Ember

Age Ten

Ember curled up into a tight ball, hugging her long legs with one arm, while her other clutched tightly round the old iron key hanging from her neck. Her blue eyes were open, staring forward, not a single emotion but shock glimmering within them. She was under her father's work bench, as the sky outside grew darker, unable to comprehend the events of the day before in her ten-year-old mind. She hadn't moved in hours and not a soul had bothered her aside from her mother occasionally peeking in to see what she was up to, or rather, if she had changed position or fallen asleep. Otherwise, the door was kept closed, as a slew of relatives moved about, in and out between the main living area of the cottage, and the large back garden. Voices spoke, murmured through the walls, the occasional wail let loose by an older aunt who could no longer control her grief. Yet, Ember didn't budge a muscle. She hadn't left her piece of floor in hours, not since she'd returned home. Not a single bit of her wanted to move from where she was, to accept what had happened. If she stayed put, perhaps time would to, and maybe, if she was there long enough, it would actually reverse…

It would go back. And her father, would not be gone.

…...

The day before had started out just like every single other day in the Stonefyre household. Meghan had risen early to tend to her plants before coming in to make breakfast and rouse her sleepy little girl from her bed. Ember was usually fairly difficult to pry from her cuddly little nest of exceptionally fuzzy blankets and pillows, but Meghan knew a thing or two about her girl, and apple pancakes were the most surefire way to rouse her, especially on a cold February day as this one was. The windows were frosted with fog, but the blue fire in the living room burned steady, keeping the cottage warm throughout. They didn't need to tend it or watch it as much as a regular fire, considering it was magic and it never spread beyond where it had been lit.

"Emily-Amber, breakfast is ready." Meghan stated softly, tiptoeing into the small bedroom with sky blue walls. Ember's room had always been little, despite her father having offered to make it bigger as his little girl grew. Ember had refused, liking the comfort of her small, simple bedroom. The door sat in the lower left corner, swinging inwards against the sliding closet doors, one half of them slightly blocked by a tall bookcase full of books ranging from learning tools to comic books, from the poetry of flowers to short wizarding novels meant for young children. Sitting flush up against the bookcase was a medium sized desk, a curved window above it, the gauzy white curtains hanging down limp above it. Somehow, the room was just long enough for the foot of Ember's twin bed to be pressed against the other side of the desk and the upper right hand corner of the room. She had no headboard or footboard, just a platform beneath the mattress, a trundle bed hiding underneath for when one of her cousins came for a sleep over. A little night stand and lantern sat next to the head of the bed, a framed picture of their little family resting upon it. Across from the bed, with barely four feet between them, was the low dresser, covered in small trophies from some of the junior broom stunting competitions Ember had entered in in the past few years. She had done well, receiving first place most of the time. Her Nimbus 2000 sat above the dresser, laying horizontally on a pair of special hooks her father had installed for her when she was seven and had first been given the broom. She could reach it easy if she climbed up onto her desk chair, sitting between the side of the dresser and her door.

Ember stirred slightly, shifting among her plethora of blanket, dark red hair a tangled mess as always. It wasn't like it was exceptionally curly, more straight with a partial wave towards the ends that made it prettier when her mother was able to curl it, but Ember always had better things to do than brush it out. Like run around outside with her cousins or practice her flying skills the best she could. She only had about six months left until she would be starting her first year at Hogwarts and would need to be as skilled as possible if she wanted to try and make her house Quidditch team. It was very rare for a first year to get on the team, but Ember was determined to do so, even if she technically wasn't allowed to bring her broom with her. She would be eleven in just a few days time actually, her birthday the 28th. The same day her father's company would be releasing their latest new broom model.

"Mmmph… Mammy, five more minutes." Ember pleaded, her Irish accent strong as always, identical to her mother's, but not quite her father's, who was English. She rolled over, burying her face deeper against her pillow, but her mother laughed, flopping down on the bed and pulling her daughter to her in a tight, snuggly hug. Ember didn't try to flail away, melting into it and cuddling closer to her mother. They didn't always get along, fighting like crazy most days, but it never made the love they had any less strong. Ember was still Meghan's beloved daughter, and Ember loved her Mam as much as any other child on the planet loved their mother, despite being much closer to her Da.

"But Emmi-love, I've made your favorite."

