Disclaimer: I only own the story, none of JK Rowling's
characters.
Author's note: See the huge one at the bottom of the page.
Every Time I Close My Eyes - Chapter 24
Someone was shaking Harry. He pushed them away, after the last few
weeks he wanted to rest. The shaking became more insistent. His head
was pounding, and disjointed words broke through to him.
"Come on....come on, lad, wake up......open your eyes....." Harry didn't
recognise the voice, but it was so soft and caring he struggled to wake up.
He opened his eyes to see two people standing over him, faces going from
worried to relieved. The Geolite could be seen behind them, now dull and
lifeless. Harry stared in awe at the people above him. He stuttered,
"I...I never thought I'd get to meet you." When he saw their confused
expressions, he sat up and with their help got to his feet. He turned to
them, and extended a hand.
"I'm Harry Potter."
"Frank Longbottom, and this is my wife." The man had Neville's hair, the
kindly woman his distracted look. But the most striking thing was
Neville's smile was plastered over their faces, a smile rarely seen on their
son. Before Harry could speak again, their was a crashing at the door and
a very agitated Draco Malfoy barged through, wand raised. He then
looked around, mouth agape, at the now silent stone and the Longbottoms.
Harry, still gripping his head but awash with energy, laughed at his
expression and said, still chuckling,
"Draco Malfoy, meet the Longbottoms." Draco stared at them a moment,
then seemed to shake himself. He turned back to Harry.
"Outside,.... Hermione, come quick." The seriousness of the request
disintegrated Harry's veil of happiness, and he ran through the door to the
scene of devastation outside the Geolite room.
Ron was slumped next to Hermione's unconscious form, and had tears in
his eyes as he acknowledged Harry's presence. Draco walked swiftly to
his father, who Harry was surprised to see was immobilised and tied up.
Desks and chairs were broken and overturned all over the place, scorch
marks on the floor and walls. But the most shocking thing was a
blackened skeleton, lying twisted in supplication in a badly burned area of
the floor. Harry stepped around it to Hermione. He heard a gasp behind
him, the Longbottoms had come out. He turned and beckoned to them,
then knelt with Ron next to Hermione. Tears sprung in his eyes as he saw
her face, blistered and burnt. He asked the inevitable question.
"Is she......" Ron sniffed and shook his head. Draco spoke up,
"We sent a beam to the hospital wing, but we don't know who's there. We
don't know where anyone is."
"Why, what's been happening?" Asked Harry. Another voice answered,
that had Harry leaping to his feet in desperate hope.
"I think you are the one that needs to be answering that."
"Sirius!" Harry ran to his godfather, who was still bruised and shaken, but
he hugged Harry as strongly as he ever had. Madam Pomfrey stopped her
fussing over him and went straight to Hermione. Sirius let go of him
suddenly, and Harry looked at his face to see what was wrong. He was
staring straight over his head, face a mixture of amazement and happiness.
Harry looked back over his shoulder at the Longbottoms, who were
looking equally bewildered. Dumbledore spoke up, causing Harry to see
him and Remus for the first time.
"Lets get everyone to the Hospital Wing, and perhaps we may finally
make sense of all this."
When they got to the Hospital Wing, Ron instantly broke out of his stupor
at the sight of,
"Mum! Dad!" They were each sitting up in bed, Madam Pomfrey's
assistants trying to force feed them chocolate. Harry let out a huge breath
he hadn't known he had in him, as his best friend's family was reunited.
Mr Weasley beamed at him over Ron's head. Harry refused to let go of
Sirius as he was guided to a bed, but this seemed to make Sirius smile
even more than he was. They all sat on various beds, Lucius Malfoy
unceremoniously screened off by Madam Pomfrey. She had healed
Hermione's and Ron's wounds in the classroom, assuring Ron she would
wake up after a rest. Madam Pomfrey didn't seem too happy with one of
her guests though. The huge Psygator had nonchalantly knocked over a
side table with a swish of it's huge tale, causing Remus to make a "Who?
Me?" gesture at Madam Pomfrey's look. The creature was obviously
bored, and soon crept under the Weasley's beds, settling down. Harry
wouldn't have been happy with it under his bed, but to his surprise Mrs
Weasley absently patted it's serrated head. The Longbottoms were the last
in, and they seemed a little disturbed by everyone's expressions on seeing
them.
Dumbledore cleared his throat, beaming.
