From Spark to Flame
Summary: Harry Potter is heartbroken as, piece by piece, every single parent-like figure is stripped from him ruthlessly. When many of his friends die in the last battle, Harry is upset and mournful. When a close friend dies four years later, he goes to the brink of madness. His friends go to any lengths to get him back. Oneshot
"Harry, please," pleads twenty year old Ginny Weasley. She begs him to take food, or water, or anything to keep him alive. But he doesn't do a thing—he lays like a broken marionette, tossed away, never to move again.
Twenty-one year old Harry Potter, a fully qualified wizard, is broken. He lost a part of himself when his parents had died, and continued to lose even more of himself with each death of a friend; Cedric Diggory, Sirius Black, Albus Dumbledore, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Fred Weasley, Dobby the house elf.
Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are heartbroken, also, from the deaths, but have put aside their sorrow to help Harry. The three of them are trying everything to bring the real Harry back. He'd gotten like this before, but returned to normal eventually. This happened typically after a talk with the old headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore. It was a terrible fact that Dumbledore was dead, and no one was left to bring Harry back from the edges of madness.
Ginny can't bear to see Harry like this. She loves him with all of her heart, and she is almost positive that Harry loves her, too. She just has to find that part of him again, has to find that spark of life and coax it to flame.
Tears pour from her soft, brown eyes and she cries freely in front of the stiff figure. "Please, eat, Harry. You can't do this to me! You can't leave me," she sobs, begging for Harry to return to the world.
"Ginny, you should get some sleep," says her older brother, George, logically. The girl's eyes are red and puffy from lack of sleep and continuous crying. Dark circles under her eyes also show her sleep deprivation.
"I can't," she whispers. "I can't leave him like this!"
"Gin," Ron says firmly. "Please. How can you help Harry if you get sick yourself?"
Reluctantly, Ginny leaves Harry's side, placing a kiss on his cheek before climbing the steps to her bed. "Please, wake me if there is any sign of improvement. I need to know."
--
The world is real, but it's so far away, an alternate reality, a distant shore, far away, like a dream returning to it would cause good, but it would cause grief I can't make myself face it it's too hard I don't want to go back I want to die right here I can hear crying someone there is crying that's just more pain in the world I'd much rather stay here and finish my life here and see Sirius and my mum and dad and Remus and Tonks and Dumbledore and apologize to them tell them how very sorry I am for bringing their deaths and how I wish they hadn't died because of me it's all so sad I didn't want this to happen but it did and normal life is much too hard to think about I can't even imagine all the deaths that have happened because the death eaters were looking for me it's all my fault I wish I could take them all back and teach the death eaters a lesson or two show them my pain if only they'd have the decency to care if only I had the decency not to care it's all my fault I couldn't stop it I wish I could have it was so horrible reality is too tough to face yet I can't return someone cries for me and kisses me on the cheek I think it's Ginny a voice is speaking I hope she is well maybe Ron or Hermione are sad I am sorry for that but it is too terrible right now to think about the aftermath of the war I want it all over why can't it stop the pain in the world should just start over on a clean slate a new beginning no deaths and no pain damn Pandora who opened that stupid box I wish we could live happily why is love so painful Dumbledore said that I could love and that's not always a good thing right now it most definitely is not how could I have been so stupid I wish it would end now…kill me now
My eyes are closed but I'm awake. I breathe but I wish to be dead. There is nothing more I should live for. My heart has been broken too many times.
Dumbledore claims it to be love. Love is fickle, and painful. Hearts break. People die. It's too much. I've lived with it my whole life. Now I'm giving up.
Ginny cries at my side, trying to tempt me to live…to find the will to live. A new person enters the room.
--
"How is he?" asks the stranger. She sheds her cloak and kneels beside the still savior.
"Bad. He doesn't eat, or drink, or do anything. Please, could you help?" cries Ginny desperately. "I need him back."
"We all do," says Ron hoarsely.
