ONE

Hermione watched the diagnostic spell as it twisted and shimmered in the air above her. Healer Arryn's brow had the same furrowed concentration that it always had; one that told Hermione all she needed to know.

"Any changes?" she asked as the spell dissipated.

Hermione's lips pressed into a thin line as she nodded. She had promised herself she wouldn't cry, but in light of recent events, it was near impossible to stop the tear that rolled down her right cheek. "Yesterday I tried to summon a book," she said with a sniffle. "But it barely moved from its spot on the shelf."

"When was the last time a spell was successful?" Healer Arryn asked, her quill scribbling notes over a piece of parchment at her side.

Hermione chewed at her bottom lip when it started to quiver. "Three days ago," she said after a moment, her voice cracking as she spoke.

"What spell was it?"

"Lumos."

And it had barely worked. The light that had appeared at the tip of her wand made it harder to see than had there been no light at all.

Healer Arryn nodded and gave Hermione a smile that she knew was meant to comfort, but when coupled with the hand on her forearm, she couldn't help the torrent of tears that flowed.

"It's gotten worse, hasn't it?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I'm afraid so." She gave Hermione's forearm a light squeeze and then waved her wand in the air. A wispy, three dimensional version of Hermione's body appeared before their eyes, the curse in her system black against the otherwise white of the body. "The containment I placed on it two weeks ago is starting to lose its hold. I will place another one, but at this rate, I'm afraid it won't last more than another week at best."

"How long do I have now?"

The ghostly figure disappeared and Healer Arryn took a deep breath. "A month at best before it destroys your magical core," she replied, her smile grim. "Two to three before it takes your life."

Hermione nodded, her mind numb. She had heard that before. Had known it was only a matter of time before it reached this point. She had already been dealing with it for four months; two longer than they initially gave her when she first got cursed. Closing her eyes, she leaned back against the chair and let the tears continue to flow. All the while listening to Healer Arryn chant rhythmically as she placed another containment charm around the curse inside of her.

Too scared to Apparate herself; the possibility of either being splinched, stuck somewhere, or both being all too likely, she enlisted Harry's help for travel. He was all too eager to jump at the chance to help her, still feeling guilty over what happened. They had been partners in the field, not that either of them would have it any other way.

On one mission they'd been investigating a small town in Wales. It was supposed to be a fact-finding mission, but instead they had stumbled across the source of the mysterious illness sweeping through the town. Instead of calling it in to the Department of Mysteries and sealing off the area, Hermione's curiosity had gotten the better of her. She'd gone against the feeling in her gut and touched the crystal growing out of the side of the tree. The curse being housed within transferred from it to her.

It wasn't Harry's fault, but he still assumed the blame. He said he should have insisted harder. That he should have protected her better. So instead, he did whatever he could to help. And when the curse started slowly eating away at her magic and her life in general, he was at her side, doing anything and everything that he could to help. The most recent being that he moved in with her. She had protested at first, insisting that she could take care of herself, but one night she'd been standing at her sink brushing her teeth before bed and the next Harry was kneeling over her, whispering spells to remove blood and mend her skin with shaky breath and tears in his eyes.

She hadn't protested since.

Immediately following her session with Healer Arryn, she found Harry in the lobby where she'd left him and asked to go to a few of the remaining bookstores on her list. She had already gone to most of the wizarding bookstores that she knew of, but each time she went, someone was able to recommend at least one she hadn't heard of. Today, her mission was to visit at least two or three of them. Just as he always did, Harry obliged without a word and stayed out of her way when she entered research mode.

Later that night, she finally took a break from diving into her new materials so she could sip at the bowl of soup Harry had brought for her. At least her stomach wasn't rioting about food today. Then again, she was always a bit stronger for a few days after having the containment charm replaced. With her eyes glued to the book she had just set down, she ate carefully; spoonful by spoonful.

"Hermione?"

