The Fire You Touch

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Chapter 40: The Fire You Touch

Aeryn's fingers rested gently on the heavy knocker, drumming slightly against the metal as she bit her lip. She hesitated for only a second, and then grasped the knocker and rapped it firmly against the door.

There was a slight pause.

"Enter," called a voice from the interior.

Swallowing hard, Aeryn pushed open the door and hesitantly peeked into the beautiful circular room. The numerous silver instruments puffed merry little wisps of smoke from various spindle-legged tables, and a beautiful scarlet bird with a golden beak and black eyes trilled welcomingly to her as she entered and shut the door behind her.

"Good morning, Miss Blake," said Albus Dumbledore, looking up and smiling gently from behind his large claw-footed desk in the center of the room.

For a second, Aeryn could not speak. Her eyes were fixed on the black-robed figure sitting before the headmaster's desk that had turned at her entrance and was now sitting unmoving, staring at her.

Snape.

She had not expected him to be here.

She had not expected to see him again--she had not expected him to be here--

"Morning," she finally remembered to choke. She twitched her lips into a grim semblance of a smile and looked to the headmaster, feeling her face drain pale.

She could feel the Potions master's eyes burning into her, and she tried not to shiver.

The headmaster's face was calm. "Shouldn't you be getting ready to get on the Hogwarts Express?" he asked.

Aeryn laced her fingers tightly together behind her back. "I...." She swallowed hard, feeling her heart leap about in her chest like a Mexican jumping bean.

Getaholdofyourselfcomeongirlgetaholdofyourself....

"I came to say goodbye," she said.

Dumbledore's eyes were understanding. "Of course."

Without really intending to, Aeryn's gaze flickered over to Snape. He was staring intently at her face as if he expected her to disappear any second, and her eyes inadvertently locked with his.

For a long moment she could not move, could not breathe, could not even think. Then she tore her eyes away, her heart pounding so hard in her chest that it was threatening to explode.

"Oh, good heavens," Headmaster Dumbledore exclaimed suddenly. Aeryn looked up at him and saw him shake his head in disbelief. He raised his eyes to the ceiling and gave a little, amused sigh. "I seem to have misplaced my extra pair of spectacles." He got to his feet and headed towards the door. "If you will please excuse me...."

It might have been a trick of the lighting, but to Aeryn it seemed that his twinkling blue gaze rested pointedly on Snape for a fleeting instant. Then, with an overly-obvious shrug, Dumbledore slipped from the office, shutting the door quietly behind him.

A heavy silence fell, broken only by the soft sound of the outdoors coming from the open office window. She could hear him shifting uncomfortably in his seat, and she bit her lip, twisting her fingers against each other until her knuckles popped in protest.

Then she cleared her throat loudly and turned her head. She kept her gaze fixed to the chair that Dumbledore had occupied a few moments earlier, and she tried to smile, more to keep her voice pleasant than to express any feelings of lingering happiness.

"What...." Her voice stuck in her throat after the first word and, helplessly, she motioned with one hand towards the desk.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him run a hand down the side of his robe. "Just clearing up...some things." His voice was even and smooth, but there was an odd forcedness to it. He gave a little shrug. "Before I...leave."

"Mmm," Aeryn answered, giving a nod.

Their words trailed away into the stillness of the room. Aeryn tried her best to breathe normally as she shifted her weight from foot to foot, and she saw Professor Snape rub a hand awkwardly against the back of his neck and give a little cough.

She finally found the strength to turn her gaze and look directly at him. His greasy black hair had fallen across his face as he looked intently at the floor.

"Professor," she said softly.

He lifted his head and their eyes met. Aeryn froze, the words she had been preparing to say shriveling in her throat. A hundred different emotions and questions twirled like dancers in her confused mind, flooding her. There was so much she wanted to say, so much she wanted to know....

There was a whir and a gentle chime of the grandfather clock standing in the corner of the office, and Aeryn belatedly remembered that time was not on her side. She clenched her hands into fists at her sides and grasped for the first coherent question that swam into the forefront of her brain.

"How do you think things would have turned out...you know...if none of this had ever happened?" she asked. The words sounded clunky and clumsy even to her own ears.

The Potions master's brow furrowed slightly, and Aeryn desperately reached out for an explanation. "You know...." She gave a helpless shrug. "If there hadn't been Lockhart."

