Harry Potter and the Secrets from the Past

Chapter 27. TOGETHER AGAIN

...

By now

Between us

Just a step...

I'd like to, no I won't like to

But if you want to...

...

"I'd like to, no I won't like to, but if you want to..." by Lucio Battisti

Night had just fallen on the city of London and through the streets a thick fog was rising up.

Mark Evans was stealthily walking through a deserted alley, with the weird feeling of being followed. He hurried along nervously, when suddenly he found himself trapped in a blind alley.

He turned to face a hooded figure which had just materialized on his side.

"Look at there! My old friend Mark Evans!"

"I'm done with you all now, let me go!"

"I'm sorry to contradict you Mark, but with the Dark Lord it isn't possible to just be done. You'll come with me; you don't have any other choice."

Mark took out his wand and pointed it to his enemy.

"STUPEFICIUM!" he shouted, but the Death Eater was faster than him and disapparated with a resounding "CRACK".

Mark didn't lose any time and ran away. He had just arrived to the main street when a ray of red light hit him on the back and he fell down, senseless.

***O***

Harry didn't manage to regain his senses until the following morning. The previous day, Ron had dragged him bodily up to their dormitory.

When Harry opened his eyes, he was still feeling deeply weak, even if he had slept throughout the previous afternoon and the night.

He slowly raised a hand to his head, then searched for his glasses on the bed table and put them on. Under his glasses there was a short note from Ron.

"Finally you're up! I'm going to spend the day with Luna. I've promised her, you know! I didn't want to wake you up. After all what you've gone through yesterday, you deserved a bit of rest. I'll see you later, Ron."

Harry smiled lightly; he was grateful to his best friend for all his help. Harry stood up, still feeling a bit disoriented and he got ready as quick as he could. Then he walked out of his room and headed to the Great Hall for a late Sunday breakfast.

When he sat at the Gryffindor table, which was half empty, he became aware of a light weight in his jeans' back pocket. He put a hand inside and took out the booklet he had taken the day before in the Room of Requirements.

Harry skimmed through it and decided to start reading it after breakfast. He absolutely had to learn everything about the Veil's ceremony, since it was the only possibility he had to meet Sirius for the last time and let him free.

After a quiet and silent meal, Harry exited the Great Hall while skimming the book, without noticing where he was going. Then he suddenly ran into someone and his book fell on the floor.

"I-I'm sorry!"

"Oh no! I wonder where is my mind today!" said a female voice.

Harry was staring at Cho Chang, deeply astonished, while she bent down to pick the book up. He noticed that his ex-girlfriend looked really pretty that day, with her long black hair left loose on her back and the oriental shaped black eyes brighter that usual.

"Well, don't worry. It-it's nothing, really." Harry replied embarrassed.

"How are you? It's been ages since we've talked!" she said simply, while giving him back the volume.

Harry didn't know what to think: Cho had been ignoring him for the whole year and now, she wanted to make conversation with him, pretending that everything was normal among them!

"I'm fine, and you?" he asked uncertainly.

"Fine, thanks! I'm happy you've decided to remain at school. My parents are really afraid about this war and after Hogsmeade's attack they absolutely wanted me to leave the school. But I didn't want to! After all, Dumbledore will do his best to protect us and then," Cho paused shortly, staring at him deeply in the eyes, "you're here as well."

Harry was starting to feel uncomfortable and had the sudden desire to end the conversation there and just leave.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I must go now."

The boy was already climbing the stairway, when Cho spoke again with a provoking voice tone.

"I know that you had a quarrel with Hermione Granger!"

Harry stood motionless for a few seconds, deeply surprised by that statement; then he slowly turned to face her, frowning.

"I've never liked that girl. It's good that you've broken up with her."

"I haven't broken up with her!" replied Harry, greatly annoyed.

"So, you haven't?" Cho seemed really disappointed by his answer.

"Oh, in that case, it's a pity, you know? I thought we could start going out together again but..." She paused briefly, looking at Harry with a sad expression in her eyes, and then added, "Well, I'll see you around then!"

