Giants
Plot: After finding out that Adam McKinnon, her first love, is dying, Emmeline Vance goes on a journey of salvation. Yet, instead of finding redemption for her past, she rediscovers the meaning of happiness.
Part 1 Before
She was riding on a dragon, more specifically, a Swedish Short Snout. The beast roared under her and Emmeline's veins exploded with adrenaline. She let out a soft whoop, bringing the beast low. Its wings skimmed the surface of the lake below them and it soared up into the sky.
" Come on girl," she cooed to the beast. It looped in the air and Emmeline held on tight. The sun was starting to set over the horizon and she knew she would have to get back to the Research Facility Park soon. But for now she wanted to be in the air, soaring in the sky and tasting freedom.
She stopped the dragon in the air, Emmeline's eyes frozen on the sun. The news came in the mail that morning, and Emmeline found herself up here for the entire day.
" Adam McKinnon is dying."
It wasn't her Adam really. That boy lost his soul, as a result of making the wrong gamble with fate. Dementors had sucked everything that made Adam, Adam from his body months ago. While his soul was gone, his physical body remained, a body that could get sick.
With Azkaban crammed full of old Death Eaters, the few wizards on premise hadn't noticed Adam's state until now. He wasn't going to get better, and Marlene had written asking Emmeline to come to Mungos to see him one last time.
But Emmeline didn't know if she could see him. She hadn't gone to the trail or the ceremony where the Dementors took his soul. In fact, the last time she'd seen Adam was back when she discovered he was a death eater.
In times like this she liked to remind herself of some facts.
" Vances aren't afraid of anything."
Emmeline tugged on the dragon, urging her forward into the trees. The beast roared in triumph, spiraling its form perfectly against the branches. Halsey, the Swedish Short snout, although bred in captivity, when given almost free range learned to develop the same skills wild Shortsnouts had.
It was apart of Emmeline's main paper, a discussion on if raising dragons in captivity changes their distinct flying routes. So far, she'd been to China, Indonesia, and various countries in South America, each dragon she'd chosen from the reserves only proved her point. There was something in their blood, an instinct, that made these beasts fly the way they did.
And that was including Halsey.
The sun was practically invisible in the sky, and the fading summer air wasn't as warm as usual.
" Let's go home Hals," she said, patting the dragon's side and letting Halsey take them back. At this particular reserve, the researchers were liberal with the dragons, having a large land in the Swiss Mountain region with shield charms and tracking charms on the beasts. Some places, like the ones in China, forced the marvelous creatures into cages at night and when they were not studied.
Beckett's goal was to change that. He was documenting various research facilities around the world, and would present his work to a panel of International Dragon Research Heads to show them that giving the dragons as much freedom as possible would benefit both the beasts and researchers.
Unlike, Emmeline his goal was going to be harder. The Swedish Research Lab had more funding than others, which explained the amount of freedom given to the dragons. Others had to make use with the scant funds they had.
She went into this year long project not expecting to fall in love so quickly with dragons. They were incredible creatures, much better than humans in Emmeline's opinion.
" You wouldn't betray your girlfriend would you?"
Halsey snorted and Emmeline smiled.
" Right, a little presumptuous of me to assume you'd fancy girls."
Halsey continued on and Emmeline looked up.
" What would you do?"
The summer air brushed the curls in her ponytail back and Emmeline stopped Halsey for a moment. The stars were suddenly visible and she stared at them, remembering a boy who made her feel like a star, who made her feel apart of something bigger than herself like a constellation, who made her feel loved.
" I'm scared to see him Jason," Emmeline confessed. " I didn't do right by Adam, but he didn't do right by me."
He'd used the compulsion charms of their betrothal to force Emmeline to be numb from the pain of losing so many of their loved ones during the war.
" I'm scared of going back to that."
She'd gone back to England liberally. She'd visited her friends five or so times since leaving for this year long trip and Emmeline had met up with some at the wedding this summer. But she wasn't scared of those things, no Emmeline was terrified of returning to England and the ghosts in it.
" There's still people who'll judge me- Adam's family fell apart and I ran away. I exposed his family's secret too. But he loved me, and I did too."
He was her happily ever after, but Emmeline figured that she didn't want to be young and gold forever.
She was silent, staring at the stars, wanting to fly up into them to be with Jason.
Not yet.
Emmeline Vance was 18 years old, she still had a life to live. She had to live for Jason.
" I miss you."
The stars seemed bright that night and nothing happened, nothing ever did.
" I'll go and see him," she said, blinking hard.
As a tear fell down her cheek, the stars seemed to burn.
She reached the research lab and let Halsey fly off into the dim. Emmeline took off her riding gear and headed for the cabin she and Beckett occupied. When she got there, Emmeline was greeted with the sound of a baby laughing.
" Then the big ol' werewolf huffed, and puffed but he couldn't blow the house of the littlest kneazle down!"
" Is that an appropriate story to tell an eight month old? I mean it's a little morbid Beck."
Becket's amber eyes met hers and his face crinkled into a smile while little Oliver Wood chewed on the head of his favorite toy dragon.
" I'm trying to teach Ollie about the importance of good shelter," he answered, rising from the floor and pecking Emmeline's flushed cheek. He grinned down at her and she smiled at him.
" Good fly?"
" Grand."
Oliver threw the dragon down and toddled to it, staring at them.
" I think he's jealous," Beckett noted. Emmeline bent down and picked her nephew up. Oliver, born almost four months premature, had become a healthy toddler with the diligent care of his mother and father. But with Abilene Lestrange's recent death, Michael was left to care for his infant son on his own. Emmeline had stepped in, being Michael's cousin and practical sibling. While she and Beckett raised Oliver, Michael was to continue his time in Hogwarts, and come home often to visit his son.
He'd been worried about Oliver being on dragon research facilities, but after Emmeline's insistence that they were safe, relented.
" He's just tired, Ollie's bedtime was an hour ago," she informed Beckett. Typically, she took afternoon shifts, and he took morning shifts with taking care of Oliver. Members of their research team were more than happy to assist as well, most having their own children, being Emmeline and Becket's seniors.
" The little bugger's got me wrapped around his tiny fingers Vance," Beckett protested. Emmeline gave him a mockingly dirty look as she put Oliver down in his crib in the next room over. The cabin, with two bedrooms and a center living space, was bigger than most places they stayed in.
" He asked for him mum this morning," Emmeline said, watching Oliver start to fall asleep.
" One day we'll tell him, or maybe Michael will. But he's got us to mother him."