Understanding crossed Snape's features. "Ah." He gave a little nod and sat back in his chair, crossing his hands over his knees. "Yes, I see what you're asking." He tilted his head and regarded her calmly. "If Lockhart had never been in the picture, if I had never taken the Berserker's Mead."

Aeryn nodded.

Snape heaved a sigh, and for a moment his eyes flickered somewhere away from her, as if he were searching for something. "Things would have been quite different, I believe." His lips twitched. "For starters, I never would have approached you. That I know for a fact. My attraction towards you would have been no more than a passing, barely conscious thought."

His eyes turned to her, and he smiled bitterly. "The same thought, I'm certain, that passes through every man's subconscious when he looks at you, though he is unaware of it."

An answering, equally bitter smile touched Aeryn's lips.

Snape ran a lean hand through his hair. "Our relationship would have progressed no further than a sporadic 'ten points from Gryffindor,' or 'detention, Miss Blake.'" He raised an eyebrow, and a gentle glint entered his black eyes. "Although I highly doubt that would have happened, Gryffindor though you be."

Aeryn gave a tiny laugh.

"And you would have been safe." Snape shook his head, and looked away from her, out the open window onto the sunny grounds of Hogwarts. "You would have blissfully continued your studies here--granted, you would always have been looking over your shoulder to see if anyone would discover your mutation--but it could have worked."

Aeryn bit her lips together and clasped her hands in front of her. What if Lockhart had never given Snape the Berserker's Mead? Her eyes followed Snape's towards the open window. For a moment, she caught a glimpse of a different ending...something warmer, something happier, with its own darkness and hidden secrets, of course, but....

She closed her eyes to shut out the vision.

"But unfortunately it didn't turn out like that, did it," Snape said, so quietly that she almost didn't hear him.

Aeryn shook her head. "No."

"And after all you've done." He paused, and when he spoke again, his voice was sharp with anger. "This is your reward."

Aeryn opened her eyes and regarded him. The Potions master was still looking out the window, and his figure was so still that he could have been Petrified, or carved from stone. She gave a little shrug, trying to ignore the pain lancing through her heart.

"I was the one who chose it," she murmured.

Silence dropped between them.

Aeryn gave a barely audible sigh and crossed her arms over her chest. Her mind was filled with what ifs and if onlys, murmuring to her with their maddening, insistent voices, and she shook her head angrily, trying to silence them. For though she might long for the escape of what if, she could not escape reality.

This is the path I chose.

"Forgive me," Snape whispered suddenly.

Every single thought spinning through Aeryn's mind dissipated like a sand castle in the force of an ocean wave. The Potions master turned slowly in his chair until he was looking her full in the face. Aeryn gaped at him. She had to have heard him wrong. She couldn't have just heard him say....

"If I could, I would change it all," he said. His eyes were hollow holes of pain. "But I can't. And I am so sorry...so sorry...for everything I've done to you."

Aeryn's breath was coming fast and heavy in her chest. She could not move--could barely think--as Snape rose to his feet, his eyes fixed upon her. He raised a hand as if to touch her face, but he dropped it short of its goal, and he swallowed hard.

"I suppose it is too much to ask for forgiveness." There was a dullness to his voice, and as he paused, his jaw clenched tightly. He drew away from her, his features twisting in some unidentifiable emotion. "I don't expect you to give it to me."

He looked away and his gaze fell to the floor. "But at the very least you deserved an apology."

Aeryn could only stare at him. He was apologizing--apologizing--and his face was turned away from her and she saw him exhale slowly, the sound as bleak as the winter wind--it's not like you to say sorry--and she was slowly aware of her pulse throbbing in her wrists, and the heavy lump in the base of her throat like a knot.

She drew a deep, struggling breath, feeling quivers chase up and down the length of her spine. Her head was surprisingly light, as if she had just inhaled a balloon full of helium. She tossed her hair, willing the motion to give her some strength.

Forgive me, he asked....

"You're right." Her voice was as brittle as splintered glass.

The Potions master slowly lifted his head and looked towards her, his eyes shrouded by his fall of black hair. Aeryn tightened her hands around her arms.

"I don't know if I can ever forgive what you've done to me," she said harshly.

