Unofficial Portkey Archive

Shadow Walker

Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time.

-Bonnie Tyler, "Total Eclipse of the Heart"

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You have suffered enough, and warred with yourself. It's time that you won.

-Glen Hansard, "Falling Slowly"

For a moment, no one in the chamber moved. There was nothing but the flutter and rustle of the Veil in its embrasure of stone. Hermione thought that she might be able to stand there forever, nestled in the crook of Harry's shoulder, her fingers laced through his, but the discomfort in her arm was ratcheting upward in intensity rapidly enough to make that impossible.

Ron was signing something off on the bureaucrat's roll of parchment, and the other Harry was interestedly looking over his shoulder. Ron, for his part, was striving valiantly not to recoil away from this Harry-that-was-not-Harry, but kept looking at him askance as he wrote.

The other Harry! Hermione jolted upright suddenly enough to startle her companion.

"What's wrong?" he asked, but she was unheeding.

"The other Harry, the other Harry!" she muttered under her breath, striding towards the one in question, until she stopped directly in front of him, and blurted, "How are you even here?"

"I beg your pardon?" Harry's eyebrows arched into his hair. "I got here the same way you got here." He was talking to her like she was six years old. She really hated that. She snatched her wand from where it was protruding from his pocket, and poked him in the chest with it.

"Why are you here? Visible? He is here!" She flung her arm in a wide arc toward her Harry, causing the one being castigated to flinch. "You should be out of phase. Who are you really?"

"Ow!" he said petulantly, rubbing at his chest, where she'd poked him. "Look. I know that from what you know, two of the same people being in phase at the same time is impossible. But… you saw the Nexus, right? Would you be willing to concede perhaps, even it's to me, that maybe we're a little more advanced in Multiverse Theory?"

Willing to concede might not be precisely how she'd put it, but Hermione recognized the inherent logic in his words, and subsided a bit, the look in her narrowed eyes clearly saying, Explain.

Harry thumbed a chain out from under his collar to show her. A surprisingly intricate network of silver filigree dangled from the end.

"What the hell is that?" She asked, in a tone, not of annoyance, but of awe. Harry smirked at her, and she realized a moment too late that she'd lost her irritation. She cast him a baleful scowl, and he laughed outright.

"Hermione, I guarantee you that if you had existed in my universe, we would have been great friends! Apparently, you can't stay mad at me even when you want to."

"Hmf," she grunted. "It's obvious you've gotten far too high an opinion of yourself without me around to rein you in! Now, answer my question." Her eyes focused intently, as she tried to make the design into some kind of cohesive picture or statement.

"It's my magical signature. Charmed to… well, charmed to within an inch of my life, probably. They don't just hand these out like Chocolate Frogs." The tone of the last sentence was cocky enough to make Hermione's eyes roll skyward. "They keep you… I don't know, sort of insulated from a foreign universe. I don't ever have to worry about being out of phase, when I'm… transporting someone… or something."

Hermione remembered his and Luna's words as they'd departed his universe.

Be right back, Luna.

You always are.

"How often do you do this?"

Harry shrugged. "'Spart of my job. Although, this has to be one of my more memorable transports. Seeing as how you almost killed my wife and all."

He was mostly not serious; Hermione could tell that easily enough by the smirk that twisted his lips, but she had plenty of residual guilt over endangering Vega, and the thought that he was exploiting that for fun annoyed her. She took a deep breath, and aimed her index finger in his direction.

"I'll have you know - " she began, but he cut her off with a delighted chuckle.

"Don't ever change, Hermione-Granger." He said her full name quickly, like it was one moniker.

Don't ever change. The simple sentence, said jokingly, resonated with her more than he probably meant. She was so different from the brilliant little girl going to Hogwarts for the first time, thrilled to the tips of her toes that maybe - finally ­- she had found the place in which she belonged. And then that world had chewed her up and spit her out. What remained was almost unrecognizable.

Her eyes flickered over to Harry - her Harry - and even thinking that gave her an odd sort of pang. But he was hers now, and she was his. They had gone through immeasurable loss, and somehow emerged cracked and brittle, but intact. Perhaps their function in life, their purpose, the reason they had both been stripped of everything, was to shore up the other, to strengthen, to reinforce… to endure and to help someone else do the same.

Harry followed her gaze, and there was something understanding in his eyes, when she looked back at him.

"He's very lucky."

"Somehow, I'd have thought you'd feel sorry for him," she replied, the empathy in her face taking any sting out of her words. Harry roared with laughter, and chucked her chin, causing her to huff with indignation. His eyes twinkling, he sketched a jaunty bow, which was irritating and all too indicative of his character.