" You're not a mom Beck, you're the complete definition of a dad," Emmeline protested. Beckett wrapped his arms around her from behind and smiled against her shoulder.
" How so?"
" You're overindulgent and can't stand your ground against Oliver."
" He's two Acromantula Slayer," Beckett answered. " They've got hypnotic cuteness."
" He's two, you've encountered all sorts of creatures and beasts but a two year old subdues you."
Beckett shrugged and kissed her neck.
" I've got a weakness for kids," he admitted.
" I know."
Later that night, while they were setting up dinner for some members of their research team, Emmeline faced Beckett, ready to tell him her news.
" I got an owl from Marlene this morning," she started. He was levitating the plates and utensils out and nodded.
" I'm going to see Adam."
The plates crashed to the ground and Emmeline winced as glass shattered loudly. Luckily, there was a set of a one way silencing charms on Oliver's nursery, keeping sounds out, but allowing them to hear if he cried.
" Reparo," Emmeline muttered, fixing the plates. " He's dying Beckett, got some disease, I'm not too sure what the details are, but I know it's serious. They think he's got weeks to live."
Beckett took the restored plates from her and using his hands set the table.
" Do you want me to come?"
Emmeline shook her head.
" I think I'd like to stay until he passes," she explained. " Marlene's still in school and his father left the country and his mum won't see him. It's going to be a month Beck, according to what the healers are saying. It'd derail your research schedule."
" It'd do the same to yours."
" Melbourne's research records practically the same stuff as mine. Besides you lot will being going to Iceland and Wales, which are close enough for me to come by sometimes."
" And Oliver?"
" I'll take him with me," Emmeline answered. " Evelyn Malfoy wants to see him."
" Her husband was a death eater," Beckett pointed out.
" Abraxas Malfoy has been dead for ages. Besides she's the closest thing he has to family besides you, me, and Michael."
Beckett was silent, and when he finished the table came to stand in front of her.
" I think you should go," he said. " Taking Oliver might be good, give him some family time. I just don't want you to be alone in this."
He was perfect. Emmeline knew how amazing Beckett was. He matched her perfectly, fitting into her cracks and demands perfectly and bringing logic to her more extreme ideas, her doing the same to his. They balanced each other and worked well.
But he wasn't Jason. Jason grew around her, they were two trees whose limbs fit together and embraced for life. Jason didn't fit perfectly with her, but that didn't matter. The differences are what Emmeline treasured, it's what made them so amazing.
" I'll be ok," she answered, reaching up and kissing him. " I'll have Oliver and I'm sure my old friends from school will want to keep me company and entertain me- they've been begging for me to return again."
But Jason was dead, and in this world without him, Emmeline had to learn to stand on her own, even if Beckett was more than willing to support her.
It was raining when Emmeline Vance arrived in England. She could hear the rain pelting against the roof of the Ministry at the international floo stations. But her lips cracked up as she went through security.
" Like the rain?" the guard asked.
" More like missed it," Emmeline admitted. When she was finished, Emmeline shrunk all of her luggage and transfigured them into an easy-carry bag. She carried Oliver in one hand, one of his thumbs in his mouth and the other holding his stuffed dragon, Nimby, by the neck.
Emmeline continued on, some people greeting her. Both her parents had been well known and the scandal between her and Adam was huge.
" Such an adorable little boy," a witch commented in the lift. " Looks just like you."
" Well he's not mine," Emmeline answered. " I'm looking after him as his father is… indisposed at the time."
The witch gave her a sympathetic look. " One of those people tasked with chasing after those awful runaway death eaters?" Emmeline shrugged and the witched chortled. " My sister's brother-in-law is one of those aurors- awful work having to look through all the corners in England. But they'll catch the bad guys, they always get their justice."
Emmeline nodded and was grateful that they reached their floor. The witch's statement reminded her sharply of Adam's predicament and she brushed the idea away, heading towards the auror offices.
Members of the Wizengamot, old friends of her father, greeted her but Emmeline continued on, reaching the auror office soon enough. She entered and heard an exclamation.
" The little bugger's all grown up!"
Emmeline smiled and looked up to see Frank Longbottom heading over. He had a fresh haircut and looked like hell, but smiled indulgently at Oliver.
" Who's that you've got there?" he asked Oliver.
" Nimby!"
" Nimby?"
Emmeline sighed and smiled at Frank.
" Michael went on a rant back in July about how that new broom company Nimbus is going to be big- invested a lot in it."
Frank chuckled and smiled at her.
" While albeit Michael's stubbornness, you're looking less singed than usual."
" That was one time with a crazy Chinese Fireball egg hatching," Emmeline protested. Frank chuckled and leaned against a nearby door.
" Here to see Alice?"
" Actually, Moody," Emmeline answered. She saw Frank's shocked look and chuckled. " You're forgetting that Moody, Michael, and I are all cousins. Moody's taking Oliver to see great-grandmum Evelyn."
" Gotta start them young to leach the money from their elder relatives," Frank answered in a joking voice. Emmeline gave him an amused expression and he chuckled to himself.
" You've gotten a sense of humor Longbottom," she commented.
" Alice is driving me up the wall with bloody wedding plans," he explained. " I've taken to reading these little pocket joke books they've got lying around everywhere, even in bloody cake stores."
" Well you should have done what me and Beckett did."
" Alice would die before having a wedding planned in a week."
" I thought it was charming," a voice interrupted. Emmeline looked up, seeing Andromeda Tonks.
" Andy," she greeted warmly.
" What bring you back to England," Andromeda asked, smiling at the sight of little Oliver.
Emmeline's sudden good mood was destroyed by the reminder and she tugged on one of her chestnut curls.
" A friend isn't doing so well," she explained. " He hasn't gotten any family to be there."
Andromeda nodded and glanced down at Oliver.
" Well if you need someone to look after the little guy, Ted and I would be more than willing- With Dora back at school we're a little lonely."
" Actually-"
Before Emmeline could answer, her, a voice, interrupted.
" This isn't social hour- you'd be working at Witch Weekly if you wanted to spend your time gossiping. Back to work!"
The aurors, looked up to see Alastor Moody. He stood in the doorway of his office and his fake eye twitched, settling on Emmeline's frame.
" We'll see you around, and sorry about your friend," Andromeda murmured before heading back to her own desk. Frank followed, leaving Emmeline with Oliver and Moody.
" I'll take him over to Evelyn's, think Wood would mind if he stayed in the office for an hour?"
Emmeline handed Moody Oliver's large care bag and smiled.
" Ollie's not a pansy, he's spent the last month with dragons, he can handle a couple of aurors."
