In the Afterlife

Harry groaned as he picked himself up off the ground.

Ah, he recognized this place. It wasn't much of a surprise that he was back here again, either. He was fairly old; he'd surpassed even his own expectations and lived to be one hundred and nine years old. Of course, he now looked like he had when he'd been here last time, seventeen years old and unblemished, as well as naked…

He wished he were clothed, also like last time, and robes appeared. He pulled them on. Then a voice came from behind him that startled him very much.

"Harry," it said. Said man turned around very slowly to see James Potter, the father he'd never known. Unless, of course, you counted the first fifteen months of his life.

"Dad," he choked. His throat was constricted with emotion. They embraced.

"So, you've finally come to join us," James said, smiling. "We've been waiting for so long. Lily, Remus, Sirius, Albus, Severus and I especially."

"Severus?" Harry asked, startled.

"Yes," answered his dad with a slight grin. "He wants to apologize for the hard time he gave you, and he wants to know what possessed you to name your kid after him. I think we all want to know the answer to that question, actually." James added.

"Well," Harry said slowly, "he was dead, and I wanted to make amends somehow, and Al had kind of a theme going—dead Hogwarts Headmasters," he laughed slightly. "Ginny and I agreed that Severus deserved the best honor we could give him, so we named our second son 'Albus Severus.'"

"That makes sense," James grinned. "Now, to business. I've been sent here, as you might've guessed, to ask you whether you want to move on or return as a ghost. Which is it?"

"Move on, no question," Harry answered promptly. He thought about everyone he missed: his Mum, Dumbledore, Remus, Sirius, Dora, Fred, Colin, Molly, Arthur, Bill, Minerva…even Snape, although they probably wouldn't ever get over the animosity of his school years. "I can't wait to see everyone…"

James looked at him, clearly delighted. "They're all so excited! We should hurry, Hermione's about to lose to her liver cancer, it's been about a year and a half in the living time already, and her Mum wants to fetch her…"

About time, then, Harry thought. Hermione had been battling the cancer for almost eight years before he'd died, and that in and of itself was a miracle. He followed his father over to something in the wall. It was almost like using the Floo, but it was a luminescent purple and you didn't have to speak your destination. They whipped out of sight, and thus Harry went into the peaceful realm of Death.