Twilight

Twilight

L.S. Song

Chapter Twenty-Six - The Work of Hope Weasley

"You died."

A chilly feeling took Harry.

"What?" he stuttered, although he heard perfectly.

"I'm sorry," said Hope, looking sympathetic, much to Harry's surprise - he had thought the girl as a cold-hearted sufferer of the Second War. It shocked him that she could be disposed to feel sympathetic to the one that had caused all her suffering.

A person she had never known.

"But... how..."

He had thought about death before, but the idea of it happening to him never quite struck home.

How could I die?

"A flame sprite attacked this tent an hour before sunrise and burnt your wand into cinders, and wounded you horribly. You, Mum, dad, and Auntie Ginny couldn't defeat the sprite without you being armed... and you four ran away from it, towards the Summit desperately. When you reached the Summit, the sprite had caught up to you and so had Voldemort's band of Death Eaters. You were trapped."

Harry surveyed the girl's eyes.

"Voldemort killed you when you dived to save Auntie Ginny. But they were rescued by the Order bursting through... that's all dad told me," said Hope. "And it was at the Summit that almost all of the Order perished."

He used legilimency to detect any trace of a lie as he looked into her eyes.

Much to his dismay, there was none.

"Are you going to change the future?"

"I'm going to change the past. I'm here to help. I know how to vanquish the flame sprite. You won't die today."

Ginny looked slightly concerned.

"But won't your timeline be changed if Harry doesn't... die?"

"Yes," she said. "That's exactly the point."

"But you might not have been born!" cut in Hermione.

"That's a sacrifice I'll have to make, isn't it?"

"But..."

"You don't want to live in the world where I live in," said Hope solemnly.

"You don't even know me, why do you want to save me?" asked Harry, voicing his thoughts.

"Sybil Trelawney's prophecy was true. Only you can defeat Lord Voldemort."

"But he's immortal," sighed Harry. "I'm here to get the cure for the plague spreading in Great Britain..."

"Here," said Hope, taking out a vial of purple liquid. "It's a kind of bacteria, reversing the effects the of the Black Plague... just pour it out into a warm place and it will multiply... have one person drink it and walk around, and before you know it, everyone will be cured."

"Wouldn't that just spread another plague?"

"No, the bacteria dies in a person after a month's time... although that was enough to save what was left of the muggle and muggle-born population..."

"What was left of it?" squeaked Hermione anxiously.

"Six hundred muggles. That's all that was left."

All their mouths fell open.

Hope, ignoring this, continued.

"But you saved them, mu... Hermione! You found the cure!"

The girl broke into the first genuine smile Harry had seen, and he saw that it brightened up her eyes immensely, so they shone, almost a light purple color instead of the dark blue.

Hermione's eyes, he thought, looking from Hermione to Hope.

Hope was a part Veela too.

"I? I found... how?"

"You were an inventor, er... Hermione," said Hope awkwardly.

She seemed to find it difficult and awkward to call her elder generation by their first names, whereas Harry nearly laughed at the thought of Ron cradling a baby in his arms.

It was funny how different generations of people had immensely different views, he thought, even at the same age.

They must've really grown up.

"An inventor? What did I invent?" asked Hermione, now interested.

"You'll find out," said Hope,

"What was I?" asked Ron with interest.

But Hope had turned to Harry.

"We have two hours to prepare... the flame sprite struck at five in the morning."

Harry finally trusted the girl with all his heart. Any daughter of Ron and Hermione's couldn't be bad.

"Tell us what we need to know."

***

Cho was near the head of their little party with Neville Longbottom, flying up the very same path Harry had gone just a few days ago.

She saw smoke in the distance.

"Hurry!" she shouted, pointing at the smoke high, high above them.

Putting all of the flying skills she had inhibited from years of being a seeker, Cho zoomed ahead of them all, hail blowing in her fair face, leaving deep cuts all over her body.

But she didn't care.

She saw her goal.

She saw, behind her, everyone following with the same determination.

As she turned around once more, she found herself facing a jagged rock, a door to a crack into the mountain.

There was no way for them to go up above it, as hail poured down and a cliff blocked the brooms from going up.

She took out a map.

"We're at the tunnels."

And climbing off her broomstick, with an incantation of, "Lumos," Cho walked in through the gap.

***

"It should come about now," said Hope, stepping outside and looking near the skies.