She looked down to her nephew and godson, brushing a lock of his brown hair back.
" Be good for Uncle Al," she whispered in his ear. "He gets grumpy."
Oliver dribbled on his dragon and Emmeline kissed his cheek before handing him to Moody.
" Take care of him, ok?"
Moody nodded and gave her a direct look.
" You're good at this parenting thing."
Emmeline shrugged and stared at her nephew, who was tugging on the zipper of Moody's jacket.
" Someone's got to do it."
" Health-wise he's not well," the healer explained, as he walked Emmeline down the hall. " They didn't find it early enough for treatment to be an option, now it's just a matter of waiting."
" And his… state," Emmeline started. " How does that affect things?"
The healer shook his head, taking Emmeline down a right hall.
" It's not as bad as a vegetable state, he's conscious but he's not there."
Emmeline nodded, the healer stopping in front of room 304.
" Mrs. Scamander, he tends to go into fits from the pain, just be ready," the healer advised, before opening the door. Emmeline swallowed hard and looked up.
I can do this, she thought to herself, before following the healer into the room. It was a single room, with a bed and an armchair. A bathroom was attached but Emmeline's eyes flew to the man sitting up in the bed.
The radio played the reports of the recent Bats-Harpies game but no one was listening.
Adam was gaunt, his skin stretched over his skin and Emmeline could see the ridge of his cheekbones. His skin was pale, veins clear underneath.
Adam's messy back hair was cropped close to his head and his mouth was slightly opened, revealing the slight chip in his top front tooth. Emmeline swallowed, her gut clenching at the handcuff around his left arm, keeping him trapped to the bed.
" Adam," the healer said. He didn't respond. " You have a visitor."
After a minute, he looked up and Emmeline met his blue eyes. But there was nothing there. The boy who promised to keep her young was gone. And in his place was a dying body.
Adam looked away and the healer gave Emmeline an apologetic look.
" Can I be alone with him?" she asked. The healer looked conflicted but nodded, stepping from the room, leaving the door a crack open.
Emmeline stepped forward, feeling as though she was walking through waves. Eventually she reached the chair beside his bed and sat in it. It creaked under her weight and she reached forward, catching one of Adam's hands in her own.
" Do you remember me?"
He didn't answer, instead Adam turned his face and stared at her, a blank expression on his face.
" It's me," Emmeline said, her voice cracking slightly. " It's Emmeline."
He didn't answer.
" We were betrothed," she explained. " And in love."
He didn't answer and Emmeline blinked, her eyes watering slightly.
" You promised me something, do- do you remember it?"
He didn't answer and the first tear slipped from Emmeline's eye.
" Adam, you said you'd keep me gold, remember that?"
He didn't answer, and Emmeline felt despair overcome her. A second tear slipped from her eye and she looked down.
He really was gone.
This man in front of her was just a husk of the boy who wanted to keep her safe, but went to the wrong measures to do it.
" It's ok," she finally said, looking up and squeezing his hand. " You don't need to remember those things."
She returned the next day for visitation hours in Mungos. Emmeline was staying with Evelyn Malfoy and was forced to tolerate the presence of the pregnant and upset Narcissa Malfoy. Luckily for Narcissa, the bun in her oven would get the estate that the government would have otherwise confiscated from the family on the grounds of Abraxas and Lucius's involvements with the Death Eaters. But for now, Narcissa acted as though her entire life had shattered.
She was lucky, Emmeline thought. At least she was alive and eventually would have a reminder of her husband. Others weren't as lucky. Andromeda lost her foot and Jason died. But Narcissa acted as though she was the sole victim of this war.
" Hi."
Adam didn't look up. There were various medical potions on a tray near him and he looked almost worse than the day before.
Emmeline took her seat next to him and pulled something from her bag. She opened the book, and reached for Adam's hand, squeezing it.
At her request, Marlene had sent the Album, along with a few of Adam's old possessions from his days in Hogwarts.
" You used to love photography," Emmeline explained. " Took pictures of everything."
Adam's head turned, and he looked down at the album.
" That's Frank, he's your best mate," she informed him. " He's in auror training right now, I'm not too sure if he knows you're in here."
Emmeline swallowed and pointed to the girl next to Frank in the picture from their sixth year.
" That's Alice, Frank's fiancee. Our friends used to bet on who'd get married first, them or us."
He was silent.
" She's with the Witch Watchers now, likes it there a lot. They're planning their wedding, it's going to be next summer."
He was silent.
" Over there are the twins," she pointed out. " Gid and Fab. Gid's actually somewhere here, he's training to be a healer, and Fabian well he's playing as a beater for Puddlemere United."
" That's Marlene, " Emmeline continued. " She's your little sister. Do- Do you remember her?"
In the picture, Marlene looked like the beautiful girl Emmeline used to be jealous of. Her long raven hair tumbled down her back and she was tucked into Fabian's side, laughing at something Gideon had said.
Marlene was different now. She'd shorn off the long hair and grown up. But she seemed to fade, if not from the world, but Emmeline's. Maybe now, Emmeline had nothing to be jealous of, knowing how Marlene's world was falling apart.
" She's in school, prefect just like you were," Emmeline informed him. She looked up, Adam's eyes empty. " She has- has your eyes."
He was silent.
" Over there's Michael. He was a wanker, but he was our wanker," Emmeline explained. It was almost terrifying to see how much her friends had changed in the past two years. They'd gone from round faced happy children to lanky lost adults. This change, the transition from childhood to adulthood, felt like wandering through a desert, only you didn't know you were in a desert in the first place.
" And there's Lily."
Her finger stopped on Lily's frame in the picture, shaken slightly. She had Jason's smile, Emmeline thought to herself. Although Lily looked nothing like her brother, she reminded Emmeline that Jason was more than someone who'd changed her life- he changed others' too.
" She's been all over the world, used to tell you about the places she's gone."
Adam was silent.
Her days continued, alternating between visiting Adam and testing the data sent from the research team. It was a cycle, one that Emmeline hated, not for the sake of being trapped, but rather for the sake of being liberated. Because in this cycle, she could remember the past, one she was forced to leave behind when she married Beckett.
" We used to have a prank war on Halloween," she chuckled. " Last year Marlene was soaked in pumpkin juice and Alice hexed Frank's hair pink!"
He was silent of course, staring at the wall. Although she visited everyday, Adam's reactions never changed. But there was always something comforting to Adam's presence, something that felt like freedom and the giddy rush of youth.