Slowly, she turned her head towards Harry where he sat in the chair perpendicular to her spot on the couch. She gave him a soft smile, hoping it would deflate the worry that knit his brows together.

"Did you find something?" he asked, his gaze flickering toward the object holding so much of her attention.

She swallowed hard, her gaze averting from his. She had found something. And as promising as it sounded, she knew the moment she told him he would volunteer. It wouldn't have been the worst situation to find themselves in, but it was a strange one; one that could never be undone. The last thing she wanted to do was take advantage of his kindness or his guilt in such a manner.

"Hermione, if you've found something-"

"I did," she interrupted, her voice low as she fed herself another spoonful. "I'm just working over the logistics first."

His eyes widened in surprise. She sighed and gestured towards the book. She watched as he set his soup down to pick up the tome and turn to the page she instructed him to. She looked away then, focusing on her soup as he read. From the corner of her eye she could see him slowly understand just what it was she had found. She also saw the moment he stared at her, his gaze raking over her once or twice before setting the book back down.

"Okay."

"Harry-"

"If you think this will work, Hermione, I'll do it. I'll do anything I can to save you."

Her hands began to shake, the soup sloshing around in her bowl. Harry was there, taking it from her, setting it next to his. A moment later he was on his knees before her, his hands holding tight to both of hers over her lap.

"You spent seven years risking your life for mine, Hermione. We went through hell and back together and came out stronger for it in the end. I already lost Ron," he said, his voice cracking. "I can't lose you too."

"Ron wasn't your fault, Harry." Both of them wept at the memory of their friend. From the moment he took his own life after the war, unable to cope with his grief, both Harry and Hermione had clung to one another. Even two years later, they still felt as though a part of them were missing; that their trio was incomplete. "We couldn't have saved him anymore than you could have saved me in Wales."

They were silent a moment, their tears splashing across their joined hands. "Do you think this will work?"

"I'm not sure," she whispered. "But it isn't the first time I've seen it mentioned." If it didn't, well, she had already made her peace with the notion that she would be dead before the end of the year. "If it backfires, you could die too."

"If you die, there won't be anything left to live for."

"That's not true and you know it," she said, her voice a bit harsh. She extracted her hands from his and cupped his face, tilting it back so she could stare down into his eyes. "My parents will never get their memories back and without Ron, the only person I have left is you, Harry. But you," she whispered, her thumbs wiping away a few of his tears. "You still have a father. He needs you; you're all he has left."

He smiled up at her before he brought his hands up to rest on top of hers before he leaned into her touch. "Then I guess you better get this to work," he murmured.

She smiled back at him. "No pressure, right?"

He huffed a laugh as he pulled away only to sit next to her on the couch instead of going back to his chair. "If there's anyone who could figure it out, it would be you. Brightest witch of her age and all that."

She rolled her eyes and reached for his hand, twining their fingers together. She stared down at them as she asked, "You read the whole page right? You understand what being bound entails?"

She could hear the way he swallowed hard and how his fingers tightened against hers for a split second. "Yes."

"Are you sure? Harry this is-"

"I know what it means, Hermione," he interrupted, his voice firm. "And I don't care. I told you; I'll do whatever's necessary to make sure you have the life you were meant to." She followed the motion of their joined hands as he lifted them to his lips. The feel of them brushing over her knuckles did something to her she hadn't thought was possible. "Just tell me what you need and when you need it by."

She swallowed hard over the increase of her heartrate, hoping he couldn't hear the way it hammered against her chest. "The full moon is four days from now. The ritual says it will work best then. There's a list of what we need for the binding ceremony on the page before it."

"Then I'll go shopping tomorrow and get everything," he said as he gently put her hand down.

She simply nodded as he handed her her bowl again. They both resumed eating their meal, but this time in complete silence as they thought about what was to come.

A/N: Welcome to another fic! This one will be 5-10 chapters in total and I'm still working on it. No set update schedule as it will most likely be when I feel like it. This is a canon divergence and things will be explained as we go along.

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