Harry Potter and the Wizards of Waverly Place: The Stone of Dreams

Chapter 21

Harry and Hermione lit their wands. The Russo siblings tried to light theirs with no luck. It must be a failsafe, Hermione thought. Some sort of secondary generator which was dedicated to suppressing the magical powers of the rest of the American Wizard World. Though, obviously the Oligarchs of this world must keep their own powers "off-the-grid." Or else they wouldn't be able to fix it when it went down.

They slowly crept down the hallway expecting to see Death Eaters any second now. They weren't disappointed. A wand pointed out of the shadows and fired off a Killing Curse directly at Harry, who didn't see the green sparks until it was too late. Hermione and Alex both screamed.

Alex had been closer to Harry and seen the wand just as it appeared. She screamed "NO!" and shoved Harry away from the blast, taking the full hit. Alex dropped and hit the floor with a sickening thud.

Harry froze... Sirius was falling again through an empty ancient doorway, Cedric lay dead next to a graveside, he heard his mother screaming and there was a green flash. For all the sense of connection between them, and Max's comments, Harry hadn't been friends with Alex long enough to know if he could have ever loved her like he loved Hermione. But he liked Alex well enough, and knowing that she had died to protect him tipped him into a rage that he hadn't realised was still inside of him.

It was Bellatrix all over again, but this time Harry really meant the Unforgivable Curse he fired at Dolohov. The green lightning hit Dolohov in his chest and he collapsed in a lifeless heap. Hermione was crying, under any other circumstances she would have been horrifed that Harry had wielded the Killing Curse. But she was so angry herself, that she fired her own curses towards the door of the Power Core, hoping that one of them would hit a Death Eater trying to escape from the room.

Max dragged his sister back into the shadows, away from all of the ricocheting spells, his heart pounding. He was more scared than he ever had been in his life. He didn't know if Alex was alive or dead. He couldn't see, so he put his head to her chest. Max couldn't hear a breath or a heartbeat. He was too terrified to cry or do much of anything, but he wasn't leaving his sister. Max cradled Alex in his shaking arms.

Alecto, Amycus, and Rowle could hear the spell-fire outside the door that Dolohov had been guarding. Alecto cracked the door again, firing several more random curses before slamming it shut once more. The only way to escape now would be to apparate, which they could do now that the grid was down, but Alecto didn't want to lose Potter. She had come too far. She aimed her wand at the computers controlling the core containment field and blasted it into a heap of melted circuit boards.

Now they could apparate, certain that the resulting blast from the core breach would wipe out anything in the immediate vicinity. Alecto just had one more thing to do before she left. Rowle was distracted by another curse rebounding off the door. He didn't notice the curved blade until he felt it slice through his neck. Blood sprayed everywhere, his head nearly severed from his body.

Amycus laughed maniacally. Rowle's body reminded him of Nearly Headless Nick. But Amycus doubted that Rowle had made the necessary arrangements to remain bound to the Earth as a ghost.

"He's had that one coming for a while. Nice one, Alecto," He cackled.

"Shut it!" Alecto snapped; there was no time to waste gloating. "We're leaving now--if Potter doesn't die in the explosion at least it'll be easier to find him." She grabbed her brother and disapparated.

Hermione and Harry both felt it. The core was unstable. They couldn't do anything now. They ran back the way they came and tripped over Alex and Max. They each grabbed a Russo and disapparated barely in time. The explosion of the core ripped through the City Hall complex and the blast radius kept expanding until it swallowed up the entire central city of the Wizard World.

Hermione and Harry reappeared a good distance from the city and watched in horror as the Mushroom cloud lit up the Wizard World. Harry wondered if the radioactive fallout was going to kill them slowly. Hermione reminded him that it wasn't a nuclear explosion, but a magical one. Neither one of them noticed that they hadn't spoken aloud.

They turned their attention to Alex and Max. Max, as stoic as ever despite his terror, was still trying to revive Alex. They didn't have the heart to stop him, but Hermione gently pulled Max back.

"Let us try, Max," said Hermione quietly, knowing that it would be futile. Harry was the only known survivor of the Killing Curse. There was no magic spell that bring Alex back. It had been less than 5 minutes since Alex had been hit. Hermione knew that CPR couldn't revive someone hit by a killing curse either. But she began compressing Alex's rib-cage anyway.

"Harry, you breathe for her okay," said Hermione shakily. 

Harry obeyed without hesitation, hoping beyond reason that there was still a chance. Hermione pressed on methodically and Harry breathed into Alex. Something impossible was happening... Hermione stopped pressing because she could feel a pulse. Alex gasped and Harry stopped giving her mouth to mouth resuscitation. Alex coughed a few times and began to choke. Harry immediately rolled Alex on her side and she vomited.

Seeing his sister moving again released the energy Max had been using to hold himself together, and he began to cry. He wanted to hug Alex and never let go. But instead he let Hermione and Harry hold onto Alex.

"What happened Hermione?" asked Harry quietly while he cradled Alex's head and upper body, utterly bewildered.

"I don't know Harry." Hermione replied. "But... but if I had to guess, I'd say it has something to do with that magical feeling we've all been sharing. Maybe... maybe we've been having some sort of effect on each other like horcruxes. ... Perhaps that connection between us kept her from being killed outright by the spell, allowing us to bring her back the old-fashioned muggle way. I've cast a couple of simple healing charms, so she'll be alright enough to move in a few more minutes." 

Alex stirred and opened her eyes, blinking in the twilight of the firestorm dying down in the distance.

"Harry... wha-what happened to me?" asked Alex groggily. "I... I thought I was dead!"

"You were almost for a few minutes." Replied Harry. "Technically, you should still be dead, nobody else has survived that curse before except me. But Hermione and I managed to resuscitate you anyway. According to Hermione, you're alive because we're alive. That magic connection we keep feeling--it has something to do with it--we think."

"You saved me..." Alex started to say.

"...After you saved me!" said Harry earnestly. "And it was Hermione who knew what to do." Alex grinned and some colour came back into her cheeks. She had never known someone so selfless that they wouldn't even take any of the credit they deserved. Not Justin, who, despite a penchant for rules, was as selfish and conniving as the rest of the Russos. Not Max, who was always taking credit when he had done nothing. Not even Harper, who was more like the Russos than she would ever care to admit.

Hermione and Harry helped Alex up into a sitting position, one on each side of her. Suddenly, before Harry had anything to say about it, Alex kissed him full on the lips. He was about to back away but Hermione wouldn't let go of the arm he had clasped behind Alex's back. When Alex stopped, she looked soulfully into his eyes, then she turned her head the other direction and kissed Hermione too.

Hermione was startled, but she didn't pull away either. She had let Alex have the kiss with Harry because Alex deserved it after saving him. Hermione  certainly hadn't expected a kiss herself. She had never imagined that she would ever kiss another girl in that way. And she was surprised to find that kissing Alex felt every bit as nice as kissing Harry.

Max mused that he had been right after all. Harry did have two girlfriends. And yes, it was kinda hot. And yes, it was also awkward because one of the girls was his sister. Max heard footsteps approaching. Wizard World was falling back into darkness as the flames in the city died down. Anxiously he looked around.