The last two hours or so were spent talking, discussing their plans for the demon, and after half an hour, slightly forced 'casual' conversation.

Ron, himself, was still slightly wary of the girl, despite her allowing him to see her memories.

He had gripped his wand tightly the whole time at the table, much to Harry's concern, as Hope's eyes darted occasionally to Ron's hand, a sad expression on her face lingering for just seconds before her lazy smirk replaced it.

Harry thought she must've been thinking about the Ron from her world - from what she was saying, a responsible, well mannered man with morals.

Ron had interrupted then, saying, "Morals, schmorals."

No one had spoken for half a minute, their mouths half open from talking.

Then Hope laughed, and the three girls went on talking.

Hermione and Ginny, however, seemed to be most sympathetic with Hope, chatting amiably with her, whilst Harry and Ron remained silent, Ron watchful, and Harry pensive.

"I suggest you pack away your tent, unless you like sleeping in ashes."

"Right," said Harry. "Evanesco."

The tent disappeared.

The five started shivering slightly, despite the cloaks they were wearing.

"Hope?"

"Mmm?" replied Hope, still looking to the skies.

"What happened to the world after we lost at the Summit?" asked Harry.

Hope didn't answer.

"Please."

"When you died, your friends - my parents and auntie - fled from the Summit with the Order. But Lord Voldemort, after killing you, had no more fears. He came to Hogwarts and destroyed the entire castle." She stopped at that, and sighed, before continuing.

"No one else could defeat him... the last hope was gone."

Now Harry sighed.

Ron, Ginny, and Hermione looked terrified.

"Lord Voldemort won the Second War. What was left of the wizards that opposed him were fifty wizards, six survivors from the Order of the Phoenix led them."

"Who?"

"Dad... I mean Ron, Minister Longbottom, Nymphadora Tonks, Parvati Patil, myself, and my cousin Sammie."

"What... what happened to everyone else?"

Seeing the distressed look on the girl's face, Harry said, "Never mind. I know."

"But you see... that's why I've come... we can't let that happen."

Harry nodded solemnly.

All of a sudden, Hope whipped out her wand.

"It's coming."

Harry all of a sudden felt an surge of heat blow through him, like fire spreading in his very veins.

And then it appeared.

It was the flame sprite Hope had spoken of, an eight-foot tall demon hovering in the air fearfully. Flames engulfed its body, dark, sharp looking horns on its skull, and seven inch long claws on its hands. Its red eyes stared at them.

It was what Harry had always imagined the Devil looked like.

All of a sudden, a massive boulder - composed of what looked suspiciously like molten lava - shot towards them.

"RONDACHE CONJURE!" shouted Harry and Hope, two large round shields appearing out of thin air, blocking the boulder, and causing it to roll in a separate direction, tumbling off the side of a mountain, crashing against the snow-filled ground below them.

Smoke rose, so thick that Harry could barely see in front of him.

"MAXIMUS REDUCTO!" shouted Ron and Ginny.

How they managed to aim through the smoke, Harry did not know, but the spells hit the sprite, making it stumble slightly.

It roared, a jet of fire escaping like an inferno as it did so.

"TORRENTORIA!" shouted Hermione.

Clouds appeared above the sprite, pouring down torrents of water, dampening the flames that lit the body of the sprite up.

It bellowed with pain, and with a slash, shattered Harry's shield. He and Ginny jumped behind Hope's, just as Hope jumped out from behind the shield and charged forwards.

Her eyes burning with Veela fury, a sphere of fire appeared in each of her hands.

"This is for the uncle I never had!" shouted Hope, and flung the fireballs straight into the sprite's stomach.

It roared once again, but with the fire dampened, it couldn't send out its blast of fire. It started stomping towards Hope.

"This is for my aunt!" she shouted again, and another two fireballs impaled the demon.

The demon lashed out against Hope, shredding her robes and leaving two gashes along her shoulder.

"This is for the twins!" she roared, and yet another two fireballs smashed into the sprite, smashing it backwards a bit.

It jumped at Hope, smashing her on her legs, ripping her robes completely so it was just mere strips of cloth covering her.

Her knees bled, impaled with sharp claws.

She didn't flinch, just shot a warning glance at Harry not to run out before it was time.

"This is for my dad!" she roared, turning back to the demon.

