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Harry could not register the intense anguish that tore his heart apart like fine paper. Her body was cold. So, so cold. He hugged Cassiopeia tighter in his arms, hoping to transfer even a sliver to warmth to her body. Even if everyone else believed that she was dead, he would never give up hope. It was all he had left.
"Please open your eyes," he whispered.
"Harry..." Hermione teared up. Ron put his hand on her shoulder, patting her solemnly as he, too, shared a twinge of pain at the loss of a new friend.
"Mate, even if you hug her like that, she won't-"
"She will!" Harry cut Ron off. "She will definitely come back. She has to."
Draco curled his lips, desperately trying not to cry, and turned away from the body. His heart broke. He had lost his sister, a piece of himself. He tried to protect her, save her, but had failed in the most pathetic way. The only thing he did was watch as she killed herself to save everyone else. It was a horrible irony that knawed at his consciousness and made its way to his heart.
"We have to bring her back," Harry murmured to himself.
His friends looked at him helplessly. No one survived the killing curse, much less be revived from it. Bringing back the dead was impossible, and very taboo.
"I insist that you all leave my estate immediately."
Madame Sung slowly stood up, and brushed herself off, almost as if she were wiping away the tragedy that once again struck her lineage.
"I will have to make immediate arrangements for a proper burial, and a bunch of teenagers will not hinder me."
"She's not dead!" Harry insisted. "Look, she's right here!" He gestured to his arms, lifting the body for everyone in the library to see. Hermione and Ron cringed at the sight, unable to swallow Harry's pitiful blindness.
"You," Madame Sung gritted her teeth, "are the worse kinds of people. Accept that she'd dead. I will no longer endure your obstinance."
"How many time do I have to tell you that she'd not dead!" His voice broke. "There's still time. A spell, medical treatment, something! Something that will make her wake up!"
"Oh, Harry," Hermione whispered. "Even if we administer any medicine or conjure a forbidden spell..." Her voice trailed as a sudden memory popped in her brain. "A forbidden spell..." She slowly walked to the library index with the list of all the book and started flipping the pages.
"What are you doing, Hermione," Ron asked. "Blimey, you haven't gone mad as well, have you?"
"I could be wrong," Hermione said, flipping through the pages, "But I swore I saw a title. The Deathly Hallows, have you heard of it?"
"You couldn't possibly be thinking about that fable," Cassiopeia's mother scoffed. "The Resurrection Stone doesn't exist, girl. It's a made up story from a long ago."
"It exists, I'm sure of it," she said. She shifted her feet to a shelf and scaled the books. Her fingers glided along the spines until it finally stopped. She pulled a thin, green novel and went back to the others. "Here."
Everyone listened as Hermione briefed them of the story.
"If the invisibility cloak exists, whose to say that the others don't?"
"But where would the stone be?" Ron asked. "It's not like someone would just gift it to us."
Hermione thought for a moment. "Has Cassiopeia ever read this book?" she wondered.
"Of course she has," Madame Sung scoffed with a hint of pride. "She's read every book in this estate."
"Then she must have known that the stone was somewhere. Maybe she found it."
"Yeah, right." Ron shook his head in disbelief. "It's a one in a billion chance that she would believe in something like this."
"But not entirely zero." Hermione tapped her chin. "Let's assume she did find it. That would mean she'd carry it everywhere. Even," she pointed at her feet, "here."
Harry widened his eyes and patted the body, hoping to find a lump somewhere on her body.
He found nothing.
"So much for the stone, eh?" Ron muttered.
"I'm not done," Hermione snapped. "She brought us here. All of us. Why? It could have been just herself. But the Grey Lady told us that only we could break the curse. If Cassiopeia knew that, then she'd place her bets on someone that she knew would save her..." Her eyes trail to those thin glasses resting beneath the lightning scar. "Harry. And there was one thing in particular that kept them together."
"The box." Draco's jaw fell agape.
Harry dug through his pockets and pulled out the wooden case. It was made of oak wood, and had a bright gem right in the center of the lid. It glistened in the light. It had to be the stone. He spent no time to waste prying the decoration from its bedding and ripped it out of the box.
His hands trembled as he lay the stone on top of Cassiopeia's chest. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the stone glowed brighter and brighter, enveloping the girl's body into a blinding light. Everyone shielded their eyes until the light dimmed back and all that was left was a dull rock resting on Cassiopeia.
She did not move.
"Foolish," Madame Sung uttered dangerously quiet. "Such foolishness has made my daughter into some clown show."
"Wait," Hermione said.
And they did.
The stone was perfectly still.
And then it tilted to the left.
And the right.
Harry felt the pressure on his arms as something was moving.
"On Merlin's good name," Ron trailed stupendously.
Slowly, but surely, Cassiopeia's chest rose up and down. Up. And down. Her eyes twitched for a bit and gently opened up to the light of her friends and mother.
"What-"
Harry squeezed her tight, crying into her shoulder.
"Thank Merlin."
Cassiopeia blinked a bit. She was supposed to be dead; she made sure of it.
"I'm back," she murmured incredulously.
Harry hugged her tight in his arms. He was elated, but also terrified that this was all a dream and letting her go would mean losing her forever. Cassiopeia patted his back as he wept, and her eyes smiled graciously towards her friends. When she looked at her mother, a single teardrop stunned her.
"I'm so sorry," Madame Sung whispered.
Cassiopeia awkwardly smiled. "I forgive you, 엄마 (mom)."
Everyone pounced in the hug, squishing Harry as he buried his face in Cassiopeia's shoulder. The girl laughed, happy to be alive again.
"I love you, guys."
Author Note: April fools everyone!! (I know the philosopher's stone doesn't work like this in Harry Potter but it does in this fanfic)
