He stood in front of her, just watching, like he'd seen a mirage. He could understand, somehow, if he had reappeared in the Order safe house and seen the people he'd left. But instead he was now at Hogwarts. Fate? What did fate mean if he was to once again leave a whole life behind?
"Using spells against students?" the girl said with fear in her voice. "You'll be in so much trouble once Professor Slughorn gets here!"
Shaking his head, he snapped out of his stupor. "You don't recognize me?"
"Am I supposed to?" she said defiantly. Then her eyes went wide, confirming more than asking the question. "You – you're not a student here?"
"You should know, with that shiny prefect badge," he said with a sigh. "Slughorn is coming here?"
"He'll be here any minute now," she replied with a sly smile. "So, you see, even if you were going to attack me you'd be caught in no time."
He put his ear to the door and laughed at her tone. "I'd rather not hex the good professor if I don't have to. I just need to figure out..."
"Damn it," he cursed. There was no time to deliberate. He just had to find somewhere to think and get whatever information he could. If this was a future, he didn't know what kind of future it was.
"All right," he said, flicking the wand twice and getting closer. "I've silenced you for now. If you don't want anyone to get hurt, you're going to follow my instructions. I'm going to disillusion us both and hold you by the shoulder and we're going up to the seventh floor." She tried to say something and stamped her feet but the silencing charm was preventing her from making any noise. "Don't think you can try to make a move for your wand, that would be a grave mistake. When we get to a more quiet place you'll get it back."
He took her shoulder, pushed her towards the door, and flicked the wand a few more times, seeing her disappear from view completely. "Just don't make me do something I'll regret," he threatened, and grimaced at the situation he was put in.
At first she tried to walk faster, but the sticking charm on his hand prevented her from trying to test the limits of her freedom. They went up the stairs, and he had to pull her back from trying to bump into passing students. He should've known she wouldn't comply without trying something. With much trouble they got to the seventh floor, and he conjured up the image of a sitting area for the Room of Requirement. The door appeared and he opened it with a spell, moving her inside.
He undid the charms and frowned at the obvious distress in her eyes. "Sit down," he said.
She did, short breaths and shaky hands betraying fear. He handed the wand back to her. After a moment of hesitation she took it.
"I need to ask you some questions," he said, waving a hand to activate the conjured tea and biscuits of the room.
She stood with a start, holding the wand at him. He didn't flinch. He could counter whatever she would decide on casting before she got the spell out.
"Give me one good reason not to hex you," she huffed.
He waved two fingers in a circular wrist motion and her wand arm was raised towards the ceiling. She tried to break free, to no avail. "If I wanted you dead, or hurt, I would have done it by now. And if I wanted to just be rude, I could use legilimency to force the answers out of you." He moved his fingers again, and her arm came back down.
"Who are you?" she asked, rubbing her wrist.
"Harry. You really don't know me?"
"I think I'd remember an arse with a scar like yours," she shot back.
"What date is it?"
"What date is it?" she echoed in disbelief.
"Yes, as in year, month and day?"
"Thirteenth of October… 1996."
Harry shook his head. What was it with the thirteenth of October?
"You're not going to ask my name?"
"You're Hermione Granger, right?"
She nodded.
He sat down on the chair across from her. It didn't make sense. Why would he be sent back if he had to defeat Abraxas? Unless… "Voldemort, does that name mean anything to you?"
She scoffed. "Obviously, he almost destroyed the Ministry of Magic, everyone knows that. He even recruited straight from Hogwarts, until he died."
"In 1977?"
"Yes, it's common knowledge."
"But how did he die?"
"Nobody knows," she said uncomfortably. "Professor Lupin says he was eaten by a dragon, but he likes to make jokes. If you ask me it's complete hogwash."
"Lupin..." Harry's heart thumped in his chest. "Remus Lupin? He's alive?"
"Yes. Did you hit your head or something? Everyone knows Remus Lupin."
"What does he teach?" he asked, stupidly unable to come up with a more relevant question.
"Transfiguration."
Harry laughed. "So what, McGonagall decided to retire early? Did he take over Head of House too?"
"He's not Head of House."
Harry thought for a second. "Who is?"
"Professor Evans," she said.
"Evans?" He couldn't stop tears from forming in his eyes as he stared. "Lily… Evans? She's alive and well?"
