Nightmares

Disclaimer: I love you Jo. Half-Blood Prince was so awesome.

Hello everyone. Guess what? We're back to my old post-OotP Leilani-ified plotline. I'm basically writing this for anyone who read my old fics but if you haven't read them and are interested, here are links. First: Escape (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=20762) Second: A Chance To Live (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=25502). Those two are must reads to understand this fic, but there is a third (Oh What A World (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=52271)) that is a lot of fluffy fun, but not entirely necessary. I've been told a lot of good things about them so if you have tons of time and are desperate for new fics to read, there you go. :D

A warning: This fic is going to be way shorter than all three of the past ones. I'm thinking about 10,000 words or so which is about 1/11 the size of the gigantic ACTL, or about 10 chapters at the most.

This takes place a little more than a year after ACTL ends. It'll be kind of dark... or sad anyway. Because it's about Leilani coming to terms with stuff. You'll get the idea pretty soon. Okay. Here we go. Enjoy!

Feedback (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=3082117#post3082117) is always appreciated!
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“NO!”

A young woman screamed in the dark, and began to whimper.

“Ouch,” moaned a young man. He had woken up abruptly and had fallen off his bed onto the carpeted, yet, he now realized, hard floor. It only took a second for him to recover from the fall and jump back on to the bed. He crawled over to the figure that was thrashing around under a white sheet.

“Wake up, Lei!” he ordered loudly, taking hold of her by the shoulders. “Leilani!”

Leilani’s eyes opened.

“Harry!” she cried, sitting up and gripping him tightly.

“Lay down,” said Harry softly, forcing her to do as he said, and then putting his own head back on a pillow. He let Leilani’s quick, panicked breathing slow down before he said anything else. “That’s the third one this week.”

“I know,” moaned Leilani. She let out a noise of frustration. “I’m almost nineteen, I shouldn’t be having chronic nightmares!”

“You make it sound like a disease,” commented Harry. “But there’s nothing wrong with having nightmares when you’re older. I had them all the time when I was fifteen.”

“That’s different.”

“I know. But the point is, we have perfectly good excuses for having nightmares, you and I.”

“That doesn’t make it any better.”

There was a silence in which Harry watched his girlfriend sit up and tie her long dark hair back into a ponytail. Leilani laid back down, putting her arms around him as she did.

“Was it about him again?” asked Harry hesitantly.

“Yes,” whispered Leilani. Harry sighed, as a familiar feeling of mild guilt dropped into his stomach.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Is there anything I can do?”

“You can listen, I guess. Unless you don’t-”

“No, of course, I’ll listen. Don’t be stupid.”

Leilani took a few deep breaths.

“It’s strange, he had your scar in this one.” Harry felt Leilani’s fingers lightly touch the lighting shape on his forehead before her hand returned to his shoulder.

“You dream in that much detail?”

She did not answer.

“Leilani?”

“On second thought, I don’t think I want to talk about it.”

“You don’t...?” Harry stopped himself momentarily, feeling slightly stupid about what he was going to ask. “You don’t think I’ll get jealous or something, do you? Because even if he wasn’t me, I’d still understand. You grew up with him, you knew him for so much longer than you’ve known me. And if it wasn’t for him... I mean, he’s the one...”

“I know Harry, you don’t have to go on,” sighed Leilani. “I didn’t think you’d get jealous. It’s just hard to talk about. You understand.”

“Yeah,” he mumbled.

“Let’s go back to sleep, Harry.”

Harry forced himself to stay awake until he was sure that Leilani had successfully fallen back into a peaceful slumber.

*

Harry had plenty of opportunity to think about Leilani and her reoccurring nightmares the next day, as it was a particularly slow one at the place he was working for the summer, a small muggle bookshop in London. The job was not terribly exciting or well paid, but he kept it for several reasons. The first was that he had nothing else to do all day, since Leilani and the rest of his friends all had jobs now that they had left school. Leilani, for one, who had earned an O on her Potions N.E.W.T. exam upon leaving Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was working as a kind of junior assistant in the potions and poisons department of St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, and was hoping to work her way up. Secondly, any smaller place Harry found a part-time job at in the wizarding world would inevitably become unbearable, simply because he was more famous and prone to unwanted stares and attention than ever, having rid the world of Lord Voldemort just over a year before.

The job at the bookshop would only be temporary, however, since in the fall he was going to begin Auror training. Despite not taking the N.E.W.T. for Potions, one of the requirements to become an Auror, the Ministry of Magic had practically begged Harry to join the department following his defeat of the seemingly undefeatable Voldemort. Although pleased, he had insisted on not getting too much special treatment, and becoming proficient in his missing subject before he started training. So, from September until the end of June two weeks prior, Harry had taken an intensive course through the Ministry with about ten other witches and wizards, which crammed the last two years of Potions he had missed into one.

But Harry was not thinking about any of this at the moment. He was too worried about Leilani. The dreams, which were becoming more and more frequent, had only started a couple weeks earlier. From the few things she had told him, he knew basically what they were about. They always centered, at least in the beginning, on the world Leilani had come from, the “perfect” world that was only created when Harry had taken a potion known as Escape almost three years ago. The main subject of the dreams was his other self, the Harry Potter who had grown up as an unknown, grown up with his family, without Voldemort, and with Leilani and her parents, Sirius and Adriana Black. The couple of dreams she had told him about started out happy, but eventually Harry, the one she had grown up with, would fall violently sick, as he had actually done, and Leilani would be forcefully ripped away from him and out of her world. The first time she had had the nightmare, Leilani had told him that it felt like she had been reliving the transportation she had actually taken to this Harry’s world, which had been immensely painful.

Harry, who was sitting on a stool behind the counter, frowned at the display of a popular new mystery novel across the shop. The truth was, he was actually surprised that it had taken Leilani this long to start having these nightmares. This October would mark the two year anniversary of her coming to this world under desperate circumstances, being that her world was about to end. In Harry’s opinion, she had handled the situation remarkably well. In fact, her strength and ability to handle such a horrible situation so well was one of the things he most admired about Leilani. Of course, she had had plenty of emotional problems and breakdowns during her first several months in this world, but still, for the last year she had been, for the most part, very emotionally stable and quite cheerful.

“Something on your mind, boy?”

Harry was snapped out of his thoughts by this question, which came from an elderly man with wispy white hair and humongous glasses that were decades out of style. He set a few science fiction books down on the counter.

“Oh, er, yeah,” mumbled Harry, as he pulled the books toward himself so he could ring them up. “My girlfriend.”

Had this man not been a muggle, had he known exactly why there was a scar sitting behind Harry’s jet black bangs, he never would have answered, in fear that an article about him would somehow appear in the Daily Prophet the next day as a result.

“Ah, relationship troubles,” nodded the old man knowingly. “You’ll get through them.”

“It’s not relationship trouble, I’m just worried about her.” said Harry quickly. “She’s gone through a lot of bad stuff. It’s kind of hitting her hard now. That’s all.”

The price of the man’s books showed up on the register, and he started digging through his pockets for money.

“Well then, worry about her, but don’t worry too much. You’ll help her through it,” nodded the man, and he paid Harry for the books. “Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

Harry just hoped the man was right. He wanted to help Leilani through it. But even after all they had gone through together, he still had a tiny fear that he was too ashamed of to tell anyone, particularly Leilani- that she would one day decide that it was Harry’s fault after all that her world had disappeared, that the Harry she grew up with and loved more than him had ceased to exist, and she would therefore leave him. He knew he was being overly paranoid, but he could not help it.

‘I saved her from Voldemort, after all, of course I’m being stupid...’

All Harry wanted to do now was to stop Leilani from having these nightmares, but there was no bad guy that he could get rid of to do that. He did not know how he could help them end, all he knew was why they had begun. It had all started after what had happened two weeks earlier.
***

Harry and Leilani checked into a small hotel room and dumped their belongings on the queen sized bed that occupied it. Before leaving again, they conjured up some rain boots, as well as putting on long jackets and taking out an umbrella, for despite being early summer, the sky outside was cloudy and threatening to rain. They were in the city in Scotland where Leilani’s non-magical grandfather had grown up. They had come here because this was where Albus Dumbledore had said Leilani could find what she was looking for. Far from being surprised, it had only confirmed her guesses.

The young couple decided to use non-magical transportation to keep their cover, although Harry suspected that Leilani also wanted to delay their arrival. They caught a bus to the edge of the city, not speaking a word to each other for the entire ride. They left the bus, and after walking a block or so past their stop, Harry saw what they were looking for. It was a large grassy field, dotted with trees and large square gray stones. There were a few people scattered across the grass, mostly dressed in black, some with flowers in hand. Harry took Leilani’s hand and held it tightly, holding the umbrella in his other hand to protect them from the light rain. Leilani wordlessly led the way into the cemetery.

Having been to this place back in her original world, she knew where to go. It was near the graves of her grandparents. Even if she knew where to go, she went very slowly. After turning onto the grass from a dirt path and walking along for a couple minutes, Leilani stopped in front of one of the gravestones. Harry looked down at it and saw a name:

Aidan Reed McKay


“Your grandfather?” asked Harry quietly. Leilani nodded. She took a few short steps and stopped in front of another one:

Ariana Louisa Preston McKay


“And my grandmother,” she said, hardly above a whisper. Harry saw that the death date was three years after that of Leilani’s grandfather. Leilani would have been nine years old when she died.

