"Buried, almost tangible secrets filled the space between them, and so, without a second to think, she closed it."
The scars of war opened more wounds than Harry Potter thought possible. As he returns to Hogwarts for his eighth and final year, he le...
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THE SECOND THEY STEPPED OUTSIDE, a wall of flashing lights slapped them in the face.
Their presence was jarring to the tranquilness of the Burrow's surroundings: quiet greenery and gardens. Hermione shrieked, since she had been the first to step out, and the owl in Harry's cage frantically hooted, shielding it's face with a black wing.
"Harry! Over here!" shouted hundreds of voices, thundering in his ears as he clapped his hands over them.
"Give us a smile!"
"Where's the scar?"
"Harry!" shouted a voice, sounding closer to him.
"Look over here!"
"Harry!" repeated the voice.
Squinting through the blinding lights, Harry put a hand over his face and cracked open his eyelids.
Standing before him was Hermione, and next to him was Ron, who took the birdcage from his hands and disappeared. Now that Harry could see, he realized that the lights were from hundreds of cameras, and the voices from hundreds of screaming reporters.
"Ron's taking your things to the car!" Hermione explained hastily, though she had to scream over shouting reporters to be heard. "We have to go!"
"Hey!" shouted a sharp voice, and Harry looked over Hermione's shoulder to see a reporter. The reporter was climbing on top of another one, who was yelling and batting over his head to shake him off. "Hey!"
Harry glared in response. Hermione did the same, looping her arm with Harry and trying to move down the stairs towards safety.
Then, yelling like a banshee, the reporter broke free from the ranks. Before Harry had time to react, the reporter grabbed hold of Hermione's arm and swept her away into the sea of blinding, flashing lights. Harry put a hand over his eyes to shield himself, and could now see Ginny barreling through the flock of cameras and quills: wand out, hair blazing as a beacon for him and Ron to follow, but Ron had broken away from his side to find and rescue Hermione.
Suddenly alone, Harry could hear his name being shouted at Ginny like a mob of angry seagulls.
"How do your brothers feel about you and Harry?"
"Were you seeing anyone else when Harry was out chasing Horcruxes?"
"Does Harry actually have a tattoo on his chest?"
Meanwhile, the aforementioned Harry shouldered through reporters, arms up like a battering ram.
"Don't touch me!" he heard Hermione snap as he passed, pausing in a tiny gap between him and the wall where reporters could not see him.