Cho Chang rushed away, leaving him still on the stairs, deeply astonished.

***O***

"Since the beginning of ages, the mystery of death has interested entire generations of wizards. The main question has always been the following: what is there beyond?"

Harry was sitting in the library on his own, absorbed by reading the booklet "The Eternal Quest".

"Of the mysterious items in the world, the Veil of Death is the most mysterious. Nobody exactly knows what is hidden behind it, but those who have studied the matter deeply have come to the same conclusion: the Veil is a place of transition, in which the souls which have left their bodies remain, waiting to proceed on their path to the destination assigned to them."

Harry skimmed nervously a few other pages; he didn't have much time left and until then he hadn't have found anything useful. He suddenly stopped on a chapter entitled "How to contact a soul which has been trapped behind the Veil of Death".

"Only a true Seer would be able to communicate with souls trapped behind the Veil and, through an ancient ceremony, succeed in letting them free. Once outside the Veil, those souls may decide to follow two different paths: those who were afraid of death when still alive, will be destined to remain in the world as ghosts, while those who during their life time have understood and accepted the meaning of death, will be able to go on toward the endless light."

In that very moment, Harry raised his head and realized that someone had just entered the library.

"Hermione!"

The girl was standing by the door, evidently surprised by Harry's presence; after a brief hesitation, she stepped backwards and rushed away, heading to the corridor.

Harry didn't lose time; he slipped the book in his pocket and followed her as fast as he could.

"HERMIONE, PLEASE WAIT!"

Although he was calling her repeatedly, Hermione didn't seem willing to stop.

The corridors were semi-deserted, except for small groups of students which were chatting here and there, but Harry could clearly hear Hermione's footsteps heading downstairs.

With a cat-like jump, Harry reached his friend and stood in front of her, blocking the way.

"Please, stop! I just want to talk," he begged and Hermione raised her gaze to him in silence, ready to listen.

"Are you still angry with me?" he asked in doubt.

"No, not anymore," she replied, smiling slightly.

"I shouldn't have told you those horrible things the other day, I'm really sorry about that."

"I'm sure you are," said Hermione sincerely.

An embarrassing silence fell over them and both lowered their gazes to the floor.

"Ron told me about yesterday. You've used your Seer powers, right?" Hermione broke the silence first.

"Yeah, but it didn't go really well," he commented nervously.

"Well, if you want my opinion, you've been truly irresponsible! For what I know, you could have killed yourself!" she affirmed, crossing her arms on the chest with a stern look in her eyes.

Despite her words, Harry couldn't refrain from smiling; he was feeling a strange warmth in his heart, knowing that after all, she still cared about him.

"I'm sure that having enough time and appropriate exercise, things will get better anyway," she added, using a tone of voice not unlike Professor McGonagall's.

"Yes, I know!" Harry was trying to ponder every word so he would not upset her again.

After a few more seconds of silence, Hermione sighed deeply and then spoke again.

"I honestly believe that we should talk, I mean, about what happened on Valentine's Day. Maybe we could find a quieter place, what do you think?" she suggested, trying her best to hide the embarrassment.

"Sure!"

They walked downstairs together and shortly reached the gardens. While walking on the ground, Harry looked at her out of the corner of his eye: that day Hermione was wearing a nice little woollen dress with pink and black squares, short to her knees and her hair was pulled back in a cute pony tale.

At a distance, most of the students were walking along the lake, enjoying the first sunny day of the season.

Harry and Hermione entered greenhouse number three, which was completely deserted; the glass walls were covered by strange climbing plants, with blue and red leaves.

Hermione was slowly pacing the place, turning her back to Harry, while he was standing motionless at the entrance, looking at her.

"I'd like you to understand, that I've always put my duties before anything else, I mean my studies and the fight against the evil forces." Hermione was nervously playing with her sleeves.

