A/N - the part you've all been waiting for - who lives and who dies? Oh, and I lied at the very, very beginning - there are only 11 chapters not 12, sorry.
Chapter 10 - The Cure
Hermione walked through the gates of Hogwarts in fear, clutching Ginny's hand with all the strength she had, Neville walking silently at Ginny's other side. It was only yesterday that she had told them all the news, meaning it had only been four days since Harry had found her crying on the floor - everything seemed to be happening too fast.
The quickness meant she hadn't had a chance to talk to Harry about what was going to happen next as he had immediately gone with Remus and Maggie to 'finalise arrangements'. Meanwhile, Hermione had stayed at Neville and Ginny's house, wanting to talk to her friend about what was going to happen and to assure herself she was doing the right thing. Hermione was terrified. Not just because what she had agreed to has never successfully been completed before but because she had realised just how much she loved Harry. And she might again lose him. Because of her.
She spotted Ron talking to Charlie outside what used to be Hagrid's hut and when they saw her, they both came over. Ron and Hermione hugged while Neville, Ginny and Charlie looked on, their parents and twin brothers soon joining the small group on the lawn.
"Where's Luna?" Hermione asked, still in Ron's embrace.
"She's at home. We didn't want anything to happen to the baby. Just a precaution."
"Am I doing the right thing?" Ron pulled back at looked at her directly.
"He needs to do this Hermione," Ron said sternly, "because if he didn't try and we lose you, then we would lose him too."
"What if…"
"We can't think of the 'what if's'," Ron interrupted, "we need to have faith." Hermione gave Ron a small smile and nodded.
"We better go," she said, "otherwise we'll be late."
Still holding Ron's hand, with Ginny coming and holding her other hand, they all made their way to the Quidditch pitch. It had been decided that Hogwarts was the best place to do the counter-curse because of its size and remoteness. If things did go wrong, not much could be damaged and the magical wards that surrounded the old school would hopefully protect the few people within its walls. The school was empty besides the small group who had come to support Harry and Hermione.
As they came into view of the pitch, Hermione saw Tonks talking to Professor McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey and a medi-witch from St Mungo's while Harry was in the middle of the ground with Remus and Healer Gower. Hermione paused and felt the comforting hand of Mrs Weasley rest on her shoulder. Both Molly and Arthur had been quiet since the lunch in their kitchen the day before and Hermione knew it was because today they may lose two who they have called their own.
Taking a deep breath, Hermione made her way towards the trio in the middle of the field, noticing that the group of women at the side had seen them and were making their way to join them at the ground's centre. Harry looked at her as she got closer and smiled. She tried hard to return his smile but faltered. He had only been back six months, she had got used to him being in her life once more - enjoyed him being in her life - and he may be taken from her again. It wasn't fair.
"Hey," he said as the three groups converged into one, his eyes never leaving Hermione, "glad you could make it."
"Well," she said, again trying to smile, "I had an offer I couldn't refuse." Her voice shook slightly as she tried hard to control the terror she was feeling. Harry grinned before turning his attention to the others.
"This is what will happen," he began, Hermione listening to his instructions like she had done so many times to so many teachers seemingly so long ago - she returned to the learning faze subconsciously, not even aware that a portion of her fear had been quickly replace by interest, "every one will return to the castle except myself and Hermione. My understanding is that the counter-curse will take fifteen minutes to recite and another fifteen minutes for the transfer to take place…"
"Transfer?" Hermione questioned. Harry looked at her before continuing.
"The curse will transfer from you to me, that's how it works," he returned to addressing everyone, "once the transfer has taken place, you will be able to return to the pitch where Madam Pomfrey and Healer Gower will need to take control. If, for some reason, this doesn't work - the effect will be immediate. Hermione's condition will improve and enable a few more years of life and I will die.
"My concern is I still have a part of Voldemort with me and a great level of power. Remus and I are not too sure what will happen if something goes wrong. If the shadow of Voldemort is seen - it is imperative that it is destroyed. It may search for a new host, I don't know. My death may automatically mean it cannot survive, and I think that is the more logical theory, but if that is not the case, you must destroy it. At the first sign of danger, you must all leave. Hermione," Harry turned to her and his look returned her fear, "this is the risk. I believe that nothing will go wrong and the worse case scenario is that I die and you die a few years after. But there is a chance that you may also die here today, that I may not be able to control my power. Remus and I have been working hard to making me safe but, we can't guarantee it. Do you understand that?"
