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Deanna opened her eyes and found herself in that place of eternal snow, she wondered where she was when suddenly, she saw Hermione a few meters ahead. Deanna was about to go towards her but she stopped immediately when she saw Hermione sobbing hard on the snow.
It was a heart-wrenching pain to see the one she loved like that. She knew her death would do that to Hermione, but in the end, this was the choice she was going to make. It hurt even more because she was the reason for Hermione's pain. Suddenly, Voldemort came from behind Hermione with a cold smile on his face, making Deanna's insides go cold. "So, she's the one you love?"
Despite how cold she felt, Deanna glared at the pale wizard and she cursed in her mind when she realized she didn't have a wand. But nevertheless, she started towards where Voldemort and Hermione were with a murderous glare. "Get away from her."
Voldemort sent a malicious smile at her before pointing his wand at Hermione who was still crying and surprisingly not noticing anything. "Avada Kedavra!"
"NO!" Deanna sat up in bed, breathing heavily, her clothes drenched in sweat. I-It couldn't be... Did Voldemort really do it? W-Where was she? Where was Hermione?
"Deanna, it's all right, you're all right!" Hermione worriedly said, cupping Deanna's face. Deanna stared into those warm brown eyes and let out a sigh of relief. "We're β"
Hermione was cut off with whatever she was saying when Deanna wrapped her arms around her tightly, blinking back her tears. Wondering what happened, Hermione was still for a moment before she quickly hugged Deanna back, drawing comforting circles on the Hufflepuff's back. "It's okay, we're safe... We're here in the tent. He didn't get us, we're alright."
Unconvinced, Deanna pulled back and looked at Hermione, inspecting if she had a mark or if she was sick or if she was injured. Deanna just wanted to make sure that Hermione was indeed alright. She frowned when she noticed how there were purple shadows around her eyes and that she seemed to be a lot thinner than the last time Deanna saw her.
"You've been sick." Hermione broke the silence, her cheeks heating up at the concern in Deanna's gaze. "The snake made a deep bite but we still had some Dittany."
Deanna then winced upon seeing the bandage around her arm and smiled at Hermione. "Thank you. Wait, where's Harry?"
"Right here." They turned around and saw Harry at the entrance of the tent, smiling widely. He ran to Deanna and hugged her tight. "It's been too long, Deanna."
"Indeed." Hugging him back, Deanna chuckled at him and looked around. "Where are we? How did we get here?"
"We're in the Forest of Dean." Hermione explained with a bittersweet smile. "My parents and I came here once, and it was the first place I thought of."
Remembering Hermione's parents and what she gave them, Deanna simply nodded before looking at the two of them. "So, I think it's time for us to catch up, yeah? You guys tell me about what has been happening with you and I'll tell you about what I've been doing too."
Harry and Hermione exchanged glances, thinking immediately of their redhead friend before Harry sighed and nodded. He and Hermione took turns in telling Deanna everything, not missing a single detail. From Tottenham Court Road to 12 Grimmauld Place to their heist at the Ministry to the dangers of the Horcruxes. It was hard to tell the story about Ron leaving, but Deanna's reassuring smile helped both of them to tell it. They told her too about the Sword of Gryffindor and Basilisk venom to destroy the Horcruxes, making Deanna light up. And finally, what they had been doing at Godric's Hollow.
"You guys have had tough times in these past months." Deanna let out a sigh, and Harry and Hermione could only smile weakly, tough could not even describe what they had gone through.
"Now, what about you, Deanna?" Hermione asked curiously. "What have you been doing since August?"
"Actually, remember how my father told me to follow the sign and gave me a necklace for his will?" When they nodded, Deanna looked around for her bag, smiling when she saw it near the bed. She took out the necklace and showed it to them, making both Hermione and Harry gasp as it was a sign they saw too many times already.
"I knew it was Mister Grindelwald's sign so I went to Austria." Deanna laughed upon remembering just how exhausting her journey was. "Fawkes and I have had a few mishaps, and I couldn't Apparate yet since I wasn't of age. So it took me a few months to finally arrive."
"So, did you get any information from Grindelwald?" asked Harry.
Deanna was about to answer when she remembered her fate. She quickly nodded in order for them not to suspect her and thought of an answer. "This sign. I think they resemble something powerful, what Riddle seeks. And I think Mister Grindelwald took one of them from Gregorovitch. And after that, I thought of looking for you but luckily, I found you there in Godric's Hollow."
