On their walk, Hermione told Harry about the next Wonder on their schedule. When she was finished with her explanation, he stopped and said solemnly, "We need to tell them."
"Yeah. That was my plan. After they got back today, so as not to put a damper on their visit to the Forgotten City."
"Okay. That's a good idea."
He was quiet for a long time and she thought she knew what he was thinking. Her suspicion was confirmed when he asked, "Are the different worlds of the dead connected?"
Hermione shrugged. "I have no idea."
Currently, Harry and Hermione were walking with James and Lily to the ancestral shrine they had discovered on their walk earlier, while James detailed everything they'd seen during their second visit to the Forgotten City.
"The gold Fire Lizard missed you," Lily cut in, linking her arm with Hermione's. "She was chittering at me the whole time, as if scolding me for leaving you behind."
Hermione smiled at the memory of the gold Fire Lizard. The unexpected softness of her warm scales as she rubbed her head against Hermione's cheek, the way she vibrated, almost like Crookshanks, when she cooed. It was a special moment Hermione would carry with her for the rest of her life, and she was glad the magic protecting the city allowed her to keep the memory.
"Meiling gave us a much more thorough description of the Fire Lizards," James continued. "She explained how rare it is for them to like witches and wizards outside the Liu family. So, if you didn't already know it, Hermione, you're remarkable," he finished with a wink.
"She knows," Harry said. "I tell her at least once a day, usually more."
"As you should," James said simply, reaching for Lily and tucking her under his arm. "You're remarkable too. Have I told you that?"
"A few times," she replied with a smile.
Since James had pulled Lily away from Hermione, she was free, leaving Harry an opening to wrap an arm around her waist. She tensed slightly, but he didn't notice. He was thinking how nice it was to be close to her again. He'd been with her all day but without his parents around, he hadn't had an excuse to hold her like this.
Alarm bells rang in the back of his mind, reminding him that he had a fiancée back at home who wouldn't appreciate him embracing another witch any chance he got. He tried to justify his actions with the excuse that he was just the sort of person who craved physical touch. It wasn't hard to figure out how that had come about.
This unexpected reunion with his parents had him in an emotionally unstable place and it wasn't a big deal that Hermione was giving him this comfort. They were just friends. They were like this during the war, too. That hadn't been anything romantic and neither was this.
"What did you two do today?" Lily asked.
Stole a letter from your room, had an epic fight, then an even more epic reconciliation. We tried to piece together the other Harry and Hermione's past, had some varied conversations along the way, I saw her wound for the first time, then learned I'd be visiting a Tear in the Veil tomorrow.
Hermione looked up at Harry with a look that said, "Are you going to take this one, or me?" He gave her a quick smile before saying to his mum, "We didn't do much of anything. Walked around the property, talked, and took a nap. It was just a much-needed recovery day."
Lily's eyes flashed to Hermione. "How are you feeling? Okay?"
"My injury's fine," Hermione replied, relieved to be able to discuss it in front of Harry. "I was just tired. I haven't been sleeping well from all the excitement and today was just what I needed." Their destination was finally visible up the path and Hermione gestured to the shrine up ahead. "Harry and I discovered this while we were walking. Isn't it beautiful?"
Hermione pulled away from Harry to climb up the stairs into the gazebo-like structure. "Look at this detailed work," Lily said, pointing to the railing surrounding the shrine where there were dragons of all sizes and types etched into the wood.
"It's really beautiful," Hermione said, leaning against the stone statue in the middle of the shrine. As she spoke, the air coming out of her mouth transformed into a tiny, translucent dragon, about the size of a small Fire Lizard, which began flying around the shrine as Hermione's voice echoed a few times. "It's really beautiful… it's really beautiful… it's really beautiful."
The Lizard, which seemed to be her voice, flew out into the open sky, flapping his wings swiftly, until he was out of sight.
"What the hell was that?" Harry asked.
Hermione jumped away from the statue. "I don't know."
"I think Ancient Chinese families, like the Lius, use these shrines to speak with their ancestors," Lily said, leaning forward to study the statue Hermione had been touching. "Maybe you sent a message to their ancestors."
"How? By speaking while touching this statue?"
Lily shrugged and said with a grin, "It's magic."
