Harry and Amelia Potter

7.38

I lay face down for a long moment. Finally, I stir as I sit up. Glancing about, I can't seem to find Harry. I'm all alone and I can't tell if this is a good thing or a bad. Did he... make it? Is he still alive?

Peering into a bright, white mist, I see nothing. But somewhere, out there, in the mist, is a soft thumping.

I stand, peering up. A domed glass roof hovers over me, and it seems almost familiar. The thumping persists. Unnerving, I squint into the mist.

Stepping forward, the thumping grows louder. Up ahead a small mass quivers. I slow down, recoiling. A thing, like a small child, lies shuddering on the ground, it's skin raw and rough. I lean closer.

"You cannot help." I spin, finding Dumbledore standing within the mist. At the sight of me, Dumbledore beams and spreads his arms wide. His hand is whole, no longer damaged. "Amelia. You wonderful girl. You brave, brave woman. Let us walk."

I get back up to my feet and stand in awe at the old Professor. He looks better than I've ever seen him before.

"Sir, where's Harry?" I ask.

"I reckon he's going through a rather similar experience."

"So he's somewhere else? Speaking to you too?" I question as we start walking along the bright walkway.

"Yes." He nods. "Amazing what you can do when you're no longer living."

"Then... I'm dead." I state plainly.

"Ah. That is the question, isn't it? On the whole I think not." His gaze focus's ahead as we stride.

"Not?" I raise my eyebrow.

"Not."

"But we didn't defend ourselves. We let him kill us."

"And that will, I think, have made all the difference." He looks to me. "I suspect you now realize that you, your brother, and Voldemort have been connected by something other than fate since that night in Godric's Hollow all those years ago, Mia."

"It's true, isn't it, sir? A bit of him lives in Harry and I, doesn't it?"

"Did. Both bits were just destroyed only moments ago by none other than Voldemort himself." I play my fingers over my sternum. "You and your brother were the seventh and eighth Horcrux, Mia; the Horcrux he never meant to make."

"And you knew this? That's why you were certain we wouldn't die?" I ask, stopping in my tracks.

"Certain? No." He stops next to me and turns. "Little is certain in this world, Mia. Call it an educated guess." Dumbledore smiles.

"Was it an educated guess that I would need the Time Turner?" I question curiously. He ponders this.

"So, you indeed needed it?" He answers my question with one of his own.

"Fred didn't survive." I look down. "I used it to go back and save him."

"That must have been a decision you didn't take lightly." He looks to me knowingly.

"I think you and I both know it was a rash decision." I avoid his gaze, awaiting my lecture.

"You shouldn't have-" I cut him off.

"I know I shouldn't have messed with time just to bring back the man I am completely and irrevocably in love with. I know it was risky, and I should have thought about the consequences." I roll my eyes. "But, Sir, you must understand how I must have felt. First my parents, then Cedric, then Sirius, you, Remus.." my voice trails off. "I couldn't bare losing Freddie too. I had to save him. If not for me, then for the Weasley family."