A/N: We're back...Thanks, as usual, to Lady Starlight for her work on this chapter.
Chapter 58: The Sun Slowly Shines.
**********************Astronomy Tower***********************************
Several minutes later, the door leading down to the lower levels of the castle boomed open, chunks of the fallen corridor leading down flying out with it, and Lupin, Tonks, Roger and Poppy ran out onto the ramparts. Lupin looked...haggard, his cheek cut, limping, but he moved with a wolf's grace still as he sprinted across the rooftop and slid to a stop next to Harry, reaching out trembling fingers to Hermione's neck.
He closed his eyes and sighed as he felt a pulse. After a breath, he reached over to double check Harry even though he knew he was alive, as she was, for now anyway. "MOVE," Poppy snapped, pushing him roughly out of the way. She started to run her wand over them, glancing over to a clipboard as words and numbers filled themselves in. She shook her head and motioned to Roger, who had fallen to his knees next to her, "In my bag," she said urgently as her wand flashed, summoning bandages to stem the tide of the worst wounds on each of them, "There are IV's, they are the same as the Muggle ones, they are made better for things like this, start Glucose and Blood Replenishing Potions on both of them, we need to get them stabilized." She muttered a quite improper curse under her breath as she read another line on the clipboard, she flicked her wand at them causing a soft, amber beam to play over both of them.
Roger glanced up, from trying to find a vein in his daughter. He took a harried breath as he managed to start a drip and handed the bag to Tonks to hold. He slid over a half foot, slipping slightly in the wetness under them, and started to work on Harry, "What was that?"
"Cruciatum Stabilis," Tonks answered for her, having recognized it from unfortunate experience. She took a second bag, from Roger and held it with the first. Roger dug back into the medical bag and pulled out a pair of plastic IV bags filled with the clear red Blood Replenishing Potion. "It's to keep them sane, developed after the last war." Roger nodded grimly as he looked over at a pair of conjured stretchers behind them. Tonks looked around, "Where the bloody hell is Dumbledore," she snarled.
"I would be here," Dumbledore replied from behind them. The once ancient wizard looked even older than he truly was, his once again, auburn hair lank, and speckled with soot, and blood from a cut above his right ear. He propped his staff against the battlements, "How are they, Poppy?" he inquired softly.
"Dead, if I don't get them stabilized," she snapped, her hands flashing. "I don't have an idea how they are even alive. Neither one is much more than a Squib right now, I doubt that they have half their own blood left, and they have more broken bones than I can count, so leave me alone, and secure the damn castle, Albus."
Dumbledore nodded, and straightening slightly, flung out his hand. His staff snapped to his hand, he waved it, and all of them, Harry, Hermione, Poppy, Roger, Tonks and himself reappeared in the Hogwarts infirmary. Both of the Potters appeared on a pair of side by side beds, with the IVs finding themselves hanging off stands. He waved it again, moving the beds together, and transfiguring them into one. Poppy gave him a look, Dumbledore just smiled for a brief instant, "I am just saving you time, Poppy. And now, if you will excuse me, I believe that I have other duties to attend to." He vanished without a word as Poppy started to spell cast more spells on the two.
*********************Hogwarts**********************************
May 26, 1998
1:20 am
Jane appeared, tired and exhausted, wearing simple sweats she had purloined from Hermione's closet and sat down, slightly painfully, next to Roger. "You are supposed to be in bed, Jane," he chided half-heartedly. "You just had..."
"Magic," Jane explained, softly, "Molly used some spell that she learned after Percy," she leaned her head against his shoulder. "She's watching Anna now, its taking her mind off...you know. " Roger nodded and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "She's in shock, I guess. Fleur's up there as well, Tonks transfigured the couches in the kids' common room into beds." Jane shook her head bemusedly, "Never in my wildest dreams before she got that letter, would I ever think that it was, normal, to causally wave a stick and change an armchair into a four poster. "
"Yeah, weird," Roger agreed, "I guess we better get used to it, even more than before." He looked around the room, then out the window a bit, before looking down at Harry and Hermione. The two of them had been moved to a separate, private room as soon as Poppy had stabilized them, and made sure that they were not going to die, probably. "You do know that we will probably have a daughter and grandchildren here at the same time?"