"Yes." Hermione had a worried look in her eyes. "She teaches Advanced Runes."
"She never – she never married?" he asked with much trouble.
"I don't think so..." She frowned at the emotional display. "She's not exactly talkative about her private life."
"What about Snape? Severus Snape?"
Hermione shrugged. "He teaches the 6th and 7th years Wandless Magic. He's a bit of a celebrity, he has an Order of Merlin. I've only had a few classes with him, but he's very good, as you'd expect."
"That's good. That's great," he blubbered. They were all fine. What did that mean for him? Did he disappear nineteen years ago? Or did he die in that final battle? If so how was he going to get back?
"My turn to ask questions," she said. "What is this place?"
Harry looked around, fondly remembering his time in here, and dried his tears. "It's the Room of Requirement, or the Come-And-Go-Room. It appears if you need it for something… It's where I learned occlumency, among other things."
"I don't remember you from previous years and you don't look much older than me. Who are you? How do you know so much about Hogwarts?"
"I'm not sure I know any more."
He felt a measure of clarity. No, he hadn't disappeared in 1977, it wouldn't be as easy as falling into this perfect future. He was going to go back and face his fate.
"Are you doing well in school? Do you have many friends?" he asked, not really knowing why he did.
"Yes," she said with a sigh. "I have plenty of friends. And I'm top of my class, thank you very much."
"That's good," he said. He couldn't be sure time wasn't ticking on the other side. How to get back?
"On second though, it feels like we've met before..." she said hesitatingly. "Have we?"
He smiled, realizing his way back might just appear if he wished it to. "I'm sure we haven't."
They both stood up. Her apprehension from before was gone. He looked at her for a while, thinking something might happen to make him stay. Nothing did, as strange a feeling as it was to see her again. This wasn't his present to live. He had a job to do. "I'm sorry about kidnapping you," he said.
He moved towards the door and opened it.
"Wha – wait! Where are you going?"
"I need you to get out, I have to use the room again."
She gingerly stepped out and stood back when he asked her to. The door in the wall faded.
He closed his eyes and asked: take me home.
He could hear the stone forming, a sound like crackling parchment. As his eyes opened he saw the gateway marked 'Fate' in an ancient language, leading into blackness ahead.
"You're just… leaving?"
"I'm afraid so. Be sure to wait for the gate to close. It was good meeting you, Hermione Granger."
Fate. It awaited beyond that gate, and in the lair of the monster that threatened to destroy the past. He stepped ahead. A few paces in he was transported by that pulling vortex. He saw flashes of the future before him, unintelligible. This time he wasn't going to change a thing. Instead he would make sure the future he saw came true. He landed face first on the cold damp stone, and breathed a sigh of relief as he found his wand.
What he saw walking back made ice run through his veins. Severus and Remus kneeled beside Lily, who had a dagger in hand and gashes on her arms. He scrambled towards them. "Lily!"
She had a determined, sad look on her face, but didn't look at him.
"We tried to stop her but," Remus stammered, "she'd already used the dagger."
Severus stepped out of the way for Harry to kneel beside her. The gashes looked scarred over, but dark. "Lily?"
She turned to him with a warm smile. "What's a few cuts to keep us safe?"
He carefully took her right arm in his hands. "Lily, those aren't just cuts. What did you do?"
"What happened to your eyes?" Remus asked. Lily looked him over too with a frown.
"What?"
"They're… silver?" Remus said.
Harry shook his head. "Look, who cares about that, what I'm worried –"
A high pitched gong ran through his head and he startled back. A pile of bodies, dozens of them upon a ritual circle of intricate runes. An incantation to bring fire from the skies. A thousand burning rocks falling on a stone spire, burying an island under the waves. Abraxas, coiling through a ravine of red, dusty stone. A desert leading to the serpent's lair. The place was etched in his mind.
"No time!" he cried out. "Take my –"
A thundering crack came from above and the whole cave shook. Abraxas was trying to bury them alive. "Take my hand!"
They all lunged for his arm, and as the rocks above them tumbled down, he focused on the desert he saw in his vision, and twisted on his foot. As they tumbled to their destination, the heat of the desert assaulted his senses. He checked around him, coughing up dust. They looked unharmed, save for Lily's wounds, which still made him queasy.
"Where are we?" Severus asked.
