Hope
Deleted Epilogue
By Jeconais
Author Notes:
This Epilogue was deleted shortly after release as it didn't make any sense. It was an attempt to show a fantasy (From part 9) but it just failed.
Re-added as this site is an archive.
Tourists looked on in distaste as the crone staggered down the steep path. No one tried to help her.
Her hair was long and wild, unkempt. Her unseeing eyes were milky white, clouded by cataracts. She was talking to herself endlessly, and she reeked of sweat, urine and decay. She was far too realistic to be one of the recreationists that worked on the site.
Each step seemed like it would be her last, and she wavered, but she continued on regardless, as if driven.
An ancient Land Rover drove past, its horn blaring as it swerved to avoid her, but she paid it no attention.
Every step was a step closer to her goal.
At the bottom, an old English Heritage hut showed fictitious stories about Arthur and Merlin, in the latest Tri-D. She slowly shuffled past it, vaguely happier to be on somewhat level ground as she headed towards the shore. The tide was in, stopping her progress, so she waited. Minutes, hours, days - time was meaningless to her.
Someone, an employee, tried to talk to her, but she waved him off fiercely. She wouldn’t be stopped now.
Finally, the tide was ebbing. She made her way down the steep steps, still muttering and talking, and into the large cave. Vicious crosswinds tried to blow her off her feet, but she ignored it as she took another step closer to her goal.
“Let me in,” she commanded. But nothing happened. The employees looked at each other, and one picked up his 3Wtech phone and called for social services.
“I must!” she shouted.
And then she was gone.
The old woman stumbled forward, catching herself on a funeral bier. Muttering an apology to its occupant, she moved toward the second, empty bier and then turned. From somewhere, she reached out and pulled a wispy thread. It was lightly and silvery, and her fingers could hardly feel it.
She dropped the thread onto the bier, where it lengthened and thickened and finally changed into a human shape, revealing the face of an old, old man. His eyes were closed, and his face relaxed. She pushed him gently into the centre of the bier and as he lay in place, a light seemed to emanate from him, joining the light from the first bier.
For the briefest of moments, sanity returned to her eyes. “Rest, my love,” she whispered in a cracked and parched voice. She stumbled over to the other side, and next to a small pile of books, she placed a couple more that she pulled from her robes.
Her final task complete, Gabrielle Delacour Potter collapsed to the floor, dead.
There was a harsh silence for a moment, and then the light in the room began to swirl. Her body rose from the floor and nestled against that of her late husband. Her hair regained its colour and her skin regained its tone until she looked as she had before he died.
Satisfied, the magic waned and waited, waiting for someone else to discover its secrets and marvel at the legends that it protected. For now, it held the diaries of Harry James Potter, as well as Merlin.
---
Gabrielle opened her eyes and gasped. She looked around; everything was white. Pure bright white. She looked down at herself. She was wearing blue jeans and a white blouse. A lady sat by a door, watching her fondly. After a moment, Gabrielle recognised her.
“Nana?” she whispered.
The lady nodded.
Gabrielle dashed over to her and hugged her tightly.
“It is very good to see you as well, little bunny,” Nicole Delacour said softly.
Gabrielle smiled excitedly. “Where’s Harry?” she asked.
Nicole smiled. “That, my dear, is why I am here.”
“Oh?”
“You have a chance, little bunny, that not many people get. A chance for eternity.”
Gabrielle frowned.
“Don’t say anything yet,” Nicole advised. “Hear me out.”
“Yes, Nana.”
“When most people die, people like me, or like your parents and your sister, they go straight to heaven – if they’ve been good – and they are happy there.
“But some people, some truly exceptional people, they get a chance. If they pass the tests, then they are not limited to heaven. The whole universe is theirs.”
“But everyone I love is in heaven,” Gabrielle pointed out.
“Harry is not there,” Nicole said gently. “And besides, if you have the universe, you can always visit heaven. For the Creator has decreed that those who dedicate their lives to helping others should be rewarded above and beyond.”
