Harry Potter and the Forest of Shadows

Harry Potter and

the Forest of Shadows

Chapter 24: The Forest of Shadows

"James. James, he's waking up."

Harry felt himself becoming conscious and clamped his eyes shut. He did not want to wake up from the warm light that had just been encompassing him. However, when his mind finally processed the sentence that had just been spoken, his eyes flew wide open and tried to sit up.

"Easy there, kid," said a kind voice, putting a hand on his shoulder to keep him from moving. "Don't want to kill yourself more than you already have."

"James," the other voice snapped. "That's not funny."

Harry slowly turned his head to the side. A young woman was sitting there, her legs folded beneath her and her auburn hair hanging long over her shoulder. He looked closer at her face and into his own eyes. Lily Potter reached out and ran a hand through her son's hair.

"Hello Harry," she said quietly.

He felt his heart miss a beat and his eyes water. Wearily he looked to the other side of him where a near-clone of him was sitting. He became painfully aware that his hand was being held by his father and jerked it away. He covered his face with both his hands, trying to stop the inevitable flood of tears that was coming.

James looked over at Lily worriedly. "Harry?" he asked.

"Go away," he replied through soft sobs.

"Harry," Lily said, heart-wrenched, "we came here to talk to you. We've missed you so much." She was very close to tears now too.

"You're not real," he muttered from behind his hands. "Just leave me alone."

Carefully so as not to disturb him too much, James lifted his son into a sitting position and propped him against a tree. He hesitantly lifted his hands and wrapped them around Harry's wrists and pulled the hands down from his face.

"Could someone that isn't real do that?" James asked quietly, keeping Harry's wrists in his grasp.

Harry shrugged and looked at the ground like a child that had just been scolded.

"Harry," Lily said. "We had a message for you from someone that we've known for over a year now. Cedric wanted you to know that he doesn't blame you for anything."

With a slight gasp, he came into realization. No Death Eater or anything fake would know about his ongoing guilt.

Harry launched himself into his parents' welcoming arms. Finally, the Potter family was whole again. The three sat like that for some time until finally Harry's sobs subsided. He pulled back and stared for even longer at the smiling faces.

"I've missed you so much," he muttered.

Lily cupped his cheek in her hand. "We missed you too, sweetie."

~~~

With a groan, Sirius rolled over. He shut his eyes tight and then opened them again, trying to clear his vision. The last thing he had seen was a stunner heading straight for him. Rosy had yelled to get out of the way, blood staining her sleeve where one of the zombie-like creatures had gotten to her.

Quickly, he got up, a pain-filled gasp escaping him. He was too old to be getting knocked around. The waxing moon was moving steadily to the west. Always one to be good at astronomy, he could make a good guess that it was sometime well past midnight.

The air around him was so tense. The battlefield was cold and motionless. Dark shapes lay on the ground. Those shapes are too small, he observed silently as he stood to walk. Only once before had he seen an aftermath as horrible as he was looking at. The only noises were sobs and mutterings.

After the sixth and seventh years had come out to fight, everything had gone downhill. They were completely inexperienced and most fell within the first few minutes. He walked over to the closest small figure and flipped it over.

It was a sixth year Hufflepuff he vaguely remembered from classes. Helen Abbott or something like that- names had never been his forte. She was still but her chest was moving up and down slowly. Looking at her young face, he suddenly felt a sickening lurch in his stomach.

Harry.

His mind started reeling. Harry had to have been pulled out to fight. What if something had happened to him? Sirius almost got sick right there. He started racing towards the castle. There were too many ifs and he needed answers.

In the entrance hall, Dumbledore was talking to Madam Pomfrey and Remus in hushed tones, all their heads bent. Sirius stopped in his tracks when he saw the looks on their faces.

"Harry?" he managed to make himself say. "Where's Harry?"

Remus started walking towards him. The werewolf was battered and his eyes were swollen and red. But Remus never cries, Sirius told himself. Not unless...

"Sirius," he said helplessly, "Harry..." He trailed off, not able to speak.

Sirius shook his head. "I don't believe it. I don't believe you!" he shouted angrily and sped towards the infirmary.

He was completely out of breath by that time. The wing was filled, moans of pain resonating off the walls. Sirius slowed to a walk and peered behind each of the curtains, looking for a glimpse of his godson. Finally when he reached the very end of the ward, he came to a secluded bed. And laying in the bed was-

Sirius refused to believe it was Harry. The pale, dead-looking boy could not be his Harry. Slowly he approached the bedside and dropped to his knees. He took one of the cold, lifeless hands into his own.

"Oh, Harry," he muttered, running his other hand through the boy's dark hair that was drenched with cold sweat. "I'm so sorry."

He rested his head next to Harry's small hand that was encompassed in his own and stayed like that.

