Updated: Friday 25th March 2005
A/N: Anything recognisable (particularly in the scene with Harry, Estella and a certain ghost) is adapted directly from J.K. Rowling's respective chapter in COS. No copyright infringement intended, just a mere indulgent homage…
Chapter Fifty Two: Birth and Death
The months had gone quickly for Estella, and she had long since settled into a industrious study routine. Most afternoons would find the aspiring student in the library with an odd assortment of work partners from her various classes as she headed up a dedicated study club.
Numerous splintered and broken school brooms later, Estella was formerly excused from attending Flying lessons without having flown one inch in the air. An irritated Madame Hooch could neither penalise her academically or punish her for the broom's demise because no evidence of wand play had ever been found.
Flashback
"I have called this meeting to discuss the ongoing vandalism of countless school brooms." Madame Hooch explained snootily, glaring equally at Estella, her head of house, and Uncle. "Once or twice and it could be a coincidence, but 5 weeks consecutively? Five brooms by the same person?"
"What are you implying, Madame? I have actual classes to prepare for." Severus snapped. "Please get to the point."
"The point, Professor, is that it is compulsory for each student to learn how to fly." Madame Hooch recounted. "Since I have detected no wandplay in the orchestrations of these delaying tactics I can only assume the child is using accidental magic."
"Uncle Sev, she confiscated my wand!" Estella whispered, appalled.
Severus gave the woman a sharp look. "I would appreciate it if you did not deprive my niece of her only means of magical defence." Severus hissed. "As for your theory of accidental magic, I find it absurd. No person who is accused of 'accidentally' willing something to happen can be held accountable for their actions! Such is the nature of an accident!"
"Madame." Professor Flitwick squeaked from his raised chair to agree with the irate Potions Master beside him. "Severus has a point. If it is accidental magic, then I hardly think it's necessary to refer to the damage as vandalism. Let alone punish the child for it and take house points."
Estella nodded. "Maybe it's fate's way of saying I am not meant to fly?" Estella suggested. "I'm sure if we asked Professor Trelawney to do a reading she'd steadfastly agree."
Severus smirked. Both he and Estella believed the Divination Professor to be a fraud, but Madame Hooch took the mystical arts very seriously. As predicted, the woman furrowed her brow.
"Well, I've certainly never come across such a case before." She said uncertainly. "But we have to put a stop to this nonsense! We only have so many School brooms at our disposal!"
"What do you suggest?" Severus asked in a dangerous, silky tone.
"That the child stop whatever she is doing to the brooms!" Madame Hooch exclaimed.
"But I'm not doing anything!" Estella whined. "I can't help it!"
Severus cast his niece a doubtful look, highly suspecting that the stubborn child was using some sort of potion or even perhaps 'wilful magic'.
"I will be withdrawing Estella from Flying Class until further notice." Severus said shortly. "Whether it's an issue with the school brooms or a psychological fear channelling my niece's magic I don't know; but it's clear she does not wish to fly at this time."
"You can't do that! It is compulsory!" Madame Hooch cried. "However will the child travel?"
Estella waved her hand nonchalantly. "Oh, you know. Port key… apparation… floo… knight bus… Hogwarts Express… Planes, Trains and Automobiles…"
"Estella, that's enough." Severus admonished lightly. "Madame Hooch gets the point."
"I do." The instructor in question hissed, heading towards the door. "Very well, you are excused from lessons. I will leave it to your Uncle and Head of House to arrange alternate supervision for you during class."
Estella nodded. "Thank you Madame Hooch." Estella said in a sing-song voice to the retreating back of her former teacher.
End Flashback
It was thus decided that Estella would spend Thursday afternoons sitting in on her Uncle's 3rd year Potions class doing independent study for DADA that he would set for her to do. Estella would then have tea with her Uncle in their quarters and he would tutor her until it was time for her Astronomy class. Every Friday afternoon she would spend lunch with her Uncle after her double potions class, and they would spend her free periods in the afternoon brewing advanced potions for the infirmary or working independently on their homework and marking respectively.
Over the weekend, Estella was involved in Charms Club and Chess Club; and she would spend a lot of her spare time curled up in a armchair in the Ravenclaw Common Room penning her correspondence to her Godfather or reading a supplementary text. Occasionally, she would accept Draco's invitation to play Exploding Snap with him in his Common Room and the pair of them would exchange casual banter for a few hours; and other times she'd bump into Hermione or Harry in the library or sneak on down to the Quidditch pitch to watch various teams practice.
