Chapter Warning - Character Death.

Halloween Prompt - Ghost

School Of Prompt - Paranormal

Gringotts Prompts

Vampire Diaries - Things are going to be awfully dull around here without you. / No, they're not, because you're not going to sit around waiting for me.

Vampire Diaries - I think you found a way to get up in the morning. And that makes you the strongest person I know.

Orange Is The New Black - I love you and I fucking hate you

WordCount Without AN - 936

For Infinity

The sound of the glass smashing against the wall didn't satisfy his sudden anger and he looked around the room for something else to smash, to ruin, to destroy so he wasn't the most broken thing in the room.

"Really, Severus, you're only creating more work for the house-elves. If you break anything else, they'll be gazing adoringly at you for weeks."

The voice was disembodied, and though Severus knew it could only be in his head, he wept with silent relief, his head falling into his hands.

Harry. His Harry.

His Harry that he'd laid to rest mere hours ago.

"I wish you wouldn't torture yourself so. There was nothing to be done."

"I should have tried harder," Severus sobbed in his hands. "I should have been able to save you."

"Severus. Severus! Look at me!"

His head shot up, eyes rapidly shifting around the room.

Messy black hair. Sparkling green eyes. Sloppy half smile. His Harry.

That Harry wasn't quite corporeal and was floating about a foot off the floor missed Severus' attention for a moment as he jumped up from his seat and attempted to hug him. Falling through him was the first clue, the shiver the contact invoked the second.

Not bothering to get up from his new position on the floor, Severus shook his head. "This has to be a hallucination. You'd never come back as a ghost."

"No," Harry agreed simply.

Severus huffed when he didn't disappear. "Then do you care to explain, before I feel like I've entirely lost my mind?"

"Get up off the floor and pour yourself some tea, Sev."

"Harry. I -"

"Please Severus. We have time."

"Do we?"

"Yes."

Severus did as Harry'd asked, sitting back in the seat he'd vacated and pouring some of the herbal tea that just appeared on the table. Apparently, even dead, the house-elves wanted to please Harry. When he was sure Severus was comfortable, Harry spoke.

"You're right that I'd never come back as a ghost. But you need me, and Lady Fate feels bad that I got a bad deal while living. So, I was allowed to choose one day in the year that I could return to the only place on earth I'd ever want to be. Your side. It's not a permanent thing. One day a year."

"And you decided on Halloween. The day in the year you hate the most?"

"Not really. I thought you could use my presence the most after the funeral. That it's Halloween is chance."

"I don't... Harry. I don't know how to do this without you any more. How am I supposed to keep going when I don't even know how I function without you."

Harry sighed, floating a little closer. "I think you found a way to get out of bed this morning. And that makes you the strongest person I know."

Tears were once more making tracks down Severus' cheeks. "I love you and I fucking hate you for leaving me. I want you back, dammit!"

"Oh, Sev. I'm sorry. I didn't want to leave you. I didn't want to die. It was just my time. Death is the only sure thing in life. You were the one who told me that."

"That was before I knew you'd die before me. You're the master of death, aren't you? Tell him to give you your life back. Tell him to give me my life back."

"The hallows, powerful as they are, are just a symbol. No one can control death, Severus, you know that."

Nodding, Severus sat in silence for a few minutes, trying to pull himself together. This was a gift he knew. Not many people got to see their loved ones again, the same day they buried them. He looked up to meet Harry's eyes, finding them watching him with such love and affection it made his heart ache.

"You'll wait for me?" Severus asked.

"Never doubt that. I'll be here, when it's time, and we'll get out infinity, Sev. We just have to wait a little while, is all."

"And you'll come, every Halloween?"

"I promise. You've still got a destiny to fulfill, and I intend to watch as you do it."

"What destiny?"

"I can't tell you that. Even if I could, I wouldn't. What's life without a bit of adventure?"

Severus chuckled. That was such a Harry thing to say. "Things are going to be awfully dull around here without you."

"No, they're not, because you're not going to sit around and wait for me. Live your life, Sev. Let go of the unnecessary guilt you're holding on to. Live, and learn, and love, and I'll be waiting patiently when the time comes. I love you."

"It's almost midnight."

"I feel like Cinderella. But yes. I'll see you in a year, Severus. Look after yourself for me, alright?"

"I love you. I don't want you to go."

"I know. I love you, too, Severus. Always have. Always will. For infinity, remember?"

"I remember, Harry."

Forty-Four Years. Forty-Four Visits.

"It's time, Sev. Are you ready?"

"To die?"

"For Infinity to finally begin."

"Absolutely. I missed you."

"I missed you too. Forty four years is but a drop in the ocean though."

Severus nodded as he (finally) wrapped his arms around Harry. "A drop in the ocean of forever."