As Leilani took her next steps, Harry noticed that the hand he was holding was sweating and shaking slightly. She let go of him and kneeled in front of the next gravestone. Harry didn’t even think about looking at it quite yet, since he could not keep his eyes off Leilani. She looked very white behind her dark and dampening hair, as she silently read the gravestone with very wide eyes. After barely thirty seconds, she stood up, her lower lip trembling, and walked quickly away toward the dirt path. Harry looked down at the stone before he followed her. It said, above a death date of over nineteen years earlier:

Adriana Lauren McKay Black
and Child


Harry thought his heart almost stopped, but he also knew he had no time to simply stand there and think about what he had just read. Harry jogged to catch up with Leilani. He put one arm around her and she stopped in her tracks and faced him. A few silent tears were falling down her face.

“And child,” she said in a small, high voice very unlike her own. She drew a shuddering breath and collapsed into Harry’s arms, sobbing quietly into his shoulder. Harry had no idea what to say. He couldn’t imagine how she felt at that moment, having just visited what was, in a way, her own grave.

“Do you want to leave?” Harry whispered in her ear.

“I don’t know,” she mumbled, her eyes still buried in his shoulder. Leilani lifted her head after a few moments though, and looked at him. “I was kind of expecting this, you know. I didn’t... I just didn’t realize it would be so hard. To see myself on there. She’s the one who should be here. Not me.”

“No, Lei,” Harry said softly. “Don’t say that.”

“It’s true.”

“That’s like saying I deserve to be alive more than... more than him. Would you say that’s true? Because I don’t believe it.”

Leilani shook her head.

“It’s just... it’s not fair. That he had to...” Her words drifted away. Leilani looked almost confused. “That she had to die.”

“Of course it’s not fair,” said Harry. “But you are alive. Doesn’t that count for something?”

Leilani looked down at the grass. She nodded.

“Let’s go, Harry.”

That night, the first nightmare came.
***

That afternoon, Harry returned to the flat he shared with Leilani, which was just blocks away from the bookshop. He found the place empty, so after eating a snack, he decided to lay down on their squashy brown couch for a nap. After lying there for twenty minutes with no success, he heard a loud noise, unmistakably meaning that Leilani had just Apparated back.

“Hi, Harry,” she said, as she pushed Harry’s legs aside so she could plop down on the couch next to him. Harry sat up and gave her a kiss.

“Long day?” he asked, putting his arm around her. Leilani, who was still wearing her uniform of lime green robes, seemed fairly tired.

“Kind of,” she shrugged. “I had to keep making this same antidote all day long. Fairly simple, but it’s tedious work doing it over and over. This potion that gives you hives somehow got into the soup at a restaurant in Diagon Alley, so you can imagine...”

“Ah, yes,” nodded Harry.

“How was your day?”

“Uneventful, even by the usual standards,” Harry answered.

“Well enjoy uneventful while you can,” smiled Leilani.

“Yeah, I know,” laughed Harry. In their pause in conversation, Harry decided that he would somehow try to segway into talking about Leilani’s dreams. They had not talked about them very much, but after she had had another one the night before, he really felt the urge to do something about them. “Leilani?”

“Yeah?”

“What did... Did Harry... Harry Two, did he have any ambitions, like for a career?”

Leilani wasn’t grinning anymore.

“He actually did say once that it would be cool to be an Auror, but he never had much hope for it because of Potions. And obviously, the Ministry wouldn’t have given him a second thought if he had tried to become one without the N.E.W.T..”

Harry nodded. Leilani went on.

“I think, really, he would have loved to go professional with Quidditch. And probably find some Ministry job after his glory days were over.”

“If this Auror thing doesn’t work out, that sounds like a good plan, actually.” Leilani forced a grin, but didn’t respond. Harry went on. “Can we talk about this?”

“What, about your future Quidditch career?”

“No,” said Harry, knowing that Leilani knew perfectly well what he was talking about. “I mean, about him, and your dreams and everything.”

“I don’t really... I don’t know.” Leilani squirmed slightly in her seat.

“You’ve been thinking about him a lot lately.”

“Yes, but... No, can we not talk about this? It’s too...”

“It doesn’t have to be painful,” Harry said gently. “We could talk about... about the good times, before everything happened. Happy memories, things that won’t be as hard to talk about.”

“How often do you hear me talking about the good old days, Harry?”

Harry opened his mouth to answer, but then closed it again. Leilani did not actually talk about her life in the other world very often. Whenever she did, Harry made sure to pay rapt attention and take in every word. Over the last couple years, he had amassed quite a few details from her stories, but they were still few and far between.

“Er, well, you told me about that party at Angelina’s with the game and all... We can talk about something happy like that.”

“Harry,” Leilani said, closing her eyes and leaning her head back so that Harry’s arm was trapped behind her. “I don’t want to talk about that party or anything else. I just don’t.”

“But your nightmares, how else can they go away unless we talk about this?” Harry didn’t even know himself if talking about the other Harry and her world would make them go away, but he desperately wanted to try anything.

“There is nothing to talk about!”

“There’s plenty to talk about! There’s seventeen years worth of stuff to talk about!”

“Forget it, Harry!” Leilani shouted, lifting her head up and looking at him sharply.

“Fine,” muttered Harry. “Fine. But I’m getting real sick of being woken up in the middle of the night to you screaming.”

“Well so am I,” Leilani said with a glare.

“Because I don’t want you suffering,” Harry said, trying to redeem himself. He avoided Leilani’s eyes.

“I know, Harry.” There was a short silence before Leilani started awkwardly speaking again. “So... er... it’s Friday. Do you want to go out to dinner tonight? It would be nice after this long week.”

“Sure,” Harry answered with a sigh. “We can go to Diagon Alley as long as I can wear a hat.”

“Diagon Alley is fine,” agreed Leilani. “As long as we avoid the soup.”
***

That evening, Harry and Leilani went to a restaurant in Diagon Alley called Vooming Victuals. The restaurant was probably the newest place in Diagon Alley, being less than ten years old, but it was steadily becoming more popular because of the reputation it was gaining for having rhyming waiters and waitresses.

After waiting five or ten minutes, Harry and Leilani were seated at a table for two inside. They decided what they wanted quickly, and after ordering, the young blond waitress said, “It won’t be long you have to wait, before I come back with your plate!”

Harry grinned and thanked her. He looked back at Leilani across from him. She was being very quiet, and had been ever since their conversation that afternoon.

“Leilani?”

“Mmm?” Her eyes moved from Harry’s plate to his eyes.

“Is your foot broken?”

“What?”

“It’s just that we’ve hardly gone a meal for the past year or so without you sticking your foot up my pants.”

Leilani laughed. Harry smiled, being very pleased with himself for making her do so. Leilani’s foot promptly found it’s way to his ankle. She then picked up her water, took a drink as her eyes traveled around the room, and suddenly started choking.

“What’d you do that for?” said Harry as soon as she stopped choking.

“Leeman!”

Harry stared at her.

“Er... You mean your Ministry guard?”

“Yes, Jori Leeman!” Leilani’s eyes were fixed on the opposite side of the room, behind Harry.

“What, he’s here?”

“Yes!” Leilani said, nodding vigorously. There was a look of mild concern on her face. “My goodness. He really went downhill for getting Imperiused on the job, didn’t he?”

“Well, yeah, you were a top security prisoner, weren’t-” Then Harry realized what Leilani meant. He immediately turned around. Within seconds he spotted Leeman, a tall, thin man with a young face, who was wearing the waiters’ uniform of bright blue robes with “VOOM!” written across the back in yellow. He was speaking in rhyme to a table of four with an uncharacteristically cheery look on his face, which immediately vanished when he turned away to deliver the order to the kitchen with a wave of his wand.

Harry put his hand over his mouth and stifled a laugh as he turned back to Leilani.

“Downhill, yeah,” he said, trying not to grin. Leilani shook her head in disbelief.

“I told him I’d give him a good recommendation,” she frowned. “And I’m well known now too so that would count for something, wouldn’t it?”

“Why do you care if he has a good job?” asked Harry. “He treated you like-”

“Because he was good at his job,” Leilani interrupted. “And he was a victim of Voldemort too. If it wasn’t for him, Leeman would be a lot better off now.”

“Yeah, he’d better off. Because making innocent prisoners feel miserable is so much more enriching than waiting tables.”

“Well, no, it isn’t,” admitted Leilani. “But he should at least be in the Ministry.”

"You didn’t really expect him to ask you for a recommendation did you?”

“No, but still...”

Ten minutes later when the blond waitress returned with their food, Leilani stopped her to ask a question before she left.

“When is Jori Leeman getting off work?”

Harry’s mouth fell slightly open.

“I think he’s off at nine o’clock. And by the way, I like your sock!”

“Oh, thank you!” said Leilani. Harry looked under the table briefly to remind himself which pair she was wearing that day; the one sock he could see (since her other foot was halfway up his left leg) was constantly changing shades of purple. The witch smiled and left them to their meal.

“You’re not thinking about meeting him after dinner, are you?” Harry asked.

“Well... yeah,” said Leilani, picking up her fork. She quickly added, “By the time we’re done we’ll only have to wait a half hour extra, anyway. We can get dessert.”

“Only you would want to catch up with your old prison guard,” said Harry as he rolled his eyes. Leilani glared at him before looking back at her food.

“You know how much I used to enjoy bothering him,” said Leilani quietly, after swallowing the first bite of her meal. “For old times sake, you know?”

“The good old days,” he responded sarcastically. “Yeah.”

Harry hardly said anything for the rest of the meal. He was too annoyed with the prospect of having to meet up with Leeman after dinner. Why did he have to show up now of all times? Right when Leilani seemed to be, emotionally, the worst off she had been for more than a year, her stupid guard had to pop up out of nowhere. And of course, Leilani just had to talk to him. All this was going to do was stir up more bad memories. Harry thought he might as well give up now on trying to sleep that night.

