Okay so I wanna explain the binding the centaurs thing and how that works.
Any centaur that means to cause harm to Hogwarts inhabitants cannot leave the forest again. They are stuck there. So, Bane and Magorian can't leave, for example. Firenze, however, can go wherever he wants.
And then, this binding or curse or whatever you'd like to call it will last until Harry's magic leaves forever. So since he came back to life, they're still stuck. But after Harry, if he's had any children, they'll carry this binding in their magic as well.
So essentially, the centaurs that want to hurt any of Hogwarts inhabitants are stuck in the forest until Harry's line dies off forever.
(This chapter is a bit short, sorry. It was meant to be posted with chapter twelve but… I separated them for some reason and while I don't remember that, I'm sure it was a good one. Maybe. I dunno man.)
Remember to review!
Enjoy!
Chapter Thirteen
"It's too bright," Harry hissed as he squeezed his eyes shut. "Death is too bright, take me back."
There was a bark of laughter and he started and blinked his eyes open in surprise, only to push himself back as he realized he was looking at… himself?
"He sounds like you waking up in the morning," a voice said in amusement. He turned his head slowly to find a beautiful woman leaning against a bench with a boy not much older than him sitting on it. He turned back to himself and reached out, poking him.
"I'm dead," he announced, more to himself than to them.
"I thought Moony taught you the smart stuff," the other him complained. Harry frowned and blinked, leaning closer. As he looked at the face, he realized one thing that was glaringly obviously wrong.
"You have brown eyes."
"And beautiful ones at that," the man said with a giant grin. In fact, it was the same grin Sirius gave him when he'd done something to Lupin's hair or skin or drink.
"…oh."
"And he's figured it out," James announced, laughing softly. "Lily, you owe me five galleons."
"You have money in death?" Harry asked with a frown.
"No," Lily rolled her eyes. "But he likes to joke."
"So… who is that?" he asked his dad softly, nodding at the boy on the bench who had been observing them with an odd smile.
"Oh, that's Alasdair," James said with a confused look. "He's your family."
"Alasdair… that sounds familiar," Harry frowned as he tried to figure it out. "You're- oh. My… what, my brother?"
"Yes," the boy nodded with an encouraging smile. "That is what we would be."
"But… no offense, it's great to meet you, but why are you here?" Harry questioned. "I understand my parents, but…"
"You forget," the boy said, giving Harry a sad smile. "the bond you forged with Father."
"What are you- oh," Harry's eyes widened. "Oh."
"Do not feel bad," Alasdair demanded. "This is important."
"But he's dead!" Harry shouted. He felt James's hand on his shoulder and immediately relaxed. "I died, and so he died as well."
"I do not regret it," a voice announced. Harry whipped around to see Salazar standing behind him where he'd woken up. "Do you?"
"Well, no, those students were hurt, but-,"
"Exactly," the man nodded firmly. "I only wish you had lived."
"It's… it's fine," Harry said, lying through his teeth.
"Padfoot's right," James snorted. "You're an awful liar."
"What- but Sirius isn't dead," the boy blinked. James snorted.
"He likes to talk to us, update us on you as if we're not already watching," he explained, turning back to Salazar. "You adopted him."
"Yes."
"It's probably the Potter luck that I ended up being somewhat related to Salazar Slytherin," he said with a laugh and a grin. "But you're not so bad."
"Father," the boy – Alasdair – called, gaining Salazar's attention. The man turned to him and finally seemed to see his son. He moved quickly over to reunite with him as Harry turned back to James and Lily.
"Where are we?" he asked as Lily moved over to scoop him up in a hug. James joined a moment later, and the family stayed like that quietly for a long moment before Lily answered him.
"The In Between," she waved around. "You and Salazar are in between life and death."
"But we died."
"Yes, but there were other… complications," she explained, tapping his scar lightly. "The Horcrux in your head, it died and brought you along."
"You see that thing there?" James asked, pointing under a bench nearby. Harry ducked down and saw something curled in a ball, shaking. He shuddered at the sight. "Yeah, not very pretty. That's your Horcrux- er, Voldy's Horcrux."
"James," Lily frowned. "Be serious."
"I can't," the man grinned.
"Sirius is Sirius," Harry finished, laughing at the exasperated look Lily shot him.
