The girl stood shakily, blinking against the moonlight. She collected her balance and slowly looked around her, hardly daring to believe what he could see.
Death.
At her feet lay scattered bodies. Wizards, witches and muggles alike lay together, dead or fatally injured.
She moved her scared gaze from the street to the pavements where the living muggles stood. The media were there, with cameras and reporters but none were recording. The girl couldn’t blame them.
They all stared at her in stunned silence as she took a deep breath and brushed the hair out of her eyes.
She knew she must look awful, but she didn’t care, she only cared about one thing. Finding him. She just had to find him, to know whether he had defeated the Dark Lord or not. To know if he was even still alive.
The girl began to walk, stepping over and between he bodies. She tried not to look down, but eventually knew she had to. What if there were people she knew down there? What if he was lying down there?
Lily Potter was watching the scene from above. She was not alive, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t see. She now wished she couldn’t.
Lily glanced up at her husband, standing slightly behind her. He too was surveying the scene with unusually solemn eyes.
James looked back down into his wife’s troubled green eyes. He knew what she wanted to do. But did he want her to do it?
He nodded curtly.
Lily smiled slightly and floated off as quickly as she could. She stopped when she reached the portal that took the dead down to the human world and the dead up to the world of the dead. This portal was a link between one world and another. Life and death. It could be used whenever it was needed, but there was a permanent flow of the newly dead coming up towards them, so it was only used in special circumstances. Like this one.
When she arrived at the swirling grey fog that was the portal, Lily took one glance back at James. He frowned at her hesitation and hurried over.
“You need to hurry, with the deaths of so many in that fight, you might want to get a move on before that portal becomes grid locked,” he told her.
“I know. Will you come with me and help me find him?” Lily asked.
“Later. I better go find out what Sirius is up to, knowing him, he’s probably found one thing or another which would be bad enough to wake the dead!” chuckled James.
Lily raised an eyebrow at her immature husband.
“That’s not funny. Especially not in circumstances like this,” Lily said, immensely unimpressed.
James’ smile immediately slipped.
“Yeah…sorry, dear…so anyway, weren’t you going?” James asked, clearing his throat uneasily. An angry Lily was not a pleasant one.
Lily sighed and kissed him softly before stepping into the portal.
The sucking feeling of travelling between worlds ended as Lily stepped out onto the streets of a bloodstained Godric’s Hollow.
She looked around, although nobody could see her, as she wasn’t a ghost, she was still very conscientious and proceeded with immense caution. One slip-up and she could be stuck in this world forever.
The silence around her was piercing, but she continued bravely, passing over withered leaves, stained red with blood.
Lily stopped occasionally and stared up at the shining crescent moon. She wondered how it could be as bright at such a dreadful time like this. A time when Lily didn’t know if her son was dead or alive.
Midnight
Not a sound from the pavement
Has the moon lost her memory?
She is smiling alone
In the lamplight
The withered leaves collect at my feet
And the wind begins to moan
The girl stopped to rest in front of one of the last houses actually left standing. She was sweating, despite the cool night air and exhausted from the long walk and occasional sprints. When there was room between the masses of bodies to sprint.
She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the cold, half-shattered window glass.
When she eventually opened her eyes again, she leapt about a foot away from the window, scarcely muffling a scream.
Behind the window stood a horrible creature. It must have been some sort of banshee or boggart, or something. Its skin was pale and pasty, its hair was matted with blood and dirt and its face was covered with bruises, cuts and burns.
The girl looked closer and recognised her red hair. The creature in the window was her.
She looked so old it scared her. And that was without looking at the rest of her body. Why did she look like this? It was probably the battle. Yet, she couldn’t remember much about it.
Apart from the number of Death Eaters. Thousands and thousands had appeared on the streets from nowhere and attacked everyone in sight. And of course, as always when there is trouble, the muggles flocked to the village like birds to the south at the start of winter.
They had killed anyone who got in their way, even if they weren’t actually in their way. Muggles and wizards alike had fallen to the ground. Even the Order hadn’t been enough to stop them.
The one good thing was that, if they didn’t use the killing curse, they didn’t stop to make sure their prey was dead, that was the only reason she was still alive.
They had a higher cause for coming. Harry Potter.
The girl sighed and, catching her breath, continued on her way, searching the face of every body she passed, desperately looking for him.
Of course, she cared about her family and friends, but at that awful moment in time, she cared about him a tiny bit more. She had to know if he was alive, if he had succeeded. Had the fight even taken place in Godric’s Hollow?
Looking around at the scattered bodies of the dead and just about alive, she knew that the fight couldn’t have possibly have moved anywhere other than here.
She found her mind straying back to the old days. The days before this. She remembered when she had an absurd crush on him and couldn’t be in his presence without dropping something or turning a bright shade of magenta.
She remembered their first kiss in the common room with everyone watching. She remembered the feel of his lips on hers. She remembered the happy days after her OWLs, just lounging about by the lake in the sun. Just being kids.
Then she remembered Dumbledore’s funeral. She understood why he had to break up with her after only a few weeks of dating, but that didn’t make it any easier to accept.
