Chapter Text
“I don’t want anyone to help me,” Harry called as he and Voldemort circled one another. “No one else is going to die for me.” Harry tightened his grip on Malfoy’s former wand. Since returning from his own death in the forbidden forest, Harry’s path was clear–neither could live while the other survived.
So many had already died for the case: his parents, Sirius, Tonks, Lupin, and so many others had lost their lives for the chance of a better life. And Harry and all the fighters gathered around the perimeter of the Great Hall had a lot to live for. He noticed Hermione and Ron drawing their wands from the corner of his eye, and he held up his free hand to stop them. “No. I have to do this on my own–”
His words were interrupted by a bang as the doors of the Great Hall blasted outward. A man strode through the gap, dust billowing around his feet. “Actually, Harry doesn’t have to do it on his own. He doesn’t have to do anything on his own ever again.”
McGonagall let out a startled gasp as the man’s dark hair was illuminated by the coming dawn. “James Potter!”
Impossibly young and impossibly alive, James drew level with Harry, his wand pointed at Voldemort’s heart. Harry could only gape at him as he squeezed Harry’s shoulder. James turned to Voldemort with years of repressed hate in his eyes. “I would finish you off now, but I won’t deny others the pleasure.”
Another door from the Great Hall burst open. This room had housed the dead in straight rows. Looking younger than Harry had ever seen him, Lupin stepped into the Great Hall, followed closely by Tonks.
Fred emerged next, his face still coated with dried blood from the shrapnel that had taken his life. Molly stifled a sob with her hand and rushed to embrace her son, ignorant of the danger, ignorant of the still breathing dark Lord in their midst.
“Geroff, Mum. I’m fine,” Fred mumbled, though his own voice was strained with emotion.
Harry felt like the world had tilted completely off-kilter. How was this possible? It defied all logic–
James looked at Harry with understanding in his hazel eyes. “Your mother is coming soon. She had to make a stop by the veil, but I went on ahead to make sure you were ok.”
The words should have made sense to Harry–they were complete sentences, after all–but his brain wouldn’t compute the meaning. He could only gape at the four dead people who were now very much alive. “How–?”
“Enough!” Voldemort’s voice was strained and fear laced his words as he looked into the eyes of his victims, all determined to see the end of his reign. Around them, the remaining death eaters were fleeing, though Tonks’ hastily-cast antiapparition ward sent them crashing back to the floor of the Great Hall, bound in ropes from head to toe.
“You’re finished, Tom,” Harry said calmly. “I’ve seen what you become, and I pity you. I’m giving you an opportunity for remorse, for redemption, if you will just take it. Turn yourself over to the aurors. Repair the damage that has been done.”
But Harry knew it was fruitless. As Voldemort raised the Elder wand, Harry mimicked the movement with his own. Amid Voldemort’s shout of “ Avada Kedavra!,” Harry shouted “Expelliarmus!”
Almost as if it were destined, the green spell was overcome with gold from Harry’s wand, and Voldemort fell to the earth dead. The Elder wand flew into the air at Voldemort’s fall and Harry caught it easily.
There was silence for a handful of heartbeats. James whistled through his teeth. “Looks like you were right–you didn’t actually need my help.”
Harry jumped as glass from the Great Hall’s remaining intact window shattered, and a thestral flew into the hall. Astride the bat-like horse was a man Harry thought he would never see again, but now he was impossibly healthy, impossibly young, and impossibly alive.
“Sirius!” Harry yelled as the man dismounted. Sirius met him halfway, smothering him in a tight embrace. Sirius’s tears mixed with Harry’s own as Harry sobbed into his godfather’s jacket.
Sirius palmed Harry’s face with his hands and looked into his eyes. “You're so much taller than I remember,” he said tightly.
But Harry’s gaze was drawn to another figure. She had been seated behind Sirius on the thestral and now stood patiently to the side, her green eyes drinking in Harry. Noticing Harry’s distraction, Sirius released him and prodded him forward. “Go to your mum, pup.”
Harry felt drunk as he lurched toward her. He had seen her earlier that day as an apparition, and she had given him the strength to face his own death in the forbidden forest. Now she was no apparition. Her hair was a darker red than the Weasley red, and she was slightly shorter than Harry. But her slight frame hid a surprising strength as she embraced her son. “My sweet baby,” she whispered in Harry’s ear. “I am so, so proud of you, sweetheart.” She pulled away to gaze once more into his face. “We would have been here earlier, but an antiapparition ward kept us from apparating in here after I got Sirius from London.”
“Sorry about that!” Tonks called as she magicked the surviving Death Eaters together and bound them with manacles.
Lily waved away the apology and turned again to Harry. “I have so many questions,” she whispered.
“I know the feeling,” Harry managed to choke out.
She chuckled as James came to stand next to her. They were oblivious to the cheers from the survivors in the Hall as the family–together at long last–embraced again.
The Weasleys and Hermione waited in a tight knot as George embraced his twin and his siblings kept a hand on his arm or shoulders as if afraid Fred would leave them if their touch didn’t tether him to Earth.
