Author's note: Well, the main part's done. Now the ending. Hope you all like it.
Important Note: Guys if you want a sequel please say so in your reviews so I can start writing. But the thing is I won't be able to update as often since I have college in the morning and my classes are staring from Tuesday and it's like from 1:00pm to 7:30pm. The update won't be as frequent as it was with this story, but if you guys want it I'll write. Please leave comments if you guys are ready to read a sequel.
Maesde: Oh! Yes he is. But he will return soon. Thank you for the review.
Legionary Prime: Thanks you for your review. It means a lot. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Starzinmieyez: Nope, Voldi's not dead, not that easily. He will return…soon. Thank you for the review.
LifeonEarth: Haha! Thanks. I love Draco too, yes. :D Thank you for the review.
Ihaveasandbox: Well, you are right he's not dead. He will return with a bang! Thank you for the review!
The Founder: Thank you for the review! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Harry walked the second floor corridor mused in his own thoughts. The war had ended almost a week ago and the castle was built back to the way it was before; unscratched and strong. The entire castle was repaired leaving no hints of a war behind. Although Voldemort had fled it left no doubt in the minds of the people who the winner of the war was.
The Death Eaters had fled immediately after Voldemort's departure and the Order and the Aurors were able to catch only a handful of them. They were currently being held for a trail at the Ministry. Harry had collapsed after the war and he had woken up three days later with no permanent damage to his system. He remembered waking up for a couple of minutes for those three days when he was unconscious and a warm hand that held onto him was not missed by him either. He smiled as he imagined a worried looking Ginny sitting by his bed for three days waiting for him to wake up. Blush crept up his neck and cheeks and he instantly felt very hot.
No one had suffered lasting damage. Only the DA members had stayed back to fight and given the amount of time Harry had spent in their training, none were dead. That was the whole point of it; they knew how to fight. The Aurors had lost a couple of their members at the hands of some vicious Death Eaters but thankfully the Order members were left with just scratches, nothing which the heaters couldn't heal.
When Harry woke up on the third day he remembered how Sirius had flung himself across Harry much to Madam Pomfrey's dismay, his hug even tighter than Mrs Weasley's had ever been. He smiled to himself as he rounded a corner. Sirius had cried openly, and the tears in Remus's eyes were not missed by him either. Harry had raised his eyebrows when Tonks wrapped her arms around a very tearful Remus but he did a good thing about keeping his mouth shut at that moment.
Everything was slowly returning to normal. Harry was let out of the infirmary this morning and he was on his way to Gryffindor tower to catch up with the rest of them. Students were scheduled to return back by Monday, but still it wasn't officially declared. The staffs were still awaiting the Governors decision regarding the reopening of the school. The Daily Prophet was still going on about the details of the war or to be more specific 'The powers of the famous Harry Potter.' Apparently the wizarding world was awestruck with the power which Harry had displayed during the war and the wizarding population even went a bit further and called him one among the legends.
He shook his head as he walked ahead. He was no legend, he knew that, nor would he ever become one. He just wasn't, Harry would say when people used to ask him why not? People like Albus Dumbledore are considered as legends and he knew he would never be able to compare himself with that old and powerful man.
He rounded another corridor and reached the staircase just when Professor McGonagall's voice stopped him.
"Mr Potter." The strict voice stopped him in his tracks. Harry slowly turned in the direction of the voice and saw the old woman hurrying up to him.
"Yes Professor?" he asked, in his most polite tone he could muster.
"Professor Dumbledore would like to see you now." She said a hint of pride in her voice.
Harry slowly nodded at her. "Sure, I'll…I'll go now."
"Very well." She said as she placed a firm hand on his shoulder before hurrying back the way she had come.
Harry stood still for a moment. That was the moment he was waiting for, yet he didn't know what he was going to say to the old man when he would finally face him. He stood there breathing slowly, trying to arrange his thoughts in a way he could speak them out. But his mind refused to cooperate, they kept jumbling up and in the end he just gave up and walked slowly towards the third floor.
He knocked softly on the wooden door and waited to be called in. His heart was thumping madly in his chest. He was going to face Dumbledore after a year and the thought alone made him nervous.
"Come in." an aged voice sounded from behind the door.
Harry took in a deep breath and turned the doorknob slowly and pushed open the door. He stuck his head in first and called out to his headmaster,
"Professor?" Harry said slowly as his eyes trailed to the old man sitting on his heavy chair and quite immersed in the parchments in front of him. Dumbledore looked up at the sound of Harry's voice.
"Oh! Harry. Come in, come in." he said and flicked his wand near the parchments once and they all flew out of his desk and settled on a faraway table.