She felt a tear roll down her cheek and brushed it away impatiently. There was no time for tears.
The girl continued walking, her footsteps echoing in the silent street. Silent, but not deserted.
Memories
All alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again
Lily hurried as fast as she could along the streets of her old village. Her search was taking longer than she would have liked, as she had to look at everyone, lest she missed the one she was looking for.
She saw the faces of many people she knew and laughed with during her time at Hogwarts, so many she had laughed and joked and talked with. So many that would be going up the portal that night. So many she would see again too soon.
Lily suddenly saw a familiar body. She hastened up to it. It was Remus Lupin.
“No, oh please, no!” she gasped, falling to her knees. He couldn’t be dead, he just couldn’t! He had too much to live for! He used to anyway, Lily thought as she saw the body of Tonks, his fiancée a few feet away. They had got engaged just the day before.
Remus’ usually tidy brown hair was tangled and a bead of blood had trickled down his head.
Lily floated over to Tonks and tried to lift her hand to join it with Remus’. Her hand slipped through to the ground. She nearly yelled out in frustration. She hated this…this…helplessness, not being able to do anything at all to help. Not even protect her own son against the creature that had done this.
She glided back over to Remus and listened for breath, or a heartbeat, or some sign that he had survived. Nothing. Silence.
Lily wanted to lie across his body and weep for days gone by that she could never share with him. He had been the only person in the school to be her friend during her first few years there. And now he was dead. The last of the decent Marauders. Gone forever.
But she knew she couldn’t do that. She would just slide right through his body. Instead, she wiped her tears, telling herself that she would see him again soon. She stood and continued on her way.
The girl was tripping over the mounds of bodies now, she hadn’t known, or even stopped to consider how many people had turned up to help Harry fight.
But she didn’t dare stop to see if any were alive, she was just desperately searching for that familiar scruffy black hair and glasses.
She started to cry as she stumbled on. She was sick of this, the death, the horror, the stench of the bodies and not finding him. If only she could find him, then she’d be all right. Wouldn’t she?
A muggle hurried forward and grabbed her sore arm, trying to drag her into shelter.
The girl tried to protests, wriggling and trying to break free of the woman’s grasp, but the muggle insisted, dragging her through the crowd of concerned onlookers.
“Let me go!” the girl managed to rasp.
“No, come with me, deary, it’ll all be fine lets just get you inside, eh? It’ll fine now, sweet, don’t cry. Don’t worry. Just breath deeply now, that’s ri-“
The muggle never finished her sentence. The girl swung her fist round and punched her in the face. The muggle dropped her arm and the girl ran away, amidst mutters about the ‘disgrace of youth, these days!’
It was lucky the girl had grown up with so many older brothers, she would never have learnt how to fight if she hadn’t. She reminded herself to thank them for that when she found them. If she found them.
The girl continued running, leaping over the bodies, filled with anger at the muggle thinking she could help her, when all she wanted was to find Harry.
She only stopped running when there were no muggles around. There were only one or two scattered bodies around now. That meant she was getting closer. Few would have gotten to the battle itself, if any.
She walked over and sat on the curb of the pavement, catching her breath. She glanced up at the lightening sky. She wanted to get Harry, or his body, away before the sun rose and the muggle police came and tried to take him away.
The girl started to think back to the past couple of years. Bill and Fleur’s wedding, Harry getting rumours of where the Horcruxes were and dashing off before he got time to visit his parent’s graves. Hermione and Ron had gone with him. She had begged to go and they had agreed, eventually, even though Harry pleaded with her to stay.
Her mum, on the other hand, had not given her consent. She had wanted her to stay at Hogwarts and complete her education. But itt wasn’t the same without Dumbledore there.
By the time she had finished at school, Voldemort was already declining in power. Harry had destroyed all six Horcruxes. He just had Voldemort and his supporters to defeat.
This time everybody had been against her going, but she had refused to not go with them. Their trip had brought them to the place where it had all started almost twenty-one years ago. Godric’s Hollow.
As they arrived, they had discovered that they were not alone, thousands and thousands of witches and wizards from all over the world had heard about the final battle and come to help. Their old school friends, the DA, just to mention a few. Even some teachers had come to help. The girl couldn't see a single one alive and well.
Every streetlamp
Seems to beat a fatalistic warning
Someone mutters
And the streetlamp gutters
And soon it will be morning
Lily Potter was beginning to think she was never going to find him. Perhaps he was dead. She had no way of knowing.
She was inconsolable after finding Remus’ body, but she carried on bravely, like a true Gryffindor, even after death. The only way to do that was to think about the coming day and that, when that came, tonight would only be a horrific memory.
As she hurried through the streets of Godric’s Hollow, she realised where Harry would be.
The place where this all started “ could it possibly the place it all finished?
There was only one way to find out. Lily flew up higher than the houses, to get there quicker. She immediately wished she hadn’t.
The death and destruction was all the more apparent from above. She told herself not to cry, to carry on, if she ever wanted to see her son alive again, she had to carry on.
Lily eventually arrived at her old home. It had been rebuilt since her death and muggles had moved in.
