The Haunting of Peter Pettigrew

Always and An Eternity

Harry Potter often thought of Lana Bowers inbetween the mayhem of the next few weeks.

For the first time, however, he wasn't thinking about her as a presence that was around him. Now, he knew, she was gone.

She was gone the way Sirius was gone. The way Dobby was gone. The way Hedwig was gone. The way his parents were gone.

They were all gone and he had come to accept that he would not see them again. Until he reached the end. What Harry didn't realize, until the last possible moment, was that the end was coming sooner than he expected.

By the time he'd realized how it would end, he was there, in the Forbidden Forest. But it was like Lana had long ago promised, he wasn't alone. They were there too, in that darkness.

They were neither ghost nor truly flesh, Harry could see that. But, as he'd thought they would be, they were all there. They were together.

In front of him stood James who looked so much like him, young, unburdened, never to grow old. Sirius, who appeared younger and lighter than he had been growing since he'd been in Azkaban. Harry recognized the boy from pictures and memories rather than the warped man he'd been becoming. Sirius also had his arms securely wrapped around Lana as if he never intended to let her go. Lana looked as she had the last time he'd seen her, her expression content in the arms of one who loved her. Then there was Remus who looked happy and scarless as if the burden of life had been lifted from his shoulders.

But then, there was Lily. Finally, Lily Potter stood before him, closer to him than the others, beaming at him as if he was everything she ever could have wished for.

"You've been so brave," she told her son. Harry couldn't bring himself to speak, as desperate to look upon his Mum as she was to look at him. Their life together had been stolen, and it wasn't fair that he'd only get the time to speak to her now, moments before his own life ended. He wanted to be a child again, with his Mum and Dad, all of them together and happy. He desperately wanted those memories. But he would never get them, such wishes were childhood fantasies.

"You are nearly there. Very close. We are..." James told him softly, "so proud of you."

"Does it hurt?" Harry asked.

"Oh My Little Dreamer," Lana said gently, her ache at the question apparent, but it was Sirius who answered.

"Dying?" His voice was airy, calm and soothing. "Not at all. Quicker and easier than falling asleep."

"And he will want it to be quick," Remus followed up. "He wants it to be over."

"I didn't want you to die! Any of you!" He looked from his parents to Lana, Sirius, and finally towards Remus, who had just died. "I'm sorry. Right after you'd had your son...Remus, I'm sorry."

"I am sorry too," Remus told the boy gently. "Sorry I will never know him...but he will know why I died and I hope he will understand. I was trying to make a world in which he could live a happier life."

Then he turned to Lana and Sirius. Sirius, who'd offered him the future he'd always wanted with someone who genuinely cared. Lana, who had given her life for all of them, and who had saved him more than once even after she was gone.

"Lana...I never truly met you....but you...you've always stood between me and danger."

"Yes, My Little Dreamer, and I am sorry I can't do it this time. I would if I could. If there were another way..."

"I saw this vial in Dumbledore's office...." Harry began.

"You can watch. You should watch. I think...I think it will bring you peace. After." Harry wanted to argue that he wouldn't get the chance to watch, because wasn't that the point? Wasn't he going to die? But he didn't argue with this woman who had given everything for him.

He looked at them all, "You'll stay with me?"

"Until the very end," James promised.

"They won't be able to see you?"

"We are a part of you," Sirius explained to the boy. "Invisible to anyone else."

Then, finally, Harry looked back at his Mother. "Stay close to me."

Lily Potter nodded at him, and gave him a small smile of encouragement, filled with the comfort she'd been unable to give him for the past sixteen years.

They stayed with him. Right to the very end.

Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, died and came back to life.

Harry Potter, the boy who had lost so many people who he had loved, defeated Lord Voldemort and his followers.

Harry Potter, a child of seventeen, had done what he had been born to do, and for a moment, he'd been absolutely lost.

But then, he remembered Lana.

Voldemort was finally gone, his body moved away from those of the heroes of Hogwarts, and Harry found himself heading back to the Seventh floor. Back to the Headmaster's Office.

"Where are you going Harry?" Ron asked as he and Hermione approached him.

"I have two things to take care of. This wand and...there was a vial in the Headmaster's Office....it had Lana Bowers' name on it. She told me...she told me to use it in the Pensieve."

Harry and Ron had told Hermione about what had happened at Malfoy Manor, about what had happened to Pettigrew. He also told them about the Resurrection Stone.

"Should you really do this now Harry? I mean...there's a lot to be done," Hermione looked sadly around Hogwarts, seeing what it was and desperately missing the innocence of what had been.

Harry nodded, "She said it would make things better. I mean...she said it would bring me peace. I need peace right now."

"Well then," Hermione gave Ron's hand a squeeze as they hurried up the steps after their friend. "I think we could all use some peace. Would you mind if we joined you?"

"Come on then," he grabbed Hermione's other hand and together the three of them made their way up to the office, to finally see it. To see the Marauders.

Harry had caught pieces of them both from Snape and their stories and in Lana's memories. But, this felt different.

"Are you ready for this?" Hermione asked them both. Then, when the three of them nodded, they submerged their heads into the water.

It was cloudy at first, but the voices of Sirius and Lana surrounded them, and in that moment, Harry knew that Lana had told him the truth. This would give him peace after everything.

"My Sun," Sirius's voice echoed through the haze as the picture became clearer.

"My Star," Lana murmured back.

"An eternity of love."

"An eternity of love."

Author's Note: One more chapter to go in this shorter story! I always thought it was terrible that the only real memories of his parents that Harry is able to see are of their deaths and then how terrible they were through Snape's memories. So, yeah. I fixed that.

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