Harry lay face down, sleeping on hard cement. His arms stuck out at odd angles underneath his body and his robes tangled with his legs. He was having a series of pleasant dreams ranging from Hagrid arriving at the Dursley's for the first time all the way to the last time he'd kissed Ginny. Little did he know, his life was literally flashing before his eyes.

In the peripherals of his consciousness, Harry heard a familiar voice calling him, but he couldn't quite place who it was. Zoning it out, he tried to focus on the moments passing through his mind, but the longer he ignored it, the louder and more urgent it grew.

"Harry Potter must wake up!" the voice squeaked loudly in Harry's left ear.

A sharp movement jolted Harry from his sleep. He wanted to stay with his dreams, but he couldn't fight it any longer. With an exasperated sigh, he rolled over and snapped, "Alright. Alright. I'm up. Just stop shaking me."

"Dobby is terribly sorry sir, but Dobby had to make sure Harry Potter woke up."

"Dobby?" Harry said, as he sat up and pushed his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose. Wrapping his arms around the elf's shoulders, he drew him into a tight hug. "How have you been? I've missed you."

Tears leaked from the elf's eyes as he returned the embrace with as much force as he could muster. "Dobby has missed you too, sir," he whispered, his voice wavering with emotion.

"What are you doing here?"

"Dobby is here to lead Harry Potter to the afterlife. We must be hurrying, sir. There isn't much time," he said, glancing up at the large clock hanging off of the wall a few feet away.

Looking around, Harry realized that he was in the same version of King's Cross that he'd visited with Dumbledore so many years ago. It was spotlessly clean and as it had been previously, it was completely deserted except for the large red train spewing smoke on the tracks in front of him. It was a mere ghost of the real life version.

"Are we supposed to board the train?" he said, nodding in its direction.

"Yes, sir."

"Where will it take us?"

"Dobby will explain everything once we are on the train, but right now, we is needing to hurry, sir."

Getting up took a great effort from Harry and in the end Dobby had to help pull him into a standing position. Once standing, his knees creaked and his back ached. It took several steps before his muscles started to loosen back up. Although his body reflected how he'd looked in his prime, he could still feel the weight of old age in his bones.

As the pair approached the train, a conductor in a dark green suit stepped out of the doorway. He studied them intently, paying a large amount of attention to Harry.

"Ah. Mr. Potter, we've been expecting you," he said. "You too, Mr. Dobby."

A bright red blush spread across the elf's cheeks and his eyes moistened as if he were set to cry. "Nobody has ever called Dobby, Mister before."

The conductor only smiled and motioned the pair inside of the train.

The two of them walked down the center aisle, passing compartment after empty compartment until they reached the very end. Harry couldn't quite place why, but he wanted to sit in the last compartment as he'd always done with Ron and Hermione. They took their seats just as the engines groaned to life and the train began to pull forward out of the station. The wheels creaked loudly below them as it moved faster and faster.

"So where is it that we're going?" Harry said, watching as the station disappeared from view.

"To the weighing of the wands, sir. In order to pass on into the afterlife, every witch or wizard must do it."

Harry looked puzzled for a minute. "What do you mean?"

"Dobby isn't knowing much about it, sir, but each person must weigh their wand to see if they are deserving of the afterlife, sir. Dobby is certain that Harry Potter will pass."

The pair lapsed into silence as the train reached its full traveling speed.

"Dobby?"

"Yes, sir?"

"If witches and wizards weigh their wands, what did you have to weigh?"

For a moment, Dobby hesitated, studying the threads that had come loose on the top of his socks. "Dobby had to weigh his heart, sir."

"How does one weigh his own heart?"

"Dobby had to drink a potion, sir, and a hole opened in Dobby's chest. Then Dobby had to pull out his own heart and place it on the scale. Once the scale weighed it, Dobby was allowed to pass into the afterlife." The elf shuddered at the memory. "It hurt Dobby a lot, sir."

Unsure of what to say, Harry stared off out of the window. There was nothing but green for miles. The sky was a crystalline blue and lightly dotted with thin wisps of white clouds. The tall grass that bordered the tracks shook and swayed with the current of the train.

The scenery reminded him of a perfect spring day that he had once spent teaching James to play Quidditch. He'd taken his son to the field behind their home and started by throwing the quaffle into the air for him to catch. It had become apparent within moments that James was a rather prodigious flyer and had a natural ability for the sport. He'd decided that tossing quaffles was futile and instead joined him in the air. The pair had spent the rest of the day racing around the yard. It had taken Ginny yelling at them to come in for supper to finally get them off of their brooms and then only begrudgingly. It had been one of the best days of his life.

A wave of sadness washed over Harry as he realized it would be a long time before he'd see his children again, but then he remembered he'd finally have the chance to see his parents, Sirius, and everyone else who'd passed on before him. The thought of getting to hold his mother after all of these years filled him with excitement.

"Dobby, will my parents be at the wand ceremony? What about the Weasleys? Sirius? Remus?" Harry said, tearing his eyes away from the view.

"No, sir. No one is allowed at the weighing of the wands except for the two of us."

"Why is it that you're allowed to be here?" Harry questioned, surprised to hear that Dobby would be allowed, but not his own parents.

"Dobby is Harry Potter's guide, sir. It is Dobby's job to bring you to the afterlife."

