Why can’t it just be over? I can’t do this anymore

… Harry was struggling frantically against the looming presence in his mind that was Voldemort’s consciousness. And he was losing. He could feel Voldemorts’ triumphant glee. He would take over Harry’s mind and use the boy to kill the traitor, that meddling old fool, and the interfering little mudblood. No! He wouldn’t ever hurt Hermione… He would torture the girl until she begged for mercy… He had to stop this so that she would be safe…

Suddenly Harry’s efforts seemed to be a bit more powerful. He pushed Voldemort mostly out of his head, but the twisted thing that was the Dark Lord clawed its way back in, not giving up without a fight. Then Harry heard it. Hermione’s voice in his mind, chanting softly, “Don’t leave me Harry, keep fighting, you can win this, don’t leave me, I love you…”

A bright, warm light was building, and Harry knew instinctively that it was Hermione’s doing. It was all in his mind, but he could have sworn he smelled fresh parchment and a lightly floral shampoo, tasted the coffee and peppermint of her kisses, and felt her held running idly over his chest as it often did while he was trying to concentrate on a book. With a new determination, and a well of power to draw on, he pushed back the tendrils of Voldemort’s mind, fighting back the evil with the love surrounding him. The dark presence in his mind disappeared. Harry slipped into meditation, calling up the scene on the lake. This time, though, Hermione was floating on the surface beside him.

“Is this your shield Harry? It’s beautiful.”

“Yes. What was that? The light, and the power?”

“I’ll explain later Harry. I have to break the connection now, or it could use up all of my power. You need to wake up… wake up… wake up”

“Wake up Harry, come on,” came Hermione’s voice. Harry opened his eyes to see Hermione, Professor Dumbledore, and Madam Pomfrey looking at him worriedly. He attempted a smile.

“What was that?” He asked. For a few terrifying moments, he thought Voldemort was going to win. Quickly, Hermione launched into an explanation of the love-based spell. She was still talking at her usual million-words-a-minute pace, but Harry could still tell she was tired. Dumbledore seemed to notice too, because he directed a nearby hospital bed to park a mere foot away from Harry’s. As she finished talking, Hermione noticed the bed as well. With a grateful look to the headmaster, she crawled under the covers and reached out for Harry’s hand. Wishing them a good night, the adults slipped out to let the teenagers sleep.

As Harry lay in the dark room, listening to the sound of Hermione’s even breathing, he let his mind drift back to the literal battle of wills he had just won. He remembered that bright, warm power that was Hermione’s love for him. It was hard to grasp just how much this beautiful, talented, intelligent, determined, loyal, fantastic witch truly cared for him. She loved him. Him. He was the luckiest man alive. Now he just needed to show her how much he cared in return.

“Well isn’t this cozy?” Draco drawled.

“It is rather, isn’t it?” Hannah agreed, looking at the sleeping couple.

“I didn’t know they made hospital beds that size,” commented Neville, noting the bed their two friends slept on was twice the size of a normal one.

“Can’t a guy get a decent night’s rest around here?” Harry’s sleepy voice came from the bed. Opening his eyes, he realized that his arms were wrapped around Hermione, and she had one leg and one arm thrown over his body. And they didn’t seem to be in two separate beds anymore. Comfortable, but with everybody watching, rather awkward.

“That’s interesting. Our magic must have fused the beds while we slept,” Hermione mused, just waking. Harry leaned in to kiss her.

“Ewww… Morning breath,” teased Draco. Hermione blushed scarlet at the realization that she wasn’t alone with her boyfriend. Draco smirked. He loved teasing these people. It was just so easy.

“How would you know Draco, when you’ve never woken up with a girl in your arms to kiss?” Blaise taunted him. Draco stuck his tongue out at his Slytherin friend.

Parvati interrupted the descent into immaturity. “I think it’s sweet. Don’t you Padma?”

“Hmmm? Sure,” answered Padma, who was watching Blaise push his hair back from his face in what she had decided was a very sexy manner. She missed the rather jealous look that Neville sent in her direction. He really liked Padma, and though a year ago he would have sat back and let Blaise have a shot, with his new confidence he was already brainstorming ways to make her like him instead. Pavarti saw the entire exchange and rolled her eyes. So now in addition to snaring Draco, she had too make her sister see that Neville was a much better match for her than Blaise.

