Sailing In Harmony

A/N: hey guys! Okay, this idea came to me the other day whilst being in a waterpark (no, the story isn’t about a waterpark!) and here it is now!! I hope you like it, and take my word for it when I say: “It really IS Harry/Hermione in the end” though not in the normal way ;) As usual, it’s not beta-ed or anything so I’m sure there are quite a few mistakes in here. If there are too many and you can’t make ANY sense whatsoever, please tell me and I’ll try to fix them, uploading the corrected chapter later on ;) I hope you enjoy it! Please R/R =)

DISCLAIMER: not mine … never will be *sigh*

Sailing In Harmony

The perfect, cloudless sky formed such a contradiction to the mood that seemed to dominate the Hogwarts grounds that late afternoon. The sun had just began its descend towards the horizon where it would soon kiss the lake, sending off vibrant colours such as a glorious orange, royal red and peaceful purple mixed with pink. If the situation was any different, Harry Potter would have felt honoured to be present at such a royal sunset.

“The sunset is my favourite time of the day,” she had told him once, and her words were replaying through his mind at that exact moment as if she had just informed him. Harry had managed to get away from the somber crowd that was assembled in a circle, tears and sobs wracking their bodies. So many thoughts were running through his head that he couldn’t string a coherent sentence together.

‘This wasn’t supposed to end this way,’ he thought miserably, kicking a small stone that was located in front of him, ‘we were supposed to live happily together.’

“She promised me dammit!” he screamed. His echo seemed to startle everyone from their train of thought, but as soon as they realized who had just let out that scream, a look of pity could be read off their faces. ‘I don’t need their pity,’ he thought, shaking his head sadly at life’s turn of events.

Taking a seat on the evergreen grass, he sat crossed-legged and just stared at the purplish horizon with an emotionless expression on his face; the only trace of what he was really feeling was betrayed by warm tears that were beginning to pool in the corner of his emerald eyes. His mind wandered off to barely an hour ago when the funeral was in progress. Now, all that was left of such an event were the two grey tombstones that cast a shadow over the freshly thrown soil.

Hermione Jane Granger

Brightest Witch of her time

Sailing in Harmony with you...

September 19^th 1980 – June 18^th 1997

Next to this tombstone was another one just like the first one, only another inscription could be read.

Ronald Billius Weasley

A kind heart

Until the next Red Moon…

March 1^st 1980 – June 18^th 1997

Harry didn’t remember much what had actually happened during the final battle with Voldemort. Everything happened so fast that he couldn’t actually pinpoint a time and describe what had occurred, but even from that morning when he had woken up he knew that the time to face Voldemort was nearing...

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Everyone was having dinner in the Great Hall, when the double doors suddenly burst open and Flinch came through, a look of distress on his face,

“Death Eaters!” he cried, “entering Hogwarts grounds!”

After a moment of stunned silence, the Great Hall was in uproar. Students screaming, yelling and crying with only a select few being able to stay calm on the surface. The staff was immediately on their feet with Headmistress McGonagall trying to restore the peace but she, herself, was having troubles calming her nerves.

“Prefects,” her trembling voice broke the riot, “take the students up to your dormitories and stay there without fail.” Yet what happened next was very surprising to say the least. No-one moved, despite the prefects having motioned to their fellow schoolmates to follow them. Instead, all the students – Slytherin excluded – reached into their robes and pulled out their wand, a look of determination in their faces that clearly shouted: “we’re standing together to fight!” However, Professor McGonagall spoke once more in a firm voice,

“I insist that all students in years 1-4 stay in their dormitories. Nevertheless, any students above those years wishing to fight in this war; I am proud of you,” and with that, everyone scrambled to their feet ready for action. Those few, who hadn’t panicked before, now stood together in a circle in silence. Dumbledore’s Army was about to go off to their final battle together, and the same thought was entering all of the members’ minds: ‘will everyone come out safe from this?’

