Afternoon, my dears. I'm most pleased to present to you this next chapter. Every single one of you will be quite happy to slowly and painfully murder me at the end of this one, so get those sharp objects ready.
A Touching Romance
Chapter 7 ~ Hedwig: master of horrible timing
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Harry stood on dry, cracked ground. Smoke rose from the smoldering remains of bodies and buildings. The sky was gray, and black clouds were rapidly forming to the west.
He realized he was tightly grasping his wand in his hand, so he began to slowly move forward. The landscape was unfamiliar and frightening. With shock, he realized that several of the bodies were those of people he knew. Many of those who had died in the war, who he knew had all been buried with stirring ceremonies, were strewn about in a helter-skelter fashion, looks of terror or agony on all their faces.
It didn't make any sense. The battle was over, these people were at rest. Harry was utterly certain of it. But there was Professor Flitwick, a wicked looking dagger buried in his chest. And here was Justin Finch-Fletchy, missing an arm. Now he knew something was wrong. Everyone he saw had been murdered in a Muggle fashion. What was going on?
And then he saw him. Voldemort, Wormtail sniveling by his side, had his wand pointed at Hermione, who was writhing on the ground in silent agony.
`Anyone but her,' Harry thought despairingly. `He can't have her.' In a rush of idiocy, he dashed forward and pointed his wand at Voldemort. The killing curse was on the tip of his tongue, but Wormtail spotted him and conjured a sort of red bubble around his master, Hermione, and himself.
"NO!" Harry screamed. He threw himself at the shield as Voldemort laughed, casting Crucio after Crucio on the pathetic figure before him. The shield resisted Harry, despite his pushing and cursing at it. Harry wept despondently, unable to form a coherent thought to drive away the knowledge that Hermione was going to die, and he couldn't stop it.
Suddenly, Hermione sat up and looked at him. Her eyes were empty of their usual shine, and her face was pale and drawn.
"How could you let this happen to me, Harry?" she asked, her voice a hollow monotone.
"I tried not to, Hermione, I promise I did!" Harry felt drained. "I never wanted it to be like this."
"You're lying," she spat. "You couldn't care less what happens to me."
"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" he shouted, pounding on the bubble. "I care more than anything."
"No, you don't, Potter," she replied. All of a sudden, she seemed quite well. She stood, looking much taller than he had ever known her to be. Harry realized with horror that her eyes had become the same blood red that Voldemort's own eyes were. "You didn't even like me back at school."
"No, no, Hermione, I've always wanted you," Harry cried, horrified at Hermione's manner.
"Oh, don't play games with me, Harry," she said, a hint of a smirk forming on her face. She moved to stand by Voldemort, who put his arm around her waist. "You know how you felt about Ginny."
"But I'm over all of that!" Harry exclaimed, anxious to explain. "I love you, Hermione."
He saw a flicker of a softer emotion pass over her face, but then Voldemort drew her closer to him and stroked her straight black hair lovingly, and the softness was gone. "You are pathetic, Potter," she told him mockingly. "Playing with others' emotions just to save your meaningless life. But it doesn't matter any more. Good bye, Harry." She raised her wand. "Avada Kedavra."
Harry had only time to shout, "HERMIONE!" before the curse hit him and -
He woke up. For a few moments, he lay in his bed, breathing in precious air. A dream, he thought. Simply a dream. But it had been so real. Voldemort had looked just as hideous as usual, Wormtail just as pathetically loyal, Hermione just as -
Oh, God. Hermione. Harry shot out of bed. He searched blindly for his glasses, slapping them on his face when he finally found them. Realizing that his t-shirt was soaked with sweat, he peeled it off in disgust, then raced out the door and down the stairs.
"Hermione!"
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Hermione jerked out of a fitful sleep, hearing Harry's voice shout her name. In an instant, she'd sped out of bed, not bothering to put a robe on over her shorts and tank top. She wrenched the door open and flew down the stairs.
"Harry!" she cried as she ran. "What's wrong?" She reached the bottom and was caught up in a tight embrace by Harry.
A very shirtless Harry, the less appropriate part of her mind told her. Desperately attempting not to be even remotely swooned by the muscle-y goodness that was Harry's chest, Hermione wrapped her arms around him without another moment's hesitation.
"What's wrong?" she asked again.
OOO
Harry clung to Hermione, blissfully drowning in the sheer feel of her bare skin against his. He hadn't realized how dearly he'd missed her hugs. Anyone's hugs, for that matter.
