Harry Potter and the Scars of Time
By: Krystal Lily Potter
Chapter 28: The Year of Heroes
Rating: AA (which means, around here, 14 and up)
Couples: HP/HG, KB/RW/LL, NL/GW/DM, GW/DM/EM
Summary: Harry's last year at Hogwarts has finally come but that doesn't mean things will be any easier for him. After last year's horrifying events the school things that nothing worse could happen. They were all wrong. The prophecy resurfaces and is dangling in front of Harry, held up by the pain from the past, quite literally. As the world is slowly being morphed outside of the safety of Hogwarts the people inside it are finding out that they cannot hide for much longer and that time is as much their best friend now as it is their worst enemy. What is a person supposed to do when they know they have to face the most evil wizard in history and if they're killed then the rest of the world, magic and muggle is doomed?
Warning: More violence then last time. There are mentions of suicide, murder, and that type of stuff). There will also be fighting, cursing (and I don't mean spells) and gory stuff. For now the rating stays AA/PG-13 but later, towards the end, it might go up to R.
Heed this warning if you don't like death: there will be A LOT more deaths of characters you recognise from JKRs books and some original ones. If you thought I was cruel and brutal in the prequel to this then I don't know what you're going to think of me after reading this story.
Sequel to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
This chapter is really short and jumpy but yeah…it doesn't REALLY have a point to it…just a space filler.
"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live…"
Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
The whispers echoed in his mind fuzzily and slowly got louder and louder but he couldn't hear what they said. He heard words of "dead" and "so many" and many things like that, making him feel as if he was stuck in between two worlds.
He felt a light touch on his shoulder but he didn't move. A moment later a young woman with flowing red hair and emerald green eyes stood in front of him with a large smile on her face. Tears streamed down her ghostly cheeks as she said, "You did it baby, you did it."
He finally looked over and saw his mother retreat back to the form of his father, who smiled at him proudly while puffing out his chest. Standing in between Lily and James was his sister Gemma Evans, who grinned and waved at him and over to the other side of James was Sirius with his arm around Alyssa. Next to them stood Sarah, who was silently hugging her son but with a sad smile on her face.
"I knew you'd do it Harry," Sirius said proudly, "I knew you could! And take care of Kaylee for me Harry, tell her I'm proud of her even though we never knew each other."
"Tell Remus that we will miss him," Sarah said suddenly, "But not to dwell on the past. Josh and I will always be with him, but I won't mind if he starts to see other woman or if he gets remarried, in fact I think it would be good for him."
"Stay strong," Lily said as they started to fade away, "Promise me that you'll always stay strong."
"I will mom, I promise…goodbye…"
The whispers became louder until he could clearly make out what the people outside his mental would were saying. They were talking about survivors of the final battle and of the ones who did not return.
He felt something warm holding his hand and squeezed back lightly. He heard a gasp then a girl's voice say something to someone else. A moment later a soothing voice said, "Harry, can you hear me Harry?"
He groaned lightly before opening his eyes slowly. At first his winced as the rays of daylight poured into his eyes but slowly he got used to it. After that the first thing he noticed was not his stiff limbs nor his sore head, it was the young woman holding his hand tightly as if afraid that he would vanish if she let go.
Harry smiled widely and raised his free hand so it was on her cheek and said, "Hermione."
That was it for her; the tears and had been building up in her eyes poured out as she threw herself at him. She sobbed heavily as she said, "I-I thought y-y-you were dead! W-We a-all did."
"It's ok Mione…" he whispered and hugged her tightly, wincing slightly at the angry cry of soreness his muscles gave when he moved to much, "what happened?"
"You won Harry," she said, "he's gone forever! But Harry…so many people…"
He managed to sit up and looked around, seeing many other people sitting or laying on beds, some wounded worse then others.
"He's dead…Dumbledore's dead," Hermione said suddenly.
