The Last Time

Calliope

Story Summary:
When Harry wants to stop the pain he suffers from re-occurring dreams about the death of his parents, it is only the bond he shares with Ron and Hermione that saves his life. The bond proves to be the only thing that saves them all as they face the unimaginable… [written pre-OotP, but partially OotP-compatible]

Chapter 01

Chapter Summary:
When Harry wants to stop the pain he suffers from re-occurring dreams about the death of his parents, it is only the bond he shares with Ron and Hermione that saves his life. The bond proves to be the only thing that saves them all as they face the unimaginable… (Rated PG-13- R/Hr, H/Hr...)
Posted:
12/30/2002
Hits:
14,477
Author's Note:
The Last Time was originally written pre-OotP and then was edited to comply with the new canon. There are still some small things that don’t quite reconcile with OotP but I had to take a bit of artistic license with them, such as the inability of boys to go into the girls’ dormitories, the layout of St. Mungo’s, how people are selected to be Aurors, and a few other small things. I felt that changing them to be totally compatible with OotP would require totally taking the story apart and reworking it.


Chapter 1

Hermione stood on tiptoe outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, scanning the crowd for any sign of Ron or Harry. They had planned to meet here in Diagon Alley to purchase their supplies for their last year at Hogwarts, and she expected them to arrive at any time. Apparently the majority of the British wizarding world had the same ideas, as the narrow street was very crowded. Since the Hogwarts' train would be leaving in the morning, she supposed most of the people were getting their last minute school shopping out of the way.

Suddenly she spotted them - of course they would be together - and she called out to them. "Harry! Ron!"

Both of them broke into huge grins at the sight of her. "Hermione!" they exclaimed, elbowing through the crowd to reach her.

She reached up to hug the both of them. She was amazed at how much taller they were than her now - even Harry, who had always been quite short and skinny, (no doubt due to the conditions he'd encountered at the Dursley's), was at least a good head above her, as was Ron.

"It's great to see you again, Hermione," said Harry as they sat down at one of the little tables outside the ice cream parlour. "Have a good holiday?"

"Smashing," she answered. "Got to do quite a bit of travelling. I'll tell you later though...I guess you two have been at the Burrow for the summer?"

"Driving my parents mad," Ron said with a grin. "Harry had to go to his aunt and uncle's house for a bit, like usual, but then he came to the Burrow for the rest of the summer. We've been having a great time, right Harry?"

"Oh yes!" said Harry, grinning. He and Ron filled her in on the details of their summer - they'd sent each other owls of course, but it was much more fun relaying the details in person. They swapped stories over ice creams, and Hermione was relieved to see that they seemed to have recaptured their old camaraderie.

Hermione felt things had been odd between the three of them the last few years, starting with that ridiculous row between Ron and Harry about the Triwizard Tournament in their fourth year. They made up after the first task, of course, and things had been relatively normal after that - if you can call any part of Harry's life normal - but then came their fifth year and all the accompanying madness. Harry had snapped and yelled and raged at them far more than Hermione cared to admit, and when Sirius died it left Harry in a gloomy funk that persisted through most of their sixth year.

Harry seemed to be coming out of that gloomy funk, Hermione thought, watching him devour his ice cream while Ron regaled her with stories of their summer misdeeds. Harry seemed much less weighed down

It had been a long time since she had felt such good feelings from the two of them. They've got to be alright now, she thought, this is our last year together. It's to be the best year we've had yet.

It was just like old times between the three of them that day. She was the serious one, making sure she had everything on her Hogwarts list from books to quills to parchments. Ron and Harry kept straying away from the mission at hand, dragging her into Gambol and Japes for some Filibuster Fireworks, and into Quality Quidditch Supplies to gawk at the latest Chudley Cannons posters.

"Oh, come off it, Hermione," Ron complained, as Hermione steered them out in the direction of the apothecary's to stock up on their potion ingredients. "Have a little fun, won't you?"

"How much fun do you think we'll have if we're missing ingredients in Snape's class?" Hermione said, prodding him down the street. "It's his last year to pick on us, so I'm sure he's going to make potions as miserable as possible for us." Not that I understand how the two of you managed to scrape high enough marks on your Potions O.W.L.s to keep taking potions in the first place, she thought but didn't say.

