Chapter 1 – My Last Breath
Salutations, readers. Before starting the story, there are a few things that need to mentioned.
1) This is my first uploaded fanfiction. That may be evident in this story.
2) I hate all of the Weasleys aside from the twins and Arthur, and am impartial toward Ginny. That will be evident in this story
3) I hate Neville Longbottom. That will also be evident in this story.
4) My favourite character is Luna Lovegood, followed closely by Severus Snape. That will be evident in this story.
5) I am – as some people term us – a "Grammar Nazi" who uses the pure English language, not the American Dialect.
6) I abhor stories under 150k words and have a preference for 5 – 10k chapters. That will be evident in this story.
I am building this story from my own likes and dislikes. I may change it based on reviews / polls, but it's still my story. If you don't like it, then don't read it. I welcome constructive criticism and compliments. Insults are useless and are ignored.
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter franchise belongs to J. K. Rowling and anyone else with rights to it, not me. In addition, I do not own the Evanescence songs from which I will be taking the titles for my chapters. They belong to them, I just like their songs.
This story starts at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Chapter 35
"Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love. By returning, you may ensure that fewer souls are maimed, fewer families are torn apart. If that seems to you a worthy goal, then we say goodbye for the present."
Harry sighed. He knew what he'd have to do.
"I can't just leave them. Whatever it takes, I will help those people."
Albus Dumbledore smiled. He had made many mistakes in his life, and had ruined the lives of many others in the process, Harry's included. It lightened his mood to know that even after all the boy had been through, he was still capable of showing such love and nobility.
"In which case, I know two people who would rather like a chance to speak with you."
Harry looked up confusedly. Who could possibly want to speak with me?
Suddenly, two people appeared before him, smiling joyfully. Upon seeing their faces, his breath caught.
It's them, he thought, I don't care how they're here – or where 'here' is, exactly – but it's them!
No longer caring about anything that had just happened, Harry jumped up and dived onto his parents, giving them both a huge, highly emotional hug.
"You're here. You're actually here," he muttered.
"I'll leave you here. There is a clock on the wall over there; you have an hour. I will be just through that door." James nodded gratefully before turning back to his son.
"I almost can't believe it," Harry said a few minutes later, looking up with tears in his eyes. "All I've wanted my entire life was to see you. And now, I can."
"Oh Harry. You don't know how much we've wanted the same," replied his father. "Of course, time flows differently here, but it's still the same. We could have died yesterday, or two centuries ago, but we always wanted to be with you. We love you and your sister more than anything.
Harry froze.
"What did you just say?"
James regarded him curiously. "That we wanted to be with you forever."
"No after that."
"We love both you and your sister more than anything else," Lily responded.
Stunned, Harry managed to choke out the question, "I, I have a sister?"
Both James and Lily froze, staring at their son and wondering what happened between their deaths and his. Lily broke out of her shock first.
"What do you mean, Harry? We're talking about your twin sister, Hermione Lily Potter."
At this point, Harry doubted that he could have been any more surprised by anything, even if it turned out that Lord Voldemort was actually Dumbledore in disguise.
"Her- Hermione?"
"Yes. She is your twin sister. She inherited James' eyes and messy hair, as well as your grandmother's relatively light brown hair. She did have slightly large front teeth, and I could tell that she would be like me: ridiculously intelligent. Harry? What's wrong?"
By now, Harry was openly crying. Hermione is my sister? Hermione is my sister? What happened? How did I not know of this? Why wasn't I told? Is it even true? Of course it is, my- our parents said so. He had family left. Living family! WHY WASN'T HE TOLD?
"HARRY!"
He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice his parents' looks of concern and their attempts to get his attention.
"I, I know a girl who fits that description. Her name is H- Hermione Granger. She is in my year at Hogwarts, and is exactly how you just described my- my sister. Well, not the teeth. She got that corrected a while ago."
Lily looked at him worriedly.
"Granger? They don't by any chance live in Oxford? Do you know the names Oscar and Diana Granger?"
"Yes, to both of those." Harry replied, looking at her quizzically.
"Oh no. I knew them. They were horrible people, they hated all forms of magic and 'abnormality', just like my sister…" At this point she faltered, then fixed her eyes on Harry with a penetrating stare, but with more than a hint of worry in her eyes.