"Uh, huh," Jane murmured as she reached over to run her hand over Hermione's hair. She leaned forward a bit, grunting softly, to brush the hair out of Harry's eyes, which were still closed. The soft pulsing of a pair of orbs hovering above the head of the bed marked their heartbeats, which were currently close enough in time to be indistinguishable. "They look so young, lying there, Roger. So vulnerable..." her voice broke as she turned and buried her face in his shoulder. Great silent racking sobs whispered from her throat, as he ran his hands through her hair, rocking in place.
After several long minutes, Jane pulled back, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, "Sorry," she muttered, "hormones."
"Bullocks."
She shrugged, and looked back on the teens, "They are having the funeral next week, to give them time to wake up."
"They won't be awake," Roger objected softly, "They would have died, if they were...Muggles, like us. Poppy seems to think that they won't wake until they've regenerated most of their magic, a great deal's still being siphoned off to feed their healing."
"I know, I went to school as well, Roger," Jane shot back tartly. "But I can't stand to upset Molly even more now." She yawned and stretched. Through a partially open door to the rest of the Infirmary, they could hear one of Poppy's assistants, whichever one had the night shift, bustling about checking Potion Drips, vitals and magic levels.
A soft knock sounded at the door and Remus slipped in, his hands in his pockets, and a golden Auror's badge hanging on a chain around his neck. "Sorry, didn't think anyone would be here at this hour, thought I'd check on them," he explained, shrugging.
"It's fine, Remus, I'm sure they appreciate it," Jane reassured them with a small smile. She waved towards a guest chair set on the other side of the bed; Lupin shook his head and waved.
"No, I need to be going, I was just stopping by," Remus demurred, "I should probably try to sleep in the same bed as my fiancée."
"How is out there?" Roger inquired, quietly. Remus shrugged, and walked over to the window where the devastation to the castle and grounds could still be seen. A fire still smoldered under the Gryffindor stands, and Hagrid's hut had been razed earlier this very day. A veritable army of House Elves, including the services of several from Build-it-Today Construction, a wizard construction firm that had been previously owned by the Malfoys and now, might be owned by a young Black cousin, were combing the castle looking for any that had not been accounted for. The Second Years and under that had been locked in their dorms at the start of the invasion, had thankfully mostly escaped the horrors of the assault, save for a few that were seemingly still too traumatized to speak.
"With Dumbledore's help, we were able to take back the Ministry, Hermione's spell was a godsend; it was fortuitous that she had already shared the notes on it with the Twins. Dumbledore was able to disable most of the Inferi that were still there, and with that, the rest is just cleanup." Remus frowned, "I've never seen him so...guilty, before. He's blaming himself for letting it get this far, and for making them sacrifice so very much to kill Voldemort," he looked down at the twin sleeping forms forlornly.
"He was hit from behind, Remus, it happens, and if he hadn't been here, who knows what would have happened," Jane said and looked up at Roger, who nodded.
"He still hasn't really explained much, he's even more reticent than usual, but I seem to get the impression that it has something to do with Fawkes," Lupin mentioned. "He seems to think that he took too long, or at least that is what he was muttering today when we were touring the castle."
*************************Hogwarts, Hospital Wing**************************
June 7, 1998
2:00pm
Jane sighed softly as she settled into a seat next to her children, one by blood and one by marriage. She leaned back in the large, comfortable chair that Dumbledore had helpfully conjured and propped her newest daughter against her chest, letting the infant relax, and find comfort where she could, if she could, she would be one of the few to do so these days. Anastasia whimpered slightly and snuggled unconsciously closer to her mother as Jane sat looking down on Harry and Hermione. Jane stroked the infant's already thick chestnut hair as she watched Hermione settle more securely against Harry's side, still without waking. The pair had been unconscious, or at best in some semi-conscious state, for almost two weeks now, since the destruction of Voldemort at their hands. They did not yet know the cost that they had paid to gain the freedom of the Muggle and Wizarding worlds from the terror that would have been everywhere had they failed. At least no one thought they knew, but as it was them, it was entirely possible that they did know. The pair had been drained almost totally of their magic, at the end, giving literally everything to the cause.
