Disclaimer: I don't own any character! all belongs to J.K.Rowling
AN: thank you for all your reviews and here's new chapter for you.
Chapter 2 - Choices
Harry woke up the following morning and looked around the room he had shared with Ron. Not to his surprise, Ron remained fast asleep as he gathered his belongings, and walked out of the room. He sighed as he picked up the chocolate frog card with Dumbledore's picture and the locket. He looked at the two items in his hand and hid them in his trunk. He took one last look at Ron before he apparated to his bedroom at the Dursleys.
As Harry looked around his old room, his eyes fell on the window, and he remembered how he had waited for Professor Dumbledore to pick him up from the Dursley's the previous summer. He sighed and dropped his trunk unceremoniously on the floor, not caring if he woke them and walked up to the window. He sat down on the same place he did just a year ago, and looked to the empty street of Privet Drive.
Harry didn't know how long he had been like this, or what time it was, but soon enough, he heard voices and he knew Dursley's were awake, yet he didn't care. He looked at Hedwig inside her cage and walked up to her. Harry gave some owl treats to Hedwig, before heading to bed. He decided to take a small nap before he went go to Grimmauld Place.
Harry was awoken a few hours later by the sound of someone knocking on the window of his bedroom.
"I'm up!" Harry yelled just to make sure the noise stopped. He stirred and put his glasses on before looking around his room. He spotted Pig at his window and he slowly walked up to it, opening it all while yawning.
As soon as he had the window open, Pig flew in and landed on his bed with a letter from Ron. Harry followed Pig, untied the letter and was surprised to see Hermione's handwriting instead of Ron's. Sitting on his bed he opened it and began to read.
Dear Harry,
When I woke up this morning and couldn't find you at breakfast, I knew that you had left. I asked Ginny where you were, but she didn't tell me, which made me be sure of what you were up to. Ron knows nothing about it though because I haven't told him yet.
Truthfully,he's been a bit of a pain lately and telling him that you've left wouldn't do any good right now. Ron hasn't been in the best of moods lately and I knew telling him of your departure wouldn't make him feel better. I hope I am wron to think you've abandoned us and I hope you keep your word to meet us in Diagon Alley tonight as you promised to do as soon as you get things straight at the Dursley's.
That's what I've told Ron. I told him you woke up earlier than he did and set off to the Dursley's to get things straightened before you met us in Diagon Alley. You know how much I hate lying and I hope you won't fail Ron and I. I must let you go now, Ron is curious to why I'm in the loo for such a long time.
Yours,
Hermione
Harry snorted at the thought of Hermione sitting in the loo, writing him a letter while Ron nervously sat outside the bathroom door. By the time he had finished reading, he saw Pig fly out the window, making his way back to the Burrow.
Harry felt bad at the thought that he was going to make Ron and Hermione wait for him at Diagon Alley, but he wasn't goint to go meet them and and have them risk their lives for him again. They deserved a better than that and they deserved to live their lives without a burden that wasn't theirs to begin with. He couldn't take away their happiness, and that's what they needed most at the moment.
Harry put the letter down on his desk and walked out of his bedroom. He reached the bottom floor and saw the Dursley's sitting around the kitchen table, nervously waiting for him. When uncle Vernon spotted Harry, he put down the newspaper he was pretending to read, and looked up at his nephew. Fear against Harry was clear in his eyes, because uncle Vernon knew Harry was now allowed to use magic outside of school.
"Sit down boy, we need to talk," he said with a shaky voice. Harry did as he was told, already knowing what his uncle wanted to talk about. "So er… since this will be your last year at that school, your aunt Petunia and I have been talking about when… when will you move out? You won't come back next summer, right?" Seeing uncle Vernon so insecure made Harry want to laugh, but he decided to hold back his amusement.
"Well… I don't know. I'm supposed to come back here for the rest of the summer," Harry started and looked at how red uncle Vernon's face had gone. "This is the safest place for me after all," he continued, clearly enjoying himself with the frightened look on all the Dursley's faces. "Where's the hurry? I have a whole year left at Hogwarts," he said and looked at aunt Petunia, who looked more and more terrified as he went on. If they only knew that he wasn't planning on going to school, and that he would never return to that house again.
"You… you can't do that!" Aunt Petunia shrieked. "We've raised you since you were a baby!"
"Don't remind me," Harry mumbled.
"You can't come back and put our lives in danger!" she continued and looked nervously out of the window as if expecting Death Eaters to come knocking at the door and asking for Harry.
"I'll think about it," Harry yawned. He then rose up from his seat and headed back to his room where all his packed belongings waited for him.
Harry didn't know where he was going or what he would do once he left Privet Drive. All he knew and cared about was getting out of the Dursley's house once and for all. Once he shrunk his trunk and put it inside his pocket, he opened Hedwig's cage and let her fly out the window, knowing she would meet him wherever he went.
Harry knew he couldn't go to Diagon Alley because that's where Ron and Hermione would be expecting him. He thought about going to Grimmault Place, changed his mind because it would be the first place Ron and Hermione would look for him once they realized he wasn't planning on meeting up with them.
