Chapter Text
Wind snatched at the travelling cloak, fluttering like wings around their legs. The snow had stopped a few hours ago, but the wind brought a deeper chill. The warming charm on the cloak felt delightful here on the roof of a block of flats.
Wavelets rippled the surface of the wide river beneath. Lights surrounding pillared buildings illuminated clouds of snow whipped by the gusts sweeping across the expanse. The large building closest simulated a Greek temple, and the tall obelisk at the other end of the reflecting pond mimicked ancient Egyptian ancestry. Most annoyingly, the large building beyond that with its own columns and huge, white dome stood as a parody of similar structures back home. All attempting to present an air of ancient glory by a country not quite two and a half centuries old.
What fools these Muggles be.
Growing gaps in the clouds overhead revealed the constellations (the true measure of passing time) reaching the appropriate point. Time to go, and with a turn, the view changed. The winds over the roof swallowed the crack of Apparition. Between the two blocks of flats the wind shifted more, continuing to come from in front, even if with less impact. Still, the traveling cloak flared and flapped while sweeping smoothly past automobiles clothed in white uniforms like sailors in ranks.
Quickly approaching the target ahead the wind carried the soft noises of footsteps and flapping garments away, behind. Closer, closer, the target’s back still presented, open, vulnerable, until a mere three meter gap spanned between.
‘Avada Kedavra!’ The green bolt from the wand struck dead center. The target toppled forward to reveal another figure in a dark blue cloak and odd round white hat, eyes wide and mouth gaping open. The wand moved again, the green bolt lanced dead-center into the second figure’s chest. They fell back into the snow covering the ridiculously small front garden.
Two bodies flowed behind, and a large metal skip (reeking of four day old food and echoing the song of cats contesting ownership) passed to the right. A small leather-bound book appeared next to the skip. No live witnesses would speak, leaving this to let him know the power he now faced. Curving out of sight behind the bin and turning again, this time the Disapparition crack echoed between the two blocks of flats surrounding the scene.
Across that river, in a comfortably warm hotel suite bedroom, two people started awake, gasping for breath which didn't seem to come.
Their bedclothes puddled around their waists, his somewhat darker skin dusted lightly with dark hair, her pale cream skin liberally with freckles. Scars written on bare torsos telling the story of their sometimes hard lives. His messy black hair seemed more permanent than simply from sleep. Hers rumpled and red with gold highlights, told of what happened before they slept.
Their breath slowing, she turned to face him in the dim light from the streetlights below. Their eyes met in a silent conversation born from years of acquaintance, and something more. Nodding very slightly, she said, ‘You saw the same.’
‘Yes.’
'Not a dream, then.'
'No. Vision.'
'So someone is-'
'Dead. Yes. Two someones.'
She caught memories flashing through his eyes, a feeling of deja vu , and tenderly lifted his chin to her face. 'Merlin, Harry, is this what it was like, that year we spent at Grimmauld with Sirius?' He nodded, once. 'I shouldn't have told you off about the possession–'
'No.' His left ring finger, glint of gold in the streetlight, pressed lightly on her lips silencing her. 'Don't ever doubt that I needed that, Gin.' Their eyes, his calm green, hers blazing brown-gold, held each other close. Her lips pursed slightly as she kissed the ball of his fingertip. I won't passed silently between them.
She took his hand in her own, away from her mouth. ‘But how did we experience the exact same dream, Harry?’
He looked into her eyes again, but she recognized the unfocused distance there, his mind mulling over unknowns. ‘I don’t know,’ he whispered. Then she almost jumped as his eyes snapped back into focus. “I reckon we’ll just need to find out.’
‘How are we going to do that?' His eyes blazed, a fierce grin lifting his cheeks.
'Fancy going for a run?'