A Face, A Memory, A Life - A Standard by BananaCarrot-five

July, 1995

Fanfare. The crowd was cheerful, joyful, excited. Each was rooting for their Champion, each of the four who were in the maze, battling difficult creatures to reach the middle to win the Tournament. All was well.

Red sparks filled the air.

The wind picked up, the maze shifted shape, and minutes later the bloodied, bruised, unconscious body of Fleur Delacour was pulled from the maze. People screamed.

It took a moment to realize that the screaming was coming from her.

Olympe woke in a sweat. She breathed heavily for several minutes before she was able to calm down. It wasn't often that she lost her mind, but this time was one of those times. She sat up in her bed, continuing to steady her breathing, reminding herself that Fleur was safe. Gabrielle was safe. She had personally returned the girls to Sebastian Delacour the day after they arrived in Paris. Fleur was safe.

Fleur was safe.

In Olympe's 47 years as Headmistress, there was not much that really worried her. She led a school of professional, respectful, and charming witches and wizards. An accident occurred once in a blue moon.

This Tournament however, there had been a string of so called "accidents." Her student, her goddaughter had been injured not once, not twice, but three times. It was scary to think she had almost lost her. Her bright blue eyes, her long blonde hair, the energetic spirit of a girl whose life was almost taken away from her.

It was pitch dark. The wireless played in the background. Olympe looked around and wondered where she was. After a few moments, the wireless cut out and began making a static noise.

Olympe glanced towards the sound and was barely able to make out a silhouette of a person far away, slowly making their way towards her.

The static grew louder, the figure moved closer. The darkness began to light up, bit by bit.

The figure came closer. The static was causing her slight pain. Olympe saw the outline of blonde hair.

The static grew to a crescendo, causing Olympe's ears to vibrate. The figure's face came into view, and Olympe was frozen in place.

Standing in front of her was a woman that Olympe recognized. Blonde hair, blue eyes. But her face was different. Her body was larger. The girl was younger.

"Olympe! Help me!"

The girl's eyes went pale. Her face lost its colour.

"Please! I'm scared! Please!"

Olympe was frozen in place.

"No! NOOOO!"

The static was booming, deafening the cries from the girl and Olympe's screams. As the girl reached out to Olympe, Olympe's world went black. The reverberations from the static slowly faded. And Olympe awoke in the mortal world once again.

16 May 1940

Sixteen year old Olympe Maxime was skipping down the halls of Beauxbatons Academy, heading to her last class for the day. She passed by the central atrium, a beautiful common area with a massive glass dome letting in natural light.

She and most others were ignorant of the fighting going on twenty miles away. The German army had invaded France less than a week prior and Muggle soldiers were invading the country on foot, with bombing planes soaring high in the sky. The Muggles would skip over the school; it was invisible to them. Or so they thought.

Olympe had just turned the corner when there was a massive explosion and she was knocked on her face, unconscious.

Olympe woke up in a pool of sweat. It took her a minute to learn that it was the middle of the day, and another moment to realize that Apolline Delacour was sitting at her desk, nursing two cups of coffee.

"Madam Delacour, what are you doing here?" Olympe questioned.

"Looking after you, of course," Apolline replied. "You didn't think you would be left alone all summer, did you?"

Olympe deflated at this. "I suppose not."

"Something is troubling you. I can tell," Apolline stated. Olympe remained silent. "Tell me? Please?"

Olympe shook her head. "Non." She got up and went to the door.

"Olympe," Apolline started, reaching her hand out as the larger woman stood in the doorway.

Olympe woke up after several minutes. Her head was throbbing. People were screaming and crying. Fires were littered around the area. The building was crumbling in spots, and the debris piles were getting larger and larger with each falling piece. She stood up and looked around, her vision was blurry and her head was spinning, but after a minute of adjusting she was able to regain some thought process. Then she heard a voice cry out for help.

"Help! Help!"

Olympe froze for a half a second. There was only one person who sounded like that. Without thinking, she bolted from her barely standing position towards the voice. She didn't want to believe that it was who she thought it was coming from, but seeing her, under a large piece of marble ceiling, desperately trying to get out from under it, cemented it into reality.