James was reaching out for the statue when Lily caught his arm. "Absolutely not."
"Fine," he sighed, then turned to wink at Hermione. "If someone responds to your message, don't call them Joe."
"Haha," Hermione said sarcastically. Harry was back at her side. This time, when he wrapped an arm around her, she didn't try to pull away but instead, leaned into him. She may have just upset an Ancient Liu Ancestor and didn't mind having a trained Auror at her side as she waited to see how they were going to respond.
The group waited in silence for something to happen, but it didn't seem like anyone was going to reply to Hermione's message. On their way back to the house, Harry gestured toward a tree, the same one where he and Hermione had made up after their argument.
"Before we get back, we wanted to talk to you about something," Harry announced.
Lily and James exchanged a look, like they'd been expecting something like this, but Harry was pretty sure they weren't anticipating what he and Hermione were about to tell them.
Hermione began to speak once they reached the top of the hill. "We wanted to talk to you about the next Wonder of the World. It's—uh—unique and has the potential to be...upsetting. We wanted to warn you and see if you're okay to go, or just want to skip on to the next one."
"What is it?" James asked, directing his question at Harry.
"Er…" Harry looked at Hermione, who reached out and took his hand before giving him an encouraging nod. "It's a Tear in the Veil. A place where you can speak to the dead."
"What?" James asked, taking a step back. "That's not possible."
"It is," Hermione chimed in. "There are tears between the world of the living and the world of the dead in several places around the world. Even our Ministry has one, in the Department of Mysteries, but it's a pretty thick barrier. You can't talk to the dead directly, but only hear their muffled voices from the other side. There are spells you can use to improve the connection; but they're really complicated."
"How do you know all that?" Lily asked.
"Oh." Hermione looked down at her feet, then cursed herself for doing so, since it was something people typically did when they lied. She forced herself to look back up and met Lily's searching gaze. "I read about it when I was researching this Wonder of the World. This Tear in Egypt is the thinnest of all—so thin that you can see and talk to people on the other side."
"Merlin," Lily whispered. She looked up at James, who was wearing an uncharacteristically blank expression as he looked off into the distance. Lily grabbed James's arm and lifted on her toes to place a small kiss on his cheek.
Harry squeezed Hermione's hand as his chest clenched. She leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder.
"James should decide," Lily said when she turned back to Harry and Hermione. "He's lost the most out of all of us and—well—he should decide. But, James," she turned back to him, "you can take the night and—"
"I'll go," he said, his voice uneven. "I want to go."
"Are you sure?" Lily whispered.
He nodded and pulled her into a hug. "I'm sure." James turned to Harry and Hermione and gave them a forced smile. "Thanks for the warning." Then, he turned to the path and began walking back to the house without another word. Lily patted Harry's arm and gave him a sad smile before running after James.
"Bloody hell," Harry sighed when they were out of earshot.
Hermione wrapped both arms around his torso and laid her head on his chest. "I was hoping they'd say they wanted to skip it."
"Yeah. Me too," he replied, moving his arms behind her back and grabbing his wrists to hold her in place.
"We'll be fine."
"How are you so confident about that?" he murmured into her hair.
"We've been through worse together."
That night, while Harry and Hermione were lying in bed, each trying to fall asleep, Harry turned to her and asked, "How do you manage to fall asleep so quickly? I can't turn my brain off. Is it some sort of spell or—"
She let out a laugh. "No spell."
"What is it then?"
"Hmm… I hadn't thought about it, but I have been falling asleep pretty easily on this trip. I guess if I had to assign a cause, I'd say there are three reasons. One, I'm exhausted. I think the injury takes energy out of me throughout the day. Two, I do Arithmancy problems in my head to keep from thinking of other things. It's my version of counting sheep. And three, well—" she turned to face him, "—you."
"What? Me?"
He could barely make out the smile on her face in the dark. "You said you felt safe with me earlier today and it's the same for me—even though you can be an idiot at times. I feel safe with you, hence, I find it easy to fall asleep knowing you're just a few inches away."
"Oh," he whispered, unsure how to respond to that.
She turned onto her other side while Harry looked up at the ceiling. He was going to miss sleeping with her once this trip was over.