"Apple cinnamon pancakes?" The voice was not Ember's, but rather, belonged to her father as he came in the door, shaking snowflakes out of his brown hair. His cheeks were pink, blue eyes shining with absolute excitement despite the large bags beneath them that indicated he was exceptionally tired. He strode in, having already taken off his boots by the front door of the cottage, and proceeded to flop right on down on top of his wife and daughter, turning them into something resembling a pile of puppies. He wrapped his arms around them both, kissing their cheeks. "Come my fair ladies! Let us greet this new day with vigor, for there is much to celebrate."

"Mmm… pancakes." Ember rolled, not caring that she was half-suffocated under the weight of her parents, but rather, enjoying it immensely. Her mother smelt of pancake batter and gardening soil, while her father was pure sawdust and broom polish, currently mixed with the wintry air of outside. She snuggled down deeper beneath them, relishing the pure happiness that filled her when they chose to bury her with cuddles. Though, to be honest, it happened quite often. Her parents were always cuddling and loving on her, their precious daughter… the only child they had been able to have after countless years of trying and failing.

"To the table, dearest ladies!" David laughed, rolling off of the bed and pulling Meghan up after him. He pulled her tightly to his chest, kissing her lips with all the tenderness in the world before he reached out and snatched Ember up by the back of his old t-shirt that she's been wearing to bed for years now. It was for the Appleby Arrows, their favorite Quidditch team. The girl was heavier than she used to be, but he could still hoist her up onto one shoulder, causing her to squeal and flail slightly, laughing rather than frightened. Ember was horribly difficult to scare and always had been. She wasn't afraid of heights, or bugs, or any other type of creepy crawly. The closest thing he had ever seen to her scared was the one time he had crashed into a tree on his broomstick and been knocked unconscious.

"I'm a Knight, Da!" Ember shot back, shaking her head as he let her down, her bare feet hitting the wooden floor and taking off in the direction of their main living space.

"A Lady Knight then!" David called after her, chuckling as he watched her hair whip out behind her, a mess of curls and red that it usually took days to track her down and sort out just to have it return to it's mess again the next day.

"You look exhausted." Meghan whispered, reaching up and placing both hands on either side of David's face. He had been working exceptionally hard lately, trying to get the new broomstick ready for the release date. The time constraints were much shorter than usual on this one, simply because David insisted on releasing it on Ember's birthday. David's face was pale. He hadn't slept properly in days, barely settling down long enough to rest for just a few hours before he went back to work. It worried Meghan to bits, knowing her husband was straining himself so hard, but there was no stopping him. That man would do absolutely anything for his daughter, and he had worked harder than this before, back when the company had first been started. But, he had also been younger then. "Right after breakfast, you need to sleep."

"After Ember tests it out." David promised, his smile widening and Meghan stared, eyes going wide.

"It's finished?"

"Every little bit." David nodded. He stuck out his tongue, lapping up his wife's cheek, and then nuzzling his nose up against it, not caring that it was wet with his spit. Meghan didn't either, far too used to it from their school days to be bothered by it anymore. David was an oddball, showing his affection in ways similar to a canine half the time, which, considering his patronus was a wolf, made sense. "I tested it to be absolutely certain this morning. Everything is good to go."

"The holy grail of the pancakes is starting to grow cold!" Ember shouted, bouncing up and down as she sat in her usual chair. There were three of them, one at each end of the rectangular hand carved table, and Ember's, the one on the side that wasn't pressed against the back of the kitchen counter that jutted out from the wall, separating the living room and dining area from the kitchen. David had built just about everything, all of the furniture, the kitchen cupboards, right on down to the tiny stool that sat near the kitchen sink that Ember no longer needed, but still used sometimes to climb onto the counter so she could reach the higher shelves.

"We're coming, lass!" David called as he and Meghan came down the hallway. He grinned, shooting forward suddenly, shoving his head down between his wife's legs from behind, and lifting her right on up onto his shoulders while she let out a scream, grabbing at his head.

"David Stonefyre!"

Ember laughed, eyes shining as she watched her parents interact, their love as strong as it had ever been. They fought sometimes, but never for very long, unable to stay angry with each other. It made Ember happy, knowing her parents were happily glued to each other. "Knight Da! Lady Mam! The pancakes!"