The three of them stared at each other for a while, trying to understand all the information they got. Then, Deanna smiled softly. "Thank you for holding on during these past 5 months, you two. I hope it'll be all right with you if I join from now on?"
Harry and Hermione were surprised at Deanna's sudden change because they knew she was adamant on not coming with them for some reason, but despite that curiosity, they were happy that Deanna was joining them so they nodded happily, making Deanna laugh at their eagerness.
"Well, I'll be standing on guard now so I hope you two have a good talk." Harry winked at them, making both Hermione and Deanna blush badly. When he finally left, there was an awkwardness left in the room and Deanna and Hermione were avoiding each other's gazes, both remembering the last conversation they had.
How could they just talk about that? The two of them saying I miss you, they couldn't just go on their days as if nothing happened... But suddenly, Deanna was reminded of Grindelwald's words and her fate and she gazed at Hermione softly, wondering what she should do.
Hermione was avoiding Deanna's gaze, but how could she not notice Deanna's soft gaze on her? That gaze that had something underneath the love and care. Something that made Hermione think that Deanna was hiding something and she needed to know what it was, but her cheeks were growing redder and redder because of how Deanna was still staring at her.
Hermione cleared her throat. "W-Why are you staring at me?"
"I'm sorry." Deanna suddenly said, making Hermione surprised as she finally met Deanna's eyes, seeing a soft smile on those lips, a little chapped from the cold. "I'm sorry for making you cry, for hurting you and for leaving you without an explanation."
Tears came into Hermione's eyes. She understood immediately what she was talking about, how Deanna broke up with her on her father's funeral, and Hermione didn't think that Deanna would actually talk about it now. Yes, she was hurt, she didn't understand why did Deanna do that. She always wanted to know, but she never had the courage to ask Deanna about it.
"Then why did you leave?" Hermione whispered in such a broken tone Deanna's heart broke. She expected this. She expected Hermione to ask about it, and she deserved to know why. Deanna was about to die and just as Grindelwald said, she didn't want Hermione to think about these and have regrets after her death.
"Vol β Riddle and I can see each other at times." Deanna's explanation made Hermione's eyes widen in shock.
"W-What?"
Deanna smiled bitterly, nodding and looking down. "Yeah, he could see me and I didn't want to put any of you in danger." She lowered her voice to a whisper, her tears falling down. "He... He wanted to take you away from me." But the tent was too silent so Hermione could hear what she said clearly.
"W-What?" Hermione whispered back, her eyes widening at what Deanna said.
Deanna kept her head down, not daring to meet Hermione's eyes and show the Gryffindor her weakness, but Hermione cupped Deanna's face and looked into her eyes, tears coming into her own upon seeing the sight of Deanna crying.
"I'm sorry." Deanna wiped away her tears and tried pulling away from Hermione, but Hermione wouldn't let her go. She leaned in, making Deanna's cheeks flush, and placed a soft kiss on Deanna's forehead, letting her own tears fall.
Hermione leaned her forehead against Deanna's and stared into Deanna's eyes, smiling softly. She was telling Deanna that she was forgiven, she understood. It was time to put the past behind them and start anew. After this war, they'd finally have the future they always wanted, they'll be able to be with each other without worrying about a dark Wizard or Death Eaters.
"Don't push me away anymore." Hermione said softly, her eyes still staring into Deanna's blue ones, seeing only love in them. "Let's just be us... Like how we were before. After this war, let's try again. Let's have that future we promised each other. I'm never giving up on you, Deanna. I hope you know that."
Deanna remembered her fate at that moment. It was unfair to Hermione for her to do this. For her to make a promise she won't be able to keep, but she couldn't help but agree. That was what she wanted too. A future with Hermione. She may not be able to keep that promise, but... "I don't intend on letting you go, Mione. I hope you know that."
Hermione's eyes softened at the use of her nickname. It had been so long since the last time Deanna called her that, but the effect it had on her stayed the same. It still made her heart beat a thousand times faster. She kissed Deanna's forehead once more, just missing the Dumbledore too much.
Deanna's eyes closed at Hermione's kiss and she leaned into Hermione's touch, words could not express just how much she missed this. How much she missed Hermione and yes, she might die, but Deanna did not want to spend her numbered days thinking of that. She wanted to spend every day with no regrets. She wanted to spend every day of her life loving Hermione Granger.
