All Alone
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. However, what Harry endures in the chapter ((Correctalo Pravado)) was made up by me. But all places and characters belong to JKR.
A/N: Due to much begging, I have decided to continue this story. I'll probably be making it a three-shot, just to keep people happy. I hope you like it.
My mom is the best cook in the world. End of story.
When everyone saw Harry walk down the stairs with me Christmas morning, there was not a dry eye in the house. Even Crookshanks the cat was overjoyed at Harry's midnight arrival, probably because he could sense the feast my mother was to prepare.
The eleven of us (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Fred, George, Mom, Dad, and I) gathered around our magically enlarged table with heapings of food in front of us. I swear it was like being at Hogwarts again.
Our meal passed by just like old times—we talked about random things and laughed at almost everything. No one bothered Harry about anything other than if he could pass the butter.
When we'd all finished our third helpings of Mom's rhubarb pie, everyone was silent. Harry stared fixedly at his plate; I knew that he knew that they wanted answers.
"So I guess you want to know where I've been," he said quietly. I took his hand in mine. He smiled at me and then faced the rest of the family. They stared back at him expectantly.
"To tell you all the truth, I have no idea where I went. Voldemort was down on the ground. I finally had him right where I wanted him; he was in the perfect position for me to kill him. He was wand deprived and weakened terribly."
"As I stood over him, the whole world seemed to slow down." Harry was a wonderful story teller; even though I'd already heard his tale, I was hanging on to every word just like the rest of my family.
"'Well?' he sneered at me. 'Aren't you going to kill me?' Voldemort laughed. 'You're just a boy, Potter. You don't have the nerve to kill anyone.'"
Harry sighed before continuing.
"Voldemort said other things about how weak I was. I was finally so fed up with his taunting that I ended him—and almost ended myself."
"You see the bond between Voldemort and I was so great that I felt the same amount of pain that he did."
"The death of Lord Voldemort was a strange one. After I'd said the words, a gold, not green, light came from my wand and engulfed him. He flickered for a moment and became the handsome boy he used to be, but then he flickered back to his snake like self."
"Also, the effect of the Killing Curse wasn't immediate. His breath became shallower and he stared at me for a moment. But I swear on all the gold in Gringotts the man died laughing."
No one said a word.
"When he shut his eyes, I sort of died too. I wasn't actually dying, but my soul and being kind of floated out of my body. I can remember a bright light. I have no idea, but I guess at this point my body pulled this Apparating move, but like I said, I wasn't in my body."
"After floating a while, a castle came into view. As I got closer, it looked like Hogwarts; that made sense because if I'd died, I'd want to go to Hogwarts. I walked down the corridor to the Great Hall. The four house tables were there and everything. They were all empty. Seated at the staff table though, were Dumbledore, Sirius, and my parents. They informed me that they would answer any questions that I had."
He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. I squeezed his hand.
"I was told that what had happened to me was called Correctalo Pravado. In short, my body was healing and preparing itself for my return to it."
"When I killed Voldemort, I killed the connection between us; therefore part of me was dead. The role of Correctalo Pravado was to mend my brokenness and make me whole again."
Harry glanced at everyone, checking their reactions. Hermione and Mom had tears in their eyes, but the rest of us had managed to keep ourselves together.
"I only spent a couple of days at Hogwarts," Harry continued, "but I spent my time with the four most special people in my life; with a few exceptions." Harry winked at me and I returned it with a smile.
"When my healing was over, I said my good-byes and started to float downwards to a darkness. But it wasn't an unhappy dark; I knew who was down there and that they needed me."
Everyone smiled.
"I awoke from Correctalo Pravado to find myself in Hogsmeade. Next to me was a trashcan with a Daily Prophet in it. That's when I discovered people had been looking for me. And sure enough, as I walked around town, my face on posters grinned at me."
"I Apparated here as soon as I could. I wrote Ginny a message and attached to Pig who was returning from a hunt. He carried it to her and she met me in the broom shed, and now here I am," Harry finished with a smile.
The room was silent; everyone was digesting what Harry had said. I found the story less confusing the second time around. Of course, I was extremely excited that he was back and it's rather difficult to concentrate on anything when you're ecstatically snogging someone. But no one needed to know that's what we were doing last night.