Lupin was younger too, and much less shabby, and his hair was thicker and darker.He looked happy to be back in this familiar place, scene of so many adolescent
Wanderings.
Lily’s smile was widest of all. She pushed her long hair back as she drew closer to
Him, and her green eyes, so like his, searched his face hungrily, as though she would
Never be able to look at him enough.
“You’ve been so brave.”
He could not speak. His eyes feasted on her, and he thought that he would like to
Stand and look at her forever, and that would be enough.
“You are nearly there,” said James. “Very close. We are . . . so proud of you.”
“Does it hurt?”
The childish question had fallen from Harry’s lips before he could stop it.
“Dying? Not at all,” said Sirius. “Quicker and easier than falling asleep.”
“And he will want it to be quick. He wants it over,” said Lupin.
“I didn’t want you to die,” Harry said. These words came without his volition.
“Any of you. I’m sorry ---“
He addressed Lupin more than any of them, beseeching him.
“--- right after you’d had your son . . . Remus, I’m sorry ---“
“I am sorry too,” said Lupin. “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.”
A chilly breeze that seemed to emanate from the heart of the forest lifted the hair
at Harry’s brow. He knew that they would not tell him to go, that it would have to be his
Decision.
“You’ll stay with me?”
“Until the very end,” said James.
“They won’t be able to see you?” asked Harry.
“We are part of you,” said Sirius. “Invisible to anyone else.”
Harry looked at his mother.
“Stay close to me,” he said quietly.
And he set of. The dementors’ chill did not overcome him; he passed through it
With his companions, and they acted like Patronuses to him, and together they marched
Through the old trees that grew closely together, their branches tangled, their roots
Gnarled and twisted underfoot. Harry clutched the Cloak tightly around him in the
Darkness, traveling deeper and deeper into the forest, with no idea where exactly
Voldemort was, but sure that he would find him. Beside him, making scarcely a sound,
Walked James, Sirius, Lupin, and Lily, and their presence was his courage, and the reason
He was able to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
His body and mind felt oddly disconnected now, his limbs working without
Conscious instruction, as if he were passenger, not driver, in the body he was about to
Leave. The dead who walked beside him through the forest were much more real to him
now than the living back at the castle: Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and all the others were the
Ones who felt like ghosts as he stumbled and slipped toward the end of his life, toward
Voldemort . . .
A thud and a whisper: Some other living creature had stirred close by. Harry
Stopped under the Cloak, peering around, listening, and his mother and father, Lupin and
Sirius stopped too.
“Someone there,” came a rough whisper close at hand. “He’s got an Invisibility
Cloak. Could it be --- ?”
Two figures emerged from behind a nearby tree: Their wands flared, and Harry
Saw Yaxley and Dolohov peering into the darkness, directly at the place Harry, his
Date: 2015-12-11; view: 602
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