The End

Chapter 26: People of the Past

In all the activity, Harry nearly forgot about his promise to help Hermione regain her memory until a few days after Fred's funeral, and it was at least another day before he worked up the courage to bring it up again with Ron.

"Do you remember what I told you about Hermione? About her erasing her memory?" Harry asked Ron after he'd finally managed to secure a private conversation.

"It's kind of hard to forget," Ron replied. Harry had to force back a smirk at the irony of Ron's statement considering their topic of conversation.

"I promised her I'd do what I could to help her get her memories back," Harry continued.

Ron blanched. "Are you sure?"

Harry was inclined to agree with Ron's skepticism. Quite aside from the fact that breaking memory charms often lead to insanity, if Hermione had thought the memories were bad enough to make her decide to erase them in the first place, then perhaps it wouldn't be wise to help her remember them, but Harry shrugged and said, "She said she wants to remember."

"Alright," Ron replied. "I'll help."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione convened in the lounge attached to the substitute teacher's quarters they'd been staying in. Everyone agreed that a more familiar location, like the Gryffindor common room, would be optimal, but since guaranteed privacy was also required, they'd had to settle for the next best thing. Sydney and Michael had obligingly agreed to spend the day exploring the castle.

Usually, memory charms were difficult, if not impossible to break, especially without knowing what had been modified in the first place. Everyone wanted Hermione back the way she was before, so it was not their intent to break the charm with magic, rather, their strategy was to fill in the gaps by telling her what she'd forgotten and hope they'd manage to jog an actual memory. After all, they were together for most of the battle, and Harry and Ron figured that what they could offer was better than nothing.

After Harry and Ron had explained the situation to Professor McGonagall, she was only too eager to accommodate their request to borrow Dumbledore's Pensieve. However, they wished her enthusiasm had extended to her explanation on how to work the device, although Harry and Ron could hardly begrudge her for that, especially since, to their knowledge, she'd never used it herself. Their lack of ill feelings toward McGonagall didn't make their situation any less inconvenient, however. After all, Hermione had already proved quite expertly that memories were not to be trifled with.

This left the question of where to start; the beginning seemed a likely spot, but there were a great many to choose from.

"What's the last thing you remember before the blank?" Harry asked.

"Taking our N.E.W.T.s," Hermione replied thoughtfully.

Harry and Ron heaved huge sighs of relief. They'd committed themselves to reviewing every detail they could remember before they'd realized that the N.E.W.T.s might be included in the blank period, and neither of them had been very excited by the possibility of reliving that experience. In fact, they spent a considerable amount of time wishing it had never happened. After all, they'd only taken the tests in the first place because Hermione wanted to. Harry and Ron had thought that spending a year with their time split searching for Horcruxes and running from Death Eaters was no way to prepare for a test, and they'd expected Hermione to agree, but somehow she'd also spent the year in careful study and even dedicated a fair bit of time to trying to convince them to do the same. Ironically enough, Harry and Ron hadn't even done half bad. It was true that anyone besides them would never be accepted into Auror training with their marks, but there was something to be said for actually going out and using magic rather than sitting in classes and learning about it. After all, no matter how complex healing potions might be, it was difficult to forget the sequence of ingredients when they'd had reason to create one at least once every few weeks.

"Do you remember our last trip to Hogsmeade?" Ron asked. "It was just after the N.E.W.T.s."

Based on Hermione's desperately blank look, she didn't, something Ron seemed slightly hurt about, but he recovered quickly enough.

With their starting point thus established, Harry lifted his wand to his temple with a shaking hand, gallantly trying not to think of anything besides the final battle against Voldemort, which was, of course, entirely counterproductive. However, when he drew his wand away from his head he was quite astounded to discover that a silver strand of memory was hanging from the tip. Carefully, Harry dropped it into the Pensieve and went back to his head for more while Ron copied his movements.

As Hermione watched them she began looking more and more apprehensive about their forthcoming trip through their memories, but when Harry and Ron pronounced themselves finished and beckoned her forward, she didn't give any voice to her uncertainties.

"Ready?" Harry asked, glad he wouldn't be required to answer a similar question.

"Sure," Hermione confirmed.

With a steadying breath, Harry, Ron, and Hermione grasped hands and dove into the Pensieve.

They landed in the midst of a large crowd of people, filing past Filch on their way to Hogsmeade. The Harry, Ron, and Hermione of four months ago were a few steps ahead of them, their serious demeanor a stark contrast to the attitude of the rest of the mob. Seventh years were in abundance, enjoying the end of the N.E.W.T.S. and their final Hogsmeade visit before leaving Hogwarts.

It became immediately obvious that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were not solid to the memories in the Pensieve, and after they'd been walked through a few times they decided that it was disconcerting enough to justify slipping beyond the borders of the crowd.

From the outside, the group's energy was even more palpable. Despite being slightly cross eyed and suffering from writer's cramp after hours of difficult tests, everyone seemed keen to enjoy the good weather. This was one of the few days in the entire year that the sun had made an appearance. However, the clouds never quite managed to escape over the horizon and, now that he was looking back on it, they seemed rather more ominous to Harry than he remembered.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed their counterparts to Hogsmeade remarking dizzily on how strange it was to watch themselves like this. The group spent the morning together, visiting all their favorite haunts for old time's sake, but during lunch at the Three Broomsticks, Harry suggested that Ron and Hermione ought to spend the rest of the day without him. They tried to object, but Harry insisted, so they finally agreed with the provision that they would all meet up again at Zonko's in three hours and return to Hogwarts together. With that, the group split apart and Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed the other Ron and Hermione as they walked hand in hand down the street. The Harry of the present hung back a few paces from his friends, supposing that since he wasn't there when this part happened the first time around he didn't have much business intruding now.

Their afternoon was largely uneventful, mostly filled with wandering around random shops. However, the sun's appearance seemed too good to last and before long it had disappeared behind a few thick clouds, which started drizzling. Most of the students around them sighed morosely and took cover in a nearby shop or else started making their way back to Hogwarts. Before long it was raining with such ferocity that anyone left without cover was soon soaking wet. It was a rather strange experience for the Harry, Ron, and Hermione of the present to watch as everything around them became saturated with water but remain completely dry themselves.

The Hermione of the past had just posed the idea returning to Hogwarts as well when there was a sudden shout from up the street. Someone was running towards them as fast as his frequent pauses to talk to passing students would allow. Finally, when the figure was about ten meters away, they could finally discern his identity through the haze.

Harry raced up to Ron and Hermione and grabbed them each by an arm.

"We can't go back," he panted.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Can't go back where?" Hermione pressed. "Harry, what's going on?"

