Part III:
Hermione awoke with the strangest feeling in the world. Her parents had told her on numerous occasions that sleeping was meant to relax your entire body. Since every human uses an excruciating amount of energy during the day, sleep was used to recharge that energy.
Though this was proven wrong when Hermione got out of bed with sores all over her body; her leg muscles were burning with numbness and her head felt like someone just whipped a frying pan at it.
More like five dozen pans! She thought angrily to herself, forgetting for that moment that Harry was still there. When she heard a distinctly male groan in her ears, she knew her best friend had awoken.
"Had a nice nap?" It was nice being able to talk out loud to Harry now seeing as Ron had moved out on the grounds that he wanted to keep his sanity in check. Hermione was actually beginning to worry about her own, though the pain in her thighs could only point to one thing….
Harry's voice held guilt within it. "I guess…." Even though he only spoke two words, Hermione could feel the hesitant atmosphere.
"I didn't think you could actually take over my body." I said idly as I changed. Of course, the first day was complicated while I was changing though Harry said as long as I didn't look down, we were fine. Now I don't care what Harry sees out of my eyes, it seemed as though I was beginning to get comfortable with this extra … presence in my mind.
"Neither did I," Harry said, glad for the fact that Hermione wasn't yelling at him, though he could undoubtedly hear the angered thoughts in my head. "I - I just wanted to have some control, you know? It's not like I mind being in here and al-"
"Harry," Hermione said cutting him off with the suppleness of her tone. "You're starting to sound like me, rambling on and on about nothing."
There was a pause before I begun to hear the distinct chuckle of Harry in my mind once more. "Well, I am in your body; it's to be expected right?"
Hermione chuckled in response to that and quickly left her room to prepare breakfast for the two of them.
Now was a time that she missed Ron, seeing as he had inherited his mum's skill in the kitchen, but it seemed as though Harry wasn't half bad at it either and once he had … entered her mind, Hermione found she had progressed immensely in the necessary skills. She wasn't as clumsy with the tools and she knew what all the dials, whistles, bells and all the other paraphernalia meant.
So maybe having Harry in her mind wasn't such a bad thing. Hopefully he would avoid midnight runs though… In her body. In fact, Hermione decided it was time to scold him for that.
"Next time you do something like that, Harry." She said randomly during their breakfast with a few loose bits of toast spewing out of her mouth (it seemed she had inherited some male qualities as well) "Make sure to inform me before you do something like that."
Harry was immediately defensive, of course. "It - it just happened Hermione! I just wanted it to ha-"
"Spare me the details, Harry." She quickly intervened. "Just, please, tell me?"
Harry sighed deeply. "Alright," then he added. "I'm sorry."
Always the compassionate one isn't he?
~*~
When the day of our meeting with the dreaded Department of Mysteries rolled by, Harry was - to say the least - hesitant to go.
"They'll … they'll put plugs in your ears, Hermione!" He positively screamed loud enough that Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, actually hissed and jumped off the nearby table she had curled up on. "Y - yeah! Y … you remember that brain room, right! THAT'S what they do to people like us! People like me who apparate into other people!"
Hermione shook her head sadly as she reached for her cloak. "You're being silly, Harry. Honestly, they're not bloody Nazis, Harry."
It was sad to think that only people with a Muggle upbringing would understand the reference in that. "I'm not saying that they are! Few people are!" As Hermione reached for the door knob, Harry took one last stab and relished the moment, seeing as it worked.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER, YOU LET ME BACK INTO MY OWN BODY THIS INSTANT!" Harry had taken control and was whistling idly as he took off his cloak and placed it back on its hook with an air of victory prominent in his fingertips. "HARRY, I'm WARNING YOU!"
"Oh, do you think you can match up to the seven year Seeker veteran?" Harry taunted her, finding it oddly weird to hear his own voice for once. Though Harry was taken aback as he was shoved into the wall next to him. Bracing himself, Harry was caught off-guard once more when he was thrown to the other wall, slamming his head into the dry wall.
"Merlin, Hermione…" He moaned as he rose from the ground, rubbing his forehead where he could feel a distinct bump protruding from the very spot. "This is your body, you know?"
"But you're in it, Harry!" She reminded him and, with a sigh, Harry gave her control once more, knowing she could come up with something even more devious than that last wall-smacking.
