A/N: At long last, the conclusion! I realize I was a teensy bit vague for some of this chapter (intentionally so; the characters could not have known and the explanations would have bogged down the narrative), so if you have any questions at the end, please don't hesitate to ask! (But please sign in so I can reply, yeah?)

Also, as far as sequels go; I had something in mind but ended up starting a mini-series of related crack ficlets instead. If you don't think that will ruin the end of this story for you, I can probably be persuaded to post what little I have.

Happy reading!

EDIT: SEQUEL IS UP!

Harry passed through the end of term in a state of wounded shock.

Both his godfather and friend were gone. The thought was like a virus, lingering under his skin and permeating his very being until he felt sick with it all.

Sirius had been thrown through the veil. Link had by all appearances committed suicide by following. And Harry... Harry was left behind, numb to the world and furious with it by turns. Craving both the love and care of his friends, and the solitude of his whirling thoughts.

And then there was the prophecy. Quite possibly the only true fortune ever given by an old fraud, and the reason for so many deaths. The reason his parents were murdered, why Harry was an orphan. Why his friends had been hurt defending him.

The reason Sirius had died.

Why hadn't Dumbledore told him before? The Headmaster had said it was to safeguard his happiness. Perhaps that was true. Would things have been different, knowing Voldemort was out to kill him and would never stop? Knowing it was his duty to stop him?

Harry would have liked to say no, that he had already known Voldemort would like nothing more than his death, that he had fought him before and could do so again. He wanted to believe he carried that strength, that he always had, but...

But Harry was older now, and the expectations he could feel settling over him like a thick cloak were already weighing him down. There was a prophecy. He was meant to defeat Voldemort, or at least that was what the Dark Lord himself believed. What would he have thought at eleven years old?

Would he have stood by his friends, the first he'd ever had? Or would he have run, terrified to be hunted in this brand new world he'd only barely entered?

Harry thought back to that conversation all those months ago, talking about destiny and burdens and expectations, and wished the older wizard were there for him to ask for advice. What would Link have said?

'Focus on what you can control.'

And Link. He knew what it meant to be a killer. Harry remembered the sight of the elfin wizard driving a blade deep in another man. He recalled the blood, sliding thick and red, to coat the floor. Another sliced nearly in two, and a last burned beyond recognition. All three slaughtered with a cool indifference. "Why are you surprised?" he'd asked, like it was the most natural action in the world. That was what Harry was going to have to be, wasn't it? That was what he needed to become.

Could he do it, when the time came?

Harry shook his head, washing himself of the thougths that had circled his mind like vultures since his conversation with Dumbledore. If he thought on it any more, surely he'd go mad.

The only bright spot in this whole mess was Umbridge finally being sacked. Hermione had picked up the box Link left behind with Harry's things, taken one look at its contents, and her face had filled with a fiery determination. She'd sent the quills off to Susan Bone's aunt, notes and all, and the toad was now stuck serving five years in Azkaban Prison. They were coldly certain the Ministry would not be able to send another in her place, not now that they'd all been revealed for fools.

Not now that the whole world knew. Knew that Voldemort was back. There would be no more hiding their heads in the sand. Every witch and wizard knew. Every witch and wizard... unknowingly depended on him now.

Harry's stomach lurched. He felt ill.

"Harry!" a familiar voice called, breaking the green-eyed wizard from his thoughts. He looked up from his place by the common room's fire. It was still cold.

"Ron," he said flatly, unable to muster up any feeling.

The redhead looked down. He hadn't smiled much lately, either, and Harry saw his eyes were faintly red, like he'd been crying. "Uh, well, it's almost time to go," he said uncertainly. "Hermione wants to know if you've packed yet."

Harry shrugged. "Yeah, I'm done," he answered dully. He didn't move.

Neville chose that moment to run down the stairs, trunk thudding on each step behind him. "Hey, Ron, Harry." His eyes softened in sympathy that remained unvoiced. "I was just thinking, Harry, you really helped me - us - out this year. Would you... would you maybe consider teaching us again? Next year, I mean."

Harry blinked, nonplussed. He had expected to have to stave off more platitudes, more careful sidestepping of his obvious upset.

"I wouldn't be here if you hadn't taught me to properly cast a curse," Neville wrung his hands nervously. "I really think we can be even better next year, you know?"

Harry stared at his fellow Gryffindor for a long moment. So long that Neville's hopeful smile started to fade. "Yeah," he said finally, softly, not quite sure he yet believed it. "Yeah, I think we can."