With tears slightly blurring her vision, Jane reached out to lightly run her hand over Hermione's hair. Hermione responded as she had for the couple of weeks, she didn't, other than murmur something in her sleep. Soon after the fighting had ended, and Poppy had returned with the first wave of reinforcements, a wave that was far too late for many, she had removed the pair to a private room, one of several a floor down from the main infirmary that were not normally in use. Typically, Poppy would have never allowed two patients in one bed, but even she recognized the inevitable when she found it. She knew quite well, from long experience over the last year, that any attempt to separate them was pretty much doomed to failure as not matter what the strength of Restraining Ward, one or the other would have broken it, even in their drained condition, and would have almost rolled out of bed in the direction of the other. To solve her quandary, even before it became one, Dumbledore had transfigured their two twin beds into one larger one, and placed them together, which had solved the issue most readily. Jane looked down at the babe in her arms to see bright, cobalt blue eyes looking back up at her, eyes that she somehow thought her newest daughter would keep, "Hey, Annie," Jane whispered, though she knew it was pointless.
Jane reached forward from the chair that was already set against the edge of the bed, and laid Anastasia next to her sister on the empty spot next to the brunette's head. She cooed softly as clumsy fingers grabbed loose chestnut curls. Jane laughed, and Anastasia looked more or less in her direction, "That's your big sister, I really wish she was awake to play with you right now, but she's still sleeping. Her and Harry, that's him on the other side of her, they gave a lot for you to be here, maybe too much," she added in a slightly choked voice. "She's a witch, just like you are, and that's not a bad thing, unlike what I was taught when I was growing up, I'm sure that you two will have lots and lots to talk about that Mum won't understand." Anastasia seemed to give her an oddly knowing look for someone born fifteen days ago.
A soft knock interrupted Jane's one-sided conversation, and she looked to the door, her hand automatically shooting out to hold her daughter in place as she looked away for a moment. Tired, ice-blue eyes looked at her framed between long, auburn locks and a short, neat beard. "Albus."
"I hope that I am not interrupting anything?" Dumbledore asked, softly, and Jane merely shook her head and motioned him into the room. Not bothering to pull his wand, Dumbledore gestured at the area next to Jane's chair and a worn, comfortable, bright purple and red armchair appeared with a pop. Jane laughed softly as Dumbledore settled into to and sighed contentedly, closing his eyes for an instant before reopening them and peering at her. "Forgive me, I fear that with Minerva still in St. Mungo's having her hip regrown, and so many of Hogwarts' staff...gone, I have not had as much a chance to visit with you as I might have liked." Jane glanced back, checking on the youngest Granger, but she was still happily cooing and pulling on Hermione's hair. For a moment, Jane thought Hermione might wake at the stimuli, but her hopes were dashed. "They are still recovering, my dear. I myself slept almost three weeks after I defeated Grindelwald in '45."
"Poppy told me," Jane confirmed, turning back to him. Jane bit her lip, considering her words for a moment, "Was it worth it, Albus...the cost, the potential loss," Dumbledore didn't answer as she went on, "Roger and I got out easy, we only lost a bit of time, and a house that can be replaced. It could even be said that we came out ahead, we think so, anyway, we gained a son and a daughter this year, but Molly lost half her family, and they weren't the only ones, not by a long shot."
"The simple, answer...yes," Dumbledore replied, his eyes on Harry as he rolled in his sleep. Harry muttered something, his voice terrified, until Hermione mumbled a few soft words, and he calmed. "The longer answer...let me tell you a story, one that none under sixty now knows." He paused, looking at her, "I did not fight my Dark Lord when I was eighteen...no, I spent those years after Hogwarts learning what I could, I spent my time between the Auror academies, and studies of my own. I was a prodigy of sorts, much like both of them in their own ways. Unlike Harry, I was not fortunate to find my better half in school...or rather, I did. But we were too stubborn to realize it. Anne and I were Head Students together, spent almost every waking minute together, but the times were different enough that I hesitated to tell her what I felt." Dumbledore smiled slightly, "Fortunately, time gave me a second chance. I met her again at some Ministry affair, and I did not let my mistakes of the past color our future. We spent almost the next eighty years together, not hardly leaving each other's side."
"Just how old are you?" Jane asked, confused.