"It has been a privilege," he grinned, but somehow she knew he meant it. He checked a couple of the chains around his neck, and made sure his wand was secured. "See you around the multiverse, Hermione-Granger!"

And just like that, he was gone.

Hermione let out a breath that she didn't even know she'd been holding, and the gusty sound caught Harry's attention. Unerringly, he moved to her side, and she marveled once again how adept he seemed to be at working around his deficit. Ron was finishing up with the Ministry grunt, and handed over the scroll after rolling it up. He Banished the quill and ink to some place or other, and turned toward them, clapping his hands together as if to dust them off.

"We should get you over to St. Mungo's. Harry - the - he - Merlin, that's weird! Anyway, he said you more or less left against the healer's advice… over - over there, I mean." Ron's voice was almost cracking under the strain to sound jovial and normal.

It was on the tip of Hermione's tongue to reject the suggestion out of hand, but she suddenly found that it was rather nice to have people taking care of her for a change.

"I'm not much for following rules, generally," she conceded, reflecting briefly on the fact that had this Ron and Harry known her from before, they would have found this statement erroneous at face value, while conceding that perhaps they had had something to do with her fall into rebellion and mischief.

"You're going," Harry said, in a tone that brooked no opposition, threading his fingers through hers. "You're breathing funny. It sounds strained… like something hurts."

"That's going to take some getting used to - the way you seem to know everything about me, even without seeing me."

"Oh, I have a feeling I've just barely scratched the surface of you, Hermione Granger." Her name, the same six syllables teasingly lilted by the other Harry, sounded very different when all but whispered by the man holding her hand. She felt a flush creep up her neck, and when he touched her - the fingers of his free hand tracing her jaw line, the point of her cheek bone, the slope of her nose - her heartbeat jumped into triple time. She leaned up toward him as he lowered his head...

… and they were jarred apart by the graceless and noisy sound of Ron Weasley clearing his throat.

"Not that I'm not thrilled by these, ahem, unexpected circumstances, you understand - because I am - but - I really don't need front-row seats for this kind of thing."

"Sorry, Ron," they both said at the same time, their voices blending into an unexpected chorus, followed by a laugh. Ron's subsequent eye-roll was nothing less than theatrical.

"Bloody hell," he said, almost inaudibly.

And Hermione Granger smiled.

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It was very late when they finally made their way home from St. Mungo's. They had Apparated in at the bridge, Ron having made his goodbyes at the hospital, and meandered through the sleeping village. Her arm newly wrapped and Immobilized, Hermione had been given a satchel full of potions vials, now thrown over Harry's shoulder, and strict instructions on when and how to take them. The containers clinked together as they walked, fingers twined together tightly. Harry let out an expansive sigh.

"It's a beautiful night," Hermione remarked softly, unable to keep the fatigue out of her voice completely. "Very clear, crescent moon… loads of stars."

"It feels clear," Harry responded. "The air is different when it's clear… brisker, maybe. Not so thick." There was a brief pause, before he added, "She feels close tonight."

Hermione didn't have to ask who he meant. "Yes, she does," she conceded, then continued off Harry's look of confusion. "I did get to meet her, you know - a version of her, anyway." She hesitated for only a brief moment, unsure whether the disclosure would make things better or worse. "She was married to the Harry who came with me. They were - they were expecting a baby in about six weeks… Lily."

He took an uneven breath, and she watched a tear catch the starlight as it pearled up from his bottom lid.

"It helped me," she said, uncertainly. "It helped to know that there were places where we had happy endings. Places where we - where we fought for each other, and won. I don't - I didn't know if - "

"It does help. It - it helps," he managed roughly, squeezing her hand, then using his other one to swipe at the escaping tears.

"He feels close too," she said, after a few moments of silence. They were at the edge of town now, making their way down the little lane to Harry's house. He hadn't even paused at Keziah's place when they'd passed it. "I heard him, you know. His voice - the Harry from my universe. Once before… when I left there … it was like he was standing right next to me. It was so clear! And then today, when I was in the null field… I thought I was going to die. I was going to die," she amended honestly. "But I heard him." Her voice took on a tone of wonder. "I heard him, and he reminded me about the vials the other Luna had given me. They saved me. He saved me. Again."

She belatedly realized that she might have sounded rather dreamy and besotted, and opened her mouth to further clarify, but his thumb brushed softly up and down the length of hers, as he somehow read her mind yet again.

