Shimmer and Glow

Harry Potter sat on the window-ledge in the darkened, empty dormitory, staring out at the full moon that hung in a dark sky littered with stars. A tear rolled down his cheek as he tried not to think about the empty beds that stood behind him. He shuddered and breathed deeply, and willed himself to be far away, somewhere up in the deep blue sky instead of down in a deserted dormitory with the fading memories of his friends.

"Harry?"

Hermione had appeared in the doorway. Harry brushed his tear away and did not look around at her.

"I thought you might want some company. Do you mind if I join you?"

Harry shrugged, and Hermione padded over to him and took a seat opposite her best friend on the window ledge. She laid her head on the stone and followed Harry's gaze to the stars.

"Don't you wish you could be up there, instead of down here?" Harry said after a while. "Up with the stars, away from all this."

Hermione smiled. "Yes," she said. "But then I'd be away from you."

"But nearer to Ron."

"Do you think so?"

Harry nodded. "That's where he is," he said. "That's where I send them to. Sirius. Cedric. My mum and dad. The boys. Even my - even my best friend." He huffed out a laugh. "I send them all to the stars."

Hermione frowned and put her hand gently on Harry's knee.

"It wasn't you. You didn't kill them, Harry."

"As good as," he muttered, and Hermione knew she wouldn't change his mind.

Hermione shifted her position and a bit of stone chipped off to crumble onto the dormitory floor. The sound of it echoed through the small room.

"It feels like the end, Hermione, doesn't it?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

"On whether you believe in endings or not. I don't think life does have a beginning, middle and an end. That would be too perfect. Life is just a series of moments, Harry, and we move though it, and people come with us, and then they leave, and then we meet new people, and life goes on and on and on until one day we forget to breathe and we leave too."

Harry thought about it for a little while. "I don't like that thought," he said.

"Because you've always hoped, deep down, that there will be a happy ending waiting for you. But what if there's not, Harry? What if there is no ending?"

"The battle has to end somewhere."

"I suppose."

Harry stretched. "He's running out of people to kill now. Soon there'll only be me left."

Hermione looked him in the eye. "And me," she said. She blinked and looked down at the darkened grounds.

"You don't have to stay with me, Hermione."

"You said that to Ron and me before. We gave you our answer then, Harry."

"Yeah," Harry said bitterly, "and look where that got Ron. So I'm telling you again. You can go if you want to. At least then you'd be safe."

"But then you'd be all alone. You couldn't manage."

"I could."

"Liar," she smiled.

Harry conceded. "Alright, then."

"Do you think it will ever get better?" Hermione asked in a quiet voice.

"No," Harry said, bluntly.

"Neither do I. Oh, let's get out of here. I can't stand to be in this dormitory."

"I know," Harry said, smiling. "It feels like they're still here, doesn't it."

The comment just made Hermione pull Harry along faster. They walked out of the Common Room, out of the castle, and down to the lake in silence. They stood at the water's edge and Harry skimmed a few stones across the silvery surface, breaking up the moon's reflection into shimmery fractions. At last he grew tired of the game and sat down next to Hermione. He watched the dark water and thought.

"You said that life was just a series of moments," he said suddenly.

"Yes."

"Do you really believe that?"

"Yes."

"Come on, then," he said.

And he ran, fully clothed, into the water.

"Harry!" Hermione called when he had waded out a little way. "What on earth are you doing?"

He would not tell her that it was only because he wanted to hear her laugh again. And laugh she did, when she took off her shoes and followed him into the lake.

"I just don't see why all the moments we get should be shitty ones," he said, and he kissed her there in the moonlit water, watched only by the stars.