Stealing Sheep

STEALING SHEEP

CHAPTER 17: Unthreaded

The force of the nightmare pushed Lily into consciousness and she lay gasping into the darkness, unable to deal with what she had just seen.

A flash of green...a high pitched laugh... a body slamming lifeless into the ground...

She closed her eyes tightly, trying to shut out the unbearable images that were threatening to overpower her. The whole dream had been so sharp, so clear...it just couldn't be real. But she could recall the exact shade of green of the baby's room, the specific pattern on the walls, the wondrous gurgle of her baby's laughter...

Her chest seized up and she couldn't handle it anymore. She flung herself from her bed, and ran from the bedroom, fleeing the nightmares and the reality of what it all meant.

Frozen on the threshold to the Common Room, Lily stared, wild-eyed, at the image before her. Her heart banged out an angry rhythm in her chest as she took in the sight of the man in her dream, the dead body that had slumped lifeless to the floor.

He was the perfect tableau of despondency; his shoulders sagged, his head dropped, and, as he stared into the dying embers of the fireplace, she saw the same grief that had forced its way into her heart, had etched itself into his face.

As if sensing someone was watching him, his gaze snapped up to meet hers and in that second she saw him once again, as he had been in her nightmare. He was a broken, empty vessel, flung awkwardly across the floor like a rag doll, mouth open, silently screaming empty words, his last words, forever, his warm tawny eyes, usually sparkling with humour and love, were now glazed, vacant, mocking her with their empty promises...

"Dead." The word was ripped from her as the pain in her head intensified and her internal organs were slowly being hacked to pieces.

"I don't care, Lily," James said softly, yanking her back to the present and making her stare, horrified, at him as he stood before her.

"What? Don't care? Well, I care." She drew in a shaky breath. "I just can't let you do it."

James pulled her into his arms gently and she let herself do what she had previously resisted- she sank into him, accepting his warmth and protection. Leaning against him, she was secure in the knowledge that right here, right now, he was alive, well and with her. But then he spoke again, pulling her world down with his words. "I would die for you, Lily. I will die for you."

Lily pulled away from him, pushed him in the chest, hard, and said, fiercely "Well, what if I don't want you to?" That haunting image of those dead glassy eyes that pierced her very soul crept into her mind once again and she shuddered violently.

"What is it, Lily?" James said, grabbing her hand and watching her closely.

Her heart was beating wildly, threatening to break a rib and she fought to curb the wave of sorrow washing through her. His gaze was so warm, so welcoming...alive. She couldn't let that change. "I can't let you die for me. It's an awfully romantic gesture but chivalry went out of fashion a long time ago, Potter," she forced herself to bite out the words and yank her hand away from his grasp.

He stared at her, silently, his eyes full of surprise. She had called him 'Potter'. She knew that he would understand what that meant- no more first names, no more rendezvous, no more relationship. They were back to the beginning again.

Even though her heart cried out in objection, she walked up her Dormitory stairs without looking back at him, knowing that he was still watching her, knowing that if she did, her resolve would shatter.

Nevertheless, she couldn't suppress the silent sob that wracked her body the second she stepped into the bedroom. She rested her forehead against the cool wood of the closed door and pressed her palms into the smooth surface, steadying her shaking body. She hadn't been ready to deal with him, but she knew she had done the only thing she could have to protect him.

"I'm sorry, James," she whispered, gently. "I just can't watch you die again."

2005

"Tell me what's wrong with him."

Hermione sighed and looked away. She shouldn't. She knew she shouldn't. There were secrecy laws, there were all sorts of repercussions for this sort of breach in confidentiality, not to mention the cosmic consequences. But she knew Ginny. More importantly, she knew that the expression on her friend's face meant that she was not going to let this go. "It's complicated."

"Then un-complicate it," Ginny said, with a frown and folded her arms over her chest. There was no way she was going to let Hermione brush her off, like Harry had done. 'It's nothing,' he'd said. Nothing. 'Nothing' was the reason he looked more drawn than she'd seen him in years; 'nothing' was the reason he'd been avoiding everyone. Everyone, that is, but Hermione.

"It's...just-" She looked over her shoulder to check for unlikely eavesdroppers in the very nearly deserted tea rooms, and lowered her voice to a whisper, "The law."