"I saw a cat...coming right at me...big cat...silver...patronus cat...McGonagall's patronus."

"Harry, slow down," Hermione pleaded.

"It was a warning...a warning to stay away..." Harry continued. "Hogwarts is being attacked, we can't go back."

The Harry of the present bit his lip, hoping to repress a shudder. It was almost painful to watch himself like this, not at all aware of what he was about to get into. He could practically feel the terror he felt four months ago when he was actually standing there, telling Ron and Hermione that Hogwarts was being attacked. It seemed wrong, somehow, to stand there watching this, perfectly safe while his memory was about to walk into such danger. He almost hoped that his scar would start prickling in sympathy and he felt his eyes tingling and turned away from the real Ron and Hermione until he recovered.

"But if there's Death Eaters in Hogwarts, then there must be some here," the Hermione of the past pointed out, panic rising in her voice.

"Dementors," Harry said.

"What? How do you know?" Ron asked.

"Dementors," Harry repeated, pointing at Hermione's hair, which was slowly becoming coated with ice.

"We can't stay here."

"Sirius' cave."

"Run!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione took off, surrounded by a small herd of animals, consisting of a stag, a dog, and an otter. Fifty Dementors trailed after them, but they couldn't approach because of the patronuses. It was almost a kilometer and a difficult climb to Sirius' cave, which was only made worse by the rain, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione took it at a dead run, pausing only long enough to ensure that they weren't leaving anyone behind.

The Harry, Ron, and Hermione of the present gave chase, but lacking the benefits of a sudden surge of adrenaline, they arrived at the cave several minutes behind their counterparts. Dementors hovered near the steep climb up to the cave, but again couldn't approach because of the patronuses.

The Harry of the present slid into the cave and stepped directly into the small blue fire Hermione had conjured. He yelped and jumped away even though he couldn't feel its heat. Ron and Hermione had similar reactions when they joined him in the cave. Feeling a little claustrophobic, they sat down just in time to watch Harry and Hermione thwart Ron's attempt to roast a marshmallow on the end of his wand.

"Blimey, you two really are tense."

"Why did you do that?" the Hermione of the present asked with a giggle, watching the other Ron divide the remaining marshmallows between the three of them.

"Well, did you have a look at you and Harry?" Ron replied. "I had to get the two of you to loosen up or else it would have been torture to stay here."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat in silence, watching themselves experiment with the marshmallows, but before long Harry took to checking his watch with increasing frequency.

"We didn't seem to spend this long here the first time around," he sighed.

"Well, I suppose we all knew we weren't going to let the battle at Hogwarts play out without getting involved," Ron pointed out.

"For all we knew we were about to walk into the end of the world," Hermione said quietly. "I guess we needed one last chance to just be together."

There was a brief silence following Hermione's words, and then Ron asked, "Did you remember that?"

"Maybe," Hermione said with a shrug. "But it makes sense, so maybe I just figured it out."

"I'm going back to Hogwarts. You don't need to come with me, this isn't your battle."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all returned their attention to their counterparts at the other Harry's announcement.

"I don't understand why you always tell us that," Ron said. Hermione shushed them both before Harry could formulate a response.

"If I don't make it out, I want you to get out, take your parents and siblings. Leave England, leave Europe, go anywhere just as long as it's far away, and be happy for awhile."

"Sometimes I wish you'd taken me up on that offer," Harry sighed.

"It isn't good enough to only be happy for awhile," Ron replied.

"All or nothing," Hermione agreed.

"I'm going in there to fight with everything I have, and there's a good chance I won't live to tell about it, but if I don't try then this is never going to stop."

"Harry, you're going in there, that's fine, and we're coming with you whether you like it or not."

"We've come with you this far, Harry. This is hardly the time to back out."

As they got up to follow their counterparts out of the cave, Harry said, "I always told you that you could stay behind because I couldn't tell you that you had to come. No one can tell someone else that, not in situations like this, and I've been told enough times to know."

Thankfully, the Dementors had either given up or were still being held back by the patronuses, so their trip to the path back to Hogwarts via the tunnel from the Shrieking Shack to the Whomping Willow went unhindered an unnoticed. The same could not be said for their time crossing Hogwarts' grounds: even though it was months later, Harry and Ron still stopped short when they saw the huge beast. Hermione, lacking the benefit of her memories of her encounter with it, was positively scared stiff.

"That's a Chimera," she breathed.

"Yeah," Ron replied.

"Why aren't we dead?"

"I often find myself wondering the same thing," Ron said with a shrug.

They watched in silence for a few minutes, until Hermione finally said, "Um, Harry, what were you saying?"

"What?" Harry asked. "Oh, so I was speaking Parsletongue?"

Ron and Hermione nodded and Harry spent the next few minutes translating his own hissing attempts to reason with the beast.

"I shouldn't have bothered," Harry realized. "It was obvious that it wasn't going to let us past. If we'd left we could have gotten away and found a different way into the castle."

"You don't know that, mate," Ron replied. "It's much faster than us on foot, and I don't think you'd thought to use your broom yet."

"Broom?" Hermione asked.

"Wait and see," Ron said. "It was brilliant."

Even though they were watching an event that happened four months in the past and they already knew the outcome, it was difficult not to flinch in fear when the Chimera finally attacked. So great was the peril of Ron and Hermione that even Harry couldn't help but watch them, and was thus caught off guard when his counterpart soared to their rescue on his Firebolt. He winced when the other Harry was crushed down across his broom from the added weight of his friends and Hermione stuffed her fingers in her mouth and began chewing on them as she watched Harry's valiant attempt to fly his friends to safety. She even let off a small whoop of relief when they finally reached the balcony on the second story, a noise that quickly melted into a yelp of fear when Harry took off once again to head the Chimera into the forest. Harry had to dodge her punch when his counterpart reemerged and flew over to join the other Ron and Hermione on the balcony.

"Hey, come on! You didn't have a problem with that the first time around," Harry pointed out.

"That doesn't mean it was a good idea," Hermione replied. "It just means that we were in a battle zone."

"It's over, Hermione, leave him alone," Ron said with a sigh. "Let's go inside. We'll miss something if we stay out here much longer."

Hermione gave Harry one last look and followed Ron toward the doors. Harry sighed as he watched her retreating back, quite certain that he was going to be hearing a lot more from Hermione as they went on.

It became immediately obvious upon entering Hogwarts that it was one thing to watch a battle from far away, and quite another to stand, unseen, in the midst of it. The air was practically filled with spells as teachers, Aurors, Order members, and Death Eaters all attempted to gain the upper hand. The observers caught themselves holding their breaths as though they would inhale one of the many balls of light if they weren't careful. Harry forced himself to look away and caught a glimpse of the other Harry and Ron arguing near the banister of the second level.

