As Harry approached the toxic peals of laughter he couldn't tell whether the knot in his stomach was loosening or tightening. Was death a relief? He did not know. However, there was no reason because one way or the other it is going to happen. He is going to die.
One step then another and there he was now, facing the man who has been his enemy since the day he was born.
"Harry no! what are ye doin' here?" Came a scream from beyond. There was Hagrid, chained up and on his knees. His eyes were desperate and at that moment all Harry wanted to do was thank him and apologise. Instead, he just gave most of a smile that he could manage and turned his head back to face back to the pale wizard in front of him.
"Harry Potter, the boy who lived has come to die," he said in a voice so triumphant that it dug a pit in Harry's stomach.
As Voldemort brought his wand to position, memories flooded the young boy's mind. There was seeing James hug Lily from the back as the redhead woman tried to bake cookies in the kitchen. Then there was Sirius taking him to the roof to look at the stars.
Remus smiling at him from the teacher's table every time Gryffindor would win the house cup and sending a small wink his way. Ron's immaculate chess games. The way Draco would join Sirius and jokingly torment Harry for days.
Finally Hermione, her messy hair and deep eyes. The eyes that he would get lost in so often that everything she was saying would get blocked out.
All of it came to a stop when there was a loud incantation, "avada kedavra."
There was a pitch of blackness, and then he opened his eyes. There he was back in his house but it seemed different. In the living room, there was an unknown door, white paint with a glossy black doorknob.
The boy looked around. Is this the afterlife? He thought to himself right before hearing a voice. He turned around to find Lily and James right behind him.
"How, you are supposed to be alive. How am I seeing you right now?" Harry asked, tension forming in his head as he clenched his hair and looked towards the ground. His eyes trailed towards a small source of light under the chair.
The was a small bloody figure under there, the face was too familiar and then he realised that this was the part of Voldemort that resided inside him for years.
He looked back up and saw his parents still standing there, small hints of smiles on their faces as they approached him. Harry, in turn, found himself walking backwards as he asked: "Is this real or is it happening in my head?"
"Oh Bambi, of course it is happening in your head", James said with a polite smile.
"Why are we here?" Harry asked.
"Because you need to make a decision honey", Lily said stepping forward and this time Harry did not move. She cupped his cheek with one hand and said "you have been so brave."
"I-I can go back?" he asked, unknowingly leaning into his mother's touch.
"Of course you can, if you want to," his father said from the back. The man slowly proceeded to sit on the couch and looked at his son who had his brows arched with confusion.
"I have a choice?" He asked and was replied with two nods. However, this did not seem to be the only question. "Why are we here?"
"Harry, you need to answer that yourself. Your mind summoned us to help guide you back to where you belong" Lily said calmly before joining her husband and sitting on the armrest of his chair.
"So you are safe?" Harry asked. "Of course, we are still in the room where you stunned us, I think" James responded.
"You open the door in front of you means that you are still willing to fight, go back to those who need you, love you, care for you, feel empty without you. I know you did not choose this life and it chose you, but now you must complete this."
There it was once again, his mother's wisdom and his father's calming presence. No doubt his mind had conjured them to help show him his way back.
With that he opened the door, facing the same blackness that had greeted him a couple of moments ago.
_________________________________________
"Is he dead?" Bellatrix questioned, only to be glared by her leader.
Narcissa moved forward, her heart just as heavy as the steps. She did not want this to happen, Potter clearly meant a lot to her son and her son meant the world to her. She had been late to realise it and not the best in showing it but Draco was the only reason for her existence.
She bent down next to the body of the young boy, his face was dusty and it carried a huge part of maturity. There was no part of boyishness left, nobody would know that he was in his teens. Life definitely had not treated him fair.
She took his hand and there she found the opportunity to repay the unspoken one-sided debt she felt like she owed the boy and his entire family.
"Dead" she announced.
Her sister let out a laugh followed by many others which covered up the saddened howls from Hagrid.
The next step was to proceed to Hogwarts, show them the dead body of their supposed saviour. Voldemort kept his back straight as he led the group of people who did not dare to match step with their leader.
