Chapter 24 For The Future Memories
Despite everything that Aria had said, Harry couldn’t bring himself to fulfill Aria’s request, not after everything that had happened. Deep down, he felt sorry for Aria. He could identify with her struggles because she was right; they were very similar people. However, even though her request appeared simple on the surface, he believed it possessed a much deeper meaning, and agreeing with her somehow felt like he was betraying Ginny all over again. He wouldn’t permit himself to let Ginny down once again, so he was trying desperately to think of any possible reason to refuse her request.
“Your feet… they’re bleeding… you shouldn’t dance like that…” he stared at them hesitantly.
“I don’t feel any pain…” she replied gloomily.
“And you know… I don’t like to dance…” he tried again, his tone as controlled as ever, not wanting to upset her. He was adamant with his decision, but unfortunately he realized he had run out of excuses.
“But you’re a natural. That night you were so good…” she mumbled disappointingly. She seemed to know that he was not going through with her request.
“I repeat! There is no us! I’m sorry. Don’t waste your time!” Harry steadied Ginny in his grips and barked forcefully, shaking his head and staring at Aria coldly with a look of determination.
To his surprise, a faint smile appeared on her face. She didn’t seem upset at all. Instead, she gazed at him satisfyingly.
“Once again, I am never wrong when it comes to people. The minute I saw you, I knew you are special, a person of honor, loyalty, and values. Your love and dedication for Ginny is clearly unmatched. She’s indeed very lucky to have you,” she nodded and sighed breathlessly.
As he continued to stare at her coldly with his determined eyes, refusing to let Ginny out of his grips, he suddenly felt dizzy and weak. His knees felt like they were about to collapse. Clenching his teeth, cold sweat was breaking out all over his face.
“I already expected that… you wouldn’t spare me one final memory of us, that’s why… I had to do it…
“I’m sorry. I have to be selfish about this, Harry… But… I just can’t live without it… not anymore…”
“What are you talking about?” he asked nervously, sensing that something unexpected was about to happen. He was trying desperately to maintain his balance with Ginny in his arms, but his head was now spinning wildly.
“I’m sorry, Harry...
“What you drank earlier… it was… it was a memory potion,” Aria whimpered, slowly backing away towards the edge of the cliff as tears burst out of her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Harry. But… I just want something… to hold on to…
“I can’t have you… But… at least I’ll have your love for Ginny… it will now be mine… a part of my memories…
“I’m sorry…”
Harry gasped and took a few steps back in shock as Aria gave a final tearful stare at him with her green eyes that were now flashing a vicious silver light. At the sight of this, Harry’s eyes felt like they were on fire. He suddenly felt like his head was being squished by two solid pieces of cold metal closing in on him. Despite all the pain, he refused to let go of Ginny.
A bright veil of light suddenly exploded behind him, knocking him to the side and he collapsed to the ground. During the fall, Ginny finally fell out of his arms. The light continued to sparkle, slowly forming the shape of a bright white bird fluttering its wings. As the bird flapped its wings and became airborne, it tore off from Harry and flew towards Aria, slowly merging itself with her.
Hazy images suddenly started to appear in front of Harry’s blazing eyes. In front of his eyes was him kissing Ginny passionately under the mistletoe by the staircase, with Ron and Hermione hiding under the invisibility cloak, watching and giggling from behind.
Another image emerged. Ginny was now trimming his hair and he was admiring their reflections smiling brightly at them. He could hear their giggles.
The image and the giggles disappeared.
“NO!” he roared painfully with his arm outstretched, trying desperately to reach into the air, trying to grab the images that had faded away.
His own sounds of laughter accompanied a third image. He saw himself rolling in Ginny's bed, laughing hysterically, as she tickled him nonstop.
Then he saw himself riding a bike with Ginny behind him, crying and holding him in her arms.
He spotted the two of them hugging each other by the lakeside, tangled together by the hammock. There were paper planes sailing in the background as both were sobbing in each other’s embrace. He could hear his muffled cries.
The images and the cries vanished.
He quickly wrapped his arms tightly around his head, as if he was trying to prevent all his memories of Ginny from leaking out of his head. But it was fruitless.
Another image appeared in front of his teary eyes, and this one was him kneeling by Ginny’s bedside in the hospital on New Year’s Day, clutching the doves tightly against his chest. Hermione and the others were standing behind him, watching him tearfully. He could hear himself crying and whisper to her ear, “I love you, Ginny Weasley…”
In addition to the images, he could now hear their dialogue. He could hear his own voice and Ginny’s voice, and they were echoing faintly in his ears, all the words that they said to each other, all those endearing words, all those goodnight kisses, all those I love you’s… But they were fading away.
“PLEASE… NO! STOP!” Harry cried helplessly, wrapping his head as tightly as possible with his arms. But the images and their words continued to slip away.
His memories of Ginny continued to flash in front of his burning eyes, and the next image was them in the church, with Ginny on top of him, holding his shivering naked body, as two angels stood guard. He could hear Ginny mutter, “I love you, Harry Potter…”
Harry continued to grab frantically at his head and he was rolling on the ground uncontrollably because he was in great agony. It was as if his insides were being yanked out.
Then the final image appeared. He saw himself dying in the passageway, holding Ginny’s hand.
”You always get me in trouble…” Ginny said to him tearfully.
”I’m so bad for you…” Harry replied to her in the image.
“Forgive me…”
“Forgive me…” his voice echoed again as he saw himself letting go of her hand.
As the final image disappeared, Harry unknowingly crashed into the motionless Ginny. Wincing in pain, he refused to let himself roll away from her, so he desperately reached for her hand and held it tightly to his face as he closed his teary eyes. But he knew it was all over. His memories of her and them together were dissipating in front of his very eyes. All that they had accomplished as a couple were no more.
