A/N: Written for the Chutes and Ladders Challenge (Prompts: Kreacher, deception), the Ultimate Patronus Quest Challenge (E18) and the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Astronomy assignment: Task three- write about an organization)
They never find Benjy Fenwick's full body, just scattered pieces here and there; a jagged arm and a trail of blood that spills through his home. When the funeral days arrives, the ministry brings cameras and an order of merlin that shines during Benjy's closed casket funeral.
There is not enough of him for any other kind.
Caradoc Dearborn's wife breaks down in tears long before the Aurors arrive on her door. After fifty years of marriage, it feels like she lost a piece of her heart along with him and maybe she has.
They never find his body, and eventually, even Margaret Dearborn gives up on trying.
But later, years later, they find a cave and a curse and an inferius with Caradoc's lifeless eyes.
Dorcas Meadowes was the Headgirl to Tom Riddle's Headboy once upon a time, when a serpent still slept under the chamber grounds and a boy didn't know his ancestry. Dorcas used to be secretive, a snake hiding behind its shredded skin, but these days, when Albus Dumbledore comes to her door and tells her to hide, Dorcas does not listen. She fights bravely, a phoenix badge attached to the edges of her Slytherin scarf. She is ashamed of her housemate but she is not ashamed of herself, and when she dies, it is not in fear but in hatred, a screamed curse before the green light hits her first.
Lord Voldemort takes care of anyone who may remember his past personally.
There were twelve Mckinnon's before the war, and thats the last thought in Marlene's mind before the crucio hits and she wishes for the mercy of death.
There is no Mckinnon's left after the war. Lucius Malfoy argues for the line to be declared extinct and no one notices his bloodstained hands.
It's the cruelest of ironies, people as logical and kind as the Longbottoms going insane. They were almost hat-stalls, the two of them; bonding over long sortings and favorite foods as eleven year olds, holding on to love and friendship throughout the long years ahead.
The thing is though, you can take a child out of Gryffindor, but you can't take the Gryffindor out of a child.
They'd both do anything for a cause they believe in.
Edgar Bone's lasts word are a plead for mercy. He does not care if he dies, for death is around the corner for him anyways, but his children deserve more. They have sortings and weddings and kisses and tears to live for. He begs, screams, cries, but the death eaters are not merciful.
They kill the children in front of him and the light goes out of his eyes long before anyone says Avada Kedavra.
James Potter has been so many things in his life; a boy- cruel with his pranks and ruffled hair, a best friend- never doubting his friends for a second, a warrior- pouring his grief into the magic that sparks from his wand (he's lost so much in this war.)
In the end though, hes just brave, a lone man standing up to the dark lord to try and buy his wife and son some time.
Lily's no stranger to sacrifice these days. War is everywhere: in the way Sirius's laughter echoes in nothing, and Marlene's jokes are met with silence. It festers in Jame's forced smiles and Peter's empty eyes. Even Dumbledore has more grey hair than ever.
Maybe that's why she is not scared when Voldemort bursts into the nursery. She could lose anything else, but not Harry. Never Harry.
She would give up her life for him.
They ask Molly Weasley to tell her brothers apart at the funeral and she bursts into tears when she can't. It took five death eaters to take them down, people keep telling her, but what difference does it make when they're both dead?
Shes the only sibling left now, and Fabians ticking watch reminds her that even her time is running out.
Sirius Black spends thirteen years in Azkaban only to die from Kreacher's deception and his own cousin's wand, laughing the trademark Black cackle as he falls beyond, a veil claiming him.
Andromeda thinks about Sirius parading around Grimmauld Place with Gryffindor colors and cannot call it anything but the bitterest of irony.
Remus has sat through funerals alone, but death only claims him when he finally gets his life back. Nymphadora Tonks is only twenty five but she appears like a rainbow after the rain and drags him out of his sorrows, giving him a child and the kind of hope he has not felt in years.
Teddy knows that his parents died to give him a better life but that does not stop him from spending his entire life missing them.
Fred dies laughing and later, years later, that will be a story told in hushed whispers at Weasley family reunions. For now however, there's only Percy Weasley whipping out his wand to avenge his brother.
Family always stays together, even when a heart stops beating and a arrow on a clock points to lost.
The thing people forget about being a Phoenix is that to be reborn, you first have to burn.