"It's like he gave you back to me," he said. The Hermione Granger from long ago might have taken him to task over his supposition that she was anyone's possession, she thought with fond amusement. But she knew what he meant. She thought of Vega and Harry and their baby. Everything had felt off for so long, and now it was as if things were coming full circle, slipping back into balance. Equilibrium. One of the Lunas - she couldn't remember which, she realized wryly - had said something about that. Harry tilted his head back, as if taking in a panoramic view of the stars he could not see. Hermione smiled up at those stars, wavering through a tear-filled vision. The universe seemed full of possibility.

They were at the gate now, but instead of opening it, Harry steered her toward the large post against which it was latched. He was pressing up against her, thoroughly in her space, though still mindful of her injury, and she welcomed it.

"You belong to this universe," he muttered, low under his breath.

"Yes."

"We belong to each other." His face was so close to hers. His fingers snarled in the ends of her hair.

"Yes." Her voice was tremulous, breathy, full of promise.

"And you'll… stay… with me?" The other sentences had come out sounding like declarations, but he seemed unable to keep the last one from being a question. His lips brushed against hers, very softly, barely touching.

"I'll stay."

He kissed her then, slanting his mouth over hers decisively, as her good arm wound its way around his neck, and her fingers threaded into his hair. She felt dizzy, breathless, exhilarated - as if she had been whirled around and set down, finding her footing, something long lost finally finding its place.

He leaned his forehead against hers, letting their breathing slow, and he nearly laughed, reaching behind him to unlatch the gate.

"Let's go home, then."

The End… Almost!

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Epilogue(s)

Shadow Walks - AU #1 (Chapter 13)

The Dark Lord Harry Potter held on to the reins of power in Wizarding Britain for almost four years: years of terror, oppression, and misery, leading to decimation of the Muggle-Born population. An underground organization spear-headed by Bill and Fleur Weasley, along with his twin brothers, with international help from both continental Europe and the United States, was finally able to topple him in a violent coup. Experts and insiders claimed that Potter was mere weeks away from figuring out the final steps necessary to create Horcruxes, which would have rendered him essentially immortal. He was executed for his crimes, along with his trusted lieutenant, Ronald Weasley, on 5 May 2007. He was twenty-six years old.

Bill Weasley became the next Minister for Magic, in a special election. The contest was tightly fought, mostly because of his brother's association with Potter. However, he and his other brothers were both instrumental and tireless in rebuilding what had been so horrifically destroyed, including Hogwarts, which was reopened one year into his second term. He also maintained a special relationship with the St. Mungo's Long-Term care ward, due to his sister's residence there. Minister Weasley often said that he did not want the stories of those broken and discarded by the war to be forgotten.

Hermione Granger, a Muggle daughter of dentists, quietly finished her education at Oxford with a doctorate and most of the highest accolades possible to achieve. She never realized so much turmoil was going on so nearby. At twenty-five, she married a fellow graduate student, and they went on to live very happy lives in academia.

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Shadow Walks - AU #2 (Chapters 14-15)

Harry and Hermione Potter lived in the little house at Godric's Hollow for the duration of their marriage. They had three children, and adopted a fourth child due to a rather improbable set of circumstances after their youngest had started at Hogwarts.

Kate Potter married Ron Weasley two years after Harry's own wedding, and later had twin girls. Upon Hermione's retirement from the Department of Mysteries after eighteen years, she and Kate started a magical day school together, a revolutionary idea for its time. Hermione was later able to start a very quiet exchange program, in which Magical families could partner with Muggle families (usually ones that had a magical member) to take greater part in one another's worlds, opening up visits to Hogwarts or Diagon Alley for Muggle children, and even enabling young witches and wizards to experience Muggle schools or Muggle travel.

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Shadow Walks - AU #3 (Chapter 19)

Harry Potter had been assassinated by a Death Eater six months after defeating Voldemort. Ron and Hermione Weasley were grief-stricken, although they were able to comfort each other, and married three years after the Final Battle.

Harry had willed Godric's Hollow to them, and they lived there quite happily, though always feeling the loss of Harry keenly. They were unable to have children, and the dearth of fertility options in the Wizarding world bent Hermione's innate activism in that direction. They finally adopted a baby boy, found abandoned in a utility closet of a general store in Hogsmeade.

They named him Harry.

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Shadow Walker - AU #1 (Chapter 9)

Harry Potter met and married a French quarter-Veela , in a whirlwind romance six years out of Hogwarts, much to the disapproval of his widowed father, James. The marriage was contentious and stormy, ending in divorce less than four years later, and leaving Harry to raise their toddler, a girl named Juliette.

