All is fair in love and war.
"It's not over, Champ. You're just here to get some help."
I let out a long groan and squeezed my eyes shut even tighter to avoid having to wake up.
"5 more minutes. It's early." I mumbled, tucking my hands under my chin and rolling on to my side. Damn, this bed is hard as a rock.
"Come on, Em. You're not even sleeping." A familiar laugh made my lungs burn and my heart pound. "Time to talk it out. You don't have forever." My chin was cupped and I felt peace wash over me for the first time in days.
"Harold." I smiled weakly. My eyes fluttered open and I attempted to adjust to the blinding white light that surrounded Harry's face as he crouched over me and I laid on the floor.
I sat up straight and glanced around the white room full of mist, but it was just us. No Draco. No mother. Just Harry.
The fog started to fade, and the white room started to resemble the Hogwarts library. I felt my face crinkle further and further into a state of confusion as Harry grabbed my hands and pulled me to my feet.
"Wait- Where's Drake? Don't tell me he went to Hell and I'm never going to see him again." My eyes widened and I stared at Harry. "God, I'm not even surprised. This is just perfect. I should've done horrible things to go to Hell, too-"
"He's just not here, Em. That doesn't mean he's in Hell. But it also doesn't mean he isn't." He said lowly, his distaste for Draco still very obvious. "It's just you and me." He laughed and held up a hand to cut me off from going any further into the conversation. I grabbed his hand instead of looking at it, and I felt his warm skin on mine.
"You're real. I can actually feel you." I whispered, and he gave me a small laugh. "I'm dead." I finally admitted. It was the only way this craziness could all be possible.
"Well, no. Not entirely." He looked away from me to avoid my intense gaze.
"But-" I squeeze his hand, "I can feel you... and you're gone... and this sure does look like our spot to meet." I talked slowly to try and piece it all together.
"You're not really dead, Emmy. Not yet. You're in limbo." He put two fingers under my chin and brought my eyes back to his emerald ones.
"But why am I here?" I quizzed him. He gave me another small chuckle as he traced his pointer finger over the scar on my forehead.
"Part of your soul just died. You aren't dead. But you can be if you choose to be." He shrugged. "No one would blame you if you didn't want this anymore, but I should explain first." He said sweetly. I glanced around and continued to try and make sense of what was happening.
"You're just fucking with me now, aren't you? This is to make up for the time I punched you in the nose." I teased him. "I'll finally give you a kiss if you quit playing games with me. Just don't tell Draco— even if you want to rub it in his face. And I won't tell Ginny." I smiled shyly and winked as my flirtatious personality picked right back up where he and I left off, and his cheeks started to glow a brighter shade of red as he scratched the back of his neck nervously.
"I think you're just in shock- y'know, and confused." He stammered with the words while his wide eyes stayed on mine, any confidence he had a few second prior was slowly starting to slip. I giggled at him before I threw my arms around his neck and felt his familiar grasp pull me close. "I've missed your teasing. And your laugh. I've missed a lot. I'm sorry for everything that's happened to you. Between Malfoy, the shit you have to live through because you love him, your family, and now this. I know how much it sucks. I've had my own share." He told me honestly.
"It's okay." I whispered, pinching my eyes shut and hugging him tighter. "So, how does this actually work? Was this just your way of getting me alone so that we could finally have our chance? Because I'm flattered— truly," I chuckled as I pulled away from him. "But it seems as though you took a bit of an extreme approach. You didn't have to go and get me killed for me to like you. I always did. It was always just the wrong time." I admitted. He didn't look surprised as he snaked his arms together and crossed them over his chest.
"As much as I wish I could keep you here, I have to get a move on. The longer you're here, the worse it'll get to go back." He said seriously. "When you took the unbreakable vow, your father bonded your soul to Draco's." He stated the obvious.
"Yeah, that was pretty much the whole point. Although, I never put much thought behind how my father had worded my commitment. Until the last second. Literally, the last possible second." I giggled.
"Well, when his half of your souls just died, it took you along with him. But you didn't exactly die on your own account. So..." he held his hands up and gestures towards the library, "limbo." He stated.
"I just don't understand how any of this matters. Why did I come to limbo? In my opinion, dead is dead. Whether I was the one who was physically killed or not. I broke my vow, ironically." I tipped my head.
"You came to limbo so I could help you fulfill the prophecy. And it gives you something that Voldemort no longer has," he tipped his head to match mine, and my lips turned into a smile from his goofiness, "the element of surprise." He winked.
"But what about Drake?" I whispered, feeling my stomach drop and my throat tighten.
"Like I said, you two share a soul. He died, you died. What if your half decided to live, Em? What do you suppose would happen?" He nodded his chin towards me.
"He'd get to live, too." I cracked the case. "Because I live for him." My eyes met Harry's again.
"He switched sides a long time ago." Harry shook his head to convince me. "I know you've been through hell. More than hell. More than I ever had to go through, but Draco tried to take it away from you." He promised me.