Link opened his eyes to a world awash in a deep orange glow. He tried to stand, to move forward, but slipped back down to the ground. Thin tremors ran though his hands, shocky with pain. Tiny arcs of it shot through his limbs and he spasmed. It was as though the very world itself were trying to attack him, to throw him back through the gate -

Link turned, but the gateway was nowhere to be seen. Just twilight and darkness and smooth stone pathways trailing off into a dimly lit city.

The hylian hissed as warm tingles shot through his body. The pain receded, beat back by a warm, holy light from the Master Sword.

"Halt!" a voice shouted, and Link turned. "W-who goes there?" The voice resolved into a stocky figure of pale blue and black, bright yellow eyes blinking in shock. The Twili - for what else could he be - clutched his spear with nerveless fingers. It fell to the stone floor with a clatter.

"Link, King of Hyrule," he called back, sheathing the Sword. He slid his wand into his pocket. "Did you see another come through here?"

The Twili shook his head. "N-no. Just you. Ah! But you shouldn't be here either! You light-worlders can't exist in the Twilight." The Twili was softer than hylians, Link noted. His features were all rounder, the joints and muscles less defined. But the expression of mixed wonder and fear stood out starkly on his face nonetheless.

"We can't?" Link asked, confused. He tried to think back but for some reason the only thing that came to mind were the words of a cat. "...we animals can see. I'm glad... you aren't so dumb anymore," it had said something along those lines.

The Twili shook his head rapidly, back and forth. "Oooh, what to do? Ah!" he squeaked again. "Come and see! Our king would love to meet you! ...probably..." he added that last in a tiny voice. Link's ears twitched.

He followed after the nervous being. Other Twili peered out of their homes as they passed, loud whispers drifting in and out of his ears. But whenever he turned to look, the residents ducked back, sliding under sills or around corners.

"Why is everyone so nervous?" Link asked. The hylian's voice sounded loud in the dusk and silenced the growing whispers. His guide jumped.

"L-like I said. You s-shouldn't be here. We haven't had any visitors in... well, ever. T-that I can recall," he stuttered.

It took perhaps an hour or so to reach the palace gates. The unlikely duo were let through after only a moment of deliberation, the guards quaking slightly as he passed. Link's lips quirked slightly at that. To live in a world so peaceful that a single outsider caused such a stir... it was sort of endearing. He wondered what such peace was like. Blue eyes darkened slightly at the thought. None of his lifetimes would ever know. Such was the curse of the Hero.

They approached the throne together, his guide stuttering out an introduction to the king resting on his throne. The Twilight King, unlike his citizens, bore a fiery mane and ruby eyes. Swirls and angles of bright blue traced up and down black robes, worn open to bare his chest. Sharp features stared down at the hylian.

Link bowed lightly, one ruler to another.

"Light-worlder," the king acknowledged. "I am King Medeas. How came you to the Twilight Realm?"

"An ancient gateway," Link got straight to the point. "It led from a tertiary plane - Earth - to here, and it is from here I hope to return to Hyrule. One of my companions fell through before me, but I have seen no sign of him."

Medeas raised a fiery brow. "Your friend will have succumbed to Twilight, light-worlder. Your kind become naught but spirits in our Realm." He rose from his throne, long-limbed and graceful, but Link was distracted again by the voice of the cat, repeating in his mind "...we animals can see." "But you have not. Why is this?"

The Master Sword pulsed at his back, its faint glow rising to a bright light in the corner of his eyes.

"I see," Medeas intoned before Link could utter a word. "Tales of that sword and its wielder have been passed through my family since time immemorial." The Twili stepped down from his throne, circling around Link to better see the Blade. "Prove you are the Hero of my peoples' memory, and I shall allow you to visit the only connection between our worlds I know of."

"The only one?" Link asked.

Medeas nodded. "Long ago a Mirror posed as the doorway between your world and mine, but it was shattered by our ancestor queen to protect us all. Though the door was broken, a lingering breach remains. Should you wish to leave, your only path lies there."

"And how may I prove to you I am the Hero?" Link asked, a touch more warily.

"My ancestor spoke fondly of a blue-eyed beast," Medeas smiled. "Become this beast, and I will admit you are he."

Din, Farore, Nayru, and Hylia, Link swore. The Goddesses had indeed watched over him, guiding his steps home. "Very well," Link said aloud, backing a few paces from the king. He willed his form to change, incanting the spell he had practiced for months to perfect under his breath.

A heartbeat later he stood on four paws, a regal wolf that reached Medeas' chest. The Twili that had guided him to the palace shrieked and fled.

