Disclaimer: All characters, events and references drawn from HP belong to J.K. Rowling, etc., respectively, everything else is my own invention.
FORESIGHT
PART ELEVEN
Instead of blackness, there was nothing but white. A bright, solid white light that seemed to fill and penetrate everything.
Harry could not see the glasses on his face anymore. He couldn't feel pain either. In fact he could not feel his body at all. But he was conscious, whatever that might mean now. Everything was simply white.
There was neither cold nor heat, but there was the sensation, or rather, impression of a cool clarity in his thoughts. He tried to look around, if looking around was possible, for he could not feel his head to turn it, and no matter which direction he thought he was looking in, it was all the same. He could not tell what was up, down, left or right. This strange place both frightened him and at the same time drew his curiosity out tremendously.
Is this what it is like? Is this what happens when you die? Whatever may have happened, he certainly didn't expect this. Eternal moments passed as he continued to gaze into the bright whiteness that surrounded him, wondering where he was, what he was. He then wondered if he was supposed to do something or just wait. Perhaps someone was coming for him, to lead him to the place where the spirits gather, where he might see…his parents! He felt a pang of longing come over him, he had almost forgotten what it was like to want to see his father and mother again, to talk with them if he could - to just be united with them once more and forever. Or perhaps, he might see Dumbledore. He had so many questions to ask him, so much he wanted to know.
He wanted to know why things had turned out the way they had. Why he failed in his stand against Voldemort. Why Hermione's love had not… He suddenly felt panic. The white nothingness that seemed to pierce his very being, quickly became claustrophobic, stifling and he wanted out, now! He couldn't feel his body, but he struggled with the fear that he was trapped in some strange hell that he could not understand or release himself from.
Hermione! Where are you? The flood of longing overwhelmed him again in his panic. He wanted to know where she had gone. He wanted to see her again. He wanted her to come to him and take him to a place where they could be together again, it didn't matter where. Hermione… His heart was breaking again and he felt the terror of her loss once more, the panic increasing at the all encompassing white that now seemed to strangle his spirit as though he would cease to exist completely if he stayed here too much longer. Then suddenly, it appeared.
Harry noticed a slight discoloration in the whiteness directly in front of him. At first, it was nothing more than a tiny, grayish blur that seemed to have emerged and remained fixed in place. He wasn't sure if his mind was playing tricks on him or not. Then the spot began to slowly elongate vertically, it's center growing slightly darker and it's edges remaining blurry. It grew bigger and bigger, the form of something coming through the blurriness. It seemed familiar to Harry, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was. If he still had eyes he would be straining them hard to try and grasp the impressions of what he saw in his mind.
Now the form began to spread out horizontally too and he noticed varying shades of white, gray and black begin to fill voids and spaces in a symmetrical pattern on either side of the original form, but remaining slightly out of focus and out of the reach of Harry's comprehension. Then suddenly, as if a light had switched on in his mind, Harry recognized the form. It was a face! Someone was coming for him at last! He watched eagerly to see who it was, hoping against hope that it was the girl he loved so desperately. As the form continued to take shape in front of him, it suddenly came into focus and Harry's heart leapt at what he saw.
Hermione! It was her! She had come! He looked into that beautiful face again, the familiar curves, her nose, those soft cheeks, her brown, fluffy hair on either side, her eyes…
Wait a minute. Something was wrong. Her eyes were closed. He wanted to look into those deep brown eyes again, but they were closed and still. Then Harry noticed her face was also not moving, seemingly empty and vacant.
HERMIONE! He tried to yell out at her, but had no voice or at least he heard none. His mind was confused, she looked like she was still… But Harry's panic began to slowly subside as the realization of what was happening took over his thoughts. He watched her form slowly begin to come more into view. Her body, her clothes were still like they were when he had been holding her just before Voldemort's curse hit him. Or did it? Harry now was amazed to see…his own arms again, still holding her just as before. The brightness was continuing to subside further away and out from his body which he had begun to sense and feel again.