"Come on," he said, pulling his friends towards the staircase. "I think we find Dumbledore soon."

"Dumbledore?" Hermione squeaked. "But how?"

"Wait and see," Ron replied.

By the time Harry, Ron, and Hermione got upstairs their counterparts had already gathered around a portrait. They could hear Dumbledore's voice emanating from it.

"I thought I might be seeing you three here. I told Professor McGonagall that it would be no use warning you to stay away."

"This is my battle."

"So it is."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione watched as Dumbledore explained the situation as he knew it, then suggested that they press the advantage given by the invisibility cloak and the Marauder's Map. Hermione smacked Harry's shoulder when Dumbledore supposed that they would be heading up to the Gryffindor Tower.

"You left the Marauder's Map in your room!" she demanded.

"You might remember that when we left for Hogsmeade that morning everyone thought Voldemort was in Albania," Harry pointed out with a wince.

"Oh," Hermione breathed. "Right. Well, why didn't you just summon it?"

"Because we didn't know what it was like at the portrait hole," Harry explained. "There could have been a horde of Death Eaters waiting outside, so when the portrait hole opened to let the map out it might have let them all in."

"But you summoned your Firebolt," Hermione pressed.

"It was in the broom shed, luckily," Harry replied.

Dumbledore finished asking Ron and Hermione to look after Harry, then there was a brief debate at the banister about whether or not they really could have turned the tide of the battle downstairs, during which they only decided that it was not the time for cerebral discussions. Finally, they covered themselves with the invisibility cloak and took off for the Gryffindor Tower.

Harry had expected to find that following their counterparts during this stretch would be impossible, but apparently something about the Pensieve made it so that they could still see themselves even if they were under the invisibility cloak.

"Maybe because what you remember is of being under the cloak," Hermione suggested as they followed their counterparts up the stairs. "So you know where you were."

No one said it, but it was very difficult not to laugh at themselves as they shuffled up the stairs, slightly translucent and crouching uncomfortably under apparently nothing.

Most of the staircases were completely useless. Apparently, one form of defense against the Death Eaters was to put the stairs in a perpetual state of motion and hinder anyone's attempts to gain the upper levels. Fortunately, even without the Marauder's Map, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had a fierce command of the castle's secret passages and were able to make their way up to the Gryffindor common room using the least amount of staircases possible.

The Harry, Ron, and Hermione under the cloak slowed their pace when they heard voices echoing from ahead of them and finally stopped around the corner from a staircase. Harry leaned out to catch a glimpse of what was ahead of them, then turned to Ron and Hermione and reported five Death Eaters.

"Blimey, she is good," the Ron of the present said as he, Harry, and Hermione wandered up the nearby stairs to have a closer look at the Death Eaters.

"Who?" Hermione asked, giving Ron a puzzled look.

"Tonks," Ron replied, leaning in to inspect a female Death Eater who looked something like Bellatrix Lestrange.

"That's Tonks?" Hermione yelped.

Ron didn't need to reply, for their counterparts chose that moment to attack, and the Death Eater he had been watching took one look at the three of them and immediately started battling the other Death Eaters. Hardly a second had elapsed before both she and Harry had stunned two of the Death Eaters they were dueling.

"Get out of here!"

Ron and Hermione immediately did as she'd asked, dragging Harry along with them as they retreated up the stairs, disappearing under the invisibility cloak as they went.

"Look at her fight," Harry breathed, watching Tonks dispatch the final two Death Eaters in less time than it took the Harry, Ron, and Hermione of the memory, who were upstairs and around the corner, to decide that she didn't need help. Now that he'd really seen her fight, Harry couldn't believe that he'd ever thought she'd been killed in this battle.

After Tonks won her duel, Harry, Ron, and Hermione returned to following their counterparts upstairs. Mercifully, the corridor leading up to the Gryffindor tower was deserted, but they were hung up briefly by the portrait of the Fat Lady, who refused to let anyone into the tower, no matter how many passwords they had. The fact that they were still invisible didn't help matters one bit.

"Please!" Harry begged as they slipped out from under the cloak. "It's very important that we get inside. We're on orders from Dumbledore."

"I'm on orders from Headmistress McGonagall," the Fat Lady said, putting her hands resolutely on her hips. "There's simply no telling whether or not you're Death Eaters in disguise, especially since you should already be inside."

"I suppose it wouldn't help if I told you that Sirius Black slashed up your picture while we were all at the Halloween feast during our third year because you wouldn't let him inside," Harry muttered wearily.

"It most certainly would not," the Fat Lady replied indignantly, but she was obviously battling herself.

Harry set about trying to exploit this new found weakness, but the other Harry turned to the hallway behind them. Now that he wasn't focused on the stubborn portrait, the Death Eater's approach was woefully obvious. He couldn't help but kick himself for allowing his guard to drop so spectacularly. With a sigh, Harry touched Ron and Hermione's elbows and directed their attention to where the true action was about to occur. Hermione gasped and covered her mouth with her hands when she spotted the approaching Death Eater, but Ron merely smirked and made sure that she didn't look away.

They became more and more anxious as the Death Eater crept steadily closer to their unsuspecting counterparts, but Harry had already spotted their savior. Peeves was floating merrily at the top of the nearest staircase in blatant defiance of the surrounding pictures, who were trying to impress the importance of silence upon him. Finally, Peeves stuck his thumbs in his ears and blew a loud, long raspberry before flying away.

The Harry, Ron, and Hermione of the memory spun around to face the disturbance while the Death Eater tried to dodge behind a nearby statue, but he wasn't quite fast enough.

It wasn't immediately obvious what happened. One second the Death Eater was racing toward the cover of the statue, and the next he'd paused and straightened up, a blank expression on his face.

Everyone, including the Fat Lady, turned as one to face the memory of Hermione, who still had her wand raised and a defiant expression on her face.

"You did that?" the memory of Ron asked, mystified.

Hermione nodded, but the wonders had yet to cease. Slowly, the Death Eater's eyes slid back into focus and he shook his head experimentally.

"What happened?" he asked, spying Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"You didn't just wipe his memory, did you?" Ron breathed. "You modified it."

"I've been wondering how you managed to wipe your own memory without hurting yourself," the other Ron said. "I figured it was just because you're a genius, but Hermione, I had no idea."

Harry nodded. He hadn't realized just how short a span of time Hermione'd had to devise that spell. If she could modify someone else's memory in a split second but leave the rest of the person's brain intact, then she could do anything.

