His head tilted up. Even the weather seemed to comply with his mood. The bright sunlight that had hindered his eyesight an hour ago was now concealed by gloomy clouds moving at a fast pace. It was astonishing how so much had changed in such a small amount of time. Harry had mere minutes left before he had to go back to his real home. His mind was present on both sides. He wanted to leave, but he also had a desire for lingering around to let things unveil bit by bit. He was not sure he was ready to decide which desire was stronger.
After a few more knocks, Harry was ready to give up. He had just pivoted when the door flew open to reveal Lupin standing in front of him, bewildered.
"What are you doing here? I thought I had made my views on this matter perfectly clear."
"It's okay," Harry said, holding his hands up, "I don't expect you to forgive me. I know what I did was terrible. I'm just here to tell you one more time that I am ashamed of myself. I am really sorry for what I did. I don't know what I was thinking. I must not have been myself at the time."
"Really?" Lupin said with doubt in his voice.
"Yes, and if it makes this any better, I wanted to tell you that I ended things with Marissa. She was not a good person. If you want, I'll modify her memory so she won't know anymore, if you want."
"No, that's not necessary. It's not her fault." Lupin said coolly.
"I know, I know, it's mine. I'm really sorry. I completely understand you don't want to speak to me. I just have to go now. I am not going to see you for a long time now. Well, I will…but it will be a different me, at least in personality. Once again, I'm sorry. I hope you'll be okay-don't take this the wrong way, but I want you to know that I care about you a lot still, okay? Er-bye."
Without another word, Harry turned his back to Lupin, but not before Harry caught the confused look on his face. Lupin opened his mouth slightly, but then closed it. Harry felt as if someone had sucked out a fifty pound boulder out of his body. Well, that was one down…
…
In approximately ten minutes, he was back at the house where Ron and Hermione were eagerly waiting for him. Harry had advised them to stay in his room so his parents would think they were long gone. He was not expecting them to grant him a visit any time soon, considering how angry they were with him. Great, that was exactly what Harry needed before he left, everyone in a brawl with him.
"So, are you finished?" Ron said impatiently.
"Only with Lupin. He's still mad."
"Well, you're just going to have to deal with it."
"Thanks for the support, Ron."
Hermione intervened, "What are you going to tell your parents?"
"I really don't know. I guess I'll tell them the truth."
"Are you serious? Harry, it could immensely change the future." Hermione cautioned.
"Not if they modify each other's memories after it. I just can't lie to them anymore. I have to tell them who I am."
For a second, Harry saw Hermione tilt her head from side to side but then said, "That's your call."
"You want to do it alone or you want us to come with you?" Ron asked.
"Er - you can watch." Harry answered. He did not want his parents and his friends in the same room. It would feel as if he was choosing one over the other. "Just hang by the stairs."
Harry sighed and began walking down the staircase. His nervous feet were stomping slowly down their way. He called out finally, "Mum? Dad? MUM? DAD?"
Dad poked his head out of the kitchen, and Harry could have sworn he saw a green vein pop out of his father's forehead.
"What the bleeding hell are you doing? We told you to stay in your room! This is getting ridiculous! Lily, you say something to him and fix his brains because I certainly can't do it."
Mum made her entry with as much distaste as Dad, "Boy, how many times do we have to tell you? Stay in your room. If you don't, I will-"
"Stop! Just stop!" Harry shrieked. "I cannot take this anymore. A month ago I would have done anything to have parents, and I did what I needed to, but now it's not worth it. I have to go back. This world has meddled and confounded my brain."
Both his parents looked out him as if he was insane.
"Okay, look. I have to tell you something. You have to believe it. We're magical, remember? We can do anything."
So he told them. He started from where and what kind of world he actually came from, a world with no parents, no godfather, a Wormtail that was a Death Eater and a powerful wizard Voldemort that had tried to kill him four times in the past. They sat down and listened intently, as if Harry was giving a lecture at Hogwarts.
He then progressed to inform them that he had used a Time Bender to get there, and that he hadn't known anything about his siblings or the random unfortunate situations he had been placed in.
Dad interrupted his story to ask a question, "So, wait a minute. In this world, we are dead? When? How? What, do we get ourselves in some magical mess?"
"Uh…" Harry stuttered, not sure if he wanted to tell them, "Not exactly."
"Then how?" James asked.