After dessert, Leilani made Harry wait outside with her where the waitress told her Leeman would come out after work. Harry kept his arms folded while he impatiently leaned on a wall. Leilani did nothing to break the silence. After waiting for ten minutes a door opened, and Leeman, now in muggle clothing, stepped out of it. He took one look at Leilani and stopped in his tracks.
***

“Hello, Leeman,” said Leilani brightly.

“Oh,” said Leeman. His eyes were wandering as if searching for an escape. “It’s you.”

He started to walk off towards the main street, but Leilani followed with Harry lagging behind slightly.

“You really need to work on your manners, Leeman. You seemed so cheerful in there, what happened?”

“I’m paid to be cheerful, that’s what happened,” he answered stiffly. Harry, meanwhile, caught up and was now walking alongside Leilani, who was successfully keeping up with Leeman despite his breakneck pace.

“Can’t you get another job in the Ministry?” asked Leilani. Leeman let out a humorless laugh.

“Very funny, Miss Black. Anyone who lets a top security prisoner get kidnapped by You-Know-Who, however innocent the prisoner might be, gets his reputation destroyed within the Ministry for life.”

“That’s not fair though,” said Leilani.

“Fair,” Leeman muttered while Leilani took a quick breath.

“The Minister himself couldn’t deflect the Imperius curse either, I bet.”

“Try telling them that,” grumbled Leeman. “Now if you’ll please excuse me, I need to go.”

“Oh, come on Leeman!”

“Let him go, Lei,” said Harry, grabbing Leilani by the arm to try and stop her. But she simply ripped her arm away and continued walking. Meanwhile, Leeman’s eyes flickered momentarily to Harry’s face.

“I hear you’re getting a spot in the Ministry,” he said.

“Er. Well. I’m getting Auror training anyway,” said Harry awkwardly.

“Yeah. See, they’re thrilled to take you on. The Boy Who Lived,” said Leeman. Leilani opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, Leeman continued, still sounding quite bitter. “I saw you sorted, you know, my seventh year. Nobody ever forgot the day Harry Potter came to Hogwarts. Everyone wanted you in their House.”

“Er.” Harry had no idea what to say. He did not like that the subject of conversation had suddenly switched to him.

“That would make you twenty five, then?” asked Leilani.

“Twenty six in October.”

“October...?”

“Twenty second,” said Leeman impatiently.

“Are you married, Leeman?” asked Leilani. Leeman moaned in annoyance.

“No,” he said shortly.

“Do you have a girlfriend at least?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Harry saw Leeman’s fists clench.

“Some of us are not so blessed with good looks and charm like yourself-” Leeman gestured at Leilani- “to attract... someone.”

“That was sweet of you,” grinned Leilani. Leeman scowled. “But you’re pretty good looking, and intelligent if you were in Ravenclaw, I’m sure. Although you are certainly not charming...”

Harry had to stifle a laugh in spite of himself. He could not help noticing that Leeman’s cheeks were slightly flushed.

“Now, Miss Black, I really have to be going,” said Leeman. They were now passing Gringott’s Bank.

“Are you going through The Leaky Cauldron? Because we can go with you. Or you could just Apparate if you really want to get away from me.”

“No, Miss Black,” grumbled Leeman. “I’m going through The Leaky Cauldron.”

“Great!” she said. “Why don’t you call me Leilani, by the way?”

“No.”

“What do you have to be such a grouch for?” asked Leilani. “I’m free, you don’t work there anymore, we don’t have to despise each other.”

“I don’t despise you,” said Leeman through clenched teeth. Leilani raised an eyebrow at him. So did Harry. “But if you were in your right mind you’d despise me.”

“I like you, Leeman.”

“No you don’t!” Leeman said rather loudly.

“Well, yes, I find you very frustrating and I always enjoyed annoying you, but still...”

Leeman stopped walking and faced Leilani.

“It’s been a pleasure, Miss Black, I assure you.” Leeman quickly took Leilani’s hand and shook it. He gave Harry a short nod. “I really need to go now.”

And Leeman disappeared into thin air. Leilani looked annoyed.

“Let’s go,” she said dully. She Disapparated, and Harry followed seconds later. Harry arrived back at their flat and found Leilani already sitting on the couch. He sat next to her.

“Well that was fun,” said Harry monotonously.

“Why does he have to be such a killjoy?” said Leilani irritatedly.

“Because he’s obviously going through a rough time right now and seeing you doesn’t make it any better,” Harry answered immediately. “And you have this insane idea in your head that someone can be friends with their former guard. It’s not possible!”

“It should be. Why can’t he just...” Leilani didn’t finish her sentence and instead let out something like a growl.

“Even if you want to talk to him and think everything is fine, it isn’t. He feels really guilty about treating you the way he did since you were innocent,” said Harry. Leilani frowned. “And it doesn’t help that he fancies you.”

“He does not!” yelled Leilani, sounding and looking quite outraged.

“Erm, yeah he does.”

“Oh be quiet, Harry!”

Harry laughed at her.

“Why don’t we just forget about this, Lei?”

“Yeah, sure,” she sighed. “Let’s go to bed.”

Harry, despite not feeling very tired, agreed.
***

“No!”

“Come on Harry!”

“No, no, no!”

“Please?”

“We are not going to stupid Vooming Victuals again!”

“Why not?”

“’Cause you just want to see him again!”

“And so what if I do?”

Harry was currently standing face to face with Leilani with his fists clenched and a scowl on his face, and Leilani was staring at him unwaveringly with her arms folded. So what if she wanted to see him? So what? Harry did not answer right away, mainly because he felt fairly stupid about what he was thinking.

It was Friday afternoon again, and in the past week Leilani had experienced four more nightmares. Harry tried as hard as he could to bring her mind as far away from her old world and the other Harry every night, but still, they came. He knew Leilani was still thinking about the same old things. And so was he.

Harry had had five straight days of excruciatingly slow work days that week, giving him five long days to sink into paranoia. It was that annoying voice in his head that told him Leilani was finally figuring it out, realizing how much more she loved Harry Two than him, planning how to break it to him, deciding when she should leave him. And with this paranoia came a different voice, one that sounded exactly like his, one that was repeating what he had planted in her head a week before:

“And it doesn’t help that he fancies you.”

This is why Harry was feeling so stupid as he stood there facing Leilani. He knew it was ridiculous. Leilani would never leave him for her constantly cranky and bitter former prison guard. Even if she had told him that he was good looking and intelligent, and was now begging Harry for a chance to see him again. And he was tall too. Much taller than Harry. Why did girls always go for tall guys? Somehow Harry hated him for his height.

But he knew it was ridiculous! Yet Harry also knew that if Leilani grew tired of him she could have any man she wanted, and he knew how incredibly lucky he was to have managed to keep her for this long.

So, if Leilani was planning to go have a lurid affair with Jori Leeman, however unlikely that was, he had know.

“Leilani?”

“What?”

“Er... You don’t... have a... thing for him, do you?”

“A what?” Leilani asked. She looked at him curiously.

“A thing.”

“A thing.”

“Yeah, you know, do you... feel anything... for him?”

Leilani stared at him with her mouth hanging open. Harry hoped this was a good sign.

“Harry.”

“Yes?”

Leilani rolled her eyes at him and then proceeded to give him one of the longest, nicest kisses he had received from her in a long time, which was as good as proof to him that he really was being ridiculous after all. When she pulled away she stared at him with a look that said, “Well?”

“So, er... let’s forget dinner and just expand on that, yeah?” Harry raised his eyebrows suggestively at her. He could tell Leilani was trying not to laugh.

“We’re going to Vooming Victuals,” she said resolutely.

“Okay,” said Harry, rather weakly. However, he very quickly realized what he had just agreed to. “Wait. No.”

“Come on, Harry.”

Harry bit his lip and looked up at the ceiling as an idea formed in his mind. He looked back down at Leilani’s determined face.

“We can only go on one condition.”

“Which is...?”

“We talk.”

“About- About what?” Leilani avoided Harry’s eyes.

“Your dreams.”

Harry could almost see her mind working. Would she argue or would she give in? Harry had no idea. But finally, she answered.

“Okay.”

“Good,” said Harry, being pleasantly surprised. “Right now will do.”

Leilani nodded and they sat on the couch next to each other, with Harry pulling his legs up so he could turn around and face Leilani.

“Tell me about the last one.”

She nodded again and took a deep breath.

“There were more people in this one, actually,” she began, speaking fairly quietly. “It still centered around you- I mean him- but other people were there. My parents, your parents, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, Cedric, Remus, Ginny, McGonagall, Snape. And I think Gilderoy Lockhart was there... that was weird.”

“Go on,” said Harry, when Leilani paused to ponder the presence of Gilderoy Lockhart in her subconscious mind.

“Right. Erm, so, everything was fine at first, like always. Just normal weird dream stuff. I think there was some messed up Quidditch game or something going on. But then Snape and Cedric disappeared. Remember, back in my world, Snape was one of the first to go, and the Hufflepuffs too. Cedric had graduated by then, but, you know.”

“Yeah, I remember,” said Harry. Leilani continued.

“Your dad and my mum disappeared pretty soon after that. And you... Harry, he was getting sick again. Throwing up all over the place, coughing, fainting. So then... soon everyone was gone but him. Everything was black after that, all black, except for me and him, we were left there in the blackness. He was still sick though. I was trying to... to hold him up or something. And then... I was... ripped out of it.”

“And that was the end?” Harry asked gently.

“That’s always the end,” confirmed Leilani. “That’s why I scream. You have no idea what that feels like, being ripped away like that. It’s unnatural.”

Harry didn’t say anything. He wasn’t even going to try pretending he could relate to it. There was no way he could. He sat there silently going through all of the dream in his mind. There had to be something he could get from it...