Shit. That came out wrong. I didn't mean that sexually.
Sexually or not—that is a very inappropriate thought. You have a fiancée!
Harry wished he knew Arithmancy, so he could start running formulas in his head and block out these unhelpful thoughts. He started naming every Quidditch play he knew, but that just reminded him of Ginny. So instead, he listed the Dark Spells he knew. By the time he reached the end of the list, Hermione was asleep. He focused on her even breathing until he eventually lost consciousness.
Day Six
The group was quiet over breakfast the next day. The night before they'd said farewell to Zhihao and his family, and Hermione had also admitted about accidentally sending a message to their ancestors. Zhihao had laughed, which was the first time she'd ever seen him smile. Then he said that if the ancestors believed her worthy—and they probably would, since the Fire Lizards liked her—they'd respond at the 'proper time.' Hermione wasn't very comforted by the thought, so tried to push it out of her mind.
Currently, the group was eating alone. Zhihao was on his way to the Forgotten City with a group of American tourists and the rest of the house was still asleep.
Hermione had just finished explaining her plan to leave right at seven o'clock, when it would be one o'clock in the morning in Egypt, which should ensure they got a good spot in the queue.
"Queue?" James asked.
"This is the most-visited Wonder of the World. For, um, obvious reasons. There will be a queue to get to the Tear in the Veil and once there, we'll be ushered along after ten minutes, to give time for everyone else to speak with their loved ones."
"Ten minutes is nothing," James replied, his voice dead.
"Yeah," Hermione said, unsure how else to respond.
Lily leaned into James's side and asked Hermione in a hushed tone, "Is the tear in the Veil in one of the pyramids?"
"No," Hermione said. "There's nothing magical about the pyramids. It's actually a bit ironic. The muggles made those in that triangular shape so the pharaohs' souls could be launched into the sky. But the whole time, unbeknownst to them, the thinnest tear between the worlds of the living and the dead was just miles away, hundreds of feet underground.
"Are there obstacles? Like those muggle movies starring that bloke with the whip?" Harry winced as he remembered Dudley's brief phase of pretending to be that bloke, whip and all.
"Indiana Jones?" Hermione asked with a smile. "No, it'll be nothing like that. As far as I've read, the only obstacle we need to get past is the Sphinx at the entrance, and even she doesn't question everyone."
"How do you know about muggle movies?" Lily asked Harry.
Harry's heart thudded. Shit. He'd done it again. Said something the other Harry, who grew up in the Wizarding World, would have never said. "From me, obviously," Hermione said nonchalantly, saving the day, yet again. She stood up and collected the empty bowls of porridge, then floated them into the sink with her wand. "Okay," she said as she pulled the familiar leather envelope out of her backpack. She pulled out one of the Portkeys. "This will activate in two minutes. Are you ready?" "Is anyone ever ready to speak to someone they thought they'd never see again?" James asked darkly. "We don't have to go," Harry cut in. "We can still skip it." He gave Hermione a hopeful look. "No," James said, standing up from the table and putting his backpack on. "We're going." Harry gave Hermione a look that said, "Well, I tried." She gave him a sad smile. They'd talked at length the day before about how much they wished they could skip this Wonder, but it would have been hard to explain why they'd decided to deviate from Hermione's plan. As everyone touched a finger to the Portkey in Hermione's hand, James turned to Lily and said, "You can't leave my side the entire time." "I wouldn't dream of it," she smiled back. Harry turned to Hermione and mouthed, "Same for you." Her heart caught in her throat as that familiar tug appeared just behind her navel and whisked them away.
The Portkey dropped them in the middle of the desert. There was nothing for miles around and if it weren't for the moon, which was especially bright that night, Harry wouldn't have been able to see anything. "Shoot," Hermione said as she looked up at the sky. "I wish the moon wasn't so bright." Harry disagreed. "Why is that a bad thing?" Lily asked in a whisper as she pulled her wand out of her robes. "I need to be able to see the stars. The Corvus and Crater constellations, specifically." "How fitting," Lily murmured. "Yeah," Hermione said absently as she tried to cast a spell with her wand. It took her several tries to get it right but once it worked, it projected a map of the sky above their heads. "Whoa," James said, clearly impressed. "Why did you say the Corvus and Crater constellations were fitting?" Harry asked as he looked at the projection of the stars above them. Hermione was chewing on her lip and studying the sky, deep in thought, so ignored his question, but his mum responded. "They are said to mark the gates to the Underworld." "How on earth do you know that?" James asked. "They covered it in Astronomy." James rolled his eyes. "Okay, then I'll correct my question to: how on earth did you remember that?" Lily just shrugged.