As Halloween steadfastly approached, the weather was bleak and dreary. Fat droplets of rain endlessly hailed the castle like gunfire, and her Uncle had taken to recruiting his best students to assist him after hours in the brewing of extra stocks of Pepper Up Potion for the infirmary. It was on such a stormy, blustery Saturday – precisely one week before her birthday – that Estella found herself sitting in the Ravenclaw stands watching the Gryffindor Quidditch team practice. Having read up on her Weathering Charms, Estella had taken it upon herself to cast warming and waterproof bubbles around herself and the hapless players on the team who until she had arrived had been getting soaked through, exposed to the elements.
"Really, Harry!" Estella said, meeting Harry at the bottom of the pitch as practice had ended. "I would have thought someone on the team – particularly one of the older students – would have known to cast a simple Weather-all Charm!"
Harry wiped some mud off his face with a spot on his robe that had so far been kept clean by the overlapping dragons hide gloves he had formerly been wearing. "Yeah, tell me about it!" Harry said, sniffing. "If we had kept that up we'd all be sick in the infirmary before the first match!"
Making quite a racket as their wet shoes squelched along the empty corridor ("Why charm them dry when we can make Filch crazy with tracking mud and water in?" Estella had suggested evilly) Estella and Harry were quite taken aback to come across a mournful Gryffindor Ghost, Nearly Headless Nick.
"Hey, Nick" They chorused, rousing the Ghost from his thoughts.
"Hello, hello." Said Nearly Headless Nick, startled. "My how history repeats itself. Seems like only yesterday that another Potter and Black traipsed these halls in your stead."
Harry and Estella exchanged a nostalgic look, rolling their eyes.
"Sir Properly Decapitated-Podmore giving you cheek again?" Estella asked knowingly, taking in the Ghost's depressed state. "I'm sure the Headless Hunt isn't all that grand."
Sir Nick sighed and gazed at Estella, nodding as he folded his annual rejection letter and shoved it back in his doublet. "All for just half an inch of skin, Estella! Forty five times I was hit in the neck with that dratted blunt axe! You'd think that'd give me enough dignity and respect in these parts to get at least an honorary membership! I cannot play the Horseback Head Juggling or the Head Polo, but I could officiate! I was quite the public speaker in my day!"
"I wish there was something we could do…" Harry said.
"But there is something you could do for me," said Nick excitedly. "Harry, Estella – this Halloween will be my five hundredth deathday. I'm holding a party down in one of the roomier dungeons. Friend will be coming from all over the country. It would be such an honour if you both would attend."
Harry looked at Estella questioningly, who nodded. "We'd love to," she said. "Though I must say I will have to leave early."
"Yes of course, it will be your birthday! How fitting! A double celebration!" Nick said, beaming.
"Yep, if I was born one day later I'd have to wait until next year to start Hogwarts!" Estella said. "I'm glad I got accepted this year."
And that was how, a week later, Harry and Estella found themselves down in the dungeons about to attend a Deadthday Party with the express direction to seek out Sir Patrick and emphasise how very frightening and impressive they and all the Hogwarts students, found Sir Nick to be. Since Estella had been to a Deathday party once before, she knew to advise Harry to eat something before they left, to wear an extra warm cloak and to have a selective-noise filtering spell handy to drown out the god awful music.
"So they have actual food there, but they can't eat it, and it's all rotting and smelling?" Harry asked incredulously as they made their way down a hallway lined with eerie black candles. "And the orchestra is an acquired taste? Just why did we agree to come again?"
"Because Nick needed cheering up!" Estella said, as though stating the obvious. "Come on, it'd be an experience!"
An 'experience' was something of an understatement. The dungeon was full of hundreds of pearly-white, translucent people. Everyone was having a good time dancing to the 30-piece saw orchestra under a hue of midnight blue from the black candle chandelier overhead.
"I'm glad you warned me to wear extra warm clothes." Harry thanked Estella as he watched his breath form a frosty mist before him. "Do you suppose this is what our parents would be doing today if they were ghosts?"