“Everyone disappeared but you and him?”

“Yeah.”

“But you’d think he would have disappeared with the rest of them, wouldn’t you?”

Leilani shrugged.

“Why was he the only one left?”

“I don’t know, because he’s you? Because he was so important?”

Something in her eyes told Harry that there was something she wasn’t telling him. He frowned. Normally he might have tried to push it out of her, but he didn’t want to turn their civilized talk into an argument.

“Okay,” said Harry. “That’s enough, we don’t have to go on anymore right now.”

“So... we can go to Vooming Victuals, then?” Leilani asked, grinning very slightly.

“Yeah,” sighed Harry, knowing that he now had no choice.
***

To Leilani’s delight, she and Harry were seated at one of Leeman’s tables when they arrived at Vooming Victuals that night. Harry, who was sitting there with his arms folded, was not remotely delighted. Even though his worries had been calmed and he had agreed to come to the restaurant, he still did not like the idea of Leeman being around. He was convinced that he would only worsen Leilani’s nightmares with the memories he would bring about, whether she realized it or not.

As soon as Leeman arrived at their table and saw their faces, he swore under his breath.

“Hi there Leeman!” said Leilani.

“Why are you doing this to me?” Leeman hissed through clenched teeth.

“A better question is, why aren’t you rhyming?” asked Leilani pleasantly.

“This is ridiculous,” he muttered, huffily pulling out a quill and pad to write with. “What do you want to drink?”

“Water is fine for me,” answered Harry.

“I can tell the manager you aren’t rhyming, you know,” grinned Leilani. Leeman closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again. A forced smile appeared on his face.

“While you take your time to think, would you like to have a drink?”

“Butterbeer, please,” said Leilani.

“What’s the point, Leilani?” asked Harry as soon as Leeman had gone.

“The point?”

“Of bugging him now? You said it yourself last week, you two aren’t guard and prisoner anymore.”

“And you said that I don’t need to be friends with him so why shouldn’t I bug him?”

Harry could not respond for a good ten seconds.

“But weren’t you trying to be friends with him?”

“I guess so,” shrugged Leilani.

“But why?” Harry insisted.

“I don’t know, Harry!” Leilani said loudly. She lowered her voice. “It just... It feels like the right thing to do, somehow.”

“The right thing to do?” Harry repeated incredulously. “I love you, Lei, I really do, but sometimes I just can’t understand you.”

“Same here,” said Leilani. They waited for Leeman and their drinks in silence.

Dinner lasted far too long in Harry’s opinion. In reality, it was only as long as a normal dinner, but it seemed to drag on forever. Once Harry thought it was finally over, Leilani insisted on waiting outside for Leeman as they had done the week before. He came out at ten minutes past nine.

“Bloody hell!” Leeman exclaimed with a jump as soon as he saw Leilani. He quickly began to walk away.

“Leeman!” Leilani shouted after him.

“Leave me alone!”

Harry chased after the pair of them, wishing desperately that they could forget about Leeman and just go home to continue where they had left off with that kiss.

“Jori Leeman, I insist on treating you to a coffee before you go home!” Leilani declared.

“I’ll never get to sleep tonight if I drink coffee now.”

“Decaf, Leeman!”

Leeman stopped abruptly. From the look on his face, Harry could tell he was having an internal debate.

“Fine,” he finally said, rather resentfully. “Fine! Let’s get coffee, Black. I mean, let’s get coffee, Miss Black.”

Leilani smirked at him.

“I like cream in my coffee,” muttered Leeman.

They soon found a coffee shop and ordered their drinks from a young woman with chestnut brown hair and green eyes. Harry could not help noticing that she was eyeing Leeman hopefully as he walked over to a table with his coffee, but he was apparently oblivious to this fact.

‘No wonder he doesn’t have a girlfriend,’ thought Harry, shaking his head to himself as he walked over to join the table.

“There, isn’t this nice?” said Leilani once she had sat down too.

“Oh, lovely,” said Harry sarcastically.

“Yeah,” grunted Leeman.

“I’ve always wondered, Leeman,” said Leilani. “Why did you become a guard in the first place?”

Leeman took a sip and then answered, looking thoroughly unhappy.

“You’re supposed to be able to work your way up in the Ministry. You have to have excellent defense skills to be a guard, and I had them- have them- so the job was easy for me to get. But I wanted to move up somehow.”

“That makes sense. Was being mean to your prisoners part of the job requirement?” Leilani asked in a fairly pleasant voice.

“It comes naturally when you think the person is a cold blooded murderer.”

Harry checked his watch impatiently.

“So how close were you to moving up, do you think?” asked Leilani. Harry could sense a tiny bit of discomfort in her voice.

“I don’t know,” Leeman shrugged. “You might have wondered why I was the one to question you, the first day you were there.”

“Erm, not really.”

“Well I was just supposed to be making sure you were under control in there, but Greene, the big guy, if you remember, knew I had higher ambitions so he thought he’d see how I did with the questioning.”

“Yeah, now that I think of it, I should have wondered,” said Leilani. Leeman nodded. “You were good.”

“And you were impossible.”

Leilani grinned and nodded. Harry squirmed in his seat and took another drink of his coffee.

“I volunteered to take you on, you know,” said Leeman, darkly staring down at his fingers “Big profile case, you were. It was going to get me a good reputation. But you saw how far that got me.”

Harry frowned at him. He could not help feeling sorry for Leeman. Leilani, Harry noticed, was not smiling anymore.

“I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault,” shrugged Leeman.

The short silence that followed was extremely awkward. Harry was thinking longingly of home more than ever.

The silence continued. Harry needed to break it.

“So, Leeman, you were at Hogwarts when I was a first year?”

“Yep.”

“Erm,” said Harry, trying to think of something to ask him. “Who was your favorite professor?”

“The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was great in my fourth year... But other than that, probably Flitwick. He was Ravenclaw’s Head of House, you know.”

“Yeah.”

“But Dumbledore is the best, it’s too bad he didn’t teach lessons once he became headmaster.”

“Yeah, Dumbledore is great,” nodded Harry in agreement. There was another silence. Harry took a sip of his coffee and noticed that the green eyed woman behind the counter was still keeping an eye on Leeman between helping customers.

“Miss Black?” said Leeman, breaking the quiet.

“Yes?”

“Remember when Dumbledore visited you at the Ministry?”

It took Leilani a moment to answer.

“Yeah.”

“When he was in there with you,” started Leeman. He paused.

“What?”

“You were... laughing... and at the same time, er...”

Harry’s eyes immediately shifted from the woman to Leilani. Leilani did not respond. She was now avoiding Leeman’s eyes. Harry wished Leeman would finish his sentence. She had been laughing at the same time as what?

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought that up,” said Leeman awkwardly. “I just always wondered what he said to make you do that.”

“Nothing,” Leilani said quietly. “It was nothing.”

“Sorry,” mumbled Leeman. Harry set his empty cup of coffee on the table and looked hopefully at the door. Surely, Leilani would want to leave now that the conversation had become so awkward. Harry soon discovered that he was correct.

“Well, it’s been fun Leeman,” said Leilani in a falsely cheery voice. “But I think we should go now. Bye!”

Leeman just stared at her, saying nothing. Leilani stood up, grabbing Harry’s arm tightly and forcing him to Disapparate with her.
***

“Thank god that’s over,” said Harry as soon as they were back. They had Apparated into the kitchen. Leilani did not respond to Harry and simply stalked out without a word. Harry followed her until he ended up in the bedroom, where Leilani flung herself onto the bed face down. Harry sighed and sat down next to her.

“Did you honestly think that was going to be fun?”

Leilani shifted her head so that one eye was peeking at him.

“No,” said Leilani’s muffled voice.

“Then why-”

“I don’t know!” Leilani yelled, sitting up. Her face was tearstained.

“Lei! What’s-” Harry stopped. “Is it about what he asked you? What was the answer? And what was the question, actually?”

“The answer is Dad,” she answered. Leilani’s eyes shifted from Harry’s face down to her knees. “The question is why was I laughing and crying at the same time.”

“Oh...”

“Yeah,” said Leilani quietly, still avoiding Harry’s eyes. “When Dumbledore visited me, he told me about what happened when he visited Dad in my world. And he gave me a message from him too. That’s what made me... you know.”

Harry found that his heart was suddenly beating very quickly. He had never heard about this until now. Dumbledore had told him that he had successfully used a mental transportation to Leilani’s old world probably only days before it disappeared. But Dumbledore had not told him anything about what had happened there. Harry remembered the conversation very clearly:

“Well what happened?” Harry asked quickly, his eyes widening. “So Sirius was there, but was he okay? Did you tell him about Leilani? Did you tell him she’s in danger? What did he say? Was the other Harry there? What happened?”

“That, Harry,” Dumbledore said calmly. “Is between Leilani and I. I will tell her myself one day soon. I am sure when the time is right, she will tell you what happened herself.”

Harry held back a groan with difficulty.

“You have more important things to worry about right now, Harry,” Dumbledore continued. “Let us review the steps before you begin.”

Harry held back a retort and forced himself to push all his questions out of his mind, and started to concentrate on his spell.

Harry hoped the right time was now.

“Can you tell me?” he asked gently. “What happened? What did Dumbledore tell you?”

“Erm,” she said shakily. “He basically just talked to my dad for awhile. Dad was drunk, apparently.” Leilani let out a short laugh. “And he gave me this message. It was... funny, but so... it made me miss him so much but it made me happy too.”

“What was the message?” Harry asked cautiously. Leilani ignored his question.

“And Dumbledore... Dad filled him in on what was happening there. Your dad had disappeared by then. My mum too. And Harry...”