Ember reached out, pulling pancakes off of the plate in the center of the table and placing them on each of the three other plates sitting in their spots. Two each to start, though she would probably end up eating four like she normally did. Her mother was right. Cinnamon apple pancakes were her absolute favorite… actually, anything apple was her favorite.

David crouched by Meghan's chair, enough for her to slide off of him, and then moved around the table, planting a kiss on his daughter's fiery locks as he went. He sat, pulling his plate close and offering up the honey to his wife, while his daughter began devouring hers plain. She had always been a funny thing, Ember. She was practically a vegetarian, eating mostly whatever came out of her mother's garden more than anything else, though she was never opposed to actually eating meat when it was served. She was just more of a fruit girl than anything else, always an apple in her pocket. She ate the whole thing too, core, stem, and seeds, an oddity neither David or Meghan had ever understood but then, it didn't hurt her.

"Hey, Emmi-bear, guess what?" David grinned, cutting into his pancakes with his fork and bringing the bite to his mouth. Ember turned her head, half of a pancake hanging out of her mouth while she had a second one in both hands. Oh ever the lady.

"Use your fork, lass! For goodness sake…" Meghan slammed her palm into her forehead, shaking it with a defeated sigh. She had tried, for years now, to get the child to at least have something resembling proper manners. She was good about her 'pleases' and 'thank yous', not so much the eating with utensils when she was presented with something dry enough to be picked up without getting her fingers sticky… and occasionally when she was going to get them impossibly messy anyway. Ember turned her head, swallowing her pancake and setting the other one down. She reached up, scratching at her cheek as she grinned rather sheepishly at her mother. A smile that could have melted even the most frozen of hearts.

"Sorry Mam." Ember apologized, reaching out and lifting her fork from where it sat by her plate. She returned her attention to her father, eyes questioning. What did he have up his sleeve this time? It was always something when he had that look on his face… Something good had happened. Her eyes went wide as realization hit her and she leaned towards him, fork poised, pancakes forgotten. "It's done?"

"Aye." David grinned, waggling his eyebrows. Ember pushed up from the table, her legs taking her only as far as her father's arm could reach. He grabbed hold of her shirt and tugged, pulling her back and into her seat, laughing. "Finish your breakfast, darling, and then you can test it out."

Ember dropped her fork and grabbed up her pancake, shoving it into her mouth as fast as she possibly could. Her mother heaved a sigh, completely giving up this time. There would be other meals to correct her daughter's behavior during. There was no possible way to reason with her broom obsessed child, not when she had just found out her father had finally finished the broom she had been waiting on for over three years. Her father had refused to even so much as let her see it, going as far as to lock his workshop to keep her from peeking while he was working on it.

As soon as her plate was clean, the last bit of pancake stuffed into her cheeks and being chewed, Ember looked at her mother. David found Meghan's eyes as well, his and Ember's blue ones boring into her, shining and waiting until she gave a simple nod. "Oh, go on then, you kamikazes."

Ember dashed, still chewing, away from the table. She raced to her bedroom and pulled on a pair of jeans from where they had been discarded on the floor the day before. They were still slightly damp from being out in the snow, but she didn't care at the moment. She swallowed the rest of her pancake and rushed from her bedroom to the coat rack by the front door, snatching hers from it's hook and tugging it on as her mother crossed the room. Meghan grabbed the grey winter hat from a basket by the foot of the coat rack and shoved it on over her daughter's hair, knowing it was pointless to try and add the matching mittens. Ember rarely covered her hands, even if they went red and tingly. It inhibited her broom handling abilities. Two small feet were shoved into boots. "Come on Da!"

David smiled, finishing up his pancakes and rising from his chair. He made a show of bringing his plate to the sink before meandering over to where his daughter bouncing impatiently on the balls of her feet by the door. He retrieved his boots, putting them on one at a time, tying them slowly, and then, made his way down the hallway towards his workshop. "Eyes closed, sweet rose!"

Ember slammed her hands over her eyes, squeezing them shut and trying not to peek as much as she desperately wanted to. She had always been very bad about waiting for surprises, wanting to see them or know what they were right away. Of course, she knew what this surprise was, but she was so very excited to see it she could barely contain herself. She listened, hearing the workshop door open, and then, a few moments later, close again. She bounced harder on her feet, practically jumping from one to the other.

