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Early July 1981
the lake outside Potter Manor
She hadn't been close to Marlene and Dorcas. Only in the end. Only at the wedding.
It was funny how death worked. How could someone be alive one moment, have infinite potential, and then it be severed the next?
How could two people be so in love and go to sleep knowing that the other will be there and wake up and tuck hair behind their ear because it's just you two, but then that night be shaking and screaming and tearing your hair out because they are dead, gone.
Everything that you once had becomes a memory. A moment in time.
And then you do too. You follow her. She takes your hand and leads you, like a twisted love story, into the perpetual state of the past. A name in a history book. A signature on a letter. A person in a photograph that people point at and say what a shame.
Thea had heard stories about what happened after death. She knew it was different for wizards and witches. They were blessed with magic. But that doesn't mean it's good.
She waded in, fully clothed. The boys and Lily were back at the manor. It was a haunted place now, they had moved out, moved on. Potter Manor had become a place to mourn. It was no longer living.
She felt the water slipping across her fingers. Small grains of mud sticking to them, not big enough for her to see. She could rub them around on her finger tips.
She wondered what they felt when they died.
Had they done enough?
Thea Potter was not afraid of death, she was, however, afraid of not doing enough before she did.
The water was cool around her legs, making her dress stick. But still, even when rubbing against them, her dress flowed with the water.
Her head that had been foggy and hot was now cool, but a nagging headache remained.
She carefully dipped her head back and, slowly, let the water explore her hair. Little by little, her hair becoming colder and colder, swirling around in the water. It became weightless and fluid.
She stood back up and suddenly the weight of the world was upon her. The cold water trickled down her back, causing bumps on her body to raise, her hairs to stand up.
Everywhere the water touched, it shocked her, and yet, she had felt it before.
She reached around and wrung out her hair, listening at the water broke the surface.
She felt tempted to submerge herself.
Understand what it was like.
Follow them in their twisted tale.
The war was now real.
It tapped her on the shoulder and revealed its sinister smile as she turned around. It tilted her chin up and whispered in her ear: you haven't seen nothing yet
Thea screamed.
The birds flew from the trees in droves.
She ran out of the water and apparated back to the house.
