Always

"Stay close to me," he had said as they walked down the crowded corridor. The girl clutched his hand tightly as he pulled her closer. They were now walking shoulder to shoulder. He could feel her breath on his cheek. They began to walk faster, moving quickly and silently through the crowd of blank faces. Up ahead he thought he saw one of his friends move swiftly out of view. He shook his head. He had no friends here.

"Harry?" Harry stopped. The hand he had been holding was gone. There was no warm breath on his cheek, and there was no one in the corridor.

"Ginny?" He called back, trying to keep the terror from his voice. Nothing. Not even the slightest sound was returned. Harry began to walk. He didn't know where he was walking, but he knew he didn't want to stop. As he went he called for those he loved, "Ron! Hermione! Sirius! Mum! Dad!" but no one came.

Harry reached the end of the corridor shaking with fear. He looked around and tried to place where he was. He didn't recognise it, and then a crib in the corner of the room caught his gaze. He moved towards it slowly, his heart beating loudly in his chest, and only when he saw it was empty did he let out a sigh of relief.

A sound from below made him freeze. It was a scream. A scream he had heard once before. "No," he said quietly and tried to back out of the room the way he had come, but there was no way out. The only door led downstairs and Harry knew that wasn't where he wanted to be.

Just when he had made up his mind to risk downstairs, the door flew open and a woman with red hair came racing in. She was carrying a baby. She slammed the door shut behind her and put the baby into his cot.

"Harry be brave… be safe," she whispered to the crying boy. The older Harry began to shake his head.

"NO!" he repeated, this time louder. He tried to reach his mother, for the woman was Lily Potter, but he couldn't move. "No no no!" he cried over and over again as he watched his Mother murdered by Voldemort. Tears fell hot and fast from his eyes as Voldemort stepped over Lily's body and made his way towards baby Harry. Voldemort raised his wand and uttered the killing curse. Almost immediately the screams ended.

Harry opened his eyes to see what had happened and found he was staring at his eleven year old self. The eleven year old appeared to be looking through him, towards something. As Harry looked at the young boy he realised where they were. Turning slowly he saw it. He saw him. They were standing in front of the Mirror of Erised. Quirrell was standing beside them.

Harry watched as his younger self fought against Quirrell using his touch. Nothing made sense to Harry anymore. He turned away and hoped he would find his way home when he saw a shadow leap from the darkness. Curious, and desperate to get away from Quirrell and the boy, he followed it to where it stood behind the Mirror.

"Mum? Dad?" he asked in surprise as he reached the shadows. Lily and James Potter did not answer Harry, but continued to stare at the battle being fought between Quirrell and the younger boy. When the boy Harry won, Lily and James let out a round of applause.

"My boy, I knew he could do it," a beaming James exclaimed. "He gets it from my side of the family you know." Lily gave a watery chuckle.

"I just wish we could be with him properly," she said as tears continued to slide down her face. James placed an arm around his wife and pulled her into a hug.

"I know. I do too." Harry gave a small smile as he saw Albus Dumbledore come down the stairs to the eleven year olds aid. Almost too quickly he was plunged into nothingness, and then was thrust into the Chamber of Secrets, where a twelve year old Harry was fighting the Basilisk.

He was delighted to see his parents were there too, watching him. When he stabbed the Basilisk through the mouth with the sword of Gryffindor his parents let out another round of applause, which soon turned to Lily's sobs once again as she realised he had been poisoned. Fawkes saved Harry and his parents let out identical sighs of relief.

Again and again Harry was thrust into nothingness and forced to watch something from his past. He saw himself fighting the dementors at the lake, saw himself face off against Voldemort for the first time, saw himself and his friends running through the department of mysteries and saw when he used the resurrection stone.

All through Harry's life his parents had been watching him. They had been praising him for his achievements and scolding him for his mistakes. Harry watched as he defeated Voldemort for the final time. There were his parents, beaming and applauding along with everyone else. Harry noticed that Sirius was there too, and he realised that Sirius must have joined Lily and James in watching him.

Harry waited to be thrust into nothingness. He was and when he remerged he was flooded in sunlight. He couldn't picture where he was until he saw fiery red hair in a white dress. It was his wedding. He looked around and saw his parents and Sirius watching with the rest of the audience. Lily was crying.

"What's the matter Lily?" James asked quietly, as if he didn't want to disrupt the ceremony.