"As of last month, somewhere a bit north of one-hundred fifty," Dumbledore chuckled. "Or perhaps, a touch more, one can never tell." Dumbledore gave a slight, knowing nod as he took in Jane's expression. "I suppose that Hermione never told you, or rather, she probably never really thought about it enough to do so. Jane," he smiled and gestured to the two, still slumbering individuals on the bed, "the average lifespan of a Wizard or Witch, barring foul play or accident is on the neighborhood of one hundred fifty years, with many living to almost two hundred. Some do not even begin to really visibly age until they reach their hundreds. That is the average wizard or witch, of course, for Harry and Hermione, and I would not be terribly surprised, her sister, it is not out of the question for them to live to three or four hundred years, if not longer, and to look much the same as they do now, until they reach their second or third century." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at some half forgotten memory, "I myself was often discounted because of my, 'youth', until I was almost fifty or sixty." He laughed at some odd memory, "One of the bartenders at the Leaky Cauldron, never would believe...kept having to go to the Muggle pubs for years..."
Jane looked surprised at his words; Dumbledore shrugged slightly, "It accounts for many of the Muggles' legends of immortals among them, not all, but some of them. However that was not my point... Anne and I never had children, why I do not know, but she was still vibrant, even at a hundred, still as beautiful as the day I married her, as the day I realized that I loved her in the very same common room that those two shared for the last year." He grinned slightly, "It is a rather hoary joke at this school, if you want a couple to end up together, you make them Head Boy and Girl. The staff, even in my day, turned a rather blind eye to the happenings in that suite." Jane chuckled and Dumbledore nodded, "Of course, back then, it wasn't terribly too uncommon for the Heads to be actually married by their seventh year, so I suppose in a way they were turning back the clock even as they were making history."
He took a breath and conjured a small table between them, a flick of his fingers and a carafe of hot chocolate and a pair of sturdy mugs appeared. He poured himself a cup. Jane frowned as she looked at the beverage, "Better not, I'm um..."
"I understand," Dumbledore said soft, and passed his wand over the suddenly filled mug, "It is now decaffeinated. Though I think the latest literature shows that caffeine has little deleterious effects on wizards."
"It'll still keep her up all hours, though," Jane demurred, and Dumbledore nodded knowingly.
"True," he took a sip of his drink, "I gave everything I had to the defeat of Grindelwald, and then later Voldemort. More, some days, than I believe that any sane individual would. Not that I am terribly sane, if you listen to the Prophet." Jane saluted him with her mug. "In particular, Anne, my Anne that is, gave her life to save mine, so I could go on to defeat Grindelwald. In doing so, that one small action saved thousands, and perhaps millions of lives. It is not taught in even our classes, but one of the main forces behind the Axis, in your World War Two, was the forces of Grindelwald who had allied themselves intimately with the darkest of Muggle powers. The site where Harry and Hermione went to destroy the last Horcrux was the very place that I defeated Grindelwald for the last time. A place that was created by Muggles for a dark Wizard and his followers. In many ways the ones that gave so much, too much really, performed the same feat, their sacrifices, of their futures, gave so many, Wizard and Muggle, alike, theirs."
Jane frowned slightly and reached forward letting Anastasia's hand wrap around her finger for a moment, "Seven years ago, almost eight, now, when a bloody owl landed in the middle of our eggs and changed my daughter's life, and mine and Roger's forever, I did not have any clue what I was getting into. What she was getting into. Before then, we had worried that she would never even be liked at school." Jane waved her free hand in the air oddly, "Oh, I knew that she would outgrow the 'ugly duckling' phase she thought she was in when she started here. I didn't look any different from her at eleven. But I was worried that she would bury herself in her books, hide behind that prodigious brain of hers, and scare any poor boy off that might like her even a bit. Little did I know that the boy she fell in love with, at least a little bit just from reading about him, would be the one she should have run from... That somehow, without us noticing it, my little girl was actually braver than she was intelligent. She always fought back against the bullies when she was little, in the end at least, but we never imagined this."
Dumbledore reached forward to play with the infant for a moment, "I feel that a great deal of the blame was mine, if I had performed my task correctly, much of this would have never come to pass."
Jane waved him to silence, "Are you sure that you aren't Harry's long-lost grandfather, you take everything to yourself."
"If only I were," Dumbledore replied wistfully.