"I know, I saw him die," Harry said with a sigh, "when Malfoy and I fought Snape showed up. He killed Malfoy Hermione! They were on the same side but he still killed him! Then he turned on me but Dumbledore showed up and made Snape believe that he had transported me somewhere else but I was still there, frozen under and invisibility spell…there was nothing I could do to stop it. Someone came up behind him and cursed him, he didn't stand a chance! Then Snape killed him…I knew he was dead cause his spells on me wore off. Hermione, I killed him, I killed Snape. I beat him without thinking and I didn't stop. He would have either died from blood lose or drown in his own blood so I…I killed him with the curse—I---"
Hermione calmed him down by kissing him lightly before saying, "it's alright Harry, people die in war, there's nothing we can do about it. You killed out of rage only once, he did it for a lifestyle. Everyone does something they're not proud of and because you're not proud of killing someone who you weren't destined to kill then that makes you a better person then those who brag about it."
He chuckled slightly then said in a monotone voice, "who else died? Is Kaylee alright?"
"Kaylee's fine, she came in to help me and Remus fight the Death Eaters in the castle. Harry…Alyssa and Sarah are gone as well. Bellatrix killed Alyssa but after she fought with Nickleson for awhile Kaylee and Neville killed her together and Sarah…well we're not really sure who killed her…we just found her body after it was all over. Poor Remus is devastated. No one found Nickleson's body, we don't know what happened to her (a knowing look passed over Harry's face and Hermione knew that he knew what happened to her so she let it drop) but Harry…"
He felt his heart drop a bit as she became wracked with sobs. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and tried to talk but her sobs stopped her from saying anything.
"Hermione? What happened? What's wrong?" Harry asked with a note of fear in his voice that she had never heard before. Looking up at his face she knew that he knew. He had guessed what was wrong and hit the nail on the head.
"Lucius Malfoy did it. Luna killed that monster afterwards but she feels so guilty because he pushed her out of the way…" Hermione muttered.
"What?"
"Ron Harry! Malfoy killed Ron…"
There had always been a small graveyard at Hogwarts, one that was rarely ever used; after the second war with Voldemort though it was filled with many tombs of those who died.
Kaylee Black walked along the tombstones, finding the names James William Potter, Lily Marie Potter and their daughter Gemma Evans. She ended up beside Remus, who was kneeling in front of the tombs of Sarah Ilene Lupin and Joshua Romulus Lupin.
He looked up at her sadly and said, "Harry told me…he told me that Sarah wanted me to move on…I don't know…"
"It'll be hard Remus," Kaylee agreed, "but we can do it…we all have to."
"I'm sorry about your mother, she was a good friend."
"I'm not going to lie and say I'm not upset…but at least she's happy now…she's finally with dad," Kaylee said while motioning over to her parents' tomb stones. After the final battle everyone in the Department of Mysteries got quite a scare when the body of Sirius Black came back through the veil. He was dead but it gave people some hope that it might be possible for them to some day actually see those who have passed into the great beyond.
Everyone killed around the graves with sad and respectful looks. Few people said anything and even fewer showed any emotion.
As Kaylee walked away from Remus she bumped into Luna. They stared at each other for a moment before tears appeared in both their eyes and they ended up hugging each other in a friendly embrace of comfort.
"He was important to both of us," Kaylee whispered.
"He's still with us you know," Luna muttered, "he always will be."
The two looked over at the tomb stone that said 'Ronald Bilius Weasley' and saw a crying Ginny kneeling in front of it.
The two former rivals walked over to their red headed friend and knelt down on either side of her. Neither said much but they were all thinking the same thing.
They all had lost someone very important to all of them…
Whispers followed Harry around the second he had left the hospital wing and newspaper articles hailing him as the "Boy-Who-Lived and the Man-Who-Won" it was quite annoying to him for he didn't feel like he had won anything.
When all the bodies were buried he had said heartfelt goodbyes to Sarah, Alyssa and finally Sirius. He didn't get the chance to really say goodbye before. He and Hermione had visited his parents and sister's graves but there was one tomb that they were avoiding like the plague.
"We have to go and see him soon," Hermione whispered tearfully as she held onto Harry's hand.
