After Death

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Harry Potter lived a long, happy life. When he died, the world was shocked, upset. His death was extremely sad, as everyone remembered him as the one whom finally, after a long, long period of misery, brought peace and happiness to the Wizarding World.

When Harry arrived in Heaven, he saw something that shocked him, but filled him with happiness. "Mum? Dad?" he said. "Is that really you?" To Harry, it felt like a dream. A really, really happy dream.

"Harry," Lily said. "I love you so much. We've been watching over you almost all the time since we died."

"I'm so proud of you," James told him. "You were a brilliant wizard, Harry. Brilliant."

"I can't believe I'm finally seeing you," Harry said. "All these years-"

"We've missed you," Lily said. "It was so hard sometimes, watching you do so many important things, so hard to know that it was up to you and there was nothing we could do to help."

"You helped," he replied, finally getting his voice back a little. "You gave me a reason to fight. And mum, you're the reason I lived this long. For years, the fact that you died to save me was the only thing keeping me alive." He poured so much feeling into these words and it was obvious that it took a lot of effort to get them out.

Lily had tears sparkling in her bright green eyes. James put his arm around her, and he was grinning from ear to ear. "You went through so much, Harry," he said quietly. "So much more than you ever should've had to go through."

"Yeah, but I had friends and people I loved beside me the whole time," he explained. "The hardest part of it all was losing so many people I loved, too. Is everyone who died still here?"

"Harry Potter," another voice said.

"Sirius!" Harry ran to his godfather and gave him a hug. "I missed you, so, so much."

"I missed you too. I was happy to see you married Ginny Weasley," he said as James and Lily walked over to them. Ginny had long red hair and deep brown eyes. She was very pretty and was also Harry's best friend's sister.

Harry laughed. "Why don't you tell us about her Harry?" James said, his hazel eyes sparkling.

"She's beautiful and strong and talented and caring," Harry said. "If I miss anyone, it'll be her. Well, her and Ron and Hermione."

James and Sirius smiled. "She looks like your mother," Sirius said quietly. "Actually she's just like your mother in a lot of ways."

"I guess we do look alike," Lily laughed.

"Except your mum's prettier," James teases Harry. "Isn't she, Sirius?"

"I'm not getting into this, Prongs," he laughed. "You two can fight this out later, when I'm not around." They all laughed with him. "So your kids... what are their names?"

"James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna," he replied slowly. "But- if you guys have been watching over me, how didn't you know that?"

"We can't know everything," Sirius said, obviously surprised at the fact that Harry named a kid after him. "This is probably a stupid question, but how'd you pick their names?"

"Yeah, especially the second one," James said.

"Well, you know who they're named after," Harry explained. "Ginny and I named our first son James Sirius after you two. Dad, we named him after you because I loved you but had never gotten to meet you; I just got to hear how great and how brilliant you were. And Sirius, for a long time you were the only family I had left and you were like a brother and a best friend and a father to me."

"We named our second son Albus Severus after Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape," he continued, looking in their direction. "They were the best headmasters Hogwarts ever had and Professor Dumbledore helped me so much when I had to fight Voldemort."

Turning to Snape, Harry asked, "How much do they know and how much can I tell them?" Snape's cold black eyes were following Harry with uncertainty. Although, as Sirius and James had noted years before and Harry was noticing now, death didn't seem to make Snape want to wash his hair or face any more than when he was alive, as his hair was just as greasy as ever.

"They don't know anything," he responded. "But you can tell them."

"Okay," Harry said. "We named him after Professor Snape because he constantly risked his life trying to help the Order. He was a spy for Professor Dumbledore. And mum, he loves you. He always has. His last memories were memories of you and memories that would help me finish Voldemort."

"Really, Severus?" Lily asked. "All these years, you loved me, but you never said anything. Why?"

"Because I knew this idiot would mock me," he said pointing at James. "I knew he'd remind me that it was him who won you over in the end. Just one more thing he's better at than me."

"Watch out Snape, or it'll sound like you're jealous of James," Sirius said.

"Jealous of James?" Snape said with a sneer. "The only thing James could do that I couldn't was get Lily in bed with him."

"I didn't really need that image," Harry whispered to Sirius.

Sirius laughed. "Me either," he whispered back.

"Oh, shut up, you two," James said, but he was laughing a little.

"Severus, I love James," Lily said patiently. "And he makes me happy. Hopefully you can accept that."

"Obviously I can, considering it's been so many years since I first fell in love with you, Lily," Snape responds.

Everything was silent for a few seconds, and then James said, "So Harry, your daughter's name is Lily Luna. How'd you come up with that?"

"She's named after Mum and Luna Lovegood, a girl we went to school with," Harry replied. "We named her after Mum for the same reason we named James after you. And Luna was, well, fascinating. She was always telling us about crazy stuff none of us believed was real, like nargles." He laughed. "Lily looks just like you, Mum. She got Ginny's hair and my eyes."

She definitely does look like you did at her age," James said.

Harry turned to Remus and Tonks. "Hey guys, I missed you. Everyone missed you," he told them.

"We've missed you too," Remus replied with a smile. "Is your patronus still a stag, Harry?"

"What?" James said. "Your patronus is a stag?"

"Yeah," Harry responded. "Expecto Patronum!" A silver stag erupted from the end of his wand.

"Wow," James said, shocked. "I never would've guessed. Did Sirius tell you that my patronus is a stag too?"

"Yeah," Harry replied. "And you were an animagus, and you transformed into a stag."

"Yeah, those were the days I miss," James said with a sigh. "Hogwarts was always fun."

"It was fun for you because you two played pranks on anyone and everyone," Lily laughed.

"You have to admit they were pretty funny sometimes," James responded.

"Yeah, they were funny sometimes," Lily replied slowly. "Not always. Sometimes they were just mean."

"True, I guess they were mean sometimes," James admitted. "But that was before we grew up a little."

Sirius nodded. "We'd never dream of playing some of those pranks now. Oh, Harry who'd you give the map to?"

"James," Harry answered. "I gave it to him when he went to Hogwarts for his first year."

"That map was brilliant," Lily said. "It took a lot of talent. I was surprised you guys could do something like that."

"Me too," James admitted. "But it was worth a try."

"Yeah, and it worked out," Sirius added.

"That map helped quite a few people while I was at Hogwarts," Harry said. "Fred and George Weasley were the ones who got it from Filch in the first place."

"I can't believe your dad actually helped make the map," Fred said.

"I couldn't at first either," Harry responded. "At least everyone can be happy to know that James will put that map to good use."

"Good," James said. "How much do you think you'll miss your kids?"

"A lot!" Harry exclaimed. "They're great! What kind of person wouldn't miss them?"

"A horrible one, that's for sure," James replied with a smile. "I'm just hoping that your life after death isn't always painful for you."

"It won't be," Harry promised. "I'll miss my family and friends, but I have lots of family and friends with me right now and I'm happy. I'll always be happy."