She nodded, "That first year, when Hermione came back, hiding something about what happened, but talking about her 'boys', particularly, Harry, I knew that something was going on. Then she was paralyzed, which we found out about, then that third year happened. We always knew she was hiding something, but not what. Fourth year, when Voldemort came back...that summer, the bit she did spend with us...I knew then. I bloody well knew that that girl had already decided her life. And whom it was going to be with, even if she didn't know it yet. She spent the entire time worrying about Harry, and more than once calling you names I didn't know she knew because of your restriction against communicating with Harry."
"I was wrong," Dumbledore said simply, "If anyone is to blame for them laying there, Jane, it is I."
"They forgave you a long time ago, Albus, even before your vanishing act," Jane said as she reached out and patted his hand resting on the arm of his chair. "That fifth summer, when our precious little girl came home, still wounded from a battle, we almost pulled her out, and ran to hide. Even knowing her wrath, and that she would try her damnest to escape to be with her friends, those that she loved. But even then, we realized that there was no choice, not really, she was what she was, she was a witch, and was loyal, and in love beyond reason with the one who would hold the key to it all. The Prophesy, when Roger and I heard it, it just confirmed what we had already figured out from the bits and pieces that we gleaned from reading Hermione's books, and what she let slip. It was rather obvious to us at least. Perhaps, because, until this year it was that we were outside, or at least on the edge of this world that we could see it so clearly."
"You are probably right, Jane," Dumbledore agreed, shaking his head slightly, "If only we all could have taken a step outside and really seen what was happening, certain events could have been forestalled. I would give all that I am, that I have, if it were mine to give to bring back what they have lost, what they will learn they have lost upon their awakening. I would not blame either of them if they never spoke to me again."
"They won't do that, Albus."
"I know, that is one of the things that make them so special."
Jane smiled and nodded, "Yeah...It was a shock, more than anything when all of a sudden, our daughter, the tiny little girl that we had nurtured for all those years was the one protecting us. The night that they came for us, destroyed our home...she came out of the night, like an avenging angel and she and Harry tore them apart. That night was the night that we finally realized that our little girl was an adult. Of course, that she was as powerful as Morgana la Fey, didn't hurt either. That was pretty obvious as well. I think it always surprised Hermione that Roger and I never really tried to pull her out, not like some of the other Muggleborn parents and so many of the Pureblooded ones. Maybe we had a touch of Gryffindor as well."
"Now, I suppose that Roger and I are as much a part of this world as any Muggles can be. Minerva said that we were the first to set foot on these grounds in five hundred years. I actually know the difference between Conjuring and Transfiguration, even though I can't do either, and I even know the exchange rate between Galleons and Pounds. I know that she would have never been happy anywhere else, and that's all I can really ask." She smirked slightly, "The idea of grandchildren that will be in here at the same time that my newest daughter, does have a certain ring of happiness though, I will admit."
Dumbledore shook his head ruefully, "That thought might ensure that my...retirement, from the Headmaster's position be permanent," he teased.
"Oh, no," Jane shook her head, "you have this one to teach, still, you did such a good job with the first one."
"Thank you," Dumbledore replied in a rather small voice for such a powerful wizard. "I will endeavor to see that her experience is more...typical, than Hermione's was."
"You better," Jane grinned slightly, "or otherwise these two may hold you to account," she waved at the slumbering forms on the bed, "because unless I miss my guess, I seriously doubt that one or two of their own will be more than a year or two behind."
"Yes," Dumbledore agreed, "I rather expect there will be a bit of that going around. In fact," he waved in the general direction of the Great Hall, "while we are rebuilding so much, I managed to push through renovations to many of the old abandoned classrooms, and facilities. This place was built to hold closer to five thousand, if need be, than the thousand it has had normally, or the five hundred of Minerva's first time around as Headmistress, I fully expect that we will see more in the upcoming years, both with new souls, such as Anastasia there, and with the families moving back home after the final end of this conflict."
Jane nodded, she glanced up towards Gryffindor tower, towards the friends and family her daughter had found here, and that had become hers as well, "How are the others doing, Albus? Not just mine, here?"
Dumbledore sighed greatly, and in a learned gesture, reached for nonexistent glasses to clean. He pinched the bridge of his long, crooked nose instead, "Neville and Parvati, are still up in his dorm, neither has moved much really, since Lavender's funeral." Dumbledore shook his head at some random thought, "I was acting as a portrait for so long, so as with them, it seems odd, not to call them by their Christian names," Jane smiled at him, and he shrugged slightly, "Dobby has been taking food to them, like he has for all the rest. Ginerva and Mr. Black were discharged from St. Mungo's and after a small, tiff with her mother; are staying in Diagon Alley together. The rest, they are surviving, like any of us."