"Well, it has been quite a day. Quite a month in fact. Harry wouldn't you
agree?" Harry spotted the question within a question, and told them all
about Mortority, about the threats, seeing Sirius then the Weasley's
chained up, and being able to do nothing. He told them how he was
manipulated in the competition, how he had seen his watch change at the
last moment, and his wish for a cure for the Longbottoms. At this
Neville's parents looked even more confused, but kept a polite silence.
Harry sniffed, he had been unaware of his tears, and clung even tighter to
Sirius. Sirius rubbed his hand gently and smiled at him, a smile full of
pride. Dumbeldore's eyes were twinkling at him, and he said,
"Some of this we knew, of course. Ron and Hermione have been having
adventures in your memory, Harry." Harry turned, confused, and saw
Ron's sheepish expression.
Ron cleared his throat, and after an encouraging look from his parent told
his version of events. How he had seen his best friend, Harry, become an
almost different person, how he had seen him use his friends and hurt
people to get the wish. How relieved he had been when he thought Harry
was doing it to see his parents. He told them of his desperation to see
Harry's dream of his own parents, and the lengths he and Hermione had
gone to see it for themselves.
Harry listened to his friends quiet voice, and began to understand. They
had seen what had been going on through the Penseive Crystal and tried to
stop the last round. But they had been too late, and got blinded by the
Light Bomb. He listened, rapt, as Remus cured them with carrot juice, as
they searched for the right time to go back to. Remus piped in a few times,
adding how he had arrived on the scene. Everyone listened to the details of
the battle with Mortority and Lucius, Harry could almost see it before his
eyes. When Ron spoke of Draco's actions, however, all eyes turned to
him. Dumbledore turned and smiled gently at him, and encouraged him to
speak with a gesture.
Harry was amazed at all that had been going on without him knowing, he
listened to Draco's story, how he had been tested by Voldemort, how
afraid he had been, how he had chosen to save Ron and Hermione. Draco
gave a few nervous glances to the screened off area through this, but Mr
Weasley reached out to his shoulder in encouragement. Draco told them
everything he'd ever heard of Mortority, from his own father and from
rumours. When he had finished, the room was silent, everyone alone with
their troubled thoughts. Harry turned to face Sirius.
"How did you get away? When I saw you, you were chained up and
behind a magical field." Sirius grinned, but it was Hagrid that spoke.
"You didn' listen in my lesson!" He made a "Tsk" noise then laughed a
little. "With all that you had goin' on, I don' blame you. Psygators, Harry.
They are nearly extinct because......" Harry interrupted.
"Because they can get past magical barriers!"
"Yes, Remus brought it back with him. It stepped though it and it
disintegrated. It seemed quite used to all the attention." Mr Weasley said,
glancing under the bed where a very loud grunting noise signalled the
beast was asleep.
"What happened to Voldemort?" asked Draco. Harry looked at him,
eyebrow raised that he had used the name, but Draco seemed not to notice.
Dumbeldore answered,
"He regained consciousness as we began to travel back. It was too much
of a risk to battle him in the past, we could have destroyed the present. So
we left him there."
"You just left him?!?" said Harry, incredulous. Dumbledore chuckled,
then retrieved two sparkling objects from his robes. Two Time Turners.
"I think we'll all have some peace while he tries to invent the Time-
Turner, don't you?" Harry's mouth dropped open. He wouldn't have even
thought of that. Ron spoke up again,
"What do you mean, he regained consciousness?" Harry noticed Mr
Weasley grin widely and look at his wife, who shifted, embarrassed.
Dumbldore seemed to remember the Longbottoms.
"Er....perhaps some explanation can wait. I suggest you retrieve your
brother's and sister from the common room, Ron, and Harry, perhaps you
can accompany him. Bring them and.....anyone else, back here." Harry
knew what he meant. He hugged Sirius once more, then followed Ron
from the room.
They walked in silence for a while, so much had happened all at once, it
was a lot to think about. They reached the portrait and stopped. Ron
turned to Harry.
"What will you say to him?" Harry took a deep breath, then nervously let
it out.
"I'll just tell him there's someone in Madam Pomfrey's office to see him."
"What if he has a heart attack?" said Ron, sounding much more his old
self again.
