The Last True Gryffindor
The Gryffindor Ghost
Harry walked slowly past the rows of still-seated mourners, refusing to catch anyone's eye or stop to talk. He paused at the last row and looked up at the castle, eyes searching for and finding the tower that held Dumbledore's study. He stared up at the un-lit windows of the circular room and said a final goodbye to the greatest wizard the world had ever known.
He resumed his pace, heading towards the castle doors. Once inside, he paused, turning slowly around in a full circle, taking in the entrance hall properly for the fist time in years. The stately marble staircase at the opposite end, torches flickering on their brackets along the walls, the four sparkling hour glasses, the green emeralds for Slytherin and red rubies of Gryffindor's newly-repaired hour glass on equal levels, glittering brightly in the sunlight spilling from the open door. But even the sunlight failed to reach the high ceiling of the magnificent hall, the top of the walls fading into darkness, the rafters lost in gloom. Harry look one last sad look around before moving on up the marble stairs.
He passed slowly through the levels of Hogwarts, pausing outside the doors of various rooms which held the most memories for him. The defence against the dark arts classroom and office on the first floor, now dark and empty, but which had over the past six years housed six different teachers and provided Harry with six unique and interesting years, both good and bad. Harry peered through the door and was for a moment transported back into his third year, the room filled with odd looking creatures, the young teens seated at the desks, alert and interested, wands clutched in their hands, listening as the tired-looking but smiling professor demonstrated wand movements for them to follow, looking more like a favourite uncle than a teacher, frayed robes hanging off his frame, hair streaked with grey, but kind eyes looking out from a young face, hands gesturing as he explained an important theory.
Next Harry saw the classroom become a beehive of activity, chaos erupting as students dived under desks out of the way of the pixies wreaking havoc in the room, books flying out of windows, mad giggles from tiny figures streaking across the room, shrieks and yells from pupils and the dismayed and dishevelled looking professor at the desk, waving his hands and shouting, eyes panicked and darting for an escape route out of the chaos.
"It's easy to get lost in memories" a sombre voice intoned, bringing Harry back to the present. "Wha-?" he began, looking around. Nearly Headless Nick floated the rest of the way through the wall and hovered beside Harry. " But the past is the past and we must move on and let it be" he said quietly, looking down at the boy beside him.
Harry let out a noisy breath and turned away from the ghost "I know Nick, but that's easy for you to say, your past is, quite literally, ancient history. Mine's still churning out behind me isn't it? Not easy to forget events that happened two years ago rather than two hundred" Harry said as he moved on down the corridor and up to the second floor. Nick floated up through the floor beside him as he came to a stop outside the stone gargoyle behind which was the entrance to Dumbledore's office and private quarters.
"You think he'll come back Nick?" Harry asked after a while, staring at the gargoyle, not really expecting an answer from the ghost beside him. "No, I suppose not, there's no need to even answer that. He once referred to death as the next great adventure, almost as if it was another extension of life. No, he wont come back" Harry said sadly and continued on through the castle, Nick floating along silently beside him. Harry looked over at the ghost and saw him with a thoughtful expression on his face. Nick caught Harry's look and opened his mouth to speak. "You know Harry" he said slowly "I'm not so sure you are right. Albus Dumbledore was always an enigma, no one can seriously admit to knowing him completely. Maybe he will decide to return as a ghost, but then maybe it will be as you say and he will continue on to the 'next great adventure'. Who can say for certain?" with a ghostly shrug he finished, and the two lapsed again into silence and went on up to Gryffindor tower.
Harry entered the tower for what he knew to be the last time and absorbed all the details of the common room, hoping to never forget his home for the last six years of his life. Or rather, he thought, the first six years of my life. I wasn't alive, not fully, until I came to Hogwarts.
He collected his things from his dormitory and exited the tower with a last glance around the room. This is where my life began, where my real family are, where everything important has happened, home to my best memories.
He swiftly walked back through the castle, trunk hovering by his side, broomstick over his shoulder and the Gryffindor ghost keeping him company. Harry stopped in the entrance hall and looked out through the doors, across the grounds. There were still hundreds of people by the lake, no one quite ready to leave just yet, all wanting to pay their last respects. Harry turned to Nick "Well… goodbye Nick, you've been a good friend over the years. Thanks." he said, a little awkwardly. "I would shake your hand but…" he trailed off with a ghost of a grin, which Nick returned.
"Goodbye Harry" he paused, sad eyes studying the boy before him "I wont see you again, will I?" he asked.
Harry shook his head and smiled sadly. He lingered another moment, looking around him again before picking up his broom and walking to the door. He paused on the threshold. "He's really gone hasn't he" he said then looked back at the ghost, a deep sadness in his eyes, face pained. "He wont come back Nick. He's really gone." Harry whispered. He drew a shaky breath and visibly pulled himself together before walked out of the door.
The Gryffindor ghost watched him go, a tall and determined young man walking away from his old familiar life, into a new uncertain future. He seemed to possess some inner core of strength and will that drove him on, away from all he loved into a dangerous world where the absence of Albus Dumbledore left a gaping void. Nick felt admiration and pride well up inside of him as he watched Harry Potter, the last true Gryffindor, walk away from Hogwarts, safety and the only home he'd ever loved.
He didn't once look back.