His features did not change, but his coal-black eyes shuttered and he turned his face away. Had she not been looking for it, Aeryn would have missed the infinitesimal slump of his shoulders and the whiteness of his locked fingers.

"But I can forgive you," she whispered.

His head jerked up. Tears sprung suddenly into Aeryn's eyes, and she put a hand to her mouth, trying to hold back the unbearable pain building in the base of her throat.

Snape stared at her. Despair, sorrow, anguish--all these and more were written across his features, so raw that her heart twisted within her. Then, the Potions master's face crumpled.i

"I'm so sorry," he said brokenly.

She nodded, and a hot tear trickled from the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek.

"Me too," she murmured.

They stood there for a moment, unmoving, their eyes fixed upon each other. Then Aeryn held out a hand to the Potions master, beckoning to him. He took a slow, hesitant step towards her, and as her unshed tears threatened to overtake her, Aeryn quickly reached forward and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest.

Snape's arms gently enfolded her. Aeryn squeezed her eyes tightly shut and twisted her fists into the material of his robe. As she bit her lip, willing herself to get control of her emotions, she felt him rest his lips against the top of her head.

"If you ever need anything...." His voice was muffled, but she understood every word. He softly stroked her hair with his long fingers as she tried not to sob, the effort wracking her small body in shudders. "Anything at all, ask it, and if it is within my power to help you, I swear that I will move earth and heaven to do so."

Aeryn nodded. "I--will."

In response, his arms tightened around her, and Aeryn's breath sighed from her in a half-sob as she rested her cheek against his chest.

There was a sudden, sharp rap at the door. Aeryn and Snape jumped away from each other as the office door swung open and Albus Dumbledore walked into the room. Aeryn gave a loud sniff and hurriedly dashed a hand across her face.

Dumbledore's calm blue eyes regarded Aeryn and the Potions master, but he did not comment. He merely turned to Snape, and his face, usually so gentle and wise, was suddenly darkened by sadness.

"It's time, Severus," he said quietly.

Snape nodded curtly.

Dumbledore drew his wand and walked over to the blank stone wall across from them. "Apparatum chemenia!" he cried, slicing the wand in a downward motion. Aeryn started as the stone of the wall trembled, and then swirled as if melting. Within seconds, the stone had morphed into a beautiful fireplace, complete with gilt-edged mantelpiece and flickering flames.

An instant later, the dancing flames roared into a column of green, sheeting fire. Aeryn gave a muffled exclamation and skittered a step backwards. A trio of darkened forms appeared suddenly in the emerald blaze, and as Aeryn watched with widened eyes, a tall figure stepped from the fireplace. He was a thin wizard with a square face, wearing iron-gray robes edged with scarlet.

He turned and looked sharply at Snape. "Is this 'im, sir?"

"Yes," Dumbledore said.

The thin wizard's eyes narrowed slightly. Then he lifted his hands, beckoning to either side of him, and the two other figures glided from the fireplace into the room. Aeryn regarded these newcomers warily. They were also tall, but cowled from head to foot in long gray robes.

Beside her, Snape made a strangled noise. At the sound, the two cowled figures raised their hoods and looked in his direction--

--a horrid gurgle suddenly echoed in Aeryn's mind, followed by a harsh growl, "Kill the girl, then get out of here," and Aeryn choked, the images flashing before her eyes--and then the face of Gilderoy Lockhart, his hair golden fire in the torchlight floated before her--"Quid pro quo, Miss Blake," hissed a terrifyingly familiar voice--she tried to scream, but nothing came, and a horrifying cold leached into her--

"Enough!" Dumbledore roared, and suddenly the horrifying memories split as if a hammer had smashed them to pieces. As they faded, Aeryn found that she was doubled over, holding her head in her hands and whimpering softly. She straightened with a great effort, and found she was trembling from head to foot. Dumbledore was standing beside her, and his blue eyes were flashing in the direction of the gray-and-scarlet robed wizard.

The headmaster of Hogwarts pointed an accusing finger at the cowled figures, which had dropped their heads and slunk back a step behind the wizard.

"You were not to bring Dementors here," Dumbledore said, his voice shaking with fury. "I gave explicit instructions on this point."

The wizard gave an apologetic nod. "I'm sorry, sir," he said, but the apology was dampened by the underlying disinterest in his voice. He gave a lofty shrug. "But these are the rules, sir, in case of...problems."