"Bad dream," he muttered noncommittally, loathe to leave the embrace.
"Oh, Harry," she whispered quietly, her breath sending a rather unmanly shiver down his spine. "Voldemort?"
"Well, yes," he admitted. Against his better judgment, he moved so he wasn't holding her so tightly, though he still had his arms wrapped around her. "And…you."
OOO
Hermione stared incredulously at Harry. "Me?" she asked skeptically. Harry was so upset because of a dream about her? That simply didn't make too much sense.
"Yes, you," Harry said, a smirk finding its way onto his face. Hermione stifled the sudden urge to kiss that maddening smirk away. She was thankful for his arms surrounding her, as her knees might have given way.
"What happened?" she inquired, feeling awkward with her hands lightly grazing the bare skin of his back.
OOO
Harry wasn't quite sure when the decision to tell Hermione everything had been made. All he knew was that he was going to, and no amount of failing courage would stop him.
"Voldemort Crucioed you," he began, his eyes darkening at the memory. "I was just about to kill him, but then Wormtail saw me and put a sort of force field around the three of you. I couldn't break through it."
"You were helpless," Hermione said, looking understanding. He nodded dumbly, and she moved to embrace him again, but he stopped her.
"Let me finish," he said firmly.
"There's more?" she asked.
OOO
Hermione felt a heavy sickness fill her stomach. Harry was obviously very distraught, and also obviously determined to tell her exactly what had happened. She wouldn't interrupt again.
Harry nodded in answer to her question. "I knew you were going to die," he said desolately. "And I couldn't do anything at all about it. But then you sat up and looked at me." Hermione suddenly had the feeling of being held by someone who was very far away.
"Harry?" she said after a long silence. He started and looked down at her as if surprised to see her there.
OOO
The sudden realization of Hermione's presence shook Harry. He'd been lost back in that forsaken battle place.
"You told me that you couldn't believe I'd let him do that to you," he said then. The hollow tone of his voice surprised and scared him, knowing it sounded so much like that of Hermione's in his dream. "I tried to explain that I had done my best to stop it, that I'd never wanted anything to happen to you, but you wouldn't listen."
"It must have been horrible," Hermione whispered.
Harry nodded. "It was," he said. "You didn't believe anything I said. Then you stood up - as if you weren't in a bit of pain. And your eyes were red, just like Voldemort's." Hermione shuddered in his arms.
"I'm so sorry, Harry," she said.
"You haven't actually done anything," he replied. "There's nothing to be sorry for."
"What happened after that?"
Harry hesitated just a moment before answering. "You said that I didn't care about you. And that I had never even liked you when we were at Hogwarts. I - I tried to tell you that I had always wanted you, but you didn't even consider it." Harry was mortified to find that tears were running down his face. "You said that I had always fancied Ginny, and you didn't believe me when I said - when I said that I…that I loved you, and not her."
OOO
Hermione's pulse raced. Her mind shut down. Her heart pounded. Harry's words shook her to the very core. "Harry…." she whispered, but he put a finger over her lips.
Shaking his head, he said, "Don't stop me now, Hermione, or I won't ever start again." He removed his finger from her lips and slowly leaned towards her. Hermione closed her eyes and -
There was a tap at the window. Hermione's eyes flew open to see Harry looking extremely frustrated. He swore colorfully under his breath, but relinquished his hold on her to go and open the window for Hedwig. Hermione placed a hand over her heart and leaned up against the wall for support.
"It's my reply from Remus," Harry told her after having opened the letter. "He says it's probably a basic defensive potion, and we could most likely find it in our Potions textbooks." He failed to mention the small piece at the bottom that read:
As to your question, I would say that, yes, it means the girl fancies you. I can't tell you what to do about it, but I can give you advice. Never act as if you return feelings that you don't have, simply to save someone else pain. It only causes more pain in the end. But it seems to me that you already know how you feel about this girl. Give Hermione my best.
Harry could practically hear the smirk behind those last words. Of course Remus would know it was Hermione he was talking about.
"Let's get to work then, shall we?" Hermione asked shakily. Something had drastically changed in the last few moments, and she didn't know how things were going to be from then on.
Harry merely nodded his head and trotted up the stairs to get his textbook. Hermione took the armchair by the fire and sat down to think. It was going to be a long night.
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*kills Hedwig* EVIL BIRD!!! She must be an R/Hr shipper.
Told ya you'd hate me.
But don't kill me just yet. The next chapter is wonderificously satisfying.
*loves you all*
~ Violet Kefira
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