"Anyway," she gave them each a stern look and continued for her husband. "when you drained all of your magic, you began to die. Well Horcruxes will do anything to protect their host so they can live, so it protected you, in a way. It will die completely, and you will have a choice."
"To stay here or go back," James told him, placing his hands on his shoulders and giving him a serious look. "It is your decision, but don't forget what you have there. You have your friends – brilliant, by the way, love them – and you have your family. You have Padfoot and Moony. You have so much back there."
"We'll always be waiting here for you," Lily promised. "Anytime you come back, we'll be here. But there's only one time you can go back to them, and that's now."
"You- you want me to leave you?" Harry blinked at his parents in confusion.
"Never," James said firmly. "But we want you to live your life to the fullest potential, and that isn't done by dying at fifteen just because you met your silly old parents."
"You have Salazar," Lily reminded Harry in a whisper, nodding to the man who was hugging his departed son fiercely. "And only you can take him back, Harry. Whatever decision, you must make it together. Where you go, he goes, and vice versa."
"It's just… I've just met you," Harry muttered, wiping harshly at the tears threatening to fall. "and I have to lose you again?"
"We'll be right here with you," James reminded him. "We've always been with you. From the present to the past, we've followed you and we will continue to do so. Even if we have to watch our entire lives over again," he winked and Lily rolled her eyes.
"You really think I should go," Harry said, looking for a flicker of doubt in their eyes. Seeing none, he sighed and pushed his hair out of his face. "Okay. Fine. Fine. But… promise me you'll be here?"
"We promise," they said together with more honesty and seriousness than he'd ever heard before when given a promise.
"We love you, Harry," Lily informed him.
"And we're so proud of you," James winked the way Sirius often did as the pair stepped back from him.
"And so are Sirius and Remus," Lily added. "They love you. They didn't mean to ever leave you, love. Let them be your family when you get back. I trust them." Harry took the words to heart. He didn't think he could ignore them. His mother was giving him advice and he intended to follow it.
"But you have to go now, Harry," James said, giving him a sad smile. "Time's up."
"Thank you," the boy whispered as he was pulled into a hug by his parents. "Thank you."
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The first thing Harry heard when he came back was Hermione sobbing violently. He could feel himself in her lap and shifted a little to alert her to his… aliveness.
"Harry!" She gasped through her sobs. He winced as her grip tightened again and reached out for her hand as he opened his eyes and gave her a small smile. "You're… you were…"
"Dead," he finished. "Yeah, I'd noticed."
"How'd you come back?" She asked, blinking her tears away.
"Uh… my parents?"
"Harry, your parents are-,"
"Dead, I know," he rolled his eyes. "but so was I."
"Oh."
"Where's Ron?" the raven-haired boy asked suddenly as he realized his best mate was missing.
"He… he went to find the Founders," Hermione sniffed, and he patted her arm gently. He really did feel bad for upsetting her so much. "Said there was something wrong."
"Shit," Harry swore loudly, pushing himself from her grasp and off the floor he was lying on. "Shit! Hogwarts told me to get to him right away!" He ignored her confused yelling and sped from the room to find his way to Salazar.
When he got to his father, his heart dropped. He'd hoped to find him alive and well, since he was, but the man was lying on the ground next to Rowena, who was crying silently. Harry nodded firmly at himself and rushed over, gently pushing past the Founder and settling himself next to his father.
"Hogwarts told me to find you," he explained, feeling the urge to just talk, to tell the dead man what he was thinking and feeling. "When my parents sent me back, I thought you would follow me, but I guess not. Look, I understand why you'd want to stay. But Athair, there's too much more for you remaining here."
"There was more remaining for him, too," Salazar replied. He knew his son couldn't hear him, but he didn't care.
"And there was more for my parents, but they left me. And now I'm here with you. What does that tell you?"
"Your parents were murdered by a cruel, despicable man. My son was stolen from me in a battle he did not understand."
"And the thing is, my parents promised they'd be by my side forever. I just think that your son would be as well."
"Perhaps," Salazar sighed. "But it is not the same as having him alive, living a life. Nor is it the same as being able to speak with him."
"It's just that I've only just found you. I trust you. I dunno if I could lose someone else," Harry admitted, staring at his hands. "I don't think I can do it alone anymore, Athair."