James then voiced her unspoken question.
"Harry. With whom did you grow up? Sirius refused to tell us, saying that it was your story, but said that it wasn't him or Remus. Was it the Bones family? Perhaps House Greengrass?"
Wondering how he was related to those families, Harry responded.
"I grew up with Aunt Petunia and Uncle V-"
"WHAT!" shouted Lily, practically screeching. "What idiot put you with them? It was in our will to never let you go anywhere near that family!"
"Dumbledore did," replied Harry, wondering exactly how screwed up his life was.
"That bastard! How dare he! Not only did he put you with my 'sister,' but he even split you up! What kind of sick monster does that?" Lily continued ranting and raving for the next fifteen minutes, to the point that she seemed to have forgotten that she had an audience.
"Uh, dad?" After the life that he had, the word felt so foreign on his tongue.
"Yes, Harry?"
"Why did you ask about the Bones and Greengrass families?"
James was stunned.
"Dumbledore didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
He sighed; it looked like there was a lot that he needed to tell Harry. Looking up at the clock, he noted that they had another twenty-five minutes before Albus wanted to see them in the adjacent room.
"There was a night, a few months after you were born,"
Harry's breath caught, causing James to smile sadly.
"No, not that night. There was no prophecy made on this one. Though it did involve Dumbledore. We had recently noticed something odd about your right forearm. There was a weird symbol on it. Don't worry, you weren't born a Death Eater. We called Albus, and he reported that he had earlier been contacted about the same by the parents of Miss Susan Bones, John and Charlotte. He looked at the symbol and cast a few detection charms, and reported that they were the same. Both apparently had six words – which Albus believed to be names – drawn into a dragon surrounded by a snake forming Celtic spirals. They also held a great degree of magic energy in them, with the signatures of three beings. One was yours, one was Miss Bones's and the last is one that Albus was sure that he had previously encountered, but could not identify. It was later revealed to be that of Miss Daphne Greengrass.
"After we found out who the signature belonged to, we held a meeting. It comprised of us and the young girls' parents, along with Madam Amelia Bones, as she was Susan's aunt, and Sirius, as he was your godfather and third cousin or something, as well as being Miss Greengrass's second cousin once removed, as our confidants and witnesses. After a great deal of analysis and diagnosis charms, among other tests, Albus had come to the conclusion that the three of you had, in fact, been Soul Bonded."
"Uh, what does that mean?"
"Have you ever heard the muggle phrase, 'Soul Mates?'"
"Yes," replied Harry, now dreading the outcome of this conversation.
"Well, congratulations, Prongslet! You're magically married and legally betrothed to two witches! God, I'm jealous."
At the last remark, Lily, who had stopped ranting about thirty seconds prior, hit James's arm while glaring at him, in response to which James grinned. Meanwhile, Harry sat beside them, mouth agape.
I'm married! First I die, then I find out that my best friend is actually my sister, and now I'm married? To TWO witches! What the hell is wrong with my life? What immortal deity likes watching me squirm in torture?
Hey! We're not that bad! Said a voice in his head
Yeah! Said a second
At those comments, Harry jumped in fright and reached for his now non-existent wand and looking around for the two unknown beings who were speaking to him.
"Who said that?"
Only us, your completely unimportant wives. Responded the second voice
Harry thought that he recognised that voice from the D.A. and some of his classes, and that latest admission confirmed his suspicion.
Susan? He called
Yup! Hey Harry! Wow, your mind is a complete dump. Replied the second voice, now identified to be Susan Bones.
What is going on? How can I- Oh.
Now he understands! Called the other voice.
Daphne?
Who else? Millicent Bulstrode? Or maybe you were hoping for Parkinson?
Harry shivered at the thought of potentially having been bound to either Bulstrode or Parkinson of all people.
Lily looked at her son with concern.
"Harry?"
"Huh? Oh! Sorry, mum. I was, uh, 'speaking' with Daphne Greengrass and Susan Bones. It's a Soul Bond thing, I guess."