"I don't think you want to know."
There was an uncomfortable silence that swept the kitchen for a moment. Harry was surprised they were taking his news so well, actually. He had been expecting them to faint to the spot.
"We were murdered," Mum broke the silence, "weren't we?"
"What?" James whirled about, "that's ridiculous…Well, not for me, considering what I do, but why would someone try to kill you?" Dad said, eyeing his wife. She shrugged.
"Because he – Voldemort - wanted to kill me when I was a baby."
Harry got the reaction he had been expecting.
"What! That's absurd – Why would he want to kill a baby?"
"Because of this prophecy – look, I don't want to get in-depth with this, it'll only upset you. The point is, I came here because I never had parents, I'd never had memories of you, except the excessive green light I would see in my nightmares."
Mum and Dad glanced at each other, not knowing what to say.
"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you before, but I thought you would treat me differently, if I did, or worse, hex me. I have what I came for. Memories. Memories of Dad and I dueling, shopping, playing Quidditch. Mum, I had fun helping you cook and do the laundry Muggle-style. So what if I had my let downs – I had fun."
At that moment, Monica stumbled into the kitchen. "What's going on? I heard Dad yelling. Oh, are you punishing him some more? Oh, goody!"
"My prime let down." Harry commented, and Mum and Dad smiled. Monica became suspicious.
"Really, what's going on? Why do you two look so calm?"
"Harry just told us something exceptional. He's from another world." Mum said.
"REALLY? That explains everything. From what planet?"
"Give it a rest, Monica. He just told us that he's from an alternate reality where there's no us, no you, no twins, no Sirius."
"Apparently, half of us are murdered." Mum said gravely. Monica's eyes widened, but something crept up on her face.
"Wait, Is that why you can speak Parseltongue?"
"Aho!" Dad exclaimed. "That would certainly explain it! Is that it, son?"
Harry nodded, "You were right. The Parseltongue doesn't come from you. It comes from Voldemort, who is the last surviving ancestor of Slytherin. When he attacked me, he transferred half of his power to me. That's why I have this scar."
"What scar?" Dad asked. Harry slid his hair to his side and let them witness the lightning shaped bolt on his forehead.
"Blimey, that is extraordinary." Dad said, while Mum was at a loss for words.
"Who is this Voldemort?" Monica inquired, who herself had taken a seat.
"An incredibly powerful Dark wizard."
"So that also explains why you're so good at dueling. I was quite surprised earlier. Why'd you come here?"
Harry was surprised at Monica's curiosity. He thought it would take her a longer time to believe him. Perhaps she had noticed a difference in him.
"Well," Mum said, as a matter of factly, "now it makes sense why you were acting so strangely. Not at all your usual pompous conceited qualities."
Harry laughed, "It was really hard to keep in character, especially when I didn't know what the Harry was here like. I must have been really bad, if I took the way Monica treated me as a measurement."
"Oh yeah…um, I'm sorry?" Monica trailed on uncertainly.
Harry laughed again, "It's okay. But hey, it's not like your attitude was any better, and you belong here."
"Only to you I'm that vicious. You're a special case."
Harry couldn't believe it. Monica had said something nice to him for the first time ever.
"Okay then, I guess it's time to go." Harry said heavily, "Where are the twins? I want to say goodbye. And Sirius, for that matter."
"Uh, Sirius is at work." Dad said sympathetically.
"Okay. When is he coming back?"
"Late night, I think."
"Oh." Harry stayed quite for a moment and then spoke, "Maybe I can stick around until then. Hold on…" Harry leaned his head back and looked at Ron and Hermione. They shook their heads furiously.
"Never mind…can you - can you just tell him that…well, that-"
"Yeah. I will." Dad said, knowing what Harry meant.
Harry got to his feet. As he left the kitchen, the entire family followed, including the twins, whom Mum had gone upstairs to get. They were a bit startled when they saw Ron and Hermione perched on the top step. Harry told them about his friends and how they had come to bring him back.
Harry said goodbye to the twins, kissing both of them on their cheeks, and then faced Ron and Hermione.
"So, how do we do this?" Harry gulped, feeling the emotion rising up his throat.
"All we have to do is think of the place where we want to go and we'll be there because we've all made contracts with the Benders." Hermione said, "so just close your eyes and imagine the place."
