Chapter 11

The Dream

James looked around. "Where am I?" he wondered. He was walking down a dirt road with a barbed wire fence running down each side. It was a narrow road with nothing around it but grass. He looked behind him and saw nothing. In front of him was nothing. He was all alone. He continued walking, for lack of better things to do, as he kept wondering what had happened.

He looked up and saw the bluest sky he had ever seen. There was a slight wind that felt wonderfully pleasing. There were no clouds and no sun. "But how can there be light with no sun?" he wondered aloud.

He had been walking for what felt like hours when he heard something beside him. He turned to look and saw a boy who looked about seven years old. He had dirty blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes. His skin was fair and he was very skinny.

"Hello!" the boy said cheerfully.

"Uh…hi," James said unsurely.

"What's your name?"

"James."

"My name's Sean. How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"I'm seven! You're exactly ten years older than me! What are you doing here?"

"Actually, I'm not sure. I don't remember coming here."

"I've been here loads of times."

"Really?" James said. "So, where are we?"

"At the end of our life."

James gave Sean a confused look. "What do you mean 'At the end of our life'? You don't mean I'm dying, do you?"

"Yes, we are dying, but don't worry. We still have a long way to go. The end of the road isn't for miles. It's not painful; at least I don't think it is. I've never died so I wouldn't know. The doctors have always been able to recover me and they always do it right when I think of something I have to do before I die. Anyway, I have some kind of terminal sickness and I've been in the hospital for months. We didn't realize anything was wrong until it was too late so here I am again."

"Doctors?" James asked. "Oh! You mean muggle Healers, don't you? You're a muggle aren't you?"

"Muggle? What's that?"

James hesitated for a moment, then replied, thinking there was no harm in telling this little boy. "They're non-magic people."

"Are you saying that you can do magic?" Sean asked, his eyes getting larger by the second.

"Yes." James reached for his wand but found it wasn't there. "My wand! It's gone!"

"You use wands!" Sean asked, getting even more excited.

"Yes, but I can't find mine! Hey, if you really want to see some magic, then if we both get out of here, maybe I'll come visit you and show you some magic. Of course, I'll probably get into a whole lot of trouble."

"That would be wonderful! I'm at the Baptist Memorial Hospital in London. I hope you find your wand."

"Oh, I just remembered. Voldemort has my wand!" James ruffled his hair out of annoyance.

"Who's Voldemort?"

"An evil wizard who's trying to kill my son."

"Your son? You're too young to have a son!" Sean said laughing.

"Look that part is complicated, but if I really am dying, then he's dying too! I have to get out of here! My son can't die! Not yet, at least!"

"Why?"

"It's because of this prophecy made a long time ago! I don't know what it's about, but I do know it's really important. I can't die! I have to live!"

"We can't stop ourselves from dying. The only thing we can do is wait and see if we are supposed to live or not."

"No! We can save ourselves! We have to! We can fight, can't we?"

"I haven't found a way to save myself yet," Sean said.

James looked at Sean. "You said that the doctors always saved you when you remembered something you had to do before you died. Remembering that gave you reasons to live. You subconsciously fought back to keep alive! That's why you've never died before!"

"Wow, I never thought of it like that. I just thought it was a coincidence. Well, I can't think of anything right now except seeing you again. I've never met anyone else on this road before. It's nice having someone to talk to. I've always wanted a brother. I never got one though. My older brother died when I was three and I never got a younger one. Do you have any brothers, James?"

"No, I don't."

"Do you want one?"

"I guess, well, I don't know. All my friends that have brothers or sisters never get along with them. I've never really thought about it before. I guess it might be nice to have a brother."

"Do you want to be my brother?"

James turned to face Sean. He looked down into his beautiful blue eyes. "Are you sure you want a brother?"

"More than anything! I've always wanted one." Sean looked up at James. James returned the stare by turning forward. "I don't know, Sean."

Sean looked at the ground, frowning.

"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt," James said, deciding it would help cheer the boy up.

Sean screamed out of joy and jumped on James. James laughed as he set Sean down on the ground again. "I have a brother!" he shrieked. "Now we both have a reason to live! I have a brother who I have to see again and you have to stay alive to save your son!"

James smiled and looked at Sean. They walked in happy silence for a while, then Sean asked, "Can you tell me about your son? What's his name?"

