Title: Glimpses
Beta: CleopatraIsMyName
Rating: T
Challenges/Prompts: The Quidditch League Competition/prompts: What if Harry Potter had died in the forest at the end of DH?; #1, Blankets; #7, Rain on my parade; #10, Bleeding heavily.
Disclaimer: This work of fiction is in no way connected to the author of Harry Potter, JK Rowling. Harry Potter is owned by her, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Warning(s): Alternating points of view, switching from second to third, from character to character. Some OCs are mentioned.
Summary: A crazed Death Eater, unable to admit defeat, strikes down Harry Potter in the forest after the Final Battle. Without Voldemort's Horcrux there to take the brunt of the hit, Harry immediately dies. These are the snapshots of the events that took place after.
You sit down at your kitchen table, tea in hand, and pick up the latest edition of the Daily Prophet. After stirring your tea and taking a sip, you place the cup down on the table and open up the issue. At first glance of the headline, you blink slowly, not really believing what it is you're reading. Knowing the editors and reporters of that corrupt newspaper, you cannot completely associate what is written with the truth.
You shake your head with a disbelieving laugh and shrug it off, choosing to, instead, read through the other pages of the newspaper.
The next day, when you're walking through the streets of Diagon Alley, hoping to help with any repairs for the shops, you spot George Weasley walking alone to his own shop. His face is completely blank of emotion, though the aura surrounding him seems to be one of depression and regret. Not wanting to interrupt the man in his brooding - he just lost his twin brother, after all – you head towards your own destination.
While at home, relaxing after all of the hard labour you had just performed for thankful owners you hear a faint Tap, Tap on your window. Getting up with a groan, you stumble towards the window and open it up just enough for the owl to come through. Handing the owl a few Knuts, you open up the latest issue, and realise, with a turning of your stomach, that yesterday's news hadn't been a fluke, and the Saviour is actually dead.
You're an Auror who has been assigned duty during a few of the Death Eater Trials. After saying goodbye to a few colleagues, you make your way towards the large boards and look over several different shifts. You find that the Death Eater responsible for the Boy Who Lived's death is one of the first ones next week. You find yourself holding back a smirk when you look over some of the high priority trials: the Lestranges, Malfoys, Notts, and Parkinsons. You're one of the guards stationed near their cells and you briefly fantasise about all of the possibilities.
You open up the Daily Prophet and bypass most of the screaming headlines, instead looking through the Obituaries. You're in a particularly sombre mood, and just want to know whose funerals you will be going to, and at what dates.
After looking over the names you recognise with a twist of your heart, and even a few family members, you spot the one person you hadn't expected to have died. At first, you're outraged at the fact that that old, greasy bastard had actually escaped imprisonment via death, but the article is only praises of his bravery, pronouncement of the Order of Merlin, First Class that the man had been awarded after death and the details of his funeral arrangements.
Dazed, you uncap a black permanent marker and encircle the top part of the article with an incomplete circle, and the words, 'Don't Forget!' written in your familiar, sloppy script, a sharp contrast to the perfect, rounded text on the newspaper.
Though you hadn't ever honestly cared for Draco Malfoy, blood politics, or even the wizarding world in general, you find yourself closing your eyes and leaning back in your seat. Your Slytherin classmates, though they were in the upper years, have been convicted of war crimes. Your breath comes in with a tremble, and your eyes grow watery. With a sniff, you push back the need to cry, but feel a few tears escape your control, nevertheless.
The sad thing is, your day had been going pretty well before this; better than usual, even. This proclamation feels just like the weather had suddenly taken a turn for the worse on a sunny day, perfect for a parade.
As one of the loyal readers of The Quibbler, you're always looking forward to another issue, wondering what sort of mysterious wonders they are tracking down, today.
As you flip through the latest issue, you find your eyes darting from one feature to the next. Some of the things have you grinning from ear to ear, but then you find the Death Notice for the Saviour of the wizarding world nestled amongst ads for random items "proven" to get rid of your troubles. One of them is a vague advertisement for a Zilly Bang-Bangs repellent, along with two blankets made of a special fabric for those odd Kite Rips that cause sore throats.
Shaking your head, you look over the announcement, but decide to not go. It's definitely not your place, as you were hardly acquaintances, and hadn't really been friends.
Nestled at the bottom of a drawer is a note from husband to wife. While she has been busy planning funeral arrangements for their son, he has been taking time off from his own department in order to deal with any legal proceedings related to his family and the house, while encouraging his youngest son, Ron, to help out his older brother at the joke shop.
The note speaks of his worry for the aforementioned older son, George. After losing his twin brother during the war, George hasn't been himself. The front he pulls just isn't convincing in front of Arthur, his father.
You open up one of the teen tabloid magazines, and nearly gasp from shock when you find a two-page spread all about the Granger-Weasley wedding having been postponed to a later date. Various speculations and questions are all over the place, from wondering whether or not she hasn't been satisfying him, to the possibility that he has found some mysterious lover.
You close the magazine and scoff, vowing to cancel your subscription. The sad thing: you've been promising this to yourself for years, and still haven't done so.
The headline of the newest Prophet proclaims the death of Lucius Abraxas Malfoy in emboldened, large letters at the top of the page. It practically shouts at you as you find yourself with a gaping mouth, jaw having dropped in shock and horror.
According to the article, the "DMLE have launched an official investigation into the death of the prominent convicted Death Eater", though that is all they have to say on the matter.
When you go out to eat the next day, rumours have already sprung up from governmental cover-up, to the possibility that Malfoy Sr. had been left for dead in his cell, bleeding heavily from a stab wound. The assertions seem to be endless, and you just cannot help but think of your own, almost certain it must've been some sort of government official over-stepping their bounds, deciding their "perfect" way for dealing with prisoners was to take the law into their own hands.
When Hermione Granger opens up the newspaper one day, she nearly laughs at the Gringotts headline that proudly claims that their bank's security measures have been improved, and it is now "twice as safe".
Her shoulders shake as she withholds a few teary chuckles, and she shakes her head, a feeling of nostalgia and reminiscence about her.
With a lazy flick of her wand, Headmistress McGonagall sends a note to the Charms professor, Flitwick, with an inquiry as to how his Hufflepuff eighth-years have been settling in, with the new dorm assignments and schedule changes.
She settles down to look over some paperwork, and releases a sigh of relief that this was the most she has had to do in months.
Ronald Weasley's jaw tenses as he reads over a poster in one of the Auror lounges. The excitable text announces the up-coming opening of the monument of Harry Potter, standing firmly at the centre of the DMLE offices. Despite the complaints his friends and he have filed against such ridiculous measures – Harry definitely wouldn't have liked this statue - it is still scheduled to go up in a few months.
An owl flies over to the Burrow, carrying a letter from one Percy Weasley. When it gets to the woman of the house, it is sure to cause an uproar. Having been estranged from his family for years, asking for a time to sit down with his parents and talk is only the first step towards healing.
Hopefully, that family will be joined once again, if not full.
And on that same day, George Weasley sits down at his desk and decides to get some help. Weeks of drunken nights, waking up in random houses and places, and unable to remember when the last time he had actually laughed rise up within him, and he knows that he cannot go on like this. After all, Fred certainly wouldn't have liked it at all.
That same day, two years later, he writes a note to himself and puts it in a picture frame, alongside Fred's visage from the opening of their shop.
It clearly says, "Never stop laughing. Never forget."
The wounds are slowly mending and scabbing over, and a new era has begun.
Author's Note:
Gais, not very sure about this one... Please leave a review? :D