Epilogue: Five Years Later

[lili_pad]

Title: Epilogue: Five Years Later
Author: Lilith (lilithilien)
Fandom: Harry Potter
Summary: What happens after escaping the trap?
Rating: Gen
Length: 100 x 3
Note: sansa1970's EWE World Cup entry Lamp in the Cooling Room will simply not let me rest! I have absolutely no claim on this story and I don't know if this is where she intended it to go. This is just my tribute to an amazing tale, and my impression of what might have happened a few years after.
Disclaimer: Malfoy and Potter belong to J.K. Rowling; the little girl belongs to sansa1970; I own absolutely nothing.


Epilogue: Five Years Later

The Hogwarts letter arrives just as she'd known it would. Her parents are still very busy people, so she keeps it hidden, tucked into her secret box with Great Aunt Delia's letters. They smell musty, like the dusty flowers pressed in their pages, like this letter does. They go together, like Belle and the Beast. Like Malfoy and Potter.

She's not surprised when the Cat Lady appears at her door. "Have you come to take me to school?"

The Cat Lady looks surprised, but nods. She holds up her hand and the Cat Lady takes it, and together they disappear.

~~~~~

She knows she'll see them again. Like spirits darting past the corner of her eye. Like aliens beaming in, all wiggles and static. It could be today. Rain sluices through the grime on the pub windows. It would taste grey and smoky, like Diagon Alley, not cold and sweet and poured from silver. They might seek shelter here, out of the smoky rain, trusting these ancient oak beams to raise the sky.

The Cat Lady says that's unlikely. It's disappointing, knowing they've become very busy people too.

She stands, new school cauldron in hand, and watches the rain come down.

~~~~~

The train blasts another puff of smoke, turning the platform hazy. When she squints enough she finally sees them, two figures leaning into each other, one dark, one light, both waving to her.

Belle lived in an enchanted castle where the furniture came to life. Now she's going to live in an enchanted castle where she'll learn magic. Once upon a time she wanted to bring things to life, but now she knows magic can't do that. Life and death are beyond magic. She can't face the world if she doesn't have the facts.

She's not afraid of the truth.



The poem used in the original piece (which Draco calls a "dreadful song"!) is John Heath-Stubbs' Song of the Death-Watch Beetle.

Comments

[seleneheart.insanejournal.com]

I didn't start sniffling until I read your epilogue. That's so perfect for the rest of the fic. You've kept the girl in character from the original fic.

What a journey. Like Malfoy and Potter.

It's just one of those pairings, isn't it?

[lilithilien.insanejournal.com]

Isn't that fic just incredible? The images haven't stopped haunting me. And yes, they really are quite the pairing.


*hugs tight* Thank you so much for this comment today, btw. I'm in one of those "my writing sucks and I should throw my keyboard into the river" moods. I took a walk out under the cherry blossoms and came back to find this waiting for me, and I can't tell you how much better I feel now!

[lilian_cho.insanejournal.com]

WAHHHHH T_T

I, you know, am perfectly delusional and stubbornly believes that they managed to live on. Somehow. *sniffles*

[lilithilien.insanejournal.com]

Oh, I desperately want to believe that, too. The applause at the end of the story does nudge me in that direction (besides, it's just far too sad if they don't).

But even if they did live on, I wonder if the little girl would've ever known for sure, esp. if her dad rushed her away. So I tried to keep this just as ambiguous as the original story.

Sorry I made Draco cry. *g* (Love the icon, btw!)

[lilian_cho.insanejournal.com]

Hm, true--it'll be weird to have the applause with H & D dead. Hmm...

I wanted H & D to raise up the girl, but I am glad that her Dad did look for her (eventually?) T_T


lol, crying!Draco's fun ever since it became canon ;-)

[vaysh11.insanejournal.com]

This is heart-breaking. *sniffs*
Beautiful, both in canon with the original story and unique!

[lilithilien.insanejournal.com]

*hands tissues* Thank you, I'm so glad that you liked it!

here via sansa1970

[secretsolitaire.insanejournal.com]

Wow, what a gorgeous epilogue for a great fic! Nice tribute to the original.

Re: here via sansa1970

[lilithilien.insanejournal.com]

Thank you! I loved that story and just could not get it out of my head. I'm so pleased that you liked it!

[(Anonymous)]

omg Thank you! This is what I pictured in my head after the end of the story (because my heart couldn't stand an unhappy ending. It was beautiful, I loved that the girl was so in character and overall this fic has me grinning like a big loon. :D
--sweetz1

[lilithilien.insanejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm so glad it made you smile!

[parlophone.insanejournal.com]

(Here by way of Sansa's journal)

Gosh, I was blown away. This was so well-written and felt completely in line with the tone of the original story that inspired you.

I loved how Belle was utterly composed when the Cat Lady appeared. It made me so v happy that the slight magical signs Malfoy'd noticed, eventurally culminated in a Hogwarts Letter.

The Cat Lady says that's unlikely.

*heart breaks all over again*

I found the final section so v moving.
That short, intense, life-altering encounter is going to be in this little girl's memory for the rest of her life, and Harry and Draco will stay with her forever.

*waterworks*

[lilithilien.insanejournal.com]

Thank you! I was just blown away by Sansa's story, and I'm so glad to hear that you thought this had the same tone. I like imagining her at Hogwarts, learning all about the history that Malfoy and Potter lived!

Thank you so much for your comment!