Harry gave a final glance at Mum, Dad, Monica, and the twins, and then closed his eyes. He tried to picture the Burrow, the place that he'd spent so much time in that house it had become his home. The innumerable windows, the ghoul in the attic that would howl in the midst of night, the constant crashes and explosions that would emanate from Fred and George's room…But when he thought of Fred and George, Monica's face interrupted his thoughts. All the thoughts of them fighting and arguing flooded through, followed by the twins chasing after him in their backyard. He reminisced the afternoon that Dad had gashed his cheek with a sword in the living room, which had been the setting for Harry's first sword duel.
Harry opened his eyes. The Potter family was still standing in front of him. He poked Ron and his eyes flew open as well.
"Why isn't it working?" Ron asked him.
"I don't know. Hermione?"
Hermione raised her eyes at Harry, as if they said 'it's all you fault'. "You're not thinking of it clearly. Try to focus on the place, or maybe a memory."
He inhaled deeply, "I don't think that will work. I keep on thinking of memories here."
Hermione gave Ron a worried look.
"Maybe if you hold each other's hands? Maybe the power, or whatever it is, will transfer through each other." Mum suggested.
"Okay." Harry said, and grabbed Ron's hand, feeling a bit strange.
iThink, think, think/i, Harry told himself as he held Ron's hand. He imagined himself playing Quidditch with Ron and the Weasley family, but the image of his Mum and Dad pressured back into his head.
An eternity must have passed as the three of them stood erect at the spot, trying to return to their home. With frustration, Harry opened his eyes and punched the chair nearest to him, later regretting it because of the jolt of pain.
"What if we never get back?" Ron panicked, "What if we're stuck here forever? That would be horrible!"
"Both of you stay calm." Hermione advised, "We all know why it's not working."
"We do?" Ron said.
"It's because Harry does not want to leave." Hermione said simply.
"What? Yes I do!" Harry protested.
"In your head, maybe you do, but your heart desires to be here."
"What are we going to do?"
Hermione sat down, "I don't know. Until you have a change of heart, we're going to have to wait it out."
Everyone took a seat also. None of them moved for almost an hour, mostly spending the time staring at each other. In his mind, Harry produced a pro and con list of the advantages and disadvantages of staying or leaving. There were many choices on both sides, but they dissolved rather quickly as other memories crept up.
"Alright," Lily said, after quite some time, "Maybe I can help. Think of it this way: You do not belong here. This is not your world. It is not fair that you spend 17 years of your life in one world and then leave it for another just because your desire for it is strong. In a way this world isn't real for you, it might look real, but it's only an illusion."
"Yeah, okay." Harry nodded, "That helps."
"We love you, Harry," James piped in, "but you must return to your own world. From what you told me, it seems that you still have many tasks left to take care of. The whole world is depending on you. You cannot let them down. Think of your friends. How would they ever live without you? Friendship is the soul of life."
Hermione, Ron, and Harry looked at each other uncomfortably. That was exactly how Harry felt about them. His thoughts had recently changed because this new life had gotten in the way. How could he have thought of leaving Ron and Hermione for a fake world? He knew he had to go back, and Dad was right; the whole world depended on him. If he didn't go back, people would keep on dying by the hands of evil. He had to go back to his world, the world he had spent seventeen years in.
Suddenly, something bizarre happened. He felt himself fading away slowly. All the people sitting in front of him were distorted, and then became white mist. For a second, Harry thought he had fainted, but the next time he opened his eyes he saw that he was in his room in Grimmauld Place.
After a minute or so, Ron and Hermione also materialized out of thin air. Hermione walked over to him and embraced him.
"We knew we could count on you, Harry. Just know we love you."
"And I'm sorry too. If it means anything, you two are ten times as worth as my whole family combined. You've always been with me, wherever I go."
Ron and Hermione smiled genially.
"So…what do you want to do?" Hermione asked.
"Quidditch."
"Chess."
Ron and Harry said at the both time. They laughed and walked out of Harry's room together. Harry could go to any world and see any person he had strived to catch a glimpse, but at the end of the day, nothing made his heart more warm than being next to Ron and Hermione.
THE END
To any readers that are left (hopefully) - I am incredibly sorry for the long wait for this last chapter but I was quite busy with things that I don't want to bore anyone with. Thank you endlessly for all the reviews, I appreciate them so much. I hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to review!