I Will Remember You

All Love Can Be

Hermione felt a piercing pain through her head, and saw a pool of light in front of her. Harry's eyes widened when he heard her scream. He moved his arm away from her and rose on his elbow to look at her.

She brought her hands to her temples, shaking furiously, her naked body covered with sweat.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" asked Harry, panicking.

Hermione didn't answer. She didn't even seem aware of the fact Harry was there. She screamed again and kicked the air with her feet.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry repeated, seizing her shoulder.

Hermione freed herself from his grip and fell on her hands and knees on the floor.

Harry jumped down next to her. His first instinct was to put his boxers back on, then he bent over her.

"Hermione," he said, trying to embrace her.

"NO," cried Hermione, sitting on her heels and pulling away from him. Harry noticed that her eyes were moving quickly, like she could see something that Harry wasn't able to.

"MALFOY," she yelled suddenly, her face struck with fear, great fear. "NO, RON, NO!" she said, looking, horrified, in front of her. She stretched her arms to catch something, but she just grasped air.

Then she started to scream again from the pain and held her head between her hands. She fell on her back on the floor and started to shake even more furiously than before.

After several minutes her screams faded, but her body kept shaking. Harry stood next to her without having a clue as to what was going on.

Finally Hermione seemed to calm down. Her body relaxed for a second and then she started to cry softly.

Harry stretched a hand over her head, but didn't touch her. "Hermione," he whispered.

To his surprise, Hermione looked at him with her eyes full of tears. "Harry," she whispered back, stretching her arms towards him.

Harry bent down and hugged her tightly.

"Harry," she repeated between tears. "Harry."

"I'm here, Hermione," he said, caressing her hair.

"Harry, don't let me go," she said, crying.

"I won't," he whispered into her ear.

Harry took her in his arms, raised her off the floor, and placed her gently on the bed. She was so cold that Harry decided it was better if she got dressed, as well as him.

He quickly put on his jeans and tee shirt, and then helped her to get dressed. She looked at him blankly as he put her knickers on and fastened her bra on her. But she seemed to recover a little when Harry raised her from the bed to pull the jeans up.

He was closing her shirt's buttons when she spoke. "He asked me to marry him," her voice barely audible.

Harry looked at her, bemused. "What?" he asked, not understanding.

"He asked me to marry him," repeated Hermione simply.

"Who?" asked Harry, looking into her eyes.

"Ron," she answered in a broken voice.

Harry looked at her with wide eyes.

"I remember, Harry," she said blankly. "I remember everything."

What followed was an intense moment of silence. The only noise was the patter of rain on the roof of the hut. They stood together, but it was like they didn't see each other. Both of them were lost too deeply in their thoughts.

Harry couldn't believe her memory had actually come back, and all of a sudden, with no evident reason.

Hermione now had to deal with twenty-four years of memories, and a bunch of feelings that, all together, would have driven anybody else crazy.

Harry had waited for this moment since the first time he'd found her four days before, but now he was unsure of what he should do. Luckily, it was Hermione that broke the silence first.

"You were right, Harry," she said miserably.

"W-was I?" he asked uncertainly.

"Yes. Now that I remember everything, I just want to forget," she said, starting to cry again.

Harry moved towards her and hugged her. "No, Hermione, don't say that."

She hugged him back. "Harry, it's so hard. I don't know if I'm strong enough for bearing all these feelings, all this pain, all alone."

"You are not alone, Hermione. We'll bear it together," said Harry lovingly.

When Harry let her go, she had calmed down a bit. He looked into her eyes. Her beautiful chocolate eyes.

"Did Ron really ask you to marry him?" he asked her.

Hermione nodded. "The night before the Last Battle, when he held me back in his room. He knelt in front of me and said that he had no ring, but only all his love. He said that he loved me so much that he simply couldn't live without me," said Hermione, trying to fight back her tears.

"W-what did you say?" stammered Harry, his voice breaking. There was something strange about what he was feeling at the bottom of his heart; he was jealous. 'But that's absolutely out of place, because of the moment that Hermione and I just shared and because Ron's dead,' he thought, and guiltiness took the place of jealousy.