" One year," Emmeline recalled. " Frank, Gid, and you set up mistletoe all over the hall- McGonagall had to give Slughorn a kiss, well she kissed his cheek…"
She heard a cough from the door and looked over. Gideon stood, leaning against the doorway, a sheepish expression on his face.
" Heard from Michael you were back," he explained. Emmeline let go of Adam's handing and nodded. She and Gideon had been close, but after school, they drifted apart. Things like that happened, but Emmeline's eyes widened catching the promise ring around his neck.
" Oh yeah," he said sheepishly. " Kates likes me wearing it while she's in school- says it'll keep the birds away."
" Kates?" Emmeline asked in a breathless voice. Gideon nodded, his adam's apple bobbling.
" Katie Michelson, a year below us. She's a hufflepuff," he explained." We're engaged."
" Engaged?"
Gideon's lips stretched up, his lower cracking, but he seemed unaware of it.
" Yeah, asked her back in August."
" She's a seventh year," Emmeline said in a dull tone. " And didn't she have an orgy with her sister and the Chang brothers?"
Gideon's face turned red and he rolled his eyes.
" Good to see you too Emmeline," he snapped, stepping back into the hallway. Emmeline stared at the empty space and sighed.
" They might be our friends," she told Adam. " But they're terribly upset that I left."
It was November and Oliver was toddling around the great room of Malfoy Manor. Emmeline watched him, analyzing a stack of reports from the research team, a frown on her face. The findings from Iceland didn't correspond with anything she'd seen in previous environments…
" Mummy!"
Her face snapped up, Oliver was standing, staring at her. His toothless mouth spread into a gummy smile.
And suddenly Emmeline was crying. At the sight of her crying, Oliver's face crumpled and he started crying too. She stood up, rushing to him immediately.
" Don't cry," she murmured, picking him up. He continued and Emmeline rubbed his back gently. " I'm just not your mum."
" So you're not going to make it for the next part?"
Emmeline cupped the muggle phone closer to her ear and sighed.
" Adam's gotten a lot worse, and no one's visiting him. Beck, his sister tried to kill herself for merlin's sake!"
Beckett was silent on the other end and Emmeline pressed her forehead against the cold metal of the telephone booth.
" I love you," she whispered. He was silent for a moment, before coughing.
" I love you too, do what you have to do, we'll get your data for you…"
" You looked happy," Emmeline noticed. There was a distinct glow surrounding Lily. It was late November and Emmeline decided to pay a visit to her old friends in Hogwarts. Lily had been the only one free to meet, and walked beside her, down the snow-covered streets of Hogsmeade.
" I feel happy," Lily admitted, her cheeks flushing slightly. " I didn't think I'd ever be happy again…"
Emmeline was silent and Lily stopped walking, turning to face her.
" You're happy right?" she asked, her green eyes curious. " Scamander makes you happy?"
Emmeline was silent, her mind grasping for words that seemed to stumble from her grip.
" Sometimes I smile and that's enough."
She sat on his bed, sometimes bringing her fingers through his hair. Adam remained silent as Emmeline babbled on, telling him about the stars and beyond. She could hear the healers whispering, he didn't have much longer.
But he was her anchor, strangely. He kept her sane in a world where she was eighteen and a boy called her mum. He kept her young, but young in the memories only.
" You used to hate the muggle books I read," she confessed, her eyes faraway. " One time, I got you to read one- one of Hemingway's things. Made you hate them even more- said that muggles were awfully hopeless."
Emmeline felt awfully hopeless now. Perhaps muggles didn't have magic, but magic couldn't cure the pain in her chest from seeing Adam dying before her eyes and watching Oliver grow up without a mother.
" Up!"
Michael lifted Oliver onto his shoulders andspun him around, the little boy screaming in joy. He was visiting for the weekend from school. Emmeline liked these weekends in particular, it gave her a break from the cycle of alternating between Adam and Oliver.
" He's going to throw up," Emmeline warned. Michael looked over to her with a mischievous look.
" He's a Wood- we're made for the air," he answered. But Oliver spit up on him and Emmeline sat with her grandmother while they cleaned up Oliver.
" That husband of yours doesn't visit," Evelyn Malfoy pointed out. Emmeline shrugged.
" He's got important research," she explained. Evelyn sniffed.
" Nothing is more important than a marriage," she replied. Emmeline rolled her eyes at her grandmother's outdated view and pulled a shirt over Oliver's clean body.
" Look at Narcissa- she's lost her husband but she's staying strong, she's going to raise that boy of hers. Then you've got Marlene McKinnon types, Merlin knows what that girl's parents did to ruin her."
" She's my friend," Emmeline answered. " And she's fine the way she is."
" We spent Christmas together," she whispered to Adam. His eyes were shut, but he was awake, fists clenched around his blankets from pain. " You used to make me build snow wizards with you."
He was silent and Emmeline hated it.
" You're not coming home?' she asked in shock. Beckett's face in the fireplace looked bashful and he nodded.
" We're behind track already, most of the crew is willing to stay…"
Emmeline swallowed and wrapped her shawl tightly around her shoulders. She forced them even and smiled weakly.
" I'll give your parents my love, merry Christmas Beck."
Later that night, she curled up on her bed and held a quill and parchment in her hand. A lamp rested on her sidetable, wax dripping down the candle of it.
She waited for the words to come, but only four did.
Do I love Beckett?
" Do you ever go to his tomb?"
" Never," Emmeline answered, sipping from her firewhiskey. Lily traced her finger along the condensation on her own glass of mulled meade.
" I didn't know you drank," Emmeline noted. Lily shrugged and chewed on her lower lip.
" I didn't know you've been here to see Adam," she replied. Emmeline was silent and Lily narrowed her eyes. " Is that particularly smart? Emma you're dragging up old history and you've been doing so we-"
" If by well you mean I'm raising my cousin's son and my husband doesn't want to come and see me, then I guess so…"
Lily was silent, a sad expression on her face.
" I used to think, what if I just got up and left?' she confessed, her voice soft. " Who would miss me? Who'd bother to look? But I guess I cared about who'd never stop forgetting me, instead of who I'd never stop forgetting."
" My giant goes with me wherever I go," Emmeline quoted. Lily was silent, but she looked as though she wanted to say something more.
" You're an acquired taste," Lily replied instead, drinking the rest of her meade. Emmeline's lips quirked up.
" Likewise, now why don't you tell me about that date with Cedric Diggory I've been hearing all about?"
He was thin, the manacle around his wrist seemed infinitely larger than Adam's thin limb. There were bags under his eyes and his face was blotchy. He looked sick, his body gaunt but still somehow bloated.
