The Grand Goodbye
Disclaimer: All characters belong to JK Rowling
"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry! But why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"
Dumbledore's last words to Harry were still lingering in his head a few minutes after Dumbledore had disappeared. The dazzling marble platforms in King's Cross Station echoed with every shift of Harry's rubber soles, reminding him of the echoes parents made while wishing their children off to a new school year at Hogwarts. Harry felt a pit grow in his stomach. Well, most parents, he thought. Just a few moments ago in the Forbidden Forest he stood in front of everyone he had loved and lost: Remus, his mum and dad, and his godfather, Sirius Black, the closest thing to a father he had ever known.
He could still hear Sirius calling his name; it was surprisingly present, the echoes of the station reverberating the syllables in every crevice and crowning, Harry, Harry, Harry, muddled with pounding footsteps that were getting louder every second, Harry, Harry, Harry! He whizzed round just in time to see a black mass pounce on him, sending waves of fear like burning acid down his stomach, setting his insides ablaze. The mass dragged him by his arm into the nearest train carriage, its teeth roughly digging into his flesh. Harry collapsed onto the train carriage floor, looking frantically around, searching for his death. At the other end of the carriage was a thin man, with long black hair and a devilish grin spread wide across his face.
"Sirius!" The cogs in Harry's mind were slowly putting two and two together; the black mass, believed to be his certain impending death – which he had assumed was on the horizon but still had not entirely prepared for – was Sirius Black transformed into his Animagus dog form.
"Harry m'boy! Hope I didn't hurt your arm too badly. Had to get us on this train, you understand," Sirius said, crossing the distance of the carriage to properly greet his godson while brushing off the lapels of his worn overcoat.
"You just about ripped it off, git," Harry snapped at Sirius before his temper ebbed and pulled his thought-to-be-dead godfather into an embrace.
"Wait a minute," Harry started, holding Sirius's shoulders at arms length. "How are you here? You fell through the Veil in the Department of Mysteries; I watched Bellatrix curse you, I saw the light leave your eyes, you're supposed to be dead!"
"So are you, mate! Why else would you suppose that we're here, in King's Cross Station, you reckon?"
Harry, sobered by Sirius's statement, motioned towards an empty compartment and sat on the length of the thickly cushioned seating, stiff from youth. He was focused on his shoes, analysing the crisp ivory laces, searching for a way these fresh kicks could bring him home – bring him back to Hogwarts. Sirius took his place across from Harry. Harry looked up.
"But what about the war? I need to get back to Hogwarts, I need to help Ron and Hermione kill the snake, it's the last Horcrux, I need to help them, they can't-"
"Can't? Can't what, finish your quest without you?" Sirius slipped off his seat and knelt across from Harry. "I'm sure they'll manage. Besides, I believe what we're experiencing right now is something muggles like to call 'limbo': we're not dead or alive, you see. So when we're finished with our little trip, you can start right back to where you left off. Bloody brilliant this is, I'd say!" Sirius stood, triumphantly.
"So you know where we're going, then?" asked Harry, still unconvinced by his godfather's speech.
"I have a hunch. But why don't we sit back and enjoy the ride, shall we? I quite enjoyed the train rides to Hogwarts, in my day. I wonder if the trolley woman will come round with sweets!" Sirius returned to his seat, spreading the length of his body across the compartment seats.
Harry, slightly annoyed with his godfather's bright spirits, resigned himself to adjusting himself in his seat; despite his irritation, he was remarkably calm regarding the apocalyptic circumstances he had just left a few moments ago.
The train travelled fast along a wide expanse of landscape, faster than any Hogwarts Express that Harry had ever ridden. The path seemed similar to the one taken to Hogwarts, yet the countryside seemed to explode with vibrancy whenever a new sight came into view through the clear glass panelling of the train cabin. Forests of evergreens were a violent shade of Kelly; birches would occasionally line the railway, towering above, with silvery-white bark pure enough that Harry could catch a glimpse of his reflection in a passing tree. The occasional rose bed appeared like a splash of blood onto the window, startling Harry out of his trance and reminding him of the egregious violence that was taking place right now. After a while, Harry started to doze off into a restless sleep.