Lily stepped out of her family’s embrace and walked up to Molly Weasley. She took the Weasley matriarch’s hands. “I couldn’t bear to have a mother lose her son, so when we had a chance to come back, I made sure he came with us.”
“Thanks for that, by the way,” Fred said with a grin as Molly embraced Lily.
“But how did it happen?” Hermione asked, waving a hand to encompass Tonks, Lupin, Sirius, and James. “This . . . isn’t possible.”
James grimaced and walked up to her. He dropped her voice and said, “Let’s save that conversation for a place that is more private. Any chance Gryffindor tower is intact?”
“It was destroyed,” Lupin said. “But I agree with James. This isn’t information that the Wizarding World should know. We need to get out of here as soon as possible to regroup.”
Harry frowned at the words. “But–?”
“Not here, son,” James whispered urgently. He gestured outside with his head and the small group of survivors made their way out the front doors. Tonks was guarding the Death Eaters and looked up curiously. Lupin whispered something in her ear, and she nodded encouragingly. He squeezed her hand and followed the group out the doors.
Dawn was rising brilliantly, the warm sun’s rays sparkling across the lake. Lupin increased his stride until he was walking alongside Harry. “I owe you an apology.”
Harry shook his head as he remembered the row he had had with the former professor in Grimmauld Place. “Lupin, don’t worry about it–”
“No. It needs to be said. Harry, I was willing to throw everything away, and you saved me and my family. But I’m actually thinking about something I had said before that.”
Harry looked at him cluelessly.
“I told you not to make Expelliarmus your signature spell.” Now the side of Lupin’s mouth twitched into a smile. “This is me officially eating my words.”
Harry returned the smile. “I’m glad it was just expelliarmus in the end. I didn’t really want to, er–”
“Cast the killing curse?” Lupin asked lightly.
Harry flushed. “Not if I could avoid it,” he admitted. Though Harry was not unfamiliar with the unforgivable curses, the thought of using the same curse that had ended his parents’ lives had twisted his stomach in uncomfortable knots.
They gathered at the bank of the lake and looked back to the castle. The turrets had been destroyed, and furles of smoke curled into the cloudless sky. Aurors were milling over the scene in their magenta robes.
“Dora will buy us as much time as she can, but we must be prepared when the aurors inevitably demand our accounts,” Lupin explained. “Molly, can we take advantage of your hospitality?”
“Of course,” Mrs. Weasley said quickly. “Fred and George, side-along James and Lily since they haven't been there before. Percy, you side-along Ginny.”
“I can do it myself!” Ginny protested hotly, but Percy had grabbed Ginny’s arm, spun on his heel, and disappeared with a crack.
The rest of the group apparated into the Burrow’s cozy living room. Harry instinctively took a seat between Ron and Hermione on the loveseat. James and Lily sat across from them with Sirius and Remus nearby. Mrs. Weasley bustled around with tea and cookies, and Harry raised a teacup to his shaking lips in the silence.
“So, uh, what now?” Ron asked.
“We hear what the three of you have been up to for the last nine months,” Arthur interjected, his voice stern.
Harry sighed. He was physically and emotionally spent. All he wanted was a hot shower and sleep. But he gathered the last reserves of his strength and said, “We finished the task Dumbledore gave us to do.” And when Lupin looked ready to press for details, Harry added, “We tracked down Voldemort’s horcruxes and destroyed them.”
The words had an instant reaction to some of the group. Percy gasped, the sound a surprised chirp from his lips. Lupin’s eyes widened and he and Sirius met each other’s shocked gazes. Lily squeezed James’s hand tightly while Fred and George shrugged in confusion.
Harry felt it best to get the information out as soon as possible. “Voldemort created seven horcruxes to tether himself to life. Dumbledore destroyed two before he died. Ron, Hermione, and I destroyed the other five.”
“Harry, that’s not correct,” Hermione said softly. “Voldemort only had six horcruxes, not seven.”
Harry hesitated. This was the part that he hadn’t had time to tell his friends. “Right, er, about that–”
Hermione bristled and stared at him, her eyes wide. “What aren’t you telling us?” she demanded, her voice shrill.
Harry felt uncomfortably hot and refused to meet anyone’s gaze as the words tumbled from his mouth. “Okay, remember that I went back to watch Snape’s memories and you two went back to the Great Hall? The memories contained the location of the seventh horcrux–the one Voldemort never intended to make. It was . . . inside me. That’s why I could see inside Voldemort’s mind, that’s why I could speak Parseltongue. That’s why–”
Ron was white at his words. “But mate, the only to destroy a horcrux is–”
“To destroy the vessel housing it,” Harry finished. “I had to die, and Voldemort had to do it. So I went into the forest and–”
“No you did not!” Hermione shrieked, her eyes wide with horror. She hit Harry in the chest with her fist once, twice, a third time, a sob escaping her throat. “No, you did not! You do not get to die on me, Harry James Potter!”
