Disclaimer: Oh yes, my name is secretly J.K.Rowling and I'm a millionaire, and that's why I'm posting here and wishing for money for my birthday... And if you believed any of that, you need a serious realitycheck.
Silverlining
Albus sat up suddenly in his bed, ripped from his dreams by a nameless fear. A sudden knowledge that something was not right.
He looked to his side to see Minerva safely sleeping, curled up under the covers like the feline form she sometimes took. Nothing wrong there.
He vaulted out of bed and hurried to his office, opening a set of double doors that led into a small cupboard, checking the white Crystal within. Nothing wrong with the wards either.
A noise from the window drew his attention, and as he let Hedwig inside and read the note, everything became clear. He was about to lose the last of his boys, and he might already be too late.
As he ran back to his bedroom to throw on a robe and wake his wife, his mind kept going over the past month.
The wizarding world was understandably grateful and joyous for the demise of the Dark Lord, but they were so swept up in their celebrations that they forgot that everything comes with a price, and in this case, the sacrifice of a brave man, and the shattering of a heart.
Both Albus and Minerva knew well about the bond that had formed between Harry and Severus, and rejoiced for it. It kept their boys going through even the darkest of times during the war, and it brought hope to the hearts of those precious few fortunate enough to see it, and recognise it for what it was. Not the bond between mentor and student, or that between friends, or even the one between father and child. But a bond of love and devotion so deep that its like had, many times through history, been called that of the legendary Soulmates. And so when Severus gave his life for his love, the Headmaster and his wife worried for the young man left behind to deal with the loneliness and the cruelty of an ignorant world. For surely, they themselves had a hard time imagining the world without the other.
As Albus called her name, Minerva wartrained instincts brought her instantly into the waking world, and in short sentences he told her the terrible news.
Harry was going to wilfully join Severus.
The two hurried to his office where Fawkes met them, and took them to Surrey, and to the disturbingly "normal" and "proper" living room at number four, Private Drive. But even as they arrived they could tell that they were too late. Not from any feeling of wrongness in the air, but from the simple fact that the cool swirl of energy, the pure and ever refreshing aura of a good soul, that always surrounded Harry to those strong enough to sense it, was gone.
Slowly, with heavy hearts, Albus and Minerva went up the stairs to the little bedroom behind the door with the catflap, knowing and dreading what they would find on the other side.
Harry was on the bed, still and peaceful as if he was sleeping, and with a small smile on his lips. The first, Albus suspected, in a month.
- ยค -
Much as Albus and Minerva would have liked to give Harry a small, private funeral, the rest of wizarding England, with the minister in front, had demanded their right to see their Saviour off.
Everyone who had ever been what an outsider would call friends with Harry, and many who had not, was crying and mourning the end of such a young and promising life, and speculating on the darkness that had driven him to such a sad end. But four individuals knew better.
As the song of a Phoenix rose in strange harmony with the hoots and cries of an owl in a lament both haunting and hopeful, Albus and Minerva smiled to each other. Secure in the knowledge that wherever their boys were, they were together and, after a lifetime each of darkness and loneliness, finally free.
AN: Please review and tell me if you liked it.