This is just something that came to me when I was doing my research paper on Edgar Allan Poe (one of my personal favorite authors of all time). It was just too perfect, the title of the poem and the fact that Annabelle in this story was just killed. So I went a bit out of my comfort zone and I tried this. Please be nice, this is the first time I've tried something like this.
Warning: There are some spoilers at the end. It is a canon spoiler, I guess, if that makes sense. It's going to happen anyway but it was never elaborated on in the series so I took some artistic liberty. It doesn't ruin anything in ABAWS, any reference to that has already been established in at least one of the books of ABAWS.
Also, don't continue reading unless you have read at least up to A Black and White Story: Book Three Chapter 12. Otherwise, you will have no flipping clue who Annabelle is. Save yourself the headache.
I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, I wouldn't be American. I would be British. I wish I could be British and own Harry Potter. But alas, as now, I am/own neither. Oh, I also don't own the poem Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe.
Now on with the story!
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
"Gideon! Hurry up! You're going to miss the train!" Molly sternly said.
Gideon rolled his eyes at his fourteen year old sister, "I'm Fabian, not Gideon, Molls. Don't you know your little brother's names! You've known us our entire lives!" It was his first year going to Hogwarts and while he couldn't wait to get on the train, he simply couldn't pass up on the opportunity to tease his sister.
She sighed, "I'm sorry Fabian. You go first."
He smirked as he passed her, pushing his trolley past her, "I'm just kidding, I am Gideon." Without waiting for her response he ran straight towards the barrier and passed onto Platform 9 and 3/4. He stood in awe of the chaos that consumed the magical platform. Seconds later, he felt the presence of his twin. They turned to look at each other.
"Ready Fideon?"
"Ready Gabian." He confirmed. They quickly put their stuff on the train, said goodbye to their parents, made an inappropriate comment to Molly and her boyfriend, some bloke named Arthur, before finding a compartment. The ride to Hogwarts was quick, a bloke named Johnson joining them. After the train ride, they went across the lake, not thinking of anything besides their sorting and future chaos, a thing of the splash and shouting they head behind them caused them both to wonder what had happened. Not a lot of time was spent on the topic. There were much more important things to talk about. They were heading to Hogwarts that was all that mattered.
When they stood in front of McGonagall as she told them to wait to be sorted, their musing about what happened on the ride over was answered.
A girl standing near the edge of the group was dripping wet, soaked from head to toe. McGonagall raised her eyebrow at the girl, "Excuse me, pray tell girl, why are you soaking wet?"
She simply shrugged, "Hagrid told us not to fall in."
McGonagall didn't seem to understand so the girl elaborated.
"Hagrid told us not to fall in. So I did." A wicked grin spread across her face, the smirk that graced only the mischievously worthy. Matching smirks were spreading across the Prewett twin's faces. The girl noticed and winked at them before holding her hand out to Gideon, "Annabelle White. Mistress of Mischief."
Gideon shook her hand, "Gideon Prewett, Taskmaster of Tomfoolery."
He didn't realize it then, but that was the moment that began and ended it all.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.
"Annie! This is cruel and unusual!" Gideon complained as he threw his book across the room. They were now in their third year at Hogwarts, both of them had been sorted into Gryffindor along with Gideon's twin Fabian. "Why the hell did McGonagall give us that blasted sheet of parchment to do homework on!? Now I can't copy your work."
She snorted and stuck a quill behind her ear, "Like I actually do my work, Gid. Maybe if you and Fabian would not be so obnoxious copying each other, we wouldn't have to do this."
"But I want to go to Hogsmeade this weekend," he whined as he opened his book again.
Annabelle gave him a look, "We've already been there twice and we have the rest of our lives to go look at the same shops. Besides, if we need to get something from Zonko's, we can just sneak out later tonight."
"The two of us?" Gideon asked innocently.
"No, you me and your Prefect sister. Hell, let's asked Lucius Malfoy if he wants to come along too." She responded sarcastically.
He rolled his eyes and threw a crumpled up piece of paper at her. She swatted it away with a laugh, "C'mon Gid. McKitty will have our heads if we don't have this done."
"I'm more concerned about Hogsmeade." He shot back.
Annabelle slowly lowered her book and looked at him oddly, "What's got you wanting to go to Hogsmeade so bad? Got a date?" She scoffed.
"Yeah, with you."
And that was how he asked the girl he fancied out for the last three years. It wasn't planned and it certainly wasn't romantic. It was spontaneous; just like they were. They would fight, make up, scream at each other, be sickeningly romantic, and end up acting like best mates again all within a day. Most people didn't understand it, they thought it was fake, not real.
They loved each other though. With passion and dedication that not even their friends understood. Fabian thought he was ridiculous and Frank thought that Annabelle and Gideon actually hated each other at one point after a particularly vicious argument. Their siblings were confused but accepting of the relationship. Ben point blank told them he didn't care what they did as long as he didn't have to hear about it every bloody minute while Molly opened her house and family to Annabelle within the first hour of meeting her.