“What?”

“No, I mean, Harry Two, he...” Harry waited with bated breath while Leilani paused. She began to speak again, very slowly this time. “Dumbledore was going to tell me what happened to him. But I asked him not to.”

“You- Why?”

“I wouldn’t have been able to handle it,” she said, shaking her head. “There was already so much to deal with. I would have rather not known.”

“So you don’t know if he lived or not?” Harry asked.

“Nope, or whether he disappeared.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, both of them thinking.

“You have to find out,” Harry said finally. “You haven’t had any peace of mind for the last three weeks, I know it’s because of this. That’s why he doesn’t disappear in your dreams, isn’t it? Because you don’t know what happened to him?”

Leilani nodded.

“Have you known this was it all along?” Harry asked.

“Maybe... Kind of... I don’t know.” She paused. “Yes.”

“Why didn’t you say anything then?”

Leilani’s eyes lifted to Harry’s. She opened her mouth and closed it again once before she spoke.

“All my reasons are really stupid.”

“That’s okay.”

“Well... First, I was trying to convince myself that I didn’t need to know. That it wasn’t causing them. Even if I was thinking about it all the time.”

“It was because of what we saw at the cemetery that you were thinking about him, wasn’t it?”

“That kind of brought it on.”

One of the things she had said three weeks earlier came to Harry’s mind:

“It’s just... it’s not fair. That he had to...” Her words drifted away. Leilani looked almost confused. “That she had to die.”

“The second reason is the stupidest one,” said Leilani.

“I’m always doing things for stupid reasons, so go ahead.”

“I kind of...” Leilani’s next words came so quickly Harry almost couldn’t understand them. “I kind of thought that if you knew I was obsessing about him you’d think I loved him more than you.”

Harry actually laughed.

“Hey!” yelled Leilani.

“No! It’s just that you’re sort of right.” Leilani frowned at him. “I’ve always... I never wanted to admit it but...”

“Yes?”

“That’s my secret fear, that you would love him more than me. It’s stupid, I know.”

“Yeah it is.” Leilani grinned through her watering eyes. Harry laughed again.

“I always thought it would be a lot harder to tell you that,” he said. Leilani simply shrugged. “But, erm, back to your dreams and stuff. You know you have to ask Dumbledore now, right? You have to.”

“I know,” she said quietly with a sigh. “I’ve been avoiding it, ‘cause I knew it would be hard no matter what the answer is. But I need to know. And now that you know about this, well...”

“I’ll keep bugging you until you ask him.”

“Yeah,” said Leilani, grinning slightly again. “I think it’ll help though.”

“It will,” nodded Harry. “Even if it makes you sad, it’ll help. You’ll know how his life ended, either way. And you... you loved him too. You should know.”

Leilani nodded, holding back tears. Harry hugged her.

“We’ll go to Dumbledore first thing tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Leilani said in a choked voice.
***

“I’ve missed this place,” said Harry, looking up at Hogwarts castle. It was Saturday, and he and Leilani were at the front gates of their old school.

“Me too,” nodded Leilani. Whatever she said, Leilani looked more nauseous than happy to be back.

“Don’t worry,” said Harry softly, taking her hand and leading the way up the path to the school. “It’ll be fine.”

“Fine, yeah,” said Leilani shakily. “You asked Dumbledore to meet us in front?”

“Yep.” Harry had sent his owl Hedwig before they had fallen asleep the previous night to deliver a note to warn Dumbledore that they were coming. According to plan, they found Dumbledore waiting for them beside the front doors of Hogwarts.

“How wonderful to see you both!” Dumbledore beamed at them. Harry smiled back, but Leilani could only manage an unconvincing grin.

“Thank you for seeing us, Professor,” said Harry.

“It is my pleasure, Harry,” said Dumbledore. “Shall we go up to my office and talk?”

Leilani nodded, and they went through the empty school up to his office. When they arrived, Harry noticed that Dumbledore’s Pensieve was sitting on his desk. A silver memory was swirling around inside it. Dumbledore conjured up a couple comfortable chairs for Harry and Leilani and took his own seat behind the desk.

“I understand that you wish to talk to me about something, Leilani?” said Dumbledore.

“Yeah...” Leilani’s eyes shifted over to Harry.

“Er, I could... leave, if you want,” said Harry, thinking that she might want some privacy.

“No!” Leilani answered immediately. “No, I need you here.”

Harry nodded and stayed put.

“What is it that you want to talk about?” asked Dumbledore.

“Harry,” said Leilani quietly. “The other Harry, I mean. I never... you never...”

“I never told you what happened to him,” said Dumbledore solemnly. Leilani nodded. “Yes, I suspected that this might be it. I was just revisiting the short time I spent with your father, in fact.”

Dumbledore gestured toward the Pensieve. Harry looked over at Leilani and saw her eying it with a frown.

“It’s all in there? When you saw Dad?”

“Yes,” confirmed Dumbledore. “When I talked to your father, he-”

“Can you show me?” interrupted Leilani. Before Harry could verbalize what he was thinking, Dumbledore did it for him.

“I don’t know if that would be the best way, Leilani.”

“But you can, can’t you?” said Leilani. “Harry told me he’s gone into that thing before.”

“Don’t you think it would be easier if he just told you?” asked Harry. Leilani turned to him and spoke sharply.

“When have I ever taken the easy way out, Harry?”

He did not answer.

“Are you positive you want to do this, Leilani?” asked Dumbledore, looking very concerned. “He was not in the best state when I found him-”

“So he was drunk and miserable, I don’t care,” said Leilani loudly. “He was my dad, I want him to be the one to tell me.”

Dumbledore opened his mouth as if to respond, but then closed it again.

“Do you want me to see too?” Harry asked cautiously.

“Of course,” Leilani answered. “Well can we do it or not?”

“If you insist,” said Dumbledore.

“I do.”

He stood up and tapped the contents of the Pensieve so that they formed a surface that looked like clear glass.

“Ladies first,” he said.

Leilani plunged her face into the surface of the Pensieve, and Harry, although still thinking this was not the best idea, followed. They, and Dumbledore seconds later, landed in front of a door that Harry vaguely recognized. It was the front door of the house Leilani had lived in back in her world. Another Dumbledore, the one belonging to the memory, walked through the snow lying in front of the house towards the door, which was not decorated for the Christmas holidays in the least, and knocked on it. Harry looked over at Leilani while they waited for it to be answered. Her eyes were popping and her lower lip was trembling. Harry took her hand with his, which she squeezed appreciatively.

The door swung open. The man with long dark hair who answered turned around and, with a grunt, walked away from it almost instantly. Harry only saw Sirius’ unshaven face long enough to tell that he had seen that it was Dumbledore at the door. Both Dumbledores, Harry, and Leilani went inside and to the Blacks’ living room, where Harry saw Sirius stumble across the room, bump into a coffee table, and collapse on the couch right next to it. Harry heard Leilani’s breathing quicken and glanced over at her. She looked longingly at her father with wet eyes.

“I see you’re still here, Professor,” said Sirius in a slightly slurred voice. He was now sprawled over the couch. Harry noticed an almost drained bottle of Ogden’s Old Firewhiskey next to a few empty ones on the coffee table, and an open photo album lying inches away from them. The exposed page was full of pictures of Leilani, looking about twelve or thirteen years old, a couple of them posed with Harry or Hermione.

“Yes, Sirius, and it is a lucky thing I am,” Dumbledore answered.

“Ha!” exclaimed Sirius loudly. “Lucky? Oh yes, we’re so lucky! My poor beautiful daughter probably killed herself two months ago, but yes, oh yes, we’re lucky lucky lucky!”

Sirius’ eyes were watering.

“Listen to me,” said Dumbledore firmly. “I am not the Albus Dumbledore you know. I come from the world that Harry Potter visited you from last year, the world in which your daughter now lives. She survived the transportation spell.”

These words took a few moments to hit Sirius, but when they did, his continuing mutters of “lucky luck lucky” faded away and his body froze. He stared into space with his mouth slightly open, and then his eyes traveled to Dumbledore’s. Sirius let out a quietly confused, yet hopeful noise.

“I have used mental transportation to visit you,” explained Dumbledore. “Leilani made her trip to our world safely and successfully. She is adjusting extremely well, or as well as one could in her situation.”

After barely two seconds, Sirius let out a whoop of joy and jumped up very suddenly. He threw his arms around Dumbledore. He then released him and fell back onto the couch, laughing loudly and looking happier than Harry could ever remember seeing him. Harry looked over at Leilani, who was watching her father with a small grin as a few tears fell down her cheeks.
***

“Thank you,” said Sirius, when he had calmed down. “Thank you so much for coming to me. You have no idea how much it means to me.”

Dumbledore gave him a nod and a small smile. Sirius covered his face with his hands, but soon ripped them off and stood up again.

“This is a cause for celebration!” said Sirius, swaying on his feet, and he grabbed the bottle of firewhiskey and took a swig. “Tell me everything, Professor, please. I need to know everything she’s been up too. My Lei... My sweet, stubborn, beautiful Lei... She’s alive... Alive... I can’t believe it...” Sirius stared dreamily into space, lowering back to the couch with the bottle still held loosely in his right hand. He looked as if he had momentarily forgotten that Dumbledore was there.

“She is very much alive,” said Dumbledore with a nod. Sirius jumped in his seat. “Sirius, why don’t you put that down, or you’ll never remember any of this in the morning.”

Harry silently thanked Dumbledore for this order.

“Right, right.” Sirius put the bottle down. “Tell me. Tell me everything you can, old man.”

Sirius giggled.