"What happened?" the Death Eater repeated, running his left hand through his matted hair and catching a glimpse of the dark mark tattooed on his wrist. "Where did I get this?"

"Are you alright?" the memory of Hermione asked congenially, leaving a stunned Harry and Ron behind her. "Sorry I had to do that, McGonagall's probably going to kill me, but no one ever told us the keyword and I couldn't just let you capture us, could I?"

"Sorry," the Death Eater stammered, "but what keyword?"

"Oh, right, I suppose you wouldn't know," Hermione laughed. "The mind's a funny thing that way. You're a sleeper agent for the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore did something to your memory so you wouldn't remember unless someone told you the keyword. Then you'd make your reports, someone would tell you another keyword to make you forget again, and you'd go back to the Death Eaters like nothing ever happened. You've been very helpful over the years."

"Oh," the Death Eater sighed.

"Does any of this sound familiar?" Hermione asked.

The Death Eater shook his head. "Did I volunteer for this?"

"Oh dear," Hermione said with a look of shock that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I must have done a worse job than I thought. It wasn't ever supposed to happen like this, I'm-"

"Nott!"

The shout came from some distance away, but still far too close for comfort.

"Nott, is that me?" the Death Eater asked as the group slunk into the nearest shadowed corner.

Hermione's eyes flicked up to the ceiling then back to the Death Eater before she spoke. "Yeah, that's you."

"Then they're probably going to come this way looking for me," Nott said. "Listen, I'll go distract them, you three do what you need to do."

Harry and Ron seemed to think this was a satisfactory solution, but Hermione yelped, "No wait, if they find out what's really been going on..."

"I know," Nott replied. "But I guess it's what I'm for. Thanks for telling me the truth."

With that, he left, running towards where the shout had come from.

"How did you come up with all that" Ron asked as soon as Nott was out of earshot.

"I don't know," Hermione said with a shrug, glancing with some concern down the hallway. "I might have seen something like that in a Muggle movie when I was a kid."

"Are you convinced we're not working for the Death Eaters now?" Harry asked, turning back to the Fat Lady.

"Yes, yes, alright, come on," she relented, swinging open.

"We should probably stay out here, just in case I didn't do as good of a job on him as I thought," Hermione suggested. Ron nodded.

"Alright," the memory of Harry agreed. "I won't be long, but take the cloak."

As they watched Harry climb into the portrait hole, the Ron of the present said, "Nothing exciting happened out here, we might as well follow Harry."

The three of them slipped through the portrait hole as well and watched as the terrified faces of the Gryffindors huddled on the floor in their common room melted into mere alarm when they realized it was only Harry and not a group of Death Eaters who had come to call.

Ginny came forward, followed by any members of the DA who were present. The group discussed the situation in hushed tones.

After a few minutes, Harry turned to the room at large and issued a few orders that the others were far too scared to carry out.

"Good pep talk," Hermione muttered. "Really toughened them up, that did."

Harry buried his head in his hands, but his counterpart wasn't finished yet.

"Come on you lot. We're Gryffindors, famed for our bravery. Each and every one of you was put into this house for a reason. The sorting hat saw courage in you, live up to it! Tonight we are all in danger, and tonight we may all be called upon in this battle. I know you're afraid, I know you don't want to fight, but if it comes down to it, you will have to choice to give up or to strike back. You can't give up. Together, you can face anything that comes through that portrait; all you need is to be ready for it."

"Much better," the Hermione of the present breathed as the Gryffindors finally started to carry out Harry's suggestions.

"We're with you, Harry," Ginny said. None of the members of the DA had taken Harry up on his offer to stay behind.

"Alright," Harry said. "I just need the Marauder's Map; I'll be back in a minute."

While Harry was upstairs, the younger students scrambled up to the girls' dormitories and the DA members helped the older students organize their defenses. Indeed, when Harry returned it was all he could do to blink in surprise at the sudden change. Not only was the configuration of the room different, but the prevailing attitude had also changed from fear and panic to alert confidence.

"I guess we're ready, then," Harry said.

Wordlessly, Harry, the DA, and the three observers departed the common room through the portrait hole.

Ron and Hermione's surprise at seeing Harry's company was apparent when they ducked out from under the invisibility cloak.

"They wanted to help," Harry offered with a shrug.

"I'm not sure how much use this is going to be, then," Ron said, handing back Harry's invisibility cloak. "There's no way we'll all fit under there."

"I guess not," Harry replied. He hadn't considered that problem. He reluctantly pocketed the cloak, supposing that it wouldn't be at all fair if some of the group went concealed and the rest didn't.

"Listen, Harry, why don't Seamus and I go and see if we can check on the other houses," Dean suggested. "We've got some friends in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff and we know where their common rooms are."

"Alright, if you're sure," Harry said with a shrug. "Be careful, though."

Dean and Seamus nodded and started off down a nearby hallway, leaving Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville to slip into the nearest secret passageway to consult the Marauder's Map. Their perusal was helpful and telling, but even with five sets of eyes it was some time before they located Voldemort. At last, Hermione gasped and pointed at a small dot labeled Tom Riddle that was stalking around the second floor.

They charted out a workable route and started off, but they only made it half way down the hallway before they happened upon a reason to stop. Nott, the Death Eater who'd had his memory modified, was there, and he was dead.

"The other Death Eaters must have noticed that something was different about him," the memory of Harry said sadly. Hermione seemed rooted to the spot. Ron had to take her arm and guide her past.

Still more trouble arose on the fourth floor. Ginny, who'd taken over keeping an eye on the map for Hermione, motioned them all behind a large tapestry. The observers were left outside the tapestry but they heard Ron try to ask what was going on. The tapestry fluttered slightly as Ginny shushed him roughly by throwing an arm across his face.

"That wouldn't have shut me up," the Ron of the present admitted, "except that she hit my nose too." He was rubbing his own nose in sympathy.

Sure enough, before long, Bellatrix Lestrange came walking by. Those behind the tapestry were doing their best not to breathe, but to the observers it was quite obvious that if something was going to alert Bellatrix to their counterparts' presence, it wouldn't have been their breathing: Ron's feet were poking out from under the tapestry, but it didn't make much difference anyway.

"Neville, where are you going?" Hermione whispered urgently as Neville slipped out from behind the tapestry and pointed his wand at the Death Eater. The Hermione of the present gasped and clasped her hands over her mouth.

Bellatrix spun slowly on the spot.

"Ah! Ickle Longbottom. I wondered if I'd be seeing you here."

"Neville!" Harry cried as he darted out from behind the tapestry. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Do you?"