****************************Hogwarts***************************
July 1, 1998
1:30
Jane stirred slightly as she heard a soft, desperately familiar voice in the room. She opened her eyes, glancing over at the cradle that Poppy had conjured for Anastasia. Hermione's sister had been curiously quiet, never crying when she was in the same room as her sleeping sister, as if she did not want to disturb her. Jane blinked her eyes in the gloom and looked over towards the large bed that Harry and Hermione still shared, Poppy having long since given up any chance of separating them.
Jane felt her heart leap into her chest as she looked across the room and saw Hermione's open eyes glinting in the moonlight as she was rolled up on her side, her fingers slowly tracing Harry's face. Jane remained silent as Hermione whispered, faintly, almost inaudibly, "You're the only one I ever believed in...The answer that could never be found...It's over, baby, he can't hurt either of us anymore." Hermione licked dry lips, and smiled slightly, "Ron is going to give us such the mickey for malingering...though I doubt he would use the word, Luna might though," she added thoughtfully. Jane closed her eyes and fought to remain silent as tears fell down her cheeks.
A soft breeze from an open window ruffled Hermione's hair as she weakly reached down and intertwined her fingers with Harry's. Jane let her head loll forward as she pretended to sleep in the chair, "Mum's here, Harry," Hermione muttered, "Looks like she's asleep..." Hermione paused for a beat she slowly panned her eyes around the room, if Jane had had her eyes open she might have seen a faint glow in her daughter's eyes as Hermione's magic compensated for the gloom, her weakness more a factor of being in the same bed for weeks as opposed to any lack in her magic. "Anna's here too, poor Mum's been sleeping in here I guess..."
"She should sleep somewhere more comfortable," Harry's soft, rough baritone answered Hermione, as he reached up and brushed her hair behind her ears. The faint outline of an IV in the back of his hand could be seen in silhouette as he let the arm slide down her back. Hermione carefully and slowly, due as much to the IV that Poppy seemed to be feeding them from as from the bone-deep weariness, crawled up Harry enough to kiss him lazily. Harry sighed softly, as Hermione tucked her head down on his shoulder and yawned quietly, "How long do you think we've been here this time, Mione?"
"A bit," Hermione replied, moving just her eyes as she looked around the room, "you need a haircut for one."
"A couple, three weeks then, at least," Harry mused, and closed his eyes, "Let's get some sleep then, Hermione, I'm sure the rest of the herd will be along in the morning. Love you."
"You too, Harry;" Hermione whispered automatically as she felt herself slipping back into a normal sleep, to await the sun.
Several hours later, well after the sun had risen again, Harry stirred, blinking open his eyes, and looking up as he fuzzily saw a red-haired form hanging sideways in his vision, "Ron?" he asked as Hermione stirred on his shoulder. The form reached down, and Harry's vision suddenly became clear as his glasses slotted back into place.
"No, Harry," Bill's quiet voice replied. Harry blinked instantly awake at his tone. Bill looked down as brown eyes forced themselves open to meet Harry's. Bill glanced back around the room as several other forms slipped in along the edges, and breathed a tiny sigh of relief as Jane came in the company of Tonks.
Hermione shared a look with Harry, her hand slipped down and interlaced with his as she sat up a bit. She looked around the room slowly, and closed her eyes at whom she did not find. "Mum," Hermione asked very, very quietly, her enunciation eerily perfect, "Where are Ron and Luna?"
Jane handed off Anna to Tonks and walked over to the bed, and knelt next to it. She reached out for Hermione's hand, and Hermione snatched it back, moving back against Harry. "They...didn't make it, Honey," Jane said very simply. Hermione's face went white as she spun, almost tearing out an IV as she buried her face in Harry's shoulder. Loud, racking sobs cut through the room, and most of the audience left, slipping out. Poppy surreptitiously cast a charm untangling the IV lines, before she ghosted away to her office.
Harry slowly ran his fingers through Hermione's hair as he tucked his head on top of hers. He felt her tears already soaking through his shirt, and felt her heart shatter, or perhaps it was his. Hermione slowly quieted, as Harry rocked her back and forth, his tears at least, silent from the start, one last gift from the Dursleys. He kissed the top of her head, and left his lips there for a long moment.
