Utopia

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" There's a place." Hermione says one day out of the blue into the quiet of the common room where only the three of them sat around the fire and catching up on homework.

Ron and Harry both look up at her, one confused and one guarded.

" What place?" Ron asks brows furrowed.

" Where?" Harry only says, voice low and questioning.

Hermione looks into the fire, eyes gazing far away, and Ron looks at her in confusion while Harry looks to her for answers. Ron didn't understand and Harry doesn't believe.

It was another difference from the Muggle and Wizarding World. Ron looks between the two of them for explanations, but Hermione's far away and Harry stares at their female third with an intensity that blocks out the rest of the world.

. : - : .

" Utopia." Harry tells him in the change room a few days later when he asks after the game.

" What is that?" Ron questions.

" A land of peace. A place of everlasting happiness and joy." Harry says.

" Where is it?" He wants to know.

Harry smiles and says nothing.

. : - : .

" Where is Utopia?" Ron asks again.

This time they're outside on the grass in the shade of a tree as they sit by the lake.

" I used to think it was an actual place. A piece of land we could find." The Boy-Who-Lived says, looking over the fields surrounding the castle. " For a while I thought maybe the Wizarding World was it."

Ron is confused but tries not to show it. " And now?"

There was a group of students flying in the air, some teachers walking around in the sun shine, the four legged creatures they were studying this week in Care of Magical Creatures, and a brown haired girl with bright ambers eyes running towards them with a smile on her face. He pushes himself up and stands waiting.

" Now, I think it might be a person."

. : - : .

McGonagall slips out of the third year girls dormitories at 3 am in the morning as she continues the bed check. She stands on the railing of the stairs and almost walks up another floor before the sound of movement stops her and she looks over the railing down at the common room.

She smiles when she sees the infamous three of her house. Ms. Granger lay sideways, facing outward on the couch. In front of her on the floor were a collection of books but her arms were limp with one dangling over the couch and her eyes were closed. The two boys were look at her indulgently, Mr. Weasley standing off to he side and Mr. Potter sitting in the one seat not far from the sleeping girl.

" You're not going to leave me behind." A statement and yet said with the indrawn breath of tension like a question.

McGonagall frowned not understanding what Mr. Weasley meant and waited to see if it was plans for another one of their so called adventures.

Mr. Potter doesn't look at his best male friend, but instead gets up from his seat and moves toward the sleeping girl. The look in Mr. Weasley's was too far for her to see. The Boy-Who-Lived stops when he is but a bare step away from their female third and McGonagall waits like one does before a revelation.

" No." The raven-haired boy says softly, one hand lifting to brush gently down a smooth cheek and making eyelids flutter then settle.

There is a sense of reverence in the touch and there are lights shining in the two boys' eyes that she doesn't understand.

" We'll go there together." Mr. Potter says.

Mr. Weasley smiles assured and like one who believes. Ms. Granger stirs lightly and murmurs like she agrees but settles back into sleep without ever having woken up.

She waits, but there is only silence left and she doesn't understand all the things floating in the air like the three of them do.

. : - : .

Dumbledore looks old. Looks like all the years he is. The wrinkles and bags under his eyes sag. His eyes are forlorn and his body looks frail.

They lost two members today in an undercover mission. The Aurors' hadn't been young but still had so much life left for them to live. And it didn't matter that they knew exactly what was possible when they had signed on for the mission.

The weight on Dumbledore's shoulder has just gotten heavier and he wonders if it ever will stop.

" Tell me Harry." The old, weak man says to the boy sitting across from him in the office. " If there was a perfect world out there, where would it be?"

The boy looks back unblinking but doesn't answer. Dumbledore searches the young man's eyes but he can't get behind those Occlumency shields anymore.

" What is your perfect world like, Harry?" He asks

Harry doesn't answer and looks out opened window to the blue skies beyond. In his mind are the memories of the years that he's been through with his two friends and in his heart are the images of his warm laughter, her shinning eyes, and his own beaming smile between the two of them.

. : No Such Place : .

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