Requirements

Requirements

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Calmness

*

Harry's steps were slow as he walked through the empty corridors of Hogwarts. Some time before the cries of war had echoed there, now the sound of his steps was the only thing that could be heard. The battlefield had fallen silent, the injured people's groans and whimpers being the only sounds there.

Voldemort had finally fallen, but so had many, many others. Dumbledore himself had died, trying to buy Harry some more time to destroy Voldemort. Snape had blown up at least twenty Death Eaters -- and himself. Well, he'd always been a drama queen, being a suicide bomber seemed to fit him just well. And Sniffles -- yes, Sniffles had jumped in front of a curse aimed at Harry, giving him just the second he needed to take down the Dark Lord.

Now, it was over. But nobody was at his side to celebrate this victory.

Oh, of course there were many survivors. Many of them, hundreds, thousands, the whole Wizarding World. It just seemed that the dead were all those whom Harry had known, those whom he had imagined to be with him when the Second War was finally over. It pained him, knowing that they were not there with him to see his final victory, the one they had all fought so much for.

No, Harry was alone. Nobody would be there to make him annoyed by ruffling his hair and saying that he had been a good little boy, nobody would slam his back and congratulate him for "taking the old snakeface down". Oh, he would get awards and medals, that he was sure of, but it would not be the same.

Never the same.

When he'd been younger, he'd imagined that he could have a normal life after Lord Voldemort had been destroyed. Now, however, he saw that it could not be so, not ever. He'd always be singled out, no more as the Boy Who Lived, but as the Man Who Won. And none of his dead friends would be there with him. He could not return to his usual life, because there was nothing for him to return to. What he had thought to be usual life had been taken from him, all of it.

He opened the door to the Room of Requirements very, very slowly.

And there, in the middle of the room, he saw the answer.

*

After the Battle of Victory, nobody could tell where Harry Potter was. He couldn't be found anywhere. After some frantic searching and looking, Nymphadora Tonks, one of the few survivors in the rows of the Order of the Phoenix, got an odd moment of sensible thinking. Leading the searchers to the Room of Requirements, she explained that as they now needed to find Harry more than anything, they would find him in the room. Then, she opened the door.

There wasn't any sign of Harry there. But from what they found they knew what had happened as well as if they had witnessed it themselves.

There was no blood in the room, no body. In the middle of an empty, circular room they saw a familiar-looking stone archway. They saw only an ancient, tattered jet-black veil hanging on the archway, wavering slightly as if an invisible breeze had been blowing from somewhere, capturing its aged corners in an endless dance through the air. On the thick layer of dust on the floor they saw footprints leading to the archway -- and disappearing when they at last reached it.

There was no telling what was behind the Veil, as nobody had ever crossed it and returned to tell about the reality beyond it. Most said it was death, pure and simple; some said that it was something much more -- or maybe something much less. But whatever it was, they knew that it was what Harry needed -- and they all knew what that was, and that he'd got what he'd craved for so many painful years through the war.

To rest in peace.

*

When Harry opened his eyes, he was immediately closed into a warm hug. "Welcome, Harry!" said Sirius joyously. "I've been waiting for you for so long!"

"...Sirius?" Harry breathed, not daring to believe it true. Could he really have found Sirius so soon? "How -- how are you here already? Why haven't you -- gone forward?"

"Why, I waited for you, lad, of course," replied the Animagus cheerfully. "Do you really think I would have crossed the line without you?" With a laugh, he added, "No, I've been waiting for you, and so've been we all. The ones coming here have kept us updated about what happened. Your parents are really proud of you, Puppy."

"They shouldn't be," Harry said quietly as he started to walk with Sirius, walk through the dim light that seemed to surround them from everywhere. "I failed everyone... I let you all die."

"Not your fault, Harry," Sirius said firmly. "Never your fault... You have failed nobody. You won the world for those who are coming after us." Then he exclaimed, "Look! The way's not that long, we're already near! They're coming towards us!"

And truly, a familiar form trotted through the dimness, approaching like a messenger of the new life that waited them in the light that shone from the horizon. Sniffles barked happily as he reached them, circling Harry. The star on his collar had disappeared, though, its twinkle now living on in Sirius's eyes.

"Harry!" shouted a familiar voice. When he raised his eyes, he saw Ron waving to him from afar. When they reached the redhead, he was again closed into a warm hug. "Aww, mate, we've been waiting for you like forever," announced the boy. "You had us really worried there. Professor Lupin said you hadn't been doing too well when he left. And when Dumbledore and Snape then arrived from the middle of the battle... Well, we thought you would come back soon, and accompanied by a lot more people!"

"Awww, let him be," Hermione commanded. Her ghost had disappeared from Hogwarts some time before, seemingly to walk the rest of the way there. "He's surely anxious to see everybody again -- especially his parents!"

"My parents..." echoed Harry quietly. "You know, I never expected that I would really see them."

"Didn't you listen to Luna?" scolded Hermione. "She told us that she'd told you that she heard voices behind the Veil. Why ever would she have lied to you? ...Look, we're almost there!"

And so, Harry saw the light. He saw the bright green eyes of his smiling mother, the wave of his father, who was no older than he was. And he saw also all his friends, all his lost friends whom he had thought he had failed completely, and who were still eagerly waiting for him. Even Snape stood there, his arms crossed strictly over his chest, his sneer looking a tad less vicious than usually.

And Sirius was there, beside him, a hand on his shoulder guiding him towards his parents.

Suddenly, Harry was crying again, for the first time in Merlin knew how many years. But they weren't tears of pain and sorrow anymore -- they were tears of joy.

*

THE END

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