“And Harry passed these tests?”
Nicole nodded.
“Then I will not fail.”
Nicole laughed softly. “You want to be tested now?”
Gabrielle nodded. “There is no point in wasting time. I am apart from my love.”
Nicole opened the door, and ushered her in. She clapped her hands, and a fifty people appeared, each one looking exactly like Harry. “The first test, my dear, is to find your love.”
“This is a stupid test,” Gabrielle sighed. She walked forward and picked a Harry that was a little to the right.
Nicole blinked. “That was fast.” The other Harrys faded, leaving only hers before he too faded away.
“No one else makes my heart beat faster,” Gabrielle replied calmly. “Can we do the second test now?”
Nicole nodded. “This way, little bunny.” She opened another door. “This room will provide what you need,” she explained. “All you have to do is make Harry react to you. He is charmed to not react, and you will not be able to use magic. It is only if you manage to get through to him that you will succeed. I will leave you for this one. You have two hours.”
Gabrielle nodded, even as she thought about the problem presented her. So, she had to get through to Harry. She smiled to herself. There was always one sure-fire way of getting his attention, no matter how stressed or worried he was.
In answer to her thoughts, the room changed to the familiar scene of their balcony overlooking London. She looked up, and the sun started to set, covering the balcony with its soft orange light.
She smiled and walked into their flat and up the stairs. She pulled out a black skirt, before stripping in front of the mirror. She looked to be between twenty-eight and thirty-four – when she was at the peak of her physical beauty. She smiled and removed her bra, before doing the blouse up by simply tying both halves in a knot between her breasts.
She slipped into the heels, wincing slightly at the position they forced her feet into, and slunk downstairs. She opened the door with her left leg, and then stepped through slowly. Harry was where she had left him, sitting in a chair. He hadn’t moved, but she could tell he was looking at her; she always knew when he was looking at her.
With a carefree look, she allowed the weather to start to rain, as she slowly danced around the balcony, pretending to look at one feature or another. She leaned against the rail and then leaned back, wanting her shirt to get a little more transparent, before she stood and marched over to him.
She raised his head, shot him a look that told him exactly how much she wanted him, and then kissed him deeply, putting her heart and soul into the kiss.
For the briefest second, nothing happened, but then his arms came up and he kissed her back.
She moaned in protest as he vanished, as did the balcony. She was back in the clothes she had woken up in, and she wasn’t even wet any more.
“Well done, little bunny,” Nicole said. “Harry is through that door.”
Gabrielle didn’t hesitate.
“But before you go through,” Nicole said, “there is one more thing.” She waved her hand, and Gabrielle felt her Mating with Harry vanish.
“Nana?” she asked, shocked.
“You do not need that up here,” Nicole explained gently. “Now go, he is waiting for you.”
She opened the door. Harry was waiting for her, and she sprinted over to him.
He met her halfway across the room and hugged her tightly, before kissing her. It felt like he wanted to devour her entire being, there was such want and need in his kiss.
She gave him everything he asked for without hesitation.
“I missed you,” he whispered against her lips, as the kiss calmed down.
“Harry,” she whispered, breathing in the scent she had always loved. “I did it,” she continued. “I got you to your resting place.”
“I know,” he said, “and I am so incredibly proud of you I can’t tell you.”
She frowned.
“The Mating is gone,” she complained.
“Up here, a Mating is permanent,” he explained. “It will last for eternity and tie you to your Mate for the rest of existence. We can do without it.”
“I do not want to,” she said stubbornly. “It is my choice, is it not?”
Harry nodded.
She smiled and, as she had so many years ago, when she was eight, she prepared to cast the spells that would tie her to Harry for the rest of eternity.
But then she stopped.
She stepped backward a little and went down to her knees in front of him. “Harry,” she said formally. “I am Gabrielle Delacour Potter. I beg of thee but one single favour. Accept from me all that I am, and all that I can give.
