But then it stopped, suddenly.
And they found themselves in a bright, undistinguishable place. They turned around to view the arch and it was gone. Looking around, Harry was reminded of the time when he let Voldemort “kill” him, and he woke in a grey, misty version of King’s Cross Station. However, this place was much brighter, and there was no source for it: the light came from all directions at once, making it impossible to see anything.
“Hello?” Luna called, seeming to think this was the best way to make scenery arise. Harry started at the sound of her voice.
“Sirius?” he questioned softly, after he realized there was really no other option; it never hurt to try.
There were not even whispers anymore. The silence was solidly surrounding them from an immense distance on every side. It didn’t seem like a place where talking was allowed, but they continued calling out anyway.
“Mum?” Luna asked, hesitantly.
“Dad?” Harry stepped forwards. Maybe walking in this cavern of white noise would help. “Mum?”
“Anyone?” Luna wondered hopelessly as she meandered with Harry.
Having nothing else to do, Harry and Luna continued aimlessly for a long while. Or perhaps it was a short while. This void had no time or place, no signs of life. It seemed irreverent to speak to each other, so they did not.
After what felt like hours, or maybe only minutes, they went to separate places inside their heads. Dreaming of the loved families they’d come to find, and what they wished was behind the veil. This place was nothing like they’d imagined it.
Lost as they were in this ethereal place, it was a significant amount of time before they noticed they had gotten very close to a”something.
Luna stopped very suddenly, and grasped the elbow of Harry’s robes to jerk him to a halt as well, but not soon enough, because he walked face-first into a wall. Then he stumbled backwards, bumping into Luna, as she had pulled his robes back so he could get a proper look at whatever he’d run into.
In fact, both of them had to retreat several steps backwards, then several more before the entire set of words were clear.
Floating on an invisible”but, Harry could attest, decidedly solid”wall, was a phrase printed, or painted, or stamped… somehow, a phrase was written in midair. It said:
ONLY WHEN YOU ARE READY.
“ ‘Only when you are ready,’ ” Luna read.
“When we’re ready…” Harry pondered, not finishing his thought.
They stood staring at the wall. Turning to look back where they came from, there was still nothing. Returning his gaze to the wall, Harry wondered what they had to be ready for.
Luna moved backwards, slowly creeping towards the wall, and sat leaning her back against it. Harry joined her, and they rested. Not because they were tired, but to find out what they had to be ready for.
“I’m ready,” Harry said after nothing happened.
“Me, too,” Luna seconded. “I am also prepared-for-whatever-is-to-come.”
There was no change. They continued leaning against the wall. Luna looked straight up at it, seeing the letters from underneath. No secret messages decoded before her eyes, so she relaxed her neck to look at the floor. The floor held no interest for her though, as it looked just like the ceiling, which looked like every single wall, except for this one”if there were any walls but this one.
Harry stopped thinking about anything. This was not like either of them expected obviously, and they had no way out. At least, not until they were ready, it seemed. But what would happen when they were ready?
“Are you ready, though?” Luna asked Harry all of a sudden. It was the first time they’d spoken directly to each other this whole while.
“What do you mean?” Harry asked.
“Are you ready, to see them? Or see what they’ve become back here, in whatever this place is?”
Harry thought about it. “I don’t know.” He’d seen Sirius, talked to him and his parents even, using that Resurrection Stone. But that had been when he’d been about to join them…. “Oh!” He realized suddenly what the wall meant.
Luna glanced over, curious.
“Are you ready, Luna?” Harry asked.
“I want to see my mother, of course””
“But are you ready for this?” Harry asked, jumping up and waving his arms wildly around him. “Are you ready for death? Afterlife? Joining them and being gone, forever?”
“Oh!” Luna exclaimed, jumping up also. “Oh!”
This was a conundrum. After some thought, Luna replied as best she could.
To the wall, Luna spoke solemnly, “I am not ready. Not for death, no. I have a lot to do, with my father and friends, and I think if I died now I’d be… missing a lot.” The answer came easier than she expected. It was apparent that she couldn’t die: she was meant to do something, she was not ready. Not at all.
Harry turned to the wall also. “I’m going to be a father soon…. I want to see my son, and raise him. I want to see my godson and my wife again. I was ready for this, once, but now I don’t think I can leave without it doing more hurt than good.”
Luna nodded at Harry. If they weren’t ready for death, maybe they weren’t ready to see the dead.
Still, nothing appeared to be transforming on the wall. The once-cryptic message did not change, and the arch with the veil didn’t appear.
Then the words slid around on the wall, blending and turning from stone-grey to a thousand colors that were all mixed into an abstract pattern. A picture formed, a blue sky and green grass, a familiar lake and tree line. The mural then leapt off the wall and took over every white space where Harry and Luna were trapped. The scene came to life and words pounded in their ears, from some deep place inside their minds came the word “Lily”.