Dumbledore talked for at least twenty minutes about everything he knew about what had happened to Leilani up to that point. When Dumbledore told Sirius that Leilani had hit Draco Malfoy during breakfast in front of the entire school, Sirius punched the air in triumph.

“Yes!” he exclaimed. “I knew she’d need it, I knew it! I’m so proud...”

Sirius’ eyes had gone misty.

“You encouraged this?”

“Of course!” said Sirius, as if he thought it should be obvious that a father’s duty was to teach his daughter how to properly hit people. “And he deserved it, the little scumbag!”

Sirius let out a rather maniacal laugh. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows and was very obviously stopping himself from responding to him. Harry had to stop himself from laughing, but Leilani didn’t bother holding it in.

“May I continue, Sirius?”

“Yes, please!” he answered, and continued staring avidly at Dumbledore, soaking in every word. So Dumbledore continued, until he ended with telling Sirius that Leilani had gone on a holiday vacation with Harry and Remus Lupin.

“So she’s in a bit of danger,” frowned Sirius. “But she can handle herself, she’s a smart girl. And Harry will protect her. And Remus! Remus is alive! She’ll be safe with him.”

“Yes,” nodded Dumbledore. “Harry has also been working extremely hard on the spell he must use to defeat Voldemort. It is only a matter of time, I believe. He has made truly excellent progress.”

“Good, good... He’ll win. I know he’ll win. He’s a good boy... young man, rather...”

Sirius’ words trailed off, and he looked as if he might burst into tears.

“I must now ask you,” said Dumbledore cautiously. “What has been happening in your world? How are you? Leilani will want to know.”

“Ehhh....” Sirius looked as nauseous as Leilani had earlier.

“Where is Adriana?”

Sirius stared at the ceiling, his lips trembling violently.

“Is she gone?” Dumbledore asked gently. Sirius nodded and reached for the bottle of firewhiskey, but before he could reach it, Dumbledore muttered, “Accio firewhiskey,” and he fell back on the couch. Leilani let go of Harry’s hand to move closer to her father. She crouched down before him to watch his face. Her facial expression matched his almost perfectly.

“The fourteenth of November,” Sirius whispered. “That was the last night I went to bed with my wife beside me. I woke up... I woke up and she... she was...”

He shook his head, unable to speak anymore, and his face fell into his hand. Leilani stopped watching him for the first time since they had arrived, but only to wipe her eyes. There was a fairly long moment of silence. Harry found it almost unbearable.

“James disappeared early this month,” Sirius said in a croak. “You should see Lily, she’s worried sick, has no idea what’s going on, I haven’t told her. And that’s after losing Harry.”

Harry felt his heart almost stop. Leilani stopped wiping her eyes and immediately stared back at her father, her eyes even wider than before. Harry could already feel a twinge of guilt in his stomach. He knew what was coming now.

“What happened?” Dumbledore asked carefully.

“He died!” Sirius yelled, almost hysterically. Leilani burst into quiet tears instantly. “Harry died. Seventeen years old! SEVENTEEN!”

Now Sirius was in tears as well. Harry was desperately trying to stop himself from joining them, and from squirming in extreme discomfort.

“I knew we were all going to be gone, I knew, but it doesn’t seem right. He fell unconscious a week or so after Lei left, and a week after that....”

“You have my very deepest sympathies, Sirius,” said Dumbledore, extremely sincerely. “I cannot imagine what it would be like to lose him. He is an extraordinary person.”

Harry felt his face getting hot, and quickly realized that Leilani’s eyes were on him. It took a minute for Sirius to be able to respond to Dumbledore with a steady voice.

“He is... He is...” Sirius wiped his eyes off with his sleeve. “I’m so happy he’ll live on in your world, with Lei. I love him so much, like a son.”

Harry wished Leilani would stop looking at him.

“And he’s doing well?” Sirius asked. “He’s getting there?”

“Harry is doing very well.”

Sirius smiled.

“He didn’t die in vain then. He helped... He helped himself. He didn’t know it, but he had a greater purpose in life. To allow Harry... to allow himself the chance to save the world.”

Harry found that he could not look at anyone anymore. He closed his eyes and put his head down, his stomach boiling with guilt. He couldn’t remember it being this bad since the day Leilani told him what had happened to her world. And now, seeing Sirius so upset about what was happening.... It was just too much. Harry had known that this experience would be hard for Leilani, but he had not realized how difficult it was going to be for him.
***

Slightly odd place to cut off but I had to do it somewhere...

Sorry to anyone who was holding on to that last hope that Harry Two had somehow made it and Leilani was going to get to marry two Harrys in the end.

There was a silence in which Harry had no idea what was going on, due to his eyes still being closed. He wished that they could just leave Dumbledore’s memory now.

“Do you think...” Sirius began quietly. “Was Harry here and Harry there the same person, when you come down to it?”

“I believe that the Harry who lived here was made from some part of the Harry who took the potion,” answered Dumbledore. “Considering how your world came into existence, I do not believe that your Harry could have existed without the other one. None of this could have.”

“So when Harry d-d-” Sirius paused. He continued, sounding confused. “Now that Harry’s gone, do you think part of him... went back to the other Harry? Or...”

“It is hard to say,” said Dumbledore. “But he is at peace, wherever he is.”

“I miss him,” Sirius said quietly. “Can you tell me more of what he’s been up to?”

“Of course,” answered Dumbledore.

Harry could not stop himself from looking up and groaning. Why was this whole thing turning out to be all about him? He had somehow expected it to end when Leilani had gotten her answer. As the Dumbledore belonging to the memory started to tell Sirius more about him, Harry gave the other Dumbledore an exasperated look. The old man did not notice however, since he was too busy watching Leilani. Harry saw that she had gone back to staring at her father.

Dumbledore spent less time talking about Harry than he had about Leilani, but it seemed like an extremely long time to Harry. The only thing he was happy about was that when Dumbledore told Sirius about the period in which Harry had temporarily lost the ability to do his spell, all he said was, “Harry was very upset during this time” rather than “Harry spent much of our sessions yelling at me during this time”.

“At our session a couple days ago I told Harry I would attempt to come here. But for now, he is on that vacation with your daughter and Remus,” Dumbledore concluded.

“Did you tell Lei?” asked Sirius, somewhat accusatorially. He sat up straighter than he had the whole time Dumbledore had been there.

“No, I did not want her to be disappointed if it did not work.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense,” frowned Sirius, falling back down against the back of his seat. He sighed. “I wish I could see her again.”

“I wish you could too,” said Dumbledore gently. “I am afraid, Sirius, that I must be going soon. However, if there is anything you want me to tell her, I can.”

Sirius’ face lit up.

“Yes! Yes, of course! I have to make this good...” He sat there thinking for a couple minutes before he spoke again. “But Dumbledore, promise me something. Wait until the right moment to tell her. I don’t want to depress her from missing me. I’d rather it lift her spirits, if possible.”

“Of course, Sirius.”

“You’ll know the right time.” Dumbledore nodded. Sirius thought some more. “Are you ready? I want you to get this right.”

“Yes. I have a good memory.”

“Okay. Tell her I love her, I’m proud of her, I’m very happy to hear that she hit Draco Malfoy, and I send a big hug and a kiss... which on second thought I think should be delivered by Harry rather than you because she wouldn’t want her headmaster kissing her even if it’s only on the cheek.”

Both Dumbledores and Leilani grinned. Even Harry couldn’t help himself from following suit, even though he now realized that he had never been told to give Leilani the last part of the message.

“I will tell her,” said Dumbledore. He stood up. “I must go now, Sirius.”

Sirius stood up too, but wobbled on his feet and had to put one hand on Dumbledore to stay up.

“Thank you again. Thank you so much.”

As Dumbledore gave Sirius a smile, that Harry thought looked too sad to be a real one, the other Dumbledore went to where Leilani was standing and took her by the arm. He gave Harry a look and a jerk of his head, and he knew to come over to them.

“That is about it,” Dumbledore said quietly. Leilani nodded and gave her father one last longing look, before they all left the memory and landed back in Dumbledore’s office. Harry and Leilani both immediately sunk back into the chairs in front of Dumbledore’s desk. Leilani took a deep breath before saying anything.

“Thank you, Professor,” she said quietly. Dumbledore nodded. “At least... at least he didn’t suffer for long. Harry, I mean.”

Her eyes were watering as she looked over at Harry. He couldn’t say anything. Leilani soon expressed a desire to leave, which made Harry very happy. Dumbledore did not argue and made a portkey for them, and they were soon back home. They landed right in front of the couch and both fell on to it as soon as they realized this.

There was a long silence. All Harry could think about was Sirius and how upset he had been about the other Harry’s death. So many times, he had tried to tell himself what happened was not his fault. And it had worked. But he still could not help feeling the guilt every so often. Somewhere he knew that what had happened was not his fault. He never wanted it to happen. But he had taken that action, and these were the results. He knew good had come out of it too, but he still found it so hard to put the bad parts behind him.

“Harry?” said Leilani, finally breaking the silence.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for coming with me. It means a lot.” She gave him a small grin. Harry looked down at his knees. “I mean it! You being there, it made it... easier, somehow.”

Harry nodded, and the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach was relieved very slightly.

“Leilani,” he said quietly. “Come here.”

She scooted over on the couch so that she was right next to him. Harry gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“That’s from your dad,” Harry whispered into her ear. Leilani tightened the hug.

“Thank you, Harry.”
***

Sorry for the long wait! I've been very busy. The last few updates shouldn't take nearly as long as this one did.
-----


Long after he stopped hugging her, Harry and Leilani sat silently on the couch, staring into space. It was not an uncomfortable silence, just a very long and thoughtful one. Harry did not bother trying to break it, since he knew they both needed to do a lot of thinking after everything they had just seen. Harry lost track of time completely as they sat there, doing nothing.