“Please, my love, allow me to Mate with you for the rest of existence.”
She looked up hopefully and waited for his answer.
He looked down at her for a long moment before the biggest smile she had ever seen appeared on his face. “Oh Gabby,” he whispered softly, as he picked her up. “You’ve passed.”
“Passed?” she asked blankly.
“That was the final test,” he explained. “Whether or not you would ask my permission, or if you would just do it. If you hadn’t asked, you would have gone to Heaven, and I would have joined you, but now, now we have eternity in front of us, and we can go anywhere, do anything. And there is so much to see.”
She smiled happily. Harry started to pull her toward a door before he stopped suddenly. “Gabby?”
“Yes, Harry?”
“Mate with me, please.”
She jumped in happiness and kissed him. As quickly as she could, she released the magic, and felt her Bond with Harry reattach. Only this time, it was more than before, deeper, fuller. She examined it, and found that Harry had somehow reversed the procedure, so that he was Mated to her as well.
“But you are not a Veela,” she said in surprise.
“Did you think that you could do anything with magic that I cannot?” he teased. “Now come on, there are people I want you to meet.”
“And it’s about bloody time,” a new voice said.
Gabrielle looked up, as the door opened, and two people walked through. She blinked in surprise.
“Gabby, meet Merlin and Morgana,” Harry said. “Guys, this is Gabrielle.”
“Come, Gabrielle,” Morgana said, taking her arm. “I’ll show you where your family is waiting for you, you know what boys are like.”
Gabrielle let herself be guided, as she could feel that Harry was quite happy with it. She was a little surprised that she couldn’t read Morgana at all.
“I am blocking my thoughts,” Morgana explained at her puzzled look. She smiled, “You know, you are now the second fastest person to go through the three tests. Merlin and I took a lot longer.”
“Who was the fastest?” she asked.
“Harry, of course,” Morgana said in amusement. “His last test was harder than yours.”
“Really?”
Morgana nodded. “He was told that the only way he could have you was with you looking like you did after he died. He said yes, instantly, with such absolute love and devotion that even Merlin was touched – and he’s hardly had a genuine emotion for eons.”
“Hey,” Merlin protested from behind them.
Gabrielle frowned. “Who sets these stupid tests?” she demanded. “And how dare they test Harry like that!”
Morgana laughed.
“Why are the portraits of you so poor?” Gabrielle asked as they walked down a long corridor.
“They are not poor replicas,” Morgana said softly. “They are most accurate, actually. Harry is a romantic and a dreamer. This is how he sees me, and I decided I like this form. He hasn’t complained,” she added archly, nodding toward Merlin.
“Damn right,” Merlin agreed happily.
“Anyway, this is where we leave you for a bit,” Morgana said, as they stopped in front of a door. “We don’t get many people tested up here, and we like to meet those that are as soon as we can. We’ll be spending a lot of time together in the future.”
“I will look forward to it,” Gabrielle replied.
Morgana walked up to Merlin, and the two smiled at each other for an endless moment, and in that glance, she saw the sort of love that she shared with Harry.
She took Harry’s hand and opened the door. It opened to a small room with a bed in one corner. There was another door directly in front of them.
“Through that door,” Harry said.
“We have eternity, correct?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Then they can wait,” she said, nuzzling into him. “We really should check that the Bond is fully functional,” she mumbled suggestively.
“And that it works both ways,” Harry agreed, his hands wandering over her back. He lifted her up and carried her to the bed.
Gabrielle smiled happily.
Her life had been full, and apart from eight short but tortuous years, amazingly happy. But now she faced unlimited vistas, and her Mate was with her. Her first life had been good, but this one would be even better.
Author Notes:
This Epilogue was deleted shortly after release, as it didn't make any sense at all. It was an attempt to show a fantasy (From part 9) but it just failed.