Fulfilling Obligations (Harmione)

Chapter 4: The Meaning of Sacrifice

After Hermione had finished a small but relentless tirade of questions, Harry released a reluctant sigh. Feeling slightly frustrated that Hermione had seen the mark on his chest, he gestured for her to follow him. He didn't especially care to discuss his thoughts or actions on the day of the Battle, but his apprehension about lying to Hermione outweighed the hesitation.

Hermione walked behind Harry in silence as he made his way through the corridors. She ached to know what had caused Harry such a horrific disfigurement, but she knew better than to push him on the subject; if he told her he told her, and if he didn't there was nothing she could do about it.

Harry burst through the doors of the entrance hall and they were immediately flooded with sunlight. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Hermione had followed him out, then turned and strode down the lawn in the direction of the lake. Hermione couldn't help but notice that he seemed rather preoccupied, as if he were poring over what he should tell her.

When they finally reached the beech tree, they settled once more on the grass, both facing the lake. Hermione felt both eager and frightened, as if she were about to be read a story she was anxiously awaiting, yet terrified of how it would end.

Harry, however, did not speak immediately. He gazed across the lake in a thoughtful sort of way, and he seemed in no hurry to put an end to Hermione's intense curiosity. He sat in this manner for several moments, ignoring his friend's impatient squirming, but finally turned his head toward her.

"So what do you want to know first?" he asked.

"There's more than one thing to know?"

Harry only nodded in response.

"Well, the only thing I know to ask about is the mark on your chest," Hermione said. "So I guess that's the only place to start. What happened?"

"Voldemort," Harry said simply.

"I suspected that much," Hermione said with a slight roll of her eyes. "When exactly?"

"During the battle."

"Are you being purposely redundant?" Hermione said, exasperated. She could sense that he was being very tentative in his revelations, but she couldn't understand why. It wasn't as if she were forcing him to tell her. And she voiced this exact thought to him.

"I know you're not forcing me," Harry said. "It's just that I don't really know what to say. I wasn't really intending to tell anyone about what happened in the forest. But then you saw my chest, and now that you're asking...I sort of want to tell someone. Tell you." Harry ran a hand roughly through his shaggy hair and returned his gaze to Hermione's, who peered at him with thoughtful eyes. "I really only want to tell one person, and out of everyone I know, you'd be the person I would tell anyway. Might as well get it over with. Get it off my chest, if you will," he said as a weak attempt at humor.

Hermione couldn't help but be absurdly touched. "So you really want to tell me? You don't feel obligated to?"

"Yes, I do, and no, I don't feel an obligation to. At least not in the sense you're talking about. I feel I owe it to my best friend to tell her what happened, not to satisfy someone's curiosity," he said, facing the lake again.

"Well, okay then. So you said you were in the forest -"

"Can't get anything past you, can I?"

"No. No you can't," Hermione said, furrowing her brow thoughtfully before turning an inquisitive gaze towards Harry. "Why did you go into the forest? You should have waited for Voldemort instead of going to him. Or at least taken us with you. Taken me with you."

"There was something I needed to do," Harry said.

He decided to not respond to the comment about taking her with him, which would likely have been a succinct like hell.