The Memories Remain

Prologue

Summary: Things went terribly wrong at the Final Battle. Harry was forced to watch as his life fell apart around him. He managed to kill Voldemort none the less and found himself whisked away from his world and placed in another with, the help of a certain flower girl. Now Aerith has set her mind on healing Harry, saving her world, and at the same time, perhaps a certain spiky-haired blonde.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or Harry Potter, I only own bits and pieces of the plot.

Italic-Flashback or emphasis on a word, Spirits talking in the real world.

This is Slash. If you have a problem with it, do not read it, simple.

Happiness can be found in even the darkest of places, if only one remembers to turn on the light- Albus Dumbledore

It was silent.

A suffocating stillness that polluted the air, causing laughter to die away in the back of my mind as I slowly forgot how to laugh at all or if I even had. Voices that once used to shout at me to never forget, grew quiet, until their whispers dissipated like smoke.

Silence was all around me; it had been for so long that I'd started imaging that the silence itself was whispering to me. Though I did have one constant companion, the sounds that bounced off the walls in my head and the images that burned through my mind. All of them kept me company, the screams, the wounds, the slow tortures and the even slower deaths.

My mind had long since given up creating noises of it's own to remind me I was still alive, so it came as a surprise when I heard the sound of the heavy door open. I felt the touch of hand as it roughly grabbed me and dragged me out the door and away from the dark room.

I saw him looking down on me, his barely there nose and slitted eye, sneering scornfully at me, mocking me. I couldn't find it in myself to fear or to hate or even to pity him; I just didn't care anymore. I forced myself to think of him and to remember everything I felt while with him: the joy, the happiness, the peace… the love.

I wanted nothing more than to end it all, to be with him, and it did end, with a blinding green light that blocked everything from view, searing pain and finally a distant scream that wasn't my own…

I was peaceful… and warm. I felt safe in a way that I hadn't felt since the death of Dumbledore.

"You're very brave," a light-hearted voice told me softly.

"I was completing a duty expected from me since birth, there is no bravery in that," I answered the voice, making it giggle softly,

"Even so, you've carried the weight of an entire world on your shoulders and never stumbled," the voice disagreed lightly. "Made light out of dark and kept those without hope from falling and inspiring those with hope to become more. That in itself is brave."

I opened my eyes and saw I was lying in a field of flowers, a head was resting opposite mine, so together me made a vertical line, though I couldn't view her face.

"Am I dead?" I asked the girl, causing her to giggle again.

"I was wondering when you were going to ask that," she said flippantly. "You were dead long enough to remove Voldemort's horcrux from your soul and to allow the spell to be reversed. You destroyed him for good but you're not dead now. You're no longer in your own world, but you are alive, albeit injured."

I nodded and asked, "Why was I sent away?"

The girl let out a sad sigh, "You need to heal, and you will never be able to do that in your world. There, it is still chaotic, life is too unbalanced and stressful for you to truly heal," she explained sorrowfully. "Here you can begin again, without expectations weighing on you, everything in your life will be your choice and everyone you meet will have never even heard your name."

My mind began whirring in a million different directions as it took this impossible information in. Where was I? What would I do? What were the laws? How was I going to get food with no money?

The girl laughed, "don not worry, everything the Ancient One thought you needed to know was added to your knowledge, but not everything you will need to live happily in this world was given to you," she warned him. "You need to do some work of your own. But you will be fine."

My lips twitched at the reassurance, and I felt calm despite having died and seen so many horrors. Though I knew it would only last so long.

The girl sighed again, wistfully this time as she murmured "The dark before the dawn."

Everything started to fade away to black. I could hear the girl's giggles as the flowers slowly faded and so did her presence.

I glared at an arbitrary flower and yelled into the blackness, "At least tell me your name."

I felt her presence return and sensed her amusement. "What will you give me in return?" she asked innocently.

"My name for yours" I answered, closing my eyes again, so I wouldn't have to watch the blackness creep over me, drowning me in its endless depth.

Her laugh echoed in the deteriorating space, "I'm Aerith, but I already know who you are, Hadrian James Potter."

I growled at the use of my full name, as always it sounded incredibly ridiculous in her girly, sweet voice.

"It's Harry," I snapped, "only he can call me that name."

I didn't have to have my eyes open to know she was smiling, "Of course, Hadrian…"

Her presence left after that and the blackness swept over me fully.

I could see light shows dancing on the back of my eyelids as voices managed to break through my foggy mind.

"… Where did you find him?" a calm male voice asked.

"Outside the Forgotten City," a deeper, smoother and all round more threatening voice answered.

"And you brought him here?" the softer voice said indignantly. "How do you know-"

The deeper voice cut across him, "He's no threat."

"I repeat how do you know that?" the other males voice asked.

Silence reigned in the room, or at least I assumed and hoped it was a room. I didn't really fancy lying defenceless out in the middle of nowhere, or in public.

"He was awake when I found him." the other stated simply.

