A Will to Live

In

Loving Memory

Harry Potter

Truly loved, he

Saved the world, but

Not himself.

1980-2009

"NO!" shouted Hermione, as the teacup she had been holding shattered on the ground. The Daily Prophet she had been looking at was thrown to the floor, as if alight.

"Ron! Ron! Quickly," she sputtered.

"What is it love?" he called from the garden. "Have you cut yourself?" he muttered as he came through the kitchen door. "Or is the bump kicking again?" he mused affectionately.

Hermione responded with a deep sob. A look of sheer terror was plastered across her face, which was deathly white and contrasted bitterly against her golden hair. Ron looked up at his wife of three years and ran to her side, his face full of concern. As he gathered her in his arms he glanced down and noticed the shards of broken cup.

"Here now love, don't fret over a little bit of china honey," he soothed, holding Hermione tenderly." It's nothing a quick reparo charm won't fix."

But Hermione just shook, and sobbed louder. "Not the cup," she sniffed, trying to get her voice to steady itself. "Look," she said, pointing to the recently discarded paper.

Ron picked it up gingerly, wondering what could possibly have upset her so much. He scanned the first page, nothing, so he opened it up and there it was, at the top of the obituary section.

"Oh Merlin," he said as his legs turned to jelly and he sank onto one of the kitchen chairs. "How on Earth...?"

"I don't know. It's not as if we get the paper every day anymore," she sighed. "It can't be true. It HAS to be a hoax."

That's my girl, thought Ron, as Hermione visibly pulled herself up and went into fact- finding mode; he wasn't quite sure what she expected to do though.

------------------------

With a determined look on her face she strode off into the sitting room, grabbing a quill and some parchment as she passed the cabinet. She sat at her writing desk, momentarily chewing the end of the quill, and then she started to write.

I have just read the obituary page of today's Daily Prophet and was most disturbed to see one for Mr. Harry Potter. I can only assume that there has been some mistake. If not, then please send by return owl all back issues of your paper for the last two weeks, especially any with related articles concerning the demise of Harry Potter. I await your owl,

Mrs. H. Weasley.

She looked up at Ron and called out to Pig, their owl, who flew swiftly through the window and landed in a heap at her feet. He looked up almost apologetically and held his leg out for her. Hermione smiled thinly and picked him up, ushering him back out of the window. "Be quick," she whispered to him as he flew off in the direction of The Daily Prophet's headquarters.

"Well, all we can do is wait now," Hermione said, as she stood up brushing some imaginary dust off of her shoulder. She felt slightly calmer now, knowing that she had taken action of some sort. She never was one to sit around and fret, especially when reading or writing helped her feel like she was back in control.

---------------

In the editor's office of The Daily Prophet, there was a bit of a commotion going on. Jollina sighed as she opened yet another howler from someone accusing her of printing lies and malicious gossip in her paper. Just once she would like to get a letter of praise and recognition for something. Still she knew what the editor's job would be like when she took over from her predecessor. She dropped the howler into the metal bin by the side of her desk before it burst into flames. Letting them just rant on without taking anything they said too personally was one of the hardest parts of her job. She reached over to her in tray to pick up the next piece of parchment, sighing again as she did so. It was going to be another long day. At least this wasn't another blessed howler. Quickly she scanned the post to see whom she could dish it out to, but there was something familiar about the name on the bottom. Weasley.... H. Weasley.. that could only be one person. She read the letter again, slowly this time.

"Genna," she called. "You are going to have to go to the archive rooms for me honey," she said sweetly. "I need you to dig out some back copies for me."

Genna sauntered over to Jolli's desk and peered over her shoulder at the letter from Hermione. " What, you mean to tell me that you are going to do what you're told by a reader?" Genna asked grinning. "That's not what Ted would have done, you know," she added.

"I know what Ted would have done, thank you, but I am not him am I?" she retorted rather snappily. Boy this job is getting to me today she thought to herself. This had better be the right bloody woman, Harry Potter. She turned to Genna and sighed for the third time today. Forcing her face into a smile, she said "Sorry Gen, I've got a headache and I don't mean to snap. Whilst you are down in the archives, be a dear and find out who Hermione Granger married a few years back. I just need to confirm something."

Genna looked up at her new boss warmly, and said "Sure, but that could take all day."