Emmeline had turned the radio to another Quidditch game, bringing his old camera and photo album from their seventh year with her this time. She flipped through it, trying desperately to find one moment.
" You'd bring this to classes," she explained, continuing her search. " Got a fight between Cassius Gastor and Natasha Goyle fully photographed."
He was quiet this time, fidgeting with his shirt, sweat sticking to his skin despite the cold weather. Emmeline could hear every annoyed breath, every scrape of the metal of his handcuff around the bed post.
But the sounds suddenly faded, Emmeline's hands numbing and her voice dying off. Shock engulfed her and she lifted the photo album to her eyes.
It didn't make sense.
But Adam did document every single moment in his life.
Her eyes shut, pain hiccuping from her heart, resounding around its empty chambers and her blood.
She'd almost forgotten the way she and Jason used to lean into each other.
The picture was folded and crumpled, Emmeline glanced over at Adam's husk before prying it from the album. She raised it to the light, her eyes narrowed and her fingers digging into the flesh of her palm.
They were standing in the Entrance Hall, Emmeline's figure facing Jason's and Jason's slumped into the wall. Sunlight streamed in from the windows, the light absorbing into their figures.
He was laughing, clearly enthralled by whatever Emmeline was saying. Her hands were in the air, small laughs escaping her lips, before he finally caught her hand. Her face, so much younger in so many ways, relaxed, breaking into a smile that Jason's grin complimented.
Emmeline shove the photo into the album, suddenly feeling winded. She looked up, staring at the ceiling, her fingernails cutting into the skin of her palms.
Tears prickled, and Emmeline's breaths came out ragged. It hit her so hard, seeing him. Remembering Jason was different, because in remembering she had the power. But that photo, the one folded over and over again, had all the power- it had the truth.
Because she could remember him as her friend and leave it there.
But the truth was that Emmeline Vance loved Jason Gastor, and she didn't know if she could love someone like that ever again.
" No."
Emmeline's mind snapped back, a hand at her right hand, longer fingers splayed against her pale ones. She looked up, a tear leaking from her eyes. Adam's gaze was frustrated, but she could see his mouth opened, hurt ringing from his eyes.
She looked down to her palms, her nails had dug into, drawing small bubbles of blood.
" No."
She let go, her hands flushing with color, in relief and Adam looking at her for one single moment. His blue eyes shone and for that moment the old Adam was back. The Adam that stopped her before she could go down a dark path was back, but then he faded.
His hand returned to his side and Adam shut his eyes, dismissing her. Emmeline sat by his side, the blood slowly drying on her hands.
" I loved you," she admitted. " But Jason was everything."
The day started off normal enough. She woke up, showered and changed, before tending to Oliver. After, she joined Evelyn and Narcissa for breakfast, ignoring Narcissa's spiteful comments and blaming them on pregnancy hormones. Then she'd work on data while playing with Oliver.
" Going to the ball, or are you going to keep working like a single mom?"
She looked up, Narcissa watching her from the door. A hand rested on her stomach and her watery blue eyes were pulled into a sneer. Unlike Narcissa, Emmeline had been invited to some celebration ball the Ministry was hosting in honor of six months with peace.
" Balls are a little Old Regime for me," she replied. " Besides I'm supposed to visit Adam this afternoon."
" That's probably why you're spending the holidays with two widows and an orphan instead of your rich and fit husband," Narcissa goaded. " Visiting your old fiance must be quite the turn off…"
" Oh bugger off- you're just upset that you've been cooped up here for six months."
Narcissa was silent and Emmeline continued her work, thinking the stingy woman was gone.
" I'm 24, pregnant, a widow, and I don't have any money," Narcissa suddenly said. " Meanwhile you're married to a doting husband, have a great career, and can go off and ride a bloody dragon if you wanted to. So tell me, why are you here, torturing yourself over a man who everybody else has forgotten?"
Emmeline looked up, her eyes flashing.
" Because I didn't forget him," she snapped. " I didn't forget Adam or Dorcas or Benjy! I didn't forget about any of them. They're in my head, they're here with me all the bloody time. And you might be eager to sit here and live off of what Evelyn has left, but I'm not. I want to be out there- I want to ride dragons and shag my husband but I can't! I can't forget that we spent our entire lives in a war and now we're just expected to live normal lives."
Her breaths were ragged and Emmeline's hair had slipped from its bun, falling into curls around her face. Narcissa stared at her, wide-eyed, with a look of sudden surprise. Emmeline glared at her and Narcissa finally sighed, her eyes landing on Oliver's babbling form.
" I've spent the last three months trying to figure out why you came back," she admitted. " You're a damn good person Emmeline."
Emmeline was silent, Narcissa looking up and coughing.
" If you're interested in going to the ball, maybe take a night off, then I've got a dress. It's too long on me and it's from my ball days. I reckon it'll fit you," she explained, her eyebrows knitting together. " I'd like us to be friends, I don't have a lot left."
Emmeline was silent.
" Go to the ball, please."
" Why is it so damn important that I go to this ball?" Emmeline interrupted, her face reflecting her annoyance.
" I dunno, you're avoiding your friends I suppose," Narcissa offered. " You've got everything I don't and it's like you're throwing it all away for the past. You won the war, don't you think you deserve a break?"
Emmeline was silent and Narcissa sighed, finally turning from the doorway.
" I'll go, but if your dress is any shade of pink I'll wear a sheet."
" Firewhiskey," Emmeline informed the bartender, fighting the urge to rub her eyes, in order to avoid smudging the makeup Narcissa had kept on her face. She hadn't been to a ball in ages, but high heels were still uncomfortable, even with jelly spells on her heels.
She also fought the urge to pull the pins out of her hair and to pull the dress higher up on her chest.
" Emma?"
Before turning, Emmeline took a long drink from her glass.
" Lily," she greeted, her eyes softening.
" Haven't seen you in a while," Lily answered, sitting down. She wore her hair down, the curls messy but lovely.
" Adam's not getting better," she explained. " And my research isn't going anywhere."
" Right," Lily said, grabbing the fire whiskey from Emmeline and taking a sip. She caught Emmeline's look and shrugged. " Stuff's not so good on my side either."
Emmeline frowned, recalling how happy Lily had seemed in the past months, in person and letters.
" Why'd you come then?" she asked. Emmeline shrugged and took the glass back, taking a long sip.
" Narcissa practically kicked me out- thought I needed a night to myself."
Lily looked surprised, and ordered a drink.
" Malfoy?"
" Yep, maybe the hormones have got her going nice," Emmeline offered. She glanced back, seeing flashes of familiar faces but no one she would get up and greet.