Once Hermione took over, not a second had passed before she stumbled and had to brace herself against the wall nearest to her. "Ow… You're right…." Hermione moaned painfully as she grabbed at the bump, attempting to nurse it with her hands. It didn't help that she didn't know any practical medi-spells right now without one of her trusty textbooks.
"See?" Harry said; glad to be the one smiting rather than the one receiving. "Just be glad that you can function properly!"
"Oh shut it, Harry." Hermione gathered her wits and held out both her arms in front of her, attempting to balance herself. She continued to sway and her head relentlessly throbbed more painfully than even when Harry was shouting his head off. "We're … we're going to the Department of Mysteries…. I can't stand this anymore!"
"W - wait, Hermione! We just go into th-" but he was cut off by, one more, Hermione.
"No, Harry…. My head hurts…." Honestly, she couldn't think of why that was a clear reason to wanting Harry out. Maybe it had to do wi….
"Hermione! I…." He said, interrupting her thoughts.
She expected him to go on, but there was just silence in Godric's Hollow.
When he spoke once more, it was in a tone she was unused to; the one that was specifically used to refer to himself as a Horcrux. "I have a theory. I … I think, I'm dead."
"What?" Hermione blurted out. "But you're…."
Harry's tone was still the same dead one. "I'm only alive because I'm inside of you right now…. I was hit by the killing curse, remember?"
Hermione's head begun to spin once more, whistles, bells and alarms started going off inside of her head. Could she have been wrong?
It was something so simple, when the killing curse hits you, you die. She had taken simple to the next level with the Hovers' experiments and she thought she had something there. And when Harry appeared in her mind it seemed like her theory was affirmed, but Harry continued to point out the simple truth.
"But … but the prophecy's been fulfilled right?" Hermione said, not liking her dead tone that seemed to match Harry's vocal dynamics. "Neither can live while the other survives, right?"
Hermione could feel Harry shaking her head right now. "Well, you're kind of right, but you're forgetting the first part. Either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. You killed him, Hermione."
Hermione's voice squeaked. She may have sealed Harry's fate right there and then. "What … what does this mean?"
"You could only kill him, because I was already dead…."
That thought stayed with her for the long moments she merely stood in the living room of Godric's Hollow, her expression and thoughts as hollow as the house's name.
"Hermione, if … if the Mystery dudes do separate us…." Hermione was brilliant enough to piece together the truth even before Harry said this.
"Oh, Harry…." She mumbled, collapsing onto the floor. "I - I don't know what to do…."
Harry said nothing for a moment, but then he did the unthinkable. "Go ahead…. We've got a meeting and I think we're way behind schedule right now."
"WHAT?" Hermione rose from the floor, knocking her head against a nearby doorknob which caused her head to spin once more. "Oh … I need…."
"A vacation?" Harry supplied wryly.
"Yes, Harry…. We can go to … go to the Caribbean! I've always wanted to go there! Tropical places are so attractive at tim-"
"Hermione," Harry said simply, bringing her back down to reality. The reality that Harry wouldn't be able to go with her.
Her dream of the Caribbean beaches with Harry and Hermione sun tanning vanished only to be replaced with a blurry vision of Godric Hollow's living room. It was only then that Hermione realized she was crying and because of the sadness welling up inside of her, she collapsed onto the floor once more, missing the doorknob she hit on her way up.
"Oh, Hermione…. Its okay, I knew I was going to die fighting Voldemort." While his efforts were acknowledged, Hermione's wails only increased in volume. She couldn't believe that she would never ever see the tousled raven hair she had grown to love, the sparkling emerald eyes that always shone brightest whenever something magically astonishing whisked by and she would sorely miss his heroic statute, the fact that he would never be there to save her life scared her.
She was afraid of losing him, her salvation in the real world; she admitted it finally.
"I … I need you, Harry." She whispered, but she knew Harry heard it clearly enough.
"I know, and I need you too, Hermione." His tone was gentle, how she would have loved to curl up in his arms right now. "Just do one more thing for me and let me go. Voldemort was right, I'll be able to see my parents again and Sirius…. And everyone who died in the war."
Hermione cringed, wrapping her arms around herself, imaging that it was him she was clinging to.
"I've accepted my fate; I'll wait for you to accept yours…."
