The Eighth Year Universe

Love Wins

We Got Everything We Need

The chapter title is from the song:

Everything We Need – A Day to Remember.


The Department of Mysteries

The Ministry of Magic

London

"Did it work?" Sadie asked.

"It worked!" Daphne said breathily.

Lilly stepped out of the veil, clutching at her chest, and Daphne steadied her. Then Neville stepped out, choking as he tried to suck a breath in. Lilly grabbed his hand, and Sadie surveyed the three of them.

"It worked," Neville breathed.

"We need to get to the hospital," Lilly agreed weakly.

Sadie opened the Death Chamber door and smiled broadly at them, "I'll take you out the backdoor."


The last thing Harry could remember was his mother. Her green eyes looking into his, full of kindness and love. Her smile and the gentle way that she had said.

"You know all of this is happening inside your head. Don't you?"

And Harry had replied, "Of course I do. But just because it's happening inside my head doesn't mean it's not real."

Her knowing smile had been the last thing he saw before darkness overwhelmed him. His thoughts were jumbled and incoherent for a while, then he was aware of a dull ache throughout his entire body.

As he began to come to, he recognised the buzz of voices, but he couldn't pick them all out straight away. All he knew was that his throat hurt like hell, and the world seemed too bright and too loud.

"Would you rather fight a human-sized frog, 100 normal sized frogs or 100 frogs pretending to be a man in a trenchcoat?"

That was Alastor's voice.

"What is the point of this question?"

"There isn't one, but we've been in here for half an hour, and I'm sick of the same old – is or isn't Andrea into chicks argument. And if I have to listen to Teddy gush about how great Almina is for any longer, I think I'll throw myself out the window."

Almina chuckled. Then Teddy snorted, "Fuck you, respectfully."

"Thank you, I always fuck myself respectfully."

Thea sniggered.

"You're disgusting," Andrea muttered.

"Are the frogs normal or mutant frogs?" Thea asked carefully.

"Mutant frogs? Are you sure you're not into drugs, Thea?" Teddy asked.

"They're normal frogs," Alastor said offhandedly, "Like Frogbert."

"It's weird that you have a pet frog," Andrea said dryly.

"Pets are just weird," Alastor remarked. "I mean, you basically just have this little individual that lives in your house, but you can't speak to each other in a language you both understand….somehow, you're still best friends, though."

"Dad can speak to his pets," Thea pointed out.

"Dad's a freak of nature," Teddy joked.

"Come on, answer the question," Alastor pressed.

"No," Andrea said irritably, "Dad is in a coma; he's dying. Mum is off doing something stupid to save his life, and Aunt Lilly and Uncle Neville aren't here, so they're either involved or trying to stop her."

"Knowing them, I'd put galleons on them being involved," Teddy spoke up.

"Yeah, me too," Thea mused.

"Exactly!" Andrea snapped, "So stop talking about bloody frogs, Alastor."

Harry managed a small smile, then he croaked out the words.

"My bets on the frogs in a trenchcoat."

There was a stunned silence, and Harry managed to pry open his eyes.

"Dad!" Teddy and Alastor exclaimed

"Oh my god, Dad!" Thea gasped, hugging him from the side of the bed.

Harry smiled weakly. He felt absolutely exhausted.

Andrea looked at him with a mixture of shock and relief, "Dad…you're awake."

Harry couldn't even nod, and speaking was hard too.

"You need the tube out to speak properly," Andrea said, pressing a hand onto a button on the wall, "I'll call a Healer."

Harry looked from her to the others; all four of his children crowded around his bedside. He was beginning to doubt that what had happened was real, but still, it wasn't fading away like a dream, so maybe…

A Healer that he knew stepped into the room and smiled in relief, "Mr Potter! You're awake!"

Teddy grinned and grabbed Almina's hand, "You were right," he murmured.

"Can you take the tube out so he can speak, Nevaeh?" Andrea asked.

Nevaeh nodded and patted Teddy on the shoulder as she walked past. Teddy smiled at her in response. She got to Harry and said, "This is going to be a little uncomfortable, sorry."

And she had been right. Getting the tube out hurt like hell, and it made him gag. But once it was out, she used a soothing charm, and his throat felt much better.

