Sorry this is late. The end of the year is always more of a hectic mess than you think it will be.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, those movies would have been less awful (I hope).
"What was that?"
Amelia looked up through her tears. "Severus is dead. Murdered. By Voldemort. As he lay dying he gave Harry his memories so that the boy would know of Dumbledore's plans."
Sirius looked shaken. "He served Dumbledore? All along?"
"Ever since Voldemort decided Lily must die, because her son was a threat," she said quietly. It was no wonder Dumbledore trusted Severus. There was an ironclad reason, all along. The truly amazing thing was that Severus had managed to conceal such depth of emotion from Voldemort.
Oh. Voldemort didn't understand love. Wasn't that what Dumbledore always said?
Wrong about another one. So many secrets and lies and layers. Love the mother, hate the father – Lily Evans' eyes in James Potter's face. It certainly explained why Severus seemed to hate the boy so. My word, Severus, that I shall never reveal the best of you?
"And . . . Harry?" Sirius' voice was quiet. "Dumbledore knew? That he would have to die?"
Amelia nodded once and squeezed her eyes together, but the images were burned there. The tears, streaking down faces lines with red hair. The two people, who could almost have been asleep –
"They're dead." The voice seemed to belong to someone else. Some other person, who had never lost a friend, who hadn't just lost two more.
"Who's dead?" Sirius' voice caught, as if he knew the images Amelia longed to erase.
"T-tonks. A-and Remus. They died in the battle. As did Fred Weasley." Who else? Who else?
Sirius froze. And in that instant, a whisper came through the mist, clear and sharp.
"I am about to die."
The mists swirled, pulling at Sirius. Amelia watched him begin to fade into the mist. I can't lose him too! She lunged for his hand.
The forest was dark. Behind the trees, Amelia could see the castle, alight. Though it had been damaged, she would know that castle anywhere. That was Hogwarts, and she was in the Forbidden Forest.
Harry was there. Somehow Amelia could see him, though he stood beneath James' Invisibility Cloak. He looked as he had in Snape's memory, disheveled and haunted. He knew he was about to die. He had his eyes closed, but he opened them and he looked at the people with him.
Harry was solid, but his companions weren't. They were neither ghost nor flesh, less substantial than living bodies, but more than ghosts. Four people surrounded him, all wearing a loving smile.
James was wearing the clothes Amelia had last seen on the body in Sirius' nightmare memory. He was the same height as Harry, his hair as untidy as his son's. His glasses were lopsided, but he smiled at his son.
Lily's smile was wider as she pushed her long hair back and gazed upon her son.
Remus was younger than Amelia had seen him last, in the prime of his life, likely only a few years after they had graduated Hogwarts. He was younger, his hair was darker, and he was happy.
Sirius was younger as well, as young as Remus and James. He stood casually, with his hands in his pockets, a broad grin on his face.
The fifth person wasn't as solid as these four. Tonks was little different than she had last appeared to Amelia, except her hair was purple, there was a ring on her finger, and she was almost entirely transparent, as was she, Amelia realized a start. Where the others appeared more solid than a ghost, Tonks and herself looked less. She was unsurprised when her hand passed unhindered through a tree. Harry gave no indication that he saw either her or Tonks, having eyes only for his parents and their two best friends.
"You've been so brave," Lily said.
"You are nearly there," said James. "Very close. We are . . . so proud of you."
"Does it hurt?" Harry blurted out.
"Dying?" Sirius asked. "Not at all. Quicker and easier than falling asleep."
"What?" Amelia cried. "You're not dead!"
But Harry and his four not-ghosts didn't seem to have heard her. Tonks did, though, turning toward her.
"And he will want it to be quick," Remus added. "He wants it over."
"Tonks, what is Merlin's name is going on?" Amelia asked.
The younger woman looked at Amelia with sadness in her eyes. "Harry is going to meet Voldemort in the Forest. He is going to let himself be killed."
