Enchanting Melodies (HP SI)

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20 April 1995, Mount Olympus, Greece

Harry collapsed to the ground in exhaustion the moment the pressure finally lifted. He gazed skyward, marvelling as the veil of darkness slowly unravelled, revealing the clear blue sky once more. He never imagined he would be happy to see it again. The Avalanche had ceased. Grindelwald's final attack had essentially flattened the mountain, causing the realm to slowly revert to a normal mountain, likely teeming with monsters, but free from any dimensional chaos.

It was official. Kronos' ultimate masterpiece was finally destroyed and erased along with his children's legacy. Harry couldn't help but wonder if any of the other champions had survived. He assumed that only his school and Olympus Academy had reached the Labyrinth, meaning the rest must have been on the mountain's surface as it collapsed. He didn't have many friends at other schools, perhaps only Fleur Delacour, and even then, she probably still believed he was dead, and she didn't participate in this task for some reason.

However, that didn't mean he wanted them to perish because Dumbledore and Grindelwald had chosen to destroy Olympus' remaining gods, and the Academy had ignored safety regulations, instead sending students to a mountain filled with dangerous creatures. It was ironic; Harry never expected this particular task to be the most perilous. Honestly, he had fully anticipated that the final task at Hogwarts would result in many deaths. Strangely enough, Grindelwald's last attack, which transformed their surroundings into a realm of pure darkness, had likely eliminated any other survivors.

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, the air felt lighter and breathable, though it still carried the bitter tang of ash. Harry's gaze shifted downward, his chest tightening as he stared at the spot where Lily had stood. There was nothing left but faint traces of her magic, like fading embers in the wind.

He had never been so challenged in a fight before and knew that things could have gone disastrously many times. He couldn't help but let out a bitter chuckle. He had been warned repeatedly that actively trying to thwart Dumbledore's and Grindelwald's plans was a bad idea and that he would earn their wrath. And yet, the moment he ceased trying to stop them, he had caused irreparable damage to their schemes and ended up having to fight them.

All he wanted was for Daphne to be safe. Seeing her so vulnerable and hurt made his body act on its own, striving to ensure her well-being. He needed a break. This day had been nothing but one mess after another, leaving him barely any chance to process anything.

He stood up and stared at where Lily and Grindelwald had been. He had been hesitant to trust the redhead initially, having experienced nothing but betrayal from her since she entered his life. She was a complex person, he knew that. She was selfish and extremely unstable, but also brilliant, and he could justify many of her personality quirks—if he could call them that—as products of what the Department of Mysteries had done to her.

Nevertheless, he wanted nothing to do with her when she abandoned him at Durmstrang, proving her words were just that—words. And yet, when he was exhausted and battling Grindelwald, something far more powerful than him, while he was drained from repelling what were effectively gods, she came to help.

He never expected to see her again. He hadn't even wanted to. He wasn't foolish. She had obviously come because of the magical release Grindelwald and Dumbledore were planning, probably hoping to restore her connection to her dimension. Yet, after achieving her objective, she stayed and fought off Grindelwald for him.

To say he was confused would be an understatement. He didn't know how to feel. There was a look in her eyes during their fight—a pure joy despite their perilous situation. Harry had abandoned understanding her long ago, but never in a thousand years would he have expected her final gamble. They had fought well, considering everything. He had struck Grindelwald with his strongest attack, one that should have killed anything. Lily had even ensured there wouldn't be a body to return to if the Champion of the Dark tried to come back. And yet he did.

Harry had no idea how that was possible. His theory was that Grindelwald survived his Colt due to his connection to the dark, allowing him to possess his own body again. Yet, there wasn't a body to possess in the first place. Did the Darkness manifest somehow in a way that crafted Grindelwald a new body to possess or something? This was completely new ground and what he heard with his Arcane Hearing was completely alien, so much so that he had no idea what was happening.

It was like whatever happened was in some sort of fundamentally different language, one that Harry could not understand. And yet, as he sang, fully consumed by his Arcane Hearing, he stopped it, he staved it off. Somehow. He didn't even know how he did it, and while that raised a lot of questions, it was proof that he could defy the Dark. Which also meant that he could defy the Light as well.

It was a step forward from being unable to even perceive the Light and Dark Champions properly with his Arcane Hearing. Being near Dumbledore gave him a headache since his Arcane Hearing could only perceive a very loud ringing, and Grindelwald was more akin to a void, swallowing everything that came near him. Being able to recognize their magic beyond these two characteristics was already a very big advantage.

It was how he knew that Grindelwald whatever Lily had done, there were no traces of Grindelwald anywhere. He wasn't sure what she did, really; he was too focused on staving off the Darkness at the time. However, he didn't think she killed him. He would have felt that just like he felt Lily die.

It was a completely instinctual feeling, knowing that the redhead perished, which was odd since she was supposed to return to her realm. It was why she had anchored herself there initially, a way to cheat death through 'ascension'. He wasn't really a fan of this idea. It felt fundamentally wrong, unnatural. Human souls were not supposed to live for so long, and there would have been consequences for defying Death.

Still, he didn't know why he knew that Lily died. The resurrection stone felt heavy on his finger. It was as if he noticed it for the first time since the fight ended. Using it to summon Lily shouldn't work. She wasn't bound to the material realm, not anymore, and yet, something inside him decided to take the chance. He channelled his magic through the resurrection stone, and motes of golden light began to appear before him, forming the shape of Lily Evans.

