Premature Exit
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
A/N: :P Response to Padfoot's fire: Mushy? Impossible, I am not that great a writer. I would be unable to write something like that, something to do with being what my friends thoughtfully tell me, er…dead inside. For you, I promise to add a little spice to what I was originally going to write. Smeg1 thank you for your review as well, it means a lot to me that you don't think everybody is out of character, because I'm trying so hard to get them right. Shadow of the black abyss, I have to say what an interesting idea, I'll think about it. And finally, MachiavellianOrange, thanks for youre review and pointing out my errors, once I finish writing this I shall probably go back and edit it. ;)
Thank you all, and without further ado…
Chapter 4
Harry blinked and immediately wondered if everything that had just happened had been his overactive imagination. He knew better though, and besides, if Harry had just imagined it there was no reason for Sirius to be standing with him still staring at the place Cedric had stood moments before. He wasn't sure what to think, and watching the now empty space before him was excuse not to begin.
It didn't last. A rather blank, dark atmosphere could only be entertaining for so long, and now Harry was reliving Cedric's words in his head. He remembered the slow, emotionless words, but they had made Harry feel happy. Warm feelings had arisen inside him and we was not sure why or how. Harry felt nervous, more nervous than he could have possibly imagined he could, but then again, he had never really believed he would get the chance to meet his parents. He had only ever seen them in the photographs he still had in the album Hagrid had given him and once, in Snape's pensieve. He had listened to several of Sirius' recollections his parents, but still, he would be meeting them…Harry didn't even know them. He wondered what he would say when the moment came, if he could manage to choke the words out of his mouth. Would his Mother hug him the same way Mrs Weasley did at the end of the school year? He didn't know. Had they been watching him as a child, watching him walking around as a small boy and getting picked on by Dudley? Had they seen the strange things that happened around then preteen boy and felt angry with his aunt and uncle for not telling him what he was? Did they watch in joy as their son started Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry and manage to defy Lord Voldemort again in his very first year? Harry didn't know the answers to any of those questions, but by the end of the night, felt certain he would.
Still his mind told him that he could be falling into a trap, a trap that he was welcoming with arms. Voldemort had tried to bribe him and lied to him before, surely he could use Cedric to achieve whatever he wanted. But apart from the fact he could vanish into thin air and disappear beneath the cloudy substance at their feet, Cedric had seemed very real. He had seemed like the boy Harry had never known very well but still envied greatly. The noble Hufflepuff seeker who had beaten him at Quidditch once but then tried to restart the game after seeing Harry fall victim to Dementors within the Hogwarts grounds. He had been mad that the girl he'd liked, Cho Chang had been dating Cedric and not he, Harry.
Maybe this trap was one that he wanted to spring, just to see what would happen.
"I don't believe it," Sirius said, Harry swung his head around violently, he had forgotten that his Godfather was there, "I don't bloody believe it." But he was repeating in a way that said he did, his voice was almost awed. Harry realised he was not talking to him, but rather, to himself.
"Sirius, this is weird," Harry said aloud. Sirius stopped what he was doing and looked at Harry, he shook his long hair back and gave his usual bark like laugh.
"This stopped being normal the minute you came through the veil," he replied, he was still laughing and gave Harry the impression he was still a young school kid. The second after Harry had noticed this; Sirius began to dance stupidly, even making Harry smile. "I'm going to see Prongs and Lils again!" He screamed into the oblivion.
Harry grinned at the man's joy but it was a feeling that did not connect to the way Harry felt. There was a sickness in the pit of his stomach, he hadn't got any idea of what he was going to do or say, he almost felt annoyed at Cedric putting him in this position. Harry stared into the emptiness of the world around him, he was getting what he'd always wanted, and maybe, he would get the answers he needed.
He watched Sirius jump around like a crazy man for a moment or two, smiling…he was going to meet his parents. It was as if this was a reward for everything he'd ever done, everything he'd ever achieved. Then he remembered that if he never managed to leave this place he'd have plenty of time to get to know them, would he even want to leave this strange plane where spirits could travel freely and living people such as himself and Sirius were intruders? A plane where he could stay with the people he'd always wanted to meet as a young boy, however, was that still his deepest desire? Did he still want this more than he wanted the wizarding world rid of Voldemort forever? Harry pondered this.
He came to the conclusion that, given the choice, he would want to go back and fight, because whoever was with him in this odd place, it could not mimic the feeling of home. He would only rest if Voldemort were gone, he felt very sure of this.
But what Harry felt sure of now might not be how he felt tomorrow, he had learned that, and was not about to lose it.
Harry felt restless, he was not sure what he could do but did not want to stand waiting for Cedric to return any longer. He wanted to run as fast as he could, not to avoid what was about to unfold - he was no coward, but simply to stretch his legs, to move. He had been standing still for what felt like far too long. He anxiously kicked his leg out for no apparent reason.
Sirius raised his eyebrows.
"No reason," Harry muttered quickly, but his words faded towards the end, because he had caught sight of something, silvery particles that were putting themselves together in a complicated order. Harry could already feel them, and he could feel Cedric there too, he was back, just as he said. Harry had never been so amazed in his entire life as he watched the dust turn into the people before him. The people he recognised and yet never met.
His parents were standing in front of him.
It only hit him then how bizarre all of this stuff involving the planes and spirits really was. He perked his eyebrow up and could not get a good enough look at his parents, he wondered if they'd think he was rude but he could not look away.
Lily Potter was quite short; she had wavy dark red hair and large green eyes that sparkled despite everything she had been through. She was stood about a foot ahead of Harry's father, and was wearing an unreadable expression on her face, one that combined surprise with several other emotions, most notably love. Harry watched his mother's face break out into a grin as she rushed forward.
"Harry?" she said, almost squealing she hugged Harry as though frightened that he was going to disappear. Harry felt quite sure that even if he had wanted to leave he would have been unable to go anywhere. She was hugging him with a certain ferocity, a need…love? Harry had not had many of these in his life since he became the boy who lived. He could see his father beaming over Lily's shoulder, he also looked amused.
"Careful Lily," he said, "you're going to suffocate him!"
Harry smiled at the joke and Lily loosened her hold a little, but still seemed reluctant to let go. James Potter stood tall; he was a confident looking man who had messy black hair that looked exactly the same as Harry's. Although Harry had seen him before in photos and the pensieve, Harry could not get over how much this man was an older version of himself.
Photos. He'd never had his own memories, nor something real to hold on to. He promised himself that whatever was to happen now, he would be ready, and he would remember what was unravelling before him forever. However long that forever was.
Because this torn up family photo was complete again.
That last sentence felt so weird and corny to write, but I loved it, and even if you didn't, I don't care (nevertheless, leave me a review) I guess I went back on my word when I said it wasn't going to be mushy. Sorry, I don't really care, I'm really enjoying writing this, and I really hope you're enjoying reading it, too. I just overused the word 'really', didn't I? I'll try and have the next chapter up by Friday, thanks for reading, please review whatever you thought.