Estella cast a wistful look at Harry and shrugged. "Dunno," She said forlornly. "Though I'd bet our mother's would be all motherly and ensure that there was food fit for all the guests!"
Harry nodded, and sighed, both parentless-children caught up in their respective emotions.
"Who are all these ghosts anyway? Do you know?" Harry said finally, composing himself.
Estella nodded and started pointing out as many as she could recognise from the stories she had grown up with in school. She was halfway through explaining how the Bloody Baron got his name when the Grey Lady, Ravenclaw's Ghost, motioned for them to move out of the way as a troop of headless Ghosts galloped in through the walls on horseback and gatecrashed the party with a game of Polo.
"Let's go." Estella said quietly. "It'll never settle down again now, and I had better go see my Uncle for Supper."
"Yeah," Harry agreed, nodding. "Hope you had a Happy Birthday."
"Yeah, I did, thanks." Estella said, making small talk as they walked briskly out of the black-lit corridor, warming their joints.
Once the pair had returned the main halls of the dungeons again, Harry and Estella parted ways, with Estella heading down towards her Uncle's quarters and Harry heading back towards the Great Hall.
Halloween was never easy for Severus. Whilst the occasion of his niece's birthday called for a certain degree of frivolity, the anniversary of his sister's death depressed him still. This year was the first year that Estella did not wake up to her birthday in the bedroom she had made her own in their dungeon quarters. Severus had made some effort to impress upon the child that she was welcome to stay the night (seeing as it was a weekend) but the stubborn child was resolute in marking the day how all the other students away from home did. In turn, Estella had attended breakfast in the Great Hall only to have been flooded with Owls bearing gifts from her Godfather and extended family.
Severus himself had seen to it that he passed her on his way out of the Hall and passed on his regards. It was also arranged, at that time, that Estella would accompany Severus to their quarters after the feast that night to receive her present and spend some time with him. Estella had been initially hesitant to accept the invitation voluntarily, but when faced with the prospect of his direction being enforced by way of an assigned detention, the child relented. Estella, however, had not been at the feast that night. Neither was the Potter boy. Severus sat through the meal, his eyes burning a hole in the doors, willing her to appear. When she had yet to turn up by the end of the feast, he made his way down to his quarters anticipating to find her waiting there for him, only she wasn't.
Pouring himself a glass of fire whiskey, Estella's unopened gift sitting on the coffee table in front of him, Severus could do little else but wait. He'd heard offhandedly from the Headmaster that Sir Nick was hosting a Deathday party and that he'd heard from Hufflepuff's ghost the Fat Friar that Potter and Estella had been sighted in attendance; so at least he knew where she was. It was another thing, however, for him to go forcibly extract the child from the affair. Not only did Severus want to be faced with the prospect of being too overbearing at a time where the line between his duties as teacher and uncle were blurred enough as it is, but he didn't particularly care to be in the close proximity of so many ghosts. Especially on the 'deathday' of his sister. He knew also, that if he went crusading into the party to claim her, Estella would reopen the long-running argument about wanting to see her Godfather on weekends. And so, he waited.
"Sorry I'm late, Uncle Sev!" Estella called out as she stumbled into the living rooms of her childhood home an hour late. "I was at Sir Nick's Deathday Party."
"I know perfectly well where you were… and who you were with." Severus said quietly. "I did not appreciate hearing it second hand."
"Well I hardly thought I had to seek your approval, Uncle Sev. I was after all within school grounds and abiding the rules!" Estella complained.
"Perhaps I should have insisted upon this meeting being in the guise of a detention." Severus tutted. "Maybe then you would have been inclined to arrive on time."
"Look I said I was sorry, alright?" Estella said exasperatedly. "We got lost getting to the party and then time just flew!"
"Whatever possessed you to accept an invitation to attend a deathday party of all things?" Severus asked, curious.
"Well, it's not just my birthday, you know." Estella said quietly. "Harry and I both lost parents on this date and well, I kind of wanted to show him how the dead celebrate their afterlife." She paused. "Don't you ever wonder if Mum and Lily and James were all ghosts what they'd all do to mark the day?"
Severus looked at his niece, bewildered. "Well I assume they would want to help you celebrate your birthday and not focus on such fetishes." He said softly. "I am disappointed however, that you did not think to warn me that your plans this evening may have interfered with our own; nor did you stop to think that I might actually have been concerned when I did not see you at the feast."