She gave him a sly smile. "Hello, Harry. I'm glad to see you're alright."

"Lily? How? You were supposed to return to your dimension."

Her smile turned sad. "I've been trying to resist the pull as much as possible. That's why you were able to summon me. To think you had something like that up your sleeve. You never cease to surprise me, Harry."

"Why wouldn't you want to go back?" he asked.

"Considering I practically drained my entire realm dry in that last attack, returning wouldn't have been wise. Normally, realms recycle their own energy over time, but since someone punctured a hole in mine…"

Harry slumped as he grasped the implications. He wasn't an expert in outer dimensions, but he knew Lily's realm would leak whatever energy she had left into the void between worlds, including anything bound to it, like her soul. It was a fate worse than death. She wouldn't have an afterlife or a chance at reincarnation. Instead, she would remain in the void, surrounded by nothing but chaos, being slowly unmade for eternity.

He paled slightly, realizing this fate was due to his decision. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Death has a way of putting things into perspective. I suppose I'm not dead yet, and yet I am. What a weird concept. But it was also my choice to execute that final attack, and I knew the consequences."

"What did you do exactly?" Harry asked.

"What you did to me. It's funny, isn't it? How things come full circle. I used every drop of energy I had to sever his connection to the Dark as much as possible. You already created a crack with your attack, right before."

"But why? You could have caused much less damage and bought yourself and your realm more time."

"He tried to kill my son. He almost did," she simply stated as if it was a fact of life, "I know that we have never been close, Harry, and that was mostly my fault. I had my own reasons for everything I did, even if they probably wouldn't make sense to you, but I look back and I can't help but wonder what I could have done differently. I suppose ever since Durmstrang, I had to reshuffle my priorities a bit. You sacrificed yourself for me that day, for everyone really. I can't really let my own son overshadow me, can I?"

Harry gave her a grin, "Well, that last attack of yours is definitely a very fitting final hurrah."

"Yes, I sacrificed my life's work and didn't even kill him. It's a very humbling experience, really. You did the same to me while improvising and under duress without even killing yourself in the process."

"To be fair to you, this was probably the most Grindelwald had ever been injured in his entire life. I don't even think that Dumbledore did that much damage to him during their duel."

She snorted, "Lily Evans, the bane of Dark Lords. I like that. I wonder how I'll be remembered. Would it be as the Red Witch? I don't suppose a lot of people even know that I'm still alive after the fire of Godric's Hollow. I guess I'll never know."

Her tone was joking in the end, but Harry could hear the fear in her voice. It was a very natural thing, to fear the unknown, to fear Death, but Lily knew what came after. In a handful of years, maybe even a few months, her realm would be completely subsumed into the void between worlds, her own soul included. She had knowingly done this for him, and while that did not absolve her from all the bullshit she did, Harry could respect her for that.

She continued with a sad tone, "It's funny, isn't it? Even when I was fighting Grindelwald, I didn't understand why I was doing it. It was only after I died that I finally got it, what I had been missing since the Department of Mysteries took me. All I wanted was to be free, but I didn't see what I was losing in my obsession. I never wanted it to come to this, but I suppose my motivations don't mean much. I am the product of my own decisions, even if I regret them. I suppose what I wanted to say to you is to not follow in my footsteps. Whatever comes next, know that I love you and that I am proud of you, Harry."

Harry didn't know how to answer that, and it was obvious that Lily wasn't expecting him to do anything in return. He could feel her soul slipping. She was letting go, accepting her fate despite knowing what awaited her.

She turned back into the golden motes of light, but Harry wouldn't let her go. She had saved his life and sacrificed everything for him. He refused to see her tormented for an eternity because of the only thing she did for him. He channelled whatever energy remained in the Elder Wand, through the resurrection stone. The stone glowed and released a pulse of golden light, which illuminated her soul. He felt his family crest heat up, as the tether that bound Lily's spirit to the fractured realm was snapped.

He felt strangely warm as he felt the surprise in her soul turning into gratefulness before he let go of whatever hold he held over it with the resurrection stone. She slowly faded away to the afterlife, and something felt fundamentally right as the natural order was restored.

Despite knowing that "I hope you like my last gift. Farewell, Lily."

It might have been a trick of the wind, but he heard Lily's voice murmur, "Thank you."

As the last of the golden light dissipated, Harry felt a deep tranquillity settle over him. He took a deep breath, the ash-laden air now feeling lighter and more hopeful. The fight was finally over, and now he only needed to deal with the consequences. He had something now to go on, a weakness to exploit, in the fight against Dumbledore and Grindelwald, and that alone gave him hope. He took a deep breath and created a portal, taking him back to where he left Daphne and the others.

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AN: This chapter was pretty hard to write, to be honest. I'm not very good at goodbyes, but this is it, Lily is finally gone. I hope I did her character justice. To be honest, I kinda had to make her redemption arc a bit quick since it should have been in the fourth and fifth tasks, and I ended up skipping them to this chapter. I still don't regret my decision with that, since I looked at what I had planned and it felt a bit monotone, but I like to think that this arc would have been a lot better if I didn't have to rush a lot of the character development. Anyway, as usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.

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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.