Both Harry and Leilani jumped when they heard someone knocking at the door.

“Are you expecting someone?” Harry asked.

“No,” answered Leilani. “I guess you’re not either?”

“No.”

They knocked again.

“I guess we’d better answer that,” sighed Harry, and they both went to the door. Harry opened it, and saw their best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, both smiling brightly at them. Their smiles didn’t last long, however. When they laid their eyes on Harry and Leilani, their faces immediately fell.

“What is wrong with you two?” asked Hermione.

“Nice to see you too, Hermione,” said Harry, walking away from the door and back to the couch. Leilani followed, and after shutting the door, so did Hermione and Ron. Their friends took a couple chairs opposite Harry and Leilani and stared at them worriedly.

“You look miserable, both of you,” said Hermione.

“Did we just interrupt a fight?” asked Ron nervously. “Because we can leave, it’s just that Hermione-”

“No, no, you can stay,” said Leilani.

“Oh. Good,” said Ron. “We would have owled, but, well...”

“Neither of you have been answering them the last few weeks,” Hermione said, when Ron would not.

“Oh,” said both Harry and Leilani in guilty voices. It was true, both Ron and Hermione had been sending occasional owls, but Harry had had too much on his mind to care about writing them back. Apparently, the same was the case with Leilani.

“We’ve just been... going through a lot,” said Leilani quietly.

“Oh no, let’s go, Hermione,” whispered Ron, sounding quite alarmed.

“No, it’s not relationship stuff, Ron, I said you could stay,” said Leilani.

“Then what-?” Hermione was interrupted by Harry.

“We saw Dumbledore today,” he said. “We needed- Leilani needed to know some stuff, about her world and everything.”

“Oh,” said Hermione, as a look of understanding overtook her face.

“It was about the other Harry,” said Leilani quietly, and in a rather shaky voice. “I never knew what happened to him so... well, we found out today. He died.”

Hermione and Ron were silent, both looking like they had no idea what to say. Hermione got up from her seat momentarily to hug Leilani, and then sat down again. Her gaze switched to Harry, whose stomach was starting to boil with that familiar feeling of guilt. He tried to fix his face to hide what he was feeling, but it apparently did not work on Hermione.

“It’s not your fault Harry,” she said, very softly. He nodded.

“I know,” he said shortly. Hermione was not convinced

“Listen, Harry, you-” She was interrupted again.

“Hermione, lay off it,” said Leilani strictly. Hermione was left with her mouth hanging slightly open. “He has a hard enough time talking about it with me.”

Hermione obeyed her orders. Harry silently thanked Leilani.

“Maybe we should go,” Ron suggested again.

“No,” said Leilani. After this came another long silence. Harry sighed and checked his watch. It was late in the afternoon. He looked up and noticed that Hermione was frowning at both of them, looking both concerned and a little sad.

“Well this has been a lovely visit,” said Harry sarcastically. His friends nodded awkwardly in unenthusiastic agreement.

“I have an idea,” announced Hermione, still frowning.

“Yes?” said Harry, hoping desperately that it did not involve her making them go somewhere to cheer them up.

“Are you two free tomorrow around noon? And you, Ron?” They all answered that they were. Harry did so very reluctantly. Hermione continued. “Okay. Then Ron and I will come get you tomorrow and go somewhere. I’ll figure out where by tomorrow.”

“Why?” Harry asked, in a rather whiny voice. It looked to Harry like Leilani felt just like he did.

“Because,” answered Hermione. Harry rolled his eyes. She said the next part very carefully. “What I need you two to do is bring a few things. They should represent... who and what you’ve lost. And maybe you should wear black.”

Harry’s worries were calmed- unless Hermione had a warped idea of fun, this trip would not involve her trying to inappropriately cheer them up. He caught Leilani’s eyes and knew that she realized this too.

“Can you do that?” asked Hermione. “Do you have anything that could represent them?”

“I don’t know,” said Leilani.

“Yes,” said Harry. “I have stuff.”

“Okay. Well then, I guess we’ll see you tomorrow at noon.”

As soon as Hermione and Ron had left, Leilani turned to Harry.

“You realize what she’s planning, don’t you?”

“It doesn’t take a genius,” said Harry.

“Think it’ll help?” asked Leilani.

“It might.”

They got up and went to a hall closet, where Harry’s Hogwarts trunk sat, abandoned for about a year. He dragged it out and they sat before it.

“The stuff is in here,” he told Leilani as he opened it. He went digging through the books and other school supplies until he pulled out a shirt he had not worn for years, which was carefully wrapped around something. He put it on the floor between them and unfolded it, revealing a small square mirror that was broken in several places. Leilani gasped. Harry looked up to see that her hand was covering her mouth and her eyes were watering.

“The mirrors,” she whispered.

“You- how-?”

“You first,” said Leilani.

“Your dad gave it to me and I never even opened it until he died,” said Harry. “As you can see I was a tiny bit angry about it.”

“Ah, yes,” nodded Leilani. “Our dads gave the mirrors to us before we went to Hogwarts. The other Harry and I always used them to talk over the summer. And from the looks of it this one was the one Dad gave me.”

“You think this’ll do for your dad, then?”

“Yes,” she said with a nod.

“What about... your mum?” Harry asked hesitantly. “I don’t really have anything for her.”

Leilani looked slightly ashamed.

“I have something.” She stood up, went to the bedroom, and came back. She pulled out a tiny drawstring bag and handed it to Harry. He opened it and looked inside.

“Dead grass?”

“It’s dead now. I kind of ripped it out without realizing it when we were at her grave. Well, I didn’t realize it at first, but when I did I put it in my pocket.”

She looked almost guilty.

“I don’t think you’re crazy,” he said. “I’d do it too.”

“Thanks,” said Leilani, who actually came close to smiling. “Erm, what about Harry... Two? I mean, we can’t exactly use any of your stuff.”

“No, but I have something,” said Harry. Then, starting to feel embarrassed, he went digging through his trunk again. He pulled out a bottle cap and held it up. Leilani took it.

“Oh, this is good,” she said sarcastically.

“It is though. Ron and Hermione said when they found me after I took all the Escape, the bottle was broken in a million pieces on the floor next to me. They cleaned it up of course, but they didn’t get this. I found it under my bed months later.”

Leilani stared at the bottle cap.

“And you kept it?”

“Don’t ask me why,” said Harry.

“It’s perfect, though,” said Leilani. She handed the bottle cap back to Harry. He examined it for a couple minutes even though he knew it so well, and suddenly found that he could not wait for the next day to come.
***

The next day at noon sharp, Hermione knocked on Harry and Leilani’s door.

“We’re going to do it near Ron’s house,” she announced. “Easy access, now and in the future, and I figure they’ll be there a long time too.”

“Okay,” said Harry. Leilani simply nodded.

“You have everything?” asked Hermione. Harry pointed out the bag slung across his shoulder. “Good. Let’s go then.”

The three of them Apparated to the front yard of the Burrow, where Ron was waiting for them. He, like the other three, was wearing black robes. He greeted them, and then asked Hermione a question.

“You got the box?”

Harry only noticed then that Hermione was carrying something that looked like a music box. It was made of a dark glossy wood. Hermione held it up when Ron asked her about it. After this, she started to lead them out of the yard.

“We prepared this morning,” she told them. “It’s a little ways off, but it’s a nice area. I’m going to do a protection charm on the area when we’re done.”

They ended up in a shady area with a few trees and lots of green grass. Hermione led them to a section with shorter grass. They stopped and found themselves in front of a hole in the ground about three feet deep. Harry looked over at Leilani and saw her staring down at it.

“Erm, shall we start?” asked Hermione nervously. Leilani nodded. Harry handed the bag to her while Hermione opened the wooden box, which was lined inside with dark green velvet. Leilani carefully took out the broken mirror and set it in the box. Next she took the small bag with the dead grass and put it beside the mirror. She hesitated after this.

“Here,” she whispered, handing the bag back to Harry. He took it, but did not do anything at first except for catching Leilani’s eyes. It took him a minute or so, but he finally reached into the bag with a trembling hand, pulled out the bottle cap, and placed it inside the box.

“Is that all?” asked Hermione gently.

“Yeah,” said Harry. Hermione then placed the box, still open, on the ground next to the hole.

“Right. So. Erm.” Hermione still seemed nervous, but she took a deep breath and started over. “The thing is, both of you have never had a chance to mourn this properly. You’ve experienced this huge loss, and you haven’t really been able to pay your last respects or anything. I know neither of you will ever forget what you’ve lost, but I think you need some kind of closure.”

Hermione paused. Harry shifted on his feet so that he was standing a couple inches closer to Leilani. When nobody said anything, Hermione continued.

“Okay,” she said quietly, more to herself than them. She cleared her throat. “Today we are here to remember the world Leilani came from. There were a lot of important people there. I know neither of you would be the same people you are today without them. So... we owe a lot to them.”

Hermione stopped speaking. When neither Harry nor Leilani continued where she stopped, Ron jumped in.

“I remember being really confused about what you were doing back then, Harry. Why you kept doing whatever you were doing. But I understand now. I never went there, obviously, but I know it was a great place. Or else you wouldn’t have kept going back. You wouldn’t have stayed if it hadn’t been a great place.” Ron ended his short speech rather awkwardly. Harry shifted again, this time more uncomfortably.

“Leilani?” said Hermione softly. “Do you want to say anything?”

She nodded.

“Erm.”

“It’s okay, take your time,” said Hermione, when Leilani had difficulty starting.

“I grew up there,” said Leilani. “It was my home. My mum and dad... I don’t know what I would have done without them those first seventeen years. They were amazing people. I wish you all could have known them. Or, known them how they were there.”