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Stretching her arms, Deanna looked around and she was about to sit up when she felt an arm around her waist. She looked to her left and smiled softly when she saw it was Hermione hugging her. She slowly removed Hermione's hold and placed a kiss on the Granger's cheek. Deanna started on her way to the table, wanting to have a drink of water when she saw that there was someone sitting outside the tent.
Silently, Deanna made her way to the person and saw it was just Harry who was clutching a book in his hands. She couldn't help but feel annoyance when she saw it was, "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore" by Rita Skeeter. Deanna decided to walk towards the spaced out Harry and she tapped him on the shoulder, making the Boy Who Lived jump in surprise. "Can I take a seat?"
"Yeah." Harry scooted over to make some space for Deanna, and he was about to hide the book when Deanna spoke up again.
"Go on, ask what you want to know." Deanna sent a reassuring smile at him. "You must be thinking of my father in a different light now." By the way Harry blushed, Deanna knew she was right. She couldn't help herself from chuckling. "Don't worry, Harry, I'm not mad or anything like that. I understand you."
"You do?" Harry asked in surprise.
"I mean, he left us only with the objects in his will. We don't know what the bloody Horcruxes are and where they are. We don't know how to get those damned Basilisk fangs or the sword of Godric Gryffindor." Deanna looked down at the ground and smiled, her father was always cryptic. "Yeah, I understand. And I know that book might influence your thoughts, but I remember Albus Dumbledore as a good father and a good man. He had made bad choices in his youth, but Aunt Ariana's death had changed him. My father before that incident and the Albus Dumbledore you know are different."
"Then why didn't he tell me any of this? Why didn't you?" Harry said in a hurt tone.
After staring at Harry for a moment, Deanna let out a sigh. "He's not proud of it, Harry, and I was in no position to tell people about his secrets. He didn't even tell his closest friends about this. If anything, he trusted you more than you think."
"What do you mean?"
"I know my father, Harry. He does not trust people, especially students, that easily so imagine my surprise when he took you in as his mentee when the last one besides me was Newt Scamander." Deanna grinned at the surprised expression on his face before she got up and patted Harry on the back. "I don't need to read that book to know that it's twisted with facts and lies. I'll be on guard so get in and rest, yeah?"
"Thank you, Dee." Harry sent her a weak smile before he too got up and went back into the tent. He got into his bed and let out a deep sigh, thinking about everything Deanna said and what Rita Skeeter wrote. Somehow, Deanna's words have comforted him a bit. Did Dumbledore really trust him like Deanna said? But Harry could trust Deanna's words more than Rita's and it made Harry feel better, letting his head hit the pillows after days of exhaustion. Dumbledore did trust him, and despite his many secrets and not knowing what their plan was, Harry would see this mission until the end.
Deanna sat back down on the log and smiled. It was indeed hard. Dumbledore did not tell them what the Horcruxes were or if he found them or if he knew where they were. They had to think hard enough only to be disappointed, but Deanna knew she and Hermione and Harry and even Ron would never give up until the end. For Dumbledore, for their families, for the Wizarding World, they'd finish Voldemort once and for all.
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"Deanna, Hermione!" Harry's voice came through the tent, making the two witches who were hugging each other sit up with groans.
"Did something happen, Harry?" Deanna asked with a yawn.
"Are you all right?" Hermione looked at him worriedly.
"It's okay, everything's fine." Harry answered giddily. "More than fine. I'm great. There's someone here."
"What do you mean? Who β ?"
Hermione was cut off because she and Deanna saw Ron himself, holding the sword, while soaking wet. Ron grinned at them. "Deanna, Hermione!"
Deanna grinned back at him, giving him a tight hug. "Welcome back, Ron." But the sound of thundering steps behind her made Deanna quickly let go and move to the corner where Harry was, knowing better than to interfere. "You think he'll get out of this unscathed?"
"Absolutely not." Harry whispered back, making the two of them snicker while watching the scene. Hermione stopped in front of Ron, her eyes wide. Ron gave a weak and hopeful smile, raising an arm in greeting. With a glare in her eyes, Hermione launched forward and started punching every inch of Ron.
"Ouch β ow β gerroff! What the β ? Hermione β OW!"
"You β complete β arse β Ronald β Weasley!" She punctuated every word with a blow: Ron backed away, shielding his head as Hermione advanced. "You β crawl β back β here β after β weeks β and β weeks β oh, where's my wand?"
Hermione looked livid at Harry, scaring both him and Deanna, but Harry quickly reacted. "Protego!" An invisible shield erupted between Hermione and Ron, knocking Hermione down but she got back up right away.
