DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the content referenced/quoted. Warning for swearing.
...
The Legacy
The funny thing about war is that it makes you appreciate loss. As the war grows darker and her friends come home more battered and bruised and the death toll rises with the fear, Em can't help but appreciate the calm way in which her father left this world.
At least, that's what she thinks as she stands outside the door to the flat he left her in the centre of Muggle Edinburgh. She turns the keys over in her hand, shivering at the chilly touch of the metal.
Em had always been close with her father, even after the divorce. He'd stayed in their small village for a time, but his work eventually led him down to Edinburgh and to this small flat where he spent the last of his days.
She remembers very little of him, but what she does remember is good. She'd been one of the lucky kids, to have parents divorce so calmly and remain on good friendly terms. They may have fallen out of love but her mother had been devastated when he died. He had been her confidante, her best friend.
Crack.
Em jumps as Cass suddenly appears out of thin air beside her. Her sister has the decency to look sheepish as she steps forward.
"Sorry, I was held up at work and thought it would be faster," Cass shrugs.
Em rolls her eyes and turns back to the door. Cass moves closer, eyes moving toward the keys in her hand.
"I don't know why you asked me to come with you."
Em smiles sadly, "It's your home as much as it's mine."
The lock clicks open and the door squeals as she pushes it. The room is dark, covered in dust sheets.
Em flicks on a light, glad she'd had the foresight to contact the energy providers before visiting the flat. Sparse furniture is spread out across the room and the sheets covering them are now threadbare and moth-eaten. Cass sneezes as the two step inside, closing the door behind them.
It's a small flat but it would do for the Order's purposes. Albus contacted Em last month to arrange details for someone to come out and place wards on the place. Remus offered to come with her this time, but she refused. This is something her and Cass had to do together.
"I almost forgot how small it was in here," Cass says after a moment, taking in the room.
Em traces her memories across the worn rug, around the dented coffee table her father had rescued from the dump, until she reaches his desk tucked away in the corner. There are a handful of pictures coated in a thick layer of dust. She lifts the first one, wiping away the dirt until she sees her younger self smiling widely. Her father stands behind her proudly, a fishing rod in one hand and a large fish in the other.
Em smiles, remembering the fishing trips he used to take her on when she was wee. The gentle rocking of the boat, the gruff tone as he showed her how to cast and wait. She must be about eight in the photo, one of the last times they went out. She sits at the desk, fingers trailing across the smooth wooden surface.
Cass moves to kneel beside her, reaching out to grasp her hand.
"I miss him," Em says.
Cass nods, "I know. Me too."
"He would have loved all this magic stuff," Em says. "He always said you were special."
Her sister laughs, "Yes, but I don't think witch is what he had in mind exactly."
"Probably not," Em grins.
She moves to replace the photo on his desk. Em stands, starts removing the dust sheets from the furniture. Cass moves with her, rolls her sleeves up and they clean and scrub until their hands are red raw, until the place sparkles.
In between refilling mop buckets and casting cleaning spells, Cass talks of the hospital and her fellow healers, an adorable kid who'd been in the week before with a broken arm. Em speaks of the book shop, her daily customers, Remus' fixation on changing the order in which he stacked the shelves from alphabetical to genre, and the melted chocolate she'd found underneath her pillow a few days ago.
"James let slip that he and Lily are looking at new houses," Cass says.
"I'm not surprised by that to be honest," Em replies. She sinks into the sofa as her sister floats a mop bucket from the kitchen, "Cass?"
"Yeah?" She looks up from her bucket.
Em hesitates, then shakes her head, "Never mind."
Cass narrows her eyes at her sister, and drops her cloth into the bucket of soapy water.
"What is it, Em?"
"I just...don't you think James and Lily are moving kind of fast?" Em fidgets, "I mean we're only teenagers."
Cass sighs, resting her arms across her knees.
"Are you worried about you and Remus?" She asks.
Em shakes her head, "No, no, I'm not ready for that. Besides, it took long enough to get him to admit that he cared for me, Godric only knows what it would take to convince to tie his life to mine."
"You know that he loves you."
"Yes, and I love him. But he's stubborn and it takes all my effort not to attempt to physically shake some sense into him."
Cass snorts at that.
"I worry," Em says. "About not doing enough, about you getting hurt, about mum, about a lot of things. But mostly about the fact that we're still teenagers and some days it feels like you're all bearing the weight of the world on your shoulders."
Cass stands and walks over.
"Scoot over, squirt," she says. Em moves and Cass sinks into the sofa, lifting an arm to tug Em into her side. She buries her face into her sister's hair. "I fucking love you, you know that?"
"I love you too."
"You do more than enough. More than any other muggle probably does, and that's a lot, Em. I'm sorry that you've been pulled into this because of me," Cass says. "But at the same time, perhaps selfishly, I'm glad you're here. Dad may have called me special, but he always said you were the strongest out of the two of us. "
Em sighs. Her gaze settles on the pictures on the desk across from them and a sad smile crosses her face.
"He would have been proud of us, I think."
Cass squeezes her more tightly, "I agree."
A comfortable silence falls between the sisters. The days grow darker in wizarding Britain but as long as they had each other, everything would be ok.
"So," Em says after a minute, "Do you reckon Fabian might propose soon?"
Cass' face flushes and she scowls at her sister. A sharp elbow digs into Em's side from which she ducks away indignantly.
"You're a menace, Emilia Withers" Cass says as she stands.
"What?" Em asks, "It's an honest question!"
"An absolute menace."
Em grins cheekily as her sister charms her mop bucket to follow her into the bathroom. She stands to follow the older girl, but hesitates, looking around the small flat, taking in the photos of her and Cass as children, her father's paintings decorated on the walls, the bookshelves stuffed full and overflowing.
Her father had died when she was eight, after losing his seven-year battle with cancer. She'd been one of the lucky kids, being able to have and hold him for so long. He'd made her life so bright and he'd taught her the importance of living.
She thinks of the last time she'd seen him, how she'd clung to him, afraid for him to let go of her, almost as if she had known it would be the last time.
Em shakes her head and wipes the tears from her face roughly.
She supposes that Lily and James' fast engagement isn't so strange after all. They were living their lives after all, living them fully and loving each other fully.
Life was too short to do anything but that at the end of the day.