She turned and made her way towards the archive section and disappeared around the corner just as she faintly heard Jolli call out," Look under Medi witch Gen, there's bound to be something about her there."

Jolli pulled out some fresh parchment and began to write.

----------

Hermione was busy clearing away the dishes that had been used for lunch when she heard a tap at the window. About time too! She thought as she hurried to let the owl in. She side-stepped to her left to make way for him, and then peered out of the window looking for the others. Surely they must have sent more than one owl; she had asked for all the details after all. Muttering about how useless people were these days, she tore open the post that Pig had returned with.

Dear Mrs. Weasley,

Thank you for your letter concerning the demise of the late Harry Potter. I am afraid that there is not much to send you at the moment, but rest assured that as soon as I have received conformation of your particulars, I will forward all that is available.

Well really! she thought, "Ron, what do you make of this?" she called out as she went to find him, brandishing the letter in front of her.

Ron poked his head round the doorway and nearly got a nose full of rustling paper.

"Oooff," he spluttered, as he backed up quickly to avoid losing an eye.

"Look at this!" demanded Hermione, as she thrust the letter towards him. Her voice grew in a crescendo as she yelled "My particulars... my particulars... What do they want my bloody credentials for?"

Ron scanned the short note, you could hardly call it a letter, and tried to form a calm reply in his head. He knew better than to just blurt anything out when Hermione was in one of her 'hormonal' rages. He took a steadying breath and said " Err... dunno, love." Wonderful he thought. That was one of my more intelligent replies, he berated himself. Hermione shot him one of her withering glares and carried on with her tirade.

"They didn't even bother to sign the note. How rude, how petty, how...how...ignorant can some people be?"

"Do try to calm down love, you won't help the baby any by getting all hett up," soothed Ron. If he didn't get her to chill out soon, there would be no stopping her.

"You don't want more bed rest with high blood pressure do you hon?" he asked softly.

She looked at him with complete love in her eyes, and melted, calming instantly

"No-one else can calm me the way you do," she said tenderly. No-one is bloody daft enough to try, thought Ron to himself.

---------------

Genna came staggering back into Jollina's office, heavily laden with back issues of the Prophet. Jolli looked up and tutted. I'm surrounded by idiots, she thought.

"Why didn't you just charm them?" she mumbled.

"Oops, you know I forget that I can use magic in here Jolls," she whined in reply.

Genna was a squib, but Jolli had charmed the entire building so that Gen could tap into her magic during the day. She couldn't help having a soft spot for her younger sister, although that was about as far as her sibling love stretched. Mostly she was just embarrassed that her parents had disowned Genna once they had realised she had absolutely no magical ability; and that she had been landed with the responsibility of bringing her up.

"Well not everyone has such a remarkably talented sister that can charm whole buildings, I suppose," said Jolli in a teasing voice, "What did you find?"

"Well you were right about the mediwitch section being helpful," she replied, "Hermione married a Mr. Ronald Weasley on 12^th April, 2006 after qualifying as a mediwitch with outstanding grades. She only took a year to pass her tests, instead of the usual three years. She started training in September 1998; after the Final Battle; in which she fought along side Potter and Dumbledore to defeat Voldemort. She qualified in 1999 and has been working at St. Mungo's ever since. She is expecting her first child in about 3 week's time. Anything else you need to know about her?"

"No hun, that's just what I needed to hear. I take it that you have the back issues concerning Harry too?"

"Of course, but if she's the right one, why bother to send them to her?" Genna asked.

"Purely for appearances sake Gen, we have to do this properly if we are going to protect ourselves."

Jolli pulled the old papers towards her and started to read the articles concerning Harry's death. Slowly a small pile began to build up on her desk as she decided which ones to send to Hermione. Twenty minutes later, she handed them to Genna and asked her to owl them for her.

As Genna picked up the articles, Jolli reached into her drawer and produced a single sheet of parchment "You'd better attach this to the bottom," she said quietly. "We might as well get this over with."