"At least he'll be in a hospital." Said Harry, his mouth creeping into a
smile. They struggled against it, but soon both let out gales and gales of
laughter. They weren't laughing for a specific reason, just the realisation
that everything was finally over, the tension had at last been lifted. The Fat
Lady looked at them disapproving, but with a smile playing at her lips,
and swung to let them in.
Harry's laughter stopped as they entered. Everyone was sat very quiet,
some shifting uncomfortably in their seats. A few looked up when they
entered, surprise on some faces. Harry soon spotted what was making
everyone quiet. Cornelius Fudge was leaning on the mantelpiece, an
expression of strained nonchalance on his face.
"Minister!" Said Harry, surprised. Ron walked quietly over to Fred,
George and Ginny, and Harry saw their sad faces light up as they listened
to Ron whispering. They all left as Fudge gave a very mechanical "Hello."
to Harry. There was an awkward pause as Harry searched the room with
his eyes for Neville.
"Harry, I wish to speak to you." Fudge finally said, then brushed past him
back to the portrait. Torn between looking for Neville and not getting into
any more trouble ever again, Harry sighed and followed the Minister
outside.
They walked down the corridors in silence. Harry was unpleasantly
reminded of walking these same halls with Mortority. Because of this
memory, he stopped and said,
"You wanted something, Minister?" Harry briefly thought perhaps his
tone was a bit cold, then remembered the man's attitude at the end of the
Triwizard Tournament and brushed the thought aside. Fudge turned
around, agitated, looking shiftily at the doors around them. Harry looked
around too, they were back at the prefect's bathroom, with another
classroom on the opposite side. Fudge said,
"The Geolite. It....it all went well, did it?" Harry looked at him oddly, then
said,
"I got what I wished for." Fudge looked a bit shifty again.
"You, you knew from the start what to wish for, did you?" Harry was
surprised.
"No. I was going to wish for something else, but the circumstances
changed." Harry wasn't sure how much Fudge knew about the months
events.
"Circumstances.....changed?" Again, a stirred memory, of the fake Mad
Eye Moody asking about the Death Eaters reactions to their master. Harry
unconsciously took a step back. Fudge then only looked more agitated. He
opened his mouth again, getting quite red in the face, reminding Harry of
another enemy, Uncle Vernon. Fudge didn't speak, however, as a different
voice said,
"Oh it's you!" Harry turned to the sound, to see Myrtle's head sticking
though the bathroom door. She looked different though, there were no
pearly tears on her face, in fact, she looked...well...happy.
"Hey Myrtle." A noise made him turn again, to see Fudge's retreating
back.
"Well he wasn't very nice." she said.
"No." said Harry absently. He shook himself, why was he worried?, it was
only Fudge. "Um, sorry Myrtle, but he interrupted me, I have to find my
friend Neville."
"Oooo, I know Neville."
"You do?"
"Oh yes, he came in here around the first task all upset. Over something
you'd done, as I recall." She grinned at his abashed look. "Anyway, she
continued, " He comes to see me much more than you do. He was just
here in fact, said something about a broomstick."
"So you've got a new friend?" asked Harry, grinning. Was it him, or was
that silvery tinge a blush?
"Not just one. The other ghosts say that because I'm not crying the whole
time they can actually hear what I'm saying now. I've been chatting to
them all, I think I'll come out to the feast next week!" Harry laughed.
"That's great Myrtle. I'll look forward to seeing you there." She smiled
again, then giggled disappearing back through the door.
A while later, Harry, Sirius and the Longbottoms walked down towards
the Quidditch Pitch. Sirius was wobbling a little, but had insisted he
wanted to come. Apparently Dumbledore had explained a few things to
the Longbottoms, and their confused air had turned almost to
apprehension. Harry kept shooting them re-assuring looks. He had told
Dumbledore about Fudge's strangeness, and Dumbeldore had remarked he
hadn't known the Minister was there at all. Hermione was awake and had
been chatting to Ron who seemed not to want to leave her side. She had
murmured something about they still didn't know who from the Ministry
had sent the Geolite to Hogwarts in the first place, increasing Harry's
suspicions. There was nothing they could do though, there was no proof.
The mark on Harry's back was unremoveable, but he wasn't too upset. It
had become a part of his history, just like his lightning bolt scar.