Once outside the front door of number 4 Privet Drive, Harry let out a sigh of relief, and began to make his way towards the park where he had spotted Sirius in his third year. When he reached the park, he looked around to make sure nobody was around and quickly raised his wand hand. Within seconds, the purple three decked bus stopped in front of him. He didn't see Stan, but instead he was faced with an odd looking witch.
"Godric's Hollow," Harry mumbled, passing the witch without giving her a second look. Harry immediately laid down on one of the beds and immediately regretted the ride to Godric's Hollow. Ridiing on the Knight Bus was just as horrible as he remembered it. Soon enough, the bus stopped abruptly announcing the stop at Godric's Hollow, and Harry walked out. Laying on the bed, trying his best not to fall off of it, his mind was filled with hundreds of questions that didn't have a single answer. What was he going to do next? What would he do now that he was alone? He had abandoned his friends and left them wait for him at Diagon Alley, and a part of him wished he hadn't done that. There was no turning back now, he had to go on alone.
Harry looked around and found the street empty. It was abandoned and no one seemed to have lived there for many years. He stood in the middle of nowhere for several minutes, not knowing what he was doing there, why he had gone there, and not even knowing what was he looking for. He knew he had once lived there. He knew it was the place where Voldemort murdered his parents and destroyed his entire life, but he didn't quite know why he was there so many years later.
With a deep sigh, he looked at the house that had once belonged to his family; the house where his parents were last seen alive. A single tear tickled down his cheek as he took few steps closer to the walls of his house. He was so lost in his thoughts, lost in the grief of his parents' death and the life he could have had that he didn't hear someone approaching him. He didn't hear the quiet sobbing at first, nor did he see the tears in the person's eyes. He didn't see or hear anything until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around as in slow motion, he saw to his great surprise, Hermione standing beside him. Just when Harry was about to start asking questions, she silenced him and pulled him into a hug that rendered him helpless, and he was no longer able to hold back tears that he had been keeping to himself for years.
They stood in each other's embrace, crying, for a long time. Hermione was crying because it hurt her to see her friend like that, knowing that coming here is painful to him. Harry was crying for his parents and the life he had as a child. Harry was the first to pull away and he looked deep into her chocolate brown eyes.
"How? Why?" he managed to ask when no other words would come out.
Hermione smiled warmly at him and looked at the walls of Harry's old house. "I knew you were leaving. I knew it before you did. I knew you weren't planning on coming to Diagon Alley to meet us, and I knew this was the only place I could have found you," she said quietly while keeping her eyes on the old building. "Why, you ask?" she continued as she looked up at him. "Because we promised. We promised to keep you company, to be with you until the end," she answered simply, her voice calm and relaxing.
"But I didn't want you to come," Harry protested, but Hermione only shook her head.
"I know you didn't," she answered. "But I want to come, because we promised to be there for you," she added softly.
"I don't want you to come and risk your life just because you promised you would stick by my side."
"It's not only about the promise what makes me come with you," Hermione interrupted, but Harry didn't seem to notice.
"I want you to break that promise and stay safe. I can do it alone, Hermione. It's my fate and I have to face it alone. I can't drag you into something that terrible," Harry said with tears in his eyes. Hermione shook her head and softly touched his cheek. That made him look at her again.
"I'm not going to back away Harry, and neither will Ron. We know you hate what lies before us and you're terrified. So are we, and there's no doubt you couldn't do this alone, but you we want to help you. Together we're stronger than we are apart. You have to take us with you," she pleaded as she looked deep into his emerald eyes.
Harry was speechless. He simply didn't know what to say to her. All of what Hermione said was true. They were stronger together than they were apart, and he needed them, yet he didn't want them to come along. He was so confused by his own thoughts and he needed someone to tell him what he should do, but who could help him? Professor Dumbledore was murdered before his eyes and Sirius was no longer there to help him either. Everyone who was ever close to him died and he was afraid it would happen again. What if next person to die was Hermione or Ron? Or Hagrid, or Professor McGonagall? He didn't need anymore people dying because of him.
"Is Ron here, too?" he asked, breaking the silence.
Hermione shook her head and replied, "No, he's not. He's waiting for me at the Burrow."
"Then you should go there," Harry mumbled.
"No, I won't go. Not until you come with me," Hermione responded strictly.
"I won't come Hermione. I can't come, I can't risk it."
"Then Ron will meet us here," Hermione said and started to walk up to the door of his old house. "Come on, there's something I want to show you," she said and turned to look at him.
"Show me what? There aren't any walls left. I can see perfectly well what's-"
"Harry…" Hermione said and put her hands on her hips.
"I'm going now," He said and turned to leave on the other direction.
"No you don't," Hermione said and took his hand. "Harry, you are not going to leave us. Not again," she said and pulled him gently towards the doorway. "This is the choice that we've made and we're going to be with you until the end. Now come on, there's something I want to show you and I know you're going to like it," she said with bright smile. Harry had no other thing to do than to surrender and follow Hermione to the door.
"Are you ready?" she asked and saw Harry nodding numbly. "Good. Now close your eyes," she ordered him and Harry did as he was told. Harry's eyes were closed as he heard Hermione open the door...