He was not dead! He knew now that he had not gone anywhere. The whiteness continued to spread further away from them, revealing the grass in the clearing on which Harry had been sitting, holding Hermione's body in his arms. It looked like a circle moving outward from the two of them steadily progressing in size and revealing more and more of the surrounding clearing around them. He looked up to see the white light seem to form a sphere, of some sort, around them, then it began to change. It looked less solid and more translucent as he gazed at it in astonishment. The translucency then started to give way to darker patches and slits, in the white sphere, that were now revealing the environment on the outside.
The sphere finally stopped growing and remained fixed in place around both of them on the ground, its lower part seeming to cut into the earth beneath them. The whiteness around them was now fluxing like whitewater in slow motion. Harry turned his head to gaze through the sphere into the clearing, seeing the light reflecting off of many bodies standing around them. He recognized the familiar robes and hoods of the Death Eaters, some were standing in shock, others were backing away in fear from what was forming around the couple on the ground. Then Harry saw him.
Voldemort was standing only a few yards away from the sphere, a look of total disbelief and shock on his evil face. He seemed almost hypnotized by the sphere of light, looking over its shape and size, trying to understand what exactly was happening. Then Harry saw the Dark Lord stop and turn to look directly at him through the light that was flowing spherically around Hermione and himself. Their eyes locked on each other for a seeming eternity. But Harry no longer felt the burning in his scar nor did he feel anger, hatred or anything at all, looking into those dark red eyes. Voldemort, however, still seemed capable of the hatred and viciousness that defined his very essence, even in the face of this mysterious light,.
A sharp look of fury began to form on that pale face, turning into something so intensely fierce that Harry thought the wizard's head might explode. Voldemort hunched down slightly, raising his wand again, his eyes squinting from the brightness of the sphere. Harry couldn't hear anything at all, but saw Voldemort's mouth move and then watched as the green light flashed out of the tip of his wand, arcing towards him again.
A huge, concussive BOOM exploded from the point where the green arc had touched the white sphere. It was so loud that it shook the ground all around the clearing. Everyone standing outside of the sphere staggered backwards, including Voldemort himself. But the sphere remained fixed solidly in place, it's brilliant light throwing off water-like reflections on the trees around the edge of the clearing. Death Eaters started fleeing in abject terror at the unknown power that seemed to come to rest in the middle of their 'party'. Harry saw practically every last body abandon their master to save their own lives, crashing through the woods to get away as fast as possible. But that paled in comparison with what Harry watched next.
No sooner had the beam of the killing curse hit the sphere and exploded, than a white beam, as thick as a tree trunk, blasted out from the sphere and hit the Dark Lord in the chest, also causing his wand to explode in a shower of sparks. Harry watched in amazement as Voldemort began to shake uncontrollably as though he had set foot on a powerful electrical current. His arms were extended outward and a look of fear was etched on his face, his mouth open, apparently screaming out in terrific pain. Then the wizard crashed to his knees, the beam of light still penetrating his body and causing him to writhe in agony.
Harry saw Voldemort slowly look up to gaze at him through the sphere again, a simple expression on his face that spoke only one word to Harry's mind - How? Suddenly the Dark Lord crumpled over slightly. Light from the beam still piercing his body, began to pour out through his nose, ears and even those red eyes of his. Then something strange occurred. Harry watched that horrific face begin to change. The nose elongated outward, the ears rounding off and…hair beginning to emerge from the wizard's bald head. His clothes began to change too, the robes became different somehow. Voldemort, apparently aware of this, brought his arms in, looking astonishingly at his hands transform into…normal, younger hands again. When Voldemort finally looked up, Harry was taken back at the sight. It was Tom Riddle - he looked just like Harry remembered him in his 'memory form' down in the Chamber of Secrets so long ago. His eyes were no longer the deep red of the Dark Lord's newer body, but the normal eyes of the handsome, young man of the House of Slytherin.