Two more fireballs engulfed the sprite, which now staggered.

Hope jumped towards the demon, her eyes burning maniacally, claws extending out of her fingers, her face mutating rapidly, and wings bursting out of her shoulder blades.

She was embracing all of the Veela blood within her, focusing her energy in a way Hermione never learnt.

Despite his numb excitement observing Hope combat the sprite, in the back of his mind, he couldn't help but be impressed with this girl from the future.

Letting out a scream of pain, two more fireballs appeared in her hands.

"THIS IS FOR MY MUM!" she bellowed, and flung, with what seemed like the last of her strength, two final fireballs towards the staggering demon.

The final fireballs, as they sunk into the flesh of the demon, engulfed it with flames once more - only this time it wasn't in control of them.

The demon batted itself wildly, shrieking with pain, its flesh alight.

Hope collapsed onto the floor, the wings retracting, the sharpness of her face disappearing.

This was their signal.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny ran out now from behind the shields.

And as they aimed their wands at the demon, they felt a strong surge of power course through them.

The Shield of the Founders.

Harry remembered Hermione's exact words on the day they found out what they had all along thought was the Marauder's shield truly was.

"It's a mystical shield which was said to be a myth found by the Founders of Hogwarts in a stash of Merlin's things... it is said to be a bonding talisman... A bonding talisman forms a strong connection between a certain number of wizards, which magnifies their abilities as long as the four are in a reasonably close proximity to each other..."

It appeared their particular bond needed such a situation, which required teamwork from all of them to initiate the bond.

With quick glances at each other, they roared as one, "VANQUISHO!"

As the jets of white light flew out of their wands, mixed as one and struck the sprite straight where Hope's fire had burnt a scalding figure eight shape, it let out an otherworldly wail.

Glowing so brightly Harry had to squint to see, the demon disappeared in a flash of white light.

Harry let his wand arm relax, and he turned to his friends.

"HOPE!" he cried, seeing the girl lying on the floor.

For right before his eyes, the girl had a white light gathering in her chest as they spoke. Her face now had fully changed back, now looking rather like a timid child than the fierce Veela that had fought against the massive fire sprite.

"Hope, what's happening to you?" cried Hermione, running to her side, Ron and Ginny right behind her.

But Harry understood.

As she changed their future, her own past was doomed.

The light began spreading across her body, now covering her entire torso.

"No... stop it Hope!" cried Ron, who now seemed to have taken a liking to the girl, much in contrast to just merely minutes ago when they had been chatting.

"What's going on?" wailed Ginny.

"Hope..." started Harry.

The girl met his eyes, and she smiled.

"Thank you."

"You know what? I think I do like you after all. You're welcome," she said.

Hermione and Ron turned to Harry for just a second before turning back to Hope.

Her body was now completely covered in the light; all that they could see were her glittering violet eyes.

"Bye mum, bye dad..." said Hope's voice dreamily, sounding rather detached. "I love you."

But Hermione and Ron, as much as they liked the girl they just met, just couldn't say it back.

"Goodbye Hope," said Hermione solemnly.

"Bye Hope... we'll always remember you," said Ron, not looking at the glowing body next to him, but rather at the skies.

And with Ron's words, Hope Weasley, and all that she was, all that she would be was gone.

Her work was finished.

***

Alastor 'Mad-eye' Moody stumped resentfully up the cold mountains, hundreds of wizards behind him.

The weather he could bear, the hardships of the road he could suffer, but Mad-eye Moody did not know what he would do should he run into another fire sprite.

Those fearsome creatures Moody feared above anything in the world, and nothing, not even the threat of the world itself collapsing could make him stare one in the eye, much to his self-loathing.

Step by step seemed a labour to Moody, fear growing and growing with every meter closer to the Summit.

And lo and behold, the peak was in his sights.

"Halt here," said Moody. "Take our meal break, and tell everyone to pull themselves together. In three hours, we take the final stretch."

***

"We better go," said Harry softly, two days later, upon sunrise.

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were still numb with shock about the peculiar girl that was their next generation, having come and gone within hours, saving their lives and the lives of millions of muggles.

They had spent two days sitting in the tent, the first day out of plain dumb shock at the extraordinary events with the flame sprite, the second day because of the torrents of wind that made it impossible to fly in.