"Hermione, calm β"
"I will not calm down, Harry!" Hermione raised her voice. "Give me back my wand! Give it back to me!"
"Hermione, will you please β"
"Don't you tell me what to do, Harry Potter!" she screeched. "Don't you dare! Give it back now! And YOU!" She was pointing at Ron, making the Weasley step back. "I came running after you! I called you! I begged you to come back!"
"I know," Ron said, "Hermione, I'm sorry, I'm really β"
"Oh, you're sorry!" She laughed mockingly; Ron looked at Deanna and Harry for help, but they could only smile weakly, both not knowing what to do. "You come back after weeks β weeks β and you think it's all going to be all right if you just say sorry?"
"Well, what else can I say?" Ron shouted.
"Oh, I don't know!" yelled Hermione with awful sarcasm. "Rack your brains, Ron, that should only take a couple of seconds β"
"Hermione," interjected Harry, "he just saved my β"
"I don't care!" she screamed. "I don't care what he's done! Weeks and weeks, we could have been dead for all he knew β"
"I knew you weren't dead!" bellowed Ron, drowning her voice for the first time, and approaching as close as he could with the Shield Charm between them. "Harry's all over the Prophet, all over the radio, they're looking for you everywhere, all these rumors and mental stories, I knew I'd hear straight off if you were dead, you don't know what it's been like β"
"What it's been like for you?" Hermione said in an indignant tone.
Ron spoke up before she could continue. "I wanted to come back the minute I'd Disapparated, but I walked straight into a gang of Snatchers, Hermione, and I couldn't go anywhere!"
"A gang of what?" asked Harry. Hermione threw herself down into the chair, and Deanna made her way behind her, patting her shoulders comfortingly to calm her down. It seemed to be effective as Hermione took in a deep breath though she was still glaring at Ron and keeping her arms crossed.
"Snatchers," said Ron. "They're everywhere β gangs trying to earn gold by rounding up Muggle-borns and blood traitors, there's a reward from the Ministry for everyone captured. I was on my own and I look like I might be school age; they got really excited, thought I was a Muggle-born in hiding. I had to talk fast to get out of being dragged to the Ministry."
"What did you say to them?" asked Harry.
"Told them I was Stan Shunpike. First person I could think of."
"And they let you go?" asked Deanna.
"They weren't the brightest. One of them was definitely part troll, the smell off him..." Ron glanced at Hermione who was still glaring at him. "Anyway, they had a row about whether I was Stan or not. It was a bit pathetic to be honest, but there were still five of them and only one of me and they'd taken my wand. Then two of them got into a fight and while the others were distracted I managed to hit the one holding me in the stomach, grabbed his wand, Disarmed the bloke holding mine, and Disapparated. I didn't do it so well, Splinched myself again" β Ron held up his right hand to show two missing fingernails; Hermione raised her eyebrows coldly β "and I came out miles from where you were. By the time I got back to that bit of riverbank where we'd been... you'd gone."
"Gosh, what a gripping story," Hermione said in the lofty voice. "You must have been simply terrified. Meanwhile we went to Godric's Hollow and, let's think, what happened there, Harry? Oh yes, You-Know-Who's snake turned up. Luckily, Deanna got there by coincidence and helped us. It nearly killed the three of us, and then You-Know-Who himself arrived and missed us by about a second."
"What?" Ron said, gaping from her to Deanna to Harry.
Hermione ignored him. "Imagine losing fingernails, Deanna, Harry! That really puts our sufferings into perspective, doesn't it?"
"Hermione," said Harry quietly, "Ron just saved my life."
She appeared not to have heard him, still not looking at Ron. "One thing I would like to know, though. How exactly did you find us tonight? That's important. Once we know, we'll be able to make sure we're not visited by anyone else we don't want to see."
Ron glared at her, then pulled a small silver object from his jeans pocket. "This."
"The Deluminator?" Hermione asked, finally looking at Ron.
"It doesn't just turn the lights on and off," said Ron. "I don't know how it works or why it happened then and not any other time, because I've been wanting to come back ever since I left. But I was listening to the radio really early on Christmas morning and I heard... I heard you, Deanna and Harry."
"You heard us on the radio?" Hermione asked incredulously.
"No, I heard you three coming out of my pocket. Your voices," he held up the Deluminator again, "came out of this."
"And what did we say?" asked Harry curiously.
"My name. 'Ron.' And you were telling Deanna about me..." At Ron's words, Deanna nodded in realization, they must have mentioned Ron for the first time since his departure that day.