"Screw the law!" Ginny exclaimed, rather louder than she'd planned, making the waitress peer over the counter, suspiciously. The Weasley ignored this, and leaned imposingly across the table and hissed, "I need to know. I won't be kept out of the loop anymore. I swear, if you don't tell me voluntarily, I'll force you to, friend or not."

Hermione's eyes widened and her mouth pursed, disapprovingly. "Ginny, really, I'm not going to be threatened-"

"Hermione, please." The redhead clasped her hands together and stared beseechingly at her friend, trying her utmost to turn her eyes into the puppy dog variety. Hermione was her last hope, after all. Ron had been useless. None of her family knew anything. And she knew Harry would refuse to tell her because of some ridiculously chivalrous urge to protect her, or keep her from worrying. Or maybe he just didn't trust her. Maybe he didn't want her to be part of his life at all.

She shook her head and gritted her teeth against those unwelcome thoughts. 'Screw him,' she thought, fiercely, to herself. Whether he wanted her help or not, he was going to get it.

"Do you want the long version, or the short one?" Hermione asked, with an air of great resignation.

Ginny sent her a grateful smile and said, "Ok, the long one."

"Well, when the Universe was created-"

The redhead held up a hand. "Maybe not as long as that."

Hermione paused, then began again. "Ok, a Tapestry of Time was created at the beginning of time, to keep track of every thread of human civilisation throughout history, so the first threads were, obviously, the Cavemen, as it actually records all history, not just magical history, which is interesting, because-"

Ginny sighed. "How about a Summary? A short one, not involving the creation of the Universe, or the development of Man, or anything else that would take a few years for you to finish describing."

Hermione frowned. "Someone went back in time, stopped Harry's parents from marrying, and so Harry's existence is slowly being unthreaded."

"Oh." Ginny blinked. "That sounds...bad."

"It is bad. Very bad." Hermione sighed and rested her head in her hands. "We've been trying for weeks to sort it out but we just have no idea who's changing time. It could be anyone. And since we can't trace them, we can't stop them, and all we can do is repair the damage and in the meantime-"

"-Harry ceases to exist," Ginny said, with a heavy feeling rolling around her stomach. "Will- will he just-" Her voice cracked. "-Disappear?"

"We don't know, exactly. But the World would be different. Nobody will remember him since he was never born, Voldemort reigned supreme and it will be, to put it in simple terms, Hell on Earth," Hermione said, unable to keep her voice from shaking slightly and her eyes from tearing up again.

Ginny stared blankly at Hermione's crumpled face and fought the despair that wound its way like a viper clutching at her heart, forcing her to face the reality.

No Harry.

No memories, no anything. No messy hair. No stupid Spellotaped glasses. No softly shared laughter. No mischievous glints in his eyes. No beating him at Wizards Chess. No more loaded glances that give her hope that their chance hasn't passed them by. None of the goodness that he radiated, making everyone within a hundred yards feel protected.

'I won't forget,'

she thought, ferociously, as her heart burned in her chest. She repeated it like a mantra in her head, driving it into her heart and her mind, pushing away the certainty that she would forget him. Her memories would be purged of him, her heart free from his grip. Her Harry would be gone forever.

"What can I do?" she demanded, suddenly.

Hermione's head snapped up at Ginny's sharp tone of voice, and she smiled to herself. She should have known she wouldn't cry. Hermione herself had cracked only a few hours after discovering the news; she'd suddenly burst into uncontrollable tears in the midst of a lengthy explanation on the nature of time travel and thrown her arms around a bewildered Harry. "I've been theorising and- well- I've got a new plan! But Harry doesn't like it-"

"I'll deal with Harry," Ginny said, a dangerous glint in her eye. She was furious that he hadn't thought her fit to be trusted with the knowledge that he was ceasing to exist. She couldn't quite believe that he had kept it all to himself; he hadn't even told Ron, who she'd interrogated first. It seemed that he'd completely forgotten that he'd got friends. Well, no longer would she sit on the sidelines and watch while he, once again, acted the hero, saving lives. This time, she would save him. "What's the plan? I'll do it."

"Ginny-"

"Listen to me, Hermione. You know how much I- well, that I- I care about him. I always have. And I'm not about to let some time-warping sicko make him cease to exist. I have to do this."

Hermione nodded brusquely and smiled, tensely. Yet another person to worry about. "Well, let's get you ready for your journey, then."

Ginny raised an eyebrow and stood to follow. "Where are you sending me?"

Hermione smiled. "1979."