“Ow! Hermione! Geroff!” Harry shouted, catching her hand with his left and rubbing his chest with his right. “I took a killing curse to the chest. I'm pretty sore.”
Hermione looked at him with wide eyes. “But . . . You . . . You really. . . ?”
Harry nodded. He cleared his throat, which was suddenly tight. “I had to die. So I took the resurrection stone and used it. They helped me.” He raised his eyes to James, Lily, Sirius, and Remus, who nodded to confirm his words. “And then I died. And I'm back. And so are they. But I don't know how it happened.”
“Because you're the master of death,” James declared soberly. “You used the stone to strengthen you when weaker men were destroyed by it, and you sacrificed your life to end Voldemort’s reign. Creating horcruxes is a crime against our very nature. It creates an imbalance and is a perversion of ancient magics. Voldemort split his soul into eight pieces, and you were able to harness the ancient magic to restore balance.”
Harry frowned. “I didn't cast any spells or anything–”
“You didn't have to. Ancient magic can't be welded,” Lily explained. “Instead it requires a catalyst of specific circumstances and sacrifice of blood. You dying in that forest created the catalyst.”
“So eight souls came back in place of the eight times Voldemort had tried to cheat death,” James finished succinctly.
“Eight?” Ron asked in confusion. He began counting them off on his fingers. “We've got Lupin, Tonks, Fred, James, Lilly, Sirius….that's only six.”
“Seven,” Harry said softly. “I'm the seventh.”
“Who’s the eighth?”
They looked from one another in confusion. Harry shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out.”
Their conversation was interrupted as the floo flashed. Tonks stepped into the room and wiped sweat from her brow. She grinned at Sirius. “Glad to see you back, cousin. I’m sure my mum will be here anytime. She never forgave Dumbledore for not letting her see you in Grimmauld.”
“That’s ok. I look better now than I ever did in Grimmauld,” Sirius replied evenly, threading his fingers through his shoulder-length hair.
Tonks took the remaining seat next to Remus as Andromeda stepped through the floo. A bundle was nestled in the newcomer’s arms, something Sirius immediately noticed.
“Andy! Aren’t you and Ted a little old for more babies?” he joked.
Andromeda rolled her eyes. “This is my grandchild , Sirius.”
Remus stepped up to Andromeda and gently took the bundle from her arms. “Thanks for keeping an eye on him,” he said softly as the infant wrapped a tiny hand around Remus’s finger.
James and Lily were thunderstruck as Remus turned to face them.
“Wait . . .” James said, looking from Remus to Tonks as Sirius punched a fist in the air in celebration.
“I knew it!” Sirius shouted. “I knew there was something going on between the two of you at Grimmauld!”
Lily leapt to her feet and placed a hand on the newborn’s blanket. “Remus, you have a baby!” she exclaimed in wonder.
Remus laughed. “His name is Edward Remus Lupin.”
Overcome with emotion, Lily’s eyes filled with tears. She wiped them hastily away and beamed at the infant. “I told you for years that you would find someone!” She turned to Tonks. “I don’t know how you did it, but I’m glad you did. He can be a stubborn arse.”
Tonks laughed. “It wasn’t easy, believe me.”
Remus settled back onto the couch with Teddy in his arms, and Lily reclaimed her spot next to James, though she was still smiling at the small family.
It was James who addressed the elephant in the room. “So, uh, is lycanthropy hereditary?”
Remus sighed. “We don’t know.”
James looked from Remus to Tonks with sudden understanding. “He’s been real fun for the last nine months, hasn’t he?” James asked Tonks, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“It’s been rough,” she confirmed.
Remus looked abashed but nodded. “I walked out for three days after learning of Dora’s pregnancy,” he confessed. “Thankfully, your son kept me from making the biggest mistake of my life. I didn’t have you lot to snap me back to my senses, but Harry did just fine on his own.”
“Your worst trait has never been lycanthropy. Your worst trait is how you let it rule over you.”
Tonks raised her cup of tea in a toast. “Wise words from James Potter.” She set the cup on the coffee table and surveyed the room. “We need to decide what to tell the Ministry. The Wizengamot wants everyone present at the battle to testify tomorrow morning, and with seven confirmed dead people returning to life, they’re going to have some questions.”
“There wasn’t anyone else?” Harry asked. “If it really is ancient magic sent to balance out the universe, eight souls should have returned. We’re missing one.”
Tonks shook her head. “No one else came to Hogwarts.”
“They could be anywhere,” James put in. “And we have a long list of possibilities. Anyone killed in this war or the last could be brought back.”
The group turned contemplative, and Harry saw the tortured longing on Andromeda’s features. Could it be Ted Tonks? But what of the others who had likewise died: Cedric, Dobby, Hedwig, Mad-Eye, Snape, Colin, Lavender? And that was just the second war. What about the others Harry knew only by name: the Prewitts, the McKinnins, the Fawcetts?
Who could the eighth soul be?