The Hermione of the present winced at Neville's feeble attempt to give life to a nearby suit of armor, and when Neville fell, despite his shield, to Bellatrix's Sectumsempra spell, she demanded, "Why aren't we helping him!"

"Look," Harry replied, pointing at Neville as he held a hand up, preventing their counterparts from acting on the exact same idea. "He didn't want our help and he deserved to try and finish her on his own if he wanted."

By this time Neville regained his feet and the duel had begun in earnest. Hermione grew increasingly tense as the fight continued, watching Neville's avenues of escape decrease by the second, but even knowledge of what was about to happen didn't prevent Harry and Ron from flinching when the duel came to its abrupt end. Hermione turned away, her fingers stuffed in her ears, when Bellatrix glanced down and the sword that had impaled her and started laughing.

"Cruc-!"

"Stupefy!"

Bellatrix fell crashing down with the suit of armor on top of her and Ron, Hermione, and Ginny rushed forward to tie her up while Harry came over to speak with Neville. The other Harry, however, edged carefully away from the pair, unwilling to witness that terrible conversation about Neville's parents again.

"We've got to keep going," the memory of Harry said finally.

"Alright," Neville replied gamely, but his legs seemed unwilling to obey his commands: he took one step and tripped over his numb feet. Harry had to catch him and lower him to the ground. Now that he was there, Neville looked like he never wanted to stand up again.

"You three go on," Ginny offered. "I'll take him back up to the common room. It'll be safe there. I'll find you lot afterwards."

"Alright," Harry agreed, "but take the Marauder's Map, it'll help you find us."

"You need it more than I do," Ginny protested.

"Ginny, please," Harry begged.

"Oh, all right," Ginny relented, handing the map to Hermione, who gave it one last perusal before giving it back.

Meanwhile, Harry had clamped a hand over his forehead. By Ginny's account, the most opposition she and Neville encountered was an Auror who insisted that she remain in the Gryffindor tower along with Neville and wouldn't hear a word about an enchanted map. By the time she managed to sneak away with most of the rest of the older students, who'd insisted on helping, it was too late to catch up with Harry and Ron, although they did make quite a dent in the Death Eater's ranks while trying.

"Things might have gone differently if we'd had that map," Harry said. Ron nodded

They stood there for a moment, watching Ginny stagger away under Neville's weight, then turned back to their counterparts and followed them to the next staircase. However, before they got there they happened upon an area strewn with limp bodies. Much of the surrounding marble had disintegrated and the floor was covered in the powder. The Harry, Ron, and Hermione of the past glanced at each other.

"We decided to follow that trail," Hermione said with a grimace, inferring their counterparts' unspoken agreement as they crept down a nearby set of stairs.

"You have betrayed me."

Before another second elapsed, the Harry, Ron, and Hermione of the past had taken whatever cover they could get from the banister, but the other Harry and Ron couldn't help but laugh at their strange idea of a protected hiding place. Hermione, on the other hand, was glancing in the direction of the voices in back at their counterparts with some concern. It hadn't taken her long at all to figure out that if a Death Eater happened by he wouldn't be fooled for a second.

"No, master."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione soon tired of their counterparts' argument about whether or not they should go attack Voldemort and Snape now and wandered off to investigate for themselves.

The scene was slightly blurry, as though the Pensieve hadn't been quite sure what to make of it, but when Harry blinked and squinted into the mist it was quite obvious that, in addition to Snape and Voldemort, at least six Death Eaters were present.

"So you were right then," Harry sighed, looking at Ron and Hermione. "If we'd tried to help we only would have gotten killed too."

"And yet you persist in feeding me lies. I know your loyalty has been to Dumbledore since before my powers broke at the hands of that Potter. I know you have been passing information to the Order of the Phoenix for the past three years, and yet you have still maintained the illusion of servility to me. Don't look so surprised, why shouldn't I have pressed my advantage? You have been giving false information to the Order all this time. Why else would everyone assure you that we were staying in Albania if we were about to attack here?"

"You will not succeed, the Order will stop you."

"I doubt it, but I suppose I must wait and see. You, however, will not be given that pleasure. Your usefulness has run out and you will now greet the same fate that meets all who defy me. Avada Kedavra!"

Despite themselves, Harry, Ron, and Hermione couldn't help but wince and turn away when Snape slumped lifelessly to the floor.

A few seconds later, the other Harry, Ron, and Hermione appeared, bunched together awkwardly under the invisibility cloak. They chose to follow the two Death Eaters who had fallen behind the rest of the group, but the other Harry and Ron shot exacerbated looks at each other, for the Pensieve had just proved what they had suspected: Voldemort had left in the opposite direction.

They carried on following the Death Eaters until it was obvious that their quarry was either completely lost or hadn't had a destination in mind in the first place. So the three of them took to wandering, hoping to find some indication of where to go next. At last, they happened to glance down to an intersection of two hallways, where no less than five Death Eaters were standing.

"It looks like they're guarding something," the Harry of the past and the Hermione of the present said simultaneously.

Hermione started giggling so much at the coincidence that she missed when her counterpart spoke up in agreement.

They watched themselves formulate a plan to attack the Death Eaters from three sides then set off in opposite directions. Ron watched Hermione disappear down a darkened corridor to the right with a bemused expression.

"That's not helpful," he muttered. "We can't show you what you did while you were down there."

"Well, it can't be that exciting, can it?" Hermione replied. "All I had to do was get to that other hallway. Sure it's a long detour, but I should have been able to make it in three minutes."

"That's just it, though, you didn't," Harry said. "Can we follow her?"

Ron walked toward the corridor, his hands raised, testing the space before him. Sure enough, before very long he'd come across an invisible barrier, blocking his progress down the hallway.

Shrugging at one another, they followed the other Harry down the center hallway. When three minutes had elapsed, Harry and Ron attacked, but Hermione was nowhere to be found.

"I guess the two of you really don't need my help in these fights, do you?" Hermione said, as they watched Harry and Ron make quick work of the Death Eaters. She sounded impressed.

"You didn't do so bad yourself, have a look," Harry offered as the other Harry and Ron began to backtrack Hermione's route.

When an initial look down the hallways yielded no answers, the Harry and Ron of the past began trying doors at random. Finally, they happened to open a door and catch a glimpse of a Death Eater running out of the room through a door on the opposite side of the classroom. With a shout, they gave chase, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione hung back.

"We didn't catch him anyway," Ron muttered.

They turned their attention instead to the other Hermione, who was gingerly picking herself up off the floor.

"See what I mean?" Harry said as Hermione stooped to retrieve her wand. "He had you on the ground and wandless but you still managed to put him on the run."