"I know," he muttered and watched as Kaylee, Luna and Ginny walked away from Ron's grave. His mind echoed back on the final battle and he wished that he would have been near Ron when he used the spell that could block the killing curse.
A vision of Harmony appeared in his mind and he knew that he and Hermione would survive together but something was still nagging him.
Despite the sacrifices of Ron and everyone else his daughter still had a scar like his own, a sign of a cursed life. He could only pray that it had been passed down from him, and was not the work of another dark wizard.
They had met up with Hagrid, who listened to Harry voice his fears of someone trying to replace Voldemort. Hagrid and smiled, and with a wisdom they had never heard before he admitted that yes, someday someone else would rise to try and follow in those blackened footsteps, but they would be ready…
Harry thought back on the determination in Harmony and knew that they would be ready, it was in the Potter genes to be a protector of light and even if he was long gone his daughter, or grandchildren or hopefully great-great-great-great-great-great grandchildren would stand up to the darkness.
It was the day before graduation when Hermione and Harry finally ventured out of their comfort zone and went to visit Ron's grave. Both knelt in front of him but neither said anything, there was nothing to say.
Hermione started crying and said, "I'm sorry Ron…I'm sorry…"
As she cried onto his shoulder and smiled lightly then whispered, "Thank you Ron…you were the most selfless person I have ever met. I know you liked Hermione and I promise never to hurt her…not that I would if you were alive…"
He felt something around him, an aura of some sort and a small smile appeared on his face. He knew Ron was there trying to say that it was all right.
Harry and Hermione remained outside into the deep hours of the night, when Professor McGonagall had wandered outside and hesitantly asked them to return into the castle and get some sleep.
Harry and Hermione nervously sat side by side at the Head table. The Head Boy and Girl always sat with the teachers at the graduation ceremony and waited to give their speeches to the seventh years, but this year was different. The whole school was there because Harry insisted on it.
They had been working so hard over the past two weeks since the funerals on the thing that lay behind them. There was a giant curtain with the Hogwarts seal on it, hiding it from view.
As all the chairs in the Great Hall filled up with students, parents, friends, ministry officials and several reporters McGonagall stood up and said, "Welcome. Normally every year we only have the seventh years and their families here for the graduation ceremony but this year is quite different. I would like to open the ceremony with a speech from this year's Headgirl, Miss Hermione Granger.
The crowd politely clapped as the curly haired girl approached t he place where she was used to seeing Dumbledore speak from. She stared at everyone for a moment before saying, "What can I say…these past seven years have been…well anything but boring (a few people laughed at that), but I'm sure you've all followed that in the papers so I won't go into detail.
When I first found out that I was a witch I was ecstatic…I believed the moment I saw the letter, never once did it occur to me that someone was trying to prank me."
She paused.
"So many things have happened…too many to name…the recent deaths of so many of our friends stands out the most though…"
She glanced over at Lavender, Parvati (who was sobbing slightly, thinking of the death of her twin sister), Dean and Seamus…she was thankful that so many of the people from their year survived but without Ron it felt as if the room was empty.
Tears blurred her vision and she s aid, "I don't regret any of it you know. Not all the times I've got into trouble while trying to get rid of an illegal dragon or making polyjuice in my second year to get into the Slytherin common room. The only thing I do regret is that I never got the chance to say goodbye to so many of the people who made impacts on my life here…I'll miss all of them so much!"
She laughed slightly then said, "I don't know what to say…yes little Miss. Know-it-all Hermione Granger doesn't have anything to say…I'm sorry Professor (she turned to McGonagall)…I…" McGonagall nodded encouragingly for her to continue.