"Hermione's the same," Harry said to his dad. "She remembers every little thing that enters her brain. I don't get it."
"Oh, there they are!" Hermione exclaimed, as if on cue.
James's eyes sparkled with amusement. "They may be annoyingly brilliant, but we'd be completely lost without them."
Harry silently agreed.
Hermione did some sort of spell to point them toward the space between the two constellations, which Harry guessed was a modified version of the Point Me spell she'd taught him in his Fourth Year. James looked impressed again, but Harry was past being impressed by Hermione's vast knowledge of magic.
She led the way through the desert, her wand held in front of her, and seemed unbothered by the fact that nothing appeared for miles around them, not even a lone tree in the horizon or the sound of an animal. Harry's legs grew heavier with each step and an uneasiness was settling in his chest. He imagined this was the land version of being stranded at sea and didn't like the feeling at all.
He was trying to figure out the best way to bring his apprehension up to Hermione without insulting her when a large Sphinx, three times the size of the one he'd encountered in the maze during the Triwizard Tournament, appeared out of nowhere.
"Oh!" Lily exclaimed, stopping abruptly in her tracks.
Harry walked into her and grabbed her arms to keep from knocking her over. "Sorry."
"We crossed a magical barrier," Hermione announced unnecessarily. "I should have warned you sooner, but I wasn't sure how much longer until we reached it."
"You're providing details on this trip on a very 'need to know' basis, aren't you?" James grumbled.
"You're just upset you're not the one in charge, for once," Hermione replied.
"You're the one with control issues," he snapped, his words lacking their characteristic teasing tone.
"Me? Need I remind you of the Portkey incident?"
"Okay, you two," Lily said, walking between them. "Hermione, we really appreciate your help but if you could voice your thoughts more often, that would be welcome, since not knowing what to expect is pretty unsettling. And James—" Lily's tone softened, "we all know you're stressed at the thought of seeing Sirius, but it's not fair to take it out on the rest of us."
James sighed and muttered an apology to Hermione.
"I'm sorry too," she said quickly. When she looked over at Harry, he could tell she was embarrassed.
Harry pulled her into a half-hug and kissed the side of her head. "Okay, Hermione. What's next?"
"We need to get past the Sphinx," she announced, motioning toward the large creature, which appeared to be asleep.
When Harry looked at the creature, he spotted a dark tunnel between the Sphinx's front legs. "So, she'll give us a riddle?" Harry asked.
"Yes. We each need to stand before her and based on some criteria, that no one knows besides her, she'll either admit you right away, or make you solve a riddle first. If you don't get the riddle right, you need to leave immediately. I thought—um—meaning no offense to you and your dad, that neither of you should go last, since you're not as good at riddles as Lily and I and—if you got it wrong..."
"We could end up outside alone while the rest of you were inside," James finished for her. "Makes sense. Let's do me, Lily, Harry, then you. Sound good?" He gave Hermione a kind smile, obviously trying to make up for his earlier outburst.
"Yeah. That's what I was thinking."
By the time they looked back at the Sphinx, she was awake and watching them with her large almond-shaped eyes, wearing a mysterious smile. James took a tentative step in front of her and bowed his head.
"You may enter," she said in a deep, hoarse voice.
"Oh, uh, that was easy," James said. He turned to the rest of them and gave them a quick wave before disappearing down the dark tunnel.
"That's me," Lily said as she approached the creature. She, too, was admitted without a riddle.
Harry, who was next, was not so lucky. The Sphinx's eyes roved over him and flashed with what looked like anger for a second. Harry was about to make a run for it when she said in a calm tone, "I have a riddle for you."
"Yeah...er...okay."
He looked at Hermione, who gave him an encouraging smile, then back at the Sphinx, who began to recite:
"When I'm young, I am tall. When I'm old, I am short. When I'm alive, I glow. Because of your breath, I die. What am I?"
