Chapter Thirty-Two
Nothing Gold Can Stay

"What do you mean, 'portraits'?" Harry asked, perplexed.

"I mean, if there were portraits of each of them, then we could talk to them and they would be with us wherever we went if they went from portrait to portrait. But how will be able to paint a portrait of each of these 'living memories'?" Ginny explained, yet she still didn't have everything figured out.

Suddenly, a loud explosion sounded from the Hollow. The fire must've been spreading rapidly. They needed more time!

"Ginny, call Hermione on that bracelet. Tell her to get here right now. The house has been returned to its actual state, so the Time Liquid is worn off now. Hurry!" Harry instructed as he looked at his parents and Sirius whose color was draining more steadily.

Ginny obeyed, knowing better than to ignore Harry's orders when he was panicked. It was strange how unfamiliar they were with each other before now. The sky was so dark; Ginny was sure it must've been past midnight. She glanced down at her watch before twisting the snitch on her bracelet. Her watch read three minutes after one o'clock in the morning. Suddenly wondering whether Harry had killed Voldemort in time, she hurried even more to call Hermione.

"Hello? GINNY! YOU'RE ALIVE!" Hermione screamed, almost bursting all their eardrums. In the background, Ginny could hear her mother and brothers whooping and cheering also.

"Yes, of course I'm alive! What d'you think, I'd gone and got myself killed? Don't answer that! Harry and I need you over here right now! Harry's killed Voldemort, and er, the house is on fire, and we need help now. Yes, Godric's Hollow. Well, let's say there are many portraits to be painted. Bye-bye," Ginny explained speedily.

"Hermione, and my family should be over any second…"Ginny reported, but before she could get her last word out, a clan of red-haired people and a brunette appeared by her side.

"HARRY!" they all yelled and jumped on top of him excitedly.

"No time! Ginny, give me the Shadow orb please," Harry replied rather impatiently as he brushed them all off. But the new arrivals didn't seem to mind as their attention was diverted to the shadowy figures of dead people.

'What do we need? Well, we need a portrait of all of these memory people here, and we need the fire to stop somehow so we have enough time, and we need, well, we need Dumbledore,' Harry thought as he gripped the small glass sphere so tightly his hand hurt.

"ARTHUR! PERCY!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed as she ran over to the shadows of her dead husband and her deceased son.

Harry squinted over at the house. The smoke had greatly reduced. Actually, a mist was rising from the house now. It was raining.

"Not rain! The portraits will be ruined!" Harry protested, almost in tears from all of the frustration.

"Harry, calm down. We'll be fine for now. His body obviously is still somewhat intact, so we'll be here at least until after the rain. You're just like your father; always worrying too much. You don't have to be such a h-" Lily Potter started to stay, but was cut off.

"A hero? Well then, what am I supposed to be? It was in the prophecy! I needed to kill Voldemort to save the world. If that's not forced heroism then…" Harry interrupted, rather irascible to the fact that everyone told him that he didn't always have to 'play the hero'.

"I thought that when we'd died, we wouldn't have to see you talk back to us! I guess I was wrong," James joked, trying to get Harry to calm down. By the look on Harry's face, it had worked.

Suddenly, thunder erupted from the heavens, and everyone jumped. Well, except for the shadow memories of course, as they were not standing on the ground in the first place. But Harry was the only one who noticed a tall bearded man appear in the east, driving what looked like a huge carriage…

Harry ran over to Dumbledore, and excitedly began unloading all of the portraits from Madame Maxime's Beauxbatons carriage. He triple-checked to make sure that all of them were there, and excitedly ran back over to his parents and Sirius.

They had begun to diminish again, at a more rapid pace. 'Voldemort's corpse must be one easy thing to decompose,' Harry thought as he sat on a large, wet rock in front of James, Lily and Sirius.

"I guess I'll just wait here until you guys are really gone, for the second time in my life. I don't know if I'll be able to handle it though. Losing you once was bad enough, but twice?" Harry exasperatedly professed.

"Harry, you won't let that stop you! I only knew you for two years, but in that wickedly short period of time, I got to know you well enough to realize that you can make your own happiness. If something isn't going right, you make it right. You are the most extraordinary young man I've ever had the pleasure to meet, Harry. Not only did I get to meet you, I was your godfather! You may not realize it Harry, but your life has just begun. You've just overcome the darkest wizard this world will ever know, but there is so much more for you to do. And we'll be watching you, and becoming more and more proud of you each day, if that's even possible. Just remember Harry, there's always something better on the other side of the veil," Sirius, now almost transparent, whispered, and for one brief moment, Harry could've sworn he became solid.

"This is it," Sirius sighed, and he looked at James and Lily.

"Harry, for a few seconds, we will be solid. Actually living. And that signals that Voldemort's body is almost completely gone," James explained. Lily began crying, as she leaned onto Harry shoulder, then pulling him into a tight hug.'

"I love you, Harry! Never forget that! Always remember that we will be watching Harry, watching you and loving you," Lily cooed, slightly calmed down. She kissed Harry on the forehead, and silent tears continued to stream down her face.

"I love you too Mum," Harry replied, eyes closed behind his round black glasses, trying not to let his tears escape. Lily pulled away and flung her arms around Sirius's neck as she continued to bawl.

"Harry, promise me that you'll always remember your old Mum and Dad. Always love us. Always think of us, because we'll always be thinking of you," James demanded politely, as he pulled his son into a hug, tears forming in the brim of his eyes behind his glasses, yet he was determined not to cry. He let go, but he held on to Harry's shoulders for a few moments until Harry grinned, his cheeks shiny and wet from his tears.

"I promise Dad. I love you," Harry replied, and let out a soft chuckle.

James held Lily soothingly as she let go of Sirius continued to sob into James's chest. Then Sirius stepped forward.

"Harry, just remember, mischief is never managed, as long as it's under the guidance of Moony, Padfoot, and Prongs. Just keep that in mind every time you get into another scrape, you're doing it for your old godfather. I love you more than anything, Harry. I don't have a wife to love, and I'd never loved my parents, so besides your parents and Remus, I have no one. But that all changed that night I was made your godfather. That was the proudest day of my life, Harry; just remember that. Just, just remember us," Sirius broke off, apparently trying not to cry in front of his godson.

But at that moment, Harry burst into tears and flung his arms around Sirius's middle, not wanting to let go. Sirius held on for a quite awhile too, resting his head on top of Harry's until he could feel himself becoming less and less solid. Harry and Sirius separated and all four of them continued weeping. In a flash of brilliant magnificence, all of the memories turned gold, and Harry remembered a poem he had to memorize and recite in the Muggle school he attended before Hogwarts: Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost. And at that moment, Harry realized the truth in that poem as he wiped his eyes and watched his parents and godfather slowly fade away into the darkness.

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

Robert Frost