Tom gave Harry one last look of dread and then let out a yell of pain and terror that Harry would never forget for the rest of his life. Then suddenly there was a terrific flash of bright light and everything went black.
Harry slowly opened his eyes. The silence of the dark, early morning hours seemed deafening to him after all the commotion he had just witnessed. The white sphere was gone and the cool morning air seemed to creep in on him again. He looked up to see the beautiful stars, still sitting peacefully in the sky, staring down at him from the black of space overhead. Harry noticed that the sparkling effect was no longer there either. The Invitalis Field had apparently disappeared. The moon was large once more, as it had been, at the beginning of this whole ordeal. It was closer to the earth and shining through the tops of the trees around the clearing. Its duty done, it seemed to be moving along, bidding farewell to Harry who had just been through the longest night of his life.
It was if nothing had happened in the moonlit clearing at all. Not a single person stood around the edges or in the woods surrounding it. All was peaceful and quiet. But something caught his eye. Over in the woods, not far from the edge of the tree line, he thought he saw…faces. He blinked a few times, thinking maybe his eyes were again playing tricks on him, but still the faces seemed to linger…smiling at him. His heart raced a little faster as it looked like… Harry blinked once more, but now the faces were gone, a breeze had blown through the woods, altering the moon's light on the swaying branches and leaves of the undergrowth.
Harry then turned to look at where he last saw Voldemort/Riddle kneeling, while being struck with the white light. There, on the ground, was a small mound of ash, smoke rising from its grayish substance. The seventh and last horcrux, the one inside of Voldemort's body, the essence of his former self, Tom Riddle, was now gone - forever. Harry sighed and began to feel a peace and joy that had been absent from his burdened mind for all the years of his long life. It was finally over. But suddenly, he snapped out of the tranquil thoughts that had given him a glimpse of bright hope at the future before him. A painful thought shot right through him, crashing into his heart, and he remembered what had happened.
He slowly turned to look down at the body cradled in his arms. That sense of loss started to well up inside again, just looking at her lifeless form in front of him. He didn't want to be here. He wanted to be with her. He thought he had for a brief moment in the white light. He wished now that Voldemort's curse had killed him, so he could just see her smile once more. The tears once again had begun falling as the terrible pain from the awareness of it all came into full power over his heart. A wonderful victory, however strange it had been, over the enemy of his parents, his friends and all those whom he had loved over the years, seemed so useless and trivial now, in comparison with the loss that engulfed his soul. He drew her close against his body once more, weeping, the words involuntarily leaving his lips.
"Hermione…Hermione…"
They came out broken and wrapped with a sense of loneliness that he had not known since before his first year at Hogwarts. Harry closed his eyes, trying to disappear somehow, to remove himself from the awfulness of a future he did not want to face anymore without her. Her coldness made his own body ache and tremble and Harry felt that something in his spirit was about to give up. Then, suddenly, he became aware of something that completely stilled the tears and the trembling. He remained pensive and motionless for several moments trying to understand what he was now feeling.
There it was. That warmth. He could feel her warmth again! But how? She was gone. He thought he must really be out of it, that strange light must have wreaked havoc on his mind somehow. But the warmth did not depart, no matter how hard he tried to imagine it away. He then felt something on his neck that several hours ago had also been there in those dark woods in the middle of nowhere. It was warm and wet, falling down into his shirt again.
Astonished, Harry opened his eyes and noticed that Hermione's arms were no longer drooping limply by her side, but were wrapped around his neck tightly. He slowly pulled back away from her to suddenly find those brown eyes staring back into his, so alive, so beautiful. He involuntarily let out a sharp cry of emotion, half-laughing at what had seemed so impossible only moments ago.
Hermione's tear filled eyes looked deeply into him, her face slightly red but alive and beautiful once more.
"Harry…" she spoke brokenly, almost in a daze.