~*~
The eerie feeling of the Department of Mysteries made Hermione even more hesitant in entering. It seemed so surreal that she was now the one fussing about the - as Harry deemed them - Mystery dudes seeing as he had probably forgotten they were called Unspeakables and when she woke up this morning she had every intention on going to them today and riding herself of this burden the two of them shared.
"Ms. Granger?" A quiet voice said from behind her. Turning around abruptly, she found herself facing the one and only Luna Lovegood.
"L - Luna?" Hermione said astonished. "Wh - what are you doing here?"
"I work here, Ms. Granger." She said promptly. "If you would follow me, I've been looking over your file." And Hermione thought her situation was surreal, this topped it completely. Here was Luna talking coherently and utterly professional. Ahh, the live of an Unspeakable.
"Ms. Granger, please come, I'm afraid we're incredibly behind schedule." Luna said, prompting Hermione to chase after her.
Hermione found that she could not soak in her surroundings, though she doubted anyone really could besides the Unspeakables. The architects were weird like that, making the design dreamlike enough to make sane people go crazy down here.
No wonder the Unspeakables are the way they are. She thought to herself as she followed the long blonde haired girl in front of her. I mean, they turned a flawlessly insane person into a living sane girl who works quite diligently it seems, who says they can't do the opposite?
"You're probably right," Harry said. Speaking up for the first time since they entered the Ministry of Magic.
"I've never actually heard of anything like your case, Ms. Granger. Or should I say Ms. Grator?"
Hermione thought she heard something quite stupid come out of the person she just called a diligent worker. "Um … pardon me?"
Luna smiled as she placed herself gingerly upon her comfortable looking swivel leather chair. She indicated with an extended hand at the chair across from her, Hermione promptly seated herself in it. "It was just my attempt at humour."
"Oh…." Hermione said, not knowing what else to do. She felt no impulse to burst out laughing at the sad attempt really.
"Anyway," Luna said, pulling out a simple looking folder from one of her drawers, she laid it out in front of Hermione who peered at it, expecting to see the word SCREWED itched in red across the parchment. "I've got quite a few people working on this and they are quite interested in a few things."
"Would one of them happen to be getting Harry out of here-" she pointed at her forehead "-and into his own body, alive and well?" She distinctly heard Harry's snort, but chose to ignore it entirely.
"Of course, but we all imagine such a thing occurring is quite…." For a moment, Luna looked distraught over the entire issue, but the emotional face was replaced by the brick wall Hermione was beginning to loathe in no time at all. "Impossible, theoretically of course."
Hermione nodded in understanding, they probably agreed with Harry's theory too.
"We believe that he is actually … dead, but is naturally feeding off of your … your body." Oh, Hermione never heard that come from Harry's mouth! She promptly decided to speak about it with Harry after the meeting was over.
"I don't think I'll be here after this meeting…." Harry said sorrowfully, causing Hermione to fidget in her, now quite uncomfortable, chair.
"So, it's up to you to decide Hermione. After all, it is your body. Will you let Harry go now, and live on with your life, or will you stick with him until the end, only when you die of a natural cold because your immune system is too bus-"
"Stop it, Luna!" Hermione said abruptly, rising from her chair and shutting her eyes tightly. She pressed her hands against her head. "I - I can't do this right now!"
"But, He-"
"No! Do you have ANY idea of what you're asking me to do?!" Luna shrugged her shoulders slightly. "Well, I'll tell you then!"
Hermione leaned forward until her face was mere inches from Luna's blank expression. "I happen to care about Harry a lot. A LOT, I swear to Merlin that if this all hadn't happened I would be married to him by now, but of course, Harry has to make things difficult and … and…." Hermione shut her eyes once more and stepped back from Luna. "I … I love him."
"Hermione…." Luna's voice sounded weird…. As if it were both her's and… oh shi….
"HARRY!" Hermione's back cracked as she straightened herself up, realizing she had indeed said all of this in front of him.
"Oh, Hermione…." Harry said his tone oddly soothing. "I'm so sorry…. I've only come to realize that I … I…."
"Harry…." Hermione breathed, her heart hammering inside of her.
"I love you too, Hermione Jane Granger." With that said, Hermione promptly fainted.
~*~
"You … you think you have an idea?" Hermione's head was still spinning, but maybe that was because she was sitting down. She attempted to raise a hand to her forehead, but found it wouldn't move.