After returning home, he finally kindled a relationship with long-time close friend, Esmeralda Snape, marrying her after only eight months. There was no small amount of animosity between Harry and his father-in-law, but this was ameliorated over time. Severus and Lily Snape came to love Juliette no less than the two grandsons that followed.

Shadow Walker - AU #2 (Chapters 10-11)

Harry and Susan Potter never forgot their amazing encounter with a version of Hermione Granger, more than two years after her untimely death. It gave Harry the closure he needed, and he ended up being very happy with his second wife. Harry eventually rose to become one of the chief Healers at St. Mungo's, and Susan took her aunt's old position heading up the department of Magical Law Enforcement. They became parents to another little girl, naming her Amelie.

Jeannie Potter grew up into the very image of her mother. She seemed to have the best of both parents combined, and was sorted into Gryffindor. She received ten O.W.L.s, all Outstanding save an EE in Potions, which she hated, and turned down a chance to try out for an open Chaser position at Holyhead. Instead, she entered Auror training.

Harry did end up taking a mysterious leave of absence from St. Mungo's shortly after they met Hermione. His wife said he was out of the country, but remained very vague as to where. He returned less than three weeks later, unscathed save for three broken ribs.

Shadow Walks - Prime Universe (Chapters 1-12, 20-22)/Shadow Walker - AU#3 (Chapter 12)

Harry and Hermione Potter spent the first few years of their marriage at Hogwarts. Harry worked as the DADA teacher, while Hermione first pursued her mastery in Charms, and then became an adjunct faculty member, also working at a think tank in Magical Innovation in London. They were blissfully happy.

Ron and Luna Weasley married a year after Hermione was returned to them. Ron quit drinking, and though unable to restart his Quidditch career, did take the job as flight instructor at Hogwarts. Luna remained in the Department of Mysteries, becoming quite notable for her discoveries and achievements.

Shadow Walker - Prime Universe (Chapters 1-8)

Life in Wizarding Great Britain had deteriorated slowly and steadily under the governance of Lucius Malfoy. Much hope was lost when it was reported that Luna Lovegood was dead, murdered by Hermione Granger, who subsequently vanished without a trace. The few people left who'd known them knew the story had to be false.

Several months after she disappeared, Lucius Malfoy was found dead inside his office, nothing on his desk but paperwork requiring signatures and an empty cup of tea. This might not have been suspicious, were it not for the Stunned and Obliviated security guard outside his office. There was speculation about poison, but nothing was detected. Rumors floated around that Hermione Granger had managed to sneak into the Ministry again and had killed him. One wild article in a fringe paper suggested that they had an eyewitness who said Harry Potter had done it from beyond the grave.

In the end, Malfoy was not much mourned. His followers made a bid for power, but were too fragmented to consolidate their hold. Wizards and witches holding more moderate positions began to slowly bring their world back to its feet.

Shadow Walker - AU #4 (Chapters13-18)

Harry and Hermione came to be much-loved fixtures around Godric's Hollow. Hermione worked to maneuver Harry out of his self-imposed exile, and, while there were good days and bad days for both of them, the villagers certainly began to see more of their best-known resident than they ever had before. Hermione helped Keziah with the bookshop, eventually expanding it and adding a tearoom. She also consulted with the Department of Mysteries on various cases and issues concerning the Multiverse Room.

Harry's memoir was an unadulterated success, and after not hating the book tour quite as much as he thought he would, he ended up working with the author again on other pieces. He also taught several special classes on Defense and on the War, although the Final Battle always remained difficult for him to talk about. He did not become a member of Hogwarts' staff, as it was also difficult for him to return there. He never regained his eyesight, but Hermione did help develop a pair of bespelled glasses to help him navigate with even more accuracy.

Hermione married Harry only six months after she arrived in the village, and their union was a long and happy one. They eventually had two daughters and one son.

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AN: Oh my GOSH, this story is finally done! I am proud that I finished it, and simultaneously ashamed that it took such a ridiculous amount of time to do so. It was a much bigger undertaking than I thought, with the first half of the story having to mesh with what had already been described in "Shadow Walks" and then figuring out a way to tie it all back up. Plus, I have kids, and they have to go to school and eat and stuff… but I could list excuses all day long.

The bottom line is I finished it and here it is!! I will finish "The Catalyst" as well. It probably only has one more chapter to go.

Thanks for sticking with me. I know I hardly ever reply to reviews, but they have meant the world to me, truly! I thought I was done, but I've got a couple of ideas… one of them being a short-ish sequel to "Senses", and the other containing a non-canon, non-PK relationship. That one will be up at FFnet, where I have the same username.

Please, leave a review on your way out, if you like!

As ever,

lorien

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