"Thank you, Nevaeh," Harry said in a hoarse whisper.

"No problem," Nevaeh said happily, "I'll get right on the floo and tell your next of kin that you're awake."

Harry shook his head, "Don't bother. I'm pretty sure that they already know."

Nevaeh opened her mouth to ask how, and then the door swung open, and Draco stepped in.

Harry looked at the fond smile on his face and said, "If you're here, that means they did something really stupid to wake me up."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Draco said evenly. He stepped into the room and shrugged, "Sadie was supervising, so I think they're in good hands."

"Sadie?" Harry croaked, "Really?"

Draco met Harry's eye and said, "You reckon you can give us a minute to chat alone, guys?"

"Yeah, Uncle Draco," Teddy said, ushering the younger kids out of the room.

Almina raised an eyebrow at him, "Teddy and I know the truth, Dad."

"I know you do," Draco murmured, "But this is a chat we need to have on our own."

Almina kissed him on the cheek and gave Teddy's hand a tug, pulling him out of the room.

"Sadie," Harry said when the door had clicked shut, "Sadie, who ripped apart time to save you not too long ago?"

"I see your near-death experience hasn't had an impact on your ability to be a sarcastic pain in the arse, Scarhead."

Harry smiled, "I missed you too, Draco."

"So, what did they do?" Harry asked, "To get me back?"

Draco surveyed Harry cautiously, "They had to enter purgatory to be witnesses in your trial. The only known gateway into purgatory is in the Department of Mysteries. I believe you know it better as the veil?"

"They went through the veil?" Harry asked in disbelief.

Draco held up a hand, "Once activated, it acts as a gateway if the correct sacrifices are given."

"What sacrifices are those?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes at Draco.

"A blood sacrifice," Draco said with a nod, "And a…slightly more complicated sacrifice…."


When Daphne, Neville and Lilly stepped into the hospital, it shook like a slight tremor had just ripped through the ground.

"Shit," Lilly muttered.

"He knows," Daphne agreed.

"Draco really can't control him, can he?" Neville asked with a shake of his head, "I'd have contained that."

"You're unique," Lilly said.

At the same time, Daphne had said, "He's not you."

Neville chuckled, "As much as I'm feeling the love, I think we better go and face his wrath."

"Yeah, I think you're right," Lilly agreed.

Daphne was already halfway up the stairs because she was taking them at a jog.


Harry had just pushed himself into a sitting position when the door burst open, and Daphne flew in.

She made a beeline for Harry, pulling him into a tight hug and kissing his lips gently.

"You're awake."

"I'm awake," Harry murmured against her lips.

Daphne breathed out a sigh of relief, and Harry realised he could hear her heart thumping hard, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I just ran all the way up here," Daphne admitted breathily.

She pulled back enough to look at his face, and she ran her thumb down his cheek, "I never thought I'd look into your eyes again. I love you so much."

Harry managed a small smile, "I love you too."

The door opened again, and this time Neville and Lilly stepped in. Lilly approached him first; she gave him a tearful hug, then kissed his cheek, "I'm so glad you're back."

Neville nodded and reached down to grab Harry's hand. He held it tightly then patted it with his other hand before dropping it.

"Never do that to us again."

Harry tried to laugh, but he ended up coughing, "Don't plan to."

"Try to rest your voice," Draco said from behind them, "You've been hooked up to those tubes for two weeks."

"Two weeks?" Harry asked weakly.

Lilly sat on the edge of Harry's bed. She cast a diagnostic charm over his body and blew out a sigh of relief when she saw his soul lurking behind his magical core.

"Whole and golden," She said, beaming at Harry, "You're you again."

Harry smiled back and reached over to grab her hand, "Thanks."

Draco smiled at them and slipped out of the room to give them some privacy.

Harry looked around at them and asked the question that was burning in his mind.

"Why did you come?"

"Because you're my brother, Harry, in every way that matters," Neville said firmly, "Losing you would have been like losing a part of myself."

"And you're the love of my life," Daphne added, her eyes brimming with tears, "This is not how an epic love story ends, you got that?"

Harry smiled and looked at Lilly, whose eyes were burning furiously.

"Because you once told me, when Neville and I thought we wouldn't be able to have kids that even if we couldn't, it didn't mean we didn't have a family. You told me that family are the people who you fight for and those willing to fight for you. That's why we came."