"I said yes. What else could I have done? I loved him," she said while a tear trickled down her cheek.

Harry couldn't answer nor move.

"Harry, I don't - can you hear that?" She sat up, her face contorted with the effort of listening.

Harry looked around. "What? Hermione, don't tell me that you still hear those voices." There was some concern in his voice.

"Actually, Harry, I can remember that Ron and I believed you when you said that you heard that voice in our second year. Anyway, this is different, listen!" she said, her voice still shaky as she wiped away some tears with the back of her hand.

Harry sighed and tried to listen. The rain had stopped falling, so the hut was in deep silence.

Then, he suddenly heard it. It was a male voice, but it was barely audible or better, it was almost like the voice was muffled, as if the man was inside a trunk.

"Excuse me, is there someone in there?" The voice sounded familiar though.

"Y-yes," said Harry uncertainly.

"Excuse me, is anybody there?" asked the voice again, a little bit louder.

"Where are you?" called Hermione, looking around.

"Excuse me, are you there?" Evidently the person couldn't hear them.

"Hermione, let's try to find where it's coming from," said Harry, looking around.

Hermione nodded in agreement.

"Are you there?"

They both turned towards the second window to the right. Underneath it, there was a big trunk.

Harry kneeled down and placed his ear to the lid, and heard the voice distinctly coming from there, saying, "Can you hear me?"

Harry looked at the piece of parchment on the trunk. It said 'Various Things'.

He opened it and inhaled a bunch of dust.

"Harry, are you okay?" asked Hermione, kneeling next to him and patting his back gently as he coughed loudly.

"Yeah," he said with a last cough.

They looked inside the trunk at the same time. It was filled with absolutely useless things, like Gobstones, pieces from Wizarding chess, Dungbombs and some pieces of parchment.

"H-hello?" said Harry, looking into the trunk.

"Oh, finally, somebody found me!" said the voice.

"Where are you?" asked Hermione.

"Under a very dusty piece of parchment and an impolite Queen," said the man practically.

Harry moved the parchments carefully; the Queen was a piece of a Wizarding chess set that didn't have any intention of going anywhere.

Harry had to pick her up and throw her out of the trunk, then he also picked out a dusty piece of parchment.

"Ah, finally, I can see again," said an old man in a portrait.

Harry picked it up and took him under the light of the candles. Both he and Hermione were speechless.

"Harry, what an absolute pleasure to see you," said Dumbledore from his painting, setting down his spectacles, "Oh, and Miss Granger," he said, looking at her.

"Professor Dumbledore," said Harry with the portrait in his hands, "What were you doing inside that trunk?"

"Oh," said Dumbledore, smiling. "That's a really funny story if I have to tell you, but I want you to answer some questions before I do," he said cheerfully.

"Yes, of course, Headmaster," said Hermione promptly while she and Harry stepped towards the table and put Dumbledore's portrait on it.

"Thank you very much," said Dumbledore as he hit the surface. "Ah, Harry, I've waited for somebody to tell me what happened that day for so long," he said wearily.

"Well, what do you know, Professor?"

"Almost nothing. Only that Minerva died and that's all, because I was under her body and couldn't see a thing," said Dumbledore, frowning as he tried to remember.

Harry sighed. "Yes, Professor McGonagall did die, but she wasn't the only one."

"Do you mean that somebody else has been killed?" asked Dumbledore seriously, expecting this.

Harry nodded. "Everybody has been killed. In Great Britain, there's, at the most, fifty wizards and witches."

Dumbledore face drained of colour. "What? But what happened exactly?"

Harry told him exactly what he'd told Hermione only some time before. Dumbledore listened intently and occasionally nodded.

"Merlin's beard," he said when Harry finished his story. "So Voldemort is definitely gone? Are you sure you destroyed all his Horcruxes?"

"Yes, I'm more then sure. There were seven, and we got rid of them all. Right, Hermione?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes, I was with him when he destroyed all the remaining Horcruxes."

Dumbledore looked at her in some concern. "Are you sure you're alright, Miss Granger? You seem upset about something."

