Chapter 28:
King's Cross
I woke to a blinding white light. My first thought was that I was dead...which I was, apparently.
I was lying on my back, my limbs sprawled around me. As the memories came flooding back, I gasped and shot up. I was still in my school robes, although they weren't torn, ripped, and bloody.
I sat up. Harry was beside me, sprawled on the ground, still unconscious.
Oddly, I wasn't sore. I felt perfectly normal, instead of like I had just fought in a war. All the scrapes, scratches, burns, cuts, and other injuries were gone. My skin was unblemished—all wounds and scars healed and vanished.
I looked up, surveying my surroundings.
The floor was plain and white, neither warm nor cool simply…there. The surroundings were a bright mist—not covered or shrouded by a mist, but rather the vapors hadn't solidified or formed anything yet.
I shook Harry awake. He groaned sat up, confused.
"Where are we?" he asked.
I shrugged. "I don't know. Last thing I remember is Voldemort…he…he…" I couldn't finish the sentence. "…and then we hit the ground…and then we woke up here."
"What's that?" he asked.
I looked and noticed something. Something was moving and crying out.
I stood and went closer. Then I recoiled.
It was in the form of a small, nude, flayed-looking child lay where they'd been left, unwanted, under a bench.
"Oh my…" I breathed, shocked.
"You cannot help it," a woman's voice said.
I spun to see the speaker.
Two people were walking out of the mist.
The speaker was a pretty woman with long, bright red hair. She brushed it aside out of her bright green eyes, just like Harry's. The man had unruly black hair and slightly lopsided glasses, which reminded me of Mr. Weasley's, and was looking at us with hazel eyes that had a mischievous twinkle in them.
Even though it had been about seventeen years since I had seen them, I recognized them immediately.
Harry stared at the couple in awe. "Mum? Dad?"
They embraced him. I gaped a bit.
"We're so proud of you," his mother said. She looked to me and embraced me too. "Both of you."
"I'm…so…confused," Harry told them.
"We know," James Potter said, smiling mischievously to me.
"But…you're all dead," Harry said, looking as confused as I felt.
"Yes," Lily Potter replied calmly. "We are."
"So then…are we?" I asked.
James cracked a smile. "That's the question, isn't it?"
"We think most likely not," Lily said, calmly, smiling
"Not?" Harry and I repeated simultaneously.
"But we should be dead!" I exclaimed, my hand automatically going to the scar on my neck. Shockingly, I couldn't feel it—like it had been erased. "We didn't defend ourselves! Voldemort used the Killing Curse! We should be!"
They nodded.
"The parts of his soul," Harry suddenly asked, "are they gone?"
"Destroyed. Well done." Lily smiled widely, proudly.
"So how are we…alive?" I asked, more confused than ever.
"You two already know." James said. "Think back to what he did, in his ignorance, in his greed."
The answer bubbled from my lips, effortlessly, before I knew it. "He took our blood!"
"Exactly," James said, nodding. "He took blood from you two in your fourth year and rebuilt his body with it."
"And with it," Lily said, "the protection I gave to you two by sacrificing myself for you two when you were infants."
"Therefore tethering you two to life while he lives!" James finished, smirking, amused.
"We live while…he lives?" Harry asked. "I thought it was the other way around."
"Or is it the same thing?" I guess vaguely.
Lily nodded to me. "Precisely. You two are the sixth and seventh Horcruxes which he never meant to create. His soul was so fragile and unstable that it broke apart upon the attempted killing of infants. What escaped from the house was less than he even knew. He left more than his body behind, but also two parts of his soul. The severed parts attached themselves to the only living things left in the house—you two!"
"Voldemort understands virtually nothing." Harry's father explained. "Naught of love and loyalty, of innocence…He understands nothing. They all have a power all their own, a power beyond any magic. He has never grasped that."
Harry's mother continued, "So he took in a small part of that enchantment, believing it would strengthen him. His body keeps that sacrifice alive, and while survives, so do you two and Voldemort's one last hope for himself."
"So, did Dumbledore know all along?" Harry asked.
"Speaking of whom," I said, "Where is he? I'd have thought he would be here, explaining it all…"
They exchanged glances. Suddenly, I realized something.
I gasped. "He's not…. The potion!" It all clicked. "Of course!"
We all sat in silence for a minute.
I glanced around at my surroundings. Somehow, they reminded me of King's Cross…but cleaner and more empty.
I abruptly looked to Lily Potter. "Thank you."
"For what, dear?" she asked.
"For protecting me, too."
She smiled. "You are family, Bella. We rescued you from your parents because we knew you would've been killed. Life with parents like that…no one deserves it. We offered you a home because we couldn't stand for you to live like that."
Harry suddenly asked, "We have to go back, don't we?"
James shook his head. "There is a choice. There is always a choice."
I stood. "I'm going. I have to."
Harry stood, too. "We both do."
Lily said, "You be careful down there, okay, Harry, Bella?"
"Will do, even though it isn't necessary. Voldemort being alive is like a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card." I said, grinning cheekily. In a warped moment, I could picture him repeatedly attempt to kill us, only to have us live. Oh the temper tantrum he'd have...
We all chuckled.
I heard James tell Harry say, "Fly that flying car again for me, son."
I laughed a bit along with Harry.
He muttered, "Why didn't we think of that?"
He turned to Harry and me. "Tell Moony we didn't expect him to get married. Ever. And that I told him that Sirius' little cousin fancied him."
Harry nodded, hardly suppressing chuckles.
I was smiling as I hugged the three of them. "I'll see you guys eventually."
She smiled mischievously. "Maybe, maybe not."
I laughed.
James winked. "We'll be keeping an eye on all of you."
"I'll miss you both. A lot."
I stared at the couple. The mist was beginning to cover everything.
"Wait, is this real? Or is it all in our heads?" I heard Harry ask.
His mother laughed and replied, "Of course it's happening inside your head, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"
Then, they were gone.
Back to the land of the living....
And we wouldn't be leaving it again without a fight.
A/N:
MWA HA HA HA!!!!!!
I tricked you all!!!!!!!!!!!
You all thought they were dead. Lol. April Fools. Kudos to those who realized I wouldn't kill them.
And, technically, I didn't lie. I said there would be an epilogue, but not necessarily that this chapter would be it. Also, if any of you noticed or remember, I recall writing an AN that stated that I'd finished writing the story and there were THIRTY FIVE chapters. *grins cheekily*
So, this story is officially FAR, FAR from over.
Review!
PS-- Don't you all think Lily and James rock? I do. They are so cool! It sucks that they had to die... *grumbles* Stupid Voldie Shorts....