"What do you mean he switched sides? He's always been on the Dark Lord's side. That's why I've been through hell and back." I argued.
"I knew I was going to die. It didn't take much for me to crack the prophecy's code either. I understood as soon as I touched it and it whispered to me." He explained further. "Then everything happened so fast at the Ministry. Death eaters, Sirius, getting possessed by Voldemort." He told me with slight humor in his voice. "I couldn't even catch a break to process everything. As soon as I got out of there, I had Dumbledore take me to the one person I knew would assist me." He sighed and took a seat on a cushioned chair.
"Draco was already so tired of it. The work, being a bad person, everything. He just wanted you back. Hell, he even asked me for advice." He laughed. "I explained what I knew, and Dumbledore told him there was a way out. If Draco could find a way to bind your souls, Draco would be able to break his allegiance to the death eaters and save you. So we planned all of this months ago. He had to get your father to agree, of course, but they are the only ones that know. Well, before your father was tortured by Lucius who was starting to catch on that something was up. Draco didn't tell a soul after I talked to him that night and he agreed with me." He continued. I sat down across from him and continued listening.
The night that Draco told me he was joining them. The night that Theodore left. What if Draco wasn't so upset because Lucius was taken away, but because of the news he had just received about me? He created an entire plan with Harry while my heart was being shattered across the street by a boy who could've gave two shits about me. He wanted to give it up. I sealed his fate into the dark side.
"Draco would join him. Keep you safe from the inside and work as a double agent. Your father would have your souls connected as soon as Draco's initiation was complete. I want you to know, that the marriage proposal was his idea though. It wasn't like he used it as his excuse. He really did want to marry you, and it was perfect that he was supposed to make his selection soon anyway. So your father agreed, and Draco did every thing he could to win you back." Harry made fun of him.
"At the time it seemed like he just wanted to spite Theodore." I admitted to him. "That's why I thought he rushed our proposal." I told him.
"Yeah he told me about that. I think he was still jealous, but he intended to make the vow long before Nott came back." He told me.
"But I remember talking to you about the engagement at school. You were so pissed at me that day. It was really out of character, and then Draco came and broke us up." I told him.
"Yeah, that was his idea. He didn't want you knowing we were working together, and you know how he is... he loves the dramatics." Harry sighed like the situation still annoyed him. "Anyway, back to the plan, Draco would keep you away from the darkness as long as he could, until the moment was right. Dumbledore was dying. He was always a step ahead of Voldemort, and he knew he would be killed, and lucky for us it was Draco who was chosen. Then Draco would try to protect you himself, not expecting it to even work so you could be brought to limbo." He said quickly.
"He's known for months. He's kept it from me for over a year." I whispered as I looked down.
"The stupider Draco played, the safer you were. Do you really think he would've put himself through all of that shit if it wasn't what he needed to do? Because in my opinion, if Draco didn't truly love you, he wouldn't have committed to the plan that deeply. He wouldn't have let them take away his emotional ties to you if he didn't know that it would only protect you. He knew you'd save him in the end, and that's all he has been doing this entire time." He told me.
"But why did I have to come to limbo?" I shook my head. "Why did you and Draco and Dumbledore and whoever else is involved need me to come to limbo?" I pressed.
"For this." He held up the elder wand. "Most powerful wand in the world." He said cooly.
"That's impossible. Voldemort has it. I saw him take it from Draco the night Dumbledore died with my own eyes. He just killed Draco with it. I watched him kill you with it." I shut down his ideas.
"Didn't you learn anything in transfiguration class?" Harry tutted his tongue as a smirk appeared on his lips. "Any object can appear as another. Although, I'm not sure how much more dark magic my silly old wand will be able to take." He chuckled.
"This is just getting more and more confusing." My face turned into a bewildered one.
"Why would I need my wand? I was going to die. All I needed was a random one, it didn't have to work good because there was no point. Dumbledore turned mine into a replica of the elder wand. It works just as well for Voldemort because it's a twin of his own, but it doesn't possess the real power." He twirled it in his fingers. "This one does. And it's for you." He held it out. "We've all had him fooled this entire time, Emelia. You are our chosen one." He confirmed.
"You've sure had me fooled, too." I breathed out as I took the wand from him.
"That's all you needed. Didn't you feel me holding your hand when it was all about to go to shit? I was already here, and I was preparing to pull you in with me." He chuckled. "The numbness was a little funny, but it obviously did the trick." He stood from his seat.
"Go back, Emmy. Take the wand and end it all. Get Draco back. Although it's been kind of comical to watch him whine to himself all week behind closed doors because he doubted our plan; go assure him that it did work and you're both alive. Give him his fresh start. He's earned it." He said sweetly. "None of this wouldn't be possible if he didn't sacrifice everything to try and help you."
I wrapped my arms around Harry's neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He let out a light laugh and reciprocated my actions.
"The love I have for you is always there. It's never going to change. I cannot thank you enough." I whispered, using this as my turn to trace his scar with my finger instead.
"Ditto." He whispered back. "Now get back out there."