"I didn't want you to die," Harry said. "Any of you. I'm sorry – right after you'd had you son . . . Remus, I'm sorry – "
"I am sorry too," Remus replied. "Sorry I will never know him . . . but he will know why I died and I hope he will understand I was trying to make a world in which he could live a happier life."
"Son?"
Tonks ducked her head, her hair turning pink as she blushed. "We got married, last summer. We have a son, Teddy Tonks, after my . . . father."
"Oh, Tonks, I'm sorry."
Tonks shrugged. "My mother will take care of him. Harry is the godfather. Molly agreed to be the godmother. We would have named you his godmother, but . . . "
"But you thought I was dead."
"You'll stay with me?" Harry asked.
"Until the very end," his father answered.
"They won't be able to see you?"
"We are part of you," Sirius responded. "Invisible to anyone else."
"Is that why they can't see us?"
Tonks nodded. "Harry called for them with the Resurrection Stone, and we two merely tagged along for the ride."
"The Resurrection Stone? Beedle the Bard's Resurrection Stone?" Amelia asked in disbelief.
"Yes, and James had the Invisibility Cloak, and Voldemort is using the Elder Wand, stolen from Dumbledore's tomb. It's why he killed Severus."
"Stay close to me," said Harry.
"Alright, say Beedle the Bard didn't completely make it all up out of thin air, Sirius wasn't dead."
"But he was on the other side of the Veil, as was you, as were we. The Resurrection Stone evidently could not tell the difference." As they followed Harry through the Forest, Tonks looked at Amelia, a curious expression on her face. "I wonder what would have happened if the Stone had tried to summon you."
"Why should it have been any different?" Amelia replied.
Tonks smiled. "Funny thing about being dead, I can see everything clearly now, all the secrets and the details you can never find alive. I have all the answers to all my questions. It's the choices you make, that make the difference. Lily chose to die for Harry. You chose to enter the Veil to save Sirius. He fell, you dove. Surely you realized the mist responded more to you than to him?"
"It – it did?" Had it? Hadn't it brought them to the things she mentioned? Seemed to pluck the people and place from the surface of her mind? Whereas it hadn't revisited the things Sirius mentioned. "It did. But – " Amelia shook her head. "I don't understand."
"Sirius can't find the way through the maze by himself. Only you can."
Amelia was reeling again. "I – alright."
"If you make it back – could you watch out for Teddy for me? My mum – she – she lost my father, my husband and me. She'll need all the help she can get to get through this." Tonks looked at her with beseeching eyes.
Amelia felt the tears begin to well again. "I can do that." She took a long, deep breath to steady herself. "W-what else did I miss? While we were – gone."
"It's been about two years."
"Two years?!" Amelia exclaimed.
"None of us saw what happened to you, but Dumbledore told us, later, that you had gone after Sirius. The prophecy smashed, and all the Death Eaters who went to the Department of Mysteries were captured except Bellatrix. Voldemort escaped with her after dueling Dumbledore in the atrium and being seen by several Ministry officials, including I'm-an-ass Fudge himself. He finally had to admit Dumbledore was right the whole time. Right before they sacked him." Tonks paused. "Do you know that Dumbledore is dead? Killed by – "
"Snape, yes. On his order. And Snape was killed by Voldemort."
"Yes. That was last June. Snape was Headmaster this past year. The Carrows taught Dark Arts and Muggle Studies."
"Muggle Studies? I thought Charity Burbage taught that."
"She did. Until Voldemort killed her."
"Oh."
"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this," Tonks began.
"Tell me what?" Amelia asked. A knot of dread unfurled itself. Who else was dead?
"Alastor died."
Amelia felt as though someone had punched her in the gut.
"When we were moving Harry away from his aunt and uncle's. You know about the Polyjuice Potters? Well, we had seven Harry's, each with a different protector. George lost an ear to Snape. And Alastor –Voldemort's curse hit him in the face and he fell off his broom."
"I can't believe Alastor is dead."
Thankfully, she was distracted by two Death Eaters they came upon, Yaxley and Dolohov. Neither could see the group before them and after arguing for a few moments they moved on. Harry followed.