"I trust you Harry," was all she could manage to say, tears welling up in her, threatening to take over. Harry nodded and returned to looking at his other friends.
"Right," he continued, his voice still full of an authority that Hermione realised he didn't know he had, "let's do this. Hopefully we will see you all in half an hour. If not, it's been an honour and a privilege to be a part of all of your lives. When I decided to come back, I thought you all had a reason to hate me and cut me out of your lives, but you didn't. Through all my fights, all my struggles, it has been you all that have always been there. Thank you for letting me be part of your family," Harry indicated to Mr and Mrs Weasley, Charlie and the twins, "thank you for all you've taught me and helped me," this time he looked to Remus, Tonks, Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey, "and thank you for being the best friends a man can ask for," his last words were directed at Ron, Ginny, Neville and Hermione.
Hermione stood back a bit as everyone came to Harry to wish him luck and silently said goodbye - just in case. Her resolve was fading. Everyone was used to her dying, why shouldn't she just let every thing be? They will miss Harry just as much, if not more, than her if he dies today. Why is his life worth less than hers? Why…?
But before she could come up with more reasons to stop everything, she and Harry were alone in the middle of the Quidditch pitch. He had conjured up a type of mattress so she wouldn't have to lay directly on the ground and with a trembling hand, she let herself be led to the low lying bed. Gingerly she sat down, Harry kneeling in front of her.
"This is how I think it works," he said gently, "you will lay down and I will place my hands over your wounds and begin reciting the counter-curse. As far as I know, all you feel will be a warmth and maybe a little pain, but I'm kind of guessing. What happens after that, well, again I don't really know. Are you ready?"
Hermione didn't trust her voice so she just nodded. Harry helped her lie down and as he tentatively began un-buttoning the lower buttons of her blouse, she closed her eyes, not wanting to watch. He left the upper buttons clasped and opened her blouse in a way that her breasts were covered and only her bandaged abdomen showed. She opened her eyes in time to watch him disintegrate the bandages that protected the weeping wounds that criss-crossed her belly, exposing her stomach.
"I'll see you soon," he said with a smile making something inside Hermione snap. She had to tell him, she had to let him know in case it didn't work. She couldn't lose him again without him knowing how she felt. Ignoring the intense pain from her wounds, she sat up and took his face in her hands, kissing him hard, willing him to return her kiss. His surprise only lasted a moment and he was soon kissing her back, his mouth opening slightly - a move which she copied and they were now kissing with a passion neither had felt before. After what seemed like a lifetime, Harry pulled away and she saw tears in his eyes.
"I just needed to tell you that I forgive you for leaving and that I love you," she said, wiping away the tears off his face, "and you better come back to me. Now, lets do this thing." She lay back down again and rearranged her blouse to how it was before. Her heart was pounding as she couldn't believe that she had done what she had just done. But part of her was relieved - what ever happens now, he knew that she loved him.
Harry once again placed his hands over her stomach and she waited for him to start chanting. Instead, he leant over a placed a kiss gently on her lips.
"I love you too Hermione, with all my heart," he breathed before sitting upright and began to recite a spell in Latin.
Hermione tried to concentrate on what he was saying but found her mind returning to the kiss and the knowledge that her love was returned. Soon she felt what could only be described as a glow begin in the depths of her belly before working its way up to her shoulders and down her arms and legs. The warmth began to engulf her brain and all thought ceased for a moment. Suddenly visions started to enter her mind - her meeting Harry for the first time, him and Ron saving her from the troll, watching him play Quidditch, seeing him master the barriers to the Philosopher's Stone, his joy at her presents to him, him hugging her after she was unpetrified, his happiness at meeting Sirius and knowing he had a godfather, his face at the Yule Ball, the times together getting through Umbridge's reign, him kissing her in the attic of Grimmuld Place. Every memory included Harry. Every memory proved to her how much she loved him and how long that love had been part of her life. He couldn't leave her, not now.
The memories began to fade and a contentment took their place. Without really realising it, Hermione floated into unconsciousness with a happy little grin on her face.
Her grin was still on her face when she woke in the familiar wards of Hogwarts sick bay. Light was streaming through the windows and stung her eyes as she looked hesitantly around. No one seemed to be there although it was obviously the middle of the day and Madam Pomfrey usually bustled around her beds whenever there was daylight and patients around.
