Bright white light enveloped Harry's vision, and that's when he knew.

"Tell me I've practically died for a third time," he groaned, throwing his arm over his eyes.

"It really is quite impressive," a teasing voice greeted him.

"Sirius?," he asked, jolting upright.

"As in the flesh as I can be."

He opened his arms, and Harry ran into them immediately, tears pooling in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry Sirius. I'm so incredibly sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for Harry. On the contrary, I'm sorry that our time was so short."

"You protected me."

"And you cleared my name. That's all I could ask for. I'm proud of you."

Harry knew this wasn't real, how could it be? He would accept the hug and the closure that his mind was trying to give him.

"Are you going to take up all of his time? Selfish as always, Pads."

"Remus!"

"Hello Harry. It's nice to see you, but I wish it was under different circumstances."

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't even start with that. I knew what I signed up for. Thank you for taking care of Teddy."

"He's doing so well," Harry said with a sniffle. "I promise you that I'll make sure he knows all about you. About all of you. He'll know where he came from, and he won't feel unloved a day in his life."

"That's why I made you godfather. I had been hoping you wouldn't have had to act on that for many years, but you're doing wonderfully."

"Thank you."

The tears were streaming down Harry's face at this point, but he didn't bother to wipe them. It wouldn't do anything anyway, this was all made up.

"What's on your mind Harry?," Remus asked kindly, patting the spot next to him on the bench.

"The fact that this isn't real."

"Who's to say it isn't?"

"The last time I was here, well, not here specifically, Dumbledore told me that it was all happening inside my head. I'm quite glad to not be seeing him again though, I'd rather see the both of you and... well, it makes sense that they're not here. I didn't know them well enough to imagine-"

"Your father's charming good looks?"

"Dad?"

"I told you that I'd be with you until the very end Harry."

Harry threw himself off the bench, into his father's arms. He didn't care one way or the other anymore, he was sobbing profusely now, and when a gentle hand came to rest upon his back, he knew it was his mother.

"My sweet boy," she said softly, rubbing his back.

Harry thought he could stay within his parents' embrace forever, and that thought shocked him enough to put some distance between them, confusing his parents.

"If I stay, I'm dead. This has to be my subconscious. I don't want to die anymore. I found a reason to live again- Draco. Is he okay?!"

"Draco is fine, he's resting," Remus said gently. "He's quite smart, you know. I wish he would have applied himself a bit better in my class, but he was the one who figured out what was wrong with you. He recognized the signs, and he paid attention."

"What's wrong with me? I thought the issue was the fall?"

"Come here Harry," Lily invited, opening her arms for Harry.

He allowed himself to be pulled onto her lap, and she continued speaking softly.

"When Voldemort killed me, you were inadvertently turned into a horcrux when his wand was pointed at you afterwards. When you were close to death during the final battle and the horcrux was removed, your connection left a hole in your magical core. What was left of him had been slowly siphoning your magic away. That's why it was unreliable and you'd feel dizzy and drained."

"Because I was being drained," Harry responded slowly, recounting all of the moment's Draco asked if he was okay.

"You used all of your magic at once to keep yourself and Draco safe. It was like lighting a sparkler and then suddenly depriving the fire of oxygen. It happened so quickly."

"Don't you need magic to fix something caused by magic?"

"A magical transfusion of sorts," Remus explained.

"He didn't."

"He did."

"I could've killed him!"

"You didn't."

"I won't know until I wake up. How do I wake up?"

"You'll wake up on your own time," Sirius said gently. "You're hanging somewhere in between the balance of life and death. Madame Pomfrey is keeping you under so that your bones can heal."

"Wonderful, so I'm stuck here."

"We didn't miss those angsty teenage years after all Lils!"

"No, you just missed everything else," Harry replied bitingly, before he could help it. "I'm sorry, that wasn't fair."

"My son, the youngest seeker in a century! I of course was hoping you'd be a chaser, but your talent far surpassed mine. We were there for all of your matches. We were there the first time you got on that broom and caught the remembrall."

"You couldn't see us, but we were there," Lily replied gently, grabbing Harry's hand.

"Tell me something so I know that this isn't only happening in my head."

"Your magical prognosis wasn't enough? How in Merlin's name could you know any of that when you've been unconscious for two days?," Sirius sassed, yelping as Remus flicked him affectionately.

"Kreacher said you two were together," Harry accused, suddenly remembering the smug words of the house elf.

"We're just friends," Remus replied awkwardly, looking everywhere else.

"That's what Kreacher said! You can't even get it together in the afterlife can you?! Everyone can see that you're both in love with each other, spare us the future dramatics."