They were at the end of the Quidditch Pitch, and all eyes turned upwards
to the lonely figure flying hesitantly up above them. As the Longbottoms
walked slowly, almost hypnotised onto the pitch, Harry and Sirius sat in
the stands. Harry watched the figure land a few metres away from them,
and stop as though frozen. Harry saw arms outstretched, could almost
sense the joy in the air. Sirius spoke, and Harry turned his face away from
the scene absently brushing away a tear of happiness. Harry saw Sirius'
eyes were also looking especially bright.
"I meant to ask you. Harry, you had your chance, you could have met
James and Lilly, if only for half an hour. I have to know, why didn't you
take it?" Harry looked out again at the pitch, grinning as he saw the
embracing family sink to their knees, clinging to each other. He knew the
answer.
"Through all that's happened, I've always known they were there,
watching over me, and everything I do. Why give up something so
powerful," he gestured at the scene below, "just for half an hour? This
was the right thing to do, Neville can have his parents for ever." Sirius
gazed at him, awe on his face, before putting a paternal arm around his
shoulder. He said again,
"But wouldn't you have wanted to see them?" Harry smiled, leaning back,
letting the sun warm his face.
"I can see them. I see them...........
....................................................every time I close my eyes."
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Author's notes: I can't believe it, I'm actually in shock. I finished it.
WOW. Anyway, sorry, sense of complete unreality is upon me, ahem.
Well, that's it. Do you want a sequel? A prequel? Anything? What was
your favourite part, what did you hate, what did you love? I'm basically
begging for nice looooong reviews here, as I'll be gone for some weeks I
think. I still can't believe it! Thankyou to everyone who ever reviewed, we
authors love getting them! AAAAarrrrrghhhhh! What will I do with my
time now?!? I had stuff planned to say here, that I've completely forgotten.
I'm sure it would have been wonderful. The whole story was basically
written to give Neville his parents back, and I purposefully put the actual
reunion in the background because I don't think I can do that kind of
strength of emotion justice. Well............I guess I should go then. Wow,
actually finished. W_O_W. Once again, huge thankyou to all the
reviewers, I love you all! It was great being a part of the fanfic
phenomenon for these few weeks, you all make new authors so welcome!
Well I will go as I'm getting all emotional, but I shall no doubt write more.
Merry fanfic reading all the readers, and to all the readers.........Goodnight!
:)
PS I'm writing this as I re-upload this story. For anyone who's interested
in what happens next, go read 'Resistance'. :)
characters.
Author's note: See the huge one at the bottom of the page.
Every Time I Close My Eyes - Chapter 24
Someone was shaking Harry. He pushed them away, after the last few
weeks he wanted to rest. The shaking became more insistent. His head
was pounding, and disjointed words broke through to him.
"Come on....come on, lad, wake up......open your eyes....." Harry didn't
recognise the voice, but it was so soft and caring he struggled to wake up.
He opened his eyes to see two people standing over him, faces going from
worried to relieved. The Geolite could be seen behind them, now dull and
lifeless. Harry stared in awe at the people above him. He stuttered,
"I...I never thought I'd get to meet you." When he saw their confused
expressions, he sat up and with their help got to his feet. He turned to
them, and extended a hand.
"I'm Harry Potter."
"Frank Longbottom, and this is my wife." The man had Neville's hair, the
kindly woman his distracted look. But the most striking thing was
Neville's smile was plastered over their faces, a smile rarely seen on their
son. Before Harry could speak again, their was a crashing at the door and
a very agitated Draco Malfoy barged through, wand raised. He then
looked around, mouth agape, at the now silent stone and the Longbottoms.
Harry, still gripping his head but awash with energy, laughed at his
expression and said, still chuckling,
"Draco Malfoy, meet the Longbottoms." Draco stared at them a moment,
then seemed to shake himself. He turned back to Harry.
"Outside,.... Hermione, come quick." The seriousness of the request
disintegrated Harry's veil of happiness, and he ran through the door to the
scene of devastation outside the Geolite room.
Ron was slumped next to Hermione's unconscious form, and had tears in
his eyes as he acknowledged Harry's presence. Draco walked swiftly to
his father, who Harry was surprised to see was immobilised and tied up.
Desks and chairs were broken and overturned all over the place, scorch
marks on the floor and walls. But the most shocking thing was a
blackened skeleton, lying twisted in supplication in a badly burned area of
the floor. Harry stepped around it to Hermione. He heard a gasp behind
him, the Longbottoms had come out. He turned and beckoned to them,
then knelt with Ron next to Hermione. Tears sprung in his eyes as he saw
her face, blistered and burnt. He asked the inevitable question.