Hermione quickly wiped the traces of tears away. "No, no, I'm all right."

"Professor Dumbledore?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"I was wondering if you-"

"If I could explain something about the events that happened during the Battle?"

Harry nodded. "Well, yes."

"Ah, Harry," said Dumbledore, moving slightly in his armchair. "I knew that sooner or later, somebody would ask me something like that. Actually, I can only make conjectures, but I think that explanations to what happened are quite clear."

"A-are they?" asked Harry, bewildered.

Dumbledore addressed Hermione. "What do you think, Miss Granger?"

"Well, actually, I only became aware of the facts just a little bit earlier. And I haven't had time to concoct any theories," she said, flushing.

"How is that possible? I thought you attended the Battle with Harry," said Dumbledore, frowning.

"I did, but I've been under a Memory Charm. At least, up until an hour ago," she whispered, looking down.

"Did you recover from this Memory Charm?"

"I did."

"Naturally, it will be very interesting for me to listen to your story. Let me just expound my theories, and then I'll be utterly happy to hear you," he said, smiling.

"Yes, sir," said Hermione, smiling weakly back.

"So, Harry, you said that your wand and Voldemort's connected during the Battle. I am correct in remembering that this had happened once before?"

"Yes, when Voldemort returned in my fourth year, in the maze of the Triwizard Tournament, our wands connected," said Harry, nodding.

"Perfect, and do you remember why?"

"Because our wands were 'twins' or something like that."

"Yes, Harry your wands were twins. That's why they connected every time you two duelled. The problem is that the last time it happened, you both used an Unforgivable Curse, which is a lot more powerful than any other spell. The force that spread from your wands must have generated a destructive Wave of Power."

"But why did the Wave kill so many people and destroy the entire magical community of Great Britain?" He stopped for a while, thinking deeply. "No, wait, why did it destroy almost all of the magical community while some things, like Hogwarts and the Leaky Cauldron and the Ministry of Magic, were left untouched?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Harry, when you send a spell against somebody, what do you do?"

"I point my wand at him," he said, rather surprised at the question.

"And you think at him, correct?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Well, Harry, what were you thinking when you sent your spell against Voldemort?"

"I wanted to destroy him," Harry replied bitterly.

"And what do you think he was thinking when he shouted the Avada Kedavra spell towards you?"

"I don't know, he wanted to kill me?" asked Harry, still not understanding what all these questions were useful for.

"Not only that, Harry," said Dumbledore. "Voldemort knew perfectly well that his wand united with yours would emit a great amount of energy. Let us say that he just thought on a larger scale."

"He sent his spell against the entire magical community?"

Dumbledore nodded. "He did. He wanted to get rid of all the things that stood against him."

"But the Death Eaters had all been killed," said Harry quickly.

"Ah yes. I don't think that Voldemort needed them after all. He wanted to be the only Dark Lord, and some of them were becoming much too powerful."

"D-did he kill his own followers?"

"I'm afraid he did, yes. The fact that some places have been wiped from the Earth, that's just a secondary effect. Magic connects everybody with everything."

"But some places haven't been destroyed at all," protested Harry.

Hermione was listening to the conversation intently, her eyes moving between Harry and Dumbledore's portrait as if she was watching a tennis match.

"You said that Hogwarts hasn't been destroyed, correct?"

Harry nodded, "And the Leaky Cauldron, Gringotts, Ollivander's and the Ministry of Magic."

"And what do you think all these places had in common, Harry?"

"I don't know," answered Harry, thinking.

"They were all important to Voldemort," answered Hermione.

Dumbledore clapped his hands. "Exactly, Miss Granger, exactly! They were all important places to Voldemort. He would have never permitted the place that freed him from the orphanage to be destroyed."

"And what about the Leaky Cauldron?"

"He used to go there when he was in Diagon Alley," said Dumbledore. "Ollivander's was the place where he bought his first wand, and he was interested in keeping Gringotts because it's full of gold and Galleons. The Ministry of Magic would have been his last conquest. He would have been delighted to see Fudge screaming under the Cruciatus Curse," he added, seeing that Harry had opened his mouth to say something.

