Sean Is Already Dead

Sean pulled the Invisibility Cloak tightly over both of them and sat down with Hermione in the corner.

He did not immediately ask why his future self had died. He merely said with some heartache, "You must have suffered a lot these past six months..."

Sitting beside him, Hermione carefully leaned against Sean's shoulder. She gathered her long hair again to cover the horrifying half of her face, then shook her head.

"No..."

Still so stubborn. Sean sighed. "It's been too long. That day at Hogwarts Castle, you were outside the window, weren't you?"

Hermione nodded lightly. "I originally wanted to leave something behind at Hogwarts... But it seemed I got too close to her. I lost consciousness. She probably did too..."

"Don't make it sound so trivial," Sean said with a frown. "This isn't a matter of two Timelines. You are the same person. If she dies, you will die completely. If you die, she will lose her life too. You've stayed here for too long. There's no way you can hold on until the point when you were originally meant to return. I need to find a way to send you back."

"I'm not going back..." Hermione said stubbornly.

Sean's voice inevitably took on some urgency. "Not going back? She's already hanging between life and death. Luna appeared out of nowhere, and your memories have already thrown hers into confusion. This is confusion at the level of the soul. You traveled too far through time. You can't endure it. If you don't go back, you will definitely die. You know what I'm saying."

Hermione pressed her lips together, her tone filled with unquestionable resolve. "I don't care about any of that. Some Hermione Granger with scrambled memories, some Luna I don't know—I don't care about either of them.