In what felt like hours – but was really only a dozen minutes or so – Harry felt the train start to slow, the landscape languidly lagging into view. The train shuddered and halted abruptly. The surroundings had changed; the landscape that was once bright and beautiful was now dark and opaque, the landscape that was once bountiful with life became barren with rocky crags and blistering winds whistling through the dead and desolate world beyond the train. Sirius shot out of his seat, alarmed. He opened the compartment door slowly, allowing a biting cold to flood into the small room, and peered into the hallway.
"Harry, stay here. I'll investigate."
"No, let me go with you, I can help," Harry contested.
Sirius's head re-entered the compartment, looking warmly into Harry's eyes.
"My boy, your battle is with the living. This is my battle, so let me handle it, eh?" Sirius slipped out of the compartment before Harry had time to prepare a rebuttal.
Frustrated, once again feeling like a child, Harry resigned to the far side of the compartment, peering out the window, trying to make out the silhouettes of the site through the frosted windows.
Silence permeated the train; every shift Harry made in his seat, every creak of the flooring beneath him, every visible breath he took seemed to be swallowed by the heaviness of the now freezing cold air, dampened as if he were under a Muffliato Charm. The silence strangely reminded him of a memory he had as a child – while living with the Dursley's – of Dudley shoving him into Uncle Vernon's brand new 1989 Ford company car, locking Harry in for hours before Uncle Vernon decided to polish the car for the 42nd time that week, discovering Harry in the back seat. He didn't have dinner for a week because of Dudley's prank.
Footsteps pulled Harry out of his memory. A hand pulled open the compartment door, and Sirius's face peered into the room.
"All clear!" Sirius opened the door further, posing to step inside.
Sirius was suddenly ripped out of the compartment by a black, skeletal hand, and thrown down the hall. A fog of darkness filled the hallway, moving fast toward the rear of the train, like an incorrigible river flowing downstream. Harry flew out of the compartment, in hot pursuit of his godfather's attackers. At the far end of the train, the carriage opened into a large common area, where Sirius, again transformed into a hulking black dog, was posed for attack on the far right of the train. Opposite him, were three dementors, looming over the scene hungrily, hoping to get their last taste of happiness and warmth left in Sirius's soul. Harry automatically reached for his wand in his back right trouser pocket; but alas, he grasped the empty pocket with sweaty palms. He was powerless to help his godfather.
"Get back, Harry!" Growled Sirius through his snarling snout, teeth barred.
Sirius pounced on the dementors, clawing at their tattered black robes, gnashing his teeth at their necks, saliva pouring out of his mouth. A dementor on Sirius's far right side clutched him by the neck, throwing him across the room. Sirius whimpered for a moment, before barking and springing back into action. However, with every attack Sirius could muster, the three dementors showed that they were simply too formidable to be quelled. At last they surrounded Sirius – who had transformed back into his human self – on all sides in the middle of the common cabin. Badly beaten, with blood dripping from his scalp, Sirius laid on the ground, defenceless. Harry watched with agony, as the dementors were about to perform their Kiss of Death. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry noticed a thin piece of wood jutting out of Sirius's now torn overcoat.
"Sirius, your wand! Give me your wand!"
But Sirius was already unconscious, oblivious to Harry's calls. Harry bounded across the train carriage, breaking into the circle of dementors, and grasped for the wand, their last hope. The dementors, sensing their danger, closed in on Harry, as he took hold of the wand and raised it towards the dementors, shutting his eyes tight to focus on the only happy thought he could muster: Hermione, Ron, and Ginny, gathered around the Gryffindor common room, laughing and playing a game of Exploding Snaps, the warmth of the fire permeating throughout his bones. His last happy memory at Hogwarts.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
A stag burst forth from Sirius's wand, forcing the dementors away from Harry. The patronus stampeded the dementors out of the cabin and out of the train. Outside the window of the train carriage, Harry could see the illuminated patronus pacing in front of the train, guarding it against the dementors. Warmth began to inundate the space again, the darkness lifted; Harry quickly turned to his godfather.