The first time he proposed to her, they had still been at Hogwarts. It was the night before their last Quidditch game and they had met up in the Gryffindor Balcony for a snog. She was pushed up against the wall, her legs wrapped around his waist while his hands traveled over her tone, slim stomach. Their lips were meshed together, hot with burning desire on each side. He pulled way slightly and whispered against her lips, "Marry me."
"Hell no." she responded before kissing him again with as much fervor as before.
He honestly hadn't expected a yes. They were both too free of spirits. The next time he asked was at the ceremony when she was inducted into the Auror department. That was a no as well. Next was right before their first Order meeting, then there was the time after the attack at Kiltimagh. All of those were no's. The next time he swore to himself would be the last. If she still said no after three years of saying no, they would just never get married. They went on a romantic broom ride and she still said no.
Honestly, he thought that would have been it. But one night in mid June, the old gang from school was spending the night at their new home in Ottery St. Catchpole. While Frank was busy stuffing his face with the food in their cabinets, Benjy was watching the epic wrestling match between Gideon and Fabian. Annabelle was sitting on a stool, looking down on them in fond amusement.
Frank chuckled when they rolled into a chair, cracking two of the legs. "Cafwul," he said through a mouth full of food, "Ashes isn't gonna murr' oo 'f oo kic hat 'p."
She just shrugged, "I'd marry him either way."
The entire kitchen froze. Gideon quickly detangled himself from his twin and practically ran to Annabelle, "Are you saying what I think you're saying?" He asked in shock. The other three guys could only watch the scene in disbelief. They had heard Gideon's rants about how their stubborn friend constantly refused his proposals. Yet here she was, agreeing when he didn't even ask.
Annabelle rolled her eyes, "No, my idiotic beater, I just agreed to marry Frank."
"Why?" He asked dumbly, ignoring her sarcasm. His heart started to beat erratically; she said yes! She was going to marry him! He was not expecting the next words out of her mouth.
"I'm pregnant."
He stared up at her in shock, processing the words coming from her mouth. He was going to be a father. Joyously, he laughed and picked her up, spinning her around the room before placing her back on the ground and snogging the breath out of her.
"They're bloody mental the two of them!" Fabian shook his head slowly in shock.
But that didn't matter. They were bloody mental fools in love.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
Gideon grasped the piece of paper tightly in his hand, the words blurring together.
Annabelle is going to be attacked. GO HOME NOW
The letter was written by his future brother-in-law's seer friend. He had just left Annabelle alone for a few hours, letting her have some time to herself. He was just having a drink with his brother and Frank when he got the post. Instantly, he dropped everything and apparated back to his house. In his panicked state, he apparated a few blocks away, close enough to see the house but not close enough.
A horrific cloud, the thing of nightmares, appeared over his house. At that moment, time and space stood still. There was a low buzz in his ears and it looked like everything was moving in slow motion. The crumpled warning fluttered to the ground.
Slowly, impossibly slow, he somehow began moving closer to his destroyed house. The dull thud of his heart because heavier and harder. The ice cold air burned his lungs, making it difficult to breath, though that might have been for a different reason.
He heard a tortured scream, one that would haunt him until the very day he died.
"ANNABELLE!"
The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me—
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
The door was half opened when he jumped up the stairs. Slowly, he opened the creaking door the rest of the way. The hallway seemed to never end, tears on the walls and smashed glass littered the floors. The family portrait of their combined family was thrown at the bottom of the staircase, the glass shattered from the very middle.
He turned, looking at the demolished living room. Half of the bookshelf was blown into splinters, the wall to the kitchen had a human sized hole in it, the stain glass window was a shattered mess, there were scorch marks marring all of the walls, the grand piano was smashed. Little bits of paper and fabric were floating through the air along with bits of dust and shards of wood. Everything was gone. But there was no Annabelle.
Then he looked down.
Just past the edge of the sofa was a sock, a simple purple sock with gold circles on it. The bottom was caked with dirt and there was a snag going up the side, disappearing under the pants leg.
He knew whose foot it was but his mind refused to acknowledge it. He sluggishly moved forward, like he was walking though water. When he looked around the corner, he muttered, "No, no, no, NO, NOO!" He fell to his knees, gathering his best friend, his lover, his fiancée, the mother of his child, in his arms. Gideon rocked her back and forth, begging to whatever God was up there to give her back, to do something, to save her.
But there was nothing to be done. She was dead.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
Gideon walked through the iron gates, carrying some butterbeer and sandwiches from the Three Broomsticks in his hand. His feet took him to where he needed to go without him even thinking about it. He knew the path well by now - he had walked it at least once a week since their deaths. A week after the attack he came to start wearing his wedding ring, the ring that should have been put on his finger by Annabelle. It was his reminder. Engraved on the inside was their son's name, Ronald Benjamin.
A lot of people questioned his actions. He was a young twenty something year old who had the world at his finger tips. He was handsome, brave, had a seemingly stable life; there was no reason for him not to have a new girlfriend or even a wife by now.
They didn't understand. His life ended along with Annabelle's. She was his entire being, the only one he could ever love. Their friends and family might not understand but Gideon didn't care. Their love was purer than any love the others could ever dream of. It was the thing of fairy tales. A magical love in a magical place. It was almost impossible. Yet here he sat, after all those years, still in as much love with Annabelle as he had been the day he met her until the day she died.
