A/N: So I found a review for this story in my email, and I realized that in the chaos of finals and graduation, I never actually posted this last chapter. I am terribly sorry. And a horrible human being.

But, this IS the last chapter of Harry Black.

Harry Black

Going Home

"Mr. Potter! Mr. Potter, would you care to make a statement?"

James was fed up with these pushy, insensitive, and most of all annoying reporters. So for the first time since they began hounding him, he made a statement. A statement that might cost him his job if published, but James was beyond caring. He shoved past the reporters—who were quickly getting over their shock and beginning to bombard him with another string of questions—and into St. Mungo's.

Two weeks, two long, miserable, lonely weeks had passed since finding out the truth about Harry's parentage. James had never been more relieved than when Harry was found alive in that Death Eater hide-out, but that relief had been short-lived when he found his best mate dead. And any relief that had survived, in him, Lily, or Remus, faded every day. Harry still hadn't woken up.

When Harry had been rushed to St. Mungo's, he had groaned once but hadn't made a noise since, save for occasional whimpers during his constant, two-week sleep. Lily hadn't moved from Harry's side since the Healers allowed her into the room, and James was beginning to worry about her too. The only visiting hours Remus had not been at the hospital for were a few days around the full moon.

James was returning from a walk in the light rain. He had taken up pacing a couple of days after Harry arrived at the hospital, and quickly found the small room too claustrophobic for all that pacing, and his pacing made Lily fidget. So he took walks around the hospital, and hoped that when he returned, something would be different.

Like every other time he had entered Harry's room for the past two weeks, Lily was sitting stoic beside the bed and the only sign that Harry was alive was the boy's shallow breathing. Remus sat in the far corner, facing the window this time.

James took his usual seat next to Lily and contributed to the silence. Nothing changed until visiting hours ended and Remus left. James took another walk.

"Harry? Can you hear me?"

"Aunt Lily?" Harry tried to blink he blurry vision into focus.

"Hey, sweetie." Lily gently placed Harry's glasses on his face and brushed his bangs away from his forehead.

Harry smiled when he saw his godmother's caring face watching over him. Was she crying? And what was Aunt Lily doing at Hogwarts, anyways?

Oh no...

He wasn't at Hogwarts. Everything that happened since entering Dumbledore's office however long ago it had been came rushing back. Up until Voldemort hitting him with the same Unfogivable Curse he used to kill Sirius... Wait.

"Where's Dad?" Harry asked. The same green light that hit his father hit him, and he was alive. At least, he thought he was alive. "I'm alive, aren't I?"

"Yes, Harry, you're alive."

"So that wasn't the Killing Curse!" Harry sat up. "So Dad's okay too. Where is he?"

"Harry, sweetie." She carefully held his shoulders. "You were hit with the Killing Curse."

"But I'm not dead! And—"

"Harry, listen to me. The Killing Curse, when it hit you, rebounded and destroyed Voldemort. You didn't die, but Voldemort did. When Sirius... gave his life to save you, his love protected you."

Gave his life? "But Aunt Lily, Dad and I were hit by the same curse. I'm fine, he is too."

She was crying harder now. "No, sweetie, that's not what happened. Sirius... he... Harry, I'm so sorry. If I could bring him back for you, I would."

Harry tried to wipe his sweaty forehead, but he only felt bandages. "What?" Aunt Lily didn't need to bring Dad back, if she just told him where Dad was, he, Harry, would go get his father himself. He scratched at the bandages. How was he supposed to think with these stupid things making his head hot?

"Here, it's not deep." Lily unwrapped the bandages. "It'll scar though."

Harry felt along his head until he felt what Aunt Lily was talking about. He traced the thin, lightning bolt-shaped cut. When did he get this?

"It's from the Killing Curse."

"But... I thought the Killing Curse didn't leave any marks..."

"It didn't kill you."

"Then it wasn't the Killing Curse!"

Aunt Lily hid her face behind her hands and wept harder.

"Good evening, Lily, Harry."

"Professor!" Harry tried to jump up when the Headmaster of Hogwarts entered his room, but the motion made him dizzy, and he sank back into bed. Harry watched the old man's blue eyes observing him over half-moon spectacles, their usual twinkle gone.

"How are you feeling, Harry?" Dumbledore said, once Lily's crying quieted.

"What's going on, sir? Where's my dad?"

"The events that took place since you left Hogwarts are quite miraculous, Harry. Quite miraculous, indeed. I can only explain them to the best of my ability, which, unfortunately, may not be to your satisfaction."

"Just tell me where my dad is!"

"Sirius Black is dead, Harry. That is the simplest you will hear tonight. What I will tell you next is a combination of what Death Eaters we managed to capture have confessed and my own hypothesis.

"Voldemort has one great weakness, and that is his inability to love or understand love. Voldemort did not intend to kill Sirius that night. When Sirius sacrificed himself to protect you, he performed the ultimate act of love, and that love transferred to you, and protected you against the darkest magic. That is why the Killing Curse left you alive. I have always said, love is the most powerful magic of all."

James listened to Dumbledore speak from outside the hospital room. Until the moment that he found out Harry was awake, he thought he would have rushed in, with Hell itself unable to stop him, to see Harry's eyes open. But now…

Biologically, yes, James was Harry's father. But Sirius, his best friend who had died for the boy, he was Harry's dad. He couldn't appear now, when Harry was asking for his dad. So he waited outside.

"So I really was, then? Hit by the Killing Curse?"

"Yes, my boy. That scar on your forehead is the proof."

"And I survived it."

"Yes."

"But not, not Dad," Harry said, finally understanding. Sirius Black really was... dead.

"Harry, your life is about to change in more ways than you've ever imagined. The burden that's been placed on you is one that no child should have to bear. Keep your family and friends close to you, Harry." Dumbledore turned to the door. "And I will arrange for your discharge with the hospital staff tonight." He left.

Harry wiped at his eyes. There was an empty hole inside his chest that felt like it would never close. Nothing seemed important anymore. He wanted to go home, but where was home? An empty house without his dad? Harry laid down and yanked the blankets over his head. He felt his aunt's hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off.

An hour later, Harry was being discharged, and sneaked out so the pesky reporters wouldn't notice his leaving. And when the car pulled into the driveway of his godparents' house, Harry knew that Dumbledore right-his life was changing, and Godric's Hollow was only the beginning.

The End