I'm on a roll with these little ficklet things that go to the plot of Hestia's Kindness! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable character or setting other then Grace.
Remembering
Remus sat next to Grace on the couch, both reading quietly. A little tickling sensation ran across the back of Remus' neck as he read and he stopped. He sat there just starring at his book, not reading as he focused on the feeling.
It was sadness. And it wasn't his own, which meant Grace was sad... his Gracie was sad and he did not like that at all. He placed the book in his lap and looked over at Grace tucked quietly under his arm. He expected to see her staring at her book, but she wasn't even pretending to do that.
Delicately he opened his mind so he could hear her thoughts.
~Grace's memories~
A woman who looked very much like Grace herself only older lay in a bed, Grace laying next to her smiling and laughing as they watched a movie together.
A very young Grace, not older than six reading a book with the woman before bed.
Grace and the woman that Remus figures was her mum... eating dinner together at some restaurant laughing and joking. Grace not older than 10 maybe.
Grace and her mum looking through rows and rows of pumpkins trying to find the perfect ones for each member of the family.
The memory's went on... slowly getting sadder...
Grace six again sitting next to her mum in a hospital bed, hooked up to many different machines all making different noises... Grace trying to be strong... trying to look happy.
Grace laying in bed with her mum... not older then 8, her mum looks very sick, she coughs and it sounds bad. She jumps out of bed and runs to the bathroom where she throws up... Grace right behind her holding her hair and rubbing her back... trying not to cry.
Grace... maybe 11 or 12 at what looks like a summer camp with another little girl. She's laughing and joking and then she looks over, sees who Remus knows to be her dad. ... He looks sad, like he's been crying... but Grace doesn't seem to notice as she runs over. They have a short conversation as her friend seems to have a similar one with her mother, the girls standing next to Grace and her father as they hold each other and cry.
Grace, same age, standing in a pretty yellow dress on a boat out at sea... A woman holds an elegant wooden box. She slides the lid open and says something before tilting the box over. A swirl of black ashes blow out, tumbling through the air before falling into the sea... Grace cries quietly.
Grace... in the same yellow dress... same age... but a different day. She stands by a newly planted tree, caressing the bark and crying. She turns to another woman who says another string of words and then she opens a little metal door and a single pure white dove swoops out and flies into the sky, joining a flock of equally beautiful doves.
Grace, same age packing up her mother's things as they pack to move, unable to let go of anything that used to belong to her mother.
Remus pulled out of his love's head. Tears rolling silently down his face as he stared at the woman sitting next to him. She was so kind and understanding. She loved everyone unless they gave her a really good reason not to. She cared about everyone and always tried to do right by them. She was wonderful.
Always kind and happy, trying to spread her happiness, but seeing those memories… You wonder how anyone who had to see those things could be the way she is. The nicest person he's ever met with a troubled past. Certainly there are worse, but she takes it with such honor and strength. Wearing each heart ache like a symbol that promises you can get through anything.
It makes her wise.
Grace looked up at Remus after a moment her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. "I look just like her don't I?"
"Yes you do. I'm sorry I didn't mean to see any of that but you were sad and I wanted to know why."
Grace shrugged. "I would have kicked you out of my head if I didn't want you seeing. I think it's time I told you the whole story. I know you know she died. But that's pretty much all I shared so far."
"Gracie you don't have to if you don't want to... if it's too hard."
"I like talking about her... no point in pretending it didn't happen. It hurts... very much... but I'm stronger because of all of my experiences. I had a lot more time with her then some and maybe that makes it worse... but maybe that makes it good too. I just know I'm a better person because I knew her... I'm a better person because of the tough life lessons I learned after."
Remus leaned in kissing Grace's tears away.
"She was a muggle... my dad's the wizard... they were madly in love... my mum couldn't care less that he was magical, loved it in fact. He seemed mysterious and exciting but still down to earth... you've met my dad. He's eccentric but a very good man. Anyways. She got diabetes when I was six... soon after maybe not even a year later she got valveular heart disease... a part of heart that regulates blood flow... broke. She got a plastic one." Grace let out an amused little laugh.
"I remember once my cousin came over and hugged her... and when she pulled away she asked my mum if she was wearing a watch because the valve made a clicking noise like the second hand of a watch." She sighed as she reminisced with the amusing memory.
"Anyways, she wasn't very healthy in her youth either she had a rare-er type of leukemia twice and well her body just never really recovered I suppose. That memory where I'm holding her hair as she throws up... that happened more than the once. I remember faking being sick so that I could stay home with her when she couldn't muster up the energy to go to work. I always knew something wasn't quite right, but I was so young and I just thought that she would never die... it was too impossible a notion to even consider."
Grace got a faraway look in her eyes. "And then I went to camp one summer not even two months after my eleventh birthday... the summer before Hogwarts... I was at camp having a blast with my best friend at the time a muggle girl from my street. My dad came up to me and took me aside along with the girls mum. He told me that 'it finally happened' I wanted to think he was talking about one of my grandparents... but when he said... 'She's gone' I knew... He meant my mum and that she was dead."
"I packed my things and left the camp with my best friend. We drove home and I cried myself to sleep." there was a long pause before Grace spoke again, Remus not sure what to say yet. "It was a heart attack, the valve failed... or maybe it was just time to stop being sick."
Grace leaned into Remus as he held her tightly, trying to give her comfort and love.
"I almost didn't come to Hogwarts... that summer was so hectic my whole family came down and tried to 'help'. We were getting ready to move and there were the funeral arrangements and the memorial arrangements and my friends still wanting to be my friends. Family pestering me to make decisions about my mothers things I wasn't near ready to make. It was crazy and I was so tired... so sad... heartbroken and I felt lonely. I had lost my mum and my best friend in one go and it hurt so bad."
Grace clutched Remus shirt tightly in her fist, Remus' hand massaging her shoulder lightly. "And my dad… His heart was broken he'd lost the love of his life, his wife, his best friend, and there were people everywhere trying to help. It was chaos. When it was finally over and I got my Hogwarts letter part of me wanted to hide it, stay with him, make sure he was okay, how could I leave him after something like that? But he found the letter and told me it's what my mum would have wanted me to do, he would be fine. He had his three best friends from the ministry and his mum stayed with us, him for months."
"Until recently," finally a playful smirk crossing her lips. "I didn't even want to come back, not like any of you really noticed me." She raised an eyebrow and smirked. "But I guess it was worth it... and seriously knowing me now... I don't see how you or any of the other Marauders lived without me for so damn long!"
Remus and Grace shared a laugh. "I'm glad you're here Grace my love. And you know if you ever want to talk about her I'd be happy to hear about it. Since I can't meet her I would love to know more about her."
Grace smiled and leaned up kissing Remus. "You're wonderful, you know that right? You always know just want to say. And the best part is, you actually mean it." Grace smiled again and kissed him more deeply showing how much she appreciated his concern and love... compassion.
They finally broke away and Grace stood up pulling Remus up with her. "Where are we going?" Remus asked amused by Grace in general.
"We're going to go find Sirius and maybe James... depending on whether or not he's snogging Lily's face off and go to the kitchens... I need ice cream!"
Remus chuckled. "What if Sirius is busy snogging Severus?"
"Irrelevant! If Sirius finds out I went to the kitchens without him he gets pissed... doesn't matter if he's in the middle of something with Sev... even if I give that excuse... well you know how he gets about food!"
They both laughed as they left the common room to go scouting for the other nefarious couples of the Marauders.
Every disease mentioned is real... all of memories are real...
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love to you all kidlets!