"Alright." David laughed, holding out the broomstick towards her. "You can look now, dearest."

Ember dropped her hands, gazing forward. Her eyes went wide as tea saucers, jaw dropping in absolute wonder as the broomstick came into focus. It was absolutely stunning… and the best part was, it looked exactly like the coloring she had done when she was younger. Her father had asked of course, over the years, if she wanted to change it, but she was dead set determined on that one image.

The handle gleamed, black ebony, freshly polished. It was skinner than Ember's Nimbus, but retained the same slightly bent shape. It would be lighter as well, due to the materials used. The tail was almost the best part, twigs in all different shades of blue interspersed, giving it the appeared of a flickering flame. The name on the handle, in her Da's beautifully painted silver script said 'Stonefyre's Black Comet', but then David spun the broom around and Ember let out a gasp.

Her name… had been placed on the other side of the broom where normally it would have been blank. It was there, plain as day, the big E at the beginning with the loop in the middle and extra curling on all of the letters, just the way she liked them.

Ember shot forward, hugging her father tightly around his middle, burying her face between his chest and stomach before she tilted her head back, gazing up at him with eyes that shone like stars in the night sky. "You're the best, Da."

"Oh I know." David grinned conceitedly, hugging his daughter back, feeling his heart soar with how much she liked her broomstick. It had taken forever to perfect, years, but every ounce of effort was worth it for his sweet blazing child. The man had thought he knew what love really was the day he had married Meghan, and then they finally had had Ember and it had changed ten-fold. He would have walked to the other side of the planet if it meant his little girl got to be safe and happy. Damn, he would miss her when she went off the school, to be surrounded by other youngsters like herself… and boys. So many boys…

David groaned inwardly, wondering what kind of young man his daughter would undoubtedly come carting home at some point. Probably someone just as wild as she was, with long hair and tattoos. Or perhaps, maybe, if she was so inclined, she would bring home a girl instead. She had mentioned before that she wanted to be a Knight and marry some kind of fair lady, but then, sometimes she also spoke aloud about what kind of boy she thought she would like to be with. Usually that one good looking Beater on the Appleby Arrows. Well, whomever she ended up bringing home, he hoped she'd have an easy time making friends at school. Ember had never really known anything aside from their little patch of paradise among her mother's side of the family. Everyone loved her, as families were so inclined to do. Perhaps, if they were lucky, she'd find a mate who could keep her grounded enough to see reason, but let her soar anyway. And had a good sense to help steer her clear of any bad eggs. Not that David or Meghan were really judgmental, however, they did want their daughter to do good and keep out of trouble.

"Da, let's go try it now. Please, please please?" Ember begged, tugging at his hand now, dragging him towards the sliding glass back door that led out to the large garden. Her anticipated was palpable in the air, and David laughed, following after her. He reached out, pushing the door open and they tramped out into the snowy world, their boots crunching against the ground as Meghan followed behind them. She usually tried not to watch too much whenever Ember got going on her broomstick, knowing her heart couldn't take watching her daughter flip through the air like some kind of Muggle trapeze artist. However, today was different. This was a special occasion, and while she knew it would make her stomach churn with worry. Meghan was going to watch her daughter test out her new broom.

They found a more wide open space, away from too many of the trees, and David bent down, staring his daughter directly in the eyes with absolute seriousness. "Now, my love, you need to remember. The Comet is not your Nimbus. It's more sensitive and much faster, so you need to be extra careful. Super light touches and use that fast thinking I know you've got in that head of yours. And first and foremost, don't trust your body like you normally do. Your muscle memory isn't tuned to this broom yet, treat it as such."

Ember nodded, her jaw set, eyes fearless. Her Da had made this broom specifically for her, and she was going to learn how to fly it properly. To be worthy of such a precious gift. She would learn, and she would grow, and she would make him genuinely proud of her and the amount of time he had spent creating this broom for her.

"Good girl. Alright then. Go ahead." David smiled, holding out the broomstick. Ember took it from him, spinning it around in her hand and mounting it in one smooth movement. She turned her head, looking back at him and her mother for a moment before she took off.

