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How Do You Say Goodbye?

By: Sailoranime

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Disclaimer: You don't sue, me have lawyer relatives!

Author's Notes: Short little piece of fluff. Yes, another one. This little bunny just hopped around my head while I was trying to sleep, and it's been bugging me for the last few days. Enjoy, I guess.

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"Not moping still, are you?" James asked Sirius quietly. Sirius shook his head.

"Not moping. Just... thinking."

"Oi, Padfoot-"

"Oh, shut it, James. I'm sure you felt the same way."

James seemed to think about it for a moment. "I suppose I did. But then things were different, weren't they? What exactly are you feeling?"

Sirius seemed to think about it for a moment. "I suppose I feel angry... no, not angry. I just wish I had said goodbye instead of being stupid and having my last words be something stupid like 'you can't catch me'."

"Well, really, Sirius. It's-" James, however, stopped. Sirius was paying absolutely no attantion to him. He was looking straight ahead, wide-eyed. James knew that look. "Oh, no, Padfoot, don't."

Sirius turned to James. "You see it too?"

James shook his head. "No, I don't, but I know what it is. Lily and I wished for the same thing when we got here, but we were warned, so we never used it."

"Warned?" Sirius asked absently as he got to his feet.

"Yes, Padfoot, warned. We stayed away from it, and you lose the opporunity after two weeks. I was kind of hoping you wouldn't wish for it until after your two weeks were up."

"You mean," Sirius began, "I can see it because I wished for it? We're allowed?"

James sighed, "Well, yeah. That's why they put it there. But I've heard stories... it's supposed to be really messed up. Don't do it, Padfoot."

"This is my last chance, Prongs. Surely, you don't want to deprive me of sending a goodbye letter to my godson? How does it work?" Sirius was still staring into the distance. James sighed.

"I'm not sure. The thing's pre-programmed or something. You just fill in the name of the person, along with a couple of other things, and it sends the letter."

Sirius shrugged. "Better than nothing." He grinned and walked away from James, never taking his eyes off the mysterious machine. It was shaped like a podium, but had a small screen attached to it. He reached it soon enough, but was suddenly unsure of what to do. On top of the thing, next to the screen, was a quill. He picked it up, and the screen went to a light blue color.

Name of recipient?

Easy enough. Uncertainly, Sirius traced the words on the screen using the quill. Writing appeared on the screen until 'Harry Potter' was written neatly in print, something that puzzled Sirius, as he'd done it in cursive. The screen went pink.

Name of sender?

Sirius wrote his name in print this time, and it came out in cursive. How odd.

Name on the heading?

Sirius tried to write 'Harry', but something seemed to be wrong with the quill, because no more writing appeared on the screen. He tried it several times, but nothing happened. He even tried speaking the name, but the result was the same. Those four annoying words were still flashing on the screen, annoying him to no end. After one last failed attempt, he kicked the thing.

"Letter sent!" a voice chriped happily.

'Oh, damn.'

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Harry stood up and made a fourth batch of toast. Harry scowled. Why did his cousin seem to find it necessary to eat half his own weight every morning? He was contemplating how much trouble he'd be in if he hexed all the Dursley's to oblivion, and whether he could get out of it, when his aunt shrieked.

Harry, expecting a possible Death Eater attack, whirled around, wand in hand. Instead of the men in black cloaks and white masks he expected, he saw an owl sitting on the kitchen table. Harry went over to him and untied the letter. It was a rather odd owl, whiter than his own Hedwig. 'Harry Potter' was written neatly on the outside of the rolled up parchment.

"Excuse me." Harry muttered, taking off to his room. His uncle, clearly believing it was from Moody, who had threatened him at the end of the previous term, said nothing, but looked so green that one would have thought he was choking. No one protested, only Dudley gave a small 'hey', but was quickly silenced by a poke from his mother.

Harry ignored all of this, however. He made it to his room, almost as if in a trance. He sat down on his bed and unrolled the letter.

Dear friend,

As you probably already know, I've died. I'm emotion that I had to leave you, friend. Don't be too emotion 2 that I'm gone. Maybe you'll see me soon. I know how you're feeling right now, friend. I know you're emotion 2, and probably a little emotion 3. I'm in a rating of this location place. Really, it's just like a big mushroom trip. I'm here with dead relative 1 and dead relative 2. They say they emotion 4 you, friend. I'm emotion that I'm not with you, friend. But like I said, I'll emotion 5 you.

Emotion,

Sirius

Harry stared at the letter, wondering if it was a joke. It couldn't possibly be real... could it? It was definitely Sirius's writing, but...

Harry shook his head. It couldn't be. He folded it up, stuck it in one of his drawers, and laughed. But in some corner of his mind, he knew it was from Sirius. In some corner of his mind, he knew Sirius was sulking, while James and Lily laughed.

"I told you so."

And most importantly, he knew everything would be okay.

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AN: Oh, lord. I hadn't planned the ending for it, so it turned out out be rather harder than expected. Well, same as usual... review, please? Oh, and just a reminder; my LiveJournal is now open to the public. Check my profile for the link if anyone is interested in my random over-analyzations of the Harry Potter universe. ^_^