And I'm that little bit of hope when my backs against the ropes
((OOC: Luke is officially dead. If you need your character to have a goodbye with him, I can probably manage that. Either way, he's dead. The italics in the death section are Becky's words in one of Luke's first posts. And Romeo is going to become non-local. This post was made in celebration of Robin's original journal creation. Two years ago as of
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Luckily, Hermione Granger does not fall onto the cement. She falls directly onto Harry Potter.
After screaming just a bit, she rolls off of him. He's given a quick look over, then she sighs in relief. "Oh, Harry." There is another long, drawn-out sigh, though this one is decidedly shakier. She rolls back, wincing all the while, and gives him a careful hug. Then, she is pushing herself up.
She is almost calm for one-third of a second and then she is decidedly not. "You're bleeding, Harry, and we're not where we should be." Within moments, she's standing up and whirling around, looking for any signals of a potential attack.
Her concentration is knocked about only but the fact that Harry is bleeding, naturally. "Are you all right? You are all right, aren't you?"
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"Hermione?"
It doesn't make any sense. He didn't think he'd see her again, but here she is landing on top of him, screaming and saying Oh, Harry in such a familiar way that it hurts. There's a stinging in his eyes to go along with the stinging of his hands. Is he dreaming? But that makes as little sense as anything else.
He twists around, pushing himself up to a sitting position on the pavement. Harry hugs her back with more intensity than he can control. She's warm. She's real. He didn't think he'd see her again. The world is blurry. It has been since he landed. The shock of her being here made him forget that he's rather blind at the moment.
"Hermione, my glasses..." There are many more issues that he has to concern himself with, but he needs to see straight first ( ... )
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In Hermione's shock, she'd not noticed his glasses gone, but now she's looking around frantically before her mind clears. She finds them several feet away, cracked and twisted. As she bends down to pick them up, she feels her heart twist. They're always getting cracked and injured...just like Harry.
Her wand is out immediately and she's whispering a quick Reparo. At least I can fix them.
Then, gently and carefully, she places them on his face. "It's okay. They're right here, Harry." She takes notice of everything about him. The way his hands are shaking is scaring her much more than the fact that they're somewhere she's never seen before.
Her eyes dart around, from him to their surroundings and back to him. She reaches out to him. She's really not sure that he's 'fine'. And, wherever they are or aren't, he's hurt. "Let me help your hands?"
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"Thanks," he says when he can see again, and he can see her, and there's another ache. "Thank you."
There's some comfort when the glasses are returned to him, even if it reveals more reason to be confused. They're in a city, but it's on he's never seen before. How did they get here?
Harry gets to a stand. His legs feel wobbly like noodles, and he can't fall over. His whole body had been tense on that walk. There had been no emotion. He'd been remarkably detached after what he saw, but every part of him was tense, and he's feeling the effects of it now.
"It's alright, Hermione," Harry says, but he holds his hands out to her anyway. He can see how worried she is. "I'm-- It doesn't hurt."
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When he thanks her, she simply smiles, though her smile is small and slightly shaky. "Of course."
She steps back just slightly when he stands, though she doesn't move far enough away to lose contact. Upon taking a closer look at him, however, she moves in straight away, sliding her arm around his waist.
'It's alright, Hermione. I'm-- It doesn't hurt.'
A part of her wonders if he'd recognize pain right now. She knows something is wrong, beyond the very obvious, of course Her voice stays soft as she whispers the spell to heal his hands, and she's grateful he's letting her help. She waits for the burn to fade that she knows comes with the healing, then the cold. There, she mouths silently. All better. Only, it's not.
Her eyes remain on his face. "I don't understand what's happened." Where are we? What's going on? What's happened to you?
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Walk up to Voldemort, face him down without hesitating, make no move to protect himself, and die.
Yes. It's simple.
Being a sacrifice is absolutely simple.
Harry shakes his head at her, looking around at all the buildings. There are people passing them on the sidewalk that don't seem to notice that they're there. "I don't know either. It was sudden. I thought maybe a portkey, but I didn't touch anything. It felt nothing like using a portkey, and I don't know how we'd both be here at the same time."
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"You're right. Nothing like a portkey, and not a side-along, either."
She's thinking, thinking thinking, her brain going a million miles a moment, when the last thing he says catches her off-guard.
Her eyebrows drawing together as she frowns in confusion, Hermione looks over at him. "How we'd both be here at the same time? I just assumed...we were the only ones there, Harry. It must have been something about where we were."
Even as the words leave her mouth, she knows they're not right.
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She's shaking her head. It's instant and immediate.
When he says they should go somewhere, she bites her lip and moves with him. She'd never do anything else. Where Harry goes, she goes as well. It's fact and it's truth and it's absolute.
"We'll find somewhere safe, then," she says quietly, staying very close. She starts walking, holding on to him all the while. The hand she has free clutches her wand, just in case.