The broom rocketed forward and up, taking Ember with it. She held on, letting out a whoop as she turned it with ease, bringing herself back around, soaring over her parents. David beamed, gazing up at her. He reached out, pulling Meghan to his side by her waist and she rested her head against his shoulder, able to feel the pure happiness emanating off of him. There was something so simple, just watching their daughter in her element.

Ember did a couple of circles over the yard, getting used to the feel of the broom before she urged it to go faster. However, in her haste, she gripped it a little too hard. It would have been fine had it been her Nimbus, but this was not her Nimbus. This was the Comet, a broom to end all brooms. And it was speeding up much, much too fast. Ember started losing control, unable to keep up with it as it went over the top speed of her Nimbus and beyond. Her steering faltered, and she started zigzagging rapidly back and forth, the broom continuing to accelerate. Fear pulsed through her. She had never, ever, lost total control of a broomstick before, not like this. Sure, she crashed quite a bit, but that was different. That was her losing control of her body during one of her stunts, never her broom, or coming up short when she should have slowed down sooner and slamming into a tree. Ember was quite impossibly good at running into trees, mostly their branches, resulting in slashes across her face more often than not. But that she was used to.

This… This broom was a whole other animal entirely.

"Ember!" David shouted, running forward as he watched her start to swerve. At this point she was no more than a blur in the air, but he knew something was wrong. Ember had impossibly steady hands, she never swerved like that unless it was on purpose, and there was no way she would do it on a brand new broom, not at that speed.

"Emily-Amber, slow down!" Meghan cried out, horror on her face as she watched her daughter lose all control for the first time ever. She chased after David, both of them running after their daughter.

"Ember, bail out!" David called, snatching his wand from his back pocket and aiming it as his little red headed baby.

Ember did as she was told, knowing her Da would never tell her to abandon the broom in the air unless he could catch her. So, she let go, rolling herself off of the broomstick and falling towards the ground from thirty feet in the air. David was ready though. He waved his wand as he continued towards her, Meghan hot on his heels, her own wand out. They both shot a cushioning charm towards their daughter, and Ember landed safely, bouncing slightly before she even hit the top of the snow, and then coming down easy. The broom kept going forward, but descending quickly without it's rider, until it landed, quite unscathed, in the snow a good distance away.

"Emmi!" David hurled himself forward, grabbing hold of his daughter and pulling him to her before looking her over quickly for any sign of injury. She was trembling, but otherwise appeared to be unharmed. Meghan grabbed hold of her as well, lifting one arm and then the next, eyes searching with panic, for anything broken or bleeding.

"I'm okay." Ember stated, voice muffled by her father's jacket as he stroked at her hair. His heart was pounding in his chest, a slightly erratic thumping that seemed to miss a beat every now and then, but, it had always sounded that way. Faster than her mother's, like it was working harder, but then, it was probably just a male thing. Her Da was fit and strong all over. Just like Ember was already starting to become as her body grew. "Da, it went too fast… Way too fast."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I should have gone up with you the first time. Don't worry though, you'll get it. We just have to practice, right?"

"Right." Ember nodded, her fear of the broom subsiding a bit now that she was safely tucked between her parents. It would be much better, learning how to fly it with her Da right there to help her. Had she been older, she might have been able to do it on her own with ease, like her father had when he was testing it out. But she wasn't older, she was still just a little girl, and when you were little, it was alright to accept help from your parents when it came to learning new things. That was just how the world worked.

"Well, I think it has been quite enough for today." Meghan sighed, knowing that protesting the use of the overly-fast broom would only fall upon deaf ears. David could handle the damn thing, and he would teach Ember to as well, whether she liked it or not. She wasn't going to stand in the way of their dreams, though, she would be ready with a scolding should it be needed later. "I have some deliveries to make, and David, you need to rest."

"But…" Ember began to protest, jutting out her lip and shaking her head at having to wait longer to really learn how to fly her new broom.

"Shh, your mother is right, darling. Come on, let's gather up the beast of a broomstick and head inside. I think it's going to snow soon anyway."

…...

David was right. Great big snowflakes fell rapidly past the windows of the warm cottage as Ember made them lunch consisting of nothing more than a peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with an apples on the side. Her father was resting, sitting in the old rocking chair by the fire at the moment, moving slightly back and forth. He had built the chair over eleven years ago, shortly before Ember was due to be born. She had never been soothed much in it though, not nearly as much as she had when her father had taken her up on his broom in a sling attached to his chest.