Harry, by far, suffered the least from Hope's abrupt entrance and departure - his life had already been touched by too many woes - he learnt to deal over time, something that he hoped Ron, Hermione, and Ginny would never have to get used to.

"Why?" said Hermione slowly. "We have the antidote..."

"Yeah," agreed Ron. "We know this is a trap... why don't we just go back to Hogwarts?"

Truth be told, Harry didn't know why either, just that there was a strange feeling pushing him forwards, closer and closer to the stormy peak that was the Summit.

"This is it," he said, falling into a trance-like state, yet strangely aware of some things around him, completely unaware of others.

He could almost hear each individual raindrop hit the mountain and slide down to the ground, he could feel each rock that shifted as water batted against it, weathering its rough surfaces.

"What, Harry?" asked Ginny, who was puzzled, still in shock.

But her words fell on deaf ears.

"This is where it ends..."

"What are you talking about, Harry?" asked Ron.

"This is the last road."

"HARRY!" shouted Hermione, as Harry had already started walking up the path.

"This is what they bought me time for, Hermione," he said, his voice soft, but confident.

"Stop, Harry!"

"No, Ginny. You don't understand. The prophecy... this is where it all ends," he said.

"How do you know?" cried Hermione, who had grabbed Harry's arms to make him stop.

He snapped out of his little trance.

"I can feel it in my blood."

Ron shuddered from behind Harry.

"No mate... don't... come back... there will be another chance."

"Go back, all three of you. Go back. Deliver the cure. This is my path, and mine alone."

"Shut up."

Harry snapped around.

"What?"

"I said shut up," snarled Ginny, whose days of trekking in the harsh Himalayan Mountains built up her foul mood.

It was finally being let out.

Puzzled, Harry looked to Hermione and Ron for support, but found them staring back at him with the same expressions of anger.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Harry with indignation.

"What's wrong with YOU?" retorted Ginny waspishly.

"Look, I don't know..."

"That much is obvious," snapped Ginny.

"Hey!"

"I've had enough of your... you know what, Harry? Just shut up and start flying, because if you're going, we're not going anywhere but with you."

"But..."

But Ginny had prodded him, and he, still not understanding, jumped onto his broomstick and zipped up the path, his friends close on his tail.

Harry knew, deep down in his heart, this day was indeed the day it would all end.

It was just like how a baby could recognize it's mother's voice before even understanding what it meant, it was like how a person could walk around in his or her own house in the pitch dark and know exactly what was where although they couldn't see it.

It was instinct.

And instinct told him that today was the day that all of the sacrifices people had made for him would either be in vain, or be rewarded.

And the instinct told him the final fight was his own.

He didn't know why exactly he should trust the instinct, just that he did.

Gaining speed, he left Ginny, Ron, and Hermione behind.

They never were quite as good as him when it came to flying, and now, finally it paid off, he thought, as he zoomed away, despite the protests of his friends behind him.

And within three more hours of strenuous flying, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron were nowhere in sight, and he, Harry, landed on the Summit, with a horrible mix of lightning, rain, winds gathering in the air around him, weathering anything that dared stand in its way.

There was a dolmen near the center of peak, made of battered stone, black in color but with a strange glitter to it, much like one would see in raw gold that hadn't been extracted from the outcrop of rocks yet.

"What kind of a place is this for the Gateway to Heaven?" he said aloud, after walking around for twenty minutes more to the highest point possible, next to the dolmen.

"You... idiot!" yelled a feminine voice from below him.

It was Ginny.

And she didn't look happy.

"What on earth were you thinking, flying away from us like that?" she roared, her eyes ablaze with rage.

Ron appeared next, an equal expression of disgust on his face.

"You said you wouldn't run, Harry. Pretty retarded of you, really."

Another person on a broomstick came up the hills, and Harry braced himself for yet another reprimanding lecture from Hermione.

However, it was something far worse than that.

The Death Eaters had come.

***

"That's not... that's not Hermione!" shouted Harry.

Ron and Ginny whipped around, momentarily stopping their admonishments.

"How very observant of you Pot..." started a sneer.

"Flipendo!" Ron had roared halfway through the word 'observant'.

The wizard, halfway through speaking with a smirk on his face was blasted off the mountain.

Ron had learnt never to bother listening to Death Eaters, all they did was gloat sadistically, moan, or just laugh like a villain you would expect to see in a comic book.

