Disclaimer: I own many amazing things, but Harry Potter is not one of them. JK Rowling owns him! Wait, I don't have any amazing things! Dangit! Oh, and there are two quotes, but I've credited them where they are written.
A/N: Okay, this is my one-shot attempt at what happens when Harry goes to Godric's Hollow. It made me cry writing it, so I don't know about you guys- I don't think I did a very good job, but I had to get it out there anyway. Please read it and tell me what you think?
Godric's Hollow Cemetery
By Lara Potter
"Harry, are you sure you don't want us to come with you?" Hermione said with a concerned look on her face. She tightened her scarf around her neck.
"Yes, I'm sure- this is something I better do alone," Harry said softly, turning his back on Ron and Hermione, although they looked uneasy.
It was late November, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione had recently attended Bill and Fleur's wedding. Now they were in Godric's Hollow, where Harry and his parents had lived just sixteen years ago. The graveyard in the little village was small, yet peaceful looking.
Harry turned his back on his best friends, who were standing together on the cobblestone path. He took a deep breath. The air was cool and fresh. He pushed open the tall iron gates leading into Godric's Hollow Cemetery, and walked between the first rows of headstones, scanning the names. He recognized one or two- Bones, Prewett. Names of people who, like he was about to, fought Voldemort. Hopefully his fate wouldn't be the same as theirs. He clutched two lilies tightly in his right fist as he walked along.
And at last, Harry found what he had been searching for. He stood a few feet back and read his mother's headstone.
Lily Marie Evans Potter
10 June, 1960 – 31 October, 1981
Beloved Wife, Mother, and Friend
"This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet."
-William Shakespeare
"I love you, Mum," he said softly. He turned to his father's headstone.
James Harry "Prongs" Potter
15 July, 1960 – 31 October, 1981
Beloved Husband, Father, and Friend
"It's choice – not chance – that determines your destiny."
-Jean Nidetch
"I love you, Dad," he said. He placed a lily gently on each of the graves and took a step back, burying his hands deep in his pockets.
"What a life I would have had," Harry said suddenly, "if only Trelawney hadn't made that stupid prophecy. You would still be alive. If only Voldemort hadn't come to our house that Halloween, think of how different things would have been!" Harry sniffed the air and shifted his weight from foot to foot.
"I miss you," he continued weakly, tears springing to his emerald eyes. "I wish- I wish things were different."
But this is the way it is.
"I've heard so much about you, so many great things, and I just wish that I knew you better. I'm sick of people having to tell me about my parents- I should know for myself, I should be telling them, right? But no! I have to live my life without the two greatest people to me, just because of Voldemort, and some words!"
Harry sat down now, in the grass in front of the graves of Lily and James. His cheeks were flushed.
"I'm going off to fight him, you know. Voldemort. And you know what? I'm scared." Harry bit his lip, looking up at the sky incredulously. "This whole thing is just stupid. Stupid, stupid," he muttered, burying his face in his hands, "stupid Voldemort, stupid prophecy, stupid way to die."
A breeze caused the willows encircling the cemetery to sway; Harry hugs his knees and drew a great, shuddering breath.
"I've got to kill him, or else this will just keep on going." He said, more to himself. He looked back up at the two headstones in front of him, standing tall from the earth. The stone was slightly worn even though it had only been there for sixteen years. Harry thought of his friends, waiting for him. He stood up.
"But you know what, Mum? Dad?" he said in a stronger voice. "I think I can do it. I have these two amazing friends, Ron and Hermione. They came here with me today, you know. They are always with me, no matter what, and I know that- that- like Ron said… they'll go with me wherever I'm going. I know they shouldn't, I know the risks… I've dragged them into this mess, but it's been proven to me by this whole thing that I have the best people in the world by my side, no matter what."
No matter what.
And Harry smiled. Colorful leaves blew around the headstones, dancing to the beat of a strong wind.
"I love you. After all, you are just beyond the veil. And Sirius, too. Tell him I say hello, all right?" He grinned at the thought of his Godfather.
"I'm going to come back here one day." And for once, he sounded confident. And although his face wore a determined expression, he could not prevent a single, sweet tear from trailing down his jaw and into the soil at the foot of his mother's grave.
"I promise."
Harry turned away, taking the significant steps back to the head of the cemetery, willows whispering all around him. The early autumn wind ruffled his raven black hair, revealing the lightning bolt that would always be etched on his forehead. He peered through the gates to see Ron holding Hermione in his arms, waiting for Harry's return. Harry closed the gates gently behind him with the scrape of rusted iron.
"You okay, mate?" Ron said to him softly. Hermione looked at him with her sincere brown eyes. They approached him and Ron clasped a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah," Harry said, a smile spreading back across his face, staring out into the horizon. "I'm okay."
And he believed himself. Harry, Ron and Hermione walked down the cobblestone together, leaving a legend behind them in a trail of leaves. And as Harry began the most important and the most perilous part of his journey, he realized that as long as he had Ron and Hermione by his side, he would be okay.
A/N: Was it a bad attempt at a mushy story? Let me know, but don't be too hard on me. Review!