Harry could only nod.

Lilly smiled weakly, "And I love you, by the way. I mean, you're my rock. You are the one who keeps me grounded. We've saved each other's lives more times than I can count, and…maybe, to begin with, we were linked together through my relationship with Neville and my friendship with Daphne. But it's not like that anymore. We're partners, we have each other's backs, and…I love you."

Harry stared at her for a moment, and then he nodded.

"I know."

Neville sniggered behind their backs, and Daphne looked at him in disbelief, "Why are you laughing? That was a beautiful thing to say!"

Neville fought a full-bodied laugh, "Because he's quoting Star Wars."

Lilly's head was down, and her shoulders rocked, so Daphne stepped forward to hug her, assuming that she was crying. But then she looked up, and she was laughing silently, with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"You're such an idiot," She choked out through her laughter.

Harry laughed too and grabbed her hand, "I knew that things had shifted between us a bit, Lil. Ever since the incident in Cardiff."

"Yes, we all know about the magic-sharing incident," Daphne said with a nod. She raised an eyebrow at her husband, "Must have been quite some kiss."

"I don't know what it was," Harry admitted, "But…it was like my magic wanted to finish something. I've got this bond with you, and Neville and…ever since that happened, I've felt different. My magic feels a little more stable somehow…like it's - "

"Complete," Daphne finished.

Harry nodded.

"You complete me," Neville mused with a nod, "Much better than I know."

"Thank you for saying I deserved better," Lilly said, a reluctant laugh escaping her.

Harry laughed too, and Daphne smiled at him. Then he tried to push himself up a little more, but then a low groan was ripped from his lips.

"Yeah, you'll be feeling rotten for a week or so," Lilly said. She pressed a hand against his forehead, "No temperature, though. I'd expect your muscles to ache for a few hours, but beyond that, you're going to feel weak. We'll need to get you up and moving every day, gradually build up your resistance again. The sooner we can get you moving, the better your blood flow will be."

Harry smiled and leaned back against the pillows, "You're the Healer. I'll follow your orders."

"You're a better patient than Neville was," Lilly said, shooting her husband an amused look.

Neville chuckled in response, and Draco knocked once then opened the door, "The kids are asking to come back in."

Lilly looked over at Harry, "Are we going to let the kids in?"

"That depends," Draco replied, "Are you going to talk about how you woke him up?"

Daphne, Neville and Lilly looked at Harry warily. But Harry didn't look angry. He just looked tired, "No. Let the kids in. I just want our family to be together."

Draco smiled and nodded, "Alright. But, now that you're awake, I'm going to head home and celebrate with my family. I'll visit soon though, I promise."

"I'll hold you to that," Harry joked, "If I'm gonna be holed up in here for weeks, I need a decent chess partner."

Draco laughed, "That's a promise," he said as he slipped out of the room.

Thea walked in first, "Nobody is snogging, are they?"

Harry laughed, "No, I feel like death, Thea. I don't think anybody wants to snog me."

Andrea followed her sister in. She was holding back tears but trying not to make that fact too obvious.

Teddy had his arm around Almina, and they were both grinning from ear to ear. Alastor was openly crying, not trying to hide it like Andrea.

"Where are your three?" Harry asked, looking at Neville and Lilly.

"At Ivy House," Lilly replied, "They've stayed there these last two weeks. Neville's been looking after these four, and Daphne has been camped by your bedside for the most part."

Harry looked over at her, "Really?"

Daphne nodded, "I didn't want you to wake up and be alone. I'm sorry that I wasn't here when you did wake up."

Harry smiled and shook his head, "Don't be. I woke up to this lot having a very interesting debate about frogs and trenchcoats."

Daphne frowned, and Thea snorted, "Don't ask, Mum."

Lilly smiled and added, "Mum and Michael have been a godsend throughout all of this, really."

"Michael?" Harry scoffed.

"Oh, you've missed so much," Neville said with a grin, "They're friends now, Lil and Michael, study buddies actually."

Lilly rolled her eyes, "We tolerate each other because he loves my mother. And he did help me unearth some stuff about Egyptian mythology, which helped us work out what was going on in your head."