"Is she......" Ron sniffed and shook his head. Draco spoke up,
"We sent a beam to the hospital wing, but we don't know who's there. We
don't know where anyone is."
"Why, what's been happening?" Asked Harry. Another voice answered,
that had Harry leaping to his feet in desperate hope.
"I think you are the one that needs to be answering that."
"Sirius!" Harry ran to his godfather, who was still bruised and shaken, but
he hugged Harry as strongly as he ever had. Madam Pomfrey stopped her
fussing over him and went straight to Hermione. Sirius let go of him
suddenly, and Harry looked at his face to see what was wrong. He was
staring straight over his head, face a mixture of amazement and happiness.
Harry looked back over his shoulder at the Longbottoms, who were
looking equally bewildered. Dumbledore spoke up, causing Harry to see
him and Remus for the first time.
"Lets get everyone to the Hospital Wing, and perhaps we may finally
make sense of all this."
When they got to the Hospital Wing, Ron instantly broke out of his stupor
at the sight of,
"Mum! Dad!" They were each sitting up in bed, Madam Pomfrey's
assistants trying to force feed them chocolate. Harry let out a huge breath
he hadn't known he had in him, as his best friend's family was reunited.
Mr Weasley beamed at him over Ron's head. Harry refused to let go of
Sirius as he was guided to a bed, but this seemed to make Sirius smile
even more than he was. They all sat on various beds, Lucius Malfoy
unceremoniously screened off by Madam Pomfrey. She had healed
Hermione's and Ron's wounds in the classroom, assuring Ron she would
wake up after a rest. Madam Pomfrey didn't seem too happy with one of
her guests though. The huge Psygator had nonchalantly knocked over a
side table with a swish of it's huge tale, causing Remus to make a "Who?
Me?" gesture at Madam Pomfrey's look. The creature was obviously
bored, and soon crept under the Weasley's beds, settling down. Harry
wouldn't have been happy with it under his bed, but to his surprise Mrs
Weasley absently patted it's serrated head. The Longbottoms were the last
in, and they seemed a little disturbed by everyone's expressions on seeing
them.
Dumbledore cleared his throat, beaming.
"Well, it has been quite a day. Quite a month in fact. Harry wouldn't you
agree?" Harry spotted the question within a question, and told them all
about Mortority, about the threats, seeing Sirius then the Weasley's
chained up, and being able to do nothing. He told them how he was
manipulated in the competition, how he had seen his watch change at the
last moment, and his wish for a cure for the Longbottoms. At this
Neville's parents looked even more confused, but kept a polite silence.
Harry sniffed, he had been unaware of his tears, and clung even tighter to
Sirius. Sirius rubbed his hand gently and smiled at him, a smile full of
pride. Dumbeldore's eyes were twinkling at him, and he said,
"Some of this we knew, of course. Ron and Hermione have been having
adventures in your memory, Harry." Harry turned, confused, and saw
Ron's sheepish expression.
Ron cleared his throat, and after an encouraging look from his parent told
his version of events. How he had seen his best friend, Harry, become an
almost different person, how he had seen him use his friends and hurt
people to get the wish. How relieved he had been when he thought Harry
was doing it to see his parents. He told them of his desperation to see
Harry's dream of his own parents, and the lengths he and Hermione had
gone to see it for themselves.
Harry listened to his friends quiet voice, and began to understand. They
had seen what had been going on through the Penseive Crystal and tried to
stop the last round. But they had been too late, and got blinded by the
Light Bomb. He listened, rapt, as Remus cured them with carrot juice, as
they searched for the right time to go back to. Remus piped in a few times,
adding how he had arrived on the scene. Everyone listened to the details of
the battle with Mortority and Lucius, Harry could almost see it before his
eyes. When Ron spoke of Draco's actions, however, all eyes turned to
him. Dumbledore turned and smiled gently at him, and encouraged him to
speak with a gesture.
Harry was amazed at all that had been going on without him knowing, he
listened to Draco's story, how he had been tested by Voldemort, how
afraid he had been, how he had chosen to save Ron and Hermione. Draco
gave a few nervous glances to the screened off area through this, but Mr
Weasley reached out to his shoulder in encouragement. Draco told them
everything he'd ever heard of Mortority, from his own father and from
rumours. When he had finished, the room was silent, everyone alone with
their troubled thoughts. Harry turned to face Sirius.
