⫶⫶⫶ ᴇ ᴅ ᴇ ʟ y ɴ ⫶⫶⫶
― Edelyn Aurélia Black learned
from a young age that h e r o e s
aren't always the ones who win.
They're the ones who fight. And
so, Edelyn fights, until the green
lying dormant beh...
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THE FOLLOWING FEW DAYS PASSED UNEVENTFULLY, and November 7th crept upon them in a bout of anticlimax. On the morning of, it was with a heavy heart did Edelyn point her wand to the sky and whisper, "Avis." A flock of white doves erupted from the tip and flew into the clouds. She watched as they soared away and wondered if they would reach them; if they would see them flying overhead.
"MadEye tells me you're not leaving," Remus spoke from beside her.
Edelyn's shoulders rose and dropped. "It'd be impossible to find them." She tugged at the sleeves of her cloak. "Which is good, I suppose. It means they're safe from Death Eaters."
Remus gave her an inquisitive look. "You'll see them again. Maybe not soon, but you'll see them again."
Edelyn shook her head. "You can't promise that," she muttered dryly. "We're in the middle of a war. Any one of us could die at any moment."
A sad smile tugged at Remus' lips. "Your dad used to say that." He looked up into the gloomy clouds that hung above. "Last time around, after he found out Regulus had died. He'd always remind us of it. Made us cherish every moment we did have together." He wrapped an arm around his goddaughter's shoulders and gave her a light squeeze.
Edelyn leaned into him, and after a moment's comforting silence, she asked, "Do you miss them?"
He smiled softly down at her. "Yeah, I do. They were my best friends, and though I wish they were still here, I think we shared enough, perhaps even more, good memories in our short while to last a lifetime."
Edelyn nodded thoughtfully and reflected back on her years with Ron, Hermione, and Harry. They had most definitely shared many memories together, but whether they were good ones, she wasn't quite certain. It was difficult to be friends with The Boy Who Lived and have a life without strife. Sometimes, she wished she had never become friends with him at all. Her life would have been so much easier. So much simpler. But then again, their fates had been so perfectly woven together. Their fathers had been best mates who had fallen in battle, and their mothers had both sacrificed their lives for their children. In many ways, there were but two of the same.
"They'd be proud of you, you know." Remus' voice pulled her out of her reflective thoughts. "Your parents," he clarified. "And it is cruel that it is I, and not them, who gets to see you turn of age."
A small smile found its way to her lips, and her eyes drifted down to trace the movement of waves crashing onto shore. Holding her wand aloft, she made fluid motions with her wrist and etched letters into the dark-coloured sand: Happy seventeenth, from mum and dad.
• • •
CHRISTMAS MORNING WAS MARKED BY A THICK BLANKET OF SNOW covering the sandy beach outside, and Edelyn and Ron found themselves sitting in the former's bed, she looking out the window at the glistening snowflakes while he stared at the radio that sat on the windowsill.
