Preface:
The events in this OS might not completely have taken place in the canon. This OS takes place in different timelines.
"I found love. . ."
Lily Potter nee Evans totally agreed with the quote after two years into her marriage to James Fleamont Potter.
Their baby son, Harry, was going to die soon. . . because of them defying a madman named Voldemort. Oh, if only she had not loved James and Harry more, she would have never seen this day. Why did she have to suffer like that? What fair was it that when everyone could love their family, she was forced to forget them?
So, when she leapt in between Voldemort and her baby, a sense of fear as well as peace settled over her just before everything got dark; fear of how Harry will live and peace of selfishness. The next time she opened her eyes, Harry was right in front of her as a disheveled teenager, and battling her murderer.
Her heart ached the second time she was summoned from afterlife by Harry again but this time, he was alone and all grown up.
"Mum? Is it really you?" he had asked, grief in features.
"It's me. It's me! I'm right here, sweetheart," she replied, trying to caress his cheek but failing miserably as her palm passed right through his face.
"Mum. . . stay close to me." With that, he dropped the stone and Lily felt herself getting sucked away.
"Harry! Come back to me!"
But all that remained was silence. . .
-x-o-x-o-
"Where it wasn't supposed to be. . ."
James loved his son with every fibre of his being. The adorable fawn of his looked just like him and he eanestly wanted to stand beside the teenage version of him in front of the mirror. Perhaps, a Muggle photo will be a good memory as well.
But it just remained a dream. It was not meant to be. It was never supposed to be the moment James knew that he would have to face Voldemort.
He had resolved, firmly, that if he were to die in his dashing young age, then he would gladly do so by protecting his son and his wife.
"Just don't hurt Harry!"
"I can't lay around and argue with you. Now, get lost! Avada Kedavra!"
That was the end of him. The next time he was brought to the mortal world, he ambushed Voldemort to serve as a distraction for Harry to get away. After all, he was but fourteen and fighting the dangerous wizard alive was no easy task.
"On the count of three, Harry-"
"Dad?"
"It's me, indeed. Use me as a focal point. You'll get the warning sign, okay? Now, one."
"I'm losing, dad-"
"Be brave, bud. Two."
"I don't think I'll make out of it-"
"You will, bud. Because I heard the one word I've always wanted to hear and your dad will never let you down. Now, go. Three!" And James leapt towards the noseless vile man, the white wisp of his body obscuring the scarlet eye's sense of sight. The last thing James saw was Harry grabbing the cursed cup.
Years later he was summoned back to Harry's world again. James felt a part of him break when he saw Harry's completely messy figure. Disheveled hair, tired and lifeless eyes, sad lips, fresh cuts, bleeding bruises, dirty clothes and most importantly, tear streaked cheeks.
"Bud?"
"I'm going to join you, Dad. Soon."
James's heart broke. "I always knew it wasn't supposed to be. . ."
-x-o-x-o-
"Right in front of me. . ."
Pettigrew had been right in front of him all the time and he had never once doubted the rat. It had always been Remus who was suspicious, according to him anyway. How fool was he in believing that?
To top that, he had thought his Godson to never look right in front of him. Without a second thought, Harry had rushed himself into danger for him. For Sirius Orion Black, the hopeless Godfather.
Harry's melancholic face that Sirius saw, just before passing through the veil was etched in the latter's mind for forever. He had thought that, perhaps, Harry could look up to him as a lighthouse who would guide the stranded ships towards safety, past all the hazardous rocks of the vast ocean. But he was hopeless now. He could not guide his Godson through the difficulties of life. He had abandoned his poor puppy before it could even grow up to be a mongrel.
Living, if that term could be used in afterlife, with the guilt of not being brave enough to fight for his freedom and his Godson's life, Sirius was given a chance to talk to Harry.
"Sirius. . . does it hurt? Dying I mean," the innocent and frightened boy had asked him when he stood in front of Harry as a spirit.
Sirius smiled sadly. Perhaps he could give one last advice to his puppy. "No. It's quicker than falling asleep, you see." Harry nodded and Sirius could see the fear hidden in his eyes. Before Sirius went back to the afterlife, a thought crossed his mind. "Death was always right in front of Harry. . ."
-x-o-x-o-
"Talk some sense to me. . ."
Remus was forced into reality the moment Harry snapped at him for running away from duties and responsibilities. Harry had talked sense into him, Remus John Lupin. Usually, he was the one who was wise enough for such a task. It seemed that the tables had turned and the man could have been no more proud when Harry accepted to be his son, Teddy's Godfather.
But who knew that Harry would have to take up the responsibility almost instantaneously?
"You are talking nonsense!" Harry exclaimed when Remus stood in front of him, pale and wispy hands folded tightly across his chest.
"I am not, Harry. Teddy will grow up listening to the tales of how his parents died. He will grow up to be an absolute gentleman just like you."
"I won't survive this night and you think the future will be bright for Teddy if I am alive-"
"Of course I do."
"Talk some sense to me, then!"
"You will never be blamed for everything which happened, Harry and mind you, you will emerge victorious. I am talking sensibly because I have confidence in my young man."
A single tear rolled down the two pale faces and fell down to the parched ground.
-x-o-x-o-
"I miss you more than I thought I could. . ."
It was true. Harry was indebted to all the people he knew in his life, the ones who cared the most for him and laid their lives for him. Dumbledore had said that love would conquer everything. It was true but it had a flaw as well.
His mother had placed a protection charm over him by giving herself up. His father had sacrificed his life for him. His Godfather had arrived to protect him but had lost. His best friend had taken his advice to the heart and had laid himself down.
If only Harry had not used all of them, they would have been alive. Only one sentence repeated in his mind as he sat in front of the Burrow's orchard, gazing into the heavens.
Harry found love where it wasn't supposed to be. . .
Thank you for reading!
Miyoko x