LANDSLIDE, james potter [2]

Chapter Fifty-Five

The war raged on around Harry Potter, who's heart began to break a little more every time he saw a new corpse. They were still fighting and he wanted to end this war for them, to make their sacrifices worth it. But there was only one way to do so and it terrified him. It shook him to his very core. 

But as the war was paused, as he saw the fright and terror on people's faces, he knew he had no choice. When he had seen the bodies of Remus Lupin and Lyra Malfoy, both of them so close to one another, he knew that it had to end. They had died for him, like his parents had, like Sirius had. They deserved that he'd be willing to die for them too, even if it was only to make their own sacrifices worthwhile.

Because Harry Potter was a horcrux, one of the darkest objects ever to be invented. As long as he lived, Voldemort would never die and he would never pay for the pain he had caused. A piece of his soul lived inside him, and Harry wanted it gone, no matter what the cost. 

He stood at the edge of the forest, so tired, so scared. He had always known death was a possibility during the war, but he had never imagined that it would come off his own choice. It seemed like a dark weight to put upon a teenage boy. 

The dementors were gliding around the trees, not helping with his nerves. If he could only take a few more steps into the forest, then it'd be over. He'd give himself up, no longer allowing others to die for him. It was his turn. 

And Harry, who had always been considered so brave, was terrified. He didn't know what was ahead, if the war would truly end with his death. If only Neville would kill the snake, then perhaps Hermione or Ron would put an end to Voldemort once and for all. He could only hope. 

He clutched the snitch in his hand, given to him by Dumbledore in his last will and testament. And finally, after a year of confusion, Harry seemed to understand what its engraving meant. I open at the close. 

This was it. He had reached the close, the end. And his eyes, clouded by unshed tears of fear, stared intently at the snitch. He carefully brought it up, kissing its golden skin as he spoke the words he had been afraid of admitting. "I am about to die."

He could hear it opening, no matter how quietly the metal shell fell apart. In the darkness, he could not yet see what was inside. He raised Draco's wand, which he had kept since that day in the Malfoy manor, and immediately thought of Lyra. This was her son's wand. He wondered if he had found out she was dead yet. Harry had not yet accepted it himself. "Lumos."

And there it was. The resurrection stone, one of the Deathly Hallows, which had been shrouded in mystery for so long. It was there, so close. And Harry knew that he finally had the opportunity to see those he loved that he had lost, even if it had to right before his own end. He was going to join them at any moment. They were going to be there to get him, to take him with them. 

He grasped the stone tightly, closing his eyes as he imagined how good it would be to see them again, to talk to them before one of the scariest moments of his life. He turned it over three times in his hand.

The rustling of leaves on the ground, as if someone had shifted their footing, made him understand that it had worked. For a moment, he was scared to open his eyes and look at them. But he needed them as he never had before, and now he finally had the opportunity to see them all. 

He hesitantly opened his eyes as they all stood before him. They did not look like they were alive, but they were clearly not ghosts either. They were specters, all of them sending him loving, comforting smiles. He hadn't known how much he needed those smiles before that moment. 

James was the first to catch his eye. He was once again surprised at how alike they were. They were the exact same heights, the same messy hair, both of them with glasses on their noses, though his father's were lopsided. But James was smiling, Harry was broken and terrified. That was the clearest difference between them.