Well guys, this is the last chapter! It's a lot shorter than the others, but I couldn't put any more into it. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favourited, and alerted this story, especially BloOm, who I can't thank in review replies, silverbirch for all your reviews, and DeliaDee for your lovely long ones. Thanks for reading! xxx

'It did not matter about bringing them back, for he was about to join them... he was not really fetching them: they were fetching him.'
-JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

They knew someone was there, even if they could not see him, the dead that followed the living.

They stayed at a distance, he had not yet summoned them, though his intentions were strong now. He gripped the stone in his hand, but there was still something separating them from his skin, a shell, a veil that kept them in the shadows, so they simply followed.

As they walked behind him, they could feel, with a strange heightened sense, what he had gone through, what he had seen in Dumbledore's office. They knew that Snape was dead, they had seen it in Harry's memory, and they knew that he had been brave, and innocent of many things they thought him guilty of.

Lily, especially, felt this. She had been close to Snape in life, though the friendship had been severed. She understood now, at least some of what had happened. He was the reason Harry had been singled out, but he had since protected Harry, and helped him on his dangerous quest.

Her thoughts now turned to the son she had never met, but had watched from afar all his life. He was so close, becoming clearer now underneath the cloak that would not shield him from their eyes for much longer. He was becoming one of them. She longed to reach out and touch him, just hold some bit of him, comfort him in his moments of need, but she knew she could not. It was not time yet.

She was so proud of him, his strength and courage to calmly accept his fate, to walk acceptingly to his death. She would be able to hold him soon. They would have all eternity to spend together, uninterrupted, undisturbed. She could finally know the son she had borne.

They were headed towards the Forest now, they had stopped briefly while Harry had watched a pretty girl with red hair, Ginny Weasley, Lily knew. He cared for her, very much, James had squeezed Lily's hand proudly at this point and she had smiled. Harry also revealed himself to a boy, Neville Longbottom, Frank and Alice's son, and told him about the final Horcrux, so there would be someone else who knew. This boy was brave, he would see the task got done.

They were nearing the trees now, and Lily glanced up at James, Sirius and Remus. She knew what this meant to them, being back here together, back at Hogwarts and the Forest, the location of so many teenage adventures. They were all smiling, reminiscing. Lily smiled with them.

They were close now, so close to their task. Harry was completely visible to them now, only a blurred outline where they knew the Cloak's charm lingered. Lily watched, tears in her eyes as her son lifted the tiny Snitch in his hand and whispered to it.

I am about to die.

She saw the Snitch crack open, revealing a cracked black stone, the pebble Death had plucked from the bank of a river. Harry took it in his hand and closed his eyes.

She looked at her companions, they were prickling with anticipation; their time had come.

As they watched, Harry clutched the stone tightly in his hands, and turned it over three times, thinking of the people his unconscious being had yearned for over the past few days. Feeling the pull, the call, they stepped forward to greet him.

Thanks for reading guys!