A/N Hey everyone! I was complaining to someone that I didn't like the way a book I was reading ended and they said they felt the same about Harry Potter! I was intrigued by their idea on how it should have ended and this happened.
*IMPORTANT* This starts near the end of Deathly Hallows when Harry walks into the woods to sacrifice himself to Voldemort. Everything is cannon until the start of this story EXCEPT Nagini is already dead and Harry is the only remaining Horcrux. While not cannon I stayed reasonably close to the end of the book so if you haven't read DH you may not want to read this.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter nor the HP characters and original plot.
How Harry Potter Should Have Ended
"I am about to die." Harry felt a shudder run through him as he said those words, an eerie premonition of truth. The golden metalic shell broke leaving a golden band with a single black gem. Harry stared at the gem, feeling as if the inky darkness was pulling him in. His vision tunneled and he heard screams, not his parents' deaths, but of loss, pain, and terror. As he was about to give in, to leap forever into the realm of nothingness, a pulse of heat brought him back. Harry looked at his hand, at the red burn-mark in the shape of a ring, telling him it was not yet his time.
Gathering his wits as best he could, Harry turned the ring. Once, twice, three times; each turn bringing a ghost to greet him. First his parents, arriving hand in hand, Sirius, a laughing smile adorned on his face, and Lupin, looking happier and lighter than Harry had ever seen him.
"You've been so brave." Hearing those simple words of praise from his bespectacled father was all Harry had ever wanted to hear. Yet, as he stood, face to face with those he most wanted to see, Harry found he could only nod.
Stepping forward the woman, his mother, embraced him. "You are nearly there," her soft voice carried on the silent air, her touch cold yet so filled with love. "Very close. I… we, are so proud."
"I didn't want you to die," the thin boy half sobbed in his mother's arms. "I-I wanted you, all of you… I don't want to be alone.
"Pup." Harry felt his mother pull away and raised his eyes to see Sirius, eyes filled with sadness and death's wisdom but also love. "We didn't want you to be alone either. Fate dealt our cards and we played the best we could. But Harry," Sirius's eyes bored directly into his, "you never were, and never will be, alone."
"Cub." With pride-filled eyes the Professor stepped forward. "I, and all of us here are proud of every action you take and every decision you make. We are your family, and as long as you keep us in your heart, we will always stay with you." Then Lupin and his Godfather faded away, leaving only their presence and their love.
Harry looked at his parents. After a moment he asked, "Will it hurt?"
His father smiled, though his eyes remained sad. "No Harry, death itself does not hurt."
"And we will be with you," it was his mother this time, her sad face returning him to his cold resolve. "By your side, through the end."
They became smoke, their lingering scents surrounding him in the cold air. Though they were gone, Harry could feel them around him, his father's pride, Lupin's calm, Sirius's childish play, and his mother's unending love.
Harry felt a cold wash over him. He no longer thought or felt, moving invisibly through the forest, leaving not a trace. He felt the dementors before he saw the camp. Not the cold, but a kind of allure, a yearning to forget. Focusing on his parents he passed and silently entered Voldemort's circle. He saw Bellatrix, Lucius, Dolohov but felt no hot anger, only numb satisfaction at what this would do to them.
"I thought he would come," again Harry did not react to his enemy's voice. "I expected him to come."
"I have." Harry felt more than saw the Death Eaters stir. The hatred that flared in Voldemort's eyes. His forehead grew hot and he thought he should be feeling pain and yet he looked on coldly, as if all but his body had already moved to the next world.
"Crucio." Harry felt his body fall to the ground, saw his glasses roll away. He felt his body writhe, had some sense that he should be feeling pain, but it did not matter. He had embraced death and nothing mattered. He no longer felt.
"Avada Kedavra." For a single moment he saw the curse, but he was close, so close to his parents, his godfather, Harry opened his arms and simply watched as the curse hit his chest. A flash of green, and his soul and magic hovering over the lifeless body, then his mother's embrace and his father's invitation. He followed them, ignoring the pull that seemed to want to take him back.
"Neither can live while the other survives," the words echoed in his head. He had faced Voldemort, he had died, and Voldemort had survived. And that was that.
Harry did not yet know that the Death Eaters were crouched over the lifeless body of their Lord; he did not yet know that the prophecy had a third possible outcome - that neither would live - and in fact, both had died.
Yet Harry did know that he had given it his best, and he knew that, for the first time in his life, he would be with people who loved him for him. He would, for the first time in his life, have a chance to be truly happy.
A/N This is my first attempt at a one-shot so I hope you liked it. If you did, review. If not, still review. I'd rather have flames than silence but constructive feedback (negative or positive) is always my favorite.