[open] Time it is past and I roam free

[lumenrelegandus]

Who: lumenrelegandus and anyone
When: Early in the week
Where: The dojo, the streets, the path toward the Ruins and/or Hunting Grounds.
Format: Prose
What: As if any loss weren't bad on its own, sometimes it opens up past ones.
Warnings: I'm being bad for posting a new log without doing any tags for ongoing threads! I have company for a few days and am semi-

Comments

[femininehermes]

Hermione could (and would should he choose to confide in her) understand how he felt. She had left everything and everyone that she loved - aside from Harry and Ron - behind. There was no guarantee that her parents would return from Australia unharmed (though at least the Death Eaters wouldn't torture them for information) and Hogwarts was under Voldemort's control. Hermione couldn't properly express how much she loved that castle and how much it hurt to see it in the hands of a madman.

"Remus...?" she murmured, her eyes filled with concern when he pulled back, "...what secrets?"

Everyone was entitled to secrets, of course, but Remus wouldn't have brought it up if the information hadn't been pertinent. So Hermione stepped back and waved his hand away with little smile. A damp shirt wasn't going to hurt her.

As he spoke, she visibly mulled over his words. Finally, she knelt down on the ground beside him and grabbed one of his hands.

"Whether you choose to tell me or not is entirely up to you. I don't want to pry." but, "There is no guarantee that I will remember what happened here. In fact, I doubt I will. Otherwise this world would have a lot more problems than it already does."

SOOO DELAYED!!! /offers chocolate in apology/

[lumenrelegandus]

How tempting an exit that was! Though he couldn't consider it-don't take an action because you think you'll be spared consequences. You should be willing to accept the consequences regardless, or you have no right to take the action. And it couldn't come from her. …But who else…?

He was never going to resolve this for himself with logic, because it required knowledge of the unknowable.

What he did know was her, and the present. To those, he surrendered.

Returning her grasp with one hand, he reached with the other into his jacket pocket.

"In your future on earth, in the war, in a battle at Hogwarts," he said it blandly, "I will die. And Tonks will die. I am not going back. I didn't think I'd ever know the outcome of the war. But here in Anatole, I made a wish, to know whether you and Ron and Harry survived. I received this. I don't know if I have the right to show it to you or the right to withhold it. But I can't... we've lost enough, and it's yours."

He pulled out the moving photograph of their adult selves with their children, and handed it to her.

You are worth the wait, bb.

[femininehermes]

With a tremendous effort, Hermione kept herself silent. She continued to hold his hand, petting over the back of it to give him some modicum of comfort. What else could she do? She had no idea how much he knew or what Anatole had told him about their home. But maybe she could correct any discrepancies? If any existed that is.

"Remus..." her blood ran cold at those words, "N-No." her voice trembled and tears pricked at her eyes, "H-How does it happen?"

More importantly, was it preventable? Hermione didn't want to face a world that lacked Remus and Tonks. They were...so good and so strong. Her stomach churned at the thought of telling Harry that...

No! We have options.

"Hm?" her hand shook as she took the photo. Wiping at her cheeks, she stared in wonder at herself, Ron, Harry, Ginny and...

Kids.

"I c-can't believe it." she smiled sadly, not bothering to hide her tears, "L-Look at them..."

Her joy was short-lived, however, as she remembered that Remus would not be there to -

"We'll save you and Tonks. Somehow." she squeezed his hand, "You n-need to see them born."

/loves you/

[lumenrelegandus]

"No." He put his arm suddenly around her shoulders, pulled her close to him, and fiercely kissed her forehead.

"No," he repeated, his chin now resting lightly on top of her head. "Nothing can interfere with this future. Whatever you, Harry, and Ron did was exactly what you needed to do. It ended the war. It made a world where this-" nodded again, uselessly because she couldn't see it, but clearly at the photo nonetheless "-could happen. Your mission will always be stopping Voldemort and ending the war. I know you wouldn't let anything-anything-distract you from it. In either world, I wouldn't want you to."

A faint smile into her hair. "I wish I could see them too. But I'd rather miss seeing them born and know that they will be."

He held onto her a moment longer. Then added Moonyishly, "I admit I expected a stronger reaction to other aspects of this revelation."

(And one might think he would have asked this Anatolian oracle after someone else…)

/loves back!/

[femininehermes]

"B-" Hermione put the photograph in her lap and threw her arms around him. Closing her eyes tightly, she tried to keep from sobbing. So many good people - and beings - had been lost already. With each loss, it felt like the Magical World was becoming darker and darker.

"W-We love you." she choked. He had to know that. That...was the most important thing. Even if they fought, even if they got mad at each other, that never changed.

"He will die. Harry is determined and so am I." she clenched her fists, "We are w-well on our way." she was fibbing a little, but they had made headway, "There might be a way we can still save you and Tonks. I just...I don't know." she glanced at his chest sadly, "They will know all about you regardless."

That was a promise she could keep.

His last comment caused her to pull back and blink awkwardly. She blushed a little and shook her head.

"Ron and I... It's complicated. I feel like I'm always angry at him, but...he's a good person and...I l-love him." Hermione dropped her head forward, "It's ridiculous."

/even though I just realized I never officially asked your permission re: fourthwalling! I'm bad

[lumenrelegandus]

He kissed the crown of her head again and decided not to say anything further about it. He trusted her. He knew, all else being even, if she remembered this world and conversation at all (when she returned), that she would always get the job done. -Really, this changed nothing: they'd all known, all along, that the war could claim any of them, at any time.

-Not to say anything further except whisper back, more easily than he'd thought possible since Tonks's death, "I love all of you, too."

She pulled away and he resettled himself to accommodate, smiling and averting his eyes as she blushed. "I apologise, I didn't mean to pry. And certainly not to poke fun. It's not ridiculous one bit."