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"Hermione…" the voice called out to her.
She felt like she was dreaming. Her feet led her through the forest. Hermione felt herself be pulled through the thicket towards what looked like a small clearing. What had brought her there, she couldn't quite explain. She felt the call and she answered.
"Hermione…" the voice called out again.
A gentle autumn breeze blew past her, causing the falling leaves to swirl around her. Hermione could feel it, old magic. It was calling out to her and her magic answered, guiding her through the forest full of reds, oranges and yellows. The air felt crisp, and she could hear the rustle of leaves from the trees above her.
A vine-covered archway appeared before her and Hermione knew that this was the place that was calling her. She stepped through and was surprised by the amount of light in the clearing. The lack of trees had created an opening in the canopy. The clearing seemed to be devoid of plants and even leaves. It was unnaturally clean but Hermione felt safe. Safer than she had felt for a long time. Not since the war.
In the centre of the clearing was a singular tree stump upon which was a large ornate mirror. The glass looked like it was frosted from a distance, as if years of life in the forest had removed its ability to mirror images. The frame was white, an unnatural white for the amount of time that Hermione suspected it had been there.
"Hermione…" the voice called once more. This time, Hermione could tell. It came from the mirror.
She approached and her hand traced the frame. It felt warm to the touch despite the cool air. As her hand moved from the frame to the glass, she gasped. The clouded glass cleared and in its place, someone was looking through it at her. To Hermione's surprise, it wasn't her reflection, but instead a young man was looking at her, a very familiar young man.
For the second time within minutes, Hermione gasped. "Remus…"
It was him; she could see he was in the same forest clearing. She spun around but found that she was alone in the stillness of the forest. He was younger, much younger than she remembered him.
"How…?" she asked, "How are you here?" Her mind raced. He was dead. What was this mirror? A portal into the afterlife? But why was he so much younger?
"I heard you calling me," he said. His hand touched the mirror, and she felt drawn to it, a deep longing for him. He had been gone for some time, but the pain hadn't gone away.
Hermione reached out, her hand touched his and instead of the mirror, she felt skin. The warm hand of the man she had loved but could never have.
"What is this place?" she asked. She looked around once more and noticed now the ring of small mushrooms lining the clearing. She had read about that before… a fairy circle. Had they arranged this meeting?
"I think the fairies of the forest have plans for us, why else would they call us here?" he asked. His green eyes sparkled with curiosity. "I was at the brink of death, I saw my body… my old body and I saw your face and suddenly, I found myself here… in this very clearing."
Hermione looked at his youthful face, Remus looked about her age and there were no scars, no bags under his eyes, no grey streaks in his hair. He looked healthy; he looked alive. She felt tears form in her eyes, and she knew they were happy tears.
"I… lost part of myself when you died," Hermione said, admitting for the first time. "I loved you, it was wrong, I was still a student and you were much older than me… but I lost my soulmate."
Remus nodded, their fingers threaded within each other and crossed the divide of the mirror. "I felt the same… but you were so much younger than me. You deserved better…"
Hermione shook her head. "YOU deserved better, you were… are kind, intelligent, gentle… you were more than deserving."
"But now…" she said, looking around at the clearing, where she swore that she saw a sparkle between two of the trees. "We are here, we are together… doesn't that mean something?"
Remus nodded. "I don't fully understand where we both are, how we can share this space, but we are together. I lost you once…" he cut off and Hermione didn't need to hear the rest. She knew what he meant.
She squeezed his hand. Despite the time progressing on, the clearing stayed well lit as the mushroom circle glowed in the evening light.
"What happened after… after I died?" he asked, hesitating for a moment when he saw her troubled expression.
"Harry defeated him, but we suffered great losses. Fred Weasley, Colin Creevey… Tonks, so many others… you," she said. She knew that the end of the war was something to celebrate, but the loss of so many had weighed heavily on her. Maybe if she had prepared more, studied more, she could have prevented so much heartbreak.