Hermione took a deep breath and said, "You know the one thing I'll never forget about this place, far from the adventure and even the magic, is my friends: those who are still here and those who are gone. They taught me how to have fun, how to be brave and showed me how to live. Without them I would have been nothing but brains. I once told a friend of mine that there was more to a great wizard then just smarts, that loyalty and courage were some of the biggest aspects and you know what, I still believe that. To all the people here from other schools (there was a male and female representative from every school present) thank you for all you did, you're all still considered friends to me, and of course to Ginny Wealsey, Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, Seamus Finnegan, Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, Ebony Moon, Kaylee Black, Luna Lovegood, Harry Potter and everyone else who showed me what friendship really was thank you, and to those like Joshua Lupin, Cedric Diggory, Mark Evans, Padma Patil and Ron Weasley…thank you so much for paving the way for future generations, your sacrifices will not be forgotten..."
Tears were streaking down her cheeks as she walked towards her seat again, the people clapped and cheered loudly behind her.
McGonagall stared at her before stepping up in front of the school again and said, "Thank you Ms. Granger. Professor Sprout…if you would be so kind…"
"When I call your name come up and get your diploma," Sprout told them and, in what strongly reminded them of the Sorting Ceremony minus the Sorting Hat she started to list off the names.
"Abbott, Hannah…Bones, Susan…Boot, Terry…"
"Brocklehurst, Mandy."
Mr and Mrs. Brocklehurst slowly walked up to the front and received their daughter's "passage" into the wizarding world. Mandy, like Neville's parents before her, had been tortured into insanity and was in St. Mungo's.
"Brown, Lavender."
She moved quickly and smiled sadly at Harry and Hermione as she passed them. It was obvious to everyone who was watching them that she had grown up greatly over the past year and was no longer the little girl who enjoyed gossip more then anything else.
"Bulstrode, Millicent."
Mr and Mrs. Bulstrode did not appear; they were known Death Eaters and were now locked away along with their daughter. McGonagall set aside her parchment for that girl as Sprout continud calling out names.
"Corner, Michael…Crabbe, Vincent (there had been nothing to convict him of, he had never received the Dark Mark)…Finch-Fletchley, Justin…Finnegan, Seamus…"
Hermione and Harry clapped loudly along with everyone else as their friend went up. He winked at the two of them playfully before receiving his diploma and sitting down again.
"Goldstein, Anthony…Goyle, Gregory (he too was never convicted and Harry assumed it was because they (Crabbe and Goyle) were too stupid to actually become Death Eaters in the first place)…Granger, Hermione…
She got a very loud applause and blushed a deep red when Harry cat called at her before sitting down beside him once again looking both embarrassed and pleased as the same time.
"Greengrass, Daphne…Longbottom, Neville…"
"GO LONGBOTTOM!" someone shouted from the crowd and everyone laughed and clapped. Neville looked even more embarrassed than Hermione had but looked more proud then anything.
"MacDougal, Morag…Macmillan, Ernie…" This time Justin walked up again and took his friend's last award from Hogwarts. Ernie had died in the battle, as did his parents who had shown up to help, so it was all Justin could do but take one of the last reminders of his friend that he'd ever have.
"Malfoy, Draco…"
Just like with Millicent no one stood up to take it and McGonagall put it aside. Harry felt guilt pass over him, as did Hermione; Harry because he had watched Snape kill Malfoy and hadn't done anything and Hermione because she had been there when Griffy attacked the witch but she had been the one to finish her off.
"Moon, Ebony (she smiled politely at them)…Nott, Theodore…Parkinson, Pansy (no one was there for her either)…Patil, Padma…Patil, Parvati…"
Professor Sprout had called those last two names without even waiting for the first to appear. A sad looking Parvati was up and took her diploma, as well as her sisters. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she held her sister's item close and returned to her seat beside Lavender, who comforted her.
"Perks, Sally-Anne (she had left in fifth year but had returned at the beginning of this year)…Potter, Harry…"
Harry thought he went deaf at the loud yells his name god. He sheepishly smiled at everyone he passed both on his way to McGonagall and on his way back to sit beside Hermione.
"Smith, Zacharias (his mother came and got his. He too had died in the final fight)…Thomas, Dean…"
He walked up proudly supporting a picture of a lion on his robes that he had drawn. McGonagall grinned at him and shook her head.