There was a pained noise next to her. Quivering, Aeryn twisted her head to regard the Potions master. Snape's face was paler than marble, and his coal-black eyes were haunted as he stared towards the Dementors. Like her, he was trembling as if gripped by an attack of the ague, and he screwed his eyes shut, his breath shuddering from him with a sound like a file scraping across glass.

"All right, miss?" the wizard asked calmly, and Aeryn looked up to see his cold eyes upon her. "Sorry 'bout that--the Dementors latch onto any happy memories they can find and suck 'em from you, whether you're the guilty one or not." A lizard's smile twisted his lips. "The effects should fade in a few hours or so. Don't take it personal, like."

Aeryn stared at him, aghast, and began to realize just exactly to what the Potions master had been sentenced.

"The Dementors are for Azkaban, and Azkaban alone," Dumbledore snarled. Aeryn had never before heard him so livid. "Kindly remember that."

The wizard shrugged, and then turned his sharp eyes towards Snape. "Come along, Mr. Snape," he said briskly. "Don't want to be late."

Every muscle in Snape's body went rigid. A myriad of warring emotions crossed his face, and for a moment, Aeryn was afraid that he was either going to faint or vomit. Then his features smoothed as if stroked by an invisible hand and became expressionless. Like a condemned man seeing the gallows on which he is to be hanged, he straightened his shoulders and lifted his chin. His lips tightened. Then, slowly, he took a step towards the fireplace.

She was unsure what spurred her next action. Whether it was from the sickening pity echoing within her for his fate, whether it was the understanding of what he heard when the Dementors turned their cowls to him, or whether it was from a deeper emotion within her that had no name, she could not say. But before he could take another step towards the fireplace or the Dementors, she caught Snape's hand and yanked him back towards her.

Before anyone could move to stop her, she grabbed the Potions master's face and pulled his lips down upon hers.

Shock bristled through the ether, but Aeryn wrapped her arms around him as tightly as she could, feeling the terror awakened within him by the Dementors surrounding him like a black cloak, and she kissed him fiercely, savagely, willing his horror to fade, willing the screams echoing in his head to subside, willing him not to give in to his memories.

He stiffened, but as she clung to him, his muscles slowly relaxed, and he brought his arms up around her. And finally she felt--at the very edge of her consciousness--a soothing bit of calm breaking through his horror, slowly beginning to melt it away.

She heard the warning rustle of robes behind her. Quickly, she broke the kiss and pressed her forehead against Snape's, feeling the warmth of his skin against hers.

"I forgave you," she whispered. "Remember that."

They pulled away from each other, and she saw that Snape's face had regained a fraction of its normal color. He reached out and ran a hand gently down her cheek. Thank you, he mouthed silently.

Overcome with emotion, Aeryn could only nod.

Snape turned. He did not speak, but there was a new set to his shoulders as he strode into the emerald flames of the fireplace, flanked by the wizard and the two Dementors. The wizard put a hand on the professor's shoulder and gave a farewell salute to Dumbledore.

"Azkaban!" the wizard exclaimed, and in the blink of an eye, they were gone. Within instants, the green flames flickered, died, and the fireplace shifted and merged until once again it was nothing more than a stone wall.

Aeryn stood where she was, as still as if she had been Petrified, staring at the blank wall. Her hands and feet were as cold as ice. She was faintly aware of the distant buzzing in her ears, and the slow throbbing of her heart. She swallowed, wondering why the gesture was suddenly so difficult.

There was a rustle of cloth, and Albus Dumbledore placed his hands gently on Aeryn's shoulders. The warmth bit into her skin, and her vision blurred. A little whimper escaped her lips, and she slowly turned and let herself be enfolded in the headmaster's arms.

* * *

Aeryn watched the countryside disappear out the window of the Hogwarts Express as her friends quietly talked to each other. She put her hand against the glass, noticing how the rolling, wooded hills slowly gave way to urban sprawl as they approached London.

The rest of her goodbyes to her former teachers had been less dramatic, but no less difficult. As she had hugged Professor Sprout goodbye, she had been able to tell that the squat little witch was valiantly trying to hold back tears, and Professor McGonagall's farewell had been oddly choked and her eyes had been strangely wet.

