The Muggle Who Lived ☆ h.p au

twelve

King's Cross. -------

Everything felt silent for Zoë. She stayed facedown on something that seemed neither solid nor gas. It was just there. She didn't even know if she was there or not. After days, or hours, or seconds, she couldn't tell, she realized she could move. 

Getting up, Zoë finally opened her eyes. A dense, yet light mist surrounded the area, and her bare feet stood on the floor which was neither hot nor cold, just there. She turned around, trying to get to see something. Looking down, she finally spotted something on the floor. Something, or someone, was curled up on the floor, their skin red and raw and shuddering. They looked like they were in pain but Zoë was too scared to go near it, afraid that it would attack it. 

At that moment, she felt herself be naked.

Looking up, she saw some robes appear at the far end of the hall, although one step forward and she was already putting on the robes. She tried to go back to the creature when she heard a voice.

"It's no use. It can not be helped." 

Zoë instantly recognized the voice, turning around to spot Albus Dumbledore, wearing light blue robes that seemed to be made of the same light that surrounded him. 

"My precious Zoë. You've come so far. Let us walk."

"You're dead." Zoë didn't hesitate to say. Dumbledore smiled.

"Yes. I am."

"So am I dead too?" Dumbledore's smile increased.

"Ah yes, that is the question. You're not quite there."

Zoë fell silent, thinking about what she wanted to say next.

"Uncle Albus...in the journal you left me...you said that the results of my death and Harry's death will be different." Dumbledore nodded. Zoë gulped.

"Harry stays alive after this because Tom Riddle took his blood to get a new body. The blood he took has the bit of his mother's protection, keeping Harry alive. I, however, didn't. So how am I not fully dead?"

"The strength of the blood in both their bodies is enough to keep Harry alive," Dumbledore answered. "You, however, only have the protection of Aberforth. The Horcrux Voldemort accidentally made in you has been broken after he killed you, but because that is the only aspect you shared with Voldemort, that's the reason why you didn't get as strong as visions as Harry, the reason why your scar pained you less, the reason why you two are not equal."

"That still doesn't explain how I could still be alive." Dumbledore looked down with an expression of defeat that Zoë had never seen on her uncle before.

"I believe that your life from this point on...is for the sake of the prophecy. But you'll be surprised if I told you...that even I don't understand."

Those last few words were something that Zoë has never heard from Albus Dumbledore before. The man that knew everything...didn't fully know the reason why Zoë can stay alive.

She wanted to give her uncle a hug, but was afriad that her body would pass through his just life how her hand passed through her fathers'. However, when Zoë reached out to her uncle, she was surprised to see that she could in fact touch him. So in an instant, she brought her uncle into a tight hug, the first one they've had in a year.

"Thank you, Uncle Albus. Thank you for trying." Albus hugged her back, and in that space, the two Dumbledores enjoyed the company of one another under the thick mist. They both let go as Albus looked up.

"Harry is here."

Zoë nodded, making her way to a bench that had appeared, sitting down and waiting for Harry and her uncle to talk. Looking around, she could make out train tracks in the mist.

She felt Harry and Dumbledore arrive at the bench, but she was not listening to anything they said. This took what felt like only a few seconds when Harry stood up, along with Albus.

"Tell me one last thing," Harry asked. "Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?"

The mist started to come forward, making the figure of Dumbledore obscure for both Harry and Zoë as he beamed at both of them like that was his way of saying goodbye.

"Of course it is happening inside your head, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?"