Her heart raced and her head spun, threatening to send her into yet another anxiety attack, many of which she had had since the end of the war. A cool breeze circled her, and a slight flurry of leaves followed as if the forest was trying to embrace her. Maybe it was. She focused on the warmth of Remus' hand and her mind cleared.
"Hermione…" Remus whispered. "I am sorry I left you."
"You couldn't help it…" she whispered back. "You are here now though, that is what matters."
"But… we can't stay like this forever." Remus pondered, "You have a life outside this forest and… I am not alive any more." He voiced what she knew. They couldn't stay here as much as they wanted to. For the first time in a while, Hermione felt whole.
"You seem alive to me," she said, gripping his warm hand. She wondered… with a tug. She pulled at his hand and was surprised when his arm came through the glass. "What would happen if you were to step through?"
Remus looked at his side of the mirror and Hermione did the same. Could one of them cross the barrier? They could be together, but there would be questions, more questions than there already were… why was he there? How was he there?
Just then, a small voice called out. "He can't stay on this side, but you can stay on his," the voice said. It was full of mirth and looking around, Hermione found the source, a fairy. Usually fairies couldn't speak, Hermione had studied them in Care of Magical Creatures. This fairy seemed to sparkle more than those she had seen before. The fairy gave a little curtsey in the air and then used the mirror to retouch her hairdo.
"Miss Hermione Granger, fellow saviour of the magical world, we the faire folk have granted you a boon," the fairy said, placing both hands on her little hips in pride.
"I, Merry, ambassador to the magical giants… you call yourselves witches and wizards, have been tasked with granting your innermost wish," she continued.
Hermione looked in awe from Merry to the Mirror, to Remus. Why her?
"My innermost wish?" she asked, her voice breaking.
"Yes, we know of your love for the werewolf… or should we say man? We have restored him and placed him in the mirror world – you would call it an alternative dimension," Merry explained.
"I'm not a werewolf any more?" Remus asked in astonishment. His freehand moved up to his face where the scar used to be. His fingers met unmarked skin and Hermione smiled as she saw the relief in his face.
"This is too much… it can't be true!" Hermione said. Her hand left Remus' for a moment. She was dreaming. It had to be a dream.
"You are not dreaming, this is real," Merry sighed and looked a little annoyed at Hermione's accusation. Her little nose raised, Merry crossed her arms and turned away while still floating in the air.
"You may reject the boon… but you will not see him again."
Hermione looked from the clearing and beyond. The darkness seemed eternal outside, but it was bright within the mushroom circle. She pinched her arm, 'ouch, yes that was real.' She wasn't dreaming, this was real.
"What happens if I go over there?" she asked. She reached out and grabbed Remus's hand again. She couldn't believe that she was considering it, but life after Hogwarts was not what she had imagined.
"I can't tell you that!" Merry said with a giggle and with a pop, she was gone.
"Hermione…" Remus said, calling her to him once more. "I can't ask you to do this."
"Why not?" she asked, "I have nothing here… a job at the ministry? Harry is getting married to Ginny and Ron is busy with his family. My family is gone…"
"I am sure that Harry and Ron would not want you to go," he urged. "They love you; they are your best friends."
"But you are the love of my life," she said. She looked into his green eyes and knew what she wanted. Life hadn't been the same since his death. She wouldn't lose him again.
"I want to take the risk, I want you even if I have to give up this life," she said and pushed at his hand. She felt the mirror cave as if it was a pool of water and before she knew it, she was sucked through it. She closed her eyes as the 'water' hit her face.
"Hermione," Remus called, and Hermione opened her eyes. She was there, in front of him. He was there… in the flesh, in the same time and the same place. "I can't believe you would do that for me."
"I love you, of course I would. We will figure this out together." Taking his hand once more, they left the clearing. What was waiting for them on the other side of the clearing was a mystery, but it was a mystery they would solve together.