Wrote this in 20 minutes, though it had a gestation period of a bloody lot
of months. It finally popped out though, shiny and new! It's an Angst!
*****
The Nearness of You
*****
She had gone the way so many had gone in that time. She went in the heat of battle, fighting the forces of darkness. Hermione granger had taken her last breath in the arms of Professor Severus Snape, and even in the thick odors of blood and death around them, he could smell the sweet scent of lavender that he had come to think of as her scent. It was years before he could smell lavender without fighting the urge to weep.
After the war, no one remembered her. Those who knew her best were all dead. Her parents had been killed in the uneasy days before the war, and McGonagle had died in the final battle, as had Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore. Those who were left chose not to remember her. There were already so many to mourn. They did not want to add the burden of another face to haunt their troubled sleep. So only Severus remained to honor her memory. He had spoken of her, briefly, to one of the boys who had been her best friend. Ronald Weasly's eyes had glazed over, and his voice had a flat, disinterested quality as he made some vague comment about how she had been such a bright girl. Severus had quit his company shortly after, feeling dispirited and uneasy
Was it only he, then that remembered the exact cinnamon shade of her eyes? Was it only he that could recall with perfect clarity the timbre of her voice when she laughed? It should not have surprised him that he was the only one left who could remember, but it did. After all, there were others better qualified for reminiscing about the way she would smile distractedly when engrossed n a book, or the way she chewed her lip and twirled a strand of hair between her fingers when she was pensive, or worried.
She could have chosen any of them to be close to, he recalled. She had bloomed in that final hazy year, before the war broke. She had morphed from the quiet bookworm with frizzy hair into the quiet beauty with shinning curs. To he credit, he recalled with a certain sense of pride, he had loved her before she had come into her own. He had seen past the frizzy mop of hair and seen her and recognized in her someone with a mind to challenge his own. Someone he could trust and love, as he had never done with any other. So he had. And though she could have easily had any other boy she wanted, she had chosen him, and he had been able to memorize her every detail, her every mood and curve and expression.
And now there was no one left who would remember her, and He was left to remember her all on his own, as if she was a phantom conjured up by his imagination. No one else remembered her. To the rest of the world she had never existed; but to him she was the most real thing he had ever known. Though all he had left of her was the echo of her voice in his mind, and the sweet smell of lavender as it floated through the air.
*****
I would like to state right here and now that THIS IS NOT IN ANY WAY A NORA JONES SONGFIC! I friggin' HATE Nora Jones. She sounds like a bad lounge act. Anyway, this song was inspired by a comic book. Kurt Busiek's ASTRO CITY, to be exact. I love that comic! Anyway, the issue that inspired this is also entitled "The Nearness of You" and it was released in 1997, if I am not mistaken. Way before Nora Jone's even began recording her CD. There you go. Thank you and have a nice day.
Be Kind. Review.
*****
The Nearness of You
*****
She had gone the way so many had gone in that time. She went in the heat of battle, fighting the forces of darkness. Hermione granger had taken her last breath in the arms of Professor Severus Snape, and even in the thick odors of blood and death around them, he could smell the sweet scent of lavender that he had come to think of as her scent. It was years before he could smell lavender without fighting the urge to weep.
After the war, no one remembered her. Those who knew her best were all dead. Her parents had been killed in the uneasy days before the war, and McGonagle had died in the final battle, as had Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore. Those who were left chose not to remember her. There were already so many to mourn. They did not want to add the burden of another face to haunt their troubled sleep. So only Severus remained to honor her memory. He had spoken of her, briefly, to one of the boys who had been her best friend. Ronald Weasly's eyes had glazed over, and his voice had a flat, disinterested quality as he made some vague comment about how she had been such a bright girl. Severus had quit his company shortly after, feeling dispirited and uneasy
Was it only he, then that remembered the exact cinnamon shade of her eyes? Was it only he that could recall with perfect clarity the timbre of her voice when she laughed? It should not have surprised him that he was the only one left who could remember, but it did. After all, there were others better qualified for reminiscing about the way she would smile distractedly when engrossed n a book, or the way she chewed her lip and twirled a strand of hair between her fingers when she was pensive, or worried.
She could have chosen any of them to be close to, he recalled. She had bloomed in that final hazy year, before the war broke. She had morphed from the quiet bookworm with frizzy hair into the quiet beauty with shinning curs. To he credit, he recalled with a certain sense of pride, he had loved her before she had come into her own. He had seen past the frizzy mop of hair and seen her and recognized in her someone with a mind to challenge his own. Someone he could trust and love, as he had never done with any other. So he had. And though she could have easily had any other boy she wanted, she had chosen him, and he had been able to memorize her every detail, her every mood and curve and expression.
And now there was no one left who would remember her, and He was left to remember her all on his own, as if she was a phantom conjured up by his imagination. No one else remembered her. To the rest of the world she had never existed; but to him she was the most real thing he had ever known. Though all he had left of her was the echo of her voice in his mind, and the sweet smell of lavender as it floated through the air.
*****
I would like to state right here and now that THIS IS NOT IN ANY WAY A NORA JONES SONGFIC! I friggin' HATE Nora Jones. She sounds like a bad lounge act. Anyway, this song was inspired by a comic book. Kurt Busiek's ASTRO CITY, to be exact. I love that comic! Anyway, the issue that inspired this is also entitled "The Nearness of You" and it was released in 1997, if I am not mistaken. Way before Nora Jone's even began recording her CD. There you go. Thank you and have a nice day.
Be Kind. Review.
