Premature Exit

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter…I wish I did…

A/N: It's supposedly been revealed that R.A.B is Regulus Arcturus Black by the Harry Potter Lexicon if people don't know already. I'm very interested, myself. Thank you reviewers - savvysuperstar95, hidden-rose15, beewitt, meowcat00, Scruffable15 and Siarah.

Chapter 14

The light coming from his wand was astonishingly bright white - it lit up everything around them and Harry could still see it from under his closed eyelids. Ginny had stopped screaming beside him; the cold voice of Lord Voldemort was saying anything…even the pain in his scar was lessening quite dramatically. He was back to before - only the silence wasn't eerie, quite the opposite…there was an element of warmth in the air Harry felt like he had not felt for a long time.

The light was fading now…Harry rubbed his eyes with his arm before opening them. Ginny was sitting upright, staring at him open-mouthed - she understood perfectly now. The light was reflecting in her brown eyes as she watched the scene in front of her.

And what a scene it was: there were Death Eaters on the ground - not dead, but withering, unable to get back up…Harry wondered why. One figure was still standing, though clearly weakened - Voldemort. He was not standing tall - rather almost curled over; his red eyes were shining out as vividly as Ginny's hair. They looked in pain.

"No!" he choked out - it was quiet but easily audible over the silence. Harry did not know what he was doing, but Ginny was now mouthing something at him. Something he understood to mean 'keep going.' He wasn't sure he wanted to, whatever he was doing was taking a lot of his energy up…his body was aching, his mind struggled to stay awake…the light was fading…

"I will fight this!" cried Voldemort - his voice was becoming stronger again, was he employing his own kind of magic to fight Harry? He fought to keep thinking - how he longed to rest… NO! He couldn't…Harry knew he must continue, whatever he was doing he was doing it well. He only had to keep going for a few more moments. These moments were going to last a lifetime…

That was when he thought about lives…it was this man, if you could even call him that, who had ended so many lives prematurely…this man who killed his parents and the so many before him…this man who denied him a normal life with his parents…this man who had made him believe Sirius had been captured and raced after him…he was ultimately the reason he'd ended up in the strange situation he was in. And even after Harry had fallen through the veil and Voldemort had got what he wanted - it never stopped, it wasn't going to stop - unless he, Harry put an end to it. He was thinking more clearly again, the light was growing stronger. Voldemort was speaking but Harry could not hear him. And what about Ron and Hermione? They'd died at the hands of Voldemort's followers - the Death Eaters. Harry felt a fresh wave of fury - and something else he couldn't describe. There was Luna Lovegood - whose death Harry knew was almost certainly connected to Voldemort…and Neville - he'd been murdered only moments before. The last one of them was Ginny, and she sat beside him - without her this wouldn't be possible, Harry could not of used his own wand to fight Voldemort. And she would live on, her friends dead…her family probably dead as well…It was Voldemort who caused all of this to happen. Nobody else. Tonight would be the night of Lord Voldemort's final downfall.

The light grew brighter and stronger still, but this time Harry could see…he watched the greatest dark wizard he had ever known shrivelling up, this was not pleasant to watch, but he had to know Voldemort was gone. The figure was shrinking, his body deteriorating - falling away in the warm breeze that was blowing around him. Ginny was laughing - it had been a long time since he'd heard her laugh…

And then Voldemort was gone, with no trace of a body left anywhere - perhaps he was not human enough. The light from Ginny's wand faded away gently, but it wasn't dark anymore - the sun was dawning, the air was getting warmer. Everything was, at last, over.

"Harry," said Ginny, she was still grinning, "I don't believe it! We were wrong, all wrong - and now the prophecy has been fulfilled, oh, Harry!"

She got to her feet unsteadily and hugged him tightly. Then she looked at him.

"Thank you," she said softly.

Then she faded away, the world around him - everything - was fading, but he did not wish to go this time. He needed to make sure the Death Eaters were put into Azkaban, he needed to make sure that Ginny Weasley would be all right.

He wasn't returning to the severely white plane, though…he was back where he started, the plane of oddities - or whatever it was called. He could see the illusion home that his parents had created for him, Sirius and themselves to stay in whilst they were here. There was grass again, green and fresh - there were the birds that the dog Sirius had chased around happily. Everything was OK.

A hand took him to one side. Harry didn't even realise it was Merlin until he looked up and saw him properly.

