Captivate and Mesmerize

Captivate; Part 1.7

The first thing Hermione felt when she came through to the world was the weight on her left hand. She scrunched her eyes, blinked them open, and turned her stiff neck to the side to find the source of the pressure. She saw her hand encased in someone else's, this someone else whose head was resting on his arm as he dozed peacefully. His black hair was wild and sticking out from all over the place. She couldn't see his face but Hermione knew who it was. She smiled and felt tears coming to her eyes.

Her nightmare was just that, a nightmare.

The images she saw of Harry leaving her, of him dying horrible deaths over and over again were just conjurings of her deepest, darkest fears.

They weren't true and he was there with her.

She squeezed the hand holding onto hers gently and felt him stir. His head shifted and his tired, sleepy eyes behind skewed glasses blinked confusedly as he raised his head from resting on his arm. His other arm - the lilied arm, she noted - raised to adjust his glasses before his gaze focused on hers.

"Hermione!" He gasped. He raised from his seat and looked down at her, his eyes scanning frantically over her form. "You're crying! Are you hurt? What's wrong? Should I get the healers?"

She squeezed his hand again and smiled weakly. "I'm okay, Harry. I'm just... I'm just so happy you're okay. I was so scared." She said, and more tears pooled into her eyes.

A breath left him. "You silly witch," he said, and sat back down. "I should be worried about you. You had us all worried, Hermione. Do you... do you remember what happened?"

Hermione turned to face the ceiling as she tried to recall what transpired that put her at what looked to be a private ward at St. Mungo's. "I remember getting on a lift at the Ministry... and then you and Amanda and other Aurors got on as well. We got off at the atrium and then... and then you pushed me!" She gasped. Her head swiveled to look at him almost accusingly.

Harry's hand squeezed hers again while the other combed through his hair. "I know, I'm sorry," he said, his voice grave. "The lift operator - we later found out he was Macnair - was plotting to off me. He got into the Ministry and I knew something was off with him so I pushed you out of the way and jumped down just in time to avoid an Avada heading our way," Hermione gasped at his retelling. "But before I could get to you, he sent a curse to your direction and... and it hit you." His face was twisted in a rueful grimace.

"Oh Harry..." Hermione whispered softly.

"You were unconscious for two days, Hermione. The healers couldn't figure out what curse he hit you with." He continued. Harry's voice was soft, strained, and filled with anger. "We finally got approval to use the Veritaserum on him, and he told us. It was a curse he developed. The cursed would look like they were sleeping peacefully, similar to the effects of the Draught of the Living Dead, but they would be plagued with their worst fears. He... he said that there was no cure, and the cursed would just lose the will to live."

"Harry..."

"That was the single most scariest moment of my life, Hermione," he said fiercely. He turned his gaze on hers and held her eyes. "I thought I would lose you, but I knew that I couldn't give up. So I put myself in your shoes. I tried to see how you would approach this problem. That was when I thought to use the Patronus. I remembered you saying long ago that the Patronus is a tangible form of pure, positive energy. It is happiness, joy, and hope in one spell. I... I thought that would dispel the fear you were cursed with. And thank God it worked."

"Harry," Hermione breathed again. She extracted her hand from his grasp and brought it up to rest in his cheek. He instinctively turned his face to burrow in her soft hand. "I'm okay now. Thanks to you and... and to Prongs," she said with a smile. "I remember seeing him, you know. When everything was dark and I felt so miserable because... because of that nightmare. I saw him crashing through the illusion and he led me out."

His right hand came to take her hand back and he kissed her fingers gently. "I'm so happy you're safe. If you need to talk to anyone about... about the nightmares, then you know you can talk to me, Hermione."

Hermione's eyes darkened slightly as she was reminded of the visions she saw of Harry dead, or dying, or leaving her alone as she cried on the ground. She looked at the Harry who was with her now, holding onto her hand, looking at her softly. This was what was real.

"I know, Harry," she whispered softly. "I don't know if I'm ready to talk about it now, but I know I can talk to you when I am. Thank you," she said.

He smiled. He rose from his seat, bent over her, and withdrew his right hand from hers to wipe away at stray curls on her forehead. He lowered his head and placed a soft kiss on her forehead, lingering for just a second before tilting his head back and sitting down again. His hand went back to its place in hers, and he looked at her with a smile.

Hermione's brows were scrunched together as she looked at their interlaced fingers. She had noticed something when his hand was near her face and she could see more of the mark now that she was concentrating on his hand.

"Harry... did you get a new tattoo?" She asked.

He just smiled and turned over the hand which was holding hers. On the inside of his right arm, opposite the lily and the owl on his left, was a timeturner. The orbits were perfectly circular surrounding a sand dial framed with stars and moons. The two notches were placed symmetrically on either side of the metal rounds. Curved along one half of the timeturner, as if cradling it and protecting it, was an otter. Its sinuous body was twisted so that its long tail was by one notch of the timeturner while its head was by the other. Its small hands and feet were clasped together and its eyes were closed peacefully. A small, almost feline small was on its lips.

"Harry..." Hermione whispered and she felt the tears pool into her eyes.

He simply brought her hand to his lips and kissed it again. "I was so scared, Hermione. I thought I would never see you wake up again, never see you smile again, never be able to talk to you again. I was so relieved, so happy, when the healers said the patronus worked. You were important to me... you are important to me, so I... I got this," he said, head gesturing to the ink. "They remind me of you. One of the happiest moments of my life was when we were on Buckbeak to rescue Sirius. We couldn't have done both of those without your timeturner. And... and the otter is your patronus. I thought it fitting, considering what I had to do to bring you back to me."

The tears did spell from Hermione's eyes then. She cried and laughed at the same time as she sniffled and used her other hand to wipe away her tears. Harry's mouth lifted at the corners as he watched her try to compose herself.

"Harry, you've got me blubbering like a baby!" Hermione chided as more tears continued to pour.

His face broke in an all out grin and he used his newly tattooed hand to help wipe away her tears. "Hermione, don't you ever, ever, scare me like that ever again. You can't leave me." His words, while said in jest, held truth and demanded promise.

She sniffed and turned her dewey eyes toward his. "I won't, Harry. I promise."