Medeas watched him go in amusement. "Then, Hero of Hyrule, I will permit you to see the site the Mirror once lay."

Link tilted his head questioningly, blue eyes peering up at the king. The graceful Twili smirked. "It is but right outside the Palace gate, my friend," he said in amusement, "at the opposite end of the courtyard."

Link cast him a deadpan look, as well as he was able while still a wolf.

Medeas laughed. "Fare thee well, Link of Hyrule. I thank you for breaking the monotony of this day." And with that the king returned to his throne, leaning comfortably on the carved stone.

"...animals can see..." the cat whispered again as Link loped out of the palace, startling the guards as into quiet shrieks he passed.

Can see what? Link growled softly to himself, casting his eyes about the courtyard. It was bare of any other souls, the Twili too intimidated by the beast to approach.

Souls. The Twili had said Sirius was a spirit, hadn't they? But he hadn't appeared like Zelda's father or the Champions had. So where was he?

The silver wolf padded around the courtyard, peering down the walkway he'd first come from. He supposed Medeas wouldn't mind if he took a little detour.

The trip back went much faster than their slow walk to the castle, long lupine legs eating up the ground. Link still saw no sign of the arch in any form. Neither did he see Sirius.

He loosed a curse in the form of a quiet growl. Where was Sirius? He had fallen right before Link had been drawn to the veil himself. The wizard had to be here.

Link stared out into the twilight, long enough that for a moment he thought dusk had started to become night. But no, it couldn't here. Twilight was everlasting in this realm. Focus broken, the darkness creeping at his periphery vanished.

Perhaps that was it. Link focus hard on the result he wanted, honing the wolf's senses. His vision tunneled, black edging at the corners of his eyes. And there! A pale green figure slowly resolved into a familiar wizard, garbed in navy blue robes.

"HELLO!" Sirius bellowed, hands cupped around his mouth. He sighed. "Where the hell is everyone?" he grumped. "What is this place? Dammit, I need to get back to Harry..."

He didn't seem to notice the massive wolf padding closer. Link stepped a hairsbreadth away and the man still didn't react.

Sirius couldn't see him. Link pressed closer, fur brushing against the man. Sirius startled, clearly able to feel him. Well that simplified things.

Link planted his teeth in the man's robes and pulled. Sirius nearly fell over as he was jerked forward, but the hylian-turned-wolf didn't let up. "Come on," he growled through a mouthful of cloth, not that anyone would have been able to understand him either way. "You can't stay here."

Sirius eventually gave up on freeing himself of the invisible grip, and Link managed to pull him all the way back to the courtyard before the Palace of Twilight. The wizard gawked at the massive structure.

Though the Sword had vanished with the rest of Link's belongings when he transformed, the hylian could still feel its presence. It pulsed warmly as they approached the edge of the courtyard, the stone stopping abruptly like the edge of a cliff. Nothing remained but the deep orange glow of dusk.

The Master Sword flared so warmly it burned, and Link doubled back, crouched down, and ran. Sirius let out a startled yelp as Link threaded under the wizard's legs, pushing up so the man was astride his back, and leapt from the edge of the courtyard.

Sirius screamed. Link panted out a lupine laugh.

The Master Sword pulsed warmly one final time as light swallowed them whole.

Sirius blinked his eyes open slowly, groaning at the thick heat bearing down on him like a physical weight. Massive rolling dunes of burning sand met his gaze.

"What the hell?" he moaned, pushing himself up. Sparse stone dotted his vision from where it peaked through endless sand. Upon closer inspection, the stone appeared to have once been part of some sort of structure; it was too regular, even in its weathered, aged state to be natural.

A section off to his right had been cordoned off, bright red ropes barring the way to deeper ruins where they'd been partially dug out.

"You're awake," a voice intoned, and Sirius spun around to see the strange little blond that had been hanging out with his godson all year.

"Where are we?" Sirius asked, glancing around, hoping to catch sight of someone else. Anyone, really, except perhaps Snape. No familiar faces popped out of the sand. There was no Order, no Lupin, no Harry. The dog animagus wilted slightly.

Link hummed. "Gerudo Desert," he said easily. "I know it doesn't look like much from here," he added, tossing Sirius a canteen. The wizard drank from it gratefully. "But wait until we catch a seal out." What?

"I'm sorry things happened this way," the elfin blond continued, undeterred by Sirius' confusion. "But..." he hesitated, then smiled.

"Welcome to Hyrule."

END