"I'm not sure," Hermione said, moving closer to inspect her own broken nose and bleeding forehead.

When the other Harry and Ron returned a minute later, they looked both surprised and impressed to see Hermione there.

"You dueled him?" Ron asked, gesturing to the door behind him.

Hermione didn't respond, she just continued looking shocked.

"Hermione, are you alright?" Harry asked, eying her suspiciously.

"Yeah, I think so," Hermione replied, slowly coming out of her daze. She sounded surprised.

"I'm not sure I was," the other Hermione said quietly.

"Nice duel," the Harry of the memory continued. "Are you alright to keep going?"

"Let's go."

Mercifully, no other Death Eaters had happened upon the scene of Harry and Ron's battle, so the way was still clear and Harry, Ron, and Hermione slipped back underneath the invisibility cloak and continued onward.

As they traced their shrouded counterparts' progress down the corridor, Ron began glancing sideways down nearby hallways.

"I can't even see him," Ron said. "How do you think he found us?"

"Maybe he smelled us," Harry suggested.

"But he wasn't transformed," Ron pointed out. "Could he really smell us if he was in human form?"

"Maybe it didn't make a difference for him," Harry sighed.

"Who are you talking about?" Hermione asked. "Lupin?"

"No, worse," Ron shuddered.

Realization was just dawning on Hermione when, from nowhere, Fenrir Greyback knocked their counterparts to the ground, sending the cloak askew.

Hermione watched herself and Ron duck back under the cloak with a tilted head and wrinkled nose.

"Why did I do that?" she demanded. "Greyback obviously could tell where we were even with the cloak."

"Well, we didn't know that at the time," Ron replied. "At that point we didn't even know for sure who it was. For all we could tell he'd just run into us by accident."

They watched as Harry bravely decided to remain outside of the cloak and Hermione gasped when Pettigrew tackled the werewolf to the ground.

"Why would Pettigrew want to do that?" she demanded.

"I don't know for sure," Harry admitted. "But I suppose it might have something to do with the time I stopped Sirius and Lupin from killing him in our third year. Dumbledore said that he owed me a debt. I guess that was his way of paying me back."

While Harry was talking, Lupin entered the battle, yelling at the other Harry to hide. As if on cue, Ron and Hermione came up behind Harry and threw the cloak over him as well.

Six stunned sets of eyes watched as Lupin and Pettigrew worked together to bring about the end of Greyback. From Harry's outside perspective, it was obvious that Lupin had deliberately extended his conversation with Greyback, just so that Pettigrew would have to get close enough to make his move.

"It's so strange to see them fighting on the same side like...oh-" Hermione trailed off and turned away when Pettigrew crushed Greyback's leg.

Before long, it was Lupin's turn to save Pettigrew and put an end to Greyback, then, for a moment, it was all the two former friends could do to stare at each other.

"So, we can work together after all, Moony."

"I suppose so, Wormtail."

The Hermione of the present yelled in outrage when Pettigrew used the brief moment when Lupin let his guard down to launch his attack. Within a minute, Lupin had fallen backwards over the banister to the hard stone floor below.

Neither version of Harry, Ron, and Hermione could see where he had landed, but it didn't stop those under the invisibility cloak from darting down the nearest set of stairs to look.

"We really should have kept looking for Voldemort," the Hermione of the present said.

"We know," Ron replied.

"Lupin would have wanted us to keep going," Hermione persisted.

"He told us," Harry said.

"We found him?" Hermione asked, awestruck. "Alive? But Pettigrew, that fall."

"He was in rough shape," Harry admitted. "Here we go."

Their counterparts had finally found their former Professor and abandoned the invisibility cloak. Hermione, looking distraught, silently volunteered to keep watch over the sorrowful scene.

"Professor? Professor Lupin?"

"Harry, you shouldn't be here. You have to go. Everyone's counting on you."

"Everyone can wait."

Ron had forced himself away from the scene and was studying the Hermione of the past with some concern. It couldn't be said that she was keeping much of a watch at all. Instead, she was leaning against the nearest wall and shaking uncontrollably.

"Hermione, were you alright?" Ron asked.

Hermione shot him a look and he relented. Of course she couldn't remember if she'd been alright or not.

"I can't count the number of times I have been amazed by the ingenuity of all three of you. Together there is nothing that can stop you."

As Lupin grabbed Harry and Ron by the arms and uttered his last words ("Help her!"), the Harry of the present realized something he hadn't noticed before.

"He was looking right at you when he said that, Hermione."

"Looking at me?" Hermione asked. "But why? He can't have known I was going to erase my memory."

"He was a smart guy," Harry said with a shrug, watching their counterparts pull themselves away from Lupin's body. "Maybe he guessed."

"Are we sure Hermione really got into a duel with that Death Eater when we weren't there before?" Ron asked.

"I guess not," Harry admitted, "but what else could it have been?"

"I don't know, but she started acting differently afterwards," Ron pointed out. "Do you remember anything about it now Hermione?"

"It's all still blank," Hermione said. "But why don't we just try coming back to it later. The other ones of us have already run off."

She was right, of course, and a group of passing Death Eaters was leaving after a few rough jabs at Professor Lupin's prone body, but Harry wasn't prepared to move on just yet. They didn't have long to wait. The last Death Eater had just barely turned the corner when Lupin forced in another rasping breath and opened his eyes.

Harry would have stayed longer, as though his actions now could somehow prevent Lupin from dying alone in the past, but the Pensieve had started to force them away. With nothing else for it, they ran to catch up with their counterparts.

When they found them, they were in the midst of a heated debate.

"Listen, I don't like the distraction idea either, but we can't ambush these Death Eaters, there's no way over there."

"You know things go better when the three of us stick together," Ron pointed out.

"I'm open to suggestions," Harry replied.

"I'll do it," Hermione said.

"What?" Ron demanded.

"You heard me," Hermione replied. "I'll go over there under Harry's invisibility cloak, make some noises, head them off, and I'll come back as soon as I can."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked.

Hermione nodded and Harry gave her the invisibility cloak. Wishing each other good luck, they parted ways. When Hermione put the cloak on she became completely invisible, even to the observers.

"You managed to lead the Death Eaters away just fine, but you never did manage to come back. The way Ginny tells it, lead those Death Eaters right to her group of students, they stunned them and you joined their little resistence," Harry said.

"I'm sorry," Hermione sighed. "You must have been worried about me."

"We would have been," Harry replied, "but we didn't really get a chance."

"Ginny said you were in a right state," Ron continued, "You came upon Sturgis Podmore and tried to make him and the Order to mount a proper rescue for Harry and I, but they wouldn't until all the students were evacuated. You even tried to go back by yourself, but they stopped you. If you want to watch that then I guess we'll have to get Ginny's memories in here."