" 'I see we aren't prepared today,' " said Harry in an eerily accurate imitation of Professor Snape. " 'Ten points from Gryffindor, for your lack of attention to your studies. And if it happens again, you'll be scrubbing the dungeons with a toothbrush from now till Christmas!' "

"That's him alright!" laughed Ron. They walked on, growling at each other in Snape's greasy, sneering voice, imagining all the insane things he'd say to them this year. Hermione laughed so hard she almost dropped her packages into the street outside of Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

Harry groaned. "While we're here, I better get some new robes. These are too short now." He rolled his eyes. "I hate getting new robes, but I'd better go on and do it and get it over with.. You two go ahead, I'll meet you at the apothecary's."

"I'll go with you, Harry," said Ron.

Harry and Hermione exchanged puzzled looks. "Er, Ron, are you sure?" asked Harry.

"Of course," said Ron. "My old robes are much too short now, look! I'm taller than any of my brothers now, so I can't wear their old stuff anymore," he said with a big grin. He explained that with only Ginny and himself still in school (and the success of Fred and George's joke shop - Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes), the Weasley family didn't have to stretch things quite as far as they used to, and for the first time Ginny and Ron were to have new school things of their own.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you want to go clothes shopping," teased Hermione with a giggle. "Since when did you care about clothes?"

"I don't want to buy clothes," protested Ron, "but I don't want to run around starkers either! Let's just get this over with," he grumbled, jerking open the shop door.

No sooner had they walked through the door than they heard a familiar, mocking voice.

"Aren't you in the wrong place, Weasley?" sneered Draco Malfoy, leaning against the counter as a tall, thin witch in blue wrapped his purchases. "I do believe the second hand robe shop is at the other end of the street. Isn't that where the Weasleys shop?"

"Shut up, Malfoy," mumbled Ron.

Before he could reach for his wand, Hermione grabbed Ron's arm and dragged him off to the other side of the room. "Just ignore him!" she hissed.

Ron was livid. "He's such a prick!" he grumbled. "Besides, I don't see you dragging Harry away from him. Look!" He pointed to the counter where Harry and Malfoy were standing dangerously close together with extremely hostile looks on their faces. Harry's hand was on his wand and his jaw was set.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly! You two are impossible! You stay right there." She zoomed over to the counter, hands on her hips.

Malfoy's lip curled at the sight of her. "Saint Potter. Need your little Mudblood girlfriend to rescue you?" he spat. "I'd think you'd tire of hanging about these types by now...Mudbloods, Muggle-loving fools...after six years in the wizarding world you ought to know better."

Just then, the tall witch behind the counter coughed discreetly. "Ahem...Mr. Malfoy, your purchases, sir." She slid the package across the shiny wooden counter. "Have a pleasant day, sir."

Harry and Malfoy stared at each other for a moment. No one moved. Then with a contemptuous smirk, Malfoy scooped up his parcel, turned without a word, and left the shop. Harry remained in place, as if he were frozen.

Hermione laid a hand on his arm. "Harry...he's gone...come on." She steered him gently but firmly to the other side of the shop where Ron (whose face was a darker shade of red than his hair) was getting his new robes fitted.

Harry sighed as Madam Malkin came over to take his measurements. "Ron, I'm sorry. I really hate when he starts in on your family. I know we all agreed not to make a scene and give him the satisfaction, but I so wanted to start in on him. I think he's quite jealous of you, you know."

"Of course, a Malfoy jealous of a Weasley! That's brilliant, Harry!" Ron snapped.

Great, here we go again, thought Hermione. Aloud, she said, "I agree, Ron. Look what that git's got for family. I mean, honestly. Can you just imagine living in that house, with those parents?" She shivered, thinking of Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father, with his evil grin and that ridiculous serpent-headed stick he loved to wave around. She'd seen him use it on Draco once or twice when he thought no one was looking. "And look at your family Ron - your family is so close, you have the best parents..."

"You've got a point there, Hermione," said Ron, some of the anger gone out of his voice. "But if he keeps on about the...Mudblood thing..."

Hermione made a dismissive noise. "I can ignore that now," she said. "It just goes in one ear and out the other." She saw Harry give her a piercing look. She wasn't being quite truthful - it did hurt to be called a Mudblood, no matter how many times she heard it - but she'd decided that it wasn't worth giving Malfoy the pleasure of her anger.