" Why aren't you with Diggory?" she asked, recalling that Lily had gone on a date with the boy. Lily scoffed and swirled the liquid of her meade.
" Cause Cedric realized that I'm not ok," she confessed, looking up and meeting Emmeline's eyes with a sad smile. " Nobody wants to be with the girl who's lost it all."
Emmeline frowned and tapped her fingers against the bar's surface.
" Sometimes it's ok to not be ok," she answered. " And if a boy can't accept that then he's really not worth it."
" How are you doing?" Lily asked, changing the subject. She looked cold, and rubbed the goosebumps-covered skin of her arms.
" I feel like shit," Emmeline answered. " I'm sitting in a ball, with some of my closest friends in the world, and right now I'd rather be in Adam's room, telling him about who he used to be."
" Then why are you here?"
" Because Adam's going to die and I can't live in the past forever," Emmeline replied. Lily was silent, her eyes going dull and her bottom lip between her teeth.
" I go back all the time," she admitted. " Someone has to remember."
The words echoed, hitting Emmeline hard. She'd said the same thing before, but hearing it from Lily was so different. It was shattering and destroying and consuming. Emmeline wasn't worth the future, she wasn't going to offer anything great with her time. But Lily was young and capable of anything- she had to move on, she had to.
" We've got to stop this, Jason wouldn't want us to be trapped there," Emmeline exclaimed. " You've got potential Lily."
" You sound like Professor McGonagal," Lily sniffed.
" I'm trying to help you," Emmeline protested. Lily shook her head and her eyes narrowed.
" You can't help me Emmeline, not when you can't even help yourself out of this hole."
" That wasn't very nice," a voice said from behind them. Emmeline turned, seeing James Potter standing behind Lily. He wore a cautious smile, his hand going around Lily's waist.
" Bugger off Potter," Lily snubbed. " We're sleeping together, you don't need to babysit me."
Emmeline's eyes widened and James gave her an apologetic look.
" Come on Lils," he murmured. " Let's get you home before you say anything you regret."
He tugged her towards him, and Lily let him wrap his cloak around her shoulders. James tucked her into his side and rubbed her back. He wore an amused expression.
" I've never seen Lily drunk before," he confessed to Emmeline.
" Me neither… Always thought she'd be a randy drunk."
James chuckled at this.
" Listen don't take anything she might have said to heart- it's the anniversary of her parents' death today."
" Right," Emmeline coughed, sudden sympathy filling her. She looked James, dead in the eye, and could see something. Beneath the charisma and the image he propped up, there was something in his eyes. It was the way she looked in that picture with Jason…
" Take care of her Po- James," she ordered. He smiled, a toothy one, his eyes flipping down to Lily's drowsy, hiccuping figure.
" I'll never stop," he vowed.
Emmeline nodded and he led Lily from the ball, coaxing her along gently. She watched them, her heart fluttering and shuttering and gasping. Maybe this is why she didn't like being around her friends, they were all so bloody in love.
She stumbled into Adam's room, late in the night. He was still awake, a book in his lap and a tray with water and potions nearby. She pulled her heels off and he looked up.
He was speechless, but his eyes relaxed and his hands unclenched from their tightly wound fists.
" Hey," she greeted. She'd sobered up, rising to sit on the side of his bed. Emmeline's eyes glowed at the sight of the book in his lap.
" That's a good read."
He was speechless but his eyes said everything. Emmeline pulled the pins from her hair, the caramel and wood locks falling to her ribs. She sighed in relief and faced him, a smile on her face.
" It was snowing today… Big flakes, just like the ones two years ago when I spent Christmas with your family. You got me my first muggle pen that Christmas, I still have it…"
He watched her, his lips in a line but something different.
" Dolohov used to make fun of me for using it," she admitted. " So you hexed his ears. He looked like that muggle elephant- the one with a silly name, for days."
A giggle escaped her lips, exploded into laughter. Her ribs ached but in the good way, the way happiness felt. And she knew that if Adam was her Adam, he'd take a photo of her and probably put it in a dictionary over the definition of happy. And that made her laugh even more.
" I used to hate your camera- you carried it everywhere and took photos of everything. There's a million pictures of me, just fighting with Alice on your camera. I dunno where they are, maybe I can look through your old stuff and find it."
She stopped laughing, her cheeks flushed and Emmeline turned to his side table, finding his old camera. It slipped into her hands and she bent down, curling up and looked through the lens.
" Smile?"
The flash sounded and she dropped it, waiting for a photo to come out. One slipped out and she hung the camera around her neck, moving closer to Adam and showing him the photo. He smelled like the mint of his medicines but Emmeline didn't mind.
" That's you," she said. " You're Adam McKinnon and you did what you thought was right and you weren't sure about everything and you made the wrong choice. And that's not ok."
And she was crying again, not because her life was so screwed up or because Adam was going to die. Emmeline Vance cried because the Adam McKinnon who broke her heart was human and she didn't realize that sometimes people did horrible things and when they died, you weren't a horrible person for not forgiven them. She didn't forgive him and that was ok.
" Smile."
She was silent and Adam was looking at her, his eyes shining and his lips pulled up, his chipped tooth revealed.
Emmeline's eyes, probably red and puffy were rubbed of tears, her makeup smearing and her nose red. But her lips pulled up and she nodded.
" Smile."
And it was clear to her, maybe happy wasn't supposed to be pretty. Maybe it was messy and maybe it was chaotic and maybe there was no picture dictionary definition of happy.
But all Emmeline knew is that she felt this way with a quill in her hand. She felt this way laughing at one of Frank's corny jokes. She felt this way on a girls' night with Marlene and Lily. She felt this way with Jason.
She had turned to the past, trying to find this feeling again, but instead Emmeline found it in the present. She found happiness is a world without Jason and in a world where her friends didn't know her anymore. She found it in a world where she no longer felt anything when she picked up a quill. She found it, a glowing beacon, in all of the darkness.
" This is really what happy feels like," she whispered.
Adam McKinnon died that night, his heart giving out and Emmeline Vance asleep in her bed, hundreds of miles away.
Part 2: After
" Sometimes we go out, looking for something, only to find something entirely different, but worth it."
1 month later
" Emmeline and I need a few more weeks here," Frederick explained. " We've both got some numbers that reject our entire experiments!"
" We need to move on," Kiera argued. " We're already a week behind the research schedule, thanks to taking a week off for Christmas."
" Some of us have families that we didn't drive off with our constant bitching," Winston replied.