In a way, Gideon felt pity for those who could never understand their love. It wasn't just a simple thing, it transcended life and death. It was pure, it was unadulterated, it was them.
He placed his hand on the grave stone, "Hey Annie, Ronnie, I just got back from Molly's. Do you know they're going to have another little kid? Annie, I'm starting to believe your theory that their animagus forms are rabbits. That's the only explanation..."
For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
"You'll finally join your weak little girlfriend, Prewett," Antonin Dolohov growled with a sadistic smirk on his face, taunting the defeated member of the Order. He pointed his wand straight at Gideon's face. Gideon looked up, bloody and in so much pain, yet snorted with amusement.
"Annie had more balls than you and Voldemort combined," he hissed back.
Before he knew it, he was flying backwards, soaring into a stone wall. Dolohov stalked closer, brandishing his wand once more, shouting, "Salvio hexia!"
Gideon roared in pain as his left arm was severed from his body. Blood poured out his of missing limb, making him lightheaded. Yet he still found it in himself to gasp, "Good thing—I'm right handed."
Another Death Eater, he couldn't tell who from behind the mask, whipped out her own wand and cursed, "Salvio hexia," once more.
Almost with disinterest, Gideon looked down to his now severed right hand.
"Well, shit. There goes writing a strongly worded letter to Voldie. Your manners are atrocious."
"Sectumsempra," a droning voice muttered from behind the other two. There was another Death Eater standing next to the new one that just sliced straight through his stomach. Gideon was gasping for breath, trying to keep consciousness to hear what they were saying.
"Did you get the brother?"
The one next to the boring one tossed something red and white at Dolohov. Gideon gagged and almost passed out when he saw his brother's head being held by the Death Eater. Dolohov smirked sadistically, "What about the rest of him?"
The one with the infuriatingly slow and droning voice answered, "We allowed Greyback to have this one…spoil of battle."
Dolohov turned to look at the remaining Prewett brother, "Let him know that if he enjoys that one, there are seconds in here."
"The Dark Lord wanted to have proof of their deaths!" the female said clinging to Dolohov's arm tightly, "We can't disappoint him!"
"That's true, Bella," Dolohov admitted. He tossed Fabian's head between his hands, "What do you say to giving the Dark Lord a matching set?"
Before Gideon could even blink, before his entire life flashed right before his eyes, beforehe made his last wish, or any of those other clichés that you always think are going to happen before you die, it was over. All he had time to do was close his eyes.
When he opened them, he was standing in front of a door. From the other side, he heard the sound of cooing and a child's laughter. A hand tightened around his heart. Reaching forward with the hand that had just been disconnected from his body, he pushed the door open.
It was his foyer. The one from the house he shared with Annabelle. The breaks in the wall were fixed and all the portraits hung with care on the wall. The door was no longer damaged and there was natural light coming in through the doorway. He took a tentative step in, unable to believe this was real.
"Took you long enough," a familiar voice said from his left. He jumped and at that moment, if he hadn't already been dead, his heart would have stopped. His Annabelle stood there, perfect as the day they graduated Hogwarts. None of the stress lines she had developed on her face were there. Her brown eyes that had lost their twinkle in the war were shining as bright as the first day they met. She was wearing her Gryffindor jumper and her favorite pair of purple socks with gold stars; the clothes she was wearing when she died.
"Anna?" he asked, "how—?"
"You went and got yourself killed. Nice job by the way," she said sarcastically.
With that he ran forward and covered her face in kisses as if he was trying to prove that she was actually there and not just a figment of his imagination. He captured her lips in breathtaking kiss, only pulling away when he realized that her flat stomach was pressed up against his.
"Where's the baby?" He asked as he gently traced a nonsensical pattern on her stomach.
She smiled up at him, the warm and love in that smile reaching a softness that only a mother could have, and said, "He's in the other room ready to meet his Dada."
Annabelle reached down and grabbed his hand to pull him forwards. The motion was so familiar, it was something that he had missed for the last three years. He pulled her back into his arms once more, "I love you." He whispered, reveling in being able to say that to her once more.
She smiled and chastely kissed his cheek, "I love you too. Now go meet your son."
With that Gideon nervously stepped towards the kitchen. He could hear a toddler in there hitting his hands against the table, demanding food. He turned back towards Annabelle, "How is he here? Is he going to age?"
"He'll age until he is seventeen and then he'll stop. Don't worry, he's not going to die." She said teasingly.
Another thought hit him and he just had to ask, "Where Fabian? He's dead too, he should be here with me unless he—"
"No," she said firmly. "Even though you two are bloody inseparable, you went to different places here. He's talking to your grandfather right now a little farther away. Nice man, he loved Ronnie. Now, stop stalling and you see your son!" she shoved him towards the door.
Gideon looked at the still closed door and wiped his clammy – could he sweat in heaven? – hands on his pants before gathering all the courage he had in his body. Dear Merlin, he wasn't ready for this. He was going to be a rubbish father! He had been prepared all those years ago but that was a long time ago! He was going to mess this little kid up so bad—
"Dada!"
And he was at peace.