5Written for the International Wizarding School Championship Season Two
Grammar School—Issue Two
School : Hogwarts
Year : Year 5
Lesson : Dialogue Tags and Action Beats
Prompt : 5. The Tale of the Three Brothers—(Character) Death
Word Count : 856
When he opens his eyes, Harry finds that he is not in St. Mungo's anymore the way he had been before he drifted off to sleep. He is in a house somewhere familiar that he cannot quite place. He also finds that it isn't Daphne who is sitting beside his bed anymore, it is someone else—someone unnervingly familiar and yet unknown. He sits up slowly and squints as his eyes adjust to all the light around him—something that he has just now begun to notice—staring at the Red-haired figure sitting beside his bed—no, not bed. Cloud?
"Hello, Harry," the woman sitting beside him says, and it is from her voice, not her appearance, that Harry is able to determine who she is. And suddenly he knows where he is.
"Mum," he mumbles, swallowing. He rakes his eyes over her frantically, taking his mother in. Her deep red hair, her pale skin, her emerald green eyes, but try as he might, he finds that he cannot focus on her face—cannot see it properly at all. He searches absently for his glasses—still not taking his eyes off his mother—and finds that he doesn't have them, and also that he can see everything just fine without them. Everything but her. He breathes deeply, although the action seems strangely hollow, and tries again to discern her features. He looks away when he fails.
He looks around the room in which they are instead—the room that used to be his nursery in Godric's Hollow. Where everything had begun and ended. It is whole instead of broken and battered. It looks peaceful. For the first time since the war, thinking about Godric's Hollow makes him feel peaceful.
"It can be that way for the rest of your time, my son," Mum says, and Harry looks back towards her with a sigh. For a moment, for a single moment, he thinks he sees his mum clearly—except it isn't his Mum at all. It's a man, and he is beautiful and weary and impossibly soft for someone who looks like he does. But the moment passes and it's his Mum again and her face is fuzzy. He knows what this is. He knows why he's here. The last time he had talked to someone dead was when he was about to die himself. He doesn't imagine this time will be any different. The curse had gotten the better of him after all.
"Who are you?" he asks, even though he already knows the answer. He feels the man—still in the face of his mum—hesitate
"I am … your companion." He transforms before Harry much the same way one would after drinking Polyjuice, and then sitting before him is a man who looks incredibly like him. A man who could only be his father. Harry can't clearly see his face either, but they have the same unruly black hair and the same brown skin. He cannot be sure but he thinks there is a sad sort of smile on his face. "I have been your companion ever since you were born. But now … now our companionship is at its zenith."
Harry feels a lump in his throat as he transforms again and again, into people he loves—people who had died for him—Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Fred. He's shaking, he realizes vaguely, and tears are making their way down his face.
The man gets up and resumes Lily's form. She stretches her arms beside her and in a bright flash, they're all there. And so is the man. Death.
"Our companionship will culminate thus, Harry Potter," he says, "I have been your companion in all of your life's journeys. I have been with you everywhere you went. And I will be with you now, in your final journey—in your crossing to the after-life."
The others beside Death look at Harry with fond expressions, beautiful smiles, and encouraging looks. Harry knows they aren't really there. It is a part of Death's magic. But he stifles a sob anyway as he takes them in. Lily and James step forward together, and each offer Harry a hand, smiling at him softly just the way he imagines they would've, had they lived to see him grow. Harry looks at the proffered hands and then at Death, who has moved to stand behind the others—Sirius and Remus who are grinning at him from behind James' shoulder, and Fred and Tonks who are waving to him from behind Lily.
"Your journey in life has been painful," Death says to him in a quiet, soothing voice. "Some of it has been my doing. You have crossed many bridges alone, but not this one." He waves his hand and Harry finds that they are at King's Cross Station—the same King's Cross Station where he had met Dumbledore.
"In this journey—your last journey—you shall not be alone."
Harry looks at Death, looks at the Station, and looks at his parents, still smiling at him. He takes their hands, and finds that they are surprisingly warm. He wipes his tears on his sleeve, even as fresh ones escape.
"Right," he says, smiling through tears, "lets go."
A/N : I hope everyone enjoyed reading this, because I really enjoyed writing this. Please let me know by reviewing :)