"That's my boy! I told you he was like me, I told you! You're far wittier than I am though, you get that from your mother. You've said so many fantastic things, I've been keeping a list of them you know. There's no need to call me sir Professor? And to Snivellus of all people? Perfection."

"You're not one to talk Harry," Sirius muttered.

"I was going to tell him that I was in love with him tonight! Or two nights ago, whenever the ball was! This wasn't directly my fault, that kid was going to get someone killed!"

"But it had to be you, didn't it?," Remus questioned, not unkindly.

"It always has to be me. Once a pig raised for slaughter, always a pig raised for slaughter. You can thank Dumbledore for that. He let me die, led me to believe that it was my duty to die for everyone else. How am I supposed to believe anything else when it's all I've ever known?"

"You look at Draco, and question if it's worth constantly putting him in the pain that he's in now. Listen."

"It's been two days Harry, I hope that you wake up soon. Madame Pomfrey said we've done all we can do, that it's up to you now. Come back to me my darling, I miss you. I can't keep moving our dinner reservations," Draco joked sadly, a sob getting caught in his throat.

"I just hope that I can save you, that it isn't too late. If you knew what I did, you'd be so furious, I know it. I would tell you to remember that feeling, hold onto it. That's how I feel every single time you put yourself into harm's way. I guess I can forgive you this one time, because in the end it was for me, but maybe instead of getting yourself involved in duels, you get a professor yeah?

I know you have a blatant distrust of authority figures, and for a good reason, but Headmistress McGonagall has always had your best interests at heart. Next time you want to do something stupid, call her will you?

I'll keep telling you that you're not alone every single day, for the rest of our very long lives you know. And I do mean very long. If I emphasized that to you and you were awake right now you'd be laughing. It's not as fun laughing at my own jokes, I already know I'm hilarious. Come back to me so you can reinflate my ego Potter."

"You both have a way with words don't you?," Sirius asked with a snort.

"At least they're doing something about their feelings instead of pretending they're not there," James retorted.

"Do you mean when they kissed and didn't talk about it?," Remus asked in amusement.

"You watched that?!"

"We don't need to get into what the two of you have done and not spoken about," Lily interrupted. "We've been given more time with Harry, let's enjoy it. It will be a very long time before we see him again," she said firmly.

"Third time's the charm? Even the house elf thinks the both of you were a perfect match and Kreacher barely tolerated you," Harry said pointedly. "I know about wasting time, and you've wasted more than I have. You both deserve to be happy, that's all I'm saying."

"Always wise beyond your years," Remus said sadly, surprising everyone by grabbing Sirius's hand.

"Fancy a walk Pads?"

"Is that a dog joke?," he huffed, tugging Remus away from Lily, James, and Harry.

Harry watched as the scenery changed to the familiarity of the Gryffindor common room, and was sandwiched between his parents on the couch.

"What questions do you have?," Lily asked.

"More than we have time for. Was it worth it?"

"Be a little more specific Prongslet."

"Everything. Me."

Harry's heart clenched at the nickname that he didn't even know he had.

"You were our greatest achievement Harry, and you don't know how sorry we are that we didn't have more time with you," Lily answered honestly.

"It was my fault for changing the secret keeper. I never would've thought that Wormtail..."

"You can't change the past James, you know this. I would do it all again Harry."

"I'd give up everything in the vault to have you back. I needed you. I needed someone, but I had no one. It hurts."

"We were there for most things. We tried to be. It's hard being like this, you only have so much energy, and they don't want you to interfere."

"Are you there during the picnics? When I sit with you at your graves and talk to you?"

"Every single one Harry. We are there for every single one," James promised. "So are Moony and Padfoot. And it's okay, everything that you're feeling. Draco's grown into a fine man, and we accept you for who you are."

Harry couldn't remember the last time he had been able to freely cry, and it seemed it was the only thing his body was able to do. They talked for what felt like days, and Harry finally felt like he knew who he was.

"I'm afraid that our time is almost up. It moves differently here. Make sure to thank Minnie for us. I have a message for her too, but now, to prove to you that this is real, that you're not making it up. That we're here for you. Listen closely..."

Harry cried again through his goodbyes with everyone else, but he finally felt as if he had a sense of closure. He came to, waking up from the group hug and kiss on the head he had been left with. Through it all, Harry kept repeating what his father had told him, afraid of forgetting. He repeated it so much so, that when he finally woke up, they were the first words out of his mouth.

"There's a secret door to the cellar under the bedroom rug," he blurted out, before his eyes even opened.