"Oh," was all Harry could say.

"That makes sense," said Hermione.

Dumbledore looked at her. "It does indeed, Miss Granger."

"So Harry didn't kill anybody, did he?" she asked. Harry jumped; he hadn't thought about that.

"He didn't. Let us say that he had just been used by Voldemort," said Dumbledore, stroking his beard.

Harry didn't know if he should be ashamed of the relief he felt at these words. He hadn't killed anybody.

"But, Professor Dumbledore," asked Hermione shyly, "How did your portrait survive the Wave of Power? I'm pretty sure that Voldemort would have been utterly happy to destroy you too."

Dumbledore smiled. "I suppose he would, and how I survived is a lovely story to tell, in the real meaning of the word."

Hermione brought both her hands to her mouth and stepped back, a horrified look in her eyes.

"Hermione?" Harry looked at her without understanding her reaction.

Dumbledore smiled. "You know, you really are the cleverest witch that I've ever met, Hermione."

Harry looked at Dumbledore and then again at Hermione, "What?" he asked, puzzled.

"You understood, Miss Granger?" asked Dumbledore.

"I-I think I did," she stammered.

"And would you like to explain it to Harry?"

Hermione nodded and looked at Harry. "Harry, Dumbledore's portrait survived the Wave of Power for the same reason that I survived."

"What?" Harry looked at her, perplexed. "You know why you were able to survive?"

"I only realised it now. What Professor Dumbledore said made me reflect on something I thought had nothing to do with why I survived," she said, her eyes wide.

"What? Hermione, I can't understand what you are talking about," he said, taking her hands in his.

"Do you remember what Professor McGonagall said?"

"That she gave up her life to protect Dumbledore's portrait?" asked Harry uncertainly.

Hermione nodded. "Think, Harry. Your mother did the same thing with you, and she saved you from Voldemort."

Harry looked at her. "You're right, but that doesn't explain why you," he said pointing at her, "survived."

"It does," she said miserably. "Somebody sacrificed himself to save mine."

Harry seemed to think deeply. Then, realisation dawned. "Ron?" he whispered.

Hermione nodded, "Ron."

"Hermione, what-"

She placed a finger to his lips. Dumbledore was following the scene with great interest.

Hermione sat down on the bed and looked straight in front of her, then she started to talk, her voice breaking from the pain of remembering. "I-I was fighting against Malfoy," she started. "And Ron was fighting some distance away from me against Crabbe. I-I can remember that I screamed 'Stupefy', but Malfoy easily avoided the spell, and while he was jumping away, he disarmed me. He turned his wand on me and smirked. He said that he had waited for ages. He would have enjoyed the sight of me dying slowly and painfully, but then he said that there was no time for that, so he just grinned evilly and screamed 'Avada Kedavra'. I closed my eyes, I-I think that I was ready to die," said Hermione, hiding her face in her hands.

"Hermione, what happened next?" asked Harry, hypnotised by her words.

Hermione looked at him between her fingers. "I felt somebody embracing me, and when I opened my eyes, all I saw was Ron's chest pressed against my face." She was so pale that Harry thought she could pass out any time.

"I screamed Ron's name, but he just looked at me and smiled and then Malfoy's spell hit him in the back and he fell on top of me. Then, everything became dark." She looked at Harry. "He gave up his life for me. I was protected against the Wave of Power because of his sacrifice, exactly like you were against Voldemort."

Hermione started to cry, but fought back the tears and looked at Dumbledore. "Am I right?"

Dumbledore smiled. "You are right," he said quietly.

Harry felt his heart growing heavy. Ron had given up his life to save Hermione's. He had lost one of his best friends, but without his sacrifice, he would have lost two. He suddenly realised how much he missed Ron.

"Miss Granger," said Dumbledore, still smiling, "what were you saying about the Memory Charm?"

Hermione looked at him. "I think Harry will be able to explain everything better than I can," she said slowly.

Dumbledore looked to Harry, interested.

Harry looked back at him, "I don't know where to start," he said uncertainly.

"I think that when you are in doubt, starting from the beginning is the best way to set a story," said Dumbledore, smiling.