Leilani stopped, and Hermione opened her mouth to start talking again. Leilani motioned for her to stop, however. Harry noticed that her eyes were watering.

“The same with Harry,” she continued. “I love the Harry I have here, but I wish you could have known him too. He had a happy life though, while it lasted.”

Harry’s eyes shifted to the ground.

“I said goodbye to all of them,” said Leilani, tears now starting to fall down her cheeks. “But they weren’t good goodbyes. I lied to my mum, I lied to Harry. I told them I’d see them again when I knew I wouldn’t. But somehow the worst was with my dad. We both knew the truth and that was somehow worse. I told him not to cry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

The guilty feeling was returning to Harry’s stomach.

“So maybe... Maybe I need this last goodbye. It’s completely honest. And maybe a bit easier since it’s one sided.”

Leilani ended there, frowning and looking as if she was not completely satisfied with what she had said, but she also looked like she had no desire to go on.

“Harry?” said Hermione quietly. As soon as she said his name his eyes started watering. “Do you want to say anything?”

“I’m sorry,” he said. Harry was a little horrified at himself when he fell to his knees in tears, but he could not stop himself.

“Harry,” said Leilani, leaning down beside him. “You don’t need to-”

“You never let me say I was sorry!” he sobbed. “Never! You just told me I shouldn’t blame myself! And I don’t always, but I can’t help it sometimes. You never let me take any responsibility!”

“I just wanted-”

“No! I need to! Just let me apologize! And please, listen to it.”

Leilani was left speechless. Harry took several deep breaths and wiped his eyes. It had never occurred to him that he wanted to do this, but now, he felt like this is what he had needed to do all along. How could he get past his guilt if he could never even try to make it right?

“The fact is,” Harry began, his voice still a little shaky and tears still falling, “that Escape was a drug. It was. You can call it a potion, you can call it the reason you and your world existed, but it was a drug. I took it irresponsibly without knowing anything just so I could temporarily feel good. And everyone thought this was a bad thing until I got that spell. They thought it was bad even after it, actually. That was just a good thing that came out of it. It wasn’t until you turned out to be real that it was a good thing I took it. Then I couldn’t be blamed for anything, could I? I’m a hero, I’m always the hero. But you of all people should be able to get it through your head that I’m not perfect.”

Harry took Leilani’s hand. Her eyes, which were until then looking at the ground, met his.

“I’m not sorry I took it, but I’m sorry for what happened. I’m sorry you suffered so much. I’m sorry you lost everyone you loved. I’m sorry he got so sick and had to suffer before he died. I’m sorry you had to risk your life to get away from it all. Maybe it’s not technically my fault, but we all know none of it would have happened if it wasn’t for me so you need to let me apologize for it.”

Leilani nodded.

“I’m so sorry,” Harry said, almost choking on his tears.

“Okay,” she whispered. “Apology accepted.”

Harry nodded, taking deep breaths. Somehow, he already felt better. The tight uncomfortable feeling of guilt was already loosening in his stomach. Harry looked up, suddenly remembering that his other friends were still there. Ron and Hermione were staring at them wide-eyed and looking a little uncomfortable. Harry wasn’t sure why, but he laughed.

“How’s that for an emotional breakdown?”
***

I'm a strong believer in finishing what one starts, if it's worth finishing. Heh.

I'm sorry this last update took so long (and I do mean last update). If I were to explain why, we'd be here forever as you read through my life story of the past two months. Although one reason is simply that I could not think of a proper way to end this chapter until about 20 minutes ago...


------

It was a week after the memorial, and Harry had just woken up after a long night’s slumber. He rolled over to see if Leilani was awake, but she was not. He grinned to himself as he watched her peacefully sleep, a few rays of morning sunshine falling on her hair from the window. She had not had a nightmare since the week before.

It almost seemed strange to him, but finding out the truth and then having the memorial had really helped both of them. Leilani was obviously more at peace, knowing what had happened to the other Harry and being able to finally, in a sense, bury those she had lost and lay them to rest. It helped Harry too. He had been holding on to the guilt, and that small bottle cap, for so long. It felt good to let them go. He doubted he’d ever be completely over the guilt, but somehow, being allowed to finally openly take responsibility helped ease the feeling quite a bit. Like Hermione said, neither of them would ever forget, but they had needed that closure.

Harry saw Leilani stirring. Her eyes slowly opened and then closed again.

“Let’s go back to sleep,” she mumbled.

“It’s ten, Leilani,” said Harry.

“Oh fine.”

She opened her eyes again and stretched.

“How’d you sleep,” asked Harry.

“Just fine,” said Leilani. “I had a weird dream... there were cows in it.”

“Moo?” said Harry. She laughed.

“You’re more like him all the time, you know.”

“You say that only when I make barn animal noises?”

“Yes!” Leilani said, laughing again.

“You are a strange person.”

“I know.”

“Happy birthday, by the way,” Harry said with a smile.

“Happy birthday to you too.”

After spending a leisurely day alone together, in the evening Ron and Hermione showed up at their door with gifts and more birthday greetings. They spent some time at Harry and Leilani’s place, opening the packages and chatting for awhile, until Ron started complaining of hunger.

“We’re treating you two, of course,” said Hermione as they all stood up and prepared to Apparate.

“Where are we going?” asked Leilani.

“I thought Vooming Victuals would be good,” she answered. Harry and Leilani shared a brief look. Leilani shrugged.

“Fine with me,” said Harry.

Harry and Leilani were greeted at the restaurant as regulars, being that it was the third week in a row they had gone there. They both noticed quickly that Leeman was working that night, but he did not wait on their table. Neither of them complained. The food seemed even better than usual, and when it came time for dessert, several waitresses sang an embarrassingly loud rendition of “Happy Birthday” to Harry and Leilani. The song ended with real miniature fireworks going off above their table.

They left at around eight o’clock, but barely made it ten feet out of the restaurant before Leilani was stopped by someone grabbing her arm. They turned around to see that it was Leeman, who, Harry noticed, was out of his uniform. Leeman glanced around at the group nervously.

“Erm,” he said to greet them.

“Yes, Jori?” said Leilani.

“I, er, I wanted to apologize again for bringing up... for what happened last week.”

Harry didn’t think he had ever seen Leeman acting so awkwardly.

“Oh!” Leilani’s cheeks turned slightly pink. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

Leeman nodded. Ron and Hermione exchanged puzzled looks.

“I really am sorry, though,” said Leeman quietly, as if he hoped that nobody else besides Leilani would hear. Leilani nodded.

“Okay.” There was a moment of silence. Harry checked his watch. Leilani spoke again. “It was about my dad, by the way. What you asked me.”

“Oh.” Leeman’s eyes shifted. He looked as if he did not know how to react.

“Why are you off work this early, anyway?” asked Leilani. “Usually you get off at nine.”

Hermione raised an eyebrow. Ron yawned. Leeman turned red.

“I, er, I have a date,” he mumbled.

“A date?” Leilani shrieked. She looked delighted. “With who?”

“The girl at the coffee shop last week,” Leeman answered quickly.

“You finally noticed her staring, did you?” asked Harry with a smirk.

“Yeah. Well, I mean, when she asked me out I did,” said Leeman. He coughed. “Well, I must be off.”

Leeman made his escape as quickly as he possibly could.

“Who was that?” asked Hermione.

“My old Ministry guard.”

“What!?”

“He was my guard when they arrested me,” said Leilani calmly. “He sort of... in a way it’s because of him that we ended up going to Dumbledore last week.”

Hermione still looked confused but didn’t say anything.

“Well, I’m sure we would have gone anyway eventually but he kind of triggered it.”

“Hmm,” said Hermione, folding her arms and not looking quite satisfied. They all began to walk down Diagon Alley towards where most the shops were. “How... er... how did that work, by the way? Last week, our, er...”

“The memorial?” Leilani said.

“Yeah.”

“I’ve been meaning to thank you for that,” said Leilani.

“We’ve been meaning to thank you,” Harry said, correcting her.

“You’re welcome,” said Ron. They all laughed.

“You’re welcome,” said Hermione, jabbing Ron in the ribs. “Well, Ron did help, I guess...”

“Thank you both,” grinned Leilani.

The conversation ended there and moved on to other subjects. Harry hardly participated however; his mind was wandering back to the week before, and the moments after he had finally apologized to Leilani.

“How’s that for an emotional breakdown?”

Leilani nervously laughed.

“Not bad,” she said quietly. “And that’s coming from a pro.”

“Erm,” said Hermione awkwardly. Ron, standing beside her, had look on his face similar to Hermione’s- as if it was none of his business to have just witnessed what had just happened. Harry got up off his knees, Leilani following suit seconds later. Harry wiped his eyes and took a deep breath. He gestured to Hermione, as if to tell her to continue.

“It’s okay, Hermione,” said Leilani, when she looked hesitant.

“Okay, erm, if nobody has anything else to say...” she paused to look from face to face before she continued, “then we’ll continue with the burial.”

Hermione bent down and closed the wooden box holding the mirror, the dead grass, and the bottle cap. Then, she pointed her wand at the box and levitated it. She carefully lowered it into the hole in the ground. Her eyes turned to Harry and Leilani, both of whom were staring down at the box. Harry took another deep breath.

“Goodbye,” whispered Leilani. With another wave of her wand, Hermione buried the box. And just like that, it was gone.
***

The end!

Thank you all so much for reading! As always, feedback (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=3082117#post3082117) is appreciated. :)

Random note about the last line- A couple of stories ago something else was gone "just like that". So... yeah, it's supposed to remind you of that. Maybe. With my help. :p