Another sunny day, but why does it feel so heartbreaking again. Maybe because day to come back home is coming, oh so closer. Maybe because every time she sits on the train she remembers him. Maybe because every time she comes back home, she sees his things, reminding her how she... killed him. Maybe... Maybe...
*Pa*
A sound of one tear dropping on the stone floor. But it didn't end. It was just a trigger for a silent cry of a young girl.
*Pa* *Pa* *Pa*
Tears kept streaming down her cheeks.
"...mione..."
'Hm?'
"Hermione!"
The girl finally collected herself and tried to wipe away her own tears. Then she turned towards her only friend left, putting on her brightest smile.
"Yes, Harry. What is it?"
He didn't reply and continued gazing at her.
*Sigh*
"Were you crying again?"
"I..." Hermione wanted to lie first, but after a few seconds of silence, she finally replied, "I did..."
Silence returned, until Harry hugged her tightly, bringing her some warmth. Standing in the light clothes at the top of the Astronomy tower was probably a bad idea, even in the middle of June.
"Thanks, Harry."
"Maybe we can visit his grave together, this anniversary?"
"Really? Would Dursleys let you out?"
"Well, even if they wouldn't, I won't be asking. This Summer, Sirius will finally finish all the documents. So, I can spend the second half of the vacation with him. He should be more understanding of the situation." after which he sheepishly smiled.
"Wouldn't you have problems afterward?" she asked worryingly.
"Naah, don't worry. And speaking truthfully... I feel like I really should visit him more often. After all, I..."
However, Harry was interrupted:
"Stop! We talked about it before. It wasn't your fault."
"Listen, Hermione... I am grateful to you, but the truth is I killed the person, I called a friend. No... Not just killed him. I betrayed him... and betrayed you, by making him think it was you, who told them." The more he talked, the harder it was to continue. Every word was coming harder than the one before. His fists were clenching, so hard, nails dug deep into his skin.
Even his eyes started moistening.
"Stop, or we'll both end up crying together," Granger said trying to loosen up the conversation, which apparently helped because both of them smiled.
"Summer does bring sad memories, huh?"
On what she only smiled.
"How are you, overall? Do Snape's lessons of Occlumency effective? Were you able to block your mind from him?"
On that Harry frowned.
"No. I just..."
*Sigh*
"You still have them? Nightmares I mean."
"Now, not really."
"But not because of the lessons?"
"No... but also yes. It's hard to explain. Recently they became less vivid, but the problem is..."
"You think it's a calm before the storm," the girl finished for him.
"Yeah. And also lessons with him are tough. Especially, things he says about my father. It's hard to simply ignore. But I learned to listen, after... that..."
"Yeah, I noticed. You became...," she hummed thinking of the word, "Calmer, I would say. More collected."
"Sad, isn't it?"
"Hm?"
"That I understood how much he meant to me, only after his death. I am a shitty friend."
"You aren't. We both were equally at fault, but let's stop with bad thoughts, please."
"Okay, sorry. My bad."
"No problems."
"Ready for the tests?"
"Yeah. Mostly, Thanks to you, that is."
"Any plans for the summer?"
"Not really and ..."
***
I was sitting on top of the highest mountain in the Solar System, located on mars, breathing in the magic power of the whole planet as well as all the radiation that showers it all the time. All that power was converted and used to change the mother's System. Redefine it. Remove unneeded pieces. Leave the core. Upgrade it. Tweak it. Improve connection to the Framework.
Unfortunately with my current knowledge and the resources at hand, I can't create my own system yet.
When mother was making a system she had limitless knowledge about a myriad of worlds and whole Universe customized to generate power.
But no matter. I will reach that level one day as well.
[Message received...]
'Open'
['Master, that guy, Volde-something became a bit too active. Something is coming. Also, the girl you asked to watch over is doing just fine, but seems like she got close to the boy with a lot of destiny power circulating around.']
'Well, that is to be expected. After all, destiny makes sure these 3 remain connected.'
Destiny is like a river. In a sense that it's currents are always flowing one way. Even if you try to swim against it, at some point, you won't have enough power to keep the struggle.
Speaking of Harry, he changed since he found out about my death. It seems, the idea with "leaving last words" played out quite nicely. After I publicly died, during the "attack of the beast", how they later called that event, Greek wizards visited England. Finding a boy who lived wasn't hard, because Greece was a major player in the European magical community. So, wizards, living there, knew about Potters family and their history.
Basically, my death played a role similar to Black's death in Harry's fifth year of Hogwarts. He became more serious and overall grew up mentally.
Another change compared to the original story was Hermione. Since year one, I was her best and closest friend, so when she lost me, she had a mental breakdown. Moreover, it was Harry, the person who tipped "enemies" on the fact that she has means of contacting me, who had to inform her of my "death".
Humans are strange beings. Thanks to their common feelings about my death, they grew closer.
As for Ron, well... Harry was already mentally tired. But then he got into an argument with Ron during the Tri-Wizard tournament. So they have grown apart. Nevertheless, same as in film, Ron asked for forgiveness after the dragon challenge and tried to return everything back to the way it was. However, at that time Harry already developed increasingly close relationships with Granger, so they never reached the level of friendship they had before my death.
Interesting how Destiny despite forcing everyone into one direction, still allows some space in terms of picking which path you'll take to reach your destination.
Anyway, the time has come to remove the so-called, Dark lord.
I stood up and stretched my body. Even muggles would be able to feel Mana spilling out of my body, affecting the very fabric of reality, bending it to my will.
'This vessel is reaching its limits.'
Soon it will reach levels of power that this timeline won't be able to support. Not in the blocked state at least. I need to unblock the timeline at one point or another, but first I'll need to make the perfect vessel and gather some destiny.
'Find all the Horcruxes of Voldemort and mark their location. Prepare for transportation at the signal.'
[Calibrating God's Eye...]
[Starting the search...]