Title: Reminders of Innocence
Author: a graceless heart
Rating: T
Summary: This place, these people, they could become whole again. She could become whole again.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Author's Note: It's been a while since I've read Deathly Hallows but hopefully this is good. Please read and review. Let me know what you think.
The Great Hall was quiet. The battle was over and a sort of numbness had settled over the survivors. The bodies of the dead were being taken away and the rubble was being sifted through. There were still people missing; students, members of the Order, professors, Death Eaters.
The death toll seemed insurmountable. Hogwarts was in ruins, but that could be fixed. A little magic and it'd be good as new. But people were not so easy to fix. A crowd of First Years sat huddled in a corner, tear tracks on their faces. Good may have triumphed but nobody comes from a war unscathed, especially not the young.
Sighing, Minerva made her way over to the group and sat down. She could offer no words of comfort. She could perform no spell to help them. There was no way to transfigure this Hell into something pleasant.
"Lumos," she whispered, and her wand emitted a glow.
"Professor?" One of the young students, Lorna, finally managed to find her voice. "What are you doing?"
"Professor Dumbledore," Minerva began quietly. "He once said that happiness can be found in the darkest of places if one remembers to turn on the light. A bit of light certainly couldn't hurt."
"I never learned the spell," Lorna said, her eyes downcast. "I…"
None of the First Years had learned anything of the wonderful magic that existed. Their first year of Magical Education had been spent under the direction of Death Eaters. And while she, Flitwick and the others had done their best to shield the children as best they could, there was only so much they could do. This child did not even know the very first spell that was usually taught at Hogwarts.
Rage filled her veins as she pondered this thought. This would simply not do.
"Hold your wand like this," Minerva said, her instincts as a professor kicking in. This she knew. This was something she could fix. "Think of bright things."
"What kind of bright things," the girl asked, confusion evident on her face.
"Think of sunlight. The moon. Stars. Anything that brightens the darkness."
A determined look crossed the girl's face as she mimicked the wand position. "Lumos." Her voice was shaky but the tiniest flicker of light emitted from the tip of the young girl's wand, causing her eyes to widen. "Lumos." Her voice was stronger, clearer. A bright light emitted from the tip of her wand and her face brightened ever so slightly. It was ridiculous to think that this moment would undo the damage that the war had wrought. But Lorna, though too young to understand what that little spot of light truly represented, had just made the very first step in defeating the darkness.
Minerva stared at the girl, pride written on her face as tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. Perhaps, there was hope after all. Perhaps, Dumbledore was right. Perhaps, this place, these people, they could become whole again. She could become whole again.
"Was that good professor?"
"That was very good, Miss Lund," Minerva said softly, smiling through the tears. "Very good, indeed."