"Harry," she says, her voice slightly choked, "I don't know what's happened. I have absolutely no idea where we are, aside from the fact that we're apparently in America, at least from what I can see." She takes a deep breath, and it doesn't help. "I do know, however, that I would never leave you. I haven't, so I don't understand..."
Her voice trails off for a moment, then she's looking up at him. "I don't doubt your word and I never will, but when we find a safe place, you'll have to explain. I wouldn't leave you."
Just the thought nearly breaks her heart. She wouldn't. Not ( ... )
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He walks beside her and slips an arm around her back, holding her close. It's a reminder that wherever they are, whatever this is, they're together. They're together and that's something.
Harry watches the pavement underneath them as she speaks. There's shame that hits him.
There had been no other choice. It was what he had to do, and while Ron and Hermione (who had never left him) may have felt like they belonged by his side, he wouldn't take them with him, only to die. There are times that friends cannot follow. He's had many of them, but this was the worst. It was the last ( ... )
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It keeps her calm...or more so than she would be otherwise.
They keep passing by people, or people pass by them, and she looks at each one. She finds herself searching out their eyes, their arms. She shivers just a bit, and she keeps moving.
And, as quiet as it is, she hears him. 'You didn't leave me.'
Hermione is a strong young woman. She truly is, and she knows this. She's proud of it.
She doesn't feel strong in the least as she holds back the cry wants to escape at his words. There's a No in her mind, repeating and escalating, and all she can do is breathe and walk.
It's not possible, only Harry's said it is. She trusts him more than anyone ( ... )
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And he knows that when they get back, he'll have to do it again.
Why did this have to happen?
He was nearly there. It's not as though it was easy to make that journey, and he'd almost made it. His emotions had left him. He knew what he had to do. There was no other option, and then he was flung on to the pavement.
And where is everyone else? Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna? Are they okay? Have they been hurt? Without him there, Voldemort said he would-
His chest clenches painfully at the thought. He won't let it continue any further. There's no way he can know the answer. He has to deal with the right now.
He shouldn't be surprised that she saw his wince and that she can tell that there's something else that's wrong ( ... )
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However upset she's been with Ron, she knows he'll be worried if he somehow discovers they're missing. She also knows he cares. He wouldn't react so strongly at times if he didn't. Hermione knows that. She's also sure Ginny would be frantic, and that hurts, too.
The possibility that they might think the worst, that something terrible has happened, causes her to visibly flinch. There's a brief moment where she thinks of her parents, their memories altered, somewhere in Australia, and she's glad they don't remember her.
"We'll find a way to send everyone word," she says in what she hopes is a reassuring voice. In actuality, she sounds terrified and slightly panicked. "They're...they'll-"
Deep breaths, Hermione.
"They're fine." She's not sure they are, however. There's nothing sure anymore, and now she and Harry are in America and something is terribly wrong. Above the need to reassure is the need to be honest, and she bites her lip. "They will be." She ( ... )
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"That's not--" He closes his mouth before the rest of the sentence can come back. They can't do this here. They have to figure out where they are. They have to get back.
It's not what he's actively worried about. It is worrying to know that Ron will have to suffer the loss of them both if he think they're dead. There's something more pressing weighing against him. He can hear all of these voices in his head, from Snape's memories. If he doesn't go to Voldemort, Voldemort will attack again ( ... )
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However, the sight of the two clearly distressed wanderers in the middle of the sidewalk is worrying. Most of Chicago's citizens have learned to stick to their own business. Elizabeth is not one of those people.
She walks up slowly and clears her throat.
"I don't mean to impose on a very important emotional moment between the two of you, but did you... need some help? Is there anything wrong? Cause I'm an angel so it's like my duty to help if I can. And plus I want to help. I like helping." Elizabeth sends them both what she hopes is a reassuring smile. She is harmless, and she is capable of helping! Totally! "BUT you know, if you're sharing a very personal, intimate moment, I understand completely. And I will walk the other way. I do not want to get in the middle of a thing. I just-- You looked distressed."
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When the woman approaches, Hermione looks over at her, more than a little startled. Everyone else has simply been walking by, ignoring them.
Please excuse the very impolite glance-over, Elizabeth, as Hermione does a quick scoping-out to ensure that you are not about to attack Harry or herself.
Angel, indeed.
Hermione Granger has studied many things. Unicorns, centaurs, all manner of witch and wizard, elves, and so on. Her studies have not included angels, and while she's willing to give the very nice woman the benefit of the doubt, she'd prefer to do so after it's established that she is not a Death Eater and/or a spy...or a reporter.
She manages a small smile, and at the words, Hermione clears her throat and shakes her head. "We're supposed to be somewhere else, you see."
For a moment, she thinks that she should likely keep silent, but the fact is that they're ( ... )
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