When you're walking through the Forbidden Forrest at night, it gives you time to think...a little too much time, I'd say. All that I could hear was my own heartbeat right now, steady on over the sound of my feet crushing leaves and twigs.

Have you ever sat back and considered what you've really done with your life? I mean...really thought about it. Do you think about how you stood in the background for most of your life? Or do you think about your mum? Your dad? Your uncle? I guess I would if I had them anymore.

Hermione, Ron...Mrs Weasley. Fred.

They were why I was doing this.

This wasn't for me, I think we all knew that from the start of this little endeavor. I was the chosen one, I was the saviour and if I turned away right now, all of their deaths would be for absolutely nothing. Was I ready to die?

I stopped at that and ran my fingers through my hair, watching as a few extra specks of dust and rock fell to the dirt floor beneath me. It was knotted and greasy as I sighed, I always thought I'd be a little older. I thought things would be different, that I'd have a family to surround me when I was good and ready.

How do you know when you're ready to die?

There wasn't a class, a book, or a potion to get you prepared. It was all in your mind, your thoughts. Everyone expected me to be brave, I had to be for them. I wasn't allowed to be selfish right now.

I started off again, wandering my way towards my own demise with a crease in my brow. What good is it being the chosen one if all you've been raised to do is...to die? Did my mum know that when I was born?

I stopped again at that, my feet and my brain were trying to stop me from doing the one thing I was here to do but...I didn't quite want to do it.

A cold wind whistled through the brush and leaves around me so I slid my hands into my pockets, pulling my jacket closer. A round ball sat in my left pocket and I fingered it for a second, feeling the grooves as I pulled it out of my pocket.

Through the dim light and my dirty glasses, I saw my first snitch. It was the first I'd ever caught and I was so excited to have done something worthwhile. I could still hear the cheers and the screams of delight from the stands through the wind. Everyone cheered for me and for once, I felt like I belonged somewhere. Hogwarts was my home. The first one I'd ever actually felt like I'd fit...and it was in danger right now. I gripped the orb a little tighter as I swallowed heavily.

I open at the close.

With a frown, I watched as those five words appeared across the snitch. They made almost no sense to me, so I wrote it off as another one of Dumbledore's little quirks, maybe these were supposed to comfort me as I faced my own death.

I glanced from the metal orb up to the trees in front of me, seeing a flickering light and sighed with a shaky breath. This is what it all had come down to, this moment. Everyone I'd ever loved or cared about was in danger right now.

I closed my eyes tightly for a second, bring the snitch close enough for me to feel the cold of the metal near my face. My fingers trembled, but I couldn't tell if they were from the adreanaline or the terror I felt flooding my limbs right now.

"I'm ready to die."

I sighed once more before I lowered my hand and watched with fascination as the metal shell fell away. I continued to stare while a solitary little black stone floated from the center and grabbed it gently. This had to be the Resurrection Stone...of course Dumbledore had it all along.

I closed my hand around it, holding a breath in to somehow try and breath slower. I closed my eyes and released the breath slowly. I knew I was about to do the exact opposite of what every children's story had ever said but...I wanted to see everyone. One last time.

My breath stopped in my chest when I'd opened my eyes once again to see that I wasn't alone anymore. Remus, Sirius, Mum, and Dad were here with me now. I almost ran for mum until I remembered that she wasn't really here, none of them were. They were just ghosts.

"You've been so brave, sweetheart." Her voice was just as I'd remembered but so sad.

"Why are you here? All of you." I swallowed heavily, trying to keep myself from crying as I glanced at all of the familar faces.

"We never left." My mother answered patiently.

"Does... Does it hurt? Dying?" I swallowed again. I thought I'd have been used to death by now but it seemed like I wasn't, I was just as scared and angry as I'd been when Sirius died.

"Quicker than falling asleep." Sirius was just as calm as mum had been but his voice and face kept that mischievous sparkle. I was actually grateful for it.

"You're nearly there, son." Dad's voice was different than how I'd imagined hearing it but it felt just as familiar as mum's.

"I'm sorry." The words were out of my mouth quicker than I'd expected but I'd been waiting so long to say them to all of the people who stood here now with me.

"I never wanted any of you to die for me." I shook my head slightly as my voice choked. So much death. What had it all even been for? Families were torn ap-

"And, Remus, your son?" I spun to look at my old professor with the realization that Teddy would grow up an orphan now. I couldn't be there for him, and I'd taken away his parents.

"Others will tell him what his mother and father died for. One day, he'll understand." I couldn't quite grasp how calm they all were about this, how much damage had been done by now...but I wished I could be just as calm.

"You'll stay with me?" I turned now to the entire circle with my lips in a straight line. I needed to go before I lost the will to just finish this. I was tired and cold as the winds shook the trees again in this damp and dreary place.

"Until the end." Dad nodded at me and I wanted to reach out just to feel a single part of him.

"And he won't be able to see you?" I raised a brow, eyeing each and every one of them. I wanted to remember their faces before this all ended.

"No." Sirius shook his head slightly and reached out. My eyes stopped on his hand out stretched as it pointed to my heart.

"We're here, you see." His hand acted as though it was pressed against my chest but I couldn't feel anything. Just the cold and the wet that seemed to hang in the air around us. I nodded at him nonetheless, swallowing as I decided it was time.

"Stay close to me." I nodded at them all as Sirius took a step back to rejoin all my loved ones in the circle once more. I glanced back at the edge of the trees in front of me and the castle that had always been my home.

"Always." My mother's voice was the one thing pushing my feet towards the trees and dozens of floating Dementors. At first I was ready to fight them but then I watched them merely float away as my circle of family seemed to make me invisible to them. I continued on towards the lights ahead of me with little thought.

It was time for me to die.