Right in Front of Me

brutal - the final battle

‼️‼️‼️ time jump. draco and neville stayed at hogwarts while hermione and ron went with harry for the horocrux hunting. you can assume everything was pretty canon-ish up until this point. i didn't feel like i needed to write the horocrux hunt because i wasn't going to change the way it happened.

we're picking up when harry decides to sacrifice himself.

with the resurrection stone he meets two friends he has long missed and one new one... who he wasn't ready to see.

And I'm so tired that I might
quit my job, start a new life.
And they'd all be so disappointed,
'cause who am I if not exploited?
And I'm so sick of seventeen,
where's my fucking teenage dream?
If someone tells me one time,
'enjoy your youth' I'm gonna cry.

He brought the stone to his lips, remembering Blaise, remembering Cedric and knowing that he was doing this so that no one else died at Voldemort's hands. He felt an odd comfort thinking that since he's going to die he'll see them both again. He took the stone from his lips and clutched it in his hand.

"And now he's playing hero." His head shot up because the voice he just heard... it's not possible. But there he was. His Blaise, his Blaise was standing there. But... he wasn't dead yet. The stone. He ran to Blaise to grab his hands but he he couldn't touch him, he was a ghost.

"Blaise..." Harry said, heart breaking again seeing him standing there.

"I'm here too... 'the spare' isn't that what I was called?" He turned and saw Cedric standing to the right of him. He smiled and he felt like his heart was bursting.

"Me too." He heard a third voice. He looked to the side of him and saw Neville. Neville... Neville?

"What? Nev? How... what are you doing here? Neville!?" Neville smiled sadly.

"What do you think?" Neville said, shrugging. "I don't regret my choice, Harry. I died protecting people. Just like you're doing now."

"Hey you." Blaise said, Harry looked up. This must be a dream, he thought. But deep down he knew it wasn't. "I know it's not over for you." He said to Harry, and now he was crying, he felt tears streaming down his face.

"It is... I have to die... I'm the last-."

"The last Horocrux we know, we know. We've been waiting for you to figure it out. But Blaise is right, you could come out of this. You're The Boy Who Lived." Cedric said. Harry chuckled.

"Well... it's not looking good for me."

"And what do you think you're doing being so unhappy?" Blaise asked. Harry frowned.

"Er... I kinda had to save the world and everything..." Cedric, Blaise and Neville all laughed

"I mean, why won't you just be with Draco already? I know you want to." Harry froze and he wanted more than anything to be able to grab Blaise's hands.

"I... I can't. You... you're..."

"I'm dead. I died. You deserve to be happy." Harry choked on a sob and he looked into Blaise's eyes.

"But I feel like... I feel like I can't."

"I know, you feel like you're betraying me. But you're not. Loving Draco doesn't mean you loved me any less. And he's a great guy, but he's not going to wait around forever." Harry grasped his heart and took a deep breath.

"Harry, I've seen how much you love Draco... and how much he loves you. You need to do it for yourself, H... and for Draco." Neville said. Harry was crying now. How could Neville be dead? Sweet and kind and loyal and brave... he was dead. Harry took a deep breath.