Chapter 103: 3-5

"Harry,"

A whisper. Draco. An invisible hand touched my cheek, forcing my neck to turn to the left. ── Ah.

"Sorry, I—just a moment—"

"Harry?"

"Okay, okay. Let's go ahead, Evans. Harry, make sure you take a leak out of sight."

"Harry would never do such a vulgar thing!"

Leaving my parents' voices behind, I walked away. ── There 'he' was, walking ahead all by himself.

"Snape,"

Illuminated by the sunlight, which made his sickly pale complexion stand out even more, he turned around with dark, clammy eyes.

"...Harry."

"You can tell?"

"How could I mistake you? The thought of there being two of your kind... is chilling."

To him, it must be a nightmare. Of course it is. ── That's all it is. No ulterior motive. Even though I knew that, pain and joy welled up inside me at the same time.

Could you tell at a single glance? ── Did you know? If so... did you hate 'me' even while understanding that I was different?

"Do not concern yourself with me. Go back to your savage fellow Gryffindors at once."

His black hair swayed, and the back of his robes, which looked dingy perhaps because of the impression he gave, moved further away. I didn't have the courage to pursue him. In the first place, I had no real purpose in speaking to him. Lowering my fingers that had begun to reach out──

"You resemble Lily."

"—! Sna—"

"Harry,"

The hand I reached out once more was grabbed by a completely different hand.

"Evans is being noisy. Hurry up and get back."

"Sirius..."

A strikingly handsome boy stood beside me, looking displeased.

"You don't have your wand, do you? If anything happens to you, Evans will go mad. If that happens, James will never shut up about it. You trying to cause more trouble than we do? You're ten years too early for that."

With his cynical smile, he was truly handsome. The adult him had been fierce and grim—while Maria's version of him was childish yet cheerful. I had never known him to smile like this, on equal terms like a friend. ── No, it wasn't that I'd never seen it. Surely, both versions of Sirius made faces like this in front of their old friends. It was just that—to him, both Harry and Maria were children to be protected. That's why—I didn't know it.

"Sirius,"

Feeling somewhat helpless, I squeezed his hand. Sirius didn't pull away. ...A bit surprising.

"Hey,"

"Yeah."

"You... or rather, Lucius's son too... I've got that right, don't I?"

"Yeah. That's right."

"Right. And, well... you still don't know how to get back to the future, do you?"

"Yeah."

"Until then, what are you gonna do... I mean, what if from here on—you can't go back... that's what I'm asking."

"Yeah."

"As for family—well, I'm sure James will sort something out, but you know, it doesn't hurt to have more people to rely on."

"Sirius,"

We've had an exchange like this before. Though it wasn't long enough ago to feel nostalgic, a wave of nostalgia along with the warmth of that day spread through my chest.

"—Just say it clearly."

"............You can rely on me, too, you know."

Before I knew it, I had thrown my arms around him as he looked embarrassed. As I thought, Sirius didn't reject me.

"I love you, Sirius."

"Yeah. ...This is throwing me off. Even though you have James's face. If James did this to me, I'd do this."

Sirius makes an exaggerated gagging motion. It reminded me of Ron, and with my arms still wrapped around his neck, I laughed from the bottom of my stomach.

I am happy. There is nothing but kindness for me here. It is blissful. ── So much so that I feel like melting away, dissolving into this world just like this.

"────But that wouldn't be right, would it?"

It was night. Atop the Astronomy Tower, the place where the curtains rose on the battle against the dark, I stood facing him. ── Draco, who had just cast off his Invisibility Cloak.

Draco was smiling. His blonde hair catching the moonlight and his mysterious eyes possessed an unearthly, almost non-human beauty.

"What is this world, Draco?"

Draco continued to gaze at me with the same soft expression as always.

"A parallel world. I told you that, didn't I? Another reality. ── If you wish it to be."

── If I wish it to be.

"If I wish it, it becomes reality?"

"Exactly. If you wish to live in this world, this becomes the world where 'you' are meant to live."

"I see. Then... what about Maria's world?"

Draco gave a feverish, faintly surreal smile.

"A dream. All of it── a bad nightmare."