"How did you get away? When I saw you, you were chained up and
behind a magical field." Sirius grinned, but it was Hagrid that spoke.
"You didn' listen in my lesson!" He made a "Tsk" noise then laughed a
little. "With all that you had goin' on, I don' blame you. Psygators, Harry.
They are nearly extinct because......" Harry interrupted.
"Because they can get past magical barriers!"
"Yes, Remus brought it back with him. It stepped though it and it
disintegrated. It seemed quite used to all the attention." Mr Weasley said,
glancing under the bed where a very loud grunting noise signalled the
beast was asleep.
"What happened to Voldemort?" asked Draco. Harry looked at him,
eyebrow raised that he had used the name, but Draco seemed not to notice.
Dumbeldore answered,
"He regained consciousness as we began to travel back. It was too much
of a risk to battle him in the past, we could have destroyed the present. So
we left him there."
"You just left him?!?" said Harry, incredulous. Dumbledore chuckled,
then retrieved two sparkling objects from his robes. Two Time Turners.
"I think we'll all have some peace while he tries to invent the Time-
Turner, don't you?" Harry's mouth dropped open. He wouldn't have even
thought of that. Ron spoke up again,
"What do you mean, he regained consciousness?" Harry noticed Mr
Weasley grin widely and look at his wife, who shifted, embarrassed.
Dumbldore seemed to remember the Longbottoms.
"Er....perhaps some explanation can wait. I suggest you retrieve your
brother's and sister from the common room, Ron, and Harry, perhaps you
can accompany him. Bring them and.....anyone else, back here." Harry
knew what he meant. He hugged Sirius once more, then followed Ron
from the room.
They walked in silence for a while, so much had happened all at once, it
was a lot to think about. They reached the portrait and stopped. Ron
turned to Harry.
"What will you say to him?" Harry took a deep breath, then nervously let
it out.
"I'll just tell him there's someone in Madam Pomfrey's office to see him."
"What if he has a heart attack?" said Ron, sounding much more his old
self again.
"At least he'll be in a hospital." Said Harry, his mouth creeping into a
smile. They struggled against it, but soon both let out gales and gales of
laughter. They weren't laughing for a specific reason, just the realisation
that everything was finally over, the tension had at last been lifted. The Fat
Lady looked at them disapproving, but with a smile playing at her lips,
and swung to let them in.
Harry's laughter stopped as they entered. Everyone was sat very quiet,
some shifting uncomfortably in their seats. A few looked up when they
entered, surprise on some faces. Harry soon spotted what was making
everyone quiet. Cornelius Fudge was leaning on the mantelpiece, an
expression of strained nonchalance on his face.
"Minister!" Said Harry, surprised. Ron walked quietly over to Fred,
George and Ginny, and Harry saw their sad faces light up as they listened
to Ron whispering. They all left as Fudge gave a very mechanical "Hello."
to Harry. There was an awkward pause as Harry searched the room with
his eyes for Neville.
"Harry, I wish to speak to you." Fudge finally said, then brushed past him
back to the portrait. Torn between looking for Neville and not getting into
any more trouble ever again, Harry sighed and followed the Minister
outside.
They walked down the corridors in silence. Harry was unpleasantly
reminded of walking these same halls with Mortority. Because of this
memory, he stopped and said,
"You wanted something, Minister?" Harry briefly thought perhaps his
tone was a bit cold, then remembered the man's attitude at the end of the
Triwizard Tournament and brushed the thought aside. Fudge turned
around, agitated, looking shiftily at the doors around them. Harry looked
around too, they were back at the prefect's bathroom, with another
classroom on the opposite side. Fudge said,
"The Geolite. It....it all went well, did it?" Harry looked at him oddly, then
said,
"I got what I wished for." Fudge looked a bit shifty again.
"You, you knew from the start what to wish for, did you?" Harry was
surprised.
"No. I was going to wish for something else, but the circumstances
changed." Harry wasn't sure how much Fudge knew about the months
events.
"Circumstances.....changed?" Again, a stirred memory, of the fake Mad
Eye Moody asking about the Death Eaters reactions to their master. Harry
unconsciously took a step back. Fudge then only looked more agitated. He
opened his mouth again, getting quite red in the face, reminding Harry of
another enemy, Uncle Vernon. Fudge didn't speak, however, as a different
voice said,
"Oh it's you!" Harry turned to the sound, to see Myrtle's head sticking
though the bathroom door. She looked different though, there were no
pearly tears on her face, in fact, she looked...well...happy.
