“And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end, the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance. I could have missed the pain,
But I'd have had to miss the dance.”
Lyrics to “The Dance” by Garth Brooks
Disclaimer: I own none of this world. It belongs to J.K. R. Thank you for letting my mind wander...
Epilogue
A week later everyone was healthy again. Kelly, although the scars on her face remained a reminder of that terrible day, had apologized to everyone at least twice a day since the incident. Sarah, who was back to her cheerful self, was busy making plans for the four of them in Massachusetts, a trip that Harry had to admit that he was looking forward to. Of course the first thing that they would do is visit Bob and Andrea Pabden and then if all goes right, they’ll be on their way to enjoy a nice vacation on Cape Cod, a tourist spot that Sarah said she had gone to quite often as a kid. Chris remembered it and said that he would love to go again and see how it had changed. Kelly and Harry of course were up to anything and they agreed enthusiastically.
As Harry walked into Kelly’s hospital room, he saw her packing her duffel bag to leave. He had already packed his and shrunk it to fit in his pocket.
“Where’s Sarah and Chris?” he asked.
“Oh, I was supposed to tell you that they went on ahead to the States to tell Bob and Andrea everything so we wouldn’t have to deal with it when we got there. Sarah wanted to let you sleep and they said it would be a family matter anyway. She said not to worry.”
“Okay, that’s fine. We’ll just meet up with them in a few minutes then after you’re ready. When did they leave?”
“About an hour and a half ago,” she replied and then she stopped packing for a moment, a serious expression spreading across her face. “Harry, I wanted to thank you for helping me.”
Harry smiled knowingly. He had gotten her out of trouble by telling Aurors how she risked her life for Chris, someone who up until very recently the world thought was dead. Harry explained that Kelly was confused and that the death of her entire family had driven her to the wrong side. Now, having redeemed herself and found her way to the right side again, Harry argued, was the Ministry going to convict her of being misguided and saving a life? Had not Harry himself been led down the wrong road once or twice? Yes, he had a point, the Aurors agreed, and they let Kelly go on the condition that she would never dabble in the Dark Arts again. She had agreed fully and passionately, hugging each of the three Aurors twice.
“No problem, Kelly. Just don’t let me down, okay?” Harry said to her.
“Don’t worry, I won’t!” she assured, hugging Harry fiercely. If Harry had learned one thing about Kelly in the last week, it was that she was the type of person who loved to give out hugs. He wondered how she had ever been a Death Eater but he didn’t ask.
“I think we’d better get going. Are you almost ready?” Harry asked, as Kelly ran back over to finish putting the last couple things in her duffel bag. Then she ran over to the mirror, checking her reflection and obsessing over her scarred face. But there was nothing that she could do and she sighed heavily, touching her cheek lightly with her fingertips. Harry, having dealt with his own lightning bolt scar for years could relate to her.
“Chris will still think you’re beautiful no matter how many scars you have. Trust me, Kelly.”
“You really think so?” she said, tracing the line of one particular scar across her cheek.
“Of course, I know so,” he reassured. Kelly finally smiled and dropped her hand from her face. Disfigured as she was, Harry couldn’t help but notice that she was still very pretty. Kelly walked across the room and shrunk her duffel bag quickly. Stuffing it in her pocket, she and Harry walked down the stairs so that she could check herself out of the hospital. Then they walked out of the building and Kelly grabbed tightly onto Harry’s arm. She had never been to Massachusetts before and didn’t want to get lost so she settled for Side-Along Apparition. Together, they left London behind and found themselves back in the apartment that Harry had lived in two months before.
* * *
It wasn’t long before Harry and Kelly met up with Sarah and Chris again. They had already straightened everything out and Bob and Andrea were ecstatic to have Christopher back with them. It had been quite a shock for them to hear that after so many years, both of them had magical abilities and when they had finished learning the whole story, Sarah said that Bob looked like he had just seen a ghost. Never had he imagined that his adoptive son and daughter had been sought out by the most fearsome Dark Wizard in the world, granted that he had only known about the existence of wizards for a short time beforehand.
Very glad to welcome Sarah and Chris back into their home, it had come as quite a shock to them when Sarah explained her plans of not returning to college. They must have seen it coming however because they agreed without argument that it was probably for the best and she should get involved in the magical realm again, like her parents had intended before they were murdered. Chris apologized wholeheartedly for putting his family through great hardship when they believed him to be dead. Bob and Andrea assured him that they were just happy to have him back. Maybe too soon, the Pabdens learned that Chris and Sarah would not be staying long, but that they would be taking Harry and Kelly to visit Cape Cod, that they had been through a great deal in the prior weeks, and that they needed to do something fun. Bob and Andrea, although sad to have their two kids leaving again so soon, bid them farewell and a happy trip and convinced Sarah to bring Harry by the house when they got back. She agreed, knowing that Bob and Andrea both wanted to see how Harry was doing and knew that they would be surprised to meet a very different Harry, for he was now happy, not depressed like he had been for so long.