Harry thought he was going to collapse at the sound of that voice. She was alive! He didn't know how, but he didn't care either. He would take this under any circumstance, no matter how bizarre it might seem. He leaned in to place his forehead against hers like before, wanting to make sure he wasn't imagining it and she smiled back at him. He simply could not express in words how much this meant to him now. She moved slightly, turning her gaze straight at him again, looking at him with that deep longing.
"Harry…you did it…you came for me…I saw you…come for me…" she spoke, her eyes darting back and forth excitedly, with a sense of urgency.
Hermione's words had dissolved into a garbled mess of tears and overwrought emotion that Harry tried his hardest to still. He simply placed his fingers over her lips, trying to calm her and then started wiping the tears from her eyes. He didn't understand what she was talking about at all, he was just glad to have her back. He leaned in and kissed her strongly, restoring that connection and hope that he thought he might never know again. She tightened her grip on him, kissing him softly, their tears intermingling in the moment that seemed so unreal in their minds. Something seemed to shine on them both now.
They stopped, and turning their heads, saw a pale orange light begin to creep upwards into the purplish sky of the new dawn. Then the fiery red light of the sun, rising slightly beyond the hills around them, began to pierce through those dark woods that had surrounded the clearing. It was like they had finally awoken from a nightmare - the daylight had come. Hermione glanced down at the still smoldering pile of ash that lay just a few yards from them. She turned to look at Harry quickly with an expression of puzzlement. He smiled back at her, nodding his head in answer to the question he knew was crossing her thoughts.
Everything was different now and they were free, free to explore this new future together. Then, suddenly, a sound that they had become accustomed to hearing during the night, and one that had brought such trauma to them time and time again, broke the quiet of the early morning. That distinct popping noise, not once, not even three times - many times, all around the clearing. Harry's heart sunk, looking at Hermione whose face had also filled with disbelief. He exhaled slowly, and they turned their heads once more, expecting yet another gang of Death Eaters, waiting to take their revenge.
Instead, they were tremendously relieved to see the Headmistress of Hogwarts, looking very regal in her emerald green robes, clasping a wand in one hand and a something wrapped in cloth in the other. Her face carried with it the saddest look of worry that either of them had ever seen in her before. But upon seeing the two of them embracing in the center of the field, she let out a long sigh of relief, a smile breaking over that kind, motherly face, and shaking her head. Next to her stood someone they were never more glad to see than now - Hagrid, holding his pink umbrella and looking at both of them with such intense concern, that his eyes had started to tear up. McGonagall looked at him with a curious expression and Hagrid seeing this out of the corner of his eye, straightened himself up, cleared his throat and started acting like he hadn't been crying at all. A huge smile also came over him at the sight of his friends alive and well.
All around them the popping sound continued to fill the air as the black clad warlocks from the school began disapparating into the clearing, automatically forming a perimeter around them, their eyes watchful for any threats. Several more pops sounded and Harry and Hermione both were so happy at seeing Neville, Luna and several of their fellow seventh years start disapparating along with what appeared to be a group of healers. Suddenly, the happy occasion became dour in Harry's mind as he realized that he had been so caught up with Voldemort and Hermione that they had forgotten about someone else. A sense of fear took him over as he glanced back at Ron laying in the grass. He immediately turned to look at Hagrid.
"HAGRID! RON NEEDS HELP, NOW!" he yelled out desperately, not wanting to leave Hermione yet, uncertain of her condition.
Hagrid suddenly started as though he had been jarred out of a trance. He motioned to several of the warlocks in Ron's direction and carried his huge body forward as fast as possible to the redhead lying unconscious in the grass. A few of the healers followed him, rushing to Ron's side, trying to determine his condition. Thankfully, they both heard groans coming from their friend. At least he was still with them.
The Professor and students, who had apparated into the clearing with her, began moving swiftly towards Harry and Hermione. Harry started to rise, holding Hermione tightly, trying to help her stand.
"Thank goodness we finally found you three! We were all so worried. If it hadn't been for your signal, our search parties might have never known where you were!" McGonagall said, relieved.