All staying behind as Hagrid who was still chained carried the boy he had adored since he was born.
He held him high, almost high enough that nobody could see his face.
It came crashing down when Voldemort reached the gates. Both sides came rolling out to the perfectly preserved entrance of the school.
To say the least, Voldemort was more than satisfied to detect the despair, the disappointment and the worn out faces of his rivals.
Lily was leaning on to James. Fred and George were behind their siblings and the group along with Molly and Arthur were in a group latching on to each other, some with fear and others with grief.
Sirius hid his face in Remus' neck, his sobs evident with the way his body was shaking. Hermione and Draco stood together, years of fighting made them get into alert upon the mere sight of the dark lord. The terrible slowing of time stretched around them both like a strangling rope.
Amidst the silence and the agonizing glares, Voldemort raised his hand. Of course, all the glares went towards the direction in which his ivory fingers. There stood Hagrid, who had managed to go undetected by now.
Before anybody could start guessing about the limp body in his embrace, the man in the middle announced: "Harry Potter is dead."
"No!" came a scream from Lily who could not find any means of composing herself. The woman couldn't move. Could barely breathe. She could hear her own heart beating, hear the scrape of her breathing in her dry throat. Her husband was holding her back and she gave up fighting, giving in to the embrace of the man who also lost a son right now.
"Now you all put your faith in me," the evil wizard said. Words rolling off his tongue as easily as he expected the others to accept them.
However, this was not the case as Draco stepped forward and said "no! You must be insane to think that we would give up now when we are so close to freedom."
"It is true that Harry fought with us but our fight doesn't end with him," Neville said stepping forward.
Ron continued, "Doesn't matter that Harry's gone. People die every day-friends..family. Yeah, we lost Harry tonight. But he's still with us...in here." The redhead boy pointed towards his heart.
And that is when Hermione stepped in, "the boy you killed, the one you have been trying to kill for years is the love of my life and at this moment I know that he wouldn't want me to give up." She stared at Harry, motionless in Hagrid's arms. His eyes were closed, his face still; if it weren't for the limp hands and legs, she could have told herself he was asleep.
Now very much against her will, she thought of the way Harry had looked at her then, the blaze of faith in his emerald eyes, his belief in her. He had always thought she was strong. He had showed it in everything he did, in every look and every touch.
Hermione closed her eyes. Remembering the way Harry had looked at her the night of the Yule ball confessing how much she meant to him, she couldn't help but imagine the way he'd look at her now if he saw her trying to give up and cry, waiting to be killed beside him the way she so wanted to.
He wouldn't be touched, wouldn't think it was a beautiful gesture. He'd be angry at her for giving up. He'd be so-disappointed.
With that thought in her mind, she found her voice and continued "I will not stop fighting you, none of us will. I will make sure that he did not die in vain even if I die doing so. You cannot pull me over to the dark side because I will resist you till my last breath."
Agreement aroused in the crowd and then Lily screamed "my boy was strong, determined and kind, everything that you are not. This fight does not end with him, the same way it did not start with him. Your followers would stop fighting the moment we defeat you, but we all have something to fight for and that does not stop with the death of my son. In fact, that motivates us to take revenge for taking a beautiful soul, another beautiful soul away from us."
"So assholes, come and get us" James yelled and suddenly Harry was rolling out of Hagrid's arms.
Gratitude, relief, anger, irritation and all other kinds of emotions were rising in everybody. Although, the only thing that was in Harry's mind was rage and vengeance.
"Potter!" Draco screamed. Harry looked over and raised his hand to catch the wand coming towards him.
Everything broke loose, some death eaters escaped by turning into black smoke while others stayed back and fought.
A/N: So I changed the mid-life-and-death limbo scene a little, mainly because I think that Dumbledore was there because of his guiding role in Harry's life and this au includes his parents as a support system.
I am not sure about the accuracy, but it an alternate universe.
Also, I had to thank you guys for reading this story and we are over 10k reads.
xx