"So I took it out," Ron went on, looking at the Deluminator, "and it didn't seem different or anything, but I was sure I'd heard you. So I clicked it. And the light went out in my room, but another light appeared right outside the window."
Ron raised his empty hand and pointed in front of him, his eyes focused on something none of them could see. "It was a ball of light, kind of pulsing, and bluish, like that light you get around a Portkey, you know?"
"Yeah," said Deanna, Harry and Hermione together automatically.
"I knew this was it," said Ron. "I grabbed my stuff and packed it, then I put on my rucksack and went out into the garden. The little ball of light was hovering there, waiting for me, and when I came out it bobbed along a bit and I followed it behind the shed and then it... well, it went inside me."
"What?" said Deanna in confusion.
"It sort of floated toward me," said Ron, illustrating the movement with his free index finger, "right to my chest, and then β it just went straight through. It was here," he touched a point close to his heart, "I could feel it, it was hot. And once it was inside me I knew what I was supposed to do, I knew it would take me where I needed to go. So I Disapparated and came out on the side of a hill. There was snow everywhere..."
"We were there," said Harry. "We spent two nights there, and the second night I kept thinking I could hear someone moving around in the dark and calling out!"
"Yeah, well, that would've been me," said Ron. "Your protective spells work, anyway, because I couldn't see you and I couldn't hear you. I was sure you were around, though, so in the end I got in my sleeping bag and waited for one of you to appear. I thought you'd have to show yourselves when you packed up the tent."
"No, actually," said Hermione. "We've been Disapparating under the Invisibility Cloak as an extra precaution. And we left really early, because, as Harry says, we'd heard somebody blundering around."
"Well, I stayed on that hill all day," said Ron. "I kept hoping you'd appear. But when it started to get dark I knew I must have missed you, so I clicked the Deluminator again, the blue light came out and went inside me, and I Disapparated and arrived here in these woods. I still couldn't see you, so I just had to hope one of you would show yourselves in the end β and Harry did. Well, I saw the doe first, obviously."
"What doe?" Deanna asked immediately. The two boys proceeded to explain what had happened a few moments ago with the sword in the pool and the silver doe. Deanna smiled widely when they finished. "You two did well."
The compliment made the two boys smile, but the frown on Hermione's face was making them nervous. "But it must have been a Patronus! Couldn't you see who was casting it? Didn't you see anyone? And it led you to the sword! I can't believe this! Then what happened?"
Ron started explaining about how he watched Harry jump into the wall before diving in when he realized something was wrong. He saved Harry then returned for the sword and he hesitated then, making Deanna wonder why.
Harry cut in. "β and Ron stabbed it with the sword."
"And... and it went? Just like that?" Hermione whispered.
"Well, it β it screamed," said Harry with half a glance at Ron, and Deanna knew then that was not all there was to it, but she realized that it may be something personal so she let it go. "Here."
Harry threw the locket into Hermione's lap and Deanna leaned in to examine it with her, making Hermione blush slightly at the sudden closeness. Ron and Harry couldn't help exchanging knowing smirks. The first few months of their journey, Hermione was always wondering how Deanna was and how they could check if she was fine. And finally, the couple was fine and happy as they deserved to be.
Harry removed the Shield Charm and turned to Ron. "Did you just say you got away from the Snatchers with a spare wand?"
"Oh β oh yeah." Ron tugged open a buckle on his rucksack and pulled a short, dark wand out of its pocket. "Here. I figured it's always handy to have a backup."
"You were right," said Harry, holding out his hand. "Mine's broken."
"You're kidding?" Ron said, but at that moment Hermione got to her feet, and he looked apprehensive again. Hermione put her Horcrux into her bag and held Deanna's hand, pulling her to the bed without another word.
On her way, Deanna winked at Ron and mouthed. "I'm glad you're here."
Ron smiled back at her, passing Harry the new wand. "Can I be the godfather of their first child?"
"You have to make a reservation, mate." Harry said teasingly, making the two friends laugh while Deanna smiled, knowing that Hermione was smiling even if she had her back faced to Deanna.
Finally, they were complete again, and Hermione was more than happy to have those two as the godfathers of their children. And somehow, the dark journey ahead seemed to brighten up a little. Hermione knew that with Deanna and her best friends, they'll be able to win this war. Together.
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The pain of making a promise of a love to last for a lifetime when you know your life is ending soon. A pain Deanna knows too well.
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