Harry took a deep breath as he recalled what Hermione had told the group earlier. She said all the riddles would be related to death in some way and that most riddles tricked the responder by personifying objects or animals that weren't usually personified—whatever that meant.
Harry looked behind him and saw Hermione giving him a knowing look as she bobbed her head up and down. Oh, great, she'd already got it. He recalled his time in the maze in Fourth Year and reminded himself he'd solved one of these before and could do it again.
However, there was a big part of him that didn't want to solve the riddle so he could avoid visiting the Tear in the Veil altogether. But his parents were there, and he didn't want to leave them alone.
"When I'm young, I am tall. When I'm old, I am short," he whispered. That made no sense, so he moved on to the next lines, which he asked the Sphinx to repeat.
"When I'm alive, I glow. Because of your breath, I die. What am I?" she repeated.
"Fire," he replied, then added hastily, "but wait, that's not my final response. It doesn't fit the beginning." Harry repeated the riddle again. "Oh! A candle!"
He wanted to look back at Hermione for confirmation, but was afraid of being accused of cheating, so looked straight at the Sphinx and said, "My final answer is: a candle."
The Sphinx was still for a few seconds, then said in her deep voice, "You may enter."
Harry let out a small whoop. He turned back to Hermione and said, "I'll meet you in there," before beginning his descent down the long, dark tunnel. Once he was completely engulfed in darkness, he lit his wand and leaned against the stone wall as he waited for Hermione. His heart pounded in his chest at the thought of her in that vast desert, all alone. What if another group showed up? She would be outnumbered. Why had he agreed to this order of entering the tunnel? He should have insisted on going last.
"Hey there," her voice said from a few feet away.
Harry closed the distance and pulled her into a tight hug.
"Oomph. Uh, are you okay?"
"Yeah. Did you get a riddle?"
"Yes," she replied, her voice muffled against his chest. "Also, uh, I can't breathe."
Harry stepped back, reluctantly. "Why did we get riddles and not my parents?"
"No idea," Hermione said as she took her wand out of her robes and created a few floating balls of light, which she cast several feet ahead of them to further light the tunnel. "Maybe she sensed we didn't belong in this world."
"Huh. How was your riddle?" Harry asked.
"Easy. 'The man who invented it, doesn't want it for himself. The man who bought it, doesn't need it for himself. The man who needs it, doesn't know it when he needs it.' Can you guess?"
"Maybe, but I don't want to. One riddle a day is enough for me."
"A day?" she teased.
Harry snorted. "Fine, a year. What is it?"
"A coffin."
"Oh. How pleasant."
They both continued walking down the path, which seemed to stretch forever. Just as Harry was about to suggest they call for his parents, or try to send a Patronus, Hermione's floating balls of light illuminated an entrance up ahead. Harry saw two figures waving at them from the shadows. He let out a sigh of relief.
"There you two are," James called. "What took you so long?"
"We both got riddles," Hermione replied, her voice echoing in the tunnel around them.
"Maybe the Sphinx spared us because we're old," Lily joked as Harry and Hermione reached what seemed to be a foyer of some sort. It was about ten feet high, covered in jagged stone, and lit by two torches on either side of a dark doorway. Hermione tried to cast light into the doorway, but it simply swallowed the balls of light and remained dark.
"We tried that," James explained.
"Okay. Uh, I don't know what to expect from here on out. But I assume we just—walk in."
"We're not going to accidentally walk to the other side of the Veil, are we?" Lily asked.
Both Harry and Hermione shook their heads. Harry stopped when he saw the confused look on his mum's face, remembering that he wasn't supposed to know what a Tear in the Veil looked like. "It'll be obvious," Hermione said, about to step through the threshold when Harry rushed to her side and took her hand.
"If you think I'm letting you walk through there alone, you're not as smart as everyone says," he muttered.
Hermione gave him a small smile, which didn't quite reach her eyes, and grabbed his arm before walking through the doorway. The feeling of the air around them instantly changed. Before, Harry hadn't noticed the temperature but now it was the oddest thing. The still air around them was warm, almost stifling, as if the heat of the desert was being stored in this room. But there was also a chilling breeze howling as it made its way through the columns of the large hall.
