I stood in the King's Cross station, faced with a dead man. There was bright mist swirling in the air, and I certainly have never seen the floor so clean here before. It was eerie.

"I died."

"Ah, on the whole, I think not." Said Dumbledore magnanimously.

"Not?"

"Not." The old man repeated himself.

"But… I let him kill me. I went to him, and watched him curse me. I didn't even try to defend myself."

"And that," said Dumbledore, "will, I think, have made all the difference."

We looked at each other in silence.

"Do I have to go back then?" I felt dread rising up in my chest.

"That is up to you."

"I've got a choice?"

"Oh yes." Dumbledore smiled at me, but there was no twinkle in his eye. "I think that if you decided not to go back, you would be able to … let's say … board a train."

"And where would it take me?"

"On," said Dumbledore simply. I looked at him dubiously.

"Voldemort's got the Elder Wand."

"True. Voldemort has the Elder Wand."

"You told me once that death was but the next great adventure."

"True again. I have told you that."

I thought about it. I looked into the face of the man who could have been like a father to me but who have not loved me enough. I understood his reasons; apparently in death I did no longer feel the need to smash something when faced with my inability to get a straight answer out of him. Giving up my life for the greater good has put some things into perspective.

I thought about the people I have left behind. Hermione. Ron. Ginny. I loved them dearly. We shared joy and tears through our time at Hogwarts. We discovered magic together, and I could not imagine my life without them in it.

I thought about what would happen if I decided to go back. About the fighting that was still to be done. About the rebuilding that would be needed after. Would I become an Auror? I would never be able to give Ginny what she deserves. I couldn't marry her, I couldn't make her happy. If I wanted to truly change things, I would need to be a politician for real, never step out of the public eye.

Finally, I looked at the ugly deformed foetus wailing under one of the eerie white benches.

There was only one Horcrux left on Earth, and I was not the only Gryffindor.

I stepped onto the train.

…

We sped up and the Platform Nine and Three Quarters was gone in a white smudge. Instead of the usual views I would expect on this train, there was quickly approaching all encompassing darkness. It felt like it bled into my train compartment from outside, taking away not only my sight but all sense perception. I don't know how long I spent in the perfect void.

And then, all of a sudden, in a blink of an eye, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, but I was not in a train anymore, and God, why did everything burn like that?! What was going on?! I must have lost my glasses in the whole getting dead fiasco, because all I could see were unrecognisable patches of light and dark, mostly light, that was way too bright and hurting my eyes. And for the love of Merlin, could someone get this child to stop screaming like this?!

I took a breath to say as much and the screaming stopped.

Wait. Rewind. I've been screaming. Yes, well, it hurt all over, and I swear someone must've hit me.

But I could swear I heard a child cry. I spent enough time around Teddy when he was born to be able to pinpoint that particular pitch of a seriously unhappy baby.

Was… I the baby?

Huh.

I supposed that getting born again would indeed count as a great adventure.

I took a train here. I've been on a train and now I'm a baby. I took a reincarnation train. Well, going by how I was just talking to Dumbledore not that long ago, I took a reincarnation express. Merlin, I hoped my new Mum was alright.

I had parents now. What a thought. Well, at least I definitely had a Mum. Who I think must have gotten hold of me, because I was suddenly feeling warm and safe and sleepy.

…