Meghan was still off on her deliveries, and while she had tried to get David to do to bed, he had insisted he was perfectly capable of resting in his favorite chair instead. Right now, his eyes were closed, listening to the clatter of Ember moving about the kitchen. He looked up as she set a plate down on the coffee table beside him and then dashed back to get her own, setting it down on the table as well before she sat on the floor. She stayed quiet, a remarkable occurrence when she was usually so inclined to jabber on about everything and anything that came into her head. Meghan had told her to try and let her Da be, to be a good girl so he could sleep. So that's what she was doing, even if she really wanted to open her mouth. That, and her Da didn't look too good at the moment.

David's face had lost a lot of color since they had come back inside and he hadn't moved much in his chair since he'd sat down. His rocking was as steady as always, the only indication that he wasn't actually asleep. The multiple nights of not getting enough sleep and overworking himself combined with the exertion of that morning's antics had really done him in this time. He could feel his heart pounding more and more rapidly in his chest, trying to keep up with the rest of his body, skipping beats more often than usual.

Ember finished her lunch and moved, rising from the floor, and gently climbing into her father's lap. She rested against him sideways, his arms coming up to hold her. He leaned down, kissing the top of her head as he continued to rock them both now, relishing the scent of apples and cinnamon that she emitted. It was a special edible shampoo Meghan made, the scent of it enough to get Ember in the bath when she was a toddler and it had been a battle just to wrangle her long enough to dip her in the water. The fact that it could be eaten as well had just enticed the child further until she willingly would climb into the tub. Now it was just something familiar, an indication that everything was right in the world because David's little girl was close.

"Da?" Ember asked after a few minutes, burying her cheek against his shirt.

"Aye, love?"

"Your heart is moving really funny…"

"I know. It's alright though, it's only…" David winced suddenly, bending forward over Ember, his arms tightening around her as his heart jolted, moving faster and faster. His face began to sweat and he panicked slightly, just causing his heart to move more rapidly.

"Da?" Ember blinked, eyes widening with worry as her father let out a groan. He reached up, cupping her face gently. Her blue eyes stared back at him, curtained by those gorgeous deep red locks.

"I love you, Ember, my sweet rose. Get help." David sputtered out, kissing her temple before giving her a shove.

"Da? Da!?" Ember panicked, moving to her feet. She stared at him as she headed quickly for the door, watched as the light faded from his eyes, identical to hers, and he slumped forward in his chair, nearly falling out of it. Ember paused, eyes locked on her father before she screamed, running out the door barefoot, into the snow, shouting at the top of her voice.

…...

A weak heart. Flawed with such a minute defect it had not been caught at birth. A ticking time bomb that would eventually run out of power to continue beating.

That's what the Healers had called it when Ember's mother had met them at the hospital, but, by the time Ember had even made it to the front door, David Stonefyre was gone. It had happened so quickly and unexpectedly, that Meghan had barely been able to make it to the chair to sit beside her daughter, tears falling down her face as the words she had never wanted to hear met her ears. Her husband, her kind, loving, strong husband, was dead and there was nothing she, or anyone else, could have done to save him.

Ember hadn't said a word, not a single one since Meghan had shown up and hugged her tightly to her. The little redhead hadn't even shed a single tear, her whole being in such a state of shock, she wasn't fully comprehending anything going on around her. Catatonic, the Healers said. She would come out of it once the gravity of the situation hit her, but in the mean time, Meghan would have to wait for her to do so. After all, it wasn't every day you saw your father die right before your eyes. They had had to stay at the hospital overnight, unable to get Ember to move from her chair. She just sat there, staring forward, for hours, her mouth half open, one hand gripping the key around her neck, pressing her pinky between the teeth so hard she had broken the skin. As dawn had come, Meghan had lifted her daughter from the chair, cradling her despite Ember being slightly too heavy for her at this point. The child hadn't even looked at her.

Once home, Meghan had set Ember down, and the girl had stood there for a few moments before dashing away down the hallway, through the door at the end and into her father's work shop where she had hidden herself away beneath the work table.

And it was only then, surrounded by the scent of her father and his work, that Ember cried, listening to her mother's wracking sobs coming from the other room.

Excuse me while I go and ponder over why I wrote something so sad. Thanks for reading!