The four agreed to take a very Muggle-like vacation. They drove down to Cape Cod and stayed in a very nice hotel overlooking the beach. Harry found himself enjoying the change of scenery and he adapted very well. It seemed like nothing could stop them from having a good time and they kept it that way. They enjoyed such things as the lovely beach weather, the excellent seafood, and the many tourist attractions. Perhaps it was the salt air that drove all of the worries from Harry’s mind about the previous weeks. But from where he was sitting on the sand, he couldn’t understand why there was so much worry in the world. In fact, he was so far removed from the world by this point that nothing else mattered but the sand, the waves, and his friends. Chris was right, he had decided: all Harry really needed was a good tan.
“Let’s go for a walk down the beach,” Sarah suggested. A walk sounded like an absolutely splendid idea to Harry so he agreed eagerly and found himself being led toward the jetty at the end of the long beach. The sun was setting now and the picture painted by this phenomenon was exceedingly beautiful.
“Harry, what are you thinking about?” asked Sarah. It was true, Harry’s mind was very hard to read sometimes and he knew that. His mind had been wandering all day, but somehow, he couldn’t help but think about the one thing that he had forgotten about in the midst of the action over the preceding weeks.
“Sarah, do you remember what you said to me when we first met?”
“Um… I think I said something about what we were having for dinner that night. And then I showed you my room and of course you told me that I’m a great tour guide…er…but of course you were referring to something else, right?” Sarah asked doubtfully. Harry couldn’t help himself, he just laughed. Sarah was the type of person who would remember pointless conversations about small things such as dinners and tours.
“Yes, I was actually. Remember when you told me that you thought we didn’t meet by chance? I believe you called it fate.”
“Oh, right, of course,” Sarah said.
“Well, I was just thinking that you were very right. How did you know at the time, though? I can’t get it. We had just met and…”
“Harry, you know how I knew. It was the same way that you knew that you could trust me with your true identity. I just had this feeling, one that I can’t explain, but I’m glad I did. I haven’t been happier in my whole life than I am now. You know how difficult my life has been and now I wouldn’t change a thing. I have you, Chris, two of the greatest parents, and more friends that I have ever had before. I think…well, I think my parents would have been proud. Yours, too.”
This answer was good enough for Harry and he took her hand in his as they walked peacefully across the sand. The waves from the ocean were rolling onto the beach lazily. Everything, it seemed, was finally right with the world. Wishing that this day could go on for eternity, Harry and Sarah both talked for ages after they reached the rocks at the opposite end of the beach from where Chris and Kelly were. The sun was almost behind the horizon now and Harry was mystified by Sarah completely.
“Did you know that you’re beautiful?” Harry said, admiring her current appearance.
“You might have mentioned that before but it’s always good to hear,” Sarah replied, her eyes gleaming with pleasure.
“Well, I wouldn’t want you to forget,” he grinned. She beamed at him and then leaned in to give him a gentle kiss, which he gladly returned. It seemed like nothing could go wrong today and in fact nothing had except Chris forgetting to pack their lunches. They had to settle for ice creams from the Snack Shack in the parking lot instead. Strangely, nobody had any complaints.
After a while, Harry and Sarah decided to walk back. They found that Chris and Kelly were sitting together on a blanket with sodas in their hands. Kelly smiled when she caught sight of them coming down the beach.
“Chris wants to see if we can rent a boat tomorrow. We could do something swimming and fishing. It sounds fun, want to do that?” Kelly asked. The last time Harry had been on a boat was in a cave with his headmaster Dumbledore searching for a Horcrux. It had been a horrible experience, one that he would rather forget. No, he told himself, that was ages ago and it would not ruin his trip.
“I’m game!” Sarah exclaimed. “C’mon, Harry, it’ll be fun!”
“Alright, I’m in,” he agreed. The four of them sat for a while enjoying the silence and the clear night sky before they made small talk again.
“This sure is nice, but what do you reckon you all will do after this?” Chris asked nobody in particular. Harry thought about this and if he was being completely honest with himself, he knew that this question had been on his mind for quite a while now. Sure, he had always considered being an Auror when he was in school, but he wasn’t so sure that he wanted to do that anymore. He didn’t know why but perhaps his priorities were elsewhere now. It occurred to him that maybe he would like a quieter life and then he thought about where he would go. The truth was that he really did not have a home to go to. Hogwarts was the only true home that he had growing up and then he had an idea.
“Maybe there’s a position at Hogwarts that I can take. I’ll talk to Professor McGonagall and see if they need a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I’d like to do that,” Harry proposed.
“Well, I know that I’d like to learn more about magic,” Sarah said.
“We could help you with that, Sarah,” Kelly offered.
