reached into her pocket and held the pyramid out to Harry, who looked at it levelly. He drew his wand.

“I solemnly swear, to defeat the Dark Lord.”

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“Don’t break the surface yet,” Harry warned, as the three of them stood beside the still, dark water.

“I don’t think I want to,” Ron muttered, and sunk down on his haunches.

It was early evening, and the light was fading, but the waxy, seaweed covered figures of the floating Inferi were still very visible in the lake. There appeared to be at least forty of them, drifting around motionless, their limbs stiff and their eyes open and sightless.

Harry looked up at the retreating sun. It had taken several hours to fly to the lake, going high up into the atmosphere where the wind was blisteringly cold; Harry’s face still stung, and Ron’s complexion definitely looked rosier than usual. Hermione had fared better; she had clung to Harry’s back, and buried her face against his shoulder. Her hands had eventually nestled themselves inside his cloak, and Harry had been grateful for the cold then, so that he had a reasonable excuse for his shivering.

Now she was standing at the shoreline, looking fearfully into the water and trying to count the Inferi. “There are so many,” she whispered, and Ron placed a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off and turned to Harry. “Are you sure you don’t want to wait? We flew so far; you must be tired, and you shouldn’t be fighting so many of them when you’re tired-”

Harry stared down into the lake. This was no mere bowl of potion. And there was no boat to slide across the surface of the water. There was only one way to the horcrux, and that was straight down.

“Perhaps there’s another way,” Hermione said quickly. “I mean, Voldemort must have made an alternate route….he couldn’t have wanted to have to go into the lake if he needed to retrieve it…”

“Maybe,” Harry said thoughtfully. “Or maybe he just never intended to retrieve it…”

“Listen,” Ron said shrilly, unable to take his eyes from the water as if one of the Inferi might come lurching out of the lake at any moment, “Harry can have a…a sandwich or something, but then we’ve got to get that horcrux. I’m not spending the night next to a lake full of dead bodies!”

“There’s nothing to fear from a body, Ron,” Harry said, hearing Dumbledore’s voice in his head, “Any more than there is to fear from the dark…”

“The dark can be pretty scary, if you ask me,” Ron mumbled.

“I should have thought of this,” Hermione lamented, shaking her head. “I should have realized…I should have found a spell to use fire underwater!” Ron was looking at her curiously as she wrung her hands. “What do you want us to do, Harry?” she asked.

“There’s not enough gillyweed for all of us,” he said, feeling the weight of it in his pocket. “I have to go in alone-it’ll be all right, Hermione,” he added, seeing her eyes widen in fright. “After I take the horcrux, the Inferi will awaken. I’ll need you two to give me some cover.”

“Give you some cover?” Ron asked doubtfully.

“Hex their heads off,” Harry said, trying to smile, but Ron only swallowed and looked worried.

Harry walked to the water’s edge. The Inferi were swirling lazily beneath the surface. There were so many; he’d have to touch some of them on his descent, and he seriously hoped that Ron and Hermione’s hexes were spot on…He reached into his pocket and grasped the gillyweed, then stuffed it into his mouth. The cold, slimy texture was no more pleasant than it had been during the Triwizard Tournament. As he chewed, he looked back at Ron and Hermione, who already had their wands drawn. Hermione looked very pale, and Ron looked as though he’d just kissed Aragog. And then Harry’s gills sprouted, and he did the only thing he could do- he dove in.

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The lake was thick with Inferi. Harry swam straight down, trying to see through the murky water while ignoring the things drifting around him in their tattered rags, their hair gone green with weeds. He thought he felt one grab at his leg and jerked sharply.

Calm down, he thought to himself, don’t disturb them before you have to…there’s nothing to fear from a body…And then, just ten feet below him, he saw it: the coffer, encrusted with sapphires, sparkling in the dim green glow.

He reached it in a flash, sending silt churning up around it. He reached out and then looked around warily at the Inferi. Would they wake as soon as he touched it? He looked up at the surface and tried to make out the shapes of Ron and Hermione. He couldn’t. So could they see him? How could they hex the Inferi if they couldn’t see him? But there was nothing to be done about it. He reached out to grab the horcrux, and then quickly pulled back. Hermione’s voice was screaming in his head for him to take his time.

He studied the coffer carefully. It was rather large, at least one meter wide and two deep, and it looked extremely heavy. He would have to kick hard to get it to the surface. He kicked his legs tentatively, testing his strength, and stirred up more silt. And that’s when he saw it, still half buried. A chain. Harry’s heart beat faster. If he had just grabbed it…the Inferi would have attacked him….he wouldn’t have had any time to find a way to break the chain. And from the looks of it, I can’t anyway, he thought with frustration. The links are too thick.

Harry closed his eyes. What would Hermione do…his scar was beginning to throb. And then his eyes popped open. The coffer itself was unimportant. It was flashy for a reason; it was a trick! It was what was inside that mattered, and that was protected by only a simple lock! Dumbledore had always said that Tom Riddle was overconfident and cocky…he’d have loved the idea of hiding it in plain sight, within a trap…

Harry’s scar was practically pulsing. The horcrux was inside of the coffer…he was sure of it. He only needed to unlock the box….he opened his mouth, and emitted a large bubble. He shook his head. He couldn’t speak underwater. He’d have to do it the hard way…He cleared his mind…and then felt a waxy hand on his shoulder.

Harry didn’t care if he could speak underwater or not, at that moment he screamed as hard as he could. The face leering in front of him was horrific, gray green and toothless, with cloudy, yellowed eyes. Harry tore at its hands, as more of them came at him, each more awful than the last. He could feel bits of their hair come out as he struggled with them; he could feel their flesh give, and that they didn’t care.