As Harry focused on the sound of the wind, he realized it wasn't the wailing of the wind but rather, singing. Or, more accurately, moaning, but to music.
"It sounds like the songs monks sing but...really, really sad," Hermione said, looking up at the ceiling in awe.
Harry followed her gaze and immediately felt uneasy.
"Does anyone else feel like the ceiling is going to cave in?" James asked from behind them.
Harry nodded, keeping his eyes up. He knew exactly how his dad felt, but couldn't decide why. There was a new pillar every six feet, so why did the room feel structurally unsound? He was trying to diagnose the issue with the room when his mum said, "They're crooked. That's the problem."
Harry saw it then. The rough stone pillars crowding the large room were slightly off by a foot or so, each one in a different direction, which made the entire area look like it was moving. That, paired with the odd temperature fluctuations, the heavy air, moaning, and strong smell of dirt, made Harry feel like he really was in the underworld.
The hair raised on his arms and the back of his neck and he felt a rush of adrenaline enter his veins. But the magic around them didn't feel Dark just...different. Like it didn't mesh with Harry's magic. Harry wondered if his magic would even work in here, but decided not to try, afraid of what he might find.
When he thought it couldn't get any stranger, a pack of translucent cats crossed their path. He and Hermione stopped at the same time. The cats were taller and thinner than normal cats and adorned with elaborate jewelry. A few of them stopped to hiss at Harry and Hermione, then kept walking until they passed through a nearby pillar and disappeared from view.
"Were those ghost cats?" Harry asked.
Hermione shrugged. "The muggle Egyptians used to worship cats. Maybe it was the same for the wizards."
"I didn't know a cat could come back as a ghost."
"Me neither."
As they made their way through the crooked columns, winding through an empty queue marked by a floating rope, Harry noticed more cats lounging against the stone pillars.
"This is so bizarre," he murmured.
"It's certainly unsettling," Hermione agreed. "Maybe that's the point, to throw us off balance."
"It's working," James said darkly.
"Do you think the queue usually extends into this room?" Lily asked, pointing at one of the floating ropes.
"I think so," Hermione replied.
"Oh my. Imagine having to stand in here and wait…" Lily shuddered. "I'm glad we're just passing through."
"Another brilliant idea by Hermione," Harry said, tightening his grip on her hand. "Having us come in the middle of the night, when it's not as crowded."
"I don't know," James said, doubtfully. "Maybe it would be less eerie if we weren't completely alone."
The queue ended in front of another dark doorway. Again, Hermione tried casting lights but the darkness swallowed them up. At least her magic worked. That was something.
Before walking through, Harry turned to take in the large area they'd just passed through. Sweat was beading on his brow and neck, then a cool wind blew by and made him shiver.
"Let's move on," Hermione said, pulling on his arm.
"To what? Something worse?"
She shrugged. "There's only one way to find out."
The next room, with the exception of the monk music in the background, was nothing like the previous room. For one, it was frigid. So cold that Hermione could feel it in her bones. She immediately cast a Warming Charm but even with that, she felt chilled and instinctively snuggled into Harry's side. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close.
This room was also brighter than the other room and less open. "Room" was a bit of a misnomer, Hermione decided after taking in their surroundings. They were in what seemed like another tunnel, but this one wasn't dark and covered in jagged stone like the other one. This one was covered in sparkling glass, casting colors and light all around. Hermione could see the colors playing across Harry's glasses and as she watched, she caught the image of a face.
She froze and looked at the walls again. "Oh my God," she whispered. "It's...people."
The pieces of glass that made up the walls and arched ceiling weren't simply colored, like she'd originally thought, but had scenes playing across them like movies. As she watched one of two boys climbing a tree, laughing as they went higher and higher, she could hear the sounds associated with the scene playing in her mind.
She shut her eyes and the sounds of the boys' laughter went away, replaced by the earlier sound of sad chanting.
"What are these?" Lily whispered. She was watching the scene of a family sitting down around a large table. "This is another language. Italian, maybe."
"They're not all filled in with little movies," Harry pointed out. Hermione saw what he meant. About half the pieces of glass were clear, while the other half had scenes of people from all different ages and ethnicities playing across them.