“Yeah, it’ll be fun and we have a lot of time to make up, sis. Besides, who wouldn’t want to be taught by me?” Chris said and Harry laughed.
“I know one…”
“Oh, shut up, Harry. If I had the chance to be taught by me I would be very willing…”
“Do you want to deflate his head, or shall I?” Harry asked Sarah in an undertone that Chris couldn’t hear. Laughing, Sarah mimed what she would do, while Kelly tried to keep a straight face.
“Alright, alright…that’s enough. I’m sitting right here you know!” Chris announced very seriously which made the other three chortle even harder. The night progressed more or less in this same manner until it was time to head back toward the car and to the hotel.
* * *
The days went on much the same during their small vacation and it didn’t much matter what else was happening in the world. For that time, all Harry worried about was whether he had remembered to put sunscreen on, if on the beach he would be sneak attacked by Sarah or Chris wielding a bucket of sea water, and how late he slept. Never in his life had he felt so carefree and just purely happy. For once in his life, Harry didn’t worry about his or his friends’ safety and he loved the feeling.
Looking back at the last year, Harry couldn’t help but think that he had been through many difficult times. His emotional breakdown the previous summer had been one of the darkest moments in his life and then strangely, light had found him again. And looking out at the water from the beach that he sat on today, he watched Sarah playing with her brother and Kelly. He remembered Ginny’s reassurance while he was unconscious and wondered if he had imagined it. Then he saw Aunt Petunia’s face begging for his forgiveness and he considered now that maybe he had been a bit unreasonable, but fair. Ron and Hermione’s smiles on their wedding day floated into his mind next and he wondered what they were doing now. Out in the water, Sarah and Kelly were ganging up on Chris now and attacking him with the water.
Harry knew that if he had told himself a year ago that he would be enjoying himself in the company of two former Death Eaters, he would have never believed it, yet here he was. And then he thought of Malfoy and the more he thought of what had happened between them, the more he didn’t understand. Finally, Sarah’s appearance in his life seemed to have made the most sense for without her, he may not have recovered from Ginny’s death. Without her, he could have spent the rest of his life in despair. He was grateful to have such great friends with him now.
It was amazing, Harry thought, that even when it seemed like everything was lost and broken, there was still hope. The world had kept spinning and life had gone on. Perhaps, he knew all along that everything would be okay and maybe fate did play a small part in his life.
“Harry! Are you coming?” Sarah shouted from the water to the beach where Harry sat. Harry looked up, suddenly distracted from his thoughts, and he beamed back at her. At that moment he felt sure that if he had looked in the Mirror of Erised, like he had done so many years before, he would see himself, exactly the way he appeared. And that, Harry knew, as he was running toward Sarah and his friends, was one of the best feelings in the world.
A/N: Two years ago, this story was just an idea that I had. I hadn’t worked out all the details or how long I wanted to make it, but I just started writing. And here it is, the end product: two years worth of writing and a very happy author at how it all turned out.
I know some of you are probably wondering about such things like what will happen to the characters now that Malfoy is out of the picture. Well, I figure that I did give some hints in this chapter about what would happen if I were to write a sequel. But, I am sorry to report that there will not be a sequel even though I did think about writing one. The truth is that as much as I love Harry Potter I think I’d like to try my pen at something original. And I hope you all like this ending as much I do.
I must also explain why the thought of the Mirror of Erised appeared at the conclusion of the story. I’ve always liked the Mirror but more than that I found that it was very important to Harry. I’m sure that Harry has never forgotten throughout the course of the books that the Mirror showed him his first glimpses of his parents and that although things were improving for him, that he was still quite unhappy. The Mirror truly showed the reality to the readers that Harry needed love most of all to be happy. So as I was thinking of a way to end his story to show how truly happy he was, I knew that I should conclude it with something that appeared when readers first met Harry Potter and I immediately thought of the Mirror of Erised. There you go.
On a completely different note, I know that I must thank all of my betas for their supreme work editing the chapters of this story. I could not have done it without them. So thank you Snufflesismyidol, AurorGirl101, and Sean! Thanks for putting up with my horrible typing errors and for helping me through some severe cases of writers block! You guys are all awesome!
Finally, and most importantly, I wish to send a huge thank you to all of my readers and reviewers! You guys are what kept this story going up until the very end. And if ever I thought about whether the story would be able to be finished or not, all I had to do was read some of the brilliant reviews left for me and I would be right back on the computer typing my heart out. I really, really appreciate every word in those reviews and I can’t say it enough! Thank you all so much!
And now I promise that this is the end of this huge author’s note. Please, give me any advice or comments about the story. I would love to hear from all of you! And again, one more huge thank you to everyone out there reading, my wonderful betas, and also especially to J.K. Rowling, because without her, I never would have began writing in the first place!
Wishing you all the very best,
KateH =D