~~~

"So this is the Forest of Shadows?"

Harry was in pure bliss. The last hour he had sat with his parents and they had talked. He had talked to them about Ginny and Hermione and Ron and the Weasleys and Sirius and Remus. And they had listened, occasionally reaching out in a paternal manner.

They were now walking down a small pathway that looked as though it might be a road less traveled. Trees towered above them, but still an incessant light shone through. Somehow, Harry knew unconsciously that the light was not coming from the sun but from something much larger and greater than that.

"Yup," James said, slinging an arm over Harry's shoulders.

"So...so that means that I'm dead."

Lily and James exchanged nervous glances. "Harry," Lily said, taking his hand in hers and leading him over to the side of the path to sit down. "Do you remember when you stopped Sirius and Remus from killing Peter in the Shrieking Shack?"

Harry nodded, though he couldn't figure out why she was bringing that up. He had always been rather touchy on that subject. If Pettirgrew had been killed that night, Voldemort never would have come back.

"When you stopped them, you were saving Peter's life, therefore, he is in debt of yours. You created a wizard's debt that night."

"What does that have to do with anything?" he asked, confused.

"What your mother's trying to say, Harry, is that when the wizard who is in debt never gets a chance to fulfill the debt, because the person who he is in debt to dies, both of them sort of get stuck in limbo."

Harry tried to digest that. "So- so Pettigrew and I died?"

"More or less," Lily said.

"Then why do you look so nervous?" Harry asked. Both of his parents were staring at each other worriedly.

"As much as we love you," said James, "and as proud as you have made us, we have to give you another option. If you choose to stay with us, Peter will be able to live. You will have given his chance to fulfill the debt. However, down on Earth, you have tons of people who care for you. You can go back and live, and Peter will stay here."

An angry look came over Harry's face. "That's not fair! So basically either I get you or I get what I've been living with the past sixteen years!"

"Harry, we're so sorry for you to have to decide this," Lily said, taking him in her arms to comfort him.

"I want to- no- I need to stay here with you," he said.

Lily pushed him back gently. "You want to stay here?"

"I have to. You're my family."

James silently took his arm and led him over to a small river that was running through the wood. "Look."

Harry sat in the grass by the stream and looked in. He was surprised to find an image of himself, lying in the hospital wing, dead. Sirius was sitting beside him. Remus was at the foot of his bed and part of the Weasley clan was there, all of them looking sullen.

"My family," he said quietly.

James took a soft hold on his chin and lifted his face so that they were eye-to-eye. "No matter what happens, you are still going to be our son. No one can change that."

"Besides," Lily said, smoothing back his hair, "you have a whole life ahead of you there. You have Ginny and all your friends and Sirius and Remus. You have so much to live for. Don't give it up for us. We want you to go back."

"So you don't want me to stay here?" he asked.

James laughed. "Now you're just putting words into our mouths, kid. We love you more than you can ever imagine," he reassured him.

"I just- I'm going to miss you so much."

"We're always with you," James said. "Everywhere you look, look close enough and you'll see us. We were there when you fought Quirrell, and the basilisk, and the dementors."

Harry sat there for a moment. "I think I want to go home."

Lily and James smiled at each other. They began a long trek back through the woods. The bond between the parents and child went beyond words and they were silent the whole time. Finally, Harry saw a wave of cloth in front of them.

The veil.

Somebody was standing there though. As they approached, Harry realized who it was. Cedric Diggory smiled widely when the three approached. Once again, tears pricked at the corners of Harry's eyes. Lily and James stepped back, giving the two boys space.

"Hi Harry," Cedric said, shaking his hand.

"Cedric, I just wanted to say I'm so-"

"Don't. I never blamed you Harry. It was Voldemort and Pettigrew's fault I died. Not yours. Please try and let go Harry. I'm happy and you should be too."

"He's right Harry," Lily said, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"Goodbye Harry," Cedric said, grinning at him and shaking his hand. "Tell Cho and my parents I said hello."

"I will," Harry nodded, a hot tear making its way down his cheek. "Bye Cedric."

"See you later," he said and faded away.

Harry turned to his parents. "I'll tell everyone you said hello" They nodded. "I love you mum and dad," he said, his throat burning from emotion.

"We love you too, kid."

James held onto him for what seemed an eternity. Then Lily wrapped her arms around him. "I love you sweetie. Just look for us okay?"

He pulled back and nodded.

It was a horrible sensation he had never felt before. Like he wanted to start bawling but he was overjoyed and yet there was a deep longing in his heart. With more courage than he ever though he could have, he turned his back and walked through the veil.