"Turpin, Lisa…Weasley, Ronald…"
Harry looked at the Weasleys quickly. Molly and Arthur both met his gaze and motioned for him to get up to get Ron's diploma. He felt a lump rise in his throat as he got up and walked towards McGonagall again. He took it and for the first time ever the old woman saw tears bottled up in Harry's eyes, but he refused to let them fall.
"Zabini, Blaise."
After Blaise sat down again and McGonagall said, "Congratulations graduates! Usually the Headmaster or Headmistress ends the ceremony with his or her speech, but this year I believe the right person to end this is none other then Mr. Potter here."
She motioned for Harry to stand up and give his speech. Hermione held his hand tightly for a moment before letting go nervously. He smiled at her before standing in front of the rest of the school, which had erupted into whispers.
"Well I'd introduce myself but I'm pretty sure you all know more about my life then even I do (a few people chuckled at this truth…) so I don't have to explain much to you. These past seven years have been the most amazing ones I've lived through…even though I almost got killed every year! I've learned so much here and it will feel odd not coming back next September because this place is my home. To all the seventh years next year have fun and take care of the first years! First year…it seems just like yesterday we were searching for the Philosopher's Stone, then second year with the Chamber of Secrets, third year finding out the truth of the innocents of Sirius Black, the Prizoner of Azkaban, four year with the Tri-Wizard Tournament and t he Goblet of Fire, fifth year with the Department of Mysteries and the Order of the Phoenix and last year with the Half-Blood Prince…"
He paused while looking at everyone.
"My life at Hogwarts alone could be made into like seven amazing movies!"
Everyone laughed.
His face grew tense as he said, "But it won't be the same without all the people we lost. That's why we went out of our way to find something that will stand here forever as a sign of unity. He motioned to the curtain behind him, "we made this in memory of this war with Voldemort and all who died and survived in it."
The curtain magically fell and behind it was a giant gold…puzzle. In the middle of it, on a stand, proudly stood a Gryffindor Sword, a Hufflepuff Cup, a Slytherin Locket and a Ravenclaw Harp…it had taken awhile for the Sorting Hat to release those into Harry's custody.
"Yes this is a giant puzzle. Each piece has the name the people who went to Hogwarts during this war…from the first years to the teachers and the students who have already graduated." The puzzle started to split apart and tiny pieces flew around the Great Hall, hovering in front of the person whose name was inscribed on it.
"Keep this with you…it's a reminder of all that was lost and found…" he motioned back to the remaining ones behind him, "they will return here after…well after you die. Those whose names are still here will remain here, it's impossible to take them off. Once the whole puzzle is complete again…well that just means that we're all together again. It might take awhile but it'll happen eventually!"
Everyone took their puzzle piece shaped pendants and put them around their necks proudly.
"Before I end this speech I just want to say thank you to everyone who's helped me over the past seven years, there are too many to name! And to those who are gone we will never forget you! Just keep in mind everyone, that were there is light there is darkness, everything has to balance out. Eventually yes, someone will try to follow in Voldemort's footsteps but we won't let that happen! For Ron Wealsey, Padma Patil, Sarah Lupin, Josh Lupin, Alyssa Black, Sirius Black, Cassiopeia Black, Orion Black, Karmen Potter, Gemma Evans, Mark Evans, Cedric Diggory, James Potter, Lily Potter…Albus Dumbledore…this is for all of you!"
Harry raised his own golden puzzle piece into the air and said, "Here's to the year of heroes!"
Everyone else followed suit and said, "To the Year of Heroes!"
Harry sat outside in the graveyard in front of Professor Dumbledore's large white tomb that was placed in the very center of the graveyard. He just sat there and shoved his hands in his pockets when he felt a piece of paper in them.
Reaching down he took out the paper and unfolded it and saw, much to his shock, Nickleson's or rather Harmony's writing on it.
Dear Harry,
I know you must be confused about why I was here and how you survived so I guess I should explain it all. I came to your time because my father remembered me teaching him in his seventh year…confusing yes? I know it was for me.