"Harry," James said, uncertainly. "Look, I don't know that much about my son. You see, I just met him last night and we didn't get along really well."

"What?" he asked confused. "How could you have just met him last night? How old is he?"

"Well, I think he's seventeen."

"But, but that's how old you are! You can't have a baby when you're one!"

James smiled. "Well, I'm not exactly from this time. I was sort of sent to the future."

Sean looked at James; shock, awe, and surprise leaking out of his eyes. "You traveled through time? Did you use a time machine?"

"A what? Well, whatever it is, no I didn't. It was a spell that sent me here."

"Was it that Volemat person?" Sean asked, his face screwing up as he tried to pronounce the wizard's name.

James laughed. "Yes, it was Voldemort and he's probably the reason I'm here on this road. Anyway, Harry looks exactly like me except he has his mother's eyes." As James mentioned Lily, his face cringed.

"Are you okay, James? You don't look alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just remembered Lily. How could I have forgotten her!"

"Is she your wife?"

"Not yet, but yes."

"Why didn't you get along with Harry when you met him? Wasn't he happy to see you?"

"Well," James said slowly. "Harry's parents died when he was little. When he said I was his father, I turned against him and wouldn't believe him. I mean, who could blame me! He was basically telling me I die in three years! Who wants to hear that!"

"I'm sure he didn't mean to be mean. If his dad does die, and you are his dad, then wouldn't he be a little shocked at seeing you?"

James didn't say anything.

"And if you don't really like him that much, why do you want to stay alive to save him?"

"Look, I have other people I would like to see as well! Do we have to keep talking about Harry?" James asked getting frustrated.

"No, but I was just curious. You're his father. Shouldn't you at least treat him kindly, even if you don't believe him?"

"I don't want to. He told me I die! That Lily dies! And that by best friend dies thanks to him! And because of him, I found out one of my other friend joins Voldemort! Why should I trust, believe, or be kind to someone who tells me that after I leave school my whole life gets destroyed!"

Sean looked at the ground. "I just thought you might want to think about it before you say anything more that could hurt him. I mean, he's only had other people tell him what you are like. Now, he probably thinks that they knew a different James or something."

James was silent. He looked at Sean with sad eyes that immediately turned fearful. "What's happening to you?"

"They're saving me. I'm getting better. I hope your doctors can save you. Don't forget to come see me or what I said about Harry. All children deserve a father's love."

Sean was gone before James could reply. He was all alone once again. He's right you know. No, he's not! I've done nothing wrong! I think you have. You yelled at him and practically disowned him. You blew him off on the Quidditch pitch and insulted him. You know he's right Go away! I don't need you to tell me what to think! Actually, you are thinking this. You are arguing with yourself. Go away! I can't. I am you. And I have a point to make. Since I am you, you do believe Harry and you know Sean is right. Please go away. I can think this out on my own. You are. ARG! Fine! I admit it! You're right! Harry's right! Sean's right! I was a jerk! I shouldn't have yelled at Harry. But what can I do about it now? Harry hates me and he thinks I hate him and I'm dying! Have you already forgotten that you can help save yourself? All you need is a reason to live. You need to apologize to Harry.

"I will not die!" James said aloud. He thought as hard as he could about seeing Harry again and apologizing. He told himself over and over that Harry was right and he was wrong and he needed Harry to know he was sorry. James could now see the end of the road. "It's not working!" he screamed. He thought about seeing Harry and saving Harry. He had to stay alive. He tried to stop walking, but his feet wouldn't obey. He reached out for the fence to try and hold him in one spot, but as soon as he touched it, he screamed. The fence had hurt him. It had sent pain coursing through his body. He looked around once more, his heart beating rapidly. James was getting more worried each moment. He shouted, "I am not ready to die!"

He could now see the end of the road. He tried grabbing the fence again, not caring how much it hurt, but he could not stand it for long. He let go, closed his eyes, and screamed, thinking only of Harry.

When he opened them again, James saw he was no longer in the middle of nowhere. He was in a bed on the right side of a room with another bed on his left. He turned to see who was lying in it and saw it was Harry. Please wake up! James thought. He watched Harry until, slowly, Harry opened his eyes. James smiled, then fell into a deep sleep.