Title: 'Til We're Together Again©
Author: SerafinaMoon (
Disclaimer: The owner of Harry Potter and its characters, themes, etc. is J. K. Rowling. "Out of Breath" is by Lifehouse, not me. I only own this story and its plot.
Date: August 25-September 1, 2004
Light crept into the smallest upstairs bedroom of Number 4 Privet Drive as the sun blazed red and gold, splaying shadows around corners, under obstacles, and between objects.
Some of the light inched across the face of a sixteen-year-old bespectacled boy as he stared apathetically at the ceiling, lost internally in his thoughts. His expression was pensive as he gazed at the whitewashed ceiling above him.
His thoughts had once again returned to the previous June where he had lost his godfather the link to his parents, the one person that actually cared enough about him to offer him a home where he could be loved instead of scorned and belittled as he was on a daily (or more like minutely) basis here in the Dursley household.
Yes, this boy was Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, and supposed-to-be-savior of the wizarding world. You could scour both wizarding and muggle worlds alike and never find a boy quite like him. No, he was different. He was fated to be separated from everyone else because of the stupid prophecy that had darkened his entire past.
Harry scowled at the thought of the prophecy. He would curse Professor Trelawney himself if he thought it would help. He knew it would not though. It was not her fault that she had predicted him to be the only one strong enough to defeat Voldemort, heck, she did not even remember when she made predictions like that, as he had witnessed one himself in his third year.
Harry growled at this; that prediction had been about Peter Pettigrew and how he would go back to Voldemort to help him come back. Well, it had happened all right.
It was also the reason Cedric Diggory was dead...and Sirius...no, he would NOT think about that!
Now that he thought about it, Wormtail (Peter Pettigrew that is) had a hand in it all; betraying his parents, raising Voldemort...Wormtail was definitely helping the prophecy along.
Harry sighed as his thought returned to that. It was always seemed to be this way...the prophecy, Sirius, his haughty past, it all just seemed to circle around in his thoughts, trapping him, driving him to depression.
Indeed, since he had come back to his relatives during the summer he had stopped eating, sleeping...living. Sure he was alive, but he was no longer living.
It all came back to the prophecy. In fact it was the reason he was stuck here with the Dursley's during the summer, the reason he no longer had parents, the reason he was famous, the reason Voldemort tried to kill him annually at Hogwarts, and the reason Sirius had fallen behind the veil at the Department of Mysteries...
Tears sprung unbidden to his eyes, and Harry angrily scrubbed them away. He learned at a very young age that crying did not help you at all; it only brought more loneliness.
But once they started, Harry could not get them to stop. There would be no one to offer him a home now, no one to turn to when he had a problem, no one to seek when he wanted to know more about his parents. He had lost everything when Sirius died and now he did not know what to do.
It was all because of that stupid prophecy. It was what had made him into the Boy-Who-Lived, the prophetic savior of the wizarding and muggle worlds. Why couldn't he just be normal? Was that so wrong to wish for? Why couldn't he just be Harry?
The tears came again and this time Harry did not stop them. Instead he brought his legs up to his chest, and wrapping his arms around them tightly, buried his face into his knees thinking he had never felt so trapped inside of himself as he did at that moment.
I still feel the sameThough everything has changed
The pain it cost now
I feel lost inside of my own name
But I keep running
I am running
I keep living for the day that I'm with you
That I'm with youVery few Order members had been staying at Grimmauld Place during the summer. Since he had been revealed at the Ministry of Magic, Voldemort had opted to openly attack instead of remaining hidden in the shadows.
Among those that did visit regularly at Headquarters were: Nymphadora Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley Shacklebot, and Dumbledore himself (on occasion). Others, like Remus Lupin and the Weasley family, had moved into the dust-filled, gloomy, old house permanently.
One of said permanent residents could be found in the dimly lit sitting room, staring into the hearth at the flames engendered by the magical fire that was lit. A stone-cold cup of tea and scone set beside Remus Lupin on a small end table, longing to be drank, as it had not been touched the entire night it had waited patiently beside the man.
His gaunt features and haggard appearance might have been appalling to some people, but to the Order members, it was a cause for worry. Dark bags under his eyes attested to his lack of sleep and his thin, bony frame was proof of his lack of food consumption.
In short, it meant he was taking the death of his last best friend and fellow Marauder, Sirius Black, very badly. He had taken to not sleeping as every time he closed his eyes he saw, with great clarity once again, as Sirius/Padfoot fell behind the Veil. Every time he came near food he began to feel nauseous as he thought of how his friend would never eat again.
Molly Weasley, the Weasley family matriarch, had been standing in the doorway for some time, taking in the man's appearance. She wished there was something she could do for him. She had tried to coerce him into eating and she had slipped several Dreamless Sleep Potions into his drinks to get him to sleep. She had even assigned the twins, Fred and George, to try and cheer him up now that they were in the Order.