About you being alive…well you see after the battle with Voldemort you technically died. But…well you've had the dreams of Pettigrew and the Orb of Efil right? Originally Voldemort sent him to find the Orb so that he could use it to bring some king of evil back but Pettigrew was in your debt, so he knew he couldn't do that. That's when I appeared in the chamber. I told him to choose to bring YOU back to life. Yes Harry you're the one Peter used the Orb on. You died and are alive again. It's really confusing isn't it?
Well I don't really have much I can tell you, just don't do anything stupid ok? Take care of mom too and tell her I love her!
I better leave now, its time to return to my own time. I'll see you soon.
Love,
Harmony Lily Potter.
PS. Remember my name! Also I have two brothers whose names are Daniel Harry Potter and Sirius James Potter!
Harry chuckled lightly and put the letter back in his pocket, everything was alright now…everything would be alright.
"I'll see you soon Harmony…and you too Daniel and Sirius," he muttered before pushing himself off the ground and heading towards the castle.
Author's Note
I told you this chapter would be short! Anyways yeah…next one is the last one! Aren't you all proud of me? Three years later and I'm done!
Aqua Mage – Skip the clear-up? LOL I don't even know what you mean by that and thank you for the review. I was going to say how do you know Hermione survives but Harmony was kind of an obvious answer to that…
Holimontski – Thank you! I don't think you missed anything in this story…forgot things possibly but most of the story doesn't really add up to this ending…cause I was all over the place with it and HBP.
Twitch2458 – lol well this wasn't the last chapter so…sorry for making you wait longer! Lol!
NikkyB – lol you're a funny person! Your not a freak, you remind me of my friends at school! Anyways I tried to make this chapter a little…well surprising. The Orb of Efil thing was planned from the beginning, which is why it amused me when everyone was like "OMG YOU BROUGHT LILY BACK AND SHE IS SO TOTALLY NICKLESON!" but yeah…don't worry I'll be updating soon and well…about a sequel…well…
CastusAlbusCor – Yup! Almost finished!
Stealingsociety09 – lol that's ok…I'm not a big fan of Ron's either! Though that's not why I killed him. ANYWAYS that was last chapter! Onto bigger and better things! I knew most people would think it was Nickleson…well Harmony that was brought back from the dead (and that she was Lily Potter) but HAHA I fooled you all! Aren't you all proud of me?
MageRonin – Yes I am evil…thank you!
Trumpet-Geek – lmao do I ever know. I've tried to work on other things but this has always just been there waiting to be finished…this one and its prequel were truly my fanfiction babies! LOL!
0e0 I look just like Buddy Holly – Yes Ron is a hero and this chapter was my favourite too! It was the easiest one to write by far! All my other chapters had little things in them I didn't like but couldn't work around, but this one came out EXACTLY how I wanted it.
Silence – That's the point! Harry did win the war in the first place but to make sure time happened as it was supposed to older Harry made his daughter go back in time and told her what to do so history WOULDN'T change! I know its confusing but it makes sense to me. Good point though!
katie101 – LMFAO I didn't write it but I left out periods of months at a time where everyone's hormonal minds can go crazy and imagine whatever the hell they want! I just didn't feel like writing randomly "They had sex" all over the place, but hey they're teenagers, I know not ALL teenagers do that but…well just assume that they did! You were the only one who actually said something about this! I was expecting a couple people to point that out!
Elwood and Jake Blues – Thank you! I'm honoured that this is one of your favourite stories!
Carn – I killed a lot of people, it was a war! Of course I don't mention MANY people I killed as you saw in this chapter…
Golden23 – LOL I'm glad it was surprising to so many people…that was the point of the whole thing!
Sagittarius's Rhythm – So many people have said that to me! It makes me so proud!
Thank you all for reviewing!
Now I know this chapter was as exciting as the last one but then again this is the falling action now so it's not supposed to be. Anyways be nice and give the author a review! Whether you liked it or not! LOL!
Krystal Lily Potter