En Memoriam

Chapter 32

Hermione released the breath she hadn't known she was holding. Her jaw was so tense she could feel every grove of her molars. Her eyes held a far-off look to them, as though seeing without truly being aware. Her ears and hands twitched as her feet moved with trepidation. The soft wind teasing her curls.

The Shrieking Shack stood as it always had. Dark, forbidden, and with an ominous aura. Even with the sun shining so brilliantly it still held its own shadow. Hermione could almost smell the rotten wood as she moved closer and feel the sway of its floors. She hadn't known why she had suddenly been sparked with the memory of her dreams. Or why she had acted on them at all. They were merely dreams... weren't they?

Her fingers lightly traced the door frame, the steps it had taken to get there feeling like both an eternity and instantaneous. She pushed the wood aside turning her head up towards the shadows. She knew exactly where she needed to be though she felt lost. Her chest fluttered as she moved towards the room she had sworn never to enter again. The room where the man who had spent a lifetime on the wrong side of heaven and the righteous side of hell had left behind a world that never knew his true sacrifice.

Knees suddenly weak, Hermione leaned down over the blood-stained floor. Her fingers traced the outline of stained wood and dust. She whispered a soft prayer in his name before turning her head towards the corner that had haunted her dreams. At first, the shadow over the space was too great but as her eyes adjusted she could clearly see something. On hands and knees, she crawled towards the broken chair and tilted her head to try and see better. A small glint of something further back than she had seen before, caught her attention and she bent down further reaching into the small space. Her eyes closed as her fingers stretched, her brow furrowing as she felt something cool just at the very edge of her fingertips. A soft spell left her lips and in an instant, she felt something cold and hard snap into her palm.

Carefully, she pulled herself back onto her haunches, her breath somewhat light as she opened her hand. She could hardly believe what was so clearly before her. She had never thought of divination as something worth putting any effort into but how could she possibly explain what was so clearly before her now. The small vial rocked as she shifted, even the bloodstain around the lip was there with two gel-like capsules settled inside.

Her brow furrowed and for a moment, her mind simply turned. Thinking back to the faded dream she'd had at the beach. It was faint, like a childhood memory but the realness of it stayed with her. Though she couldn't rightly recall how it ended she could feel the niggling in the back of her brain that told her she had witnessed something most important. Unfortunately, that detail was just out of reach.

As she came to her feet, her wand slipped into her palm, the other closing tight around the vial. Luna. She needed to see Luna. With that thought in mind, she turned on the spot leaving the space of one of her nightmares behind.

oOo

"It's... beautiful..." Harry breathed with awe. His fingers gently held open the drawing of his mother. He took in every fine detail of the drawing, even her name was written with such grace. The tail of the 'y' stretched out into a wonderfully accurate depiction of her namesake.

"I found it in Severus' things, I believe it is best that you have it," Minerva spoke softly, her eyes taking in the young man before her. Their previous conversation over Drugor's plan had darkened the hope that the pair of them shared.

Harry nodded absently, very carefully rolling it back up. When his eyes rose again he looked at the small bundle of letters, with a small nod from McGonagall, he took them next settling them in his lap. His lips twitched a bit when he released the twine holding them together and slipped the first from the stack, the seal had been unbroken, and when he turned to see to whom it was addressed his eyes were caught on the name settled in the return. They were posted, like muggle letters.