"Our Mother - Part 2"
Even from that distance, as though the images of what had happened were being connected directly into Billy and Tommy's minds, they could clearly see everything that was happening inside the temple.
Understanding why their mother was doing all of that.
Just to achieve one thing.
To get them back.
Even if she had to steal them from an alternate world.
Even if she had to turn herself into a demon and let her body be corrupted by darkness.
And even then, when she had the opportunity to steal Billy and Tommy from another reality, to exchange them for another Wanda, she could not do it.
She loved them too much to allow herself to do something like that.
Because she understood that neither that Billy nor that Tommy were truly hers.
She could not replace them.
So she gave up.
She gave up and chose instead to destroy everything that was corrupting her.
Even her own possible existence.
Just so she could never be tempted again.
The images flooding the boys' minds disappeared, and now they could once again see the mountain from where they stood.
They watched it tremble again.
An even larger explosion shook the temple as enormous cracks spread across the black walls.
Fragments of stone were hurled in every direction, and an entire section of the structure collapsed in on itself.
The red energy of chaos magic leaked through every opening crack, slowly lifting the temple's enormous roof from within.
So enormous that it practically covered the entire summit of the mountain.
Billy and Tommy stared at it, unable to look away.
Their eyes filled with tears.
They wanted so badly to run there and hug their mother.
To stop her.
Harry had seen this memory before.
And even then, it had hurt so much.
But seeing it with his own eyes was more than he could bear.
He wanted to stop it.
He wanted to stop it with all his power.
He did not want to watch his mother die.
But he was afraid too.
If he interfered and Wanda never reached him...
Never found him that day...
Never appeared at his door to take him away...
If he had to live with the Dursleys and never know the motherly love Wanda had always given him...
If because of that Billy and Tommy could never meet their mother again, never become his brothers...
That fear was what made him hesitate the most.
But that hesitation could not endure watching the enormous temple begin to collapse.
Falling directly onto Wanda.
His reason could not endure seeing her die.
Even if it meant losing everything.
Even if the price was everything.
Even if he disappeared.
Even if he never saw his friends again.
Even if he never got to know Billy and Tommy.
Even if he lost his entire current life.
He did not care.
Because she was his mother.
The woman who had saved him.
The woman who had given him a family.
The woman who had loved him when nobody else had.
And he would never want to watch her die in front of him.
But before Harry could raise his hand, a gentle hand rested on his shoulder.
Making Harry, Billy, and Tommy immediately turn around.
There stood their mother.
Wearing a gentle smile so comforting that it seemed to calm all of them at once.
"Mom!" Billy and Tommy shouted immediately and ran forward to hug her tightly, still remembering the images they had seen and everything Wanda had done for them.
Wanda did not say much.
She simply smiled while gently stroking her children's hair.
"I think that's enough adventure for one day," she said calmly.
Completely ignoring where she currently was.
Completely ignoring the fact that another version of herself was only a short distance away, moments from being buried beneath the collapsing temple.
Because that truly did not matter to her.
"Let's go back home," Wanda said softly.
And for some reason, those simple words managed to calm them.
Harry, who only seconds earlier had been ready to interfere in his mother's death, seemed to understand something.
And though his hands trembled briefly, seeing his mother's happy smile right now made him feel somewhat foolish for worrying so much.
"Yeah. Let's go home," Harry said.
But before leaving this place once and for all, he took out his wand.
There was at least one thing he could do.
Not save her.
Not change the past.
But make sure she would not be alone in her final moment.
"Expecto Patronum."
Every happy emotion he had ever been able to gather, his life with his mother, his friends, everything Wanda had given him, was poured into that simple spell.
The moment he spoke it, a silver aura burst from his wand and, like a beacon, illuminated the surroundings before rushing forward and taking the shape of a deer.
But strangely, this was not the same deer that always emerged from Harry's Patronus.
Not a stag.
Instead, it was a doe.
And with a flash, it ran toward the collapsing temple.
Harry wore a confused expression for a moment when he saw the female deer emerge from his wand.
But he did not have much time to think about it, because Wanda gently pushed him toward the portal that had opened behind him, pushing Billy and Tommy along with him.
Wanda turned for a moment to look at the deer running toward her past self.
And the deer, as though it had suddenly come alive, stopped and looked back at her.
Those ethereal eyes seemed even more alive.
So real.
The deer nodded its head toward Wanda.
And Wanda gave it a gentle smile and a silent thank you.
As the portal began to close again, they saw one last glimpse of the deer running toward her past self.
The sound of the mountain summit collapsing shook the surroundings.
Thousands of tons of rock crashed down onto the temple.
The black walls vanished.
The columns shattered into pieces.
And finally, the entire structure was buried beneath a gigantic avalanche.
...
Harry, who had been gently pushed by his mother, crossed through the portal she had opened.
The moment he passed through it, he found himself back inside the library of Potter Manor.
The first to react was Fleur.
She appeared to have been biting her nails.
The instant she saw him return, she looked as though she wanted to run straight toward him.
But she restrained herself.
In the end, she endured the urge and did not do it.
Still, she walked over with the others, who immediately rushed toward Harry, Billy, and Tommy the moment they saw them return.
"Are you alright? What happened? Where did you go? What was that portal?" Hermione immediately asked, still clearly worried.
Daphne and Draco also approached.
Even Neville looked somewhat nervous, but after seeing that they were perfectly fine, he let out a sigh of relief.
"We're fine," Harry said with a smile upon seeing his friends there.
"We just traveled to another universe," Harry added.
Those words froze everyone present.
"What?" they all said at the same time.
And for a moment, none of them could hide their immense interest.
Unfortunately for them.
"Yes, and just in case, I'm taking this back again," Wanda's voice interrupted as she picked up the notebook full of spells that Pandora had once given her in the past.
"Besides, it's good that you want to spend your vacation reading and learning, but you should probably start getting some fresh air before you end up looking like vampires," Wanda added.
"Ah, well, about that. Hogwarts was completely attacked not long ago, and normally after something like that, very annoying things tend to happen. So we thought that if we stayed still, nothing would happen and we could actually rest," Hermione said, explaining the real reason why they had all been hiding in here.
And honestly, it was not surprising.
Every time they seemed to go anywhere, something happened.
"Didn't you have a problem at the manor last summer?" Wanda asked, looking especially at Harry, Draco, Billy, and Tommy.
Since that had been during their great male adventure.
Though Wanda was not supposed to know about it, since the men had kept it a secret among themselves.
Then again, since it was Wanda, it was impossible for her not to know.
"What? Something like that happened?" Hermione asked while turning toward Draco and Harry.
"Well..." Harry and Draco both avoided her gaze because it really was not anything particularly exciting.
Especially since it had been a problem caused by Red.
And because the way they had chosen to solve it was something Draco really did not enjoy talking about again.