Remember Me

Remember Me

By LeAndra Black

7/31/07

It's over. It's all finally over.

Voldemort is dead.

Celebration erupts around me. I join in. Everyone crowds around Harry Potter. This boy, my cousin, is our hero, our savior. He catches my eye and smiles. I smile back. Happiness fills me, and yet there is still emptiness in my heart. So much has been lost in this final battle.

Uncle Remus and Aunt Dora are gone. The Weasleys have lost Fred. Megan seems at a loss. I see her hovering near the bodies of her father and her husband. I can only imagine the pain that she is going through right now. So much has been taken from her, from all of us. So many lives have been destroyed.

And Dad is still dead.

I feel a sharp, stabbing pain in my chest. I had almost hoped beyond hope that he would somehow come back now, in the ending of the darkness over this world. I hoped that he had only disappeared through the veil, and not really been killed by it. I feel eyes on me and turn. My mum is standing a few feet away, watching me. I know that she can tell how torn I am between joy and sorrow. I see the same feelings etched deeply into her face. Joy for the ending of the war, the war that targeted Muggle-borns like herself. Sorrow from so many years of pain and loss: her twin, Lily, murdered by Voldemort; Dad going to Azkaban; Dad returning to her, only to be taken away two years later; and now, the only strong, unwavering support that she had left, my Uncle Remus, is gone, too. Will she ever be able to heal, to move on with her life?

A hand touches my shoulder. I turn to find my husband, Oliver Wood, tears in his eyes, a smile on his face. "I'm so glad you're okay," he says, and pulls me into a tight embrace. I hug him tightly, too.

"You're okay too?" I ask.

"Yes," he replies. "Relieved that this is finally over with." He releases me and gives me a saddened look. "I'm sorry about Remus."

"I know, so am I," I say. "At least - at least he's with Dad and Uncle James now." I feel tears trying to form, but they just won't come. I have probably cried so much over the past two years that I don't have any tears left, not even for my Uncle Remus.

My brother, Dominic, passes by us and flashes me a smile. I can see in his eyes that he is sad, but that he will move on, that he has already moved on more than I will allow myself to do. His eyes remind me of something, too. Those grey eyes, so full of life, of adventure, of possibility...

I push the thoughts from my mind. I need to forget about him, to let him go. But how do you forget about someone who had such a large impact on your life in the short amount of time that they were with you?

Harry approaches me, having escaped the people who so adore him. "LeAndra, can I talk to you for a minute?" he asks, then glances at Oliver. "Alone?"

Oliver appears suspicious and worried. "Don't worry," I reply, trying to sound comforting, "I'll be just fine. Go find your friends, make sure they're okay."

He gives me a concerned look. "Okay, fine," he finally answers. "I'll see you in a bit then." He kisses me softly on the lips and heads into the crowd of people to find his friends.

"Follow me," Harry says when Oliver is out of earshot. He grabs me by the wrist, giving me no choice but to obey. He leads me out of what is left of Hogwarts - mere ruble, only a few bits left standing and unscathed. We walk across the grounds and head towards the Forbidden Forest.

"Where are we going?" I ask. "What's so important?"

"We're going into the forest," he says calmly, as if this is something that we do everyday. "There's something I need to show you."

After what feels like several hours, we finally stop at the edge of a large clearing. He turns to me suddenly, with a strange look in his eyes. "Do you know the story of The Three Brothers?" he asks. His question strikes me as odd.

"Yes," I reply. "But I don't see what a children's story has to do with anything."

"It has everything to do with it, believe me," he says, laughing a little. "Do you remember what the three brothers asked for from Death?"

"Harry, I don't get - "

"Do you remember what the three brothers asked for from Death?" he repeats, cutting off my question.

"One asked for the Elder Wand," I begin tentatively, not sure where this is leading, "a wand that could never be defeated in a duel. Another asked for the Invisibility Cloak so that he could hide from Death."

"That one was the third brother," he said. "What about the second? What did he ask for?"

"Harry, I really don't see where this is leading!" I say, beginning to get angry. Why is he playing games with me in the forest when there are loved ones I could be grieving with?

"Just answer the question and you'll find out," he says. "You'll thank me for this later."

"The second brother," I continue, somewhat angrily, "asked for the Resurrection Stone, to be able to bring people back from the dead."

"Exactly," he says, and bends down to pick something up off the ground. His palm closes around it before I can see it. "It's just a children's fairy tale, isn't it? That's what everyone thinks." He opens his palm. "Until they see for themselves that it's not."

I look down into his hand and see a small silver ring with a cracked black stone set into it. "What is that?" I ask, now entirely confused.

"It's the Resurrection Stone," he says, a smile on his face. "There are loads of people that I could have shown this to, but I knew that they wouldn't be able to keep it a secret. I just somehow felt that you could be trusted."

"But - but it can't be true?" I say. "Can it?"

"I saw with my own eyes that it can work," he says, and he seems to let his mind wander to a different place. "It's strange at first - but wonderful."

