Authors Notes: I'm a huge fan of the Marriage Stone by Josephine Darcy and have decided since his story is on hiatus I would write my own ending. I'm so in love with these characters. I just had to see how their story played out. This story isn't beta-ed. If you're interested let me know. I mean no disrespect to Josephine, I am merely borrowing some of her plot and characters just as countless others have done to JKR. I know I'm not half the writer Josephine is, but I decided to post this for all the other fans of the Marriage Stone that are desperate for some closure. This story continues where the Marriage Stone left off. Enjoy.

Chapter 78

He was alone; even the ravens had left him. The empty world surrounded him and he surrounded it. Harry had to save them—the souls with nothing to quicken. But even in his desperation, he was starting to admit defeat. Harry had stretched his magic out with the ley lines to the point of exhaustion and beyond. Ignoring the ravens calling him back, he was prepared to bleed himself dry, if that's what it took to save the world once again. He would burn as their king, if only he could save them.

But even that didn't seem to be enough. As he reached out with his magic, the ravens fell behind and Harry could no longer hear them whispering. Harry couldn't hear anything, couldn't see anything, couldn't feel anything. He could admit that he was lost, but not defeated. Frantically, aimlessly, he searched for a way to save the lost souls.

And so Harry continued to wander. Time passed. Harry couldn't say how much, though he was acutely aware of each second passing so slowly it felt like a year.

In his mind, the seconds became years and the years became centuries. There was nothing here for him to do, but he had no way to leave. The only thing he could do was continue to search.

A flicker of something caught Harry's eye. That in itself was strange. Harry couldn't remember seeing anything since the ravens had left him. Rapidly, Harry searched out with his mind to find whatever it was.

And he found it. He couldn't quite explain what it was, other than it appeared to be pure magic. It was strands of gold, silver, blue and every other color wrapped around each other in a rope.

Harry knew he had never seen it before, but it seemed familiar, friendly. He reached out towards it and just as he almost had it, the rope jerked away. Tiredly, Harry wondered if he should follow it. It was an awfully mean rope to tease him like that. So he stayed there, not moving. The rope didn't move either.

Harry cast his mind out searching for anything else. The same as before, there was nothing. At least the rope was something, Harry thought. He moved towards it again. Just like the first time, the rope of magic pulled away. While this was annoying, there was nowhere else to go. The rope might lead to nothing. In which case, Harry would be in the same situation. Perhaps it would lead to something good, and if it led to something bad, Harry would deal with it as he always did.

Harry embraced his Gryfindor nature and began following the rope.

00000000000000000000000000000

As Harry followed the rope, he began to notice the landscape seemed to take shape. No longer was he in a sightless, soundless land. Eventfully, his ravens joined him again. They cawed happily (though Harry worried he really was losing it—cawing isn't happy). They urged him on with whispers in his ears. He was going the right direction.

Continuing as fast as he could, he never let the familiar rope out of his site, nor did he rest. Until, finally he saw something new. He was at the end of the rope. Extending from the rope was a pulsating river of red blood. For one horrible second, Harry was sure he had been led into a trap. Then he saw the emerald green globe extending out from the red. He was staring at the Eye of Odin.

Harry had no idea how the Eye of Odin was here; it was destroyed. He had no idea if it was dangerous, but Harry walked forward regardless. He was committed to this course of action; there was nowhere left to go.

Slowly, Harry walked toward the eye. As he got closer to the eye, it began to appear more like a globe than an eye. It was translucent and too perfectly round. Finally, he arrived at the edge and peer in. Harry realized that he was wrong. It wasn't the Eye of Odin; it was his heartstone.

As he looked through the translucent barrier, he could see into the hospital wing. Severus was sitting by his bed. His bed. He was in the hospital wing, at least physically. He had no idea where his mind was at.

A little boggled by the situation, Harry focused back in on the picture. Severus was sitting by his bed, holding his heartstone over Harry's chest. Severus' lips were moving in a whisper and his faced was creased with lines of worry.

"I'm all right. I'm right here," Harry shouted. Severus didn't respond. Abruptly Harry felt foolish; of course Severus couldn't hear him. Severus was alone in the room and Harry wondered where his friends were.

His heart clinched in fear, wondering what horrors had been unleashed on the world that would keep his them from his bed side. He had failed—failed to save the world. How many were dead? All those souls that had nothing to quicken. There were too many to comprehend.

Pressed against the barrier of his heartstone, Harry stood there and stared in horror. But mostly he tried not to think of everybody he had failed to save. He tried to think of a way to get back to his body. If nothing else, Harry was positive it was not normal or healthy to be staring at one's own body.

000000000000

"Is there any change?" Sirius asked Severus hopefully.

"Poppy says his vitals have improved," Severus responded.

"I'll sit with him for awhile, if you need a break." Severus just shook his head.

Of all the things Harry could think, he simply wondered why Sirius and Severus were being so nice to each other. Then Harry let out a sigh of relief, as he realized that at least Sirius was still alive. He watched as Sirius sat next to Severus in silence and gently picked up his body's hand.

Sirius exchanged a look with Severus. It stunned Harry. Sirius and Severus were not only sitting next to each other civilly, they were sharing looks of commiseration! They were both suffering because of him. They couldn't stand seeing him like this.

Abruptly, Harry was furious. He was the source of their suffering. Already, he had failed so many people. His bondmate and godfather could not be added to the list of people he had failed. He had to get back to them.

His fist smacked against the globe, sending sparks of pain through his hand, but he didn't care. Desperately, Harry beat against the globe. The globe cracked and shattered. Swiftly, Harry felt himself falling.

00000000000000000

His body ached everywhere. From the tip of his toes to the ends of his unruly hair, he throbbed. But he was alive. He could hear to soft murmuring of Severus's voice, but was unable to make out any words. He could see the red behind his eyelids, but what he wanted to do was see the relieved faces of his bondmate and godfather.

Slowly, Harry willed his eyes open. Never had his eyelids felt so heavy. Perhaps they weren't heavy; they were glued shut. Somehow Harry got his eyes open and bright light white blinded him.

After a few slow blinks the world slowly came into focus. Directly above him, he could see the relieved faces of one Severus Snape and one Sirius Black.

"Thank merlin!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Get Poppy!" Severus ordered. Sirius again surprised Harry by simply rolling his eyes and doing as Snape had demanded.

"Are you alright?" Severus questioned as he began checking vitals. Harry tried to answer, but all that came out was a chocked gurgling noise.

"Of course," Severus said as he reached for something. "You haven't had anything to drink since the attack."

Harry felt cool smooth metal press against his lips as Severus gently lifted Harry's head. He drank as much water as he could.

"How are you?" Severus asked again. Harry just stared back at him uncertain how to answer. His brain seemed to be working slower than normal. Within the past month he had defeated an elder demon, been declared king, and most recently had prevented the apocalypse for all humans.

"Alive," Harry said with a shrug that made his shoulders throb. Alive was a lot more than a lot of people could say. Severus pursed his lips in disapproval of Harry's flippant answer, but before he could say anything else Poppy entered the room with Sirius and Dumbledore.

Harry wanted to ask so many questions, but Pomphery wouldn't let him say anything. She started asking questions, giving potions, casting spells.

Though Harry hadn't done anything but lay in this bed since the attack, he felt very tired and drained. Before Pomphery could finish fussing over him, Harry felt himself slip off into sleep.

AN: Let me know what you think. If you have any ideas where the story should go let me know.