Hagrid's, in particular, had been an exceedingly painful goodbye.

"Yeh shouldn't have teh go," the big man had growled on the Hogwarts train platform. His voice was rough, but his beetle-black eyes were misty. "Yer not the one what did summat wrong."

Aeryn shook her head, not wanting to get into a lengthy discussion that would serve no other purpose than to dissolve the two of them into tears. She handed her trunk to the train porter and turned to the gamekeeper.

"'Bye, Hagrid," she said softly.

It was hard to read his emotions beneath his bushy black beard, but she could see his brow furrow as if in pain. Then with a sort of grunt, he pulled Aeryn into a bonecracking hug.

"Won't be th' same without yeh 'ere," he muttered brokenly. "Come back 'n visit sometime, will yeh?"

Aeryn squeezed Hagrid as hard as she could. "Okay," she mumbled.

At that moment the piercing whistle of the Hogwarts Express split the air. Aeryn unwillingly loosened herself from her large friend. Hagrid brushed a hand across his eyes and gave a sniff.

"G'won, now," he said gruffly, motioning to the train. "Best not teh let th' train leave yeh here."

As the train whistled again, Aeryn quickly kissed her fingertips and pressed them to the gamekeeper's lips. "I'll visit," she promised, and then, with a little smile, turned and hurried onto the Hogwarts Express before he had a chance to see the tears brimming in her eyes.

Now on the train, Aeryn turned her gaze to her three friends. Their faces were gloomy as the high buildings of London began to zip past them.

"Come on now, guys." She tried to keep her voice cheerful. "It's not goodbye forever."

Their long faces did not change. Aeryn sighed and folded her arms across her chest. "It's not like I'm disappearing off the face of the earth or anything." She shrugged, trying not to let them see how nervous their silence made her. "Besides, you're always welcome to come visit me...I mean, you've got this great summer vacation now."

"Holiday," Harry murmured. He looked over at her, his bottle-green eyes bright behind his black-rimmed glasses. "Summer holiday." A tiny smile flickered across his face. "Crazy American."

The words brought with them the memory of the first time Aeryn had heard him say nearly the same thing, and an answering smile twitched her lips.

There was a rustle at the doorway of the cabin. "Um...Aeryn?"

Four pairs of eyes turned to see a very nervous Oliver Wood standing in the doorway.

Aeryn got to her feet. "Hey, Oliver."

"Hey," the Gryffindor Quidditch captain answered, grinning broadly at her. He looked quickly down at the ground and shuffled his feet. "I...I realized that I...didn't get to say...goodbye." He looked back up at her, and a light blush colored his cheeks. "Back at Hogwarts," he explained. "So I, um...." His voice trailed away and he rubbed a hand against the back of his neck.

"Yeah," Aeryn said quietly, leaning against the doorframe. "Well...."

Behind her, there was the faintest of sniggers.

She smiled and held out a hand to Wood, who gave it a firm shake. "Goodbye, Oliver."

There was an even louder snigger behind her.

Wood dropped her hand and gave a shy smile. He turned as if to go, but then turned back around and slipped an arm around Aeryn's waist, pulling her to him in a very clumsy kiss. Then he released her and stepped away, blushing bright red to the roots of his blond hair.

"'Bye," he mumbled.

Aeryn laughed delightedly. "Come back here, Oliver," she exclaimed. Before the Quidditch captain had a chance to step away, she put her hands on either side of his face and pulled his face down to hers in a long kiss.

The sniggers erupted into full-scale snorts. Aeryn felt Oliver's cheeks flare beneath her hands, and she couldn't help smiling as he put his arms back around her and returned the kiss.

There was a screeching of brakes as the Hogwarts Express slowed, having finally reached King's Cross Station. Aeryn and Oliver pulled away from each other as the train shuddered to a halt in front of Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

"I'm certain you'll win the Quidditch Cup next year," Aeryn said as the other three occupants of the cabin stood up, pointedly nudging each other and smirking.

Oliver grinned sheepishly at her, his face as red as a boiled lobster. "Pity you won't be there to cheer the team on," he mumbled, shoving a hand through his hair.

Aeryn gave a shrug, her eyes becoming pensive. "I'll see what I can do," she said thoughtfully.

The Quidditch captain's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Promise?"

Aeryn smiled and nodded. "I promise."