Frowning Hermione began testing herself, starting with feeling her usually tender stomach and finding that it was smooth to the touch and no longer uncomfortable. Making sure everything else worked, and finding it did, she began to sit up and look a bit more thoroughly around her. Where was everyone? She was at the end of the ward, near the window, and she saw that a curtained off section was near the middle. Around the bed that Harry had spent so much of his Hogwarts life. Around Harry's bed. Harry.
With a panic that began to consume her, she got to her feet. She was in her own pyjamas, and her dressing gown had been placed at the foot of her bed. Grabbing it (and finding it was no longer a struggle to put on) she walked down to the curtained area. Half way there, Madam Pomfrey entered the ward, saw Hermione, and began to briskly walk towards her.
"Miss Granger," she called, reaching out to her when she was close enough and guided her back to her bed, "you shouldn't be up."
At Madam Pomfrey's voice, Ron's face appeared from behind the curtain for a second before disappearing once more. Hermione frowned - why was Harry hidden away? Before she could put any more thought to her question, Madam Pomfrey had her laying back down and was checking her out with several charms and spells. But Hermione was distracted. In moments Ron was beside her bed, a grin splitting his face in half.
"Hey sleepy head, thought you'd never wake," he said with a laugh.
"How long have I been out?"
"Just over a week…"
"A week!" She lay back in amazement - she'd been asleep for a week?
"How're you feeling?" Ron asked, a bit more seriously.
"Fine," Hermione replied, with a small frown, "perfect actually. Everything feels…whole."
"That's because everything is," Madam Pomfrey said, giving Ron and Hermione a rare smile, "you are a healthy, young woman with a long life a head of you. You are cured, Miss Granger."
Cured. She never thought she'd hear that word in relation to her - cured. But what was the price?
"Where's Harry," she asked with urgency, "I need to see Harry."
"His bandages are just being changed," Ron replied, "and then you can see him. He's been asking for you."
"He's okay? But you said he was bandaged?" Hermione couldn't hide the fear in her voice. Knowing that he was alive was one thing, but did the transfer mean that his time was now limited, like hers had been?
"He has the same wounds you did Miss Granger," Madam Pomfrey answered, continuing to fuss around Hermione unnoticed, "Healer Gower has moved her treatment from you to him."
"Is…is it terminal?" She looked directly at Ron, willing him to say no, it isn't terminal, that Harry was going to be fine.
"We don't know," was the answer instead, but with a smile, "but the census seems to be that in time Harry will be fine. He can tell you himself, if you like."
With a last minute check from the school matron, Hermione got to her feet and tentatively followed Ron to the closed off area. She was scared - what would she see?
"Knock, knock," Ron called out, "newly repaired best friend wanting to visit slightly worse for wear best friend."
"Come on in guys," Harry laughed, a sound that made a smile form on Hermione's lips. Ron pulled back the curtain and she saw him, bare to the waist with Healer Gower applying healing spells to the angry looking welts that covered his abdomen, a pile of bandages to his side ready for application. Harry's attention seemed focused on what was taking place on his stomach and it wasn't until Ron spoke that Harry looked at them.
"Look who was found wandering the corridors," Ron said as he sat down at Harry's side. But Hermione was stunned as she tried to comprehend what she saw. Instead of the brilliant green eyes that was as part of who Harry was as his scar (and his unruly hair) was two dull, grey voids - unfocused and what Hermione guessed was unseeing. He was blind.
"Hey you," Harry grinned, "how're you feeling?"
"Perfect, thanks to you," Hermione replied, tears coming to her eyes, "how…how are you feeling?"
"Well, I seem to have wounds and am feeling pretty fucked, but other than that - fine." Hermione let out a sigh of relief, she had been wrong…
"Oh, and I can't see," Harry added as an afterthought.
"You know, you should watch your language, there are ladies present!" Hermione turned from Harry to see Ginny and Neville walking over to the end of his bed, both smiling. But Hermione couldn't - how could she? Everyone seems to be taking Harry's condition lightly, but she couldn't - he was blind!
"Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed, finally noticing her standing to the side, "you're awake!" Still in her confused state, Hermione let herself be engulfed by Ginny and heard vaguely a stream of questions about her wellbeing, but Hermione's mind was stuck on Harry. It wasn't until she heard Ginny shocked voice cry out that she concentrated on her friend.