"Uh-huh," Harry grinned, "I'm sure I'll hear more about this later."

"You will," Neville chuckled.

"What else did I miss?" Harry asked, looking around at the kids.

Teddy spoke first, "Well, Almina nearly broke up with me, then Rob tried to top himself by getting into a bar fight. Somehow that led to some heart to hearts, and now everything is fine, and Mina and Nick are best friends."

Almina rolled her eyes, "We overcame our problems. That's the simpler way of putting it."

"Oh, and Alastor's got a boyfriend," Teddy added.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Alastor objected.

"Sorry, did you want me to tell Dad, who's just woken up from a coma, that Alastor met some hot Herbologist at a convention, and now he can't stop shagging him?" Teddy asked sarcastically.

"Teddy!" Alastor exclaimed.

Harry laughed louder than he had since he woke up, "Right, firstly, how's Rob?"

"He's alive," Teddy said with a shrug, "He was in Trauma, then Caroline Sumner went all mental health guru on his arse. After that, John finally told Jen that he'd been admitted to the hospital. Then he got moved down here, he's just along the hall from you, actually."

"Where is here?" Harry asked with a frown.

"Spell Damage," Andrea replied calmly.

Harry's frown deepened, "Why did he get moved to Spell Damage?"

"Because Jen was really pissed off when she found out he'd gotten blind drunk and gone out fighting because he'd lost his will to live," Almina replied matter of factly. "And honestly, I don't blame her, Mr Potter. In fact, if I were me, I'd have done much worse than transfigured his head into a pumpkin."

Teddy looked at his fiancé in alarm, "Do I want to know what you would have done…?"

With a smirk, Almina replied, "Probably not."

Daphne grinned, "It's time like this that I pride you on your choice in women, Edward."

Harry smiled broadly round at his kids, "What's the boyfriend called then, Al?"

"The friend, who is a boy and not my boyfriend, is called Emeric," Alastor replied.

"Montague?" Harry asked.

Alastor nodded, "Yeah, how d'you remember his name?"

"Wasn't he the guy you wrote to me about every single week?" Harry asked with a grin.

Andrea snorted, "Yes, he was. I swear Alastor's catchphrase should have been 'I'm going to tell Dad about this'."

Harry burst out laughing at that, and the other three adults joined him.

Alastor looked affronted, "What's so funny about that?" he huffed.

Daphne wiped a tear from her eye, "I suppose you had to be there."

"We're sure he's not Draco's kid, right?" Neville asked through his laughter.

"God, if he was, I suppose his father would hear about this!" Lilly said, half laughing, half crying.

Harry felt tears of laughter prick at his eyes, but he knew that they were tears of joy too.

It had been a hard two weeks for all of them, but things could only get better now.


The kids stayed until late that night. They all had dinner in the hospital; they all laughed and talked. Harry was chatting away with the Healers as they came and went. When Delphi came in, he hugged and personally thanked her.

Eventually, Lilly had to kick the kids out, though. There was the elephant in the room, and they had to talk about it at some point.

"Alright, I really do need to do a full physical on you, Harry," Lilly said, clapping her hands together.

She looked over at the kids, "So you lot might want to scoot up to the café unless you want to see your dad in a whole new light?"

Thea made a face, "Ugh, no."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Lilly said with a chuckle, "Nevee, can you take them upstairs? Tell Nancy in the café that your Aunt is Lilly Longbottom, and she'll give you free hot chocolate; she might even throw in a cake. I've delivered four out of five of her babies."

"You're awesome, Aunt Lil," Alastor said with a grin.

"Oh, I know," Lilly smirked, "Off you pop then."

The three younger kids filtered out with Nevaeh, but Teddy and Almina remained.

Harry noticed them hovering and smiled at Teddy, "Stay a minute, Ted. I wanted to talk to you about something that happened to me while I was out of it."

Teddy paused and nodded, "You didn't…see the light, did you?"

"I kinda did," Harry admitted, "I was in limbo for a while and…I saw your birth parents. They gave me a couple of bits of advice, actually."

Teddy's eyes widened, "Seriously?"

"Yeah," Harry said. He smiled at his son, "Your dad said you'd better realise exactly how much Almina loves you and not do anything stupid to throw that away."

