A Handful of Dreams

A Handful of Dreams

one

Dennis grips his mother's hand as his brother is laid to rest, in the little cemetery near their house. There have been offers to bury Colin with the other victims of the Battle on Hogwarts grounds, but their parents want to be able to visit their son's grave, and Muggles can't see Hogwarts.

Harry Potter might be the saviour of the wizarding world, but Dennis can't help but hate him, just a little bit, because it's his fault that Colin is dead. He wants Colin back, healthy and alive and here, with Dennis, ready to finish his last year of school and become a photographer for the Prophet like he always wanted.

Dennis wishes, sometimes, that he had asked his parents not to send them back to school this year, instead of begging them to let Colin and Dennis go, because then his big brother would still be alive. He misses Colin, who was never mean or cruel to him like other brothers were, and told him all he knew about Harry Potter and his friends. Colin, who sent him wizarding sweets from school (Ice Mice, which terrified Mum, and tens of Chocolate Frogs) and pictures of his friends, and showed him around the school in his first few weeks in the huge castle.

Later, when their mother has gone to lie in bed and stare blankly at the ceiling, and their father to the bottle of Scotch, Dennis pushes open the door to Colin's room. There shouldn't be anything in here but the trunk Hogwarts sent back, since they've both been at school all year, but on Colin's dusty desk lies the camera. Dennis can't bear to look at it; too many times he has seen Colin's pale fingers curled around the edges, waiting to capture moments of lives that fascinated him so. There's probably a roll of film in there even now, but Dennis won't be the one to take it out.

He leaves Colin's room, and shuts the door behind him.

two

Neville is so very glad to have escaped the press of bodies inside his grandmother's house that he doesn't mind when someone else comes out to join him. Luna sits quietly beside him, on the bench near the fish pond, and they both watch the sun sparkling from the ripples on its surface.

Inside, all of his Gran's friends (and some who aren't, but right now anyone will do) are eating and drinking and laughing and toasting. They even toasted him; Neville just smiled uncomfortably and sipped his wine, trying to fade back into the wallpaper where he's been all these years.

It's a little odd, people recognising him not merely as Augusta's grandson, but instead as Neville Longbottom, the Boy Who Helped Kill You-Know-Who. All these years, he wanted to be famous, but now that he has their attention Neville has a strong desire to hide himself back in the closest cupboard.

Then again, he can't forget how good it felt to be in charge of something worthwhile, leading the reformed DA and defying the Death Eaters who made their last year at school a painful hell. He feels a rueful grin twist his face; he doubts that without that first Crucio from Amycus Carrow in Defence against the Dark Arts, he would have even thought of running a resistance.

It's over now, though. The oppressive fear that blanketed them for the past three years is fading away, and the future is a million possibilities laid out glittering before them, brighter than ever.

He turns to see the sun turning Luna's hair into spun gold, and thinks his future might be the brightest of them all.

three

George can't help but be annoyed at everyone's fussing. Just because Fred is dead doesn't mean that George is going to something stupid like top himself.

But Fred is dead. And George shouldn't be able to hear Fred in his head, and it's not weird or anything, just a bit distracting at times. He gets odd looks from the family when he answers something Fred says out loud, and Hermione tells him it's like listening to a telephone conversation.

What they don't understand is that Hermione is more right about the situation than she sounds. George lost his ear, it's dead too. And one of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' most popular products was Extendable Ears. It surely can't be more than the work of a moment, even for a dead bloke, to cast something that works with a real ear as well as it would with rubber.

The shop does better than it ever has before, even factoring in the post-war boom that bolsters every struggling wizarding business. Before the year is out there is a branch of WWW in Hogsmeade and plans to expand the Diagon Alley shop.

And if people think George is a bit mad, whispering to himself sometimes, and laughing at nothing, he wouldn't have it any other way. He and Fred will be together forever, and some day George will get to see the other side too. He can't help but laugh at what havoc they'll wreak then.

four

Her fingers run along the polished wood of her bureau, leaving no marks in their wake. Cho allows herself a small smile at a job well done, even if it is a measly small task that took barely an hour. Every task is important now, because they help her remember that she is still alive and breathing.

Except that she doesn't really want to be. Nothing seems to mean anything anymore, it hasn't for a long time. Cho knows that people would laugh at her if they knew why, but there is only one reason, and he died four years ago in a flash of green light. Cedric has never truly left her thoughts; he lingers like a half-forgotten dream, and it's driving her insane.

This past year has been particularly hellish. She may have finished school, but there was nowhere to go to train or study in a Ministry filled with Death Eaters and sycophants. Staying with her parents seemed the best, and only, idea, but it's grinding on her last nerve. Her N.E.W.T. scores are good enough to try for an apprenticeship at St Mungo's (her mother's first choice) or an entry-level clerkship at the Ministry (her father's preferred option), but Cho doesn't want to Heal or slave over a desk.

The Battle made her feel alive again, brilliant and sharp, instead of the vague muzziness that seems to descend on her the minute she is back at home. Applications for Auror training open in a week; the form contains a disclaimer and waiver at the bottom which states that the applicant forfeits any right to legal action over accidental injury or death during the two-year training period. It happens more often than would be explained strictly by chance, apparently.

She doesn't think there is anyone else in the world who would care less about accidental death or injury than herself. She is a Ravenclaw, after all; it wouldn't be the first time the unofficial house motto ("Be the best, or die trying") has been taken too literally.

Cho thinks she can probably be packed and ready to leave in a day, if they accept her.

five

It's Teddy Lupin's first birthday, and even though the tiny boy can barely walk, it seems like half of wizarding Britain have descended upon Andromeda Tonks' house for the party. It has been a very long time since the house was this full; well before even Nymphadora was born.

That time, it was the housewarming party; barely two months after their wedding, and she and Ted had thrown a grand affair with all of their best friends invited. Sirius and James Potter had come, of course, and Molly and Arthur, Frank Longbottom and so many others. Narcissa and Bellatrix had been conspicuous in their absence, wrapped up in their Pureblood husbands and hardly deigning to acknowledge their Mudblood-loving sister.

It's all in the past now, anyway. Her first and only grandson is turning one today. The little boy named after her beloved husband is sitting on her lap, basking in the sunshine and trying to tug off the little party hat covered in Golden Snitches that someone put on his head. Most of the guests are still milling around the three large tables set with food inside the house, but several are strolling around the grounds, enjoying the last of the sunshine before winter takes hold.

There is a brief commotion inside, sounding like someone else has arrived. It must be Harry Potter; the boy did promise that he would make an appearance, and Teddy is his godson after all. Andromeda does worry a little about the seeming lack of any skills the boy has in parenting, but she doesn't plan to leave Teddy alone any time soon.

He has Nymphadora's hair, and Remus' eyes, and at only one year old is already the delight of at least three households. He screws up his button nose, and his hair goes from medium brown to green, then blue, and back to brown. Andromeda smiles fondly and strokes the baby-fine hair, absently re-settling the squirming baby on her lap.

Things won't ever be perfect, but they are finally looking up.

end