"Is that it, then?" Harry asked, as the Death Eaters that had been causing trouble for their counterparts stalked away, following an unseen source of noise. "That's the end of your part in the battle."

"Can we keep going anyway?" Hermione asked. "I want to see how it ends."

"You already know how it ends," Harry replied jovially.

"Sure, let's keep going," Ron said over him. "I've got some missing pieces in here too, remember?"

Harry winced, but agreed.

The Harry and Ron of the past carried on for a few minutes, but it became increasingly obvious that the trail had grown cold. It was beginning to look as though they would have to resort to wandering at random again when they heard a loud pop.

The memories of Harry and Ron quickly retreated behind the nearest statue, but the Hermione of the present placed her hands squarely on her hips and demanded, "How many times do I have to remind you that Wizards can't Apparate or Disapparate inside of Hogwarts?"

"You don't," Ron muttered as Dobby crept apologetically into view. "It wasn't that we forgot, we just didn't remember it at the time."

The other Harry and Ron cautiously broke their cover as soon as they saw their company and knelt down to speak with the tiny elf.

"Harry Potter, sir," Dobby squeaked. "Dobby has been watching the Death Eaters, and he has seen that a terrible plot is afoot..." He trailed off, apparently fighting with himself.

"What kind of plot, Dobby?" Harry asked, but the elf seemed to have lost the ability to explain. "Did Mr. Malfoy order you not to tell us? He's not your master anymore, you don't have to listen to him."

Dobby shook his head, his ears drooping.

"Did the Death Eaters do something else, then?" Harry pressed, his mind finally settling on a likely possibility. "Did they threaten to do something to the other House Elves if you told us?"

Dobby looked straight at Harry, his eyes wide. It seemed like a yes.

"I can't promise to protect you and the other House Elves," Harry said, a great deal of regret in his voice, "but you all have much more power than you tend to use. Why don't you try telling the others that McGonagall gave them permission to defend themselves."

Dobby nodded slowly.

"Great," Harry said. "If you know, it would really help us if you can just point us in the direction of Voldemort."

After a moment's consideration, Dobby pointed a shaking hand in the direction of a nearby secret passageway that led to a corridor on the west side of the second floor, then he trotted away, throwing his head against the wall whenever the opportunity arose.

"Well, that way, then," Harry said with a shrug.

"He never told you what the Death Eater's plan was," Hermione pointed out.

"A group of them were in the Room of Requirement working out a way to turn Hogwarts' defenses again the Aurors and the Order," Harry explained. "Hogwarts would still be in their hands if the House Elves hadn't stopped them."

"Wait," Hermione stammered. "The House Elves stopped them?"

"The Order helped a bit, but it was mostly them," Harry confirmed. "After Dobby convinced the rest of them that they could defend themselves, they decided that they could defend Hogwarts too. Dobby's a hero, but you'd never be able to get him to admit it."

Tears of pride filled Hermione's eyes as she, Harry, and Ron followed their counterparts to an innocent enough stretch of hallway, and the Harry and Ron of their memories were treating it as such, jogging cavalierly toward their destination. The Harry and Ron of the present, however, were being much more cautious and jumping at sudden noises. Their attitudes were not unfounded.

The spells seemed to come from everywhere at once, catching even those who knew what was about to happen off guard. Forgetting their state of invulnerability, Harry, Ron, and Hermione dropped automatically to the floor, but it wouldn't have been fast enough: the spells passed harmlessly through their stomachs. Before they recovered enough to observe the fate of the other Harry and Ron, everything went dark.

"What now?" Hermione moaned.

"We're unconscious," Ron replied, a slight quiver in his voice. After spending hours on end in the dark of Malfoy Manor he wasn't at all keen on doing it again. "I guess we'll just have to wait until we remember something, or Harry remembers something, more like. I haven't got a clue what happened after this."

At intervals the space around them would lighten a bit, but the hallway was fuzzy looking and pulsing slightly as Harry and Ron were dragged unceremoniously away, groggy from the stunning spells. The other Harry, Ron, and Hermione had a great deal of trouble keeping their balance as the floor and walls seemed to move around them.

"Ron," Harry began carefully. "Before we get to it, there's something I should tell you..."

But it was too late for that, the darkness had changed. It was no longer the pitch black that the Pensieve used to manifest unconsciousness. They were now standing in a deeply shadowed chamber somewhere in the dungeons. Harry could just barely see his counterpart sitting in the corner and valiantly struggling against the ropes around his arms and feet. Ron was nowhere to be found.

"Ron, I really think you should hear this from me first," Harry tried, observing that his friend had become immensely interested in watching the bound and tied Harry.

"So nice of you to join me."

Ron and Hermione yelped and jumped aside as Voldemort materialized from the shadows behind them. Harry merely sighed. It seemed that he wasn't going to be able to broach the topic on his own terms. He supposed he deserved it. After all, he'd had four and a half months.

"Voldemort!"

"We really must stop meeting like this. I'll have to see what I can do about it."

"If you're going to kill me at least make a proper duel of it. Only a coward would kill someone who can't fight ba-"

Voldemort raised his wand and a bolt of red light erupted from it. The Harry on the floor tried to brace himself for it, but the impact never came.

Both Ron and Hermione gasped as the other Ron burst into the room and, without even taking a second to consider the implications, jumped in front of the spell. It hit him in the right arm and angry red welts began to cover his hand, arm, and neck where they were visible. He started screaming before he hit the ground.

Rather than horrified, Ron looked impressed at his own daring, but there was plenty of time for horrors yet.

The other Harry squirmed his way over to his fallen friend, grabbed up his wand and undid the restraints. Standing up, he pointed Ron's wand at Voldemort.

"I expected him to try and kill me right away," Harry said, "but..."

Harry couldn't finish, for Voldemort had started laughing, and even four months later the sound chilled him to the bone. Still laughing, Voldemort left for the next room. The darkened room was briefly given the illumination of its neighbor, but Voldemort pulled the door shut behind him. Hermione gasped.

"At first I wasn't sure why he would do that," Harry said with a shudder. "Then I realized..."

"He was making you choose," Hermione finished for him.

"At first the choice was obvious," Harry continued. "I'd gotten close enough to kill him before and I'd do it again, and Ron needed help right away. But then I thought about all the Aurors and members of the Order who'd sacrificed themselves to make sure I could get this far and I couldn't let that go to waste. Plus, Voldemort probably could have made himself a whole new set of Horcruxes after that night and I couldn't let everything start over."

