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War and Sacrifice | ||||
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Category: Post-DH/PM Characters:Harry/Ginny, James Potter, Lily Potter Genres: Angst, Drama, Romance, Tragedy Warnings: Death Story is Complete Rating: PG Reviews: 3 Summary: Because this is what war does to them, this is what war has always done. It pushes people together even as it pulls them apart. Hitcount: Story Total: 3623 Disclaimer: Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions in this story are my own and in no way represent the owners of this site. This story subject to copyright law under transformative use. No compensation is made for this work. Author's Notes: My first fic's up, finally, and I'm actually happy with it. What is the world coming to? |
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So many years ago, a family gave their lives up so that the world could thrive. Maybe not in so many words. And maybe it was simpler, more selfish even: maybe it was just love for a son that didn’t deserve anything that he had coming to him. But no matter the reason, so many years ago, a family gave up their lives. Some of the brightest eyes in the wizarding world were dulled and sealed shut that day, so many possibilities sent down the drain. And now, a man and a woman will be bound together in the same way those two were so many years ago. They, too, have given their lives up. They, too, have sacrificed — have lost — have braved flames of Hell and come out the other side bearing wounds and dark burns. But now, they are perfect, happy — just like the two that were. And this new generation? They’re frozen, in their block of ice — a cage that they've made, that keeps them close together, just inches away, their hands intertwined and their eyes locked. There's ice all around them, and they're just there, keeping each other warm in any way they can. Because this is what war does to them, this is what war has always done. It pushes people together even as it pulls them apart. There’s screaming in the background, always — the screams of a woman, her last words as she gives up her life for not only a nation but a world, a whole culture, and for thousands of people that have been condemned to die. This is why this new generation can be together. This is why their fingers are tight, woven together, and they're never letting go, not ever. Not even when cracks form, not even when the ice melts - no, even then, they're together, and gasping for air, and then they're hit by all the pain in the air but that's okay. They pull closer to each other, even when the ice breaks away, and they fall apart, their broken pieces mingling until they become one — until they become something that all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could never put back together again. That’s okay, because they’re okay — they make each other okay. He’s glue for her and she’s glue for him, and nothing can ever change that — not nightmares, not any horror that can be thrown at them, not death and not life. They’re one, and they know that, and they love every second of it because… they’re meant for each other. And that’s just a fact. James, Al, Lily — God, they’re so beautiful. And their children make them proud every day, make their eyes gleam even as the ice melts, even as time ticks away and every second brings them closer to the day they die. Harry goes first, and she thinks maybe it’s because he’s done being strong — he’s been so strong for so long, and he has to let go sometime — and then he does and she’s alone with just that puddle of cold water that used to be their bond. But she won’t forget him, no, never — she’ll never let him go, and they’ll always be just inches away, like they’ve always been. She can see him, through the thin puddle that used to be them. He’s just below the surface, and when she reaches out, sometimes she imagines — imagines, if that’s what it is — that she can feel him, on the tips of her fingers, brushing against her one second and gone the next. She can feel him one moment, always, but then when the moment passes he moves on with it, down the drain, and she has to wait and long for him to come back to her. Five years, she holds up the bond that’s been stretched across the universe, across time, across the planes of death and life and everything in between. Five years, she lives — no, never lives, she simply exists — without him, five years. And then she sees him, finally — he beckons to her, and she follows. It’s so simple. She flies across rivers and oceans to be with him again, like Apparation but not — like magic but not — and then, God, there she is — she can see him — and… it’s so peaceful. She feels like she’s going to drown again, in her own happiness rather than grief — she feels like her heart is going to burst, but if it did, she wouldn’t care, because Harry’s right there. Joy, ecstasy, gasp, she can’t describe it. It’s — it’s emotions, not words — this is something that just can’t be said. She’s never loved him as much as she does now, and she’s so happy she could cry a million tears and never stop just because she knows that he’s always loved her, and now he can love her even more, more than they ever could before — because they’re here, together, and — oh. And then they’re one again, their bond snapping back into place like it’d never been stretched, and everything seems so easy. This is right, and perfect, and they fit together like one because they are one, and nothing can change that, not here. There’s no ice, not anymore — they’re just one and the same, and they don’t have any pain that holds them together anymore. No, just their love for one another. “I love you,” she whispers to him — desperate, because he has to know that, or she’ll die all over again. And he smiles at her like he never did in life, a crazy, oh-my-God-I-love-you-sooo-much smile, and says, “I love you too” — because he does, and the second she realizes that, they’ve moved on together, and they’re one and that’s what it’s always been about, right? Always, they’ve been one, and always, they will be. People give up their lives to the war. Whether they die for what they believe in doesn’t matter. It’s the sacrifices in between, the pain and the blood and the screams ripping through their throats — that’s what matters: the loss of innocence and everything that comes with that. But even in that — that horror, love still shines through. And it breaks them into a million pieces even as it holds them together. |
| Reviews 3 |
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