"Well, I-"
At that moment, Dumbledore chose to enter the room
"Ah. I hope that this is not too great an inconvenience, but we really must be off. The hour is nearly up" he said, gesturing to the clock which showed that they had been talking for forty-eight minutes.
"Dumbledore," snarled Lily, in such a cold manner that even Lucius Malfoy would turn tail and run. "What the hell have you done to my son and daughter's lives? Why did Harry not even know that he had a sister until I just told him?"
Dumbledore sighed regretfully. He knew that the day would come when he would have to answer for his wrongdoings, he had simply hoped for a little more time first.
"I could not. Due to still unknown causes, during placement of the Fidelius Charm on your residence in Godric's Hollow, young Miss Potter was hidden in the same way as the house. Without the secret being given to them, no-one could know of Hermione's existence. Even after your deaths, I could not say that she was a member of House Potter. So, I put her with a pair of muggles, and confounded them and a few government officials to make them believe that she was, in fact, Hermione Granger, daughter of Oscar and Diana Granger and that she was born several months before Harry, so as to remove any kind of connection. I could have then removed the charm entirely around the start of Harry's first year, but suddenly removing a girl from the muggle world would cause too many issues. So, I simply left them as friends."
Lily was stunned. His whole explanation made complete sense, if he could prove that the Fidelius Charm had actually affected Hermione. Even Susan and Daphne, who were still listening in, agreed that it made sense.
"But, that aside, we must go back now, else my planning be for naught."
James's eyes narrowed.
"What plan would that be, Albus?"
Dumbledore sighed.
"I do not plan to send Harry back to where he came from just now, prior to dying."
This set the previously silent Harry into a rage.
"What? You just said that I had to go back to save people! How can I save them if I am dead? What-"
Dumbledore cut him off with a sharp look.
"I did not say that I would not send you back to the world of the living, simply that I would not send you back to where you just came from. Too many people had died by then. I am planning to send you back in time."
Silence greeted his words. Everyone was too stunned to actually respond as their brains attempted to comprehend what he had just said.
"Using an obscure piece of magic which I obtained just prior to my demise, I can send six people back in time, to their younger bodies. Three of those people must be yourself and the two young witches currently listening in to this conversation." At that comment, Daphne and Susan both blushed, and Harry felt a strong force of embarrassment hit him over the bond. "The other three can be of your choosing. Remember, this can give people's bodies their souls from this present time, not just bring them back to life. But you can only choose three."
Instantly, Harry turned to his parents, to which both smiled sadly.
"Harry, we both love you greatly, but you don't need us as much as some others. At least, not physically. We both have portraits in the family vault. Retrieve them. Show them this memory, and they will be about as knowledgeable as we are. But think, you need guidance and protection from the living. Pick someone else, but still know that we will always love you and your sister, and will always be proud of you. Even if you started cleaning Voldemort's shoes, though, admittedly, not as much."
While he was heavily downtrodden, Harry understood their reasoning and thought of whom else he could bring, completely oblivious to the fact that his wives/betrothed/soul mates also had a choice in the matter, though they waited to see his decision before deciding to make any comments.
Suddenly, Harry was struck with inspiration.
"How do I pick?"
"Simply state so to the air around us."
"I choose to bring back Miss Hermione Lily Potter."
At those words, the air around him glowed a mystical blue, signalling the acceptance of his decision.
"Professor, can I bring back anyone, or just those with their bodies still relatively intact?"
"Anyone with a general outline of their body in existence, and living relatives also helps."
"So, would people buried by magical families count? Such as Potters, Black, Bones, Greengrasses, Dumbledores?" He asked, nodding to Albus with the last name and hoping that his tone disguised his true intent.
Albus Dumbledore regarded him curiously for a second, before nodding.
"Yes, all of the members born from those families in the last two-hundred years or so would be acceptable, my own included. Why do you ask?"
The girls in Harry's head agreed with his idea, and urged him to go along with it.
"In which case, I choose to bring back Albus and Ariana Dumbledore."
At the mention of those names, everyone's eyes widened, and Dumbledore gasped.
…
…
The air glowed blue, and Harry, Daphne, Susan and Dumbledore all felt a powerful magic pulling them away.
"Know that we will always love you, Harry!" called James, just as they disappeared.