Harry looked at Hermione who was now giving him a look of curiosity at what the Professor meant.
"I'll explain later," he told her.
"Explain what, Harry?" the Professor broke in, seeing the exchange with Hermione. "Oh well, anyway, we need to get you two back to the school as soon as possible. We've extended the hospital wing into the main corridors to handle all the injured students. I had healers brought from St. Mungo's to help out. We need to make sure you three are alright."
"I feel fine, Professor," Harry stated, realizing that he had actually never felt better. There was no longer any pain in his limbs from the curses Voldemort had hit him with and his scar no longer even ached a little. In fact, he seemed lighter inside and he couldn't help but feel that it had something to do with that strange sphere.
"What happened, Harry?" Neville bursted out, anxious to hear the tale of their ordeal. "Who attacked you?"
Harry looked at Hermione, then McGonagall and the others, all waiting with bated breath at what he would say next.
"Voldemort, and at least a few hundred Death Eaters," he replied sternly.
Every jaw except for Hermione's seemed to drop at that name and they leaned in a little to hear more.
"No way! What happened then, Harry? Where did he go?" Neville shot back.
Harry simply turned his head to look at the smoking ashes on the ground a few feet away. Every head turned to follow his and a moment of stunned silence followed.
"Professor, I need to get Hermione to the school quickly," Harry broke in on the fixation with the heap of ashes that had come over everyone.
"Oh yes…of course," McGonagall said, turning as if being brought out of a trance. "Oh, you'll need these, I'm sure…"
She brought up the cloth and unwrapped it, revealing Harry, Hermione and Ron's wands in the folds. They both smiled. Harry was so glad to see his wand again and yet he somehow was more glad that he hadn't had it this past night either. After all, two very important things had occurred in Harry's life that wouldn't have if the wands had never been stolen.
"Mr. Filch discovered them, along with your cloak, in one of the corridors below the main level. I'm afraid, along with Ms. Weasley who had been trapped down there for days."
"GINNY? What happened?" Harry shot out at the Professor, stunned.
"Oh, she's fine Harry. Perhaps it's best to hear it from her when you get back. I know Arthur and Molly are also waiting there anxiously for any word about Ron. Now here, Potter, take your wands, we don't want to stay out here too much longer."
"Thanks, Professor," Harry said, reaching out and taking them from her hands. He handed Hermione's wand to her, while still holding her around the waist and he then placed Ron's wand in his pocket, holding his firmly in his own grip.
"Harry, if you want, we can help Hermione back, if you're not feeling up to it," Luna chimed in.
"No, I'll take her back, Luna. Thanks. If she can walk, that is…" Harry spoke, looking at the girl in his arm, not wanting her out of his sight again.
"I think I'm alright, actually," Hermione stated, starting to walk forward a little, then suddenly one leg gave slightly, Harry grabbing her to keep her from falling. She arched her eyebrows and rolled her eyes in embarrassment.
"Maybe not." she let out with a little smile.
They all heard the popping noises behind them as a large warlock, griping a very groggy Ron in his arm apparated out of the clearing, followed by a couple of the healers who had been attending him.
"Very well now, Potter, go…go. We'll meet you two there." McGonagall spoke, urging them along.
Harry looked at Hermione who had clasped her arms around his neck now, looking at him pensively.
"Hang on tight," he spoke and finally, the one popping noise that they both wanted to hear the most was their own.
The trip back to Hogwarts would not take long, and they could make sure that both Hermione and Ron were okay once inside. But Harry had been thinking over everything that had happened to them and now had a burning question on his mind that he hoped the Professor had an answer for. He also knew that Hermione wanted that same question answered, maybe even more than himself.
They both wanted more than anything to know exactly how Dumbledore knew. How could he have foreseen all this? Or did he?
Perhaps it was just chance, but the evidence seemed to point to something that made this whole affair and indeed their whole lives seem destined for what happened on this fateful night.
This question was still burning on their minds as they arrived just outside of the gates to the school…