Emmeline watched as twelve of the most renowned magizoologists of her generation argued. She drummed her fingers along the table's edge, a bored expression on her face.
" Enough!"
Beckett stood, his face flashing with rage, silencing the entire team. His eyes sought hers and he spoke.
" Vance and Frederick are going to stay here for however long they need," he declared. " The rest of us will move on to Canada and they can meet us there when they're done."
Immediately protests broke out.
" Oi! You wouldn't let me and Parks do that in Spain!"
" This is complete bullshite!"
" You're just trying to get away from Vance!"
Beckett was silent, his eyes on her figure and the group continued screaming. Emmeline stared back, not knowing what to say. She hadn't spoke to him, not once since Adam's funeral, when she told him that she needed some space.
They had fought, one of the worst fights Emmeline had ever had. And it ended, him pleaing that she at least return and finish her work. She'd agreed.
But she was empty. Even flying didn't bring her anything anymore.
" What do you think Emmeline?"
She glanced towards the group and cleared her throat.
" Although these are unusually circumstances for our research, staying in the states might do the most benefit for mine and Frederick's work," she replied. " If we leave the research with these conclusions, then our experiments will have to be rejected."
" So it's done," Beckett finished. " Emmeline and Frederick will remain here until they're done."
His eyes averted from her own, and Emmeline felt guilt for the relief flooding into her veins. She didn't want to spend another month, seeing Beckett walk around eggshells in her presence.
Winter was cold, colder than most Emmeline had experienced before. She trudged forward, through the cabins of the research lab, deep in the Rocky Mountain range. After a long day, studying the younger dragons, she longed to return to her own cabin.
The research team had left a week ago, leaving Emmeline with Frederick Meyer, an expert in flight patterns. Although his research strayed from her topic, he did meet her for lunch and breakfast.
But she was subdued, she wasn't the old Emmeline. The old Emmeline would give him warm smiles and he'd be her friend in a matter of a few laughs. Simply, she didn't see the point in this anymore.
Stumbling in, from the biting storm, Emmeline shivered and saw a stack of letters at her table. She thumped over, stripping off her coat and scarf. On top of the pile was a letter from Narcissa. She read through it, her lips pulling up at the commentary Narcissa offered onto what was happening since she had left.
Evelyn Malfoy was now looking after Oliver, after Emmeline convinced Michael that the boy would be better off in a more stable situation. Although Emmeline missed the baby, she did find comfort in the moments spent to herself. But that comfort was nothing compared to the truth.
She dropped the letter and her face fell, seeing the wedding invitation to Alice and Frank's. After Adam's death, Alice had decided to pull her out as a bridesmaid, saying that Emmeline wasn't in the mindset to help out with a wedding.
In truth, Emmeline knew they'd grown apart. She hadn't written her old friends in weeks. They sent letters, asking if she wanted to come back and stay with him or talk. But they were more concerned about her than the fact that their friend had died.
She didn't fall back in love with Adam, but he made her learn how to be happy again, instead of remembering what used to make her happy. And somehow, that was everything.
But then he was gone and Emmeline was grasping to find something, something that made her feel happy.
Now things were different, she was done not being ok- she wanted to find it. She wanted that feeling more than anything.
Her days turned, split between her research and seeing the states. Adam had wanted to travel and there was really something amazing to the world, to the people and the things they did. She wanted to see it all, she wanted to feel the world.
She watched dragon eggs hatch and she attended a peace rally in New York. She went to the biggest library the Wizarding World had and Emmeline even went with Frederick to a Quadpod game.
But she wasn't happy.
She got a new journal and wrote everything down. With Adam's pen in one hand, Emmeline scrawled down her days, her thoughts, and the stories she wanted to create.
But it didn't engulf her.
Winter faded, and spring woke from it. Emmeline went to watch the sunrise in Alaska and she went to see flowers bloom for the first time in ten years in a wizarding botanical garden. She sent her winter clothing home and went and got new spring clothing.
She got a tattoo, a small sun on the inside of her hipbone. She remembered, but she didn't lose herself in the past.
It was Jason's birthday and she was spending it attending a dinner hosted by the elite in the American Wizarding World. Emmeline drifted from the company, they were discussing the lack of people to fill jobs as a result of the Vanishing Illness epidemic that ended completely only months ago. She found herself wandering down the halls of the host's house, her dress hitting the floor.
A loud cry broke Emmeline's muddled thoughts and she frowned, instinctively entering a room. A baby sat up in a crib, her bright blue eyes soaked in tears. From raising Oliver, Emmeline found herself suddenly at the crib, raising the baby into her arms.
" You must be awfully upset," she murmured, comforting the crying infant, who didn't look older than four months. " Mummy and daddy must be at the dinner."
" Actually they're dead."
She whirled around, a familiar face in front of her. One of the American aurors who'd come to the battle of Hogwarts last spring stood, leaned against the frame of the door. She frowned at him, trying to recognize him.
" You're the DADA teacher at Hogwarts," she remembered. The man nodded, his lips twitching up.
" Yes I am, and you're Emmeline Vance, the girl my seventh years were fighting about the other day," he replied. Emmeline raised a brow and he chuckled. " Lily Evans is quite worried about you- she's quite intent that you return her letters."
" Oh," Emmeline answered, softly as the cooing baby tugged on the fabric of her dress. " I'm sorry about that…"
" It's Marcus," the man answered. " Marcus Clarke."
Emmeline nodded and the baby let out a sharp noise, demanding attention.
" She's an orphan from the epidemic," he explained. " Alexander and Iva offered to house her until they could find an orphanage for her- they'd take her in but both are our version of Unspeakables, a bit of nasty work…"
" So she's going to go to an orphanage?" Emmeline asked, frowning at the baby in her arms. " That's horrible!"
" There's too many orphans from the war and epidemic for everybody to adopt all of them," Marcus answered. Emmeline was silent, staring into the baby's eyes.
The girl had a mop of blonde hair and startling blue eyes. Emmeline could see the hair, darkening in some spots and her lips pulled up. She could see this baby turning into a young lady, her hair become a dark shade of blonde or a light shade of brown. She could see this girl, shouting in joy over an acceptance to Hogwarts letter, and letters in a scrawled hand telling her all about the house she'd been sorted into. She could see this girl, blushing in front of her first crush. She could see her become a delicate young lady or a stubborn independent one. She could see this girl, her eyes filled with love.
" What's her name?"
" Kathryn, Kathryn Bell."
" Katie," Emmeline murmured, bringing her forehead close to the baby's. " How would you like to have a mum?"