"Close," Harry panted. "We're close to her lair."
"Merlin's tits," Remus said, shaking sand off his robes. "One more minute and we'd be dead meat. Or at least we would've had to leave you behind."
Again the visions showed him, a short walk ahead was the rust red valley where Abraxas resided. He saw flashes of them fighting, the power of Lily's runic ward she carved on her arms. How they held the fire of Abraxas' breath at bay. Once again he looked upon her in admiration. He helped her up and did his best to smile at her.
"I can see how we're going to win," he said to them.
"You can actually see it?" Remus asked.
"Yes," he said. The flash of teeth biting at him in a desperate suicidal attack coursed through his mind. "Yes. I can see us win."
"Should we make a plan?" Severus asked.
"We all know what we have to do," Harry said. "We've fought together, trained together. Whatever plan we try to make won't last past the first second of the fight. We just have to trust each other."
"We haven't eaten since yesterday evening," Lily said.
They camped near a rocky outcropping, setting a blanket he pulled from his bag to shade them. They had packed some extravagant sandwiches from Black Manor. No one said a word. Harry reviewed the fight in his head. He would need the Nimbus, and with Severus holding down Abraxas, he could deal a critical blow. It would cost him everything, but he could do it. He drank some water, feeling full and refreshed.
They packed up quietly. When they were finished, he motioned to the dune up ahead. "It's not far from here, we'll have to enter the gully, after that… Just be ready for anything."
Carefully, they crested the dune ahead, hoods up to protect them from the scorching midday sun.
"Where are we anyway?" Severus asked.
"I don't know," Harry said. "Somewhere east I think. Maybe Iraq?"
"It's as good a place as any I guess," Remus said, shading his eyes.
They shared the water, they had plenty. They knew they were getting close when the skies started to turn. Light blue gave way to red framed by unnatural clouds. It wasn't long before they spotted the desert ending in rusty red rock.
"She's here," Harry said, flashing his wand to hope to reveal any magic in the area. The whole gully was saturated with dark magic. It crackled in the air like static, invisible but very palpable.
"We don't have to worry about that," Lily said. A pure white translucent light surrounded them and the eerie feeling disappeared. The marks on her arms were glowing.
"Does it hurt?" he asked.
"No," she said with a smile. "No, it's nothing like that."
"Oh, one last thing," he said, producing a tear-shaped vial. "Should be six hours each."
They each took a sip from the Luck Potion. Their purpose felt sharpened, and they were guided to the gully, slowly, carefully, expecting to be assaulted at any moment. It was still.
"You smell that?" Remus asked.
The source of the smell became quickly apparent. As they turned a bend, a black robed body lay decomposing on the rock. Severus went closer and turned over its arm. "A Death Eater," he said. "I don't think anyone would have made it out of here alive."
"She's waiting until she kills us to raise hell," Harry said.
The gully ran much further, and Harry wondered how long she would observe or toy with them before making herself known. Some part of him just wanted it to be over with.
"Let's not be impatient," an almost gentle voice resounded. They all looked around for the source, but it became clear the voice was being projected magically. She could be anywhere.
"Good to see you arrived safely, despite my efforts. I had much hope for you."
"What? Getting nervous?" Severus quipped.
The answer was an impetuous laugh. "Feisty aren't we? Poor soul, did you really think my assault on the lunar island was to kill you? I just wanted to bury the place for good, and make sure Keldran wouldn't get any more silly ideas. I'll go deal with him soon enough."
Harry nodded ahead for them to keep walking. All of it was just a distraction. They went on.
"Fine, be like that," the voice said in irritation. "I'll talk to your corpses once I'll reanimate you. Oh, by the way Harry, I too can see the future. I'm guessing by your apparent courage you've made a few mistakes in your predictions. Don't worry, you're not the first. Such a shame too, to have someone so promising be just another sacrifice!"
Harry didn't doubt they would put their faith in him, but it was good to see his friends completely unfazed. As they went on the ambient magic became thicker, and Lily's protection increased in intensity. There were more bodies, scattered around like toys. His focus was complete, and he knew they were near the final battle once he spotted the ritual circle. The same pile of bodies from before, unceremoniously dumped in the middle of it. He raised his wand, the others too, and Severus his glove.
They were a few feet away when a black shape came from the crags above and a curtain of hellfire bore down on them.