Harry opened the door completely and let his body in as well. He walked to the headmaster's desk slowly. His legs were jelly and his heart had still not calmed down but was beating even faster.
"You called me Professor?" he asked politely, not looking into his eyes as he stopped near the headmaster's desk.
"Yes, Harry I did. Sit down." He gestured to one of the chairs in front of him but Harry kept standing.
"No sir, I'll…I'll stand. You usually tell me to sit when there's some bad news and you know I won't take it lightly." Harry blurted out before he could think and mentally slapped himself twice for that.
Dumbledore chuckled and took in a huge breath. "Well, in that case, I cannot force you Harry."
Just then Fawkes who was perched on his table nudged Harry with its head near his chest. Harry looked down at the bird and smiled. "Hello Fawkes." Harry whispered as he involuntarily stroked the bird's head much to its liking.
"Oh! Yes Harry, Fawkes missed you a lot." Dumbledore replied after witnessing their exchange.
Harry smiled up at his headmaster before Fawkes nudged for his attention again. Phoenixes were quite hard to befriend, and they are the ones who approach humans first and Harry was quite proud of this achievement. In the entire school it was only Harry and Dumbledore who the bird allowed to stroke itself.
"Tell me Harry…" Dumbledore began and Harry snapped his head up. "…how are you feeling?"
"Better." He said and moved away from Fawkes.
"Glad to know." Dumbledore said as he got up from his chair. "Did your scar hurt today?"
"A little." Harry replied remembering how his head had hurt after he woke up that morning.
"I see." Dumbledore whispered as if talking to himself and walked over to the balcony. He stood there gazing fixedly over the Quidditch Pitch.
"It will hurt often now, won't it?" Harry asked slowly as he moved a step ahead in the headmaster's direction.
"Yes, it will and now that he has lost to you once again I wouldn't be surprised if it hurt you as well." Dumbledore replied still looking at the Quidditch pitch in front of him.
"So you mean to say, I have to get used to having a headache?" Harry asked, horrified.
"Not necessarily." Dumbledore replied his back still facing Harry.
They stood there for a while, Harry looking at Dumbledore while he had his back on Harry. Finally, when the silence became too loud in Harry's ears his spoke.
"Are you upset with me?" Harry asked when Dumbledore still refused to face him.
Dumbledore turned back and faced Harry at his words. "What makes you think that Harry?" he asked.
"I…I don't know." Harry stammered and averted his gaze away from his headmaster. He eyed the steps and walked over to them and lowered himself on them. "I…I just thought you were."
"No Harry, I'm not." Dumbledore replied as he walked back to Harry and sat on the step above Harry's. Harry turned a fraction so he could face his headmaster clearly.
"On the contrary, I feel very…proud of you." Dumbledore whispered, his blue eyes twinkling once again.
"Why do I feel otherwise then? He escaped." Harry asked his voice cracking.
"Voldemort is undeniably the most powerful wizard Harry. I've never known any wizard with such extensive knowledge about magic…though you put on a brave fight I think it'll take much more than this to defeat him." Dumbledore said as he looked Harry straight in his eyes, the sadness in the emerald ones were not missed by him.
"So I need to get more powerful?" Harry asked.
"No, you need to be prepared that's it because sometimes even the hardest question has the simplest answer. We do not look at it because we believe a hard question will most definitely have a hard answer. You need to learn not to overlook the simplest of things. I think that will be quite enough." Dumbledore replied in his calm yet soothing voice. He flicked his wand and a bowl of lemon drop appeared in front of him. He offered the bowl to Harry.
Harry finally accepted one and looked up at Dumbledore. "I might be the first one to accept this right?"
Dumbledore chuckled as he looked at Harry. "You should have it when I offer it you; it has calming draught in it."
Harry smiled as he remembered his headmaster popping in a lemon drop when the situation was difficult and required oneself to remain calm.
"This is how you remained clam then, in those entire situations where I made you angry?" Harry asked eyeing the lemon drop with suspicious eyes.
"Perhaps." Dumbledore answered before popping one in his mouth.
Harry smiled and finally ate his one as well. After a minutes long silence Harry finally asked what was nagging him since the moment he had woken up from his deep slumber.
"Do you think…I mean do you think I'll be able to, you know…." But before Harry could finish Dumbledore replied,
"Harry I do not think, but I believe you'll be able to defeat him. There is no doubt in it." Dumbledore said gazing over Harry's head.
Harry screwed up his face as he studied his old headmaster. "You really know what the outcome is going to be, don't you?"
Dumbledore smiled. "Sometimes we just have to wait for the right moment Harry."
They fell silent again. Harry had many questions to ask Dumbledore but the one he wanted to ask the most was about the prophecy.
"About the prophecy…" Harry began slowly, not quite sure how to approach the topic.
