Before I Met You

Chapter 10; It Bites From Behind (last chapter)

Unfortunately, to Harry's dismay, his whole life had been a lie. It's like being stabbed through the heart, getting your whole life ripped away from you in a matter quicker than a second. A lot would be happening in Harry's life from now on. He would recall amazing adventures that he brewed up in his head, and remember all of the sweet innocence of the ones who truly loved him.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Harry huddled in the small corner of the dormitory alone, wishing that he could express his feelings how he wanted to. The last two nights' dreams had been amazing, comforting. If only he hadn't felt this way/ If only he truly wanted to be with Ginny.

But what bothered him most was that being with Malfoy in his dreams was nothing like what it felt like in real life. Draco hated him, and he was supposed to hate him back just the same. Ginny was good. She is good enough for him. Harry didn't need someone else. He had Ginny. But in all of Harry's honesty,

Ginny was not enough.

Harry rose from his fetal position and made his way downstairs. He was sure to sneak past Ron and Neville, which to Harry's content, were arguing about a matter of wizard's chess. Being very circumspect, Harry knocked on the door of the girl's dormitory three times fast, once, and then another 2 times.

Hermione peeked her head out of the door, and seeing Harry stepped out. The two of them made their way to the Quidditch pitch, where Harry always went to clear his mind. As the walked towards the posts, Hermione's hair blew back, swinging softly in Harry's face.

"So," Hermione started. "This could be our last day seeing each other."

Harry looked at her, startled. "What?" He had no idea what she was talking about. He didn't come all the way down here for her to start making jokes. "Hermione, are you feeling alright?"

"Are you? Harry, don't you realize?" she asked. Harry was feeling awful. He got no sleep in the time leading up to this moment, and he was pretty positive he wouldn't be getting anymore sleep for the rest of the day.

"What are you talking about? Does Ron know this, all of this rubbish you are talking about? Maybe I'll ask him."

Hermione's hand shot out at Harry and firmly gripped his shoulder. "Harry, you really don't know what's going on?" she said. Harry shook his head. Hermione relaxed and stood adjacent to Harry. She took a deep breath. "Look down. At your feet, I mean. What do you notice?"

It was then that Harry knew, deep in his heart, what was going on. His heart was pounding against his chest, and his breathing stopped. Temporarily, he felt like throwing up. How was this possible? It couldn't be. Too much happened in too much time for this to be happening.

But even with the realistic thinking, Harry knew he was wrong. He knew that Hermione was right, no matter what he did to try and rebuttal it.

As the sun rose, Harry made his way back to the castle. He felt as if he were pulling hundred pound weights from both of his ankles. Once he got to the castle, he entered the Great Hall, which he immediately regretted. The walls were fading. The color was draining from them and the walls were utterly fading. Empty spaces within them were filled with pure white.

He approached the Gryffindor table and took his seat between Hermione and Dean, across from Ron. "Something's missing." Harry said, more to himself than anyone. Ron looked around and shook his head.

"No, I don't think there is." Ron concluded. But Harry knew there was something. It was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't quite find the correct puzzle piece. Hermione nudged his shoulder.

"The Hufflepuff table is missing. No Hufflepuffs." she said. Then it clicked. The Hufflepuff table was missing, and there were no Hufflepuffs. Harry was worried, but also a bit relieved.

"You see it too, Hermione? You can see the walls fading and missing table?" Harry asked, a bit excited. Her face turned solemn, as she shook her head.

"No, Harry. Only you can see it. I just, well, Dumbledore told me long before his death, that things would start to happen and my job is to guide you through it. I know exactly what will happen at what times."

"Oh," Harry said, disappointed. He couldn't believe it. Everything except for him would eventually leave this amazing world, and Harry had so little time. The more he thought about it, the faster things would disappear.

As time went on, more of the castle and grounds were being effaced. Harry felt that he had no choice but to spend the last few hours with his friends, that he knew, he would never have. Eventually, Harry had to stay in his dormitory on his bed, where he would wake up tomorrow alone. Ron was sitting across from him on his own bed, which was slowly turning to white. Half of Ron's body was gone now, smudging downwards like wet paint dripping.

"Ron, just in case I never see you again, I want you to know that I will never find a friend like you." Harry said.

Ron smiled a sad smile and began to speak. "Mate, in case you don't know, I have figured out what's going on. I hate to say it, but this world will be nothing without you. Absolutely nothing." The two of them sat looking at each other until Ron was gone, and all that surrounded Harry again, was white. He lied down and closed his eyes, trying his best to keep it cool. He knew that once he woke up, he wouldn't remember any of this, because that's just the way dreams go.

Only the worst dreams stick with you. Nightmares, stupid plots, they are the ones that stay in your brain. The best dreams, ones about fairy tales and friends will never stick with you. Harry wouldn't know anything about the Wizarding World, nothing about the Dark Lord or Hogwarts. He wouldn't remember the names of his closest friends, and he wouldn't remember the name which holds most meaning to him, the name of his enemy who he ended up falling for.

------------------------------

Harry woke up to a loud banging on his bedroom door. It was most likely Dudley trying to give him a heart attack. He heard familiar voices calling his name, which he knew were Uncle Vernon's and Aunt Petunia's. Automatically, Harry rose, fetched the mail, served himself breakfast and was thrown into the back of the car, while Petunia, Vernon and Dudley enjoyed a nice trip down to the zoo for Dudley's birthday.

As they walked, Harry approached a snake, one in which he's never seen before, or even noticed other times he's been here, but somehow it was trying to communicate with him. The snake jerked its head and body, but Harry had no clue what it was trying to do.

"Are you a big fan of snakes?" a young man asked him. He was a staff member of the zoo, Harry knew because of his uniform. He was average height, pretty pale with natural ginger hair.

"Oh, uh, sure."

The man smiled. "She's been here for years now. Her name is Nagini. A beautiful python."

"Does she usually act like this?" Harry asked, holding back a snicker because of the way this snake was acting.

"No, she was fine before." the man said. "Well, if you have any questions, my name's Ron."

Harry smiled and nodded once. He could swear that name was familiar, but couldn't recall anything. Maybe, just maybe, he heard it in a dream. But of course, Harry being Harry, he couldn't remember a thing from last night. Harry walked away from the glass, watching Vernon, Petunia and Dudley having a great time together, and he couldn't help but think where he would be if his parents were never killed in that car crash.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay guys, here's the thing. Let me know if you understand how everything was tied together this chapter. And as the title reveals, this is the very last chapter of this book! I know, it came pretty unexpectedly, but it was time to wrap things up and get a move on. I really hope you guys enjoyed this book. Please let me know what you thought of it down below, and also check my conversations page on my account and take the survey posted, it would be great!

Anyway, this will be goodbye for now to all of you who have been reading this since chapter 1. I hope to see many of you again when I start my second book. I thank all of you for reading this and supporting me for all of this time, it has been a great 7 months!!!

Very sincerely with much love, Danielle