Chapter 22

                                        

                                              
It was white. Harry was back to normal... naked. Was he dead? Was Draco wrong? 
His glasses reappeared so he could see. The scenery changed and he was back in the basement. A much cleaner basement. He was outside his cell near the stairs. The scars on his body were gone. On the far side of the basement... a shining white door appeared. It was brightening the whole room... leaching the darkness out. Serenity filled Harry the more he stared at the light. Relief existed in that light.
He looked away, trying to get his bearings. This wasn't magic... what was it? He heard a cry and saw that the cell door was open. He looked inside and saw chains around a hideous creature, a mixture of a reptile and a baby. Barely moving and unable to breathe correctly.
"You can't help him," a voice called to him.
Harry turned and Dumbledore was there. Neither of them seemed to think Harry's nakedness was an issue.
"What?"
"That's the part of him that was inside you."
"The Horcrux?"
"Yes. It's gone... trapped here, leave it alone."
Harry had no inkling to go near it and left the cell. "Am I dead?"
Dumbledore smiled. "That remains to be seen."
Harry's eyes narrowed. "You fucking bastard. You can't even give me a straight answer in death."
"I'm sorry, Harry. I hoped... I hoped he wouldn't notice. I'm sorry that you were taken."
"You're sorry? You raised me up to die like this? You're telling me that you couldn't pull that thing out of me?" Harry said, and pointed to the reptile baby.
"No, it had to be this way."
"Your Greater Good?" Harry hissed.
Dumbledore looked pained. "Yes. I hope you will forgive me one day. Destiny is not kind and you had to get to this moment. Any other attempt to remove the Horcrux would have killed you, Harry."
"Did you even try!"
"Harry...."
"I won't forgive you. Maybe my destiny was leading me here, but you didn't have to let me suffer the whole bloody time? The Hallows and the Horcruxes?" he sneered, glaring accusingly at the old man.
Dumbledore nodded. "You completed what I could not. The Hallows were my greatest sin, like the Horcruxes were Riddle's."
"Two sides of the same coin. And the Dursleys?
"I hoped your relatives would take you as their own. I was mistaken."
"Mistaken? They beat, starved and cowed me. You let me walk to my death, without letting me know this situation was possible," he seethed.
"Mr. Malfoy was smart to figure it out."
"Don't you dare mention Draco! Another sacrifice to the Greater Good? You could have helped him, instead of playing your games."
"He wouldn't have accepted help."
"The hell he wouldn't! No... he was part of your game like Snape was!"
Dumbledore winced. "Severus knew...."
"Nothing. You let him live and die without telling him everything... just like me. Pawns on the chessboard. I can't believe that you didn't see the craziness of Riddle, either."
Dumbledore lowered his head. "Harry... I'm sorry. I knew too much."
"That's no excuse. And Arianna? Grindelwald? Your desire for conquest? That Horcrux in there is stuck here, but you are, too," Harry said, pointing to the Horcrux. 
Dumbledore looked wary. "Harry?"
"This is your place," Harry decreed. "That thing is Voldemort's sin, but you could have made one, too."
The old man nodded, as though accepting his fate.
"Now... what is my fate?" Harry asked, and glanced warily at the shining door on the other side of the room.
"Well... it's your choice. Three choices... limbo... back... or... on."
Harry glanced at the door, again, feeling the relief... the finality of it. "On?"
"I can't tell you what will happen if you take that door," Dumbledore sounded sorrowful.
Harry glanced at the stairs and the door at the top. It was dark and there were echoes of pain coming from it. "That will take me back... let me live?"
Dumbledore nodded. "It's the unknown path, Harry. There is no clear sight into the future. Everything that you were feeling will be there. The mental pain, the scars and fear... Harry. You've done your part. Your friends will finish your destiny."
"Draco is there," Harry said.
He remembered Draco's despondent eyes when hesaid that he would do nothing, and he wouldn't fight them sending him to hellfor the rest of his life.  He couldn't leave Draco alone. He didn't spareDumbledore another word. He bolted up the stairs and kicked open the door atthe top.