Hermione watched them as they walked slowly through the arched tunnel and as she did, an ache appeared in her heart. This was at odds with the pictures she was seeing, which were mostly happy.
"I think they're memories," James said, his voice uneven. "Of people who have been lost."
"Oh," Lily sighed, lifting her hand to rub his back.
Hermione looked up and took in the scale of the pieces of glass around them. There were hundreds just in the immediate area, stretching from the floor and upward, all along the arched ceiling above their heads. And they kept going on and on through the length of the tunnel. If these really were memories of people who had died, and there was a grieving family left behind for each one… the enormity of it all struck her like a curse.
Hermione knew, logically, that people died every day. But she'd never imagined what it would be like to see a visual representation of it. "There are so many," Harry whispered, his warm breath tickling her cheek. She simply laid her head on his chest, unsure what else to say.
"I want to make one," James announced, focusing on an empty piece of glass at his eye-level. "How do I do it, Hermione?"
Hermione had no idea. But since there were so many of them, she guessed the spell was easy and obvious. "Try removing the memory just like you would before putting it into a Pensieve. Then tap your wand to the glass. That's all I can think to try."
James did as she said and when he pulled his wand away, they all watched a scene appear in the glass. It was when Harry was a boy, around five years old. He was flying around on a small broom while a young-looking Sirius chased him around the garden, laughing.
James was sitting on the steps of the porch with Lupin, who called to Sirius, "That's one way to teach him how to fly!"
"Helpful, Moony!" Sirius said over his shoulder, then to Harry, who was heading straight for a brick wall, he shouted, "Little Prongs! Stop!"
Sirius cast a spell at Harry that stopped his broom abruptly, but sent Harry hurtling into the air. Sirius lunged for him and caught him in midair, then James cast a quick spell on Sirius to keep him and Harry from crashing to the ground, which ended up being Levicorpus.
James and Lupin burst into laughter as Sirius hung upside down in the air, holding a very confused looking Harry in his arms. "Couldn't think of anything else?" Sirius asked.
"It was the first spell that came to mind," James said with a wicked grin.
Younger Harry looked down at Sirius, toward his dad and Lupin, then back at Sirius again before saying matterof-factly, "Sirius, why are we upside down? Is this part of the lesson?" which caused all the men to burst into laughter.
Harry closed his eyes, unable to take any more. He felt a few warm tears stream down his cheeks and when he opened his eyes again, his dad was watching him. "Those are some of my favorite memories of us all, trying to teach you to fly. Though you didn't need it. You were a natural."
Harry opened his mouth, then closed it. There was nothing to say. How could he explain that he wasn't just mourning the loss of Sirius and Lupin, but the whole series of memories that had never happened for him? Because when he was five years old, his parents were dead and he was sleeping in a broom cupboard with spiders, unaware of broomsticks and magic and that there were people in the world who loved him.
His parents continued down the tunnel and Harry was about to follow after them when Hermione pulled on his arm. "We should make some."
"Our memories aren't from this world," he hissed.
"It doesn't matter. We'll pick an inconspicuous spot. It just feels wrong to come here and not honor the people we've lost."
"Where would we start?" he bit back. "We don't have all day."
Hermione let out a breath, her large eyes sad and wet with tears. She stepped out of his grasp, leaving Harry feeling cold, then crouched down and placed a memory in one of the tiles along the floor. Harry watched a scene from the Gryffindor Common Room, when Fred and George had initially introduced their first batch of experimental Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.
"That one is on Ginny and Ron's behalf, since they can't be here," Hermione said as she moved a few paces over to another clear tile. Harry struggled to swallow back a knot that had appeared in his throat.
Next, Hermione created a memory from Grimmauld Place, before their Fifth Year. All the Order members were laughing around the table in the kitchen. Sirius, Lupin, Moody, and Tonks were there, and even Snape made an appearance in the doorway for a few seconds, wearing his characteristic sneer.
Hermione stood and turned to face Harry, tilting her head and giving him a tentative look. He reached for her and pulled her into his chest, folding his frame around her. "They're perfect. I'm sorry I snapped at you," he whispered.
"Tantruming toddler," she replied. "I get it."