------------

Ron was sitting on the chintz sofa tenderly stroking Hermione's hair, as she dozed leaning against him, in front of the fire. His thoughts were miles away and he sighed contentedly. In just a few weeks time he would be a Dad, and although he was nervous at the prospect, he was also very excited. The years since Voldemort's defeat seemed to have flown by. He had started dating Hermione straight after the battle, although they hadn't been able to spend a lot of time together that year. What with her training at the wizard hospital and his Auror training; every moment they managed to snatch together had been special and precious to him. The following year had given them a bit more time together. The Death Eater clear up had kept him busy, but not so busy that he couldn't spend time with Hermione and Harry. He smiled fondly as he thought of Harry. That had been a good year. Huge celebrations had taken place once the majority of Death Eaters had been caught, and Harry had finally begun to relax and enjoy life. Then Ron himself had qualified in 2000. More parties!!

His self indulgent smile turned to a frown as he remembered the obituary for the morning paper. How long had it been since they had any contact with Harry? It must have been that following year-2001. Eight years had passed since he disappeared without a word. No owl contact or anything, he had just upped and left one day. Even the ministry hadn't been able to trace him. Of course he and Hermione knew where he had gone, but had been sworn to secrecy by Harry. Ron understood that Harry had wanted to bury his past by returning to the muggle world, but to give up magic was something that he could still not comprehend. He had thought at the time that it was just going to be a short term thing for Harry to sort his head out. He certainly hadn't thought that, once gone, Harry would refuse to contact even them. They had both tried desperately to get hold of him for their wedding. All attempts to contact Harry by owl had been returned unopened. Ron had wanted him to be best man, they had even postponed their big day by almost a whole year in the hope that he would return. Finally, they had given up all hope. They set a date for the wedding and had a small private ceremony with Dumbledore as their witness. That had been three years ago, and they still hadn't heard from him.

He was brought out of his reverie by a sharp tapping on the door. He arose slowly so as to not wake Hermione, and crossed the sitting room to open the door. An owl sat there on the step, eyeing him closely. He offered Ron his leg, which was weighed down with parchments. Carefully he took them, and fished an owl treat out of his pocket for it. He went to close the door but a gust of wind whipped it out of his hand, and it slammed shut. Ron winced as Hermione jumped and looked at him bleary eyed.

"What's up?" she asked.

"I think your post has arrived," he said as he walked back towards the couch.

They picked up the first newspaper snippet and began to read.

'The Boy Who Ran.'

There have been rumours for sometime regarding the whereabouts of Mr. Harry Potter, who vanished from the Wizarding world, three years after defeating Voldemort. We can now confirm that he has been the victim of an accident in a muggle town near Salisbury. It appears that Mr. Potter was spotted by one of our reporters whilst on holiday, and, when she approached him for an interview, he ran straight into the path of a car (a muggle mode of transport). He was taken to a muggle hospital, where they have described his condition as stable.

"Oh my goodness!" exclaimed Hermione," Quick, what does the next one say?"

Ron snatched the next sheet and began to read it aloud. "It's a follow on story, it says a nurse at a muggle hospital has confirmed that Harry Potter is suffering from multiple internal injuries, and that his condition is deteriorating. The hospital has urgently appealed for his next of kin to contact them."

Hermione stifled a sob. "So it's true," she said dully. "There are still two more to read Ron. Can you read them to me? I don't think I can do it."

"O.K. love," he replied, "just try to hang in there."

He picked up the third piece of parchment and began to read "Following our recent story...blah...blah..., oh here it is. It is with sadness that we must report that Harry Potter has not survived his horrific accident. He briefly regained consciousness, only to suffer a fatal cardiac arrest at 2-15 today. See related articles on pages 5, 6 and 7."

He looked up at Hermione and saw the colour drain from her face. With a strangled cry she clutched at her swollen belly and howled. He dropped the parchment and gathered her in his arms.

"Honey, there is one more to read," he said quietly. "Do you want me to carry on?"

"I don...don't know if I can bear any more," she hitched.

"I know, I know, love," Ron soothed as he picked up the final sheet. This one was not the same as the others. It was hand written rather than typed, and it was on a far higher quality paper.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley,

as instructed by my client, the

late Mr Potter, please present yourselves to our London office on Monday 16^th August for the reading of his will. May I offer my condolences at this sad time.

Thank you

Yours sincerely

Mr F. Underhew

"Oh, oh no!" exclaimed Hermione.

"I know," said Ron again, "it does seem kind of final doesn't it?"

"No," grimaced Hermione. "I think my waters have just broken!" she whimpered and then fainted.