A letter to you

Chapter 12: What just happened?

Hermione's apartment

Hermione:

I gasped and ran forward to catch Professor McGonagall. Gently, I eased her onto the sofa and turned to confront Neville.

Sheepishly, he grinned and said, "Sorry, I was in my room, looking at your letter when McGonagall came bursting through the doors and demanded that I hand the letter over. I did and the next thing I knew, she was a cat and I had to take the floo powder to bring her over here."

"Did she say anything before that?" I enquired.

"Yeah... Something like 'what Dumbledore said will finally happen' and 'I hope I'm wrong' " he replied easily. My heart sank. Whatever I was up to must not have been good for McGonagall to come rushing over and try to stop me. It must not have been good if Dumbledore had sensed it coming and warned the professor about it. Part of me wanted to stop what I was doing. Now. But the other part of me wanted to reunite others who lost their loved ones and... to see Fred again.

Yeah, I'm not proud to admit it but Fred was the backbone, the spine, of why I wanted... why I needed to do this. And if that's what I had to do to get him back here, I would do that. No matter the cost.

I know, I know. I sound clingy, stupid, blah blah blah. I know people who hate romance would most probably be one me for my creepy thoughts but what could I do? Nothing.

Hermione's apartment

Neville:

I stared at Hermione, wondering what had just happened. A moment ago, I had been sipping a nice cup of tea while reading her frantically written letter. I had been about to write a letter back when McGonagall burst in.

I didn't tell Hermione the full story. I think it would scare her to death if I'm honest. But McGonagall had muttered under her breath, when I had asked her why she was so panicked, "I need to stop her, or she'll die trying. Dumbledore always said this would happen. Snape always said that she and Ronald didn't have any chemistry. That there was someone else. Even that mental Trelawney said that both of them had different partners for life and that one of their partners would be dead! So why this? Why? Dumbledore... oh, Dumbledore... he said that ... he said that... why can't I remember what he said?"

I had calmly stopped Mc Gonagall here, even though I nearly felt like fainting. And of course, I had brought her over to Hermione's apartment when Mc Gonagall fainted.

Hermione's apartment

Mc Gonagall:

As I was drifting in and out of consciousness, I suddenly remembered what Dumbledore, good old eccentric Dumbledore had said, "One will live and the same person will die, over and over again. It could be either one. It will start with a letter from the dead, continue with letters from the living until chaos might. Might happen. It all depends on fate and destiny... something neither us, no muggles could ever figure out... But in the end, both parties will be happy, and we will all be happy. And you," he said with a sparkle in his eye, "You, yes you will be the one to help them all."

I, being young(er) and foolish then had dismissed his ramblings with a wave of my hand and a quick roll of my eyes.

What did you mean Dumbledore? Why didn't I pay closer attention to all his ramblings? I questioned myself repeatedly.

In the end, though, I decided to trust Dumbledore's judgment. He had been right in almost everything after all, and what else was there to lose?

Waking up from my fainting spell (yes... I do know that there is a very lame pun there) I stood up and told Hermione, "Dumbledore said something like this would happen. Based on everything that has happened so far, I have a feeling that he was talking about you. I shall help you on this 'quest' if you promise to trust my judgement and stop when I tell you to do so. The journey will be long and dangerous. Rough and uneven. But if we persevere, you might have the ending you desire."

Hermione, the foolish and loveable girl that she was, nodded her head eagerly. "Neville, we will need your help with this. Slughorn, Flitwick and Trelawney will be needed to of course, as well as Mr Potter." Neville's face paled and my mouth turned up a corner. "Very well then! Let's get started!" I exclaimed while rolling up my sleeves.