Harry cleared his throat, and after sharing a look with Hermione, nodded to everyone else and said,

“Whatever happens today, I’m proud that you guys stayed with me until the end to fight.” That was the only thing said as his voice was filled with emotion, thus not allowing him to say anything more without breaking down. With unwavering strides, the DA left the Great Hall behind and joined the rest of the school just outside the entrance gates, where they were assembled. Harry was about to ask why they weren’t fighting, but a black wall answered his silent question.

“They have us surrounded,” a blonde 6^th year girl informed Harry, a chill running down his back as he heard those words.

“Professor Sprout sent owls to the Ministry for help. All we can hope is that we can stall them enough until they get here,” another 6^th year boy told him. Harry could only nod; his brain not able to function correctly. On either side of him stood Ron and Hermione, and despite the fact that they were in mortal peril, he couldn’t help the tug he felt at the corner of his lips. He would have preferred if neither of them were present at the battle – ‘hell, I’d prefer it if the school wasn’t present’ – but he was glad they were. They gave him all the support he needed, especially Hermione.

‘Friends till the end,’ Ron had once told him. He was brought back to reality when he felt his arm being squeezed in support by Hermione, and he gave her a small smile. No-one really knew what happened next but curses started to fly all over the place, bodies tumbling down to the ground injured and dead.

The DA had split up to fight and Harry hoped that they were okay; he didn’t allow himself to think of what could happen to them if they were captured.

Hours later, the battle was still in full swing, only Aurors from the Ministry had joined the Hogwarts staff and students. Both sides were suffering casualties, and surprisingly enough, the DA was still intact and had managed to take out quite a lot of numbers of Death Eaters. A scream cut through the air, and Harry felt his blood turn to ice. ‘Hermione,’ he thoughts, and started running in full sprint towards the place that he thought the scream had come from. Coming just next to the lake, he saw two Death Eaters cruelly laughing at the screams of anguish that were coming from Hermione. Realizing that she wouldn’t be able to endure anymore pain that was coming from the Crucio cruse, Harry shouted

“Stupefy!” twice, striking the two Death Eaters’ backs. Not waiting for them to crumble down to the ground, Harry rushed to Hermione’s side and cradled her in her arms. Not caring that they were in the middle of a battle and that they could be attacked at any minute, he tried to revive her by talking to her in hushed whispers.

“It’s going to be okay ‘Mione, please wake up. Don’t leave me alone ‘Mione please,” he begged her, whilst hugging her head tightly to his chest, his head leaning on hers, “Remember, what we talked about last night? I love you Hermione Granger come back to me!” A huge wave of relief took over him as she fluttered her eyes open and two caramel pools stared back at him.

“I love you too Harry,” she told him and struggled to stand back up but immediately losing her balance and would have toppled over if Harry hadn’t caught her arms and brought her on the ground.

“Hermione you are in no position to fight. You have done enough,” he told her, bringing a hand up to show her that he had more to say so she shouldn’t interrupt him, “I want you to take my Invisibility Cloak and stay where you are. I don’t want you to be in any more danger than you already are. Please ‘Mione, stay here!” and with that, he gave her his Cloak from his robes and gave it to her, “I’m going to find Voldemort and put an end to this sorry story,” he informed her, and Hermione was taken aback by the sudden anger that could be found in Harry’s emerald green eyes.

However, before any of them had the chance to say anything the else, a sudden chill filled the air, causing both of them to shiver.

“Voldemort,” Harry muttered, his eyes narrowing into slits and his hand griping his wand even tighter. Before he had the chance to react, two words but the air like daggers.

“Avada Kedavra!” and a green light hit Hermione square in the chest, causing her to let out an ‘oh’ of surprise before falling to the ground.

To Harry, it was as if everything was being played in slow motion. From the moment that he heard Voldemort utter the spell, he could have sworn that he saw the green energy being created at the tip of his wand, flying through the atmosphere and hitting Hermione. He didn’t know which was worse, the fact that he saw her dying right before his eyes or the fact that the wizard who did this to her was standing a mere 10 feet away from him, still breathing.