"Hey Myrtle." A noise made him turn again, to see Fudge's retreating
back.
"Well he wasn't very nice." she said.
"No." said Harry absently. He shook himself, why was he worried?, it was
only Fudge. "Um, sorry Myrtle, but he interrupted me, I have to find my
friend Neville."
"Oooo, I know Neville."
"You do?"
"Oh yes, he came in here around the first task all upset. Over something
you'd done, as I recall." She grinned at his abashed look. "Anyway, she
continued, " He comes to see me much more than you do. He was just
here in fact, said something about a broomstick."
"So you've got a new friend?" asked Harry, grinning. Was it him, or was
that silvery tinge a blush?
"Not just one. The other ghosts say that because I'm not crying the whole
time they can actually hear what I'm saying now. I've been chatting to
them all, I think I'll come out to the feast next week!" Harry laughed.
"That's great Myrtle. I'll look forward to seeing you there." She smiled
again, then giggled disappearing back through the door.
A while later, Harry, Sirius and the Longbottoms walked down towards
the Quidditch Pitch. Sirius was wobbling a little, but had insisted he
wanted to come. Apparently Dumbledore had explained a few things to
the Longbottoms, and their confused air had turned almost to
apprehension. Harry kept shooting them re-assuring looks. He had told
Dumbledore about Fudge's strangeness, and Dumbeldore had remarked he
hadn't known the Minister was there at all. Hermione was awake and had
been chatting to Ron who seemed not to want to leave her side. She had
murmured something about they still didn't know who from the Ministry
had sent the Geolite to Hogwarts in the first place, increasing Harry's
suspicions. There was nothing they could do though, there was no proof.
The mark on Harry's back was unremoveable, but he wasn't too upset. It
had become a part of his history, just like his lightning bolt scar.
They were at the end of the Quidditch Pitch, and all eyes turned upwards
to the lonely figure flying hesitantly up above them. As the Longbottoms
walked slowly, almost hypnotised onto the pitch, Harry and Sirius sat in
the stands. Harry watched the figure land a few metres away from them,
and stop as though frozen. Harry saw arms outstretched, could almost
sense the joy in the air. Sirius spoke, and Harry turned his face away from
the scene absently brushing away a tear of happiness. Harry saw Sirius'
eyes were also looking especially bright.
"I meant to ask you. Harry, you had your chance, you could have met
James and Lilly, if only for half an hour. I have to know, why didn't you
take it?" Harry looked out again at the pitch, grinning as he saw the
embracing family sink to their knees, clinging to each other. He knew the
answer.
"Through all that's happened, I've always known they were there,
watching over me, and everything I do. Why give up something so
powerful," he gestured at the scene below, "just for half an hour? This
was the right thing to do, Neville can have his parents for ever." Sirius
gazed at him, awe on his face, before putting a paternal arm around his
shoulder. He said again,
"But wouldn't you have wanted to see them?" Harry smiled, leaning back,
letting the sun warm his face.
"I can see them. I see them...........
....................................................every time I close my eyes."
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Author's notes: I can't believe it, I'm actually in shock. I finished it.
WOW. Anyway, sorry, sense of complete unreality is upon me, ahem.
Well, that's it. Do you want a sequel? A prequel? Anything? What was
your favourite part, what did you hate, what did you love? I'm basically
begging for nice looooong reviews here, as I'll be gone for some weeks I
think. I still can't believe it! Thankyou to everyone who ever reviewed, we
authors love getting them! AAAAarrrrrghhhhh! What will I do with my
time now?!? I had stuff planned to say here, that I've completely forgotten.
I'm sure it would have been wonderful. The whole story was basically
written to give Neville his parents back, and I purposefully put the actual
reunion in the background because I don't think I can do that kind of
strength of emotion justice. Well............I guess I should go then. Wow,
actually finished. W_O_W. Once again, huge thankyou to all the
reviewers, I love you all! It was great being a part of the fanfic
phenomenon for these few weeks, you all make new authors so welcome!
Well I will go as I'm getting all emotional, but I shall no doubt write more.
Merry fanfic reading all the readers, and to all the readers.........Goodnight!
:)
PS I'm writing this as I re-upload this story. For anyone who's interested
in what happens next, go read 'Resistance'. :)