𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 \\ 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗷. 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿

𝐶𝑉𝐼.

— ✩ ☽ ✩ —

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙣𝙚-𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙙-𝙨𝙞𝙭

— ✩ ☽ ✩ —

TOGETHER, THE FOUR managed to find the shore, pulling themselves from the water and stepping onto rocks. They were freezing cold and soaking wet, but they were alive. That's what mattered. Caroline stepped towards Harry, coughing, placing her arms around his neck. "He knows," Harry said as soon as Caroline let him go. "You-Know-Who. He knows we broke into Gringotts. He knows what we took, and he knows we're hunting horcruxes." they started walking quickly, closer inland.

        "How is it you know?" Hermione asked, the four beginning to walk up a grassy hill.

        "I saw him." Harry revealed, dropping Caroline's hand raw, cut open hand. He couldn't hold her, not then.

        Hermione's eyes widened. "You let him in? Harry, you can't do that!" she shouted, but that wasn't helping.

        "Hermione, I can't always help it!" Harry yelled back, breathing heavily. "Well, maybe I can. I don't know!" the boy said in frustration.

        "Never mind! What happened?" Ron got the conversation back on track as they walked as quickly as they could.

        Harry panted. "Well, he's angry. And scared, too," Hermione and Caroline stopped walking, digging through their bags that were protected from water by a charm. "He knows, if we find and destroy all the Horcruxes, we'll be able to kill him. I reckon he'll stop at nothing to make sure we don't find the rest." Hermione poured drops of Essence of Dittany over the hands of her friends, healing their cut up skin from the dragon's horns.

        Caroline started pulling out clothes for her and Harry. "Harry, breathe. Just for a second." Caroline shivered from her knees, desperate to change her clothes and get warm.

        Harry looked down at her, doing what she said before he spoke again. "And there's more. One of them is at Hogwarts." he announced, he and Ron starting to take their wet clothes off.

        "What? You saw it?" Hermione asked, Caroline watching as Harry took his jumper off.

        "I saw the castle. And Rowena Ravenclaw. It must have something to do with her. We have to go there, now!" Harry ripped his shirt off.

        Caroline's eyes widened, not because Harry was shirtless, but because of his words. "Harry, we can't do that! I've got to have a plan, we've got to figure it out!" she shouted, standing up. Caroline didn't have a plan when Jacob died, a scrappy one when they lost Sirius. She couldn't go anywhere without details in her mind, an escape plan, because then, if something happened, it would be on her.

        "Carol, when have any of your plans ever actually worked? We plan, we get there, all hell breaks loose," Harry snapped, taking the shirt she handed him. "I'm sorry, love, but you know I'm right." he said, trying to be gentler when he saw Caroline's face.

        "He's right," Ron said, changing into a fresh shirt while Caroline tore away her jumper, freeing her long braids. "One problem. Snape's Headmaster now. We can't just walk through the front door." the redhead reminded the others, Hermione unbuttoning her top.

        "Well, we'll go to Hogsmeade, to Honeydukes. Take the secret passage in the cellar," Harry said, averting his eyes as Caroline tore away her shirt, pulling on a navy blue long sleeved top over her chest. "It's... There's something wrong with him. It's like, you know, in the past, I've always been able to follow his thoughts. And now everything just feels disconnected."

        Caroline took off Harry's glasses once she fixed her fresh shirt, drying them and placing them back over his eyes. "Maybe it's the horcruxes. Maybe he's growing weaker. Maybe he's dying." Ron suggested, Hermione changing her clothes.

        Harry shook his head, Hermione and Caroline hiding together behind a towel to change their pants, Caroline pulling on simple black jeans, drying her battered blue converse sneakers with a spell. "No. No, it's-it's more like he's wounded. If anything, he feels more dangerous." Harry panted, finally allowing himself to really breathe.

        They finished changing into fresh clothes, Caroline pulling on a grey zip-up jumper to add more warmth. She tied half of her braids up into a small knot, double knotting her shoes. Harry pulled her over by the arm while Ron and Hermione finished changing. "What's wrong now?" Caroline asked when she saw his face, straightening his brown jacket.

        "Nothing," Harry shook his head, taking Caroline's jaw in his grip. "I'm sorry. I think your plans are great." he apologised.

        Caroline cracked a smile, chuckling softly. "No, they're not. No one can plan for this." Caroline gently combed her fingers through Harry's drying hair, arranging it over his forehead.

        Harry pulled her to him and kissed her before enveloping her in his arms, her head tucked in his chest. "I love you, Lana. More than the sky and the stars and the moon." Harry whispered the last part so only she could hear.

        Caroline smiled, kissing his cheek and pulling back to look at him, hands framing his face. "I love you, too. If we survive this, we have to go get the cats. That's priority one." she said, completely serious.

        Smiling for the first time in a long time, Harry's eyes lit up. Of course she would be thinking about Penny and Marie. "You're adorable, you know that?" Harry played with some of her braids to keep his fingers from misbehaving.

        "I try." Caroline knew they were running out of time before they had to go, before they went on to the next location. But they didn't know everything would happen at Hogwarts.

        "What's priority two?" Harry saw that Hermione and Ron were almost ready out of the corner of his eye.

        Caroline ran her hands up and down Harry's arms. "Meet Teddy, then find a real bed to sleep in for days." she explained, and Harry nodded. He kissed her again, because he loved her, the only real thought in his mind.

— ✩ ☽ ✩ —