"Alright there, dears, you're all finished now," said Madam Malkin, folding the robes into two piles. "I'll just wrap these for you, straight away."

After they left Madam Malkin's, the fun seemed to have been sucked out of their day. They make a quick stop at the apothecary's before they made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron, where they were spending the night. Hermione walked between the two. They weren't saying much and it make her very uncomfortable.

As they entered the Leaky Cauldron, she was struck with an idea. "Harry! Ron! I almost forgot. I have a surprise for you! Go put your things away - I'll come to your room in a bit." She swept up the stairs to her room, where she piled her packages on the bed and reached for her trunk. In the middle of her neatly packed trunk there were two odd-shaped packages, each carefully wrapped in paper and surrounded with a Cushioning Charm. She scooped them up and dashed down the hall to the boys' room.

"Alright then, here we are," she said, giving each of them a package. "Oh, wait a minute." She took out her wand, waved it over the packages, and mumbled a few words to remove the Cushioning Charm. "You can open them now."

"What's this for, Hermione?" Harry asked, as he began to unwrap his gift. "Any special occasion?"

She suddenly blushed. "Er...well...I just saw them when I was travelling with my parents this summer, and I thought...you know...you two might like them. It might be a little corny though...but...I thought they were clever..." she trailed off, unsure. She'd thought they'd be interesting gifts, but maybe the boys would find them dull? She'd seen them in a shop and bought one for herself, but there was no accounting for boys' tastes.

Ron quickly took off the wrappings and held up the object. "What is it?" he asked. It was a ball, a little bigger than a Snitch but not as big as a Bludger. It was made of very thin, very delicate glass. There were thin engraved designs similar to Celtic knot work all over it, and it was slightly warm to the touch.

"Tap it lightly with your wand," instructed Hermione. They did as she said.

"Look!" whispered Harry. The ball he was holding in his palm suddenly began to float a few centimetres above his hand and spin slowly, as did Ron's. Harry's ball had turned a deep green, and Ron's had begun to turn midnight blue.

"They're Harmonial Spheres," explained Hermione. "After they adjust to you, they'll play music for you. But not just any music, though. It's like it finds the music inside you, so each person's music will be different. They'll be different according to what mood you're in too. And the colours as well. Listen."

As the Spheres spun in the boys' palms, the room was filled with music. Two distinct, but complementary, melodies floated through the air. From Harry's Sphere came the mellow sound of a cello, oboe, and piano, gentle and smooth. Ron's sounded like a brass quartet - bright and cheerful.

"It's very clever, Hermione," said Harry. His glasses had slipped down on his nose and he pushed them back into place as he looked closer at the Sphere. "I've never seen anything like it before."

Ron made a face. "I don't hear any music, I just hear a sort of mumbling sound, just noise," he said. "Are you sure it's working?"

Harry and Hermione stared at Ron. "Of course it's working, Ron. I hear it plain as day. It sounds like trumpets and whatnot. You don't hear it?" asked Harry.

Ron scowled. "I hear something, but it doesn't sound much like any kind of instruments I've heard of."

"That's odd," said Harry, touching his Sphere gently with his wand to silence it. The music faded away, the green colour vanished, and the Sphere settled into Harry's palm. Ron's Sphere continued to play, even louder than before, and the midnight blue turned to black. Hermione supposed that was because Ron was getting frustrated because he couldn't hear the music.

"You still don't hear it?" asked Hermione.

Ron shook his head. "Damn," he said, tapping his Sphere. It settled into his hand as Harry's had. "You mean you two hear music coming out of this thing?"

"Yes," said Harry and Hermione together.

"Good," said Ron. "I'd hate to think that noise was the music inside of me."

"I thought your music might be a train whistle, or a flock of honking geese," laughed Harry, ducking as Ron punched him in the arm.

"Shut up, Harry, you wanker!" said Ron. "Sure yours wasn't the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies?"

"Be careful, you two!" screeched Hermione, as Ron nearly dropped his Sphere. "They've got Unbreakable Charms on them, but if you don't keep a Cushioning Charm on them when you aren't using them they'll get all scratched and won't work properly." She showed them how to put the charm on before they went down to dinner.