The-Boy-Who-Lived/Neglected/Lied/Abounded/Betrayed/Fed Up/Left/Tortured /kills

The King's Cross Station

"Harry." He spread his arms wide, and his hands were both whole and white and undamaged. "You wonderful boy. You brave, brave man. Let us walk."

Stunned, Harry followed as Dumbledore strode away from where the flayed child lay whimpering, leading him to two seats that Harry had not previously noticed, set some distance away under that high, sparkling ceiling. Dumbledore sat down in one of them, and Harry fell into the other, staring at his old headmaster's face. Dumbledore's long silver hair and beard, the piercingly blue eyes behind half-moon spectacles, the crooked nose: Everything was as he had remembered it. And yet…

"But you're dead," said Harry.

"Oh yes," said Dumbledore matter-of-factly.

"Then… I'm dead too?"

"Ah," said Dumbledore, smiling still more broadly. "That is the question, isn't it? On the whole, dear boy, I think not."

They looked at each other, the old man still beaming.

"Not?" repeated Harry.

"Not," said Dumbledore.

"But…" Harry raised his hand instinctively toward the lightning scar. It did not seem to be there. "But I should have died - I didn't defend myself! I meant to let him kill me!"

"And that," said Dumbledore, "will, I think, have made all the difference."

Happiness seemed to radiate from Dumbledore like light; like fire: Harry had never seen the man so utterly, so palpably content.

"Explain," said Harry, "How can I be alive?"

"I think you know," said Dumbledore. "Think back. Remember what he did, in his ignorance, in his greed and his cruelty. He took your blood and rebuilt his living body with it! Your blood in his veins, Harry, Lily's protection inside both of you! He tethered you to life while he lives! He took your blood believing it would strengthen him. He took into his body a tiny part of the enchantment your mother laid upon you when she died for you. His body keeps her sacrifice alive, and while that enchantment survives, so do you and so does Voldemort's one last hope for himself."

Harry was still confused - "B—But B—But," her cried. "My body... How can you say that I'm still alive... I don't think that any of my friends are going to think of doing the kind of ritual that brought Voldemort back and without a body..."

It was now Dumbledore's turn to be confused - "He killed you with the Killing Curse my boy. Avada Kedavra kills without leaving a mark on the body so your body should be right where you left it. And as I just explained because of the blood connection all you need to do is — go back. Go back and you will be alive again. There should be absolutely no need for any ritual!"

Harry slapped his forehead - "Bugger," he cried emphatically. "Bugger it all for... Damn it! You know, you really should have let me know that was your plan. The problem was that I thought I had to die and..." He snorted in disbelief. "Bloody hell! Yet another frigging time your habit of keeping things too close to the vest has buggered things up royally!"

Harry turned around and slugged Dumbledore as hard as he could, his fist pounded into Dumbledore's face with a most satisfying thump. Dumbledore went flying backwards over one of the chairs that littered the place. "Why the hell couldn't you have written a letter or something you damned bloody idiot…. All you had to do was let me know that I had a chance, just knowing that I had a chance of bloody surviving would have been enough and we wouldn't be in this mess. Urgh, I don't even have words to describe what a fucked up incompetent you are..."

Dumbledore was absolutely astonished. The punch hadn't hurt of course, since he was in fact dead but just the fact that Harry had hit him was an incredible surprise to him. "My dear boy… I—I—I have no idea what you are so annoyed about. You can go back… Why are you so angry? Everything has worked out perfectly. What is the problem?"