"What is it Ginny?" she asked.
"Your…your eyes. They're green!"
"My eyes are brown," Hermione frowned.
"I know they are! But now they're green!"
"No they're not," Ron said as he made his way to Hermione and peered into her face, his own eyes widening in surprise, "shit, they are too."
"So you've got my eyes," Harry piped up, still being administered to by Healer Gower, "well, give them back - I need them!" Everyone laughed but Hermione, her silence seemingly sobering everyone the others.
"Right, Mr Potter, you're done," Healer Gower proclaimed through the uncomfortable silence, "and I think we should leave you and Hermione to catch up." She gave a significant look to Hermione, who understood the meaning with gratitude. One by one her friends said their goodbyes and left, the Healer last, pausing as she passed her former patient.
"I'd love to have a chat when you've finished," Healer Gower said softly, "there is much we need to discuss." Hermione nodded and then found herself alone with Harry. Suddenly she was nervous.
"Why so quiet Hermione," Harry ventured, "I would've thought you'd be dancing off the ceiling. You're whole." She looked at him and the tears she had been fighting since she woke began falling down her cheeks.
"But you're not," she whispered. His blank eyes moved towards her and seeing them without their usual vibrant green just made her cry harder.
"Don't cry," he said, holding his hand out so she would come closer. Hermione shuffled towards the side of his bed, taking his waiting hand is hers, "Hermione, please, don't cry. I'm alive! The counter-curse was successful, you are whole and I lived…"
"Harry, you're stuck in a bed, blind and with gapping wounds all over your body. We've just changed places…"
"Which is what I knew would happen. The thing is, my body is already healing. We don't think this is terminal like it was for you. Hermione, I'm going to be fine." She looked down at him and found that standing was suddenly extremely difficult. Sitting on the edge of his bed her mind whirled, confusion still clouding rational thought.
"Are…are you sure?"
"About 80 per cent at this stage. It is definitely a play-it-by-ear process, as this is a first, but it's looking good. I can add this whole experience to my list of things I've achieved." His attempt at a joke finally brought a smile to Hermione and the fog of confusion left her as if swept away by a large broom. She had her life back and that life included Harry Potter. He wasn't fine now, but will be. Things were finally as the should be.
"You mean the list that includes surviving the killing curse twice, saving the world, fighting the darkest wizard we have ever known about five times - should I continue?"
"No, otherwise I will get awfully conceited." They smiled at each other and the silence between them no longer felt uncomfortable.
"Hermione," Harry finally said, a little bit tentatively it seemed to her, "what do you remember? Of the counter-curse?" Hermione thought and realised she couldn't remember much at all.
"The last thing I remember is walking onto the Quidditch pitch and seeing everyone there. Why?" She watched as his face fell before a smile once again took its place.
"Oh, no reason, no reason at all," Harry paused, "can't believe you have my eyes."
"Neither can I," Hermione also smiled, "I wonder if it's permanent?"
"I don't know," Harry paused again, "there is one more thing, something I haven't told anyone else."
"What?" Hermione asked, suddenly concerned.
"He's gone. I'm finally free." His cryptic words made perfect sense to Hermione - in a way, Harry was now also whole.
"The counter-curse? It killed that part of him in you?"
"Yep. All parts of Tom Riddle are now destroyed. I no longer have his darkness to fight. And my power has returned to that of a normal wizard. I'm nothing special any more Hermione, I'm just the same as everyone else."
"You, Harry Potter, will never be just the same as everyone else," Hermione laughed, "what with your handsome good looks, cheeky charm and extreme wealth. You are definitely not normal!'
"You think I'm handsome?" His question made Hermione blush so hard she was sure he could feel its glow.
"Well, in a ruffled sort of dishevelled sort of way." Harry laughed, a truly liberated sound and Hermione now understood why no-one around Harry couldn't stop smiling. He was happy, really happy, probably for the first time in his life, and the weight of the world was finally lifted off his shoulders letting his spirit fly. Their banter continued with conversation soon turning to what happens next. An argument arose from Hermione's insistence of looking after Harry until he is one hundred per cent cured - him saying she should be starting the rest of her life, and she saying that she had plenty of time to conquer the world. She won.
A/N - I couldn't kill Harry and/or Hermione! They are meant to be together! Well, one more chapter to go which will be posted tomorrow. Sigh.