Katie laughed, her eyes exploding into color, and Emmeline's heart gasped and shuddered and happiness seemed to echo of the walls of her veins.
This is what happy felt like.
" You adopted a baby."
Beckett stared at her, wide-eyed and Emmeline nodded. She was back in England, having wrapped up her research, determining an easy solution to the problem that plagued her since starting it. Emmeline currently stood in an empty room in the house that Beckett had built for them once they were done with the trip, only she'd come a month earlier than planned.
" Her name's Katie, Katie Bell, but the adoption people said we should tack one of our names on, it could help her when she's older. Her parents are Healers, got contaminated saving lives. I was thinking she could take your name, or mine or both…"
" Vance," Beckett said in a soft voice. " You're nineteen."
" I know my age Beck," Emmeline answered, trying to assemble a baby seat at the table.
" I'm saying that you're still a kid- you're too young to be a mum!"
" I raised Oliver," Emmeline answered, her eyes narrowing. Beckett ran a hand through his hair and held his hand over his mouth.
" That's different, damnit Emmeline!"
She stopped and Beckett met her gaze with a sorrowful one.
" I've waited two months Vance- no I've been waiting for almost a year," he whispered. " I'm giving you space because what that's what you wanted. And I love you Emmeline, hell I'll love Katie Bell Vance Scamander or whatever her name is going to be. But I need to know if you're going to wake up one day and realize that you're not happy."
Emmeline was silent, before reaching up and brushing Beckett's hair back.
" I love you," she confessed. " I know I haven't said it in a long time, but I do. You make me happy Beck. But I couldn't let you make me happy until I figured some stuff out and I did but then Adam died and I felt like I had to refigure out stuff. I had to figure out what was going to give me purpose again, because dragons for you isn't dragons for me. And it was Adam, and then I found Katie and she's everything and-"
She was cut off, Beckett's lips on hers, gently but demanding. Emmeline melted into it and he bowed out.
" I married you for a reason Emmeline Vance," he explained. " You might have stayed an acromantula, but you're human, you can break and it's ok to break."
" I know that now," she murmured back. Beckett nodded and smiled.
" I love you, and I knew going into this that you might not need me to get back from the war," Beckett continued. " I knew, even though it was so painful, that it was going to be hard to come back from it. I knew Emmeline, but I also knew that one day you'd come back, better than ever."
Emmeline was silent and Beckett chuckled.
" We're not really going to name her Katie Bell Vance Scamander are we?" he asked. " Because that's quite the mouthful…"
" Katie Bell sounds great," Emmeline admitted.
" I like the sound of that," Beckett answered, holding her gaze. Emmeline smiled, her heart exuding happiness.
And this moment, this acceptance and truth is what happiness felt like.
" You'll be the godparents right?"
Lily and Michael looked up, their eyes wide. Emmeline smiled at the pair and Lily flushed.
" Emma of course," she answered, holding Katie even closer as Michael played with her.
" Wouldn't want anyone else to do it," Michael answered. Emmeline nodded and took a sip from her cup of tea. The pair had stopped by one May evening, informing Emmeline they needed a break from the stress of cramming for NEWTs, but moreso to meet Emmeline's daughter.
" She and Oliver are going to be best friends," Michael declared, a flash in his eyes. " She's going to be the perfect little chaser!"
" Stay away from my daughter Wood," Emmeline answered. " I don't need her turning into a mini you."
" Just wait and see Vance," Michael answered. " She'll be riding a broom before she's walking!"
And this, this moment with her two best friends is what happy felt like.
" Heard you'd come back early from your research," a voice said from behind. Emmeline turned and smiled, Alice and Frank were standing with the twins. She'd come into a store in Diagon Alley, trying to find fresh fruit, only to stumble onto her friends.
" Beckett's still there, wrapping up stuff," she explained, adjusting Katie's stroller. " he'll be back in a month."
" I didn't know you were with Oliver," Alice cooed, dropping lower to pull the hood of the stroller back. Her eyes went wide at the sight of the sleeping baby in the stroller. " That's not Oliver…"
" Guys," Emmeline said, a smile on her face. " This is Katie Bell, she's my daughter."
And this is what happy felt like, the words daughter wrapped between her teeth, exploding out.
In conclusion, despite the need for studying dragons, to enhance the Wizarding World, dragons in captivity are found to retain their unique flying patterns when given the most freedom. This, not only preserves the validity of any experiment conducted on them, but also treats the beasts just, for their service to wizarding kind.
The paper of Emmeline Vance, researcher on the paper "flying patterns of dragons in captivity", was arguable the last piece of evidence submitted before the International Dragon Research Committee, in regards to the new law past on Monday.
Seeing words, quoted from her research paper, smacked on the cover of the Daily Profit, the final piece in establishing a new law regarding the international conditions of dragon research, forbidding keeping dragons in cages at any time, besides transportation, was what excitement felt like.
But seeing Katie crawl for the first time is what happy felt like.
Alice and Frank were getting married in the large backyard to the Weasley burrow. Emmeline sat, Katie in her lap and Beckett on her side, watching as her friends became husband and wife. She could see Lily, standing amongst the bridesmaids, her eyes on someone in the seats not on the bride and groom. Emmeline could even see Marlene, a ring on her finger and a glow surrounding her.
After the ceremony, she took Katie through a nearby flower meadow as Beckett talked with Sirius Black and Remus Lupin about his own paper. Emmeline sat on the ground, Katie on a blanket in front of her, watching the flowers sway in the summer breeze.
A year before, Emmeline's world had collapsed, but now in this moment she had everything. She set out looking for closure, only to find something better in her time with Adam.
" Thank you," Emmeline whispered. The breeze picked up, brushing her hair back. The old Emmeline would hear Jason's laugh in the wind or open her eyes to find the beauty Adam tried to capture.
But the new Emmeline found joy in other things. The new Emmeline recognized that sometimes you were not supposed to be happy, and that was ok. Because life wasn't going to be alright all the time, but that didn't mean it had to be bad all the time.
Happiness was a fickle creature, but just like the dragons Emmeline studied, people couldn't try and contain it and force it. Happiness was natural and it would come and go. Accepting that changed Emmeline's life.
" Mummy!" Katie suddenly screeched.
" I'm your mummy," Emmeline said, more to herself than the baby, suddenly caught in a flurry of emotions. Her lips pulled her, a crooked smile on her face as she drank in this feeling, not caring when it would return, but enjoying the moment of it.
And that's what happiness was.
The End.
Just a little project I was working on. Don't worry, there's more to come with The Sun Also Rises, which this gives hinting teasers at.
R&R
-Rin
