Seeing visions of happiness standing before him when he had to choose to walk away felt like twisting the knife in the wound. Harry couldn't help the tears that fell down his cheeks as he tried to gather the courage to wake up.

"I know this is hard, Harry," said Dumbledore sadly. "I am torn about whether I want you to wake up as well. I have never seen you so happy, and I have wished you nothing but happiness since I first met you. I wished the same for your parents, Sirius, Cedric, and so many others I had to watch go before me. I have hoped that their sacrifices were not in vain. I have nothing left to offer you but this choice."

Harry wiped a tear away. "If I wake up, will I remember any of this?"

"Yes Harry, every detail as though it were yesterday."

"That's not fair."

"No, Harry, it is not. But it may prove useful. Everyone needs a reason to fight, a reason to choose. I fear that you have not had a choice your whole life. You have been playing the part everyone always expected you to play, bringing you only despair on the eve of your destiny. I told you once that choice is what separates you from Lord Voldemort, Harry, and that has not changed."

"Sir?"

"It's ironic, isn't it? A wizard determined to be dependent upon nothing has made himself a slave to his own destiny. And he will be bound to it to the bitter end."

"He'll destroy himself then?"

"No, Harry, he will destroy everything else. Voldemort will not stand for anything he can not control. He will suffer no allegiance to anything but him. He will stop people from talking, thinking, feeling anything. He will destroy everything and everyone until he is alone. Then he will find that perhaps being alone is not what he had hoped. Afterward, he will destroy himself. So you see, Harry, he must be stopped or he will be the end of everything."

"So I have to do it."

"No, Harry," said Dumbledore forcefully. "You must understand, you must CHOOSE! You have come this far on fate alone. But if you are to go forward, you must decide to fight. If you will not, someone else will. Someone who chooses. Evil is not defeated because fate deems it so, evil is defeated because good people choose to make their stand. If you choose not to stand, Harry, fear not, the world is not so far gone that no one else will choose to take your place. You are not the only one whose life has been touched by Voldemort."

The photograph of the original Order of the Phoenix came to Harry, as did images in a Pensieve of a straw haired boy being dragged away by Dementors, begging his father to save him; of Ginny Weasley's cold body lying on the floor of the Chamber of Secrets; of Susan Bones quietly weeping behind a tree, where she thought no one could see her; of Hagrid being taken to Azkaban, suspected of letting Slytherin's monster loose in the castle; of Remus Lupin forced to shelter in the Shrieking Shack once a month as a school boy; of Luna, Neville, Hermione, Ron and Ginny, all wounded at the Department of Mysteries; ending with a single photo of a redheaded beauty and a man with messy black hair and glasses clutching an infant between them, a look of pure delight on all three faces. Whether that image came from the past, or the future, Harry didn't know. But it seemed to make his decision for him all the same.

"I want to go back..."

"Then it is time, Harry. I fear that you and I must part ways again." Dumbledore stepped towards Harry and placed his hands on Harry's shoulders. "Although it breaks my heart, I hope it is many years before I see you again. I hope you will be patient with your old professor, but I would like to leave you with a few final lessons."

Harry grinned in spite of himself. "I'd like that sir."

Dumbledore gave Harry a sad smile. "First and foremost, Harry, I have been able to gather that you intended to set out after the Horcruxes and not return to Hogwarts for your final year."

"Yes, sir."

"I would like you to reconsider."

"Sir?"

"I have been a teacher for most of my long years, Harry. My students and my colleagues are my family, and I love each of them dearly, but when I see my students turn down opportunities, my heart breaks." Dumbledore let out a sigh before continuing. "I have already told you that I have wanted nothing but peace and happiness for you since before you were born, much as I wanted for your parents. I want you to have a full and happy life, a normal life without the burdens of war and destiny. The greatest tool you can have in the world is an education. I hope you will not forsake yours. Believe me, Harry, having the tools to win a war will seem trivial without tools to enjoy the peace."

"But sir, how can I even think about school without y... without... with all the distractions?"