"Dolohov killed Remus," said Tonks. "Bellatrix got me. She's had it in for me for a while. Furious, probably, that I tainted the Black name with werewolf blood. Back in July I injured Rodolphus. That probably inflamed her a bit, too."
Bellatrix. For a moment all Amelia could think of was that scene just before she entered the Veil, of Bellatrix casting the curse that caused Sirius to fall –
"Anyway, Rufus Scrimgeour replaced Fudge," Tonks continued. "But he was murdered the day of Bill and Fleur's wedding."
"Fleur?"
"Delacour. From the Triwizard Tournament?"
"Ah. I saw her. In Harry's memory – " standing next to your body. Amelia's throat closed on the words, but Tonks saw anyway. With a sad smile, Tonks continued feeding Amelia two years' worth of information.
"Scrimgeour was replaced by Thicknesse, who was Voldemort's Imperiused toady. Who else did you know? Oh. Amelia Bones and Emmeline Vance. They both died last summer."
Two more punches.
"Ha-have you heard anything about my family?" Amelia asked tentatively.
"Alive and as well as can be expected. Heather went to Ravenclaw. One of the advantages to you having spent the interim years among Muggles instead of Aurors is that the Carrows didn't recognize her name as having any connection to the Aurors or the Order. It likely also helped that your brother doesn't have any ties to the magical community and everyone thought you were dead. I believe Heather joined the younger years' branch of Dumbledore's Army, though. Recruitment was high this past year. Nearly three houses worth of students did their absolute best to thwart the Carrows at every turn. It was an, er, interesting school year," Tonks added. "All the students not of age were evacuated from the school, though."
Amelia found she could breathe a little easier.
"Aberforth wasn't particularly happy about everyone coming through his pub. It was the only way in or out of Hogwarts without going through the Death Eaters, so while he grumbled, he didn't try to stop us.
"Harry didn't return to Hogwarts this year. He, Ron, and Hermione holed up in Grimmauld Place, hunting down bits of Voldemort's soul. He sent Remus home to me." Amelia looked at her questioningly and Tonks ducked her head. "Remus . . . was afraid our child would be a werewolf. He isn't. Teddy's a Metamorphmagus," she said proudly.
They stepped out into a clearing, in the middle of which a fire burned, illuminating Voldemort's followers who were assembled, waiting in silence. There was a wide range of emotion visible where some Death Eaters had removed their masks and hoods.
"Amelia . . . " Tonks began. "There is something Sirius should know. About his brother. Regulus wasn't killed for cowardice. He died trying to destroy Voldemort. One of the bits of soul, the Horcrux, Regulus died stealing it. Kreacher was the only one who knew. I'll give SPEW one thing, Harry managed to win over Kreacher."
"That's what a Horcrux is? Part of a soul?" How did a person split their soul? Amelia couldn't understand why anyone would want to. She shivered involuntarily.
Tonks nodded. "It is very dark magic. To make a Horcrux, one must first commit murder. After Harry . . . dies . . . Voldemort will have only one last Horcrux remaining. His snake, Nagini."
"It isn't finished yet?" Amelia exclaimed.
"Three people know the snake must be killed. Ron, Hermione, and . . . Neville."
Amelia stopped mid-step, her foot frozen inches above the ground. As gravity forced her foot to continue its interrupted motion, she stumbled. "Neville? Neville Longbottom? Alice's Neville?"
"Yes," Tonks replied. "He's been organizing Dumbledore's Army. He's become quite the leader, his parent's son."
Amelia found her lips stretching into a smile. Perhaps it isn't all lost, after all?
Voldemort was not pleased to learn there was no sign of his rival. "I thought he would come," said Voldemort. "I expected him to come. I was, it seems . . . mistaken."
"You weren't," announced Harry, stuffing his Invisibility Cloak under his robes.
Amelia's heart leapt to her throat as the Resurrection Stone slipped from his fingers and the mists reached out to claim her again.