Chapter 2

Conversations and Crucios

Harry woke up, and blurrily opened his eyes. White mist surrounded him, though as he kept looking, the mist started to solidify into… his dorm room?

He shook his head. The after-life was decidedly weird.

He slowly stepped down the stairs, where he finally saw them.

His parents, sitting on a couch. Looking at him.

Indecision warred within him. He had wasted their sacrifice. He had not even challenged Voldemort, he had been simply too powerful. Too overwhelming.

All of it vanished as his mother spread her arms and smiled at him. Even before he was consciously aware of it, his feet had started running. He didn't care.

He hugged her and started sobbing.

It wasn't pretty.

He wasn't supposed to cry, otherwise the neighbours would've noticed.

He didn't care.

Her dress was drenched in his tears, but she made no move to stop him. His father's stronger hands gently stroked his hair.

He wanted to keep hugging her for an eternity.

Eventually, all his emotions were spent.

He looked up at her face, expecting to see disappointment. All he saw was love.

"Don't worry, baby, everything will be alright."

And for just a moment, Harry believed it.

But then, abruptly, he remembered the tournament and the graveyard. His shoulders sagged.

Lily, seeing this change, said, "None of that now. Talk to me now. No more bottling up."

"But, but… You probably hate me. I couldn't do anything to him. He was too strong."

James shook his head. "Harry…" he shook him "look at me," he continued.

"Do you think we are capable of hating you?"

"But…"

"But nothing. Stop blaming yourself for the mistakes of others. So, the Dark Lord that terrorized the country for more than a decade is too powerful for a boy in his fourth year. Is it really news for you?"

"But… you did so much for me… Whatever he told me, was all of it true?"

"Voldemort?" James asked.

Harry nodded.

"Yes," Lily spoke up.

"Even that you…" Harry trailed off, not able to look her in the eyes.

Lily sighed, "Yes, I was willing to do anything if it meant your life would be spared."

"But he talked about the ritual you set up…"

"You must understand, Harry, we had no idea whether it would even work. It was all rather unknown in its nature, botched together using various books Sirius gave us from his family library. Sacrificial magic is erratic at the best of times. The ritual was supposed to be the very last resort."

"Oh…" Harry whispered in understanding.

"Yes. That was why we didn't share our research with the Longbottom's. Exactly why we had various other safety measures, that all failed," James said.

"Do you know, I even tried flying away on a broomstick with you in my arms. But the broom refused to fly. Voldemort had been thorough in preventing all the different kinds of escape," Lily said, scowling.

"And so… here we are," Harry said. He then asked, "Though, where exactly are we?"

James and Lily gave each other a look.

"That's rather hard to answer. What do you see?" James asked.

"Gryffindor common room," Harry answered immediately.

"That's as good an answer as we can give."

"But, aren't we in the afterlife?"

"Not quite… Though we can go there if you want."

Harry looked confused, staring at them.

"Due to rather unique circumstances," Lily said, "you have a choice."

"Can I go back?"

"Yeah. You can."

A whimpering noise distracted Harry. He looked around and spotted a frail and ugly looking baby curled up near the staircase.

James answered his questioning look. "That's Voldemort… or atleast a part of him."

"How?"

James tried, several times, but he wasn't able to speak.

"I can't tell you."

Harry looked back at the frail thing. "Was it in my scar? Is this all inside my head?"

James shrugged, still unable to answer for whatever reason.

Harry's mind raised, looking back at the past years… "The diary!" he suddenly exclaimed, "This is like the diary, is it not?" But then he deflated just as suddenly. "Am I possessed?" He asked in a small voice.

"No!" Lily shouted, "No you're not possessed. Yes, it is rather like the diary, but our sacrifice kept it contained in the scar so that it couldn't corrupt you."

"Thank you," Harry whispered again. He did not want to suddenly start hurting his friends if he was… "Oh, were you serious? Can I go back?"

"Yes," James said confidently. "That thing you see is part of the reason why, though we can't really tell much more than that."

"Wow, I never saw the day James Potter would skip making a 'Sirius' joke," Lily said.

James laughed. "Oh, don't you worry, sweetheart. I'm positively blooming with jokes."

"Arse."

Harry watched their light banter, smiling from ear to ear. He then started thinking back to Hogwarts, the constant danger, the corrupt authorities, Dursleys… did he really want to go back?

Then he started thinking of all the time he roamed around the campus with Ron, without a care in the world. How he laughed at the Twins' pranks. How Hermione somehow managed to make him study in her own kinda sweet authoritative way. How Mrs Weasley fussed around him, making sure he would eat and get healthier. How much he enjoyed Quidditch.