Salazar paused. How could he argue that? Harry was asking him for help. He could never say no. Not when he'd promised to keep him safe and care for him.
"Okay."
Harry let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding when he saw his father begin to stir. "Professor Ravenclaw! He's waking up."
Once they'd done a quick check to make sure the man was alright, the two escorted him to the infirmary where Salazar got checked by Rowena and Harry was checked and scolded by Helga for not going there sooner.
All of the other students had been taken care of rather quickly. The trio had healed more than they'd meant to, and the kids had been sent to their dorms with little more than trauma as a reminder of the events.
Ron and Hermione were nowhere to be found, and Harry assumed they were with Helena and Théo, which he didn't mind. He wasn't sure he could be with them again so soon.
The pair spent the night and the next day in the hospital wing just in case before they were released and the made their way to meet their friends in the Founders' office.
"You can't," Harry told his father in Parseltongue.
"Yes, I can," Salazar replied, his gaze falling on the black-haired boy.
"No! He's alive in our time, we met him. You can't change time. You never know what could cause us to not come here."
"He tortured you and your friends. My students," his father shot back, fury raging in his eyes once more.
"Yes, but it's done with. We can't change it. Let the next eight hundred years happen. Please. I banished him to the forest. He can't hurt me or anyone else again."
"You died."
"So did you," Harry snorted. "And look at us now, strolling through Hogwarts."
"We are lucky," Salazar reminded him quietly. "That should have been permanent."
"You knew, didn't you?" Harry stopped walking and looked up at his father. "You knew I had to die to get rid of the Horcrux."
"I would have found a way," the man denied sharply.
"But you knew," Harry sighed and looked at the ceiling. A group of teenagers passed them and he managed a small smile. Not many students had left their dorms in the past day and it was nice to see some of them, even if they were just passing to another common room to see their friends.
"I am sorry," Salazar whispered as they entered the office.
"Tell me next time you learn I'm gonna die, okay? I'd wanna do stuff. Like… stuff."
"Wonderful explanation, son," Salazar's lips twitched as they took their seats. Ron and Hermione were immediately at their friend's side, checking him over since they'd not been able to see him for more than a minute after he'd come back.
When everyone settled down, Godric sat up straighter and turned to his godson. "Harry, we are not upset with you-,"
"Speak for yourself," Hermione muttered. The look on everyone else's faces said they agreed with her, but Godric ignored the comment.
"-but we do need to know what exactly you did to end it."
"I- I'm not sure. I just got so angry at him. I told him that he had to stay in the forest forever, and then… something about anyone else that wanted to hurt us…" he shook his head with a frown. "It's kinda blurry."
"But we can't attack them," Hermione said before anyone could respond. She knew the Founders would be furious and likely want revenge. "Some of them are from our time and it's important that we leave them be."
"We know it's awful, what they did," Harry said softly, looking at his hands. "But we can't change anything."
"They cannot simply get away with what they have done!" Godric frowned heavily at the children.
"But they didn't!" Harry denied, shaking his head. "They're trapped in the forest. We're all safe again. Please, just leave it."
It was quiet for a moment as the Founders considered his words, and Helga was the one to break the silence.
"We will begin working on wandless magic so that you are not forced to drain yourself again," she informed them. Hermione's eyes lit up as if it were Christmas at the news, and even Ron was grinning.
"But we were told it's really hard," the bushy-haired girl said reluctantly. "Almost impossible."
"If you are being taught by competent teachers, it is not too difficult for someone of your level," Salazar said with a blank face. It was obvious he was not going to be in a better mood any time soon.
"Yes, well," Rowena straightened up. "unless there is anything more you need to speak about, I think you will be wanting time alone, no?"
"Yeah," Harry agreed, getting to his feet once more. "and sleep. Sleep sounds good."
The trio said goodnight and quickly made their way back to their rooms, settling in the sitting room to talk. The first thing they spoke of was the Horcrux, and Harry realized when Hermione began crying that she'd known he had to die as well. He pushed aside the muted anger at that and told them about his parents and their conversation.
It was a long night spent talking and reassuring each other, and they had no doubt the Founders were having similar conversations, but the trio were just glad to be back with each other. What had happened was terrifying and scarring, but they could move on. They were strong and they knew it, so they leaned on each other and went back to their daily lives soon, doing their best to act like nothing had happened.
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