"But I thought it brought them back from the dead?" I say. "Surely you wouldn't want me doing that?"

"No," he says, coming back to me, "but you can still talk to him."

"Why not bring Mum or Dominic?" I ask. "Why not let them say goodbye?"

"Your Mum's already said goodbye to him enough," he says, "and your brother's moved past it, for the most part. You, though, grieve everyday for him still. You want to talk to Sirius just as much as I wanted to see my parents." A smile crosses his face. "I want you to have that opportunity." He hands me the ring and presses it into my palm. The metal feels cold against my hand.

"How does it work?" I ask, my heart pounding now, possibilities swirling through my head.

"Turn it over in your hand three times, and then drop it when you've finished talking to him. He'll simply disappear, as if he was never there." He turns to walk away, but stops. "Don't bring it with you," he adds. "Leave it here, in the forest, where no one can ever find it. And don't tell anyone - ever. I'll meet you at the edge of the forest when you're ready." He continues walking, leaving me alone in the clearing.

I look down at the ring lying in my hand. What will it be like, I wonder, to face him again? Questions swirl through my head, questions that need answering. But will any of it help? Will seeing him one more time help to ease this pain? There's only one way to find out. I turn the ring over in my hand three times and close my eyes.

I feel his presence for the first time in what seems like forever. I have almost forgotten what it feels like: Strong, yet gentle, reckless, yet protective. I open my eyes and gasp.

He stands before me as a young man, perhaps only twenty. He has a mischievous grin on his face. His grey eyes still look so alive, even in death. He walks toward me with a grace I never saw in life, his hands in his pockets. He is more elegant than I remember him.

"Don't be afraid," he says. His voice is gentle, fatherly - just as I remember it. "This is me as I was before I was taken from you the first time - before the first war took its toll on me." He stops just inches from me, looking me over as if this is the first time that he has ever laid eyes on me. "You're so beautiful, and yet so full of sorrow, like your mother. I wish that you both could let go of the grief that haunts you."

"Did - Did you suffer?" The question has nagged at me since that day two years ago when my world ended. An image of my father falling through the veil fills my mind. I will never forget that moment in time, the dread that filled me, and the realization that I was about to lose him forever.

"No," he says, "I didn't suffer at all. I more or less went to sleep. I never even knew what was happening." His answer makes me feel a little better. I feel tears building now; this time, I know that they will fall.

"I miss you," I say before I can stop myself. "Mum and Dominic miss you, too."

"I know, Rose," he says, using my middle name, the name that he always used to call me. "But I'm always with you, no matter what. I know everything that's going on in your life. There are times when I wish I could just hold you and tell you that everything's going to be alright, but I can't. I just try to make you feel that I am there."

"But I never do," I say, the tears building up even more. "Why can't I?"

"Because your heart is so full of grief," he answers. "You aren't allowing yourself to be happy, to remember me properly, because you hold on to your sadness as if your life depends upon it being there."

"I've tried," I say. "I just don't know if I can let go. I don't know how I'll ever let go." I look again at the ring in my hand.

"I can't tell you to let go, and I can't tell you when to do so," he says quietly after a short silence. "What I can tell you, what I want to tell you, is that when you do let go, don't let go of me. Tell you children about me. I can live on in them, if only you'll let me." He looks me up and down. "You're pregnant, you know."

I just stare at him for a few moments before I realize what he has said. "Wha - What do you mean? There's no way, Oliver and I have been trying, but it hasn't worked."

"It has now," he says, his smile growing. "Twin boys. If they look anything like their parents, they'll be handsome young men." His words stun me. How can this be? How, among so much pain, so much loss, so much death, can there be life? I begin to cry.

"I can't believe this," I finally manage to say. "I - I just wish they could've known you."

"I hope, then, that you will tell them about me."

"Don't worry, granddad," I laugh, "your grandsons will know what a great man - what a great father - you were." His grey eyes seem to fill with even more life, and he laughs.

"Don't make me seem too good," he says. "I hope they can learn a few pranks from their grandfather from beyond." He laughs again. It is music to my ears.

I look into his eyes again. I know now that it is time. I take a shaky breath, preparing myself for what I must do. I fight back the tears. I don't want him to see me grieving anymore. I want him to see me happy, happier than I ever have been. He nods at me as if in agreement.

"Please remember me, Rose. I love you, my darling LeAndra."

"I love you, too, Dad." I lock onto his eyes. Those grey eyes, so full of life, adventure, possibility. The ring slips from my hand and hits the ground, the sound almost like that of an explosion to my ears.

He smiles as he fades. The last thing I see are those eyes. I take another shaky breath and smile to myself. My hand rests on my belly. I know now that there is indeed life growing in there. I know now that there is indeed hope left and that life will continue, better than it was before.

I turn to leave the clearing, and as I step into the forest, I hear a voice whispering in the wind.

"Remember me. Remember me."