Almina smiled at that, and Teddy tightened his grip on her shoulder.

"Like I said, we worked things out earlier, didn't we?"

"Yes, we did," Almina promised.

"Good," Harry said warmly, "And your mum told me to make sure you didn't wear that ratty old Weird Sisters tank top of hers underneath your tux at the wedding."

Teddy snorted, "No, she didn't."

Harry felt his face breaking out into a grin, "Yeah, she did. You're more like her than you know."

With a chuckle, Teddy nodded and said, "I'm glad you're back, Dad."

"We all are," Almina agreed.

Harry gave them a nod, "Thanks, guys."

Lilly gave Teddy a prod, and he left the room with Almina.

Harry rubbed his eyes, "I don't actually need a full physical, do I?"

"No, and you're definitely not up to one," Lilly joked.

"But we do need to talk alone," Daphne admitted.

Neville nodded and looked over at Harry, "About what we did to wake you up."

"Yeah, I remember most of it," Harry said with a yawn.

"The trial, you three appearing and helping me win the case. I spoke to my parents and you…" he looked at Daphne, "…you said goodbye to Tracey, didn't you?"

Daphne nodded a little tearfully.

"Then I woke up," Harry replied, "And Draco told me that you three had all given up five years of your life to get me back."

"Can you honestly tell us that you wouldn't do the same?" Lilly asked calmly.

"You can't," Daphne cut in, "Because you did it once, for Alastor."

"And if it had been Daphne in that bed, you would have helped us make that call," Neville agreed.

Harry sighed, "If it had been any one of you in this bed, I would have made the same call. But that doesn't mean I'm okay with it."

"So you're a hypocritic?" Lilly asked with a raised eyebrow, "I mean that figures."

Harry snorted and rubbed his eyes, "We'll argue about it again later, no doubt."

"Then we'll make up," Daphne said, her eyes shining playfully, "No doubt."

Harry chuckled at that, "No doubt," he echoed.

"There's one other thing you should probably know about though," Lilly said. She squeezed his hand, "Then we'll let you sleep."

"Hm?" Harry said non-committedly.

"Some arsehole by the name of Hubert Davies leaked a story to the press that was close enough to the truth that we're going to have to tell the whole truth," Lilly said evasively.

Harry opened one eye, "Let me guess – the Potters and the Longbottoms – a scandalous affair?"

"How did you guess?" Neville remarked with a chuckle.

"Nobody cares, obviously," Lilly said with a wave of her hand.

"Thea was just disgusted that her mum sleeps with weird Professor Longbottom," Daphne said with a grin.

Harry laughed at that, "You're okay with it? You were always the one who cared about appearances."

"Now, I just care more about the people I love," Daphne said with a smile, "So I'm fine with it."

Harry grinned at Neville, "If we're becoming like the Black-Notts, are you going to buy me a castle?"

"No," Neville laughed, "But I'll give you one, free of charge. Comes with a great little office, tons of land and me as your Assistant Headmaster."

Harry looked at him in disbelief, "What?"

"It's time to retire, Harry," Daphne agreed, "For good this time."

Harry looked over at Neville, "You're going to stand down for me?"

Neville smiled slightly, "Harry, I never wanted it. I've been keeping the seat warm for you for quite a while now. It's always been your dream job, not mine. I'm happiest in my greenhouse, you know that."

Harry nodded a little tearfully, "I mean…wow, Nev…thank you."

Lilly scoffed and looked up at Daphne, "You break in here and kiss him like your life depends on it, and I declare my love for him, but Neville gets the tears?"

Harry laughed and wiped his eyes. He reached over and kissed Daphne lightly, then he turned around and kissed Lilly.

"I kind of expected it from you two. I didn't expect Neville to give me a castle and my dream job," Harry said with a tired smile.

Lilly pressed her fingers against his forehead and said, "And I expect you to pass out right about now."

Harry murmured something and then did just that.

"How did you do that?" Daphne asked in disbelief.

Lilly smirked, "Healer's trick. I would have shown you how to use it when your kids were being brats, but it's unethical to use it on children."

Neville snorted and pulled her into a hug. He blew out a breath, "I'm so glad he's awake."

"We all are," Daphne said, looking lighter than she had since Harry had been hurt.

- TBC -