"I've always though that friendship is more important than love. Every time my roommates were talking about boys and dating, I didn't want to listen to them, turning stubbornly to my books. I was sure that you were of my same opinion and that in your life there wasn't any place for a girlfriend or for romance."

Then she turned to face Harry, looking at him intensely in the eyes.

"When the other day you've talked to me like that, I suddenly felt so disoriented! All my certainties, all my firm points went completely lost."

"Why did you kiss me then?" Harry asked confused.

"I don't know! Maybe in that moment I thought: if I kiss him, then I could realize that I don't feel anything for him and" she paused briefly, sighing deeply; then she ended the sentence, "it'd have been easier to push you away from me, but on the contrary..."

"On the contrary?" Harry felt rising a weak hope in his heart and started to come closer to her.

"Well, when we kissed, I felt as if... as if..."

"As if an electrical current was going through you!" Harry cut her off, while a stronger emotion was already taking control over him. His heart was starting to beat faster and his cheeks were burning.

Harry came even closer, losing himself in her deep brown eyes. Oddly, he had never felt so sure about his feelings as in that moment.

"Do you think that we could still be friends, then?" he asked, grabbing her hand gently and squeezing it. It was soft like silk.

"We already are friends!" she affirmed, without showing any resistance.

"Do you think that we could spend more time together, now?" Harry was completely lost about where he was. In that moment, just the two of them existed in the whole world, him and the girl he loved more than himself.

By now, there were just a few centimetres between them and their lips were almost touching.

"Why not!" Hermione seemed completely hypnotized by those bright green eyes, which were staring at her intensely.

Without even realizing it, Harry stretched out the other hand and brushed gently her cheek.

"Could we always talk about anything? Even about what scares us the most?" he whispered.

"I-I think so..."

They were so close that Harry could feel the warmth of her breath on his skin and could see the confusion in her eyes.

"You're so beautiful," he said, moving his lips slightly, without taking his gaze from her.

Hermione closed her eyes, and Harry felt an uncontrollable impulse possessing his whole being. He closed his eyes as well and let this impulse flow through him.

Their lips finally touched and they kissed blissfully.

A mixture of emotions burst in Harry's heart: love, fear, joy, sadness, terror. It was as if all the feelings of the world were concentrated inside of him.

He hugged her tightly in his arms, wishing that this incredible instant would never end.

***O***

Harry and Hermione spent the whole afternoon together, walking in the gardens hand in hand, thoughtless like two happy children.

They talked about anything that came to their minds; they were in perfect harmony and even when in silence, they could easily perceive their feelings.

At dinner, they couldn't refrain from stare at each other, smiling as if they were hypnotized. Harry felt elated and incredibly happy.

When Ron reached them at the Gryffindor table, he realized immediately the sudden change of atmosphere between the two.

"Hey, it was about time! Luna and I were already losing hope!"

That evening, the new couple remained in the common room until late, seated in front of the fireplace, one in each others arms.

Harry kept staring at her, deeply amazed, hardly believing that it wasn't just a wonderful dream.

At a certain point, Hermione moved away from the hug and turned to face Harry, looking at him directly in the eyes.

"I made up my mind! Tomorrow we'll start our secret trainings again!" she said firmly, pulling Harry back to earth.

"Why are you talking about our secret trainings?" he asked, annoyed by the interruption.

"Because it's important!" Hermione scolded him.

"I'll tell you more! It's time to go to bed!" she added standing up abruptly and crossing her arms on the chest.

"All right, all right, but..." Harry didn't want to leave.

"But what?" Hermione replied, forcing herself to remain serious.

Harry stared at her astonished, but then she couldn't refrain from laughing.

"I'm just worried about you, that's all!" she explained in a sweeter voice, stretching out her arm to him.

Harry grabbed her hand smiling and stood up, obediently.

"I know, I know and I'll never thank you enough for worrying about me."

Hand in hand, they reached the stairs and stopped there for a few seconds.

"Good night, Hermione."

"Good night, Harry and sleep well."

Hermione stood on her toes and gave him a little peck on the cheek before running upstairs.

7