"Well done, Harry Potter," he said sincerely. His bright eyes were twinkling and he was smiling in a different way than Harry was used to.

"Sir," Harry began his feeling of elation at being back suddenly vanishing, "what happened to Ginny, what about the Death Eaters? The rest of the wizarding world, were they all OK? And, sir, what did I do? I couldn't-"

Merlin made a motion for him to be quiet and he closed his mouth obediently.

"That was quite a scenario - you have a very able mind, Harry Potter, and a great knowledge of what you have to achieve. I must admit I was watching you very closely - unsure of what you might do. I am proud of you."

"But-"

"Next, to answer your questions in order: Ginny immediately summoned what remained of the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters were taken to Azkaban, where I'm sure you agree they belonged. She was convinced she saw you defeat Voldemort, and eventually, the whole world had to admit that something very peculiar had happened. Ginny lived a happy life from then on, she married and had children, finally she had a family again - but I daresay she never forgot you. The wizarding world survived the ordeal, although the so many of the non-magical community knew about magic by the end of the war there was no point in trying to hide it from them any longer - most of the muggles and wizards live peacefully now."

"What did I-?"

"Patience is useful in occurrences like this, Harry. Now - what you did back there, ah, how can I explain it? It was love, the love you held for the people you cared about, the love of the wizarding world - of magic, the love of peace. When so much love is put together like that so perfectly it can combine to create it's own branch of magic, the very essence of magic is within love, you see. The beam of light you used to defeat Lord Voldemort was not magic at all, it was a force much more powerful - it was love."

It was all very confusing, but Harry understood. He wished he had a pensieve to record everything that had happened to him and make not of this conversation. Somewhere, he didn't know how he knew, it would always be imprinted in his mind - ready for him to replay in his mind. That would be good enough.

"So, Mr Potter, you are faced with an important decision."

Harry stopped in mid-thought. What?

"I - what?"

Merlin shot a twisted smile at him.

"You saved the wizarding world once already," Merlin said, "if you don't go back, you know that everything will be OK. If you still want to go back, I cannot tell you of your fate."

It was a decision Harry had not thought about much since he had defeated Voldemort, but before then had been the main fixture of his thoughts. If he went back he could not be certain of anything…if he stayed he knew for sure that the world would survive, because he had just made it so. But he had defeated Voldemort once now, and he knew what had to be done - firstly destroy whatever it was that was the key to his immortality and finally, beat him with love. This way, the people he loved who weren't already gone might survive. They would survive, he thought to himself, because Harry would not allow them to die again.

He knew the answer, and there had never really been an alternative.

"I want to go back," he replied.

Merlin's smile extended so it seemed as though the corners of his mouth were touching his ears.

"Good answer," he said. "Now, you have to understand we're doing some tricky messing with time here - everything that has happened since you fell through the veil will have to be, er, rewinded - if you will. It will be three days before we can get you back properly, you will return to the precise moment before you went through. That is the only way."

"But what happens to-?"

"I have briefed your parents so anything you need to know they would know, I will see you here again before you leave. Goodbye."

Before Harry could ask why he was being so hasty - Merlin had disappeared. Maybe he could apparate to another plane…Harry hadn't ever considered that…could you apparate in the planes? He was left to his own very confused thoughts.

He walked through the grass rather than the pathway, barely aware that his feet were taking him to the front door. He remembered everything he had just seen so clearly, he wondered if there was enough room in the rest of his memory for the rest of his life…he was going back. It had taken long enough but now he knew for sure he was going back, but it didn't fill him with excitement. Only uncertainty awaited him in the material plane. He would have to say goodbye to his parents and the dream world he had imagined for so long when he was younger and was to face reality once more. It wasn't really goodbye, he now rightly knew - if he was killed by Voldemort at least he would see them again soon…what a positive outlook.

He wasn't sure whether he should knock on the door or just go in, he waited outside for a moment, thinking, and then pushed the door open to walk back into the life he should've had in the real world, had Voldemort not taken it away from him.


Back to the short chapters, I'm afraid. I have rehearsals for Joseph (the musical, I'm in the choir) tonight so I don't know when this will get posted, soon, I hope. I don't actually know any of the words to the songs in Joseph (that I'm supposed to have learned by now…xx) mainly due to the fact I'd much rather read and write fanfiction…I'm gonna get murdered by the scary singing woman…so, if I never update again, you can assume I've been murdered. Or not, I'll have the final chapter up soon, though I'm really not looking forward to ending this. Please review.