Chapter 90 Acceptance

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Love? Harry's mind couldn't help but go to a time when he was just a naive boy attending Hogwarts, questioning Dumbledore only to get vague and unhelpful answers in return.

It seems like just like the old Headmaster, Death also relishes annoying Harry for some reason. Harry takes a deep breath as getting angry and screaming at Death won't solve anything.

"So she remembers because she loves me? That is just ridiculous. By that logic, lots of people should remember what happened in that timeline. Why don't my parents remember anything?" Harry questioned.

"It doesn't seem to work that way. It has to come from both sides, she truly loves you but she can only remember because you love her back. So not everyone who loves you remembers what happened" Death answered.

"What about my parents?" Harry asked again.

"While your parents do love you Harry but during the last timeline you barely even knew your parents. How can you even love someone you don't even know. You admired your parents Harry, even revered them but you didn't love them. At least not back then" Death explained.

Harry stayed silent as he digested what Death said to him. While he would like to say that he always loved his parents but that is not true, before actually meeting them Harry loved the idea of his parents. Just like Death said, how could he love someone he didn't even know.

After going over that Harry's mind couldn't help but go to Fleur. If what Death is saying is correct then that means he is in love with Fleur. Harry always knew that Fleur means a lot to him but he never realised that he is in love with her. Maybe he did on some level but kept denying it because he always tried to avoid thinking about her.

Harry shook his head, now is not the time to think about this, he has to figure out who else remembers about the previous timeline. It should be simple because it can only be someone he truly loves but as the situation with Fleur showed, he doesn't even know his own feelings. So it is better to ask Death and it has to be now because for some reason Death is in a very answering mood. Death's answers might not be straightforward or they might not make any sense but at least they are something.

"So Fleur is the only one who sees these memories?" Harry asked hopefully.

Death laughed "No there is one more but you don't have to worry about her. Daphne also dreams about her life from the last timeline but she can't remember those dreams like the veela does"

Daphne! Harry went still as he heard what Death said. What!? How can he be in love with Daphne? Fleur, he can understand, he was in a relationship with her for years but he never even dated Daphne. Wait that means Daphne also loves him.

What a mess! He is a master of mind magic but he can't even recognise his own feelings. Harry knew that he cares about Daphne and Fleur but he didn't even realise how much.

It's like there was a wall in Harry's mind that somehow kept him from realising just his own feelings towards Fleur and Daphne. Death's words were like a sledgehammer that shattered the wall in one fell swoop. As the wall broke apart Harry realised that he himself was the one who subconsciously created this wall in an effort to protect himself, to prevent himself from caring because he was tired of losing everyone he cared about.

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as every feeling and emotion that he kept buried behind that wall, as they came pouring out. He is feeling everything as an enormous tide of emotions is rushing toward him. This tide threatened to swallow him whole, Harry can use his Occlumency to suppress this tide but he chose not to. Instead, Harry faced this tide with simple acceptance, there is no use hiding behind denial anymore.

Just like that the enormous tide of emotions that was about to swallow him whole disappeared and once again his mind returned to the state of calm and peace.

Harry slowly opened his eyes and once again he is standing in the Abyss. He can't tell how much time he spent inside his own mind, it feels like Harry spent months maybe more than a year in his mind but it also feels like barely any time has passed.

Harry turned to Death "So Daphne doesn't remember?"

Death nodded "Fleur only remembers because she is Veela. While you mortals might call them creatures of passion and lust but at the core of Veela's abilities come from their powerful connection to love"

"So her dreams might have a slight influence on Daphne but she most likely will never remember anything about that time" Death continued.

Harry nodded. It hurts because just after he finally accepted that he loves her, he is told that she would never remember him. That she would never really be the Daphne he fell in love with.

But there is no use crying over what is already lost. Harry just hopes that this Daphne will have a happy life. At least this explains why Daphne always seemed so ridiculously mature for her age and how she is picking up magic so quickly this time around. She might not have her memories but she has her properly trained and experienced magic.

Harry turns to Death as he had some more questions but before he could do anything he finds himself once again standing inside the storage room and Death is nowhere to be seen.

Harry once again called Death using the stone in his hand but just as he suspected nothing happened. Death is not even responding to him.