"Right, but how did you end up here? Why not Dumbledore or Sirius or my mum?"

Dobby lowered his gaze to the floor and his ears drooped with disappointment. It looked as if he were fighting back tears.

"Not that I'm not happy you're here," Harry added upon seeing his friend's reaction. "I just wondered how you ended up with this task."

"Dumbledore chose me, sir," Dobby said, his ears perking back up.

A short burst of laughter escaped from Harry's throat. "Why does that not surprise me? Does he run things in the afterlife as well?"

"Not exactly, sir.."

The conversation was interrupted when the door swung open and an elderly woman pushed a food cart in. Harry was surprised to see that she was the same witch who had pushed the sweets trolley during his school days. She'd been dead for at least fifty years, but she looked exactly as he remembered her all the way down to her maroon cardigan.

"Would either of you dears like something to eat?" she asked, smiling at the two of them.

"Let's have a couple of chocolate frogs, some Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and a few pumpkin pasties," Harry said, slipping his hand into his pocket in search of galleons. "Oh. I don't seem to have any money."

"There's no money required here sweetheart. You two have a lovely day." She handed them their confections and rolled her cart out of the carriage.

Harry tossed a handful of sweets to Dobby and peeled the wrappers off of his own. "I haven't had one of these in ages. Makes me think of Ron and Hermione and all of our years on the Hogwarts Express. Ron and I pretty much bonded over chocolate frogs. To think all of these years later each of us has our own card. Ron said it was his finest moment."

Dobby's eyes opened wide. "How is Harry Potter's Wheezy?"

"He's doing well. He and Hermione have been together for ages. They've got two children, Rose and Hugo. They both look just like their mum, except for the bright red Weasley hair. Then there's the grandchildren. Rose married Luna's son Lysander and they have a pair of twins who Rose insisted on naming Fred and George. It makes things confusing because her Uncle George has a son named Fred, so whenever someone says either of their names, they have to specify which Fred or George they're talking about. Hugo settled down with Scorpius Malfoy much to his father's dismay, but the two of them are perfect for each other really. They have a beautiful daughter named Sarah and live in Wales."

"Dobby is happy to hear that, sir. Dobby always liked Harry's Wheezy."

"Me too. He's just the type of person that you can't help but make friends with I suppose. Although he's turned into quite the barmy old codger these days. I'll sure miss him until he passes on. This is really the first time since I was eleven that I've been without Hermione and him." Anxiety flashed across Harry's face as he thought about his friends and how they might be coping with his passing. "I suppose I'll be so busy catching up with everyone here that it'll be alright."

"Everyone is excited to see the great Harry Potter, especially your mother, sir."

"You know my mum?"

"Of course, sir. Dobby is knowing everyone. When Dobby passed on, the great Lily Potter was the first to find Dobby and offer him a place to stay. Dobby was very honoured, sir."

"Do you…" Harry started to ask, but he paused when he noticed Dobby doing something odd. The elf had opened the pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and was sorting them into two piles. Try as he might, Harry couldn't figure out the rhyme or reason. There didn't seem to be a particular colour pattern to the piles nor was he simply splitting them evenly. "What are you doing?"

"Dobby is sorting the jelly beans, sir. This pile is for you, sir."

Reaching out his hand, Harry scooped up the mound of jelly beans. He analyzed the sweets in his hand, but saw nothing wrong with them, so he popped one in his mouth.

"Mmmm…Marmalade. My favorite."

One by one, Harry consumed the confections until he had eaten about half of them. With the subtlety of stampeding manticores, he realized that he hadn't eaten a single vomit, booger, or sardine flavored bean. Snatching the bag off of the table, Harry scanned the back of it briefly, looking at the flavors listed.

"Dobby?"

"Yes, sir?"

"How did you sort the jelly beans?" he said, watching as Dobby put an odd greenish bean into his mouth.

"Dobby sorted out Harry Potter's favorite flavors and put them in one pile, sir. Dobby only ate the beans that Harry Potter doesn't like, sir."

"Does that mean you have a pile of soap and pepper flavored sweets then?"

Popping another bean into his mouth, Dobby nodded his head slowly.

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but was cut short when the train lurched to a stop. In the time that they'd been traveling the sun had set and night had caught up with them. All he could see were the stars twinkling bright in the night sky.

"This is our stop, sir," Dobby said tentatively. "We needs to be going now."

Stepping out of the train, Harry did a double take. Everything looked incredibly familiar. It was as if the memories of his youth were being called forward from his brain. Hogwarts castle stood before him, exactly as it had been the last year that he'd gone to school. The only thing missing was the throng of students and Hagrid shouting for the first years to follow him.

Dobby exited the train before him as if there were nothing unusual about their location. Reaching back, the elf took Harry by the hand and said, "Come, sir. It is time for the weighing of the wands."

Hi there!

Chapter 3 is up and I've now managed a regular update 4 weeks in a row! I still have a pretty decent sized stockpile of chapters, so regular posting should continue without problem.

Harry has finally made his appearance in the afterlife and things will continue to be both familiar and different from here on out. What did you think of the trip to the Weighing of The Wand? What do you think the weighing will entail?

Thank you as always for reading and if you have a moment to leave a comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!

~Kaitlin