James opened his eyes and looked around. He was sure he just awoke, but didn't remember when he fell asleep. Someone stirred next to him and he found that it was Lily. His brow furrowed. They were sitting on a bench in a train station. Why didn't he notice her a moment ago? Why were they there?
"Good morning, James," Lily said, looking around. "Where are we?"
"Looks like King Cross station, but not really," he replied looking around. "I don't remember coming here."
"Me, either. Are we going on trip?"
"I don't remember. I guess so. But where is our luggage? Did we forget it?"
"Uh, I don't think so. I don't think we're taking any. I don't know why I know that. But I'm sure..." Lily's voice trailed off.
"What?" James asked, as he saw Lily think about something.
She stood up, and looked around quickly. "Where's Harry?"
James looked around too, but didn't feel worried. "Didn't we leave him with Sirius?"
"Oh, yes. I'm sure we did. That's right," Lily said, with a bit of a question in her voice. "We arranged that, didn't we?"
A noise caused them to spin and see a man falling to the floor with a grunt. There was no indication of where he came from. James reached for his wand, but didn't find it. That caused him pause, because he realized he didn't need it for this trip. He ran over to join Lily, who was already helping the man sit up. As he reached them, he realized that the man was Sirius.
"Sirius, what happened? Where is Harry?"
"Harry? I was trying to protect Harry. I was... I was stopped from helping Harry for a while. And now he's alone again.
"Lily, James - I'm sorry. I think it was my hot head that kept me from Harry for a long time."
"He's alright now?" Lily asked, trying to pierce the fog that she could see was also infecting James' and Sirius' brains.
"He's doing well. Voldemort is still after him, but he's doing alright." He tried to remember. "As soon as Dumbledore said Harry was in trouble, I grabbed some good people, and went to help."
"You make it sound like Dumbledore didn't want to help."
"I'm not sure he did. The only communication he received was hours earlier, from Snape. Much later he told us that Harry was walking into a trap at the Ministry. I don't know why he waited so long..."
His voice trailed off. Lily knew that time was passing. A long time. But nothing changed in the train station. Then they were joined by two more figures.
"...because we're going on a train," the man said to the woman, who bore more than a passing resemblance to Bellatrix Lastrange.
"Yes, but to where?" she asked.
"Remus! It's good to see you," Lily said, moving for the first time in what felt like ages.
"Mooney! What are you doing here?"
"Taking a trip, Sirius," Remus replied. He took on that look that Lily had seen in her other friends' faces as they tried to remember something.
Sirius continued, "And what are you doing with my cousin, you old dog?"
Remus looked at the woman, almost in surprise and turned back to his other friends. "Right. You didn't make it to the wedding. May I present Dora Tonks-Lupin, my wife."
Lily quickly hugged the two. "You look like a perfect couple," she said to Tonks.
"Well, not perfect," the young lady replied. "But we've been doing better..." She concentrated and Lily realized she had just remembered something.
Meanwhile James had grabbed Remus by the shoulders and said, "I never would have guessed you had it in you, you old wolf!"
"Yes, totally unexpected," Sirius added.
"Remus, where's Teddy?" Tonks asked.
Lily could almost see the doors of memory unlock in Remus' head as the expression on his face changed.
"He's, er, he's with your mother and Harry."
"Our Harry?" James asked.
"Yes, we made him Teddy's godfather."
"They grow up so fast," James said absently.
Lily agreed silently, but also realized that Harry had grown up without them, just as Teddy was about to grow up without his parents. She couldn't quite connect the dots to know why, since Remus and Dora were right here.
"Is that our train?"
They looked at the track and saw a large black engine followed by, there was no other word for it, sinister looking passenger cars. As they watched, though, a partial glamour covered the train, giving it the appearance of the Hogwarts express. But whoever had cast the spell did a poor job, because they could see right through it to the black train underneath.
Then two more figures walked on to the platform. Both were transparent. The five watched, as Harry gazed at the baby thing, Dumbledore told him of horcruxes and hallows, murder, and a mother's sacrifice. Then Harry faded away.
A chittering at their feet drew their attention. A rat stood there making noises and looking at them.
"Shoo! Go away!" Lily said, making pushing movements with her arms. This just seemed to encourage the creature who advanced on her, talking away even more insistent.
"Get lost, vermin!" Sirius said, kicking the rat away. Then their attention was brought back to the image before them.
"Very convincing," another voice said, and another ghost, dressed in black and carrying a bag that squirmed and moved.
"You 'guessed' and you usually 'guess' right. What a pile of hippogriff dung!
"'Why did it have to be so hard?'" the ghost poorly imitated Harry. "Because otherwise he wouldn't be so ready to sacrifice himself. Much easier that way than to try to remove the horcrux from his head."
"That might have killed him."
"And your original plan was to have Voldemort," he spat the word as he picked up the moaning baby thing and dropped it in the bag, "do the job for you." He wiped his hand on his black robes. "There was no hope of him living through it. You kept putting him in Voldemort's way. 'You deserved the chance to face your parent's murderer.' At eleven! All because of a prophecy you told him that you didn't believe in."
"It was for the Greater Good."
"You keep using that word, but I'm not sure it means what you think it means."
Another noise and the black clad ghost walked to another bench and pulled another baby thing from under it.
"Snape!" it moaned. "I killed you!"
"Yes," was all the answer it got before being dropped in the sack. "Well, let's go."
"What...what if I don't want to?" Dumbledore said.
"This is not a place for wants, Albus. This is the consequences. The Next Great Adventure, remember?"
"Yes, but now that I'm here, I'm afraid."
"That's not true, and you know it. You were always afraid. Get on the train." Snape leaned down one last time and picked up a rat, and carrying it by its tail entered the black train which had lost the glamour of the Express.
Dumbledore, with a resigned look, followed, and the train pulled away.
Volition returned to the watchers slowly.
"Harry's gotten big," James said.
"He is a fine, young man," Lily agreed.
"I'm glad I had the opportunity to know him even a short time," Sirius said.
"I regret..." Remus began, but didn't finish.
"What now?" Tonks wanted to know.
"I suppose that is our train. We did come here to take a trip." Lily pointed to the red steam engine pulling a passenger car that stood on the track.
"Yes," they each said in turn, and boarded the train. And as they pulled away from the station, they began to feel again. Faith, they no longer needed. Hope was fulfilled. Love was All.