Disclaimer: see prologue.
Chapter Six: "Happy Birthday"
November 27th, 2021-
Brynn Weasley had loved his mother. He still did. She had been a powerful, talented, brilliant witch who had worked unceasingly against Voldemort. Possibly more than Harry Potter himself. She sacrificed her life for his demise, but to no avail. Voldemort was now the strongest he had ever been. He had followers by the hundreds, even thousands.
The end was coming.
It was now widely known that Brynn's godfather, Harry Potter, was either going to kill or be killed. Brynn would never say it aloud to him, obviously, but having known Harry his entire life, he just didn't think it possible for the man to kill anyone. Even if the person he was supposed to kill had slaughtered his own mother and father. Harry didn't have a murderous bone in his body. How could he possibly kill anyone? He was a powerful wizard, sure, but a murderer? No, it simply wasn't in his nature. Something else Brynn would never say aloud to any of the Order, he had always been sure he knew what the outcome of the final battle was going to be. He laughed as he pictured his father, Ron's, utterly perplexed expression if he told the Order he believed they weren't going to win the war. "Of course we will! Harry hasn't failed us yet, has he?"
But Brynn wasn't too sure his father would say that, thinking back. When he thought of his father, he thought of him like he had been fourteen years ago. Laughing, happy, and carefree…
But his father had changed when Raleigh died. He had lost his spark, his energy, his enthusiasm, and his lust for life. He never found it again, either, which only made matters worse for Ste and Brynn. But Ste… he didn't remember his mother, he didn't remember what his father used to be like, so it didn't really affect him. You can't miss something you've never had… Ste wished she were still alive, sure, but he didn't have memories flooding through him, painful memories, every time he heard her name or saw her in a photograph. With this knowledge, Brynn was convinced he was completely and utterly alone.
Brynn came to the cemetery with fresh flowers—daisies, his mother's favorite—every year on November 27th. Today was no different in that aspect… but it seemed to Brynn that it was different in every other way.
It had been because of his mother that Voldemort had fled for the second time. It was just after she had gotten out of Hogwarts, Raleigh Weasley, back then it was still Raleigh Hampton, joined the Order of the Phoenix. Ron had told her about it, of course, he told her everything. The members were not too pleased with him for spilling their secret to someone so young at first, but they eventually warmed up to Raleigh being a member. When the battle finally came, the battle everyone thought would be the final one, Raleigh put a killing curse on Voldemort. Harry was there, of course, but he had been knocked unconscious and was virtually useless at the time. Raleigh's killing curse hadn't actually killed Voldemort, obviously. Everyone knows who, if anyone, is destined to kill Voldemort, and everyone knows that that person wasn't Raleigh Weasley. Most witches and wizards were unbeknownst to the prophecy regarding Harry Potter and the Dark Lord at that time, and most rejoiced, thinking Voldemort had been killed. But some knew better. Her curse had been very strong, and he had been weakened, and he fled, just as he had when he had failed to kill little Harry Potter many years before. They were back at square one.
For the next several years things were quiet. Raleigh and Ron got married and had Brynn. Harry and Hermione got married a few years later. Two years before Raleigh died, Kris, Shane, and Ste were all born. It wasn't too long after Ste's second birthday that it happened. Bellatrix Lestrange came after Raleigh to avenge her master's downfall. She succeeded in killing the young woman, along with two others, Aislinn Cooper and Rose Macarthur, who had been with Raleigh at the time. The fact that it had been that particular woman who killed the three had made matters worse. She was the same woman who had killed Harry's godfather, Sirius Black. It had been hard on everyone. It still was.
"Happy birthday, Mum," Brynn whispered. He wiped away a single silent tear that was cascading down his cheek. He lowered the daisies to her grave. He thought of what his mother would think of him if she were still alive.
She would be ashamed.