Nothing, it seemed, had worked. He had not reacted to their jokes and he avoided people if he could. Her heart went out to him and she knew if he was having that hard of a time coping, then Sirius's godson, Harry, was bound to be this bad or worse.
She hated to think of leaving him with his horrible Muggle relatives, but hoped that they would actually take better care of the child after their meeting at the train station.
Remus Lupin, who had been staring listlessly, unaware of his surroundings, was also thinking of the small boy that lived at Number 4 Privet Drive; him and his parents—Lily and James Potter.
Remus had always believed Sirius had been the traitor, ever since that fateful night almost fifteen years before. The Potters had made Sirius their Secret Keeper only to be turned over to Lord Voldemort and killed.
What Remus did not know was that they had believed him to be the traitor and switched the Secret Keeper duties to Peter Pettigrew instead; he had not known until Harry's third year when they found the truth in the Shrieking Shack.
He felt so bad for abandoning his friend when he found out; he mentally whispered an apology to Sirius for that, but now here he was, he had abandoned Sirius again. Remus had not tried to save Sirius from the Veil and had even held Harry back when he tried to go after his godfather. In that moment, when he struggled to control Harry, he had wanted nothing more than to follow his friend. The only thing that held him back was that he knew he had to take care of Harry and help him, as he had not been able to be there for him before.
Remus closed his eyes and was haunted with the images he was left with in the Department of Mysteries again, as he would...for the rest of his life...
The past has left its stainNow I feel the shame
I'll seize the day
If you take away
The chains of yesterday
But I keep running
I am running
I keep living for the day that I'm with you
And I am waiting
I am waiting
I keep waiting for the day that I'm with you
Sirius walked circumspectly down a long, dark corridor. His footsteps resounded loudly in the closed, dry space, as he looked around, trying to find something familiar or for some object he could use to get out of the dreary, desolate place.
A small pinpoint of light appeared in the distance and Sirius jogged toward it, wary of what it could be, but anxious to be out of the place he found himself in.
When he finally reached his destination, Sirius saw that there were two passageways. A glowing, white light that prevented Sirius from seeing what the pathways led to lit them both.
Closing his eyes, Sirius blew out a deep breath; he knew the choice of road he was about to take was an important decision and he needed to choose wisely. With his eyes closed, Sirius felt a difference between the two paths. The one to his left felt full of pain, guilt, and sadness, while the one on his right felt of joy, happiness, and love.
Sirius instantly made his decision and took the path on the right. He closed his eyes to keep from being blinded as he walked into the light. When he opened his eyes, he was struck mute by the sight in front of him.
Standing opposite him, smiling, were James and Lily Potter, Godric Gryffindor, and all of the other great light wizards that had past on.
James laughed at his best friend who was too stunned to move. That roused Sirius from staring in a very undignified manner with his mouth hanging open. Before he even knew it he was moving. Sirius was running full tilt towards his best friend before they enveloped each other in a humongous hug that contained years worth of love and affection that they had missed out on.
Sirius went around, greeting everyone he knew and had ever wished he could meet before James and Lily dragged him off to their home. After sitting on a couch offered him, he chuckled and said, "Wow! I never realized I'd fine something like this when I took the path on the right! Speaking of which, what did that other path lead to? It felt awfully sad down there!"
James and Lily shared a significant look before James replied, "If you had gone that way, Padfoot, you would have gone back to the wizarding world as a ghost. That sadness you felt was probably from the people that were missing you because of your death. It was supposed to be there to show you how your leaving affected everyone so you could decide if you wanted to go back or not."
A mix of emotions flitted across Sirius' face before settling on a look of regret, as his eyes took on a familiar haunted look and he muttered, "Harry, Moony..."
The trio sat in silence for a few tense moments before Sirius broke the quiet by asking, "So, did I make the wrong choice?"
"No, Padfoot," Lily comforted instantly. "You made the right choice. We can still watch over our loved ones from here as we wait for their time when they finally join us. Don't you ever think you made the wrong decision for coming here."
"Yeah, mate! They'll be here in no time and until then, haha! Until then we can create some chaos around here!" James suggested with a goofy grin and a gleam in his eye.
Lily punched him in the arm causing him to exclaim "OW!" and rub the offended member and her to roll her eyes saying, "Males..."
Sirius smiled at them before saying, "We have a lot to catch up on...I've got to tell you all about your son! Did you know he was the youngest kid at Hogwarts in a century to make it on his House Quidditch team as Seeker?!..."
A new day
The sun is shinning
Seems I'm closer to finding
That life I more than where we are
No way that I am turning
As long as the sun is burning
Now it seems that all I want is you
But I keep running
I am running
I keep living for the day that I'm with you
And I am waiting
I am waiting
I keep waiting for the day that I'm with you
The End
Love,
SerafinaMoon