It had been reduced to its wooden frame structure now. That was twice in a century.
Lily drifted to the ground and soared over the doorstep. She looked around her former home, memories flooding back to her from the times James and her had lived there.
Him carrying her over the doorstep after their honeymoon, making breakfast in the kitchen, Sirius Flooing in on Christmas, not knowing the tree was covering the fireplace, consequentially reducing the tree to embers. She remembered telling James she was pregnant and how happy and amazed he was. She remembered bringing Harry home here, and singing lullabies whilst James sat and just stared at his son in amazement.
She remembered Dumbledore visiting to tell them that Voldemort was after them and they had to go into hiding. She remembered the pain she felt when she realised that someone had betrayed them.
Lily there forced herself to stop thinking. The rest was too shattering.
She took in her surroundings. She had automatically glided up to Harry’s old room, the place of his birth. The place of her death.
She stared down at the floor. Harry was lying spread-eagled on the wooden floorboards, cuts and bruises decorating his body, his eyes were shut and blood covered his clothes and face.
“NO!” Lily screamed. He couldn’t be dead. He just couldn’t be. She wouldn’t let him be dead!
Daylight
I must wait for the sunrise
I must think of a new life
And I mustn’t give in
When the dawn comes
Tonight will be a memory too
And a new day will begin
Lily flew over and knelt down beside her son. He wasn’t breathing. She listened, praying, for a heartbeat.
Badum… Badum… Badum… Badum…Badum
There it was! Faint, but it was there. Lily let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. Not that it mattered if she had forgotten to breath.
She could think of only one option. She placed her slender hands over his heart and poured her energy, strength and love into her son.
His green eyes flickered open. Lily jumped to her feet with pure joy.
Harry sat up and placed a hand on his throbbing head. Feeling unnaturally well, he stood.
By this time, James had joined his wife, he floated next to her and took her hand, pecking her on the cheek.
Harry suddenly squinted in their direction.
"Mum? Dad?" he asked, incredulously.
James smiled and nodded, Lily stepped forward and pecked him on the cheek, smiling tenderly.
A noise sounded from downstairs and Harry whipped around. When he turned back, he couldn't see his parents. He wondered if they had been real or an aftermath of the fight.
Then he realised that he could still feel his mum's kiss on his cheek. He smiled. They had been real all right.
He heard the same noise a before from below.
A red head suddenly emerged from the stairs. Then the exhausted body of Ginny Weasley appeared.
She stared at Harry in stunned silence before bursting into noisy tears. Harry could do nothing but gape at her.
A couple of feet behind, James could feel the embarrassment his son was feeling, he had been through the same thing a million times with Lily.
“C’mon, let’s leave these two in peace, shall we?” he prompted his wife.
Lily nodded, took one more wistful look at her son before drifting away, hand-in-hand with her husband.
They stepped outside to find that the sun had already risen, the day promising to be a warm but hazy one.
Burnt out ends of smoky days
The stale cold smell of morning
The streetlamp dies, another night is over
Another day is dawning
Back at the Potter’s old house, Harry and Ginny could do nothing but stare, scarcely daring to believe that the other was alive and with them.
"Why are you crying? He's gone. Vanished. Dead!" Harry cried joyously, grinning like there was no tomorrow.
His smile fell when Ginny continued crying, not even looking at him now.
"Why are you afraid to look at me?" Harry asked, suddenly angry.
He had prayed that she'd be alive all the time he was fighting, and now that he knew she was, she couldn't even look at him? What kind of person was she? She suddenly started sobbing.
"I'm s-sorry H-Harry! I-I-I was just so a-a-fraid t-that you'd be d-d-dead!" she cried.
"What? But Ginny, I'm alive, not particularly well, but it'll take more than the greatest dark wizard of all time to get rid of me! Well...actually...maybe not..." he coughed uneasily.
Ginny still wouldn't look at him.
"You can touch me, you know," he said, somehow understanding what she was going through.
Ginny looked up at him, her deep brown eyes shining with tears. She suddenly flung her arms round Harry's neck; he almost collapsed onto the floor from the force of her.
"Oh, Harry! You're real! And…oh, Harry, I'm just so happy!" Harry grinned and cupped her face in his hands. Her eyes were still swimming with tears, but she was beaming, and everything was suddenly fine. Harry kissed Ginny softly on the lips, before prying her arms off him and taking her hand.
"Lets go see what we can do to help outside," he told her, leading her down the stairs and outside.
Touch me
It's so easy to leave me
All alone with my memories
Of my days in the sun
If you touch me
You'll understand what happiness is
Outside, people were rising from the floor, rubbing their heads. Ministry officials were already there, trying to do what they could, which was very little.
Suddenly, someone saw Harry and started yelling and pointing.
"On seconds thought, let's stay inside until everyone's gone," Harry said, not fancying being “the chosen one” so soon after the fight. So Harry and Ginny dashed back inside, the bright sun of a new morning illuminating their path.
Look
A new day has begun…
Memories by JC_Cainstone
Chapter Notes: One-shot song-fic to Memories from Cats.
The character death warning is because you find some main characters dead.