With every breath that Harry took, James’s face grew more anxious. It was quite clear that something was happening to him. He could feel it. A kind of energy, which had been nearly absent since he had arrived in this place, was beginning to ebb into his being. He felt himself coming back to life, feeling good again. His body was telling him that it was okay…but his mind knew better. His mother and father seemed worried by his brightening eyes and straightening shoulders. He turned back to the mysterious man with the staff, whose face had hardened into a veritable “NO!”
“He is not returning to Life,” the man said, his hand gripping the staff harder. His eyes narrowed, as if he were attempting to lure daggers from them and shoot them at Harry. Another surge of energy hit the boy, and he took a deep breath, attempting not to relish it.
“Bend the rules, Nicolas,” Sirius demanded, and Harry turned to look at him. He had forgotten how much he had missed that voice, that harsh tone with a touch of fatherly love. He saw the familiar black eyes, at peace with the world yet on fire at this very moment. He was as angry as he had been when Bellatrix had fired that curse at him. Harry loved that anger, adored that fire. He wouldn’t mind staying here if he would be able to enjoy that everyday for the rest of eternity.
“I will not, Sirius,” said the man called Nicolas, “We’ve been through this before, and we’ll go through it again. Now, I’ve been generous with this boy. I repelled him the last four times he tried to come here. I will not do it again. He’s inside now, his purpose is fulfilled, and he is staying here.”
“Wait,” Harry bellowed, “Other four times? What…what are you talking about?”
“Later, sweetheart,” Lily interrupted, “Don’t waste your breath right now.”
“But…” he started, but James shook his head to silence him. His brow ruffled, Harry shut his mouth and remained silent.
“He is seventeen-years-old, Nicolas,” Lily told him, “He cannot be finished. There’s a lot for him to live for. He has yet to experience a normal life. That’s what awaits him up there.”
“He’s never going to be normal, Lily,” Nicolas huffed, “He will always be the boy who killed Lord Voldemort. He’s never going to be normal.”
“He can have a life,” James retorted, “He can spend his time worrying about small things. He can fall in love without thinking about the girl being attacked. He can do a lot of things now.”
“No, he can’t,” said the man, “He is here now. There is nothing else to say on this matter.”
“I have to go back,” Harry said, and everyone turned their heads toward him.
“Harry, you just need to…”
“NO!” he shouted, “NO! I WON’T BE QUIET! I’VE ALWAYS KEPT MY MOUTH SHUT, ALWAYS SHUT MY MOUTH WHEN I’VE BEEN TOLD TO! NOW, THIS IS MY LIFE WE’RE TALKING ABOUT AND I WILL HAVE A SAY IN WHAT HAPPENS TO IT!”
“Okay, then,” Remus said, his eyes pointed upwards toward Nicolas, “He means business, Flamel.”
Putting the information that he was dealing with Nicolas Flamel into the back of his mind, Harry took another deep breath and looked up at the withered old man.
“I’ve got to make this snappy,” he said, “I can feel the life slipping out of me…into me…whatever.”
“I have other matters to attend to,” Flamel spat, “Get on with it, son.”
“I have a reason to live,” Harry told him again, “Three reasons or more, actually. Hermione. We’ll start there. She’s the smartest witch of her age, you know. She’s been with me since we were eleven. Saved my life on a number of occasions.”
“Made a note of that,” Flamel interjected, “Couldn’t take her when she was fifteen because of it, actually.”
“You were going to take her when she was fifteen?” Harry asked, frightened.
“In the Department of Mysteries, when that curse hit her chest,” he said, “I was close to killing her with pain, and then pulled her back.”
“You insufferable…” Harry began.
“Harry!” Lily scolded.
“Anyway,” Harry said, “as I was saying. Hermione is headed to great things, that I know. I need to be there to support her through all of that. She was always there for me, pulling me out of tough situations and teaching me how to do things to save my life. Ron’s next, I guess. We’re best friends, him and I. We go through everything together. He needs me to keep his head on his shoulders. He needs me to keep being his best friend. We’re supposed to rant about women together, and be each other’s best man. When the world fails us, and when others fail us, we’ve got one another’s back.”
“Nice argument, son,” Flamel said, “But it’s not enough. You have five minutes of life left on Earth. Just wait until the energy returns to your body, and then move on.”
“I’m not finished, thank you,” Harry roared, “You’re going to let me finish my plea, and then you can do with me what you will. Now, where was I?”
“Ron,” Sirius said, and Harry could hear the pride in his voice.
“Right, him. Well, I think I’m done with him. He and Hermione should be enough. But they aren’t everything. No, everything comes next.”
“What’s everything?” asked Flamel.
“Ginny Weasley. She’s the reason for breathing, the reason for laughing, and the reason for me to go back. Her eyes are like an Irish dream, her hair as red as a setting sun. Her voice is like a thousand glorious bells, ringing loud and clear throughout the land. I love her more than I have ever loved anything in my life. She is what made me believe I could defeat Lord Voldemort. She is what saved me and allowed me to do it. I want to spend the rest of my life with her, and I want that to be a long time. I want to marry her, and have children with her, and grow old with her. Please…don’t let me abandon her. Don’t let me die on her. Not again.”