"Sirius, Sirius, are you alright?" Harry gently shook him by the shoulder, caked in drying blood.
"Wha-," Sirius began to stir.
"J-James, what's happened?" Sirius opened his eyes. "Harry, m'boy!" Sirius began to sit up, but winced in pain and receded back to his previous position.
"Mustn't get too ahead of myself, should I?" Sirius chuckled.
"Here, let me help," Harry said, as he raised his wand to Sirius's injuries, muttering under his breath healing enchantments Hermione had taught him a few months ago.
A few minutes later, Sirius was mended, and back in good spirits.
"Splendid! It's about time this train got a move on, eh?"
Just as the words left his mouth, the train jolted awake, slowly gaining speed towards their still unknown destination.
A few hours later, warm again, with stomachs full of Honeyduke's chocolate Sirius managed to find in the common cabin, the remnants of their unrest had abated. The landscape had cleared, their path once again lined with the shimmering silver birch trees, the desolate gloom far, far behind them.
Harry, again splayed across the train compartment seating, took to questioning Sirius.
"So Sirius, where are we going? I know you know. This train can't go on forever."
"Can't it?" Sirius grinned slyly. Harry gave him a stern look.
"No, Harry, alas, you are correct. You see, I believe this train ride was a chance for me – for us – to have one last, grand go of it."
"Go of what?" Harry asked, cautiously.
"Saying goodbye."
Harry's stomach dropped. His face felt hot; he didn't want to lose his godfather again.
"But Sirius, you can't, you have to stay, we need you, I need you."
"Harry, I've told you before: it is your battle that is with the living. I have completed mine." Sirius turned, looking out the window. "When I fell through the Veil, those many months ago, I appeared in a train station, much like the one I met you in a few moments ago. There were people round and about, rushing to catch trains. Every day I would try to get on one, but would always get lost in the crowd, unable to make it to the doors. Over time, the crowd cleared, and I kept getting closer and closer to boarding. I knew it was my way out of this station, which had become yet another prison I was trapped in. I was alone and unable to go on.
"Until one day, when I heard two voices a few terminals down, familiar to me." Sirius turned back to face Harry. "I started running towards the voices when I noticed a train was across from them. And then I saw you, Harry, and I knew this was my chance, this was my time to finally leave, and say goodbye to you, the closest thing to family I had left, all at once." Sirius smiled, as the train started to slow.
"So this is it then? This is our grand goodbye?" Harry asked.
"Indeed, m'boy. Indeed."
The train chugged to a stop. Blinding sunlight blazed inside the cabin, blocking the outside from view. Sirius walked out of the compartment, and toward the carriage door. Harry felt hot tears escape from his eyes.
The two Gryffindors faced one another. Harry embraced his godfather tightly, hoping beyond hope he'd never have to relinquish his grip. He felt Sirius gently pull away. He brushed the hair out of Harry's face, fatherly, and then placed his hand on Harry's shoulder.
"You really are a remarkable wizard, Harry. And you truly are your father's son. He would be so proud of you, you know, of everything you've done. Your journey isn't over, however. And I have all the faith in the world that you'll make both your mother and father so proud for what's to come. We'll always be there for you, Harry, in your greatest times of need, in here." Sirius tapped Harry's chest.
Sirius turned, and dismounted the train, walking into the blinding sunlight. Harry watched until his godfather was out of view, as the blinding sunlight erased the train as well, swallowing Harry up as he closed his eyes, blissfully darkening the world around him.
He was lying facedown on the ground again. The smell of the forest filled his nostrils.
Author's Note: This is my first ever piece of fanfiction, so give me as much constructive criticism as possible!