He felt a lump on his throat but fought to keep it from coming up, as he could feel something swelling inside his chest. It was so powerful that his brain had focused on its creation, thus blocking out all the screaming and curse-shouting that could be heard in the distance where the battle was still raging on, unaware of what was happening here. Suddenly, he felt a huge emotion bursting out of him, lighting up the Hogwarts grounds as if a grand light was switched on to light a Quidditch pitch. Those who were still fighting in the battle, had no warning when a bright white light exploded from somewhere in the distance, barely having time to cover their eyes.

When the light disappeared, everyone gasped at the sight that they came across after having opened their eyes. Harry Potter kneeled over the limp body of Hermione Granger, whispering incoherent sentences whilst bodies of Death Eaters were lying stunned all over the grass. There wasn’t a Death Eater who was still standing up after that blinding light, and what was more, Voldemort lay as a heap of ash a few feet away from Harry and Hermione.

Professor McGonagall felt tears stinging her eyes as she took a quick moment to look over the grounds so that she could calculate the Light Side’s casualties. Hagrid and Professor Sprout lay on the ground motionless, blank looks on their faces as they had no time to react after being hit by the dreadful killing curse. Bodies of several students could be found on the ground in awkward positions after being hit by the Crucius curse and other Dark curses. A flash of red hair caught her eye, and she had to turn her head slightly to the left in order to get a good look of the body, despite the fact that she had a pretty good idea of who it was. Seeing Ron Weasley lying on his back with his arm in a weird angle was all that was needed in order for Minerva to let the gates open and the tears to start streaming down her aged face.

Shaking her head, she continued to walk through the grounds, noticing those who made it helping those who were injured, or bending over bodies to see if they could find a pulse or an indication that those who were lying down were alive. Very carefully, she made her way towards Harry. As soon as she neared him, she found that he was repeating the same sentence over and over again, his arms tightly wrapped around Hermione Granger with his warm in his right hand.

“Harry?” she asked tentatively, though he didn’t offer any response whatsoever. Her heart ached in pity as she saw the young boy kissing the top of Ms. Granger’s head every now and then. She had to get help but she didn’t know how to proceed, as Harry was acting like a mad man. Her train of thought was interrupted by the Gryffindor’s weak and raw with emotion voice,

“Professor?” he asked, “She’s alive. Get help!” too stunned to move, Minerva closed in on Hermione Granger’s body and looked for a pulse. To her surprise, there was indeed one and she lost no time in shouting for help.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” he was saying in a mantra, as if saying this would actually make things okay. ‘Besides,’ his mind rushed in to inform him, ‘if we don’t have dreams, then what do we have?’ and Harry allowed himself to finally breakdown after 16 years.

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“Harry?” Ginny Weasley’s voice brought him back to now and he gave her a weak smile, earning one back in return. “We’re going home now,” she informed him, giving him her frail hand to help him get up. Only after a moment’s hesitation did Harry permit himself to take it, as it reminded him of another woman’s hand that was so frail and small; fitting exactly into his rougher and bigger one.

Together, they left the Hogwarts grounds and flooed back to the Burrow where the rest of the Weasley family was. Coming out of the fireplace, he took a good look at each and every Weasley’s faces; the same sight greeting his empty, emerald eyes. Out of the nine Weasleys that there once was, only 6 remained after that Final Battle and Harry would never forgive himself for not being able to protect them. Just as he would never, ever forgive himself for what had happened to Hermione.

He wasn’t left to sulk, as a scream broke the somber mood at the Burrow, and at once Molly Weasley came up to Harry holding a beautiful baby boy in her arms.

“Harry dear,” her voice, thick with tiredness and sorrow, made him look at her and an unconscious smile took over his face, “your son wants you.”

A/N: if you’re wondering about Hermione’s birth date, it’s because I like to think that she’s younger than Harry, thus being born in 1980 ;)