By this time, Harry and Hermione were sitting cross-legged on the huge bed. Hannah hopped up next to Hermione, and pretty soon all eight teenagers were sitting in a circle on the bed, eating the chocolate frogs and every-flavor beans that Neville had brought, while Harry and Hermione filled them in on the previous day’s events.

“Sooo… ” Padma started when conversation came to a standstill. “Hannah and I have been talking.”

“Uh oh,” said Blaise, and everyone laughed. The Ravenclaw and the Hufflepuff had become fast friends, and though the rest of the school underestimated them, this close-knit group knew better. Blaise, with his usual quiet observation, had deduced earlier that they had something they wanted to talk about.

“Anyway,” Hannah paused to let them finish laughing at the looks of outrage on her and Padma’s faces. “We were thinking that we should all start training for defense. Attacks on muggles and wizards are coming more frequently.”

“Isn’t that what the DA is for?” asked Hermione.

“Yes,” answered Padma, “but the DA is essentially a dueling club. It’s great to practice fighting, but we, our little study group, are going to be in the thick of this fight. Ginny and Ron will too, since they pretty much think of you as family, and they’ll fight with you as well. And, of course, Luna.”

“We think, that in addition to collaborating on school work, we should research ways to fight Death Eaters and protect ourselves. We should make potions, gather plants, enchant objects with runes, make up our own spells if we have to, but we should be trying to get ahead now, while we have time. And I think Pat should join us too.” Hannah’s voice was determined, and everybody listened carefully to the girls’ idea. For Hannah, it was simply amazing to have all these people to listen. The only people who usually respected Hufflepuffs were other Hufflepuffs.

“I think it’s a great idea. Maybe we should all just devote Sundays to this? We only needed the afternoon for studying before, but a full day with food breaks…” Harry smiled at Hannah and Padma. How did he get so lucky? He had all these wonderful people who genuinely cared for him, who were smart and motivated, who he could trust. Everyone agreed wholeheartedly with the plan, and pretty soon the girls had detached from the group, and were whispering among themselves. Hermione was rapidly taking notes with a conjured notepad and quill, Pavarti was offering new ideas, and they were all in full planning mode. Waving goodbye, they said they were headed to the Room of Requirement, and assured the boys that they would talk to Ginny and Luna.

“What do you think about inviting Patrick?” asked Harry to no one in particular. Blaise answered him.

“He seems trustworthy and he wants to fight. His parents were both very opposed to the Dark Lord in the last war, but they’ve been laying low this time around. His uncle was killed a few weeks ago, by Rockwood I believe. He was an auror.” Blaise offered his knowledge freely. With anyone but these friends, he would have made a deal for the information that he gathered. The greatest gossips in the school knew nothing compared to him, and he prided himself on knowing something about everyone.

“Are you asking because you’re unsure of him, or unsure of his intentions towards your girlfriend?” asked Draco, smirking again. He could read people like books, and at the moment, Harry was so obviously jealous. Usually the other boy’s emotions were closed off, but today…

“I’m not… yeah, okay. I think he likes her,” Harry admitted. “And I know she thinks of him as a friend, but what if one day…” He trailed off.

“But he likes Hannah,” said Neville, as if it should be obvious. And to him, it was, since both Pat and Hannah had spoken to him about it. “Pat kind of liked Hermione, but it was pretty obvious she was oblivious to any guys but you, even before you finally realized it. He got over it. When his uncle died, Hannah helped him through it a bit. They like each other a lot, but they haven’t really made anything ‘official’ yet.”

“Okay, well, I guess that makes me feel slightly better. I wasn’t really worried, but I still didn’t like the idea of Pat liking Maya.” Harry grinned his three male best friends. “Who’s up for a game of exploding snap?”

When the cards exploded in the fifth game, Madame Pomfrey finally put an end to it. “You boys are causing a rucus! My patients, including Mr. Potter, need to rest. I must insist that you leave now. You may visit, more quietly, in the morning.”

“Oh, thank Merlin,” came a low drawl from the right. Harry’s head whipped around to see Snape propped up on his elbows in his bed. “That infernal racket was beginning to make the Cruciatus seem bearable. Close your mouths, Potter, Malfoy. You’ll catch flies to add to the already impressive collections rotting in the empty space between your ears. Poppy, what, pray tell, is today’s date?”