0

My vision was blurry; I couldn't make out the shape of anything properly. Colours were good, I could still see those, but not the object they were. Groaning I tried to sit up, only to have pain shoot from my head to my toes and then all the way round the rest of my body, I dropped back onto the ground, swearing, figuring it wasn't worth it.

A twin set of crimson spheres, or at least blurry smudgy spheres, hovered above me. I didn't have the strength or the will to glare at my long time enemy and simply shut my eyes, disregarding him.

"You have a choice here, you know?" I rasped, not quite up to talking yet. "You can help me, which I really doubt you'll do, or, the more likely, you can kill me. You choose, I don't mind that much…"

0

"…Still hasn't awoken yet?" the deep voice spoke, sounding close by.

"He has no injuries that the materia can pick up on," the calm, and strangely soothing, voice answered/ "Why do you take an interest in it? It unnatural for you…"

I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that would make their voices go away or lessen in volume. Their voices echoed around my head, smacking roughly into my aching skull.

"Cloud, he is waking up," the deep voice spoke softly.

Clattering sounds followed the deep voices' statement and I opened my eyes. Blinking I tried to clear the blurry images into more identifiable objects. I reached up to clean my glasses, only to find them not there. The blurriness retreated from my eyes and I took in my surroundings in surprise.

A very familiar presence surrounded me, "You did this didn't you" I accused, half-annoyed, half-confused.

Yes, it was my world-welcoming gift. Welcome to Gaia, Harry.

I was in a room and on a bed to boot. It was plain, with a desk, four walls, a window and a bed, the usual. Looking to my right I saw a big patch of misplaced navy material.

Hmm, strange, following the navy material upwards, I encountered a person. He was looking down at me with concern and suspicion, his strange blue/green eyes slightly narrowed.

Curious to see whom the other voice belonged to, my eyes wandered around the room and met crimson ones. The one who found me was leaning against the wall and was wearing a blank expression.

Silence resumed in the room, so I filled it with a groan as I tried to sit up. Hands reached out and helped up, rather than pushing me back down like they did at Hog- pain exploded within my chest, causing my torn heart to restrict painfully in my tight chest as images assaulted my mind. I quickly banished anything involving that world to a dark chamber of mind, never to see the free space of my head again.

"What's your name?" the one next to me asked, I think he was Cloud, but I wasn't sure. He kind of looked like a 'Cloud', with soft blonde hair that spiked up around his head and the weird light-coloured eyes.

"Harry Potter, I'm new around… here," I answered softly, gesturing wildly with my hand.

The one next to him nodded.

"I take it you don't have a place to stay?" a new voice said from the door.

Looking in that direction, I saw a woman with long black hair and warm brown eyes gazing in my direction. Said eyes were switching between the weary blonde next to me and myself.

I nodded in answer to her stated question. She looked sternly at the blonde, who just nodded slightly and left, the red-eyed one following him out of the room.

I looked at the woman at the door.

"Sorry about Cloud" she said as she came and sat next to me, I was right he is a Cloud. "He has trust issues. I'm Tifa Lockhart but just Tifa is fine, since you're staying."

"It's nice to meet you Tifa-"

I was cut off from saying more by loud giggling. I turned once again to the door and saw two kids watching us. Tifa looked at them sternly, but her brown eyes still held warmth.

"Denzel, Marlene would you like to introduce yourselves to our guest." She didn't phrase it as a question.

The kids crept forward timidly into the room and sat on the bed next to mine. The boy fidgeted and glanced up at me.

"I'm Denzel," he said, before quickly looking down.

The girl didn't appear as nervous, "I'm Marlene, and I'm six."

I smiled at her and she grinned back, "It's a pleasure to meet you both," I said, smiling. Tifa stood and turned to me, grinning happily.

"Come down when you feel better and I'll fix you something to eat," she ordered evenly. Leaving Marlene and Denzel behind. They giggled again and clambered onto my bed, after eventually working up the courage to ask if they could. They began to argue over which of their favourite colours were better. It was rather amusing…

Marlene poked Denzel, who looked at me shyly and asked, "What's you're favourite colour?"

I opened my mouth to answer when someone, who wasn't Tifa since she was currently downstairs at the bar she runs, interrupted me.

"Marlene, Denzel I'm sure Harry needs some rest," Cloud said, and the kids cleared out of the room after hugs goodnight.

After the kids had left, Cloud walked into the room and studied me.

"The kids like you," he stated suspiciously.

I shrugged, "I like them too, they're very open, it's refreshing."

Cloud nodded thoughtfully and went and sat cross-legged on the bed next to mine. Silence stole over the room, with only the sounds from downstairs filtering to create noise.

Sighing, I decided I wanted to survey Tifa at work, meet new – hopefully fun – people and more importantly, get some damn food.

A.N- I know not much of a first chapter but I have planned this fairly well and I hope you'll give it a chance.

Call-me-Tawny

Reviews are needed and responded to warmly.