"Ah! Yes, about that." Dumbledore said as he finally tore his gaze and looked at Harry.
"I think I quite understood the prophecy…but there is something in the end that…that I quite didn't…" Harry trailed off again.
"Neither can live while the other survives." Dumbledore recited perfectly.
"Yes." Harry whispered.
"What about it?" Dumbledore asked as he watched Harry closely. He saw the inner battle in his eyes as he decided how to voice his thoughts ahead.
"You mean…one of us?" Harry fell silent and Dumbledore merely nodded in affirmation.
"Oh! Yeah…alright." Harry said as the reality crashed down on him, confirming his doubts.
"Harry, are you alright?" Dumbledore asked, placing a hand on his stiff shoulder.
"Yes." Harry lied, and suddenly he wanted to cry and throw a tantrum shouting how unfair it was.
"I always knew it." Harry continued in a small voice.
"Knew what Harry?" Dumbledore asked a he saw Harry's eyes shine and twinkle.
"…that I won't reach my eighteenth." Harry said gazing at the stone floor. "I don't know how….but I just kind of always knew. It's like that…I always was subconsciously aware of that fact but I never had the…I never felt the need to realise it." he looked up at Dumbledore and the tears threatened to fall suddenly.
Harry saw Dumbledore's eyes shine with tears as well. "You are the bravest man I have ever known Harry. I'm quite proud of you for this."
Harry simply nodded as he averted his gaze once again. The reality was now in front of him, unspoken yet confirmed. He knew now, he was going to die, that his and Voldemort's end was very near.
He got up with shaky legs and walked over to the door. He held the doorknob and pressed his fingers on it. He was about to turn it when Dumbledore's voice stopped him.
"Harry?" Dumbledore called. Harry turned slowly and saw his headmaster standing on the cold stone steps.
"The gap you bridged between the Slytherins was quite remarkable." Dumbledore said and Harry nodded faintly as he walked out in a daze and closed the door behind him, but the silent tear of pride that slid down his mentor's face was not missed by him.
Harry walked in small steps as he left Dumbledore's office. The talk was not what he had expected it to be like. Harry felt hollow as he rounded a corner and headed for Gryffindor tower. The confession which he made to Dumbledore had somehow struck him in his own gut.
He had realized that long before but never was a there a time when he actually had to say it aloud to himself and then when he actually said it in front of Dumbledore somehow made that nightmare turn into reality.
There was never a time when Harry had felt lonely in his life. Yes, there was a time when he felt like crying on somebody's shoulder after hearing quite foul words from his relatives but never had he felt like he was alone. Maybe it had something to do with how he was brought up. The Durselys had particularly seen to it that he was left alone, in the school, in the park, at the dinner table everywhere and Harry had quite adjusted to it, he grew up to accept it as a part of his life.
He remembered how in the primary school the Durselys had thrown him in classroom with a lot of people he didn't know. He remembered how he was worried about how his shoes were bummy, and he remembered how his clothes were smeared in dirt, and how the kids behind him were whispering and talking about his clothes and his haircut. He didn't even know how to speak up for himself, because he didn't really have a father who would have given him the confidence or the advice, it was like he was thrown out to a waiting and a hungry pack of wolves.
But when he came to Hogwarts, everything had changed. He had expected people to behave the way they did in his old primary school back home. But they didn't, instead they were dying to be friends and acquaintances. He remembered how Ron had stared at him in the Hogwarts express when he had shown his scar to him and a smile spread across his face. The colour had drained from Ron's face then. He remembered the bushy Hermione as she had come to them looking for Neville's toad. They were so young and innocent then, never in a million years had Harry then thought he would have to face something like this. The thought, if it had occurred to him two years ago would have sounded absurd but not now, when he was fifteen, still young and innocent like he was in his first year sounded strong as a concrete floor.
A million thoughts and memories crossed his minds that he suddenly wanted to share with Ron, Hermione, Sirius and Remus. He thought of a million things he would never get to say to them, even if he made up his mind he wouldn't.
But then he made up his mind, to live as much as he can. He knew he needed to find that inner-strength to get that motivation back in him, like he did before he visited Dumbledore. He was not a quitter and he would not give on life so easily. He would fight till the end, for all those people and for himself, for Ron and Hermione, for all those Slytherins who had signed a contract with death itself with the sacrifice they had made, for Sirius and Remus who couldn't particularly live their life after his parent's deaths, for Ginny and his love for her.
-xxxx-
Done! Two more chapters and then it's a wrap for the story!
Next chapter: Harry talks to Hermione. It's quite a mature talk where he lets everything he had held in himself for the last fifteen years out and Hermione gets some of her answers to the questions which she had desperately searched for.