Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
___
- 21 -
___
It was bright, that's all I could see. Bright white light. It was comforting in a way I supposed, vastly different to the dark halls I had been running through minutes ago. Was it minutes ago? I couldn't be sure. It felt like minutes ago.
"Are you gonna keep lying there like an idiot, or are you going to get up?"
I froze for a second, something was wrong. I knew that voice, it was comforting and warm and something I had desperately wanted to hear. But it had been... just under a year since I had heard it. And I never expected to hear it ever again. I sat up abruptly, there he stood. Broad shoulders, dark hair and kind smile, grinning back at me. He was wearing muggle clothes, and looked just like he did so long ago when we would visit Hogsmeade on weekends. I was up and running, stumbling over what seemed like white tree roots, and crashing into him. My arms were tight around him, tears streaming down my face as I hugged my best friend. When I pulled away, I gazed at him.
"How are you here? Where are we?" My breath hitched as a thought struck me, "Am I dead?"
"The first one is a little hard to answer, so is that last one, and I think we're in the forbidden forest," Cedric answered, smiling at me. I glanced around, tall white trees surrounded us. If you added a little colour, we would recognisingly be in the forbidden forest.
"I don't understand?" I question, Cedric brushes my hair behind my ears before taking my hand and leading me further into the forest.
"I'll explain soon, but first there are some people I'd like you to meet."
Cedric leads me into a clearing, two figures were faced towards each other, talking quietly as we approached. The man turned to look at me, he wasn't quite grinning, but there was happiness in his eyes. The woman however smiled widely as we approached, her light brown hair shining in the white light. They were young, just barely older then I was now. The woman skipped forward, embracing me tightly. I stood frozen. The man laughed deeply, it reminded me of Sirius, in fact the man himself looked like Sirius.
"Ari dear, slow down," He chuckled, pulling the women away from me.
"I'm sorry I'm just so excited," she said, smiling warmly at me while her cheeks tinged pink. It clicked suddenly, where I had seen them before. In my nursery, the photo frame above my dresser. My parents. They were standing here in front of me.