Estella lowered her head, appropriately chastened. "I didn't think, Uncle Sev!" She tried to explain. "I just go so caught up in wanting to catch up with Harry and show him the party…"
"Why are you so keen to spend time with that brat boy anyway?" Severus asked wearily. "I don't see him making any effort to make time for you."
"He's not a brat!" Estella defended, pouting. "And he makes time!"
"Oh really? Tell me this, who seeks who out?" Severus asked silkily. "Does he come looking for you in the library or must you go outside in awful weather to catch him after Quidditch practice?" Estella gave her Uncle a shocked look, Severus nodded curtly and continued. "Don't think I haven't been observing your antics from afar, Estella. I assure you that from my distinctly advantaged perspective I can see with some clarity that it is Potter's superior arrogance that is thwarting all attempts at reconciliation. Do you think he would honestly wish to willingly spend time with a younger student such as yourself if he'd had a choice? I truly wish you'd save yourself the effort, Estella. Consorting with a Potter only ends in turmoil."
Estella glared coolly at her Uncle. "He's not his father, Uncle Sev." She said in low tones. "And I don't like it when you talk about him that way! He's the only student in this school who… who… who just knows things without me having to say."
Severus sighed. "Fine." He conceded, rubbing the bridge of his nose irritably. "I do not wish to argue about such matters now. Potter has already cost us enough time this evening as it is."
"Fine." Estella said, taking a deep breath and trying to clear her mind of the volatile emotions that threatened to overwhelm her. "Right, cause it's my birthday and all."
From Severus, Estella had received a first edition tome of 'Most Potente Potions'
"So that you won't be at a disadvantage being without ready access to my copy here." Severus explained.
Estella nodded, turning the book over in her hand. "What, no inscription?" She asked, sarcastically, knowing her Uncle's reaction.
"It's a first edition!" Severus exclaimed reverently. "Even in better condition than my own! I trust implicitly that you will treat it accordingly."
"Uh, right." Estella said, playing him. "I'll save my footnotes for the 'Remedial Potions' the school insists be set as the first year text then." Taking in her Uncle's sharp look, she smiled. "I'm joking Uncle Sev! Thank you very much for the book, I will no doubt find it an extremely invaluable resource!"
Severus nodded, before scowling. "That boy is entirely a bad influence on you…"
"Uncle Sev!" Estella warned. She was about to continue, when Professor Dumbledore's head suddenly popped into the fire.
"Severus! The Chamber has been opened!" An urgent headmaster got uncharacteristically straight to the point. "Oh, good evening, Estella. Many happy returns on the occasion of your birthday. I trust you had a nice day?"
"Yes, Sir." Estella said, nodding, though somewhat confused by the old man's sudden shift in demeanour. What were they hiding?
Severus, meanwhile, had grabbed his cloak and cast complicated wards around the perimeter of his quarters. "No one can leave or enter these rooms." He said expressly, reaching for the pouch of Floo Powder by the mantle. "You may work on a potion in the lab quietly or fire-call your Godfather until I return."
Stunned, Estella could only nod weakly. Not only did her Uncle never let her in his lab unsupervised, but he didn't even allow her to brew alone in her own room! Then he volunteers use of his Floo to fire-call her Godfather during the term! Something was definitely up.
"I will inform Professor Flitwick of your location." Her Uncle said offhandedly as he stepped into the fire. "Headmaster's Office"
Estella stared at the spot her Uncle had just stood. Naturally, she was going to fire-call her Godfather, but first she wanted some answers.
"Lena!" She called out to the house elf that was specifically bound to serve the Dungeon quarters.
With a familiar sounding 'pop' the scrawny elf appeared. "Good evenings Mistress Black! Lena is not seeing you in the Dungeons at all since Spring! What can Lena do to serve Mistress Black this evening?"
"It's nice seeing you, too, Lena." Estella said jovially. "You've been at Hogwarts for a long time, have you not?"
Lena nodded enthusiastically. "Lena is serving Hogwarts since before you is born! Lena remembers Mistresses' Uncle on his first day of classes!"
"I know, Lena, you've told me." Estella said, getting impatient. "But this is important. Do you know anything about a 'Chamber'? Or perhaps some sort of room that has not been open in a very long time?"