Hermione, he thought in a panic, Ron, where are you?

As soon as he thought it, two of the Inferi closest to him were blasted back through the water. Then another two. Then three more.

Harry reached for the box and pointed his wand at the lock. Alohomora! He thought wildly, but nothing happened. Alohomora! Alohomora! He thought again, as he felt more hands tearing at his back. He had to focus…he wasn’t leaving the lake without whatever was inside that box…

He forced himself to be still. He forced his world to go dark, and quiet. Alohomora.

The lock clicked open, and Harry wrenched open the lid and pulled out the contents of the coffer, then sprang off of the bottom of the lake and kicked with all his might for the surface.

It seemed that a thousand hands were dragging him back down. And though he could see Ron and Hermione’s hexes flying around him, he was certain that he’d never make it to the top. But then a barrage of hexes shot down and knocked the Inferi back; Harry surged upward and broke the surface, and swam for shore, kicking as hard as he could at whatever his legs touched.

He fell upon the sand, panting, pain throbbing in the sides of his neck as his gills receded.

“Harry run!” he heard Hermione shout too late. The Inferi had come up from the lake, and were upon him, tearing at his arms and legs. He desperately tried to hang on to the horcrux, which was dripping wet and heavy, but it felt as though the Inferi were going to rip his limbs clear off. He could hear someone screaming and then realized that it was him, that he was screaming; he could feel the tendons in his arms begin to stretch…begin to snap…there are too many Inferi now, he thought, mad with pain. There must be two dozen….

“No Hermione!” Harry heard Ron shout, and then the Inferi holding his left arm was blasted apart and she was beside him, pressing against him and carrying a very familiar looking jam jar.

“Stay close to me Harry!” she shouted above the Inferi’s moans, and Harry tried to slide nearer as she opened the jar’s lid.

From inside the tiny glass came a rush of blue flames, which quickly whirled into a maelstrom, the fire spinning around them and consuming the Inferi in droves, so hot that it left behind nothing but a sifting of ash. Harry clutched Hermione about the waist and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they were crouched alone on the shore, and the jar was closed. He looked at her, amazed.

“My bluebell flames,” she said breathlessly. “I kicked them up a bit.”

Harry held up the soaking bundle that he had retrieved from the jeweled coffer. “I got it,” he said, smiling at her.

“You were brilliant,” she said, as Ron ran over. “Oh Ron, are you all right? The flames- I didn’t even think-”

“I’m fine,” Ron said, waving her off. “I ducked behind a tree.” He grinned at Harry. “That was close.”

“Too close,” Hermione said seriously, and then Harry, too exhausted to think, or move, or breathe, collapsed onto the sand.

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Harry’s blinked and squinted at the light shining in from the hospital wing windows. He held his hand up as a shield and gave a low moan. His head was pounding, and there was a sound in his ears like Hedwig’s wings flapping.

“How are you feeling mate?”

Harry peered carefully out of the corner of one eye. Ron was seated beside the bed, looking worried. “What?” Harry managed. “What hap-”

“Don’t try to talk, Potter,” Headmistress McGonagall said from the other side of his bed, and Harry turned his head too quickly to look at her and made himself wince. “The horcrux is safe and sound, and so might you be, if you had only seen fit to inform the Order of this little escapade.” She sounded very stern, but even with his blurred vision, Harry could see that her eyes were soft behind her spectacles.

“We thought for a minute that you were gone,” Ron said quietly. “Hermione practically went spare-” And Harry vaguely remembered hearing her crying, feeling her arms around his neck…Ron was looking down at his feet. “She never left your side,” he said lowly. “I finally had to order her out of here, to get some rest…Ginny came by too,” he added, almost as an afterthought.

Harry felt himself rising out of bed.

“What are you doing, Potter!? Lie back down! You’re going to be here for the next few days!”

But Harry couldn’t wait. He swung his legs over the edge and barely caught himself when his knees buckled. But he kept going. He had to see her. He had to thank her. And then he felt Ron’s hand on his shoulder.

“I’ll help you,” he said quietly.

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Ron helped Harry into the Gryffindor Common Room, and then left without a word. The few students who were there studying scattered as well, but Harry barely noticed. He was looking at Hermione, who appeared to have fallen asleep on the sofa by the fire.

He pushed his leg forward and clenched his teeth. Walking had been a lot easier with Ron to lean on. It seemed an eternity before he reached her, and then he lowered himself to his knees, his head starting to spin. He couldn’t help but give a little moan as his sore joints voiced their objection to the movement.

Before him, Hermione stirred and then opened her eyes and blinked. “Harry?! What’re you doing- you can’t be out of the hospital wing!” She lifted herself hurriedly onto one elbow, but he shook his head. He wanted to thank her for the flames, and for the map. He wanted to thank her for worrying, and that he knew what she felt.

He wanted to tell her so many things.

But his head was pounding, and his joints were screaming. So instead of saying all that, he just leaned forward, and kissed her.

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A/N: Yay he kissed her! Okay, so, that was a long time coming, and I know it was brief but there’ll be more. And next chapter we’ll get to see the reactions…and…yeah, I’m really tired guys. By the way, there’ll be a delay next week. No seriously this time. I’m going out to Illinois on business and I won’t have any time to write the next chap…so expect a one week delay. And that chapter might be the last chapter. Haven’t decided yet.

Thank you for the reviews, you all really really rock. And I hope you liked this chapter…it was kind of like a revisiting of spells from the past…