Harry let out a half-sob, half-laugh and pulled her closer.
"I thought about your parents," she said, leaning back, "but your only memories of them are awful."
Harry nodded and looked over her shoulder at the memory from Grimmauld Place again, trying to keep from breaking down into sobs as he watched a younger version of himself laughing with Lupin and Sirius at some shared joke. His eyes flashed to the memory tile his dad had created for a second before he squeezed his eyes shut.
This place, being here with his parents especially...it was too much. He should have got the riddle wrong and waited with Hermione outside.
He tightened his grip on Hermione, clinging to her like a lifeline. "Hermione...I can't do this."
"I know," she said, scratching his back comfortingly. "It's all hitting you at once. I can't imagine how hard that is." She leaned back and cupped his face in her hand. "But you're stronger than you know, Harry. You can do this and don't forget, you're not alone."
He nodded and she saw him look at the memories she'd made again, a determined look growing in his eyes.
"I want to make one more," he announced. He touched his wand to his temple and instead of crouching down once he had the memory on his wand tip, he reached up and looked at Hermione. She lifted him a few feet off the air until his wand tip touched one of the blank tiles on the ceiling.
Hermione watched as Dumbledore appeared in the glass and said in a solemn voice, as a tear trickled down his cheek and disappeared into his silver beard, "I cared about you too much. I cared more for your happiness than your knowing the truth, more for your peace of mind than my plan, more for your life than the lives that might be lost if the plan failed. In other words, I acted exactly as Voldemort expects we fools who love to act."
When her gaze landed back on Harry, and their eyes met, a wave of sorrow passed through her. It was like the pain of all of the losses he'd been forced to relive today was finally bubbling over and transferring to her. "Harry…" she whispered, then paused. She couldn't think of any more words worth saying.
Harry leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, trying to gather as much comfort from their embrace as he could.
"Okay," he said hoarsely, once he'd finally regained his composure. "We should go and catch up with them."
They didn't have far to go. After the next bend in the tunnel, they found James and Lily waiting at the end of a group of people. "We found the queue," Lily said softly, once Harry and Hermione stopped behind them. She reached out and wiped a few tears from Harry's face, then gave his shoulder a firm squeeze before turning back to face the front of the queue, laying her head on James's shoulder.
It took them three hours to reach the front of the queue and by the time their destination was in sight, a final, dark doorway guarded by a ghost, Hermione had buried her head in Harry's chest, unable to take in any more memories. If she had to see one more birthday party, wedding, family dinner, or dance. One more child throwing their head back in laughter, another couple sharing an intimate kiss, more friends clapping each other on the back, or a mother kissing her baby's head, she would dissolve into a puddle of tears.
Harry rested his head against hers and held her close as they waited, focusing on all the blank tiles since he too had had enough of the memories.
The ghost at the front of the doorway motioned toward his parents, muttering something in a foreign language. "I think that means it's our turn," Lily said, turning to look at Harry.
Hermione lifted her head from Harry's chest and was about to say "good luck," but just nodded instead. James had gone stiff and was looking determinedly forward as Lily linked her arm in his and took the first step through the doorway.
Once the darkness swallowed them up, Hermione turned to Harry and said, sounding panicked, "I don't want to go. I never wanted to go. I thought there would be a way to bypass this but—but—there's only this one doorway." She turned to find the ghost watching them curiously and wondered if he spoke English. She could try a Translation Spell.
"It's okay," Harry murmured, pulling her closer.
"No, Harry," she whispered. "We don't know who we're going to see. We have no idea how this works and I—I don't think you should have to do this. You shouldn't have to talk to a version of Sirius who watched a different Harry grow up. Or worse, what if it's your parents from our world? I can't watch you go through that."
Harry tensed and swallowed hard. "We have to go forward." He turned around, where there was a crowd of people blocking their way out. He guessed they could make their way back the way they'd come, but he didn't know if they'd be able to meet up with his parents. "Hermione," he said gently, looking back down at her. "I can do this. You're going to be by my side, right?"
"Of course," she said, laying her head against his chest again. "Always."
Ten minutes passed, much quicker than either of them would have liked, then the guard was gesturing toward them, muttering in an ancient tongue.
Harry gulped. "It's our turn."