But by then, the others had come.

And much to Harry's surprise, right behind the first five Death Eaters was Hermione, flying right behind a Death Eater.

And she wasn't on a broomstick.

She looked exactly as Hope had when she was battling the sprite; shining, metallic-looking wings had protruded from her shoulders.

It looked like she finally found a way to call upon all of the veela blood within her.

Landing down next to Ron, the monstrous changes in Hermione had shrunk, until all that was left were long, scaly wings and sharp claws protruding from each finger.

Harry had remembered before Hermione had not - if you will - sprouted wings... what had caused the change this time he would never know.

The four had now gathered into a tight ring in the center of the mound where the dolmen was, blasting away in all directions as more of Voldemort's dark wizards zipped up the Summit on their brooms.

"MULTIPLICUS SERPENSORTIA!" shouted Harry, as he had not seen Voldemort yet, the snakes would be under his control as the sole parseltongue speaker.

Spread out and kill, Harry hissed mercilessly.

Despite the snakes, the four friends were still furiously outnumbered, all of them still standing unscathed only thanks to Ginny's watch, and Fortuna, who was taking turns jumping from one to another, deflecting spells.

Just when Harry knew they couldn't stand it much longer, a blast a bright green light flew straight towards him.

"TEMPUS IMMOBULIS!!" shouted a voice, and much to Harry's surprise, the jet of light itself, the killing curse, stopped a meter away from him. He, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny stepped gingerly away from the mound where the dolmen lay, and started casting hexes at the death eaters frozen in time.

Harry heard yells from the several Death Eaters not falling victim to the unpredictable time-stopping charm, and then, much to his surprise, came more wizards from the sides of the mountain.

"Owe you one, Neville," yelled Harry, as he saw who had cast the charm.

The boy nodded grimly, his face pale, and returned his attention to the battle, which had erupted again now that Neville's brief charm wore off.

This time, however, it seemed as though the Death Eaters were winning, despite the interruption of the Order charging up the mountain.

Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione now had been separated, Harry the only one left standing on the little mound that was the top of the Summit.

And a face he had never expected to see again confronted him.

"Remember me, Potter?" snarled the man.

He did not grace the man with a reply.

And then Harry really did remember, doing a double take.

How does he remember my name?

"So, you thought it was fun to take away my memories, did you?" spoke Lucius softly, hatred vibrating in every syllable.

He shouldn't be remembering anything at all...

"REDUCTO!" yelled Harry all of a sudden.

"Protego," drawled Lucius, and Harry's spell was absorbed.

"I think it's time to repay that favor, Potter..."

Damned would Harry have been had he let Lucius Malfoy get a free shot off and take away all his memories.

He raised his wand in preparation.

Lucius mirrored his exact position.

"Flipendo!" shouted Ginny, who had ran behind Lucius Malfoy.

Lucius was blasted high into the skies, off the mountain, caught at unawares.

He looked rather comical as he hung in mid-air for just a few seconds, before he dropped down to the mountains below.

"Stop wasting your time with filth like that!" she hollered to Harry.

Furious with his own stupidity, yet also relieved, Harry returned to the battle.

The duels raged on, Harry dodging the volleys of curses following him, blasting an occasional Death Eater, when the same trance that had took him earlier that day had grasped Harry again.

His mind had become strangely numb at this point, his wand arm falling to his side.

"What are you doing, Harry?" cried Fred or George's voice.

"Maximus Reducto!" he bellowed, aiming his wand at the mound, which he had stood on a few minutes ago.

Still in a trancelike state, he walked to the center of where the mound had been and stood.

Harry looked down, snapping out of the reverie.

He saw a strange symbol engraved into the earth where he stood.

"Take me to the Pandemonium Citadel," he said, and a green light rose around him.

The next thing he knew, the Summit was gone.

He found himself in a cold steel chamber; every inch of wall was engraved with symbols and letters.

He shivered and looked around. He felt Fortuna shudder slightly on his shoulder, purring softly.

To his left was a glittering window, and to his right was a dark hole in the fortress. Directly in front of him was something he had hoped he would never see again.

It was the Veil from the Department of Mysteries - or else a veil that looked remarkably like it.

He turned to see what was behind him, and nearly dropped his wand in shock.

"Hello, Potter... it's been a while."