With a sudden growl, Harry whipped off his glasses and hurled them the length of the room. They shattered on the wall next to Remus' elbow, and as Harry's eyes slowly panned up, the sudden glow in them cast an odd, emerald tint to the room. The windows started to shake in their lead settings. Around the room, one by one, candleholders, oil lamps and other easily breakable objects shattered. Hermione whimpered slightly as her hair started to levitate.... "HARRY!" she screamed, and he blinked...His breath tore into sudden pants as he fought his magic, once again fully restored, under, until it was once again under his control, if somewhat tenuously.
"Oh, Merlin, Mione," Harry whispered, burying his face in her hair. She squirmed around until she was fully in his lap. "I'm so sorry, Love..."
Hermione shook her head and leaned up, kissing his forehead. She dropped her head down, touching brows and sharing each other's breath for long, silent minutes. Around them, the few that had remained, Remus, Tonks, Hermione's parents and sister, looked at each other worriedly. A fleeting sense of something looking in on them passed, and Hermione took in a loud, shuddering breath. "How, Remus?" she asked, her voice a mere susurration of her normal tone, "How...how did they...d...d..." Hermione let out a squeak and fell silent, still not looking back at the rest of them.
Lupin paced across the room and knelt next to the bed, he looked back helplessly at Tonks, "The best we can piece together," he began haltingly, "when you were dueling in the Great Hall, they got cut off by another party of Death Eaters on the way to reinforce their master...They stopped them, all of them..."
Hermione nodded jerkily and took a breath, sniffling back tears. "And the rest?" Harry asked for both of them. Hermione's left hand squeezed his, and she squeezed her eyes shut, her unsteady breathing harsh in the silence.
"Neville and Parvati made it out, alright, Seamus as well...it was rough, Harry..." Remus muttered and Harry nodded, waving the lycan to silence. Remus nodded and stood, placing his hand on Harry's shoulder before walking to Tonks and leading her from the room, after she handed Anastasia off to Roger. He nodded at something she said, and watched as the door closed behind them.
Hermione looked up after a moment, and wiped tears from her eyes, she looked up at her father and the small squirming body in his arms. She smiled, very faintly, "Can I see her, Mummy?"
Jane nodded to Roger and he moved over, waiting as Hermione situated herself next to Harry with her back against the headboard. Hermione started to reach up for her sister and growled faintly the drip in her arm, hampered her movement, again, "What is this?" she gestured with her free hand.
"Glucose," Roger replied, "an old standby for everyone it seems." Hermione glared at the IV drip for an instant and it vanished, followed a beat later by Harry's.
Hermione held out her arms, and carefully, even more so that she would have been under other circumstances, held the newborn against her chest. Hermione watched as Harry timidly reached over and let the tiny babe grab one of his fingers with her hand. Deep blue eyes tried to focus on them, eventually finding a lock of Hermione's hair that had fallen forward. I think she looks like you, Mione, Harry ventured.
Hermione shrugged; A bit, I suppose, she'll have my hair, poor girl...I want to leave, Harry... she bit her lip as Anastasia reached for her hair, and caught a lock, and tried to bring it to her mouth. Merlin knows what will happen the first time someone asks me about...
Harry nodded heavily, As soon as we can, Mione, I'll promise...we're probably not the...safest people in the world right now. Hermione just nodded, looking down at the small life that escaped unscathed through the fires, unlike so much of her soul. "Mum," Hermione said softly, "can you take her, please...I think we need to get some more rest."
Jane just smiled and took her youngest from her oldest, and kissed Hermione on the top of the head. She repeated the action with Harry, and left the room, towing Roger behind her. He just gave her a sad shake of the head as the door closed behind him, and barely caught her as she moved at him, holding him tightly with her free arm as her other supported Anna between them.
The door closed and Hermione looked over at Harry, and he saw her collapse, fully, more than anything she had shown, even her mother. Harry pulled her to him, not speaking as she wept softly, her body shaking too much to even support herself. "It'll be better, Hermione," Harry breathed in her ear, slowly brushing aside her locks even as his own tears further dampened them, "I don't know when, but it will."
A/N: They learned...Next Chapter, a visit to a grave, a reception, and a speech.