"Harry? If you can hear me, please show me you do, somehow. Could you please leave the room for me? Thank you. Harry, are you there?"
He twitches a finger.
"Good, you can hear me. Don't talk, just listen. People die. It's a natural part of life. And the survivors hurt. But even though the people you love have gone from the world, you still remember them with pictures, memories and stories. You've never met your parents, but you love them so much. And you keep their memory alive. That's why we have survivors. To tell their tale and to remember them.
"Death isn't something to fear, or hate. It's something to accept. It's okay to be upset, and it's okay to hurt, but it's just something you learn to live with. Sure, sometimes, it hurts more to care and hope, but you can't give up. No matter how many people are taken from you, they watch over you, and there are people who love you worth living for.
"Harry Potter, you defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort!"
"With a price."
His voice was hoarse from misuse and lack of refreshment.
"Everything has a price, Harry Potter. For every death, there is a birth of new life. For every kidnapping, there is a return. For every lost love, there is one found. For every good deed, there is a crime. It's the natural order of things. It keeps balance.
"Life wouldn't be the same if everything was good. People make mistakes and learn from them, and people die to the pain of others. But they die to protect what they are fighting for, in your case. James and Lily Potter, Sirius Black, Albus Dumbledore—they all died for you. So you would have a chance at life that they had lived. You're young and you still have a full life ahead of you."
"I lose something either way."
"Life is made of win and lose. It's just the way it has to be."
"I don't want it to be like that."
"You lost every parental figure in your life. You aren't alone. I, myself, lost my mother to cancer and my father to Death. My brother died in a fire, and my dearest friend has been murdered recently. But I still have something to live for. Don't you have something to live for, Harry Potter? From the looks of it, you have some very good friends. Think about what I'm saying. I'll be back tomorrow."
--
The stranger speaks to me of life and death and love and loss. It's too terrible. I want to come back, but I can't. I just want to see them all again. To apologize.
--
"Harry, we love you, and miss you. Please, please come back to us," whispers Hermione.
--
"Harry Potter. The whole Wizarding World is behind you. They all support you and all that you do. Except this. You can't back down—give up after all you've fought. You fought for freedom and they followed your lead. You want to waste all your efforts by giving up right now? Don't, Harry Potter, because you have a full healthy life ahead of you that can't be fulfilled unless you choose to return."
--
"Harry…" whispers Ginny quietly. "I wanted you to be alive and happy when I told you this."
The room is empty except for Ginny and Harry. He makes a tiny motion with his hand. "Tell me now," he breathes.
"I'm pregnant. Almost nine months pregnant. The baby could come at any day."
--
Do I hear correctly. Is Ginny really pregnant? With my child? But if it dies…I can't return…
--
A scream splits the air. "It's coming!" gasps Ginny.
"Come on, Ginny, we've got to get you to St. Mungo's!" shouts Hermione.
"No! I'm staying here. With Harry!" screams Ginny. "I'm staying here!"
"Let her be," says the familiar stranger.
There was a mixture of screams, shouts, and groans. Ginny screamed and shouted in her pain. Eventually, out came a baby boy.
It began to cry.
"Harry," says the familiar stranger. "Open your eyes to see this."
He slits his eyes open a crack. In the brightly lit room is Ginny laying in a bed, sweaty and red in the face, but looking excruciatingly happy.
"Harry," she whispers, standing shakily. She holds up the child. "This is your son. Live, if not for me, for your son."
"Harry Potter. You stay alive to celebrate life. Not to mourn death."
He opens his green eyes some more. "May I hold him?" he asks faintly.
Ron carries the child from Ginny to Harry. He looks down at a miracle—life had just formed in front of his closed eyes.
And the recovery began.
--
It took almost a year for Harry to return to normal. Although it wasn't normal. It was something close to normal. Harry was never as he was to begin with, but it was close enough. He lived to see two more children of his own and every single of his grandchildren be born. And he never forgot the familiar stranger's words. And he never learned who the familiar stranger was.
Please R&R.