Oliver beamed and, with a quick nod to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, he ducked away down the corridor.

Aeryn followed her three friends off the Hogwarts Express onto the platform. All around them, joyous families swooped upon the students, jabbering excitedly--"Look at you, why, you must have grown ten centimeters since Christmas, your father won't even recognize you!"--and as Aeryn gathered her things from one of the porters, she heaved a sigh.

"There's Mum and Dad," Hermione said suddenly, pointing to a very nervous-looking couple standing very close to the partition between Platform Nine and Three-Quarters and the Muggle world. Headmaster Dumbledore had requested for all students to be picked up at the platform, owing to a very embarrassing incident the year before involving two unruly sixth-years and a stuffy Muggle train-porter in King's Cross Station. To decrease the likelihood of such an event happening again, all parents had been given Portkeys to pass onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, along with strict instructions to keep their children under control.

Hermione took a step towards her parents, and then hesitated, looking back over her shoulder.

"Um..." Her voice was oddly light. "Maybe we...we should say goodbye."

There was a long, uncomfortable silence.

"Right," Ron exclaimed finally. He sounded like he had something stuck in his throat.

Harry set Hedwig's cage on the ground and tried to smile. "'Bye Ron," he said, giving a little wave. He turned and smiled to the brown-haired girl. "'Bye, Hermione."

"Yeah," Ron agreed, nodding violently. "See...see you guys in a few months."

"Yeah." Hermione blinked furiously. "Until...until September." She drew a deep breath, and gave an overly-huge smile. "Maybe we can, um...meet up in Diagon Alley to buy school stuff again. In August, I mean."

"Yeah," the boys chorused.

Their voices trailed away and, as one, their eyes slowly turned to rest on Aeryn.

Aeryn shrugged, a heavy lump of pain tightening in her throat. "Well."

Misery began to etch across the three young Gryffindors' faces. Aeryn bit her lip. She would not cry. All through the train ride, she had told herself that she wasn't going to cry. But she could feel that resolve slipping away as her friends shuffled their feet uncomfortably.

She heaved a sigh and let her eyes wander over their faces, memorizing their features, trying not to let the growing wail within her of when will I see you again? overtake her.

"Goodbye, guys," she whispered.

Hermione's face crumpled. With a little sob, she threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around Aeryn. Gulping, Aeryn hugged the girl tightly.

"I'll write you," Hermione murmured into Aeryn's shoulder. "I'll write you every single day, whether you answer me or not, I promise."

Aeryn stroked her friend's hair. "I'll answer." They stepped away, and Aeryn gently placed her hands on the girl's tearstained cheeks. "Oh, Hermione." She gave a little smile. "Don't work too hard next year, okay?"

Hermione laughed slightly. Then, with one last tearful grin, she waved a quick goodbye and hurried over to her parents.

Aeryn exhaled slowly and then turned to Ron. They stood staring at each other uncomfortably for a few seconds. Finally, Aeryn shook her head and motioned for him to step over, and she enfolded him in a gentle hug.

"There he is!" Aeryn heard suddenly, and she looked up to see the red-haired Mrs. Weasley rushing towards them with Ginny, the twins, and Percy in tow. Ron drew away from Aeryn and swiped furiously at his eyes as his mother approached.

"We've been looking all over for you," Mrs. Weasley exclaimed. "Hello, Harry--hello, Aeryn."

Harry and Aeryn mumbled a hello.

"Come along, Ron, your father's waiting for us at home." Mrs. Weasley took her youngest son's shoulder and began to pull him away. She looked back over her shoulder at the other two. "Harry--" she looked pointedly at the boy-- "if you need anything this summer, don't hesitate to contact us." Her eyes flickered to Aeryn and she smiled. "Aeryn, dear, see you in September. Have a good summer."

George, Fred, and Percy Weasley's faces suddenly became expressionless.

"Yeah," Aeryn whispered as the matriarch of the Weasley family herded her flock of children towards the gate between the wizard and Muggle worlds. "See you in...September."

Ron glanced back at her and for a second, their gazes locked. He mouthed a small goodbye, and then followed his family through the partition.

The rhythmic buzzing of voices swarmed around her, punctuated by laughter and the clatter of luggage. Aeryn's hands were cold, and her throat ached. She swallowed hard, trying to dissolve the pain, but only succeeded in making it worse.