"Lena is knowing of many rooms in the Castle that have not been opened in years and years!" The house elf frowned, trying to help.
"What about Chambers that Professor Dumbledore is scared of?" Estella suggested. "One that is secret maybe?"
The house elf shrieked. "The Chamber of Secrets!" She said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Mistress Black mustn't wish to go there!"
"I just want to know what it is." Estella elaborated.
The reaction that followed was something Estella could not have even expected.
"Lena must not be telling Hogwarts Students about the Chamber." Lena said, banging her head on the coffee table. "Lena has already said too much."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Lena! Lena, stop it!" Estella shouted, panicking. "Please, Lena, it's my birthday, please stop!"
The revelation of Estella's birthday only caused the distraught house elf to wail louder. "Lena is forgetting Mistress Black's birthday!" She cried, lifting the coffee table magically before slamming it down on her toes repeatedly. "Lena is bad house elf. (thud) Lena deserves clothes. (thud) Lena is not making Mistress Black's birthday cake!" (thud, thud)
"Lena is about five seconds away from a stunning curse!" Estella finished, raising her wand to freeze the coffee table mid-air. "Stop punishing yourself! There is no cake this year because my Uncle did not request one! I'll stop asking you about the Chamber if you just stop hurting yourself!"
The change in the house elf was instantaneous. "Mistress Black is very gracious. Lena should be punished longer." Lena said, bowing so low that the neck of her loose fitting pillowcase touched the floor. "Lena is wishing Mistress a very happy birthday now."
"Thankyou, Lena." Estella said, exasperatedly. "If you want to be really helpful, could you please fetch me some left overs from the feast? I haven't eaten anything since before Sir Nick's deathday party!"
Lena nodded enthusiastically. "Lena is knowing Mistress well. Lena will bring all of Mistress' favourite foods." Estella thanked the elf wearily before said elf disappeared with a pop.
Estella had no sooner reached for the floo powder when the vivacious house elf had returned bearing enough food for three starving Hagrids. After thanking the beaming house elf and sending her on her way, Estella finally had a chance to use the Floo.
"Number 7 St Thames Mews!" She called out, tossing a pinch of powder into the fire and sticking her head in. When the familiar layout of her Godfather's living room came into view, she was greeted with the sight of her Godfather sprawled out unconscious on the lounge. Her mind awash with marauding intentions, she stuck her wand hand into the fire and conjured a jet of water to prank her Godfather awake with. No sooner had the water left her wand did Estella stick her head back out of the Floo, intending to call him back a few minutes later when he was still trying to come to grips with what had awoken him. However, things did not go quite as plan when a wand suddenly appeared in the fireplace before her, drenching her with a burst of water to the face at close range. Spluttering and still drenching wet, Estella tossed some more Floo Powder into the grate and directed her head back to the London Flat.
"Uncle Remus! That was pretty ballsy of you!" Estella said, surprised. "What if it was Tonks or someone else who did it?"
"Oh well, if you really must know, your Uncle and I are secretly best friends and we prank each other like that all the time." Remus said with so much sincerity, Estella's eyebrows shot above her hairline. At her shocked look he confessed. "You really think I'd not smell you?"
"Yeah well, best friends or not, just be thankful you didn't get my first edition of 'Moste Potente Potions' wet. Uncle Sev would have gone spare!"
"Ah yes, the Happy Birthday Girl herself." Remus chuckled. "Happy Birthday, cub."
"Aw shucks, Moony." Estella said, imitating a cowboy from a old western movie. "Your gift has me tickled pink!"
That year for her birthday, Remus had bestowed upon her a dragon hide holster for her new wand, a book on defensive hexes and curses (because the core reading list for DADA that year was a joke) and a book on Chess strategy.
"So, Missy," Remus said after the obligatory exchange of formal greetings was over. "How is it that you are flooing me from your Uncle's quarters at such a late hour?"
Estella responded by telling him what had happened, sharing her curiosities and concerns along the way.
"…and he never lets me brew potions unattended! Let alone in his lab! And he said I could fire-call you even!" She finished. "Uncle Remus? You OK? You look like you swallowed a bogey flavoured Bertie Bot Bean!"
Face as ashen as a fresh dumping of snow, Remus took a shaky breath. "Professor Dumbledore specifically said that the Chamber was open?" He asked, seeking clarification for his disbelieving ears. "And then your Uncle reacted by giving you free reign and locking you in his quarters?"