The five spirits that stood before him were speechless, utterly amazed at the words of this simple seventeen-year-old boy. Lily had tears in her eyes, happy now that her son had found what many people spent their entire life looking for. James just smiled. Sirius and Remus looked close to clapping. Flamel, however, still looked unsure of what to do. Energy was beginning to stir in Harry again.
“You owe me for giving you what you wanted,” Harry told the man standing in front of him, “I destroyed that stone of yours, and you got to move on with…I guess, you could say, life.”
Flamel nodded his head, and shuffled the staff in his hands. He studied the small orb that sat on the top, filled with a kind of green light that was nearly mesmerizing. Harry stopped looking at it.
“I’ll stop the dying process,” Flamel said, “You will be able to return to your body in an hour. In half of that time, you’ll hear the cries of those you love beginning to fill your ears. If they are ready to let you go, you will come back here. Do you understand?”
“Thank you,” Harry said, and his parents repeated those words to the man. Flamel turned around and returned to the shadows.
“You did good, Harry,” Remus said, and followed Flamel. Sirius began to leave, but Harry shouted “NO!”
“It’s all right, Harry,” Sirius said, “You’ve got to let go of me now. You’ve done it before and you can do it again. Just keep thinking of me from time to time. You know you’ll see me again.”
“Yeah,” Harry said, feeling his throat constrict and his eyes fill with tears. Lily placed her hand on her son’s shoulder, and looked into the eyes that mirrored hers.
“You’ve given me a lot of scares over the years, Harry,” she told him, and she stroked his face.
“What exactly did he mean when he said that I’ve been here four times?” he asked her.
“You’ve walked past us about four times,” she told him, “That’s why you remembered the veil when you were in the Department two years ago. You could hear us whispering because we’d called you several times before. Flamel repelled you all four times because he knew you weren’t ready. Voldemort stood in the way.”
“Sometimes, I was probably wishing I could go in,” Harry said, “I don’t remember coming by, though. When was it?”
“Once on that night when you were a baby. Next was after you defeated Riddle,” she said, “You lost consciousness. Then, the third time was in the chamber, as the life drained out of you from that snake bite. The last was when you were attacked by the dementors in third year and lost your consciousness as well. Every time, something brought you back. It was your destiny. This time, it was you.”
Harry felt himself being pulled. His feet floated from the ground a little bit. A voice rang out in his head.
“Come back, please come back,” it said.
“She’s calling you,” James told him, “She’s calling you up there.”
“Ginny, let him go. Let him go.” Another voice.
“NO!” he shouted up towards the sky, “GINNY! HOLD ON! HOLD ON TO ME!”
“I’m not letting go, Hermione!”
“Good girl.”
For the next half hour, he would listen to the voice of Ginny, asking him to come back. He tried to go faster, but the realm held him fast. He was coming, but slower than he wanted to. He could sense her accepting his death, and he kept his mind focused on hers.
“Don’t let go,” he kept saying, “Don’t let me go. Not yet.”
Then, he heard his father. His father, standing far below him, waved a hand at him.
“Goodbye son,” he said.
“See you later?” Harry shouted down at him.
“Much later!” he replied, and it echoed up at him. Harry’s head broke through a surface. It was much like swimming up through water, and breath came to him as if he hadn’t breathed in hours. He gasped, reached up to grab the air. His fingers collided with hair. The hair was Ginny’s, and it flowed through his fingers like water.
“Hey,” he grunted, and his voice was forced. It took all the strength he had to get his words out. From the energy he had had in the realm, it was all the more absent now that he was back on Earth. He coughed, and it scratched his throat.
“Stop doing this to me, God,” Ginny shouted at the sky, “STOP MAKING ME BELIEVE HE’S COMING BACK!”
“I AM back, Ginny,” he choked, and he reached for her sweater, “There’s one more fight left in me. We’ve gotten through this entire thing by luck, but we got through it.”
“This isn’t happening again,” she said, still in denial, “It’s not real. It was real the last couple of times, but it’s not right now. I know he’s gone. Let me accept it!”
“This is real,” Harry repeated, and he grabbed her and kissed her. Coming to her senses, Ginny’s eyes grew wide in amazement. She found that she couldn’t speak. She gazed into his eyes, his vivid green eyes that she never thought would open again.
“You aren’t alive,” she said, but she knew that he was, “You…this…AH!”
She pounced on him, and felt the wind knock out of his body. Gasping and sputtering, he coughed and showed her that he couldn’t handle what she was doing.
“Oh, Harry! I’m sorry, I just…oh, Harry!” she cried. She kissed his cheek and neck, his lips and his forehead.
“HERMIONE!” she called, “RON! HERMIONE! COME QUICKLY! HE’S ALIVE!”
“Ginny,” he said quietly, “Ginny, before they get here, I’ve got to ask you something. It’s…I’ve got to ask you something.”
“What?” she asked him, “What is it?”
“Will you marry me?”
Her eyes could only tell him yes. Her arms wrapped around his weakened body. Yet in a few weeks, that body would heal. In a few weeks, destiny would have been fulfilled. In a few weeks, Harry Potter would begin to experience being a person. An ordinary person. Life did not end on the day that it was supposed to. Instead, it began anew. The chapter that is known as “Storm or Darkness” is now over. The chapter called “Life” begins here. It continues on until the day that Harry meets Sirius, Lupin, and his parents again. That day, however, is far away. Very, very far away. The End