For Alex. I still think about you and still miss you. It's almost a year since I've talked to you. Those who knew Visions Of A Scarlet Night know who I'm talking about.
"Life lives, life dies.
Life laughs, life cries.
Life gives up and life tries.
But life looks different
through everyone's eyes."
A gentle spring breeze played with his messy hair across his face. He stood at the gate, breathed in and breathed out. Fourteen years later and he should be use to this, but he isn't. He still expects Fred to jump out from behind the stone grave and say 'Gotchya' But there is no Fred. Fred is dead. He keeps reminding himself this even after all this time. He was here, at the special burial site for those who died in the second wizard war to visit Fred first, then he'll move on to the others. He gripped his flowers and braced himself.
Harry opened the gate and walked in. He could feel the chill in the air even though it was warm and sunny. He could see sunlight dance upon the stones of the graveyard. He felt a lump rise in his throat. No, not today, he wasn't going to cry today. Harry Potter was supposed to be brave. He was supposed to be strong, not weak. But everyone's human and so is Harry Potter. He is allowed to cry sometimes. Today, he promised himself he wouldn't cry this time. The lump fell back down his throat as he saw red hair sitting inches before him.
She turned around slowly as she adjusted her posture. She sat cross-legged on a blanket in front of Fred's grave. Red hair with a touch of grey as the years are catching up to her. Her eyes were just as red as her hair.
"Harry. I wasn't expecting anyone else to visit today. I must look quite a mess. Have a biscuit there's some in the basket I brought." Molly wiped her eyes with her hands even though there were no more tears. She brushed a red strain of hair out of her face as she stared at Harry.
"Thanks, but I'm not hungry. I'm sorry to disturbed you. I just wanted to pay respects to Fred before going to anyone else." Harry said as he gripped his flowers tighter. He turned to leave to give her privacy.
"Don't go. I could use the company. Arthur didn't want me to go alone, considering my age, but I insisted. I told him I'm getting older and I need to do this while I can. I'm sorry. I'm rambling."
She was silent for a long time as Harry dug a small hole, and put the flowers in them. They were enchanted flowers from the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes shop Fred use to own. George came up with these just for the sole purpose of graveyard markers. They change when the season changes, but never die. They bloomed until night fall, then stopped, then when the next day came they started over again. They were called Forever Flowers. It was a simple name but told their purpose.
He sat down next to Molly on the blanket and watched the flowers bloom over and over.
Silence crept in as birds chirped around them. One by one the birds stopped chirping. It was as if even they knew Molly and Harry needed a moment of silence. Once the moment was over, Molly finally spoke again. When Molly turned, Harry handed her a handkerchief. He brought it in case he needed to use it.
"What do you do when you can't cry any more tears?" She asked.
Harry had no answer. He felt he wasn't wise enough yet to respond so he just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know either." Molly replied.
They continued sitting in silence paying respect to Fred. By the time the sun set over the graveyard, Harry stood up said a silent goodbye, and walked away- leaving Molly alone once more. Harry didn't feel like seeing the others. He knew if he visited them, he would cry. And today, he wasn't going to cry. Another time he would come back and visit.
Author's note:
Written for Hogwarts Online II Prompt of the day for May 3,2012
Prompt: "What do you do when you can't cry any more tears?"
Also written for May 2nd, the date those died in the war.
Special thanks to my beta Kayla aka Queen of Loopholes for helping with the beta process.