“NO…” Harry cried out helplessly as he gripped Ginny’s hand tightly against his face.
Standing at the edge of the cliff, Aria opened her palm and gazed at it tearfully. She was holding a butterfly pin and it was fluttering its wings. As she tossed it onto the ground, shattering it into a thousand pieces, Ginny’s eyes suddenly popped open, only to find herself in a sea of Harry’s cries. She immediately bolted up and saw him lying next to her, wincing in pain and holding her hand against his teary face.
“HARRY! ARE YOU OKAY? SAY SOMETHING!” Ginny shrieked.
Harry couldn’t talk. He managed to flash only a faint smile at her. Deep inside, he felt better because he could see she had regained her consciousness. He could see she was okay.
Aria continued to back away towards the cliff and stared at them hauntingly, with a cold smile on her face.
“Goodbye, Harry Potter.”
Aria’s backward steps were swift and sad. They were her last steps. She continued to stare at them hauntingly, with her cold smile, as she fell off the cliff.
Hermione’s strings immediately became undone and she crashed to the muddy ground. She quickly ripped the cloth away from her mouth and immediately ran to Harry, who was now curled up motionless in a fetal position.
“Open your eyes!” Hermione demanded as she quickly lifted him up.
“Ginny…” he whimpered faintly.
Harry lost consciousness.
“HARRY! HARRY!”
A deep rumbling sound suddenly roared through the dark horizons. As they looked up, they could see the skies and everything else appeared to be collapsing, folding itself like a piece of paper.
“Hurry, we have to get out of here!” Hermione and Ginny shrieked, pulling Harry up and dragging him along down the mountain. Aria was nowhere to be seen. But it appeared that her imaginary world was imploding inside out, being swallowed by the darkness, the dark border of which was racing towards the three of them.
“Ginny, we have to head to those mirrors down there! She brought me here through those mirrors!” Hermione pointed frantically.
“Hermione, save yourself! We won’t make it with Harry on our shoulders! Forget about us! Just run! I’ll pull Harry!” Ginny panted.
Hermione froze her steps and stared at Ginny, “Are you crazy? You can’t pull Harry all by yourself!”
“It doesn’t matter, Hermione. It doesn’t matter anymore…” Ginny cried despairingly. She stopped her steps and carefully rested Harry’s body on the ground. In her heart, she knew Hermione was right. Harry was too heavy to pull by herself. She could remember when they were in the passageway, how difficult it was bringing him back to the castle with Aria.
Gazing at him hopelessly, she snapped at him tearfully, “You’re such a jerk! Why are you always unconscious when you’re with me this year? Why am I always the one having to drag you to places? Are you too lazy to run with your own two feet?”
She suddenly sank all ten fingers into his abdomen and tickled him. This maneuver of hers had never failed before. He would always explode into uncontrollable laughter. But this time he remained motionless. He couldn’t feel her touch. He wasn’t laughing.
Ginny thumped her fist against his chest and yelled at him tearfully, “HARRY POTTER! CAN YOU HEAR ME? I HATE YOU! YOU ALWAYS GET ME IN TROUBLE!!
“YOU are… so bad for me…
“You always… you…” her words were finally drowned out by her sobs.
Ginny wanted to die with him, just like that night at the church. She loved him too much to let go. At least they’ll be together this way. This way they’ll never be apart again, she thought to herself.
“GINNY! SNAP OUT OF IT! PLEASE LISTEN TO ME!” Hermione pleaded desperately, anxiously watching the dark border that was merely inches away from them. But Ginny ignored her protests.
She gently removed his glasses and stroked his hair tenderly, “Harry… I… love__”
Before she could finish her sentence, the dark border had reached the three of them and swallowed them violently. All three tumbled into the darkness with the rest of the world.
Suddenly, they found themselves rolling into Aria’s classroom. Hermione pounded into the desks and Ginny and Harry crashed into the middle of the room.
“What just happened?” Hermione pulled herself up awkwardly and saw Ginny doing the same. “Ginny, are you okay? How’s Harry?”
Before she could answer, the mirrors that surrounded the classroom suddenly shattered all at the same time. The sounds of broken glass erupted across the room as the debris exploded violently. Hermione immediately dived to the floor, her arms covering her head, while Ginny wrapped herself around Harry. As the sounds of the shattering glass faded, they both looked up tiredly, trying to catch their breaths. The mirrors were no more. Instead there were walls surrounding them. There were no more reflections. It was all over.
Ginny gazed at the unconscious Harry with her tear-filled eyes. He was still unconscious, resting next to her, with his back facing her.
“Ginny, we have to get Harry to the hospital,” Hermione trudged nervously towards her, wondering whether she was aware of what had happened. “Harry… Erm… What happened is… It’s definitely not Harry’s fault, that’s what you have to know…”
Ginny shook her head despairingly. She had heard everything while she was unconscious in Harry’s arms, everything that was said between him and Aria the entire time. She understood what had happened to him and what Aria did to him. Aria was the other girl, and she had stolen from him, his memories of Ginny. Stone faced, she glanced at the chalkboard, only to see Aria’s writing still flashing faintly on it, as if it was deliberately holding onto its last breath, purposely preserving itself, and mockingly waiting for her to read it before it finally disappeared. Her words were ironic but true; what was supposed to describe Aria’s unrequited feelings for Harry would now be fittingly describing Ginny’s. She couldn’t help but smile sardonically as she stroked his hair, “While I see only you, your back is all I see. I journey by your side, our shadows forever apart...”
When I See Only You by gossipweaver
Chapter Notes: For future memories, those are the actions of today…