There was a rustle beside her, and she turned and looked into Harry's bottle-green eyes.

They did not speak--did not even move for a long moment. There was an odd shimmering in the boy's eyes, and Aeryn felt her lips twitching as she bit them together. Then the boy stepped forward and flung his arms around her.

Aeryn embraced him tightly. He had grown in the past year--she wouldn't be surprised if he was now approaching her height. As he burrowed his face in her shoulder, she gently ran her fingers through his black hair. Her mind whirled back over the times they had shared--the very first time she had seen him, in oversized clothes and his wide-eyed wonder--his shared joy when she had been accepted to Hogwarts--studying together in the Gryffindor common room--the snowball fights--his laughter as the Gryffindor Four plotted together--

She closed her eyes and pressed her lips to the top of his head.

In the end, she thought sadly, in the end after it's all said and done, and they ask me what was the hardest to give up...it was you. You three. Everything else was shadows and dust.

She drew a deep, shaky breath. "I shall miss you...so much," she whispered brokenly.

In response, his arms tightened around her.

She did not know for how long they held each other. But it was many moments before Harry lifted his head, leaving her shoulder strangely damp. Aeryn leaned forward and planted a gentle kiss on the boy's forehead, and he gave a long sniff. They straightened and smiled tearfully at one another.

Harry's eyes flickered over Aeryn's shoulder, and he gave a groan. "I see Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon."

Aeryn turned around and indeed, standing several yards behind them, there was the Dursley family, complete with son Dudley. Aeryn noticed wryly that the ten months had not served to wipe away the sour set of Petunia Dursley's face, nor served to reduce Dudley's bulk--actually, it looked as if he had gained weight, impossible though that seemed.

Aeryn glanced back at Harry and raised a knowing eyebrow. "I think," she said slowly, "it might be a good idea for me to go over and say hello."

Harry looked at her skeptically. A genuine smile crossed Aeryn's face, and she put a comradely arm around Harry's shoulders. "I mean," she exclaimed, motioning towards the Dursleys with one hand, "don't you think it would be extremely rude of me not to say hello to my former employers?"

Harry still looked skeptical, but he picked up his trunk and Hedwig's cage and allowed Aeryn to lead him over to where the Dursleys were standing. Petunia Dursley was looking around her as if she expected someone to turn her into a toad where she stood, and Dudley was pressed up close to his father, every once in a while giving a small whimper as a wizard or witch walked too closely by him. Vernon Dursley's face was very red, and he was muttering to himself under his breath. He started as the two approached him.

"Hullo, Uncle Vernon," Harry said.

Dudley ceased from whimpering long enough to look up at Aeryn. His pudgy face twisted in annoyed confusion. "Who're you?" he demanded.

"Hurry up now," Mr. Dursley snapped, grabbing Harry's trunk from him. He turned on his heel and began to stalk towards the partition. "We've been waiting here quite long enough, hurry along--"

Mrs. Dursley, who had finally stopped eyeing all the passing wizards, turned and saw them standing there. For a second she opened her mouth as if to lecture, but she suddenly froze. Her eyes widened. "Wait a minute," she hissed, pointing an accusing finger at Aeryn. "You--you're--"

Aeryn gave a slow, toothy grin. "It's good to see you again too, Mrs. Dursley."

The horrified look on Mrs. Dursley's face was priceless.

Suddenly aware that his wife was not following him, Mr. Dursley turned around, ready to bellow. But as he saw Aeryn, a glint of recognition entered his eyes. "Hold on--" He took a step back towards her, his gaze darting between the two women. "You--aren't you--"

Dudley glared at her in bewilderment. "Mum, who is she?"

"You'll be happy to know that Harry and I have grown quite close over this past year," Aeryn said languidly, and watched as the elder Dursleys' faces collectively drained pale.

Fighting back the sudden surge of laughter welling within her, Aeryn turned mock-pleading eyes to Harry. "Harry, darling, you do promise to keep me informed on what's going on at your house this summer, won't you?" She stuck her lower lip out in a pout. "I mean, if I don't hear from you, I'm going to assume that these big bloody Muggles have locked you in that cupboard again and, well, I'll probably work myself into a frenzy and have to pay a...." She dropped her voice menacingly. "Visit."