"You won't be broken, and your parents won't die. Sirius won't be imprisoned in Azkaban, and perhaps Pettigrew won't betray anyone. The curse of being a hero won't fall upon Harry── and Cedric won't die."

"────"

"The second death of Cedric Diggory will all become 'just' a nightmare of yours."

The wind fanned his blonde hair. The moon was beautiful.

"Come, make your choice. No one will blame you. No one will tell you to fight. There is no need for sacrifice. The hero named Harry Potter will not be born. In this world, you are just Harry. You don't have to look at evil or justice anymore."

Entangling me── it is a comforting voice.

Strangling me── it is a gentle warmth.

Dragging me under── it is the whisper of an angel (demon).

"Which one is your reality? Harry (Maria)."

I had taken a step forward.

"You're surprisingly forgetful, aren't you?"

The wind was blowing hard.

"Even though we've repeated it so many times."

The moon was beautiful.

"As for me,"

The world was beautiful.

"—I'm Harry's older sister, you know?"

I was standing in the exact same spot as that person who had once chosen death of their own accord.

"Abandoning my little brother to go to paradise all by myself── Maria would never do such a thing."

It is a world where everything is whole. My parents are alive. Sirius is happy. Pettigrew commits no crime. Lupin doesn't lose his friends. My mentor's soul isn't shattered by the death of his beloved. ── Cedric is not dead.

It is a perfect, beloved place.

But it is not the reality I am meant to live in.

"I don't want to act as if it never happened. Absolutely not. The deaths for 'my' sake── the deaths under my (Maria's) responsibility── I am the one who must never forget them. I must not cast them away."

One more step. I was certain that would end everything. Even as I looked into what lay ahead, strangely, no fear welled up. ── I pretended not to know, unwilling to admit that it was thanks to this man standing beside me.

"Will you tell me just one thing? This world is real. ── But what about 'you'? Is this all happening inside my head?"

Draco smirked with his usual sly expression.

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry."

" "—Harry!!" "

Green eyes and hazel eyes sparkled in the moonlight. The familiar black hair and red hair stood close together. It was a sight that should have been impossible. ── I've had enough miracles.

"Harry... you're leaving, aren't you?"

"Yeah. I'm going back. To my world."

Harry's eyes smiled through his tears.

"Let us give him a grand send-off. ── After all, it is our son's departure."

Maria's eyes laughed mischievously.

" "Goodbye, Harry." "

I held hands with Draco. What was in this hand, what lay ahead── all of it was reality.

"I'm off. ── Dad, Mom!"

The night sky I looked up at while embraced by the wind was beautiful, the warmth in my hand was precious, and the sight of my parents growing smaller was sad── though my voice could no longer reach them.

"You can achieve it! Absolutely── absolutely! Because──── you are our child!!"

When everything is over── so that you can feel proud of me once again.

"—Ria, Maria, honestly... this is more than just a nap. There's a limit to being such a heavy sleeper."

"You're too noisy."

I caught his hand, which had been pinching my cheek, and moved it to my forehead.

"Maria? ...Did you have a bad dream?"

"No. It felt happy, I think. ── But it was a nightmare."

"Stop talking in your sleep. You're being incoherent."

The hand I had moved to my forehead roughly ruffled my bangs. That was a rough gesture for him. Even though he usually acts like an aristocrat.

"—Hey, Draco."

"What?"

I thought I saw the moon behind Draco's back as he looked down at me with an exasperated face. Even though it was still daytime── the world I had just awakened to from my dream was dazzling.

"What color are my eyes?"

"You're strange today. They're hazel, of course."

"Yeah. ...Yes."

I stretched out my arms and forced them around Draco's neck.

"Wh-Hey!"

"That's right, hazel── Dad's eyes!"

With that, I rolled around on the grass, dragging Draco along with me. Today is Sunday. I felt like lying here all day long. Because being alone is lonely── together with you.

"You really are strange today... What kind of dream did you have?"

Surely, the moon tonight will be beautiful.

"Actually──── I forgot."

So, surely, the moon over there must be beautiful too, right? Dad, Mom.

"For example, Sirius. If a son were born to me── and I told you I'd leave his naming up to you, what kind of name would you give him?"

"Well, that's obvious. ──── Harry."

I'll be waiting here for the day I can see you again.