Harry nodded and told him how he met Hermione at the Leaky Cauldron, how she fought the Imperius Curse, and that they decided to leave for a voyage that would touch all the places familiar to Hermione.

"Rubbish," said Dumbledore, cutting him off.

"What?" asked Harry, taken aback.

"Rubbish," repeated Dumbledore quietly.

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

Hermione was looking at the portrait without understanding.

"Well, I don't know if you have ever heard of Miss Madley?" asked Dumbledore.

"Actually, I have. I decided to set off after I read on her file at the Ministry of Magic that she recovered from a Memory Charm after her father brought her on a voyage through all the places she used to know."

"Yes, as I was saying, rubbish," repeated Dumbledore.

"But why? She recovered from the Memory Charm," said Harry, puzzled.

"Yes, she recovered, but not because she travelled to all the places that she used to frequent."

"No?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "No."

"Then what-"

"What is the most powerful spell you know, Harry?"

"The Unforgivable Curses?"

"Love, Harry, love," said Dumbledore, smiling. "Mr. Madley left his job and everything else behind to take his daughter with him. He must have showed great love for her to break the charm. And you," he said, looking at Harry. "You must love her with all your heart, to make her recover from the charm."

Harry lowered his eyes and looked at his hands, while Hermione flushed red.

"Well, actually we-"

"No, Harry, I don't want to know what you did. Even if I can imagine it," he said, smiling. "But Miss Granger must have felt that she was really loved. And tell me," he added practically to Hermione, "did you recover your memory all at once or little by little?"

"All at once," Harry answered for her.

"Actually, Harry, I'm not so sure," said Hermione thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" asked Harry, confused.

"Do you remember that in the last two days I heard voices?"

Harry nodded.

"I'm able to recognise them now," she said.

"Really?"

"Yes. First, I heard myself in Hogsmeade. Then I heard Lavender and Parvati when I was in the Girls' Dorm, and finally, Professor Dumbledore in his office."

"What? I thought you only heard voices twice," said Harry, looking at her.

Hermione shrugged. "I thought you would have said that I was crazy."

Harry smiled gently. "Then why did you hear those voices? You didn't explain that."

Hermione looked at Dumbledore, who smiled and gave an almost imperceptible nod.

"Those voices were glimpses of my memory. The first time I heard them, you were hugging me and the third time you were saying to Professor McGonagall that you thought of me every moment of every day," she said, blushing. "But the second time, I don't know what-"

"I was imagining what it would be like to kiss you," said Harry, lowering his eyes and reddening.

Hermione looked at him, surprised, and then smiled sweetly.

"Well, well," said Dumbledore, smiling too. "I suppose that now everything is in its right place, don't you think?"

Harry looked at the portrait. "I still have one more question, Professor Dumbledore. May I ask it of you?"

"Of course, Harry," said Dumbledore.

"Since the day I fought the Last Battle, I've had nightmares every single time I closed my eyes."

Dumbledore nodded.

"But from the day I found Hermione, they stopped and I'm back to normal. I was wondering if maybe it was-"

"Love, Harry?" asked Dumbledore, smiling.

Harry nodded.

"It is. If your love for Hermione broke the Memory Charm, Hermione's love for you stopped your nightmares. Perhaps you own her as much as she owns you," said Dumbledore, smiling. "And now, I really think there's nothing else to explain?"

Both Harry and Hermione nodded.

"You know, I would like to be up on my wall again. Perhaps my hook is still there," said the portrait, chuckling.

"Actually, Professor Dumbledore," said Hermione, giggling, "Professor McGonagall is waiting for you on the wall."

"Really?" asked Dumbledore, stroking his beard and setting his spectacles on his nose.

Harry and Hermione smiled and looked at each other.

"I think it's time to go then," said Harry, pulling the Portkey out of his backpack.

"Yes. Harry, let's go back to Hogwarts," said Hermione, smiling.

Harry picked up Dumbledore's portrait and looked at Hermione. "Ready?"

"Ready," she said, smiling.

They touched the Portkey together and after a moment, they were gone.