"Olympe! The girl cried out. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, but her eyes were not showing happiness, they were showing desperation and fear. "Help me!"

Olympe rushed over and dropped down. "Priscilla! Are you okay?!"

"No! Help me! I can't get this off! My wand arm is pinned! I can't feel it!"

Olympe shook and stood up, pulling out her wand. She aimed it at the slab and incantated a levitation charm but wasn't able to move it. With a cry of anger, she dropped back down to the girl and cried. "I can't! I can't move it! I'm too weak!"

Priscilla seemed to internally struggle with herself. She tried not to cry. She tried to focus only on Olympe. Her face was scrunched up and Olympe could tell she was in pain. But there was nothing that she could do to save her.

"I saw her, Apolline. I saw Priscilla again. When Fleur came out of that stupid maze last month, all I saw was her." Olympe turned to face her. "It's been years since I saw her. Sure, I had memories, and the graveyard is over there—" Olympe waved her hand in a direction "—but nothing like this."

Help me!

"Nothing like this," Olympe stated again, on the verge of tears.

Apolline stepped forward and hugged her. "Olympe, there was nothing you could do. That slab of marble was well over 3 tonnes."

Olympe shook her head. "Non! I could have kept trying. I could have kept trying to move it. I could have saved her!"

Apolline stepped back and looked into her friend's eyes. They were lost, reliving that day over and over again.

Olympe couldn't stop the tears that escaped her eyes as Priscilla's life began to fade away. The once joyful girl was now dying, stuck under a marble slab that couldn't be moved.

"Olympe," Priscilla called out. Olympe was too busy trying not to break down herself.

"Sister."

Olympe snapped out of her funk and turned to her.

"Don't blame yourself for this. You did everything you could. I'll see you in the next adventure."

Olympe couldn't stop the tears now. In all the screaming, the fires, the mayhem, it was just her and Priscilla, her younger sister.

"Priscilla, I- I love you." Olympe choked out.

Priscilla smiled. "I love you too. Goodbye, Sister."

Olympe watched in horror as her sister's body turned pale, the life and soul of her body departing the mortal world.

The blonde hair. The bruised body. The once bright blue eyes which have lost their colour. Priscilla Maxime let out a final breath before closing her eyes, lost to the world.

"She forgave me for failing. What does that mean?" Olympe shouted.

"It means that she knew that you did all you could and accepted her fate. In her dying moments, she was with her sister, she was with her family. It was the best she could have asked for." Apolline stated.

"Apolline, it could have been Fleur in that maze last month. It could have been her. The stupid British. Stupid Tournament. Stupid everything! Fleur could have died!"

"She didn't. She is alive and well. You helped her, Olympe." Apolline reassured her.

"If I could save Fleur, my goddaughter, why couldn't I save my own sister? My SISTER!" Olympe turned and slammed her fist into the wall as hard as she could. Immediately after, she collapsed to the floor, crying.

"Priscilla would want you to stay strong. She keeps an eye on all of us. On you. You don't need to carry this burden alone. Olympe, you are strong. Don't ever forget that."

As the last colours of life vanished, Olympe faced the reality that Priscilla was dead. She wanted to curl up next to her and die too, but was snapped out by part of a corridor collapsing nearby, Olympe looked around, took in all the screaming, the crying, the fires, the destruction. Tearfully, she kissed the top of Priscilla's forehead and stood up to get out of the school.

Six Years Later

After the War, the atrium was dismantled and a courtyard was built. The 43 students and one professor that had died in the attack were listed on a wall, their memories preserved. Olympe came to this wall as often as she could, to see the name of her dead sister and to try to keep her memory alive.

Somehow, somewhere, she knew that her sister would always keep an eye on her, as she promised.

"I love you; Priscilla Maxime."

Olympe had been on the ground for several minutes. She had calmed down enough to stand up and hug Apolline for several minutes. When they broke apart, Apolline asked "What was that for?"

"For being there for me, even if I couldn't see it myself. Thank you."

The Houses Competition, Round 3

House: Ravenclaw

Class: Charms

Category: Standard

Prompts: List 1: Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, List 2: PTSD

Word Count: 1,647