Estella nodded twice affirmatively.
"Dear Merlin!" Remus exclaimed, before adding in a foreign, serious tone. "Promise me you'll not leave the quarters until after I have spoken with your Uncle."
Estella nodded mutely. Something big was going down. "I'd come through and stay with you, but the wards won't allow it, damn it!" Remus cursed.
"Uncle Remus, calm down!" Estella said, not used to seeing her Godfather in such a state. "I'm tired, Uncle Remus, do you think I can go to bed?"
Remus growled helplessly. "Go get ready for bed, you can sleep on the couch there." He said, as lightly as he could.
"But Uncle Remus, I have a perfectly decent bed in my bedroom here…" Estella argued.
"Yes, but I cannot watch you from there, can I?" Remus said softly. "Now go get your pyjamas on and brush your teeth I'll fetch a book from your room here to read to you, how's that sound?"
"Like you're treating me like I'm five!" Estella groaned. "Is this Chamber that much of a big deal you can't let me out of your sight?"
"No, no, of course not!" Remus said quickly, too quickly. "I simply thought you may like the company."
Estella nodded, deciding to play along. Getting worked up about something people were clearly not ready to give her answers about was hardly what she wanted to do right now, she was so tired. No sooner had Estella gotten ready for bed, crawled under the throw on the makeshift bed and Remus gotten through the first chapter of "Legolas of Lothlorien"'s wizarding child version of its biographical series was Estella fast asleep.
"What in blue blazes are you doing in my fireplace, Lupin!" An enraged Severus Snape hissed as he stormed in through the entrance into his quarters after having just spent the better part of 30 minutes negotiating the wards he had set up to be deconstructed from the inside only. "The Floo was my only way in and out!"
The smoky green visage of Remus Lupin put down the book he was reading silently and nodded towards the lounge. "Shhh, she's asleep."
"I can very well see that!" Severus spat, his voice barely above a whisper. "Why isn't she in her room? Why are you still in my fireplace?"
"I am keeping a vigil, Severus!" Remus cried. "You didn't think I was going to let her out of my sight after she told me the Chamber of Secrets was open!"
Severus paled. The headmaster hadn't indicated which Chamber had been opened. How did she find out? He asked Lupin as much.
"I have no idea how she found out, Severus. Maybe she read about it in a book and put two and two together!" Remus suggested. "You know how impossible it is to keep things from her these days! She's too damn smart for her own good. Now tell me what happened!"
After putting Estella to rest in her own bed – warding the room extensively – he lowered the ward on the Floo and permitted the werewolf to come through. Conjuring them both tumblers of his favourite amber fluid, he told the man about the writing on the wall and the attack on Filch's cat, Mrs Norris.
"Argus swears the Potter boy is involved?" Remus asked, incredulous. "Why that's preposterous!"
"Even I know that, Lupin!" Severus agreed, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "The boy is arrogant, like his father, but he's no heir."
"Does the school have any…"
"No, Lupin! If we did, it wouldn't be such a problem!" Severus snapped. "I suppose you know the legend of what lies within the Chamber?"
Realisation clouded Remus' features. "A Basilisk! When is Dumbledore evacuating the School? Estella has a room in London and I can make up the guest room for you if you want. There's a room downstairs you can use for a lab…"
"Oh shut up Lupin!" Severus hissed. "Firstly, Dumbledore does not see reason to create a panic about a myth; and secondly, I have several vast estates at my disposal what makes you think I would step foot in that house?"
Remus frowned, but let the question hang. "Severus." He said quietly. "What about Estella?"
"She's a student like all the others, Lupin." Severus said tiredly. "I will not condone special treatment just because of some myth."
"If anything happens to her…" Remus growled, looking desperately at the said child's door. "I need not remind you of what will happen."
"Get out of my chambers Lupin." Snape said finally, rubbing his temples. "Entertaining the likes of you is hardly my ideal way to spend my weekend."
So, after checking on Estella and circling comically around Severus trading animalistic snarls and glares, Remus reluctantly entrusted the very essence of his life (his Goddaughter) into her Uncle's somewhat misguided hands and flooed back to the house he encouraged Estella to call her Summer home – a house that now seemed all the more empty and barren in her absence.
End Chapter: Birth and Death