There was Lily, running with her first year friends, late to their first Care of Magical Creatures lessons. There were faint sounds, laughter and happy voices. Harry and Luna couldn’t walk around, they saw everything from an overhead view. Not like viewing a pensieve memory, but more like they were watching from some invisible cloud close to the heads of these students.
They watched Lily make her way through her first day at Hogwarts, doing wonderfully in all her classes. Harry saw Professor Slughorn tell her what great potential she had in potions, and saw the old Charms professor give ten points for Lily’s perfect hovering charm.
They saw Lily and Severus Snape talk about their first days in the Library before dinner. Then it morphed”they watched Lily’s happiest moments in school, then summer rushing by: spent with girl friends at the shore and with her best friend Sev at the park by Spinner’s End. There was no Petunia in these happy days.
Second year at Hogwarts, with Lily getting perfect marks in classes, practicing spells on early Saturday mornings on the grounds with Sev. Talking with friends over breakfast, Harry even noticed his father, James at the sidelines occasionally. The summer went by, Lily and Sev both hitting a growth spurt that was visible to Harry and Luna with their time-lapse view of her life.
Time seemed to move faster, there was less Severus in Lily’s life now, though they still met”never in public, however, usually in a secluded corner of the library. Lily had plenty of other friends, from all the houses it looked like. A few days she talked to Remus Lupin, Harry was surprised to see. The summer between her third and fourth year, Lily spent more time with Snape than ever, shockingly. There was even one time when Harry glimpsed a meal between Lily, Petunia and their parents. All troubles looked to be forgotten as the four laughed over some joke that his aunt”his aunt”had just told.
Fourth year was quiet, still Lily enjoyed her classes. Trips to Hogsmeade were prominent memories and there was no Snape, until there were memories of walking through dark halls at night. They talked and laughed as much as ever, but these times were few and far between the outings of Lily and her friends, those sweet spring days spent with feet in the lake and worries dissolved into a bright blue sky. This year’s summer was short, harsh storms kept Lily inside with a small kitten and a stack of spell books. Letters appeared to be written at intervals, Harry saw the word “Sev” often at the top of the parchment, followed by long paragraphs.
Fifth year and Harry saw darkness start to stain the corners of Lily’s happy life. There were still amusing conversations and pleased expressions when there was a job well done in a particularly difficult lesson. Slug Club started cropping up here and there, but there were copies of the Prophet lying around with headlines like, “Death Eaters Attack” or “Are Muggles in Danger of Being Murdered?” The scene from the lake didn’t appear. The summer memories showed no sign of Petunia or Snape, but the O.W.L. results pleased Lily. Another growth spurt.
Sixth year: more of the same classes, and friends. But more often now, James Potter would appear… a conversation between he and Lily in the Gryffindor Common Room before she set out on Prefect duties; asking to borrow a quill, and a simple smile passed between the two faces. That summer, a letter came with a Head Girl badge for Lily. She began writing a letter, starting out “Oh Sev, you’ll never guess”” then stopped, whisking away the name with a small flick of her wand; she squeezed in the name ‘James’, and continued writing just as happily.
Seventh year for Lily, and he saw her trip on the train. Just the most every-day moments now looked like they were the most special to her. Conversations about the weather were like heart-to-hearts, as they watched Lily comfort some friends on the loss of their family members. Dating James came up in the middle of the year, and Harry saw a few trips to Hogsmeade, late night Head duties evolved into a walk on the grounds, stargazing by the lake or from the Astronomy Tower.
Summer approached more quickly than any other year’s. Lily and James joined the Order of the Phoenix, they watched Sirius come to a meeting on his brand new motorcycle. James and Lily got engaged one night, a year after they graduated from Hogwarts; the wedding several months later and it was the most joyful Harry had seen Lily”the whole scene was glowing, tinged by her emotions. Then Harry saw her telling James she was pregnant”they were both overjoyed; the hospital scene was as exuberant to everyone there as the wedding had been; a scene from another day, still in the hospital where Sirius excepted the responsibility of being Harry’s godfather, and was ecstatic.
Every memory from there on out included a baby Harry in some way. Luna and Harry watched Harry grow up, making James, Lily, and all their friends smile. Harry saw his first Christmas and Easter, and on his birthday he even saw himself smash the ugly vase his aunt had sent for Christmas by knocking it while on his little toy broom. The last memory was of Lily watching Harry and James play in the living room, James shooting bubbles at Harry with his wand, small jack-o-lanterns by the fireplace and leaf decorations on the walls celebrating Harry's second Halloween.
The image froze. The colors began melting and transforming again, turning to an abstract of swirls and circles before slowly forming a new setting.
A/N: Hmm… This chapter was a lot longer than I thought it would be! But that’s okay. Actually, this whole story is going in a completely different direction than I planned it to. Oh well; I actually really like this chapter. Tell me your favorite part, I’ll tell you mine! :) Or tell me your least favorite: constructive criticism is good for the soul. (Yeah, I’m practically begging for reviews. Don’t disappoint!)