They watched Harry's face harden, and then he followed Voldemort into the next room.

"You decided to fight him," Ron said. His inflection was difficult to interpret.

"I did," Harry replied, unable to look at Ron.

Ron walked away from the group and stood, starring into the shadows for several minutes. They could just barely hear Harry's attempts to reason with Voldemort over Ron's cries of pain.

"We don't have to do this! If we both just walk away right now neither of us would have to die. We could agree never to see each other again. This doesn't have to happen."

"The Seer said, 'Neither may live while the other survives.' Seers can't lie while in a trace."

"But they can't see everything either. That Seer saw one possibility out of trillions of futures. We still have a choice."

"You have proven yourself to be a threat to me. I cannot allow you to live."

"Excellent." Contrary to his own argument with Voldemort, Harry sounded rather eager for it to come to a fight.

At last the Ron of the present turned back to Harry. "If I'd been able to, I would have told you to go after You-Know-Who."

"You would've?" Harry asked blankly, his voice shaking.

"I didn't jump in front of that spell so you could toss it all in right there and save me instead of stopping him," Ron pointed out.

"But look at you," Harry said, gesturing desperately to Ron's counterpart. "You're dying, I left you to die."

"I didn't die," Ron replied. "You saved me."

"But your arm," Harry protested. "It won't get better."

"That's alright," Ron maintained, stepping forward to shake Harry's hand. "There are more important things."

Harry wasn't quite sure what to do or think, so he just stood there for a minute, not understanding how Ron could forgive him so easily. As far as Harry was concerned, leaving Ron behind was just as unforgivable as the spell his counterpart was about to use on Voldemort. It wasn't until Ron spoke again that Harry snapped out of his reverie.

"Are you coming?"

Ron and Hermione were standing at the threshold of the next room. In fact, Ron seemed rather eager to be out of the company of his screaming counterpart.

"I've seen it," Harry replied. He chose to remain behind, as though he could somehow be of some help to his friend.

Ron and Hermione didn't question his decision. They even left him alone for a few minutes, at least until Ron shouted, "Blimey, Harry, where did you learn to duel like that?"

"Duel like what?" Harry asked wearily, not looking away from the wounded Ron, who was visibly weakening to the spells effects.

"I knew it couldn't have all been luck, but why didn't you tell us?" Hermione demanded.

"What are you talking about?" Harry called back. "You've seen me duel before." He certainly didn't remember dueling especially well. In fact, he was fairly certain that Voldemort had been toying with him for most of the fight.

"Never like this," Ron replied, an obvious grin in his voice.

With a sigh, Harry stood up and joined his friends in the neighboring chamber, blinking at the light. He couldn't help but stop short when he got there.

"Is that me?" Harry asked, watching the flurry of spells passing between himself and Voldemort. Certainly, he wasn't making much progress in actually beating back his opponent, but it was sufficient at least to keep too many of Voldemort's spells from actually hitting their mark.

"Unless the memory you put in here was of some self-inflated version of yourself," Hermione pointed out, but she hadn't stopped sounding impressed despite the cynicism of her statement.

"Can't be," Ron replied cheerfully. "Everything else we've seen has been accurate."

Harry merely shrugged and they returned their attention to the battle. Even he had to admit that in action he was something to see.

However, Harry could only keep Voldemort back for so long and eventually a Crucio curse broke through. Screaming in pain, Harry dropped to his knees, but the effect of the curse didn't last very long at all. Stranger still, when Harry returned unsteadily to his feet, Voldemort obviously had yet to release the spell.

"You fought off Crucio?" Ron asked disbelievingly.

"I guess so," Harry replied as the fight between his counterpart and Voldemort continued.

"I've never read about anyone being able to do that," Hermione added.

"That doesn't mean it's impossible," Harry pointed out.

"Apparently not," Hermione admitted.

Finally, the Harry of the past managed to make the two spells combine and the three of them ducked instinctively when it bounced off the wall behind them. After they recovered, Ron took to watching the ball of light and scratching his ear in a confused sort of way, but Hermione turned immediately to Harry and demanded, "You invented ricochet spells?"

"Is that what they're called now?" Harry asked dismissively as he too tried to trace the spell on its journey around the room. He lost track of it when Hermione smacked his upper arm with the back of her hand.

"Do you know how long I've been trying to invent a spell?"

"No," Harry replied truthfully. "But I'm sure you'll come up with something. Besides, this isn't really a new spell, just a combination of two old ones."

"That's even worse!" Hermione exclaimed, smacking Harry's arm again. "No one had ever managed to do that before. How could you invent an entire line of spells and not tell us?"

"It didn't seem that important at the time," Harry said with a shrug, edging out of arm's reach of Hermione.

"Will you two just watch?" Ron demanded.

Hermione seemed to remember herself and turned back to the duel, but Harry wished she'd gone on abusing him about the spell he'd invented.

The combined spell finally hit home, knocking Voldemort off his guard. Harry started systematically casting every jinx, hex, and curse he knew.

The Harry of the present couldn't help but wonder what he would see when his counterpart finally got to the last spell. Would his eyes flash the same red as Voldemort's? Would they transform, however momentarily, into catlike slits? Harry wasn't sure he could bear to watch, but he couldn't turn away.

"Avada Kedavra!"

And there was nothing. No red eyes, no snake face. Voldemort simply collapsed in a heap as the remaining spells evaporated around him.

For a moment, Harry simply stood over Voldemort, panting slightly, as though he wasn't entirely sure what had just happened, and then he knelt down, pulled his wand out of Voldemort's pocket, and raced back into the other room.

Harry half expected Ron or Hermione to make some astounded comment on how anticlimactic it all seemed, or say that they'd spent the last four and a half months convincing themselves that Harry had used a spell other than Avada Kedavra to finish Voldemort. Instead they kept their silence and followed the other Harry back to Ron and watched as his desperate attempts to help Ron only made matters worse. Finally, Harry simply lifted Ron up and dragged him out of the room.

When Harry finally reached the Entrance Hall, he shouted for help, but there was none to be found. It was as though they were the only two living souls remaining in Hogwarts, and with every passing second it seemed more and more likely that that number would be cut in half.

Finally, Harry gave up and dragged Ron out the front door and into the foggy morning.

The other Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed him outside and watched the situation grow increasingly desperate as Harry dragged Ron to Hogsmeade only to discover that the village was deserted as well.

They could almost see Harry's desperation as he realized the only option he had left. He kneeled down next to Ron, took hold of his arms and Disapparated. A moment later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were gently ejected from the Pensieve.

Harry looked at Hermione and realized that she had pulled them out.

"I think I know the rest."