He sighed. The decision was obvious.

He just didn't want to leave his parents so quickly after meeting them for the first time.

"How much time do I have, before I make the decision?"

"Not much," James admitted.

"Just remember, we will always love you, no matter what happens, or what you do. If you don't wanna live in Britain, that's fine too. Just ask Sirius to help you out of the country. If for whatever reason he doesn't, remind him that he has me waiting on this side, and I am still capable of using my wand," said Lily, idly waving her wand around.

James cringed.

Harry laughed. But then sobered at his next question.

"What about the Dursleys?"

Lily looked conflicted, but finally sighed. "If James had any living family, I would tell you to spit on my sister and live with them instead. But the fact of the matter is, Dumbledore is right. Our protection will only protect you as long as you are part of the family. And that means you have to suffer my sister in the summers."

Harry sagged in her embrace.

"It is especially important, because that part of Voldemort, that's in your scar? It won't go with you."

Harry looked up.

"This means that our protection will be much more proactive in trying to protect you. It won't have to constantly keep it in check."

Harry looked hopeful for a moment, but shook his head, "But Voldemort can touch me now. He has my blood."

"Do you think that's the only way the ritual has protected you?"

Harry looked confused.

"Come on Harry, think back to the last four years. How many times have you been miraculously saved from death?"

Harry thought for some time.

"So, the Weasleys' car that saved me and Ron... and being able to survive the Basilisk's Venom…"

James interrupted, "That was helped along by Fawkes' tears, but yeah, go on."

Harry nodded, "Even… being able to save Sirius and myself from the dementors?"

Lily nodded, "The Protection saw that you were protecting yourself and gave much more power to your spell. You would have hardly been able to scare off maybe 6 or 7 dementors before they overwhelmed your Patronus."

Harry pondered.

"So, you think I should go back." he asked finally.

"Yes," Lily said without preamble.

"You have a lot of life left to live, Harry. You haven't even kissed a girl yet."

Harry blushed.

"Indeed," Lily ignored Harry's shocked look as she went on, "Wouldn't you like to visit a beach? Hike some mountains? Get absolutely drunk out of your mind in horribly inappropriate places?"

He started smiling.

"Just live your life, but do try to get better. Start studying. Start practicing. I think we all know that Voldemort won't leave you alone. So get better. Train yourself, but don't forget to have fun every once in a while," James said

"And remember, we will never stop loving you, ever." Lily hugged him.

He closed his eyes, and fiercely hugged her back, even as the room started fading.

OoOoOoOoO

The first thing Harry noticed was pain. His whole body was wracked with waves upon waves of pain.

And then the pain subsided.

Voldemort was laughing.

"The Boy-Who-Lived… is dead."

He fired another crucio at him, but Harry somehow found it bearable enough to not scream or tense his muscles. It was agony, but it was bearable agony.

"Come… Let us be off. Let the illustrious Albus Dumbledore discover his precious boy on his own."

The Death Eaters disapparated in a chorus of popping sounds and soon the only noise around him was the occasional leaves being rustled by the wind.

He finally opened his eyes.

The graveyard was vacant. The still burning fire below the cauldron provided enough light to help him look around.

Only he was left… and the body of Cedric. He had forgotten about him.

He sat up painfully, slowly moving his legs in a sitting position.

His hand still clutched his wand.

"Lumos!"

The light was brighter than he expected.

Leaving that thought aside for now, he slowly stood up, pain flaring in his knees in protest.

He kept moving, slowly making his way to Cedric.

"Mobilicorpus!"

The body trailed behind him as Harry looked around the graveyard, and found an unused road with no traffic.

He came back to Riddle Senior's grave. He sat down and started thinking.

'How can I send a message to Dumbledore? For that matter, where even is this graveyard?'

He thought about his fate, coming back from the death only to die in exhaustion. He laughed bitterly.

The wind picked up again. He heard the sound of metal hitting rocks and pebbles. Looking around, he spotted the Triwizard cup. His brow furrowed.

Could it be possible?

'Maybe it was designed as a portkey from the center of the maze to the ceremony podium?'

But would it work?

He shrugged. Certainly didn't hurt to try.

Cedric's body followed behind him.

Harry grabbed hold of Cedric with his right hand, and touched the cup with his left. He felt a tug on his navel, and with a whoosh sound, the graveyard was empty once more.

OoOoOoOoO

AN: Another chapter done. You can thank the quarantine for the small update time. Again, Stay Home, Stay Safe.