Harry grinned at her, and Aeryn could see him struggling not to laugh. "Of course, Aeryn," he promised with only a faint tremor in his voice.

"You--you--" Aeryn turned calm eyes back on the sputtering Vernon Dursley, who was turning variably beet-red and marble-white. "You can't scare us," he finally exclaimed, lifting his multiple chins and shaking a finger at her. "We--we know the rules. You can't use m-m-m--" The word caught in his throat, and he glared furiously at her before continuing. "You're not allowed to practice over the summer holidays!"

Aeryn laughed and waved a hand. "Oh, no, students aren't allowed, of course," she said merrily. She gave a huge grin and leaned close to Mr. Dursley, ignoring his sudden flinch.

"But I'm not a student," she whispered confidingly, giving a wink.

She straightened and bit back a giggle as a very small whimper escaped from Vernon Dursley's pale lips.

Harry balanced Hedwig's cage in his arms. He looked back at her and smiled sadly. "'Bye, Aeryn," he said softly.

Aeryn waved at him, feeling once again a telltale prickling behind her eyes. "'Bye, Harry."

She kept her eyes fixed on him as he squared his shoulders and walked through the partition, followed immediately by the three Dursleys, who were practically falling over one another in their haste to leave the platform.

Aeryn dropped her hand, her eyes remaining fixed on the blank wall where her friend had disappeared. The busy, comforting sounds of the wizarding world whirled around her--the squabbling of a family of four as they pushed through the partition, leaving behind them the lingering smell of magical candy--the mournful hoot of a hundred different owls as their cages jostled about--all these and more woven into a cacophony of sound that enfolded her like a blanket.

Aeryn turned and looked around her. The multicolored swirl of robes, which were slowly being hidden as parents shoved sweaters over their children's clothes, so they could pass unobtrusively through the Muggle world--various wands waving in the air, and every once in a while a burst of light when a student 'accidentally' cast a spell--she smiled, letting the kaleidoscope of magic dazzle her for one last time.

She slowly walked back over to where her trunk was sitting, looking forlorn and ragged and completely un-magical. Aeryn hoisted it with one hand and gave a grunt at how heavy it was. She extricated her wand from her sleeve and tapped it against the side, and immediately the weight disappeared as if everything inside had vanished.

Aeryn looked at her wand and gave a pleased nod. This will definitely come in handy, she thought, clumsily slipping it back into her sleeve.

The platform was sparsely populated as Aeryn stepped up to the partition. Most of the families had already left, save for the few still squabbling about who was to carry what, or the seventh-years who couldn't bring themselves to tear away from their friends for the final time. Aeryn heaved a huge sigh and looked straight at the wall before her. To all appearances, it was a normal brick wall, solid and strong.

And the instant she stepped through it, there would be no coming back.

Aeryn glanced around her one last time, trying to fix every detail in her memory. The candy-apple red of the Hogwarts Express--the feel of Knuts and Sickles in her pocket--the slightly-sweet, heady smell of train grease--all these and more swirled around her in a final farewell.

Her free hand reached up and gently traced the silver chain around her throat.

And she smiled.

She squared her shoulders and fixed her eyes upon the wall before her. "Come on, girl," she whispered, clutching the handle of her trunk tightly. "On to the next big adventure."

Aeryn closed her eyes, drew a deep breath, and stepped forward through the partition.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Let Him Fly"

By Patty Griffin

Recorded by the Dixie Chicks

Ain't no talkin' to this man

Ain't no pretty other side

Ain't no way to understand

His stupid words of pride

It would take an acrobat

And I already tried all that

I'm gonna let him fly

Things can move at such a pace

The second hand just waves goodbye

You know the light has left his face

But you can't recall just where or why

So there was really nothing to it

I just went and cut right through it

I said "I'm gonna let him fly"

There's no mercy in a live wire

No rest at all in freedom

Choices we are given

It's no choice at all

The proof is in the fire

You touch before it moves away

But you must always know

How long to stay and when to go

And there ain't no talkin' to this man

He's been tryin' to tell me so

It took a while to understand

The beauty of just letting go

Cause it would take an acrobat

And I already tried all that

I'm gonna let him fly

I'm gonna let him fly, fly

I'm gonna let him fly, fly

I'm gonna let him fly

~*~*~*~*~*~