THE NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH | RON WEASLEY [BOOK FIVE]

24. YOUR REASONS

Gene woke up moments later.

It felt as though only seconds had passed, but it could have been hours since she had been laying there. She blinked once, then again as her surroundings began to sink in.

The sharp blades of grass against her cheek, the sight of a gazebo in the distance though the mist did its best to hide it, only it was completely white. It held no shadows, no depth to it, yet she knew it was there.

When she looked down, the grass was not green, but the same depthless white, though it held the same properties. She could curl her fingers around it, almost pulling it from the earth. If that was where she was. Gene stood to her feet, looking around before instantaneously recognising where she stood. Cordelia's home in France.

She hadn't quickly forgotten how long the journey had been to get there two years ago, so she began to wonder exactly how she had ended up in the garden. It looked the same as when she had left it, aside from the bleakness of it all.

Gene began to near the gazebo, catching a glimpse of something moving beneath the table, and she began to hope that she wasn't the only living thing there, hoping to find answers. But she did not get them as she drew closer, hearing a soft thumping grow louder and louder.

She gasped, recoiling instantly at the sight. It was something horrid, A thing, close in size to a small naked child, its skin a raw red colour, as though it had been scrubbed with a scouring sponge. She had no intention of touching it, but felt a strong desire to help it as it writhed beneath the table, whimpering pathetically.

"You cannot help."

Gene spun on her heel at the familiar voice, her heart racing as she faced Dumbledore, stood a small distance away from her. The mist encircled them, making him appear as a mirage. That must have been what this was. She was dead, after all.

He beamed at her, a smile like never before. His hand was no longer charred and damaged. She did not see the trickle of blood past his lip like the day he had died, and the nightmares that followed. He was back to the Dumbledore she had known years before.

"Jesus Christ." she said, her voice hoarse.

"Bless you." Dumbledore said, "You've grown taller, I think." he still smiled, his arms wide as she crossed the grass toward him.

She cautiously wrapped her arms around him, and she could actually feel the soft fabric of his robes as she hugged him, and she felt his hand pat her back gently. It was real, she realised. Somehow.

"I must say, I was not surprised to find that you knew of your fate, long before I intended for you to." he said, as they walked alongside one another, trailing past the creature beneath the table.

"You knew the whole time?" Gene said, though she wasn't surprised either.

"I know everything, after all." he reminded her of her words from a year ago. Or maybe even two. She wasn't quite sure anymore.

"You were the sixth Horcrux. The Horcrux he never meant to make." he told her, "Harry was the seventh. The final one."

Gene gasped. She began to look around as they walked, though she was met with no living being in sight. She could still hear the whimpering and soft thumping in the distance. If Harry was one too, then–?

"You just missed him." Dumbledore noticed, giving a small smile.

Gene gave a half-hearted laugh, shaking her head.

"So he's alive? He's okay?" she asked quickly, to which Dumbledore slowly nodded.

They made their way down the winding blanched path of the hill, coming onto the clearing where Gene pulled aside the low-hanging branch, as Dumbledore passed through first. She followed after him, where they came upon where the lake once flowed, only it sparkled a bright white now, as though it had been sprinkled with tiny diamonds.