The sad smile returned to Dumbledore's face. "The next lesson, Harry, is dealing with adversity. You have already mastered many of these lessons by growing up an orphan raised by people who resented your very existence. But I'm afraid that completing a difficult task is frequently rewarded by being set an even more difficult one. It may seem silly to concern yourself with N.E.W.T.s when you may not live to see the next day, but you can not lose hope for the future. This is why love is such powerful magic, Harry; it always looks forward, and it accepts nothing as impossible. Love holds many secrets for those who would learn of it, and I fear you will learn nothing if you do not return to school in some capacity."

Harry suddenly felt very foolish as he considered the prospect of setting out to defeat Voldemort and destroy his Horcruxes without having thought of returning to Hogwarts. The library, the professors, the protective wards, everything that they would need in terms of having a base of operations would be satisfied at Hogwarts. Harry seemed to feel lighter just thinking about it. After all, Hogwarts was the closest thing he had to a home next to the Burrow.

Dumbledore studied Harry's face and saw the gradual acceptance. "There is one more thing I must ask of you Harry, and I fear this may be the most difficult."

"What's that, sir?"

"I need you to look after my students, Harry."

"I'll protect the school, I promise."

"I am not certain you understand, Harry. Just because they leave the school does not mean my students stop being my students. In fact, it is the ones who have left who concern me most." Dumbledore observed the confusion on Harry's face before continuing. "I am referring to Professor Snape and Mr. Malfoy."

"WHAT?"

"I realize this may seem unusual in light of the events of last term -"

"Unusual! The events of last term! Sir, he -"

Dumbledore stopped Harry's rant by raising his hand. "Professor Snape likely saved Mr. Malfoy's life, which is exactly what I asked him to do."

"It is my mercy, and not yours, that matters now."

"But..."

"I told you once Harry that the consequences of my mistakes were far greater than those of others. I did not believe that Draco would be able to accomplish his task. Professor Snape and I both underestimated him, and, as such, were cornered on top of the tower. I do wish the situation had turned out better, but I am far more expendable than you or Draco."

"How can you say that?"

"I can say that, Harry, because I have had the chance to watch you and your classmates grow up. I am certain that the future rests in your hands as surely as the sun will rise tomorrow. If I have had a part to play in all this, then it has been to guide you along your path, to make you understand what a powerful tool love is. I hope you understand the great secret, Harry."

"What's that, sir?"

"That love is the source of magic. Voldemort and his followers believe in bloodlines, that magic can only be bred. They have learned nothing from the fate of the House of Gaunt. Nor do they understand the importance of Muggle-born witches and wizards. They have forgotten that magic itself is alive and is sustained by the connection between all of us, Harry, Wizard and Muggle alike. We need Muggles to sustain our magic. Their collective doubt keeps our world hidden. And yet, on occasion, through the magic of love, a wizard is born into the Muggle world, then comes to ours to sustain magic. Voldemort and his followers do not see it, but the more they try to keep the bloodlines "pure," the more magic fights to introduce new Muggle-borns to keep itself alive. Do you begin to see how important this fight is, Harry?"

Harry's mind was reeling, trying to keep up with Dumbledore's lessons. He had to look at his whole life, and the lives of his friends, in a whole new light.

"This fight is too important to have fate decide it, Harry. You must choose your destiny. It is vital that you see how indispensable you and your friends are. I am expendable, I have lived my life. But your life, and the lives of Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Granger, Mr. and Ms. Weasley, Mr. Longbottom, Ms. Lovegood, and everyone else you can think of is of the utmost importance for the survival of the world."

Harry took in a deep breath. "Then I'm ready to go back."

Dumbledore smiled sadly. "I do believe you are, Harry. This is where we must part ways. I have enjoyed our time together. Seeing old friends is always a blessing, wouldn't you agree?"

Harry tried to answer but his tears had returned and he couldn't find his voice. He merely nodded.

"Very well, Harry, it is time to take the next step. Are you ready?"

"Yes." And he meant it.

"Then wake up, Harry."