"Oh no…. He's in control…." Hermione said, finding her lips not moving at all. It felt oddly … eerie, to say the least.
"Hermione, you okay?" Harry's voice in her mind sounded both emotional and soothing.
"Yeah… I think." Hermione rapidly answered, not wanting him to worry about her condition.
It was Luna who spoke up this time. "Yes, in fact I do. One that can separate you into your own body, but I need to know one thing first."
Hermione's ears perked up, she and Harry were both listening intently.
"You apparated into Hermione, correct?" Hermione felt her head nod in confirmation. "Good. That means we can solve this here and now."
"What?" I said, forgetting that I wasn't in control of my body.
"Harry Potter," Luna said, rising from her seat and stepping away from the both of them. "Why don't you simply … apparate out of her?"
"Holy fuck…." Hermione had never used the dreaded F word before, but there was no other word in the English language that could be used in this situation as properly as fuck. "We're stupid, Harry. We're so fucking stupid…."
"No way, Luna!" Harry said as soon as I finished with my scolding-myself speech. "It … it can't be that simple!"
"Why not?" Luna said cocking her head to the side so it partly touched her shoulder. "You apparated into her, why can't you apparate out of her?"
And Harry proved it to be correct when he appeared right at Hermione's side to catch her as she fell to the ground in an obvious fainting gesture.
~*~
"Evelyn, get over here right now!" Evelyn walked into the small kitchen with guilt written all over her face. Looking up at her parents, she knew they had figured out her scheme. She had taken so long to plan it; she had even got Dobby into her plan! She glared at him while he busied himself with sweeping up the floor, looking anywhere but at her. "Dobby has an interesting story to tell, you know."
Evelyn Potter said nothing, but she merely continued to stare at the tiled floor wondering how that distinct brown stain appeared there. Maybe Crookshanks did something disgus-
"Eve, look up at me." The calm and gentle tone of her father caused her to look up, only to see him kneeling in front of her, running an hand through her short black hair, finding quite ruffled. "How many did you take?" He asked in the same, calm, tone.
The single child of Harry and Hermione Potter fumbled over how many, she tried to recall just how many cookies she had reached while Dooby held her up high enough with his magic. She had dipped her hand in three times, taking out three each time. Or maybe four…. What was a good number?
"Ten?" She said tentatively making her dad smile.
"You're lying." He said simply and Evelyn wondered how he was able to do that just by looking at her. Was it a parent thing?
"Dobby said she had taken four out each time she put her hand in the jar." Hermione said, coming to kneel before Evelyn too.
Harry shook his head in astonishment. "Those are nice hands, Eve. Quite good for gripping a Quaffle, wouldn't you say?"
"Harry…. Now's not the time!" Hermione huffed, but stopped when Harry gave her a quick smirk and a kiss on one of her cheeks. "Oh, fine … You win this time, Harry. But I'll have my way with her! You're tainting her!"
"No, Hermione." Harry said with a wide smirk as he took his adorable daughter's small hand and begun to lead her to the backyard, planning on teaching her the great game of Quidditch. "I'm saving you, Hermione."
"Saving me?!" Hermione positively shouted as she placed her hands on her hips.
"Yes, love, saving the right of being someone as brilliant as you," He stated simply. "Only you have that right in this world!"
Hermione fumbled over her response, usually she was so good with arguing with him, but he had never taken this tactic before. He had never complimented her like this while feigning innocence. When she couldn't formulate anything, Harry smirked once more and then was gone with Evelyn in tow.
Hermione wistfully stared after them, watching her loving husband show the many balls to his daughter who was positively glued to the concept of Quidditch already. And then she realized just what Harry said.
"He thinks I'm brilliant? What have I … oh, yeah…." Hermione sighed, remembering the events of Voldemort's death. "What a fine duet we made, playing in the same body…. Though he just realized how brilliant I was in that time frame…."
It was then, that Hermione decided to join her family, her amazingly wonderful family and decided to tell Harry that night that she wanted to extend the family once more.
Author's Note:
There you have it; I thought the final part with Evelyn would just be something cute to add in. Hope you liked it! I don't think there's any way I can write a sequel to this unless it's happening to Evelyn and someone else, but if there are enough reviews…. ;)
Thanks for reading! And PLEASE review! I love it when you guys do that!