"I just love him so much, I wish I could have been with him," she replied softly. James pulled her into a hug and allowed her to cry onto his shoulder. The wedding had ended and everyone was on their feet ready for the reception, but Harry's parents remained where they were.

"He's a man now Lily, he can take care of himself," James began slowly, "I think it's time we left him." Lily looked up at her husband and shook her head. "We've watched over him for more than twenty years, we can't keep going like this."

"We can and we must!" Lily cried, her eyes still full of tears. James let out a sigh as he made eye-contact with Sirius.

"Okay."

"I can't stay," said Sirius blankly. "The doorway was not open to me as long as it is to you."

"I'm sorry Sirius," said Lily as she hugged him tightly. "You were good to him. Thank you." Lily stepped aside and allowed the two best friends to hug.

"I'll see you on the other side," Sirius whispered to James as tears fell from his eyes. James pulled away and took his wife's hand. Together they watched as Sirius turned and walked into nothing, and the reception went along behind them.

For many years Lily and James stayed to watch Harry. They saw the births of their grandchildren and were honoured when they heard the names.

"James Sirius Potter, Albus Severus Potter and Lily Luna Potter," Lily said with a broad grin on her face. "I have never been so proud of him!" James smiled along with her, happy for his son.

They continued to watch as Harry lived on and his children grew older. When James, Albus and Lily were adults and had children of their own did Harry pass the invisibility cloak along to his eldest, and welcomed death. He had done more in his life than he had ever felt possible.

As they watched their son die, Lily and James turned and followed Sirius into nothing. Their doorway was closing but they made it to the other side before it was shut completely. As they made their way through they found many familiar faces. Lupin, Dumbledore, Bathilda Bagshot and Sirius were all there, waiting for them.

They made their way towards Sirius and were greeted with a hello and a hug. As James and Sirius talked Lily took to staring at the doorway. He would be coming through soon. He had too.

The sky turned dark and Lily began to lose hope. She was worried he wouldn't have made it. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Dumbledore.

"I believe you were waiting for someone?" he asked with the hint of a smile. Lily looked to Dumbledore's side and saw her elderly son standing with the support of Dumbledore's arm.

"Harry!" she screamed and hugged him tightly. As she did she felt him change. His wrinkles disappeared and he began to get shorter. Lily pulled away from him and saw that his hair was turning brown and his clothes were changing. "Wha-?" she began.

"I think Harry as something he needs to tell you," explained Dumbledore. Lily felt a hand enclose hers and saw as James walked up beside her.

"Before I came through, someone spoke to me. He asked if I wanted an answer to my pain," Harry began, "I said yes. I was taken back to the day you were murdered. I watched as you sacrificed your lives to save me. Then I was taken to when I fought Quirrell. You were there. I watched you as you watched me through all of the hard times in my life. You stayed close to me when I asked you too, you always had. When I made it back to the doorway after seeing this he asked if I wanted a second chance."

"A second chance? At what?" Harry looked at Dumbledore who gave an encouraging nod. "At life with you." Lily and James exchanged a puzzled glance. A light blinded them and they were forced to close their eyes, when they opened them they were sitting in their living room in Godric's Hollow. Dumbledore was sitting with them.

"Dumbledore! What's happened? Where are we?" asked Lily.

"You are still on the other side I'm afraid my dear; however your house has been rebuilt here. Your son was asked if he wanted a second chance at life with you, he said yes." It was then the sound of crying hit Lily's ears. She looked at James and then back to Dumbledore, but Dumbledore had disappeared. The crying continued.

"You don't think?" James began. As one, they clasped hands and made their way upstairs to the bedroom at the end of the hallway. Slowly, they entered the room and turned on the light. To one side of the room, was a crib. Lily let go of her husband's hand and strode towards the crib. When she saw what was inside she burst into tears. "What is it? What's wrong?" asked James. He crossed the room and looked inside the crib himself.

Wrapped in a blue blanket was their son, their baby son, his red fists clenched and waved angrily in the air, his face scrunched up and his mouth open in a loud wail. Lily reached into the crib and picked him up, bouncing him up and down gently.

"We've got him back James," she said softly, "we've got him back." James reached into the crib and pulled out a piece of parchment that Harry had been laying on. "What does it say?"

"Stay close to me." James showed Lily the parchment. She kissed Harry on his forehead and he stopped crying.

"Always."