Sweet as Chocolate

Chapter 13

As we knock on the front door to Margot's house, I feel how much I miss her. I start sweating and I feel the excitement grow bigger inside me. I think about her face when she sees me, soon. And all the adventures we'll go on, when she comes home with us.

I knock again. But there's no response. No one opens the door, and there's no noise coming from the house. Maybe she's asleep, it's the middle of the night. And usually, Margot sleeps early. I knock harder, as my thoughts start racing in my head. My eyes go from one object to another and then over again, getting nervous. I feel Remus' hand on my back, trying to comfort me.
"She's probably just sleeping." I say, and pull out my wand. I cast a spell in the keyhole, and it lights up. The door opens slowly, and I am met with a smell of...

I look around to see rotten food, and dust on the furniture. Margot wouldn't leave her home like this. She's the biggest control freak, I've ever met.

"Ellie..." Remus says but I hold my hand up to signalize him to stop. I walk further into her home. The smell magnifies. But it's not rotten food. It's something else. I look around in the living room, but no Margot. "Stay here." I tell Remus as I go upstairs.

The air is thicker up here, and it's hard to breathe. Slowly I walk into her bedroom.
My heart sinks, and an agonizing pain hits me. My eyes tear up.

"No." I say, and fall down to my knees. "Margot..." I cry, and lean down over her dead body on the cold floor. Her body must've laid there for days. She's starting to decompose. I touch her cold face and stroke her cheek. "Please," I sob. "Wake up." I say. But there's no reaction. My face is overflooded with tears, and saliva fills my mouth.

"This isn't happening... This isn't..." I cry. I sit down behind her, and pull her body into my chest. Just holding her tight into me, hoping she'd be brought back to life. I cry so hard I can't breathe. But that is not important right now. It hurts too much. Margot was the last thing. She was mine. She was my family. I close my eyes, just holding her, cause it's too painful to watch.

"Ellie." Remus says hurtful in the doorway. I open my eyes, and see him looking sad at me. "I should've been here." I cry out loud. "I shouldn't have left her." I say, blaming myself. If I stayed instead of going away, she would've still been here. And I could've said goodbye. "Don't blame yourself, this isn't something we can control." Remus says, trying to comfort me. I shake my head and bury my face in Margot's hair.

"Ellie you have to let her go." Remus says softly. I shake my head and cry harder. "I can't." I say and hold her tighter. "We need to go, Ellie." He says, trying to convince me to come with him. But my body is glued to the floor, and my arms to Margot's body.

"Then you go, and I'll stay here." I say, hugging Margot tighter. I see the sun rise, and the sun rays floating into the bedroom, casting light over Margot's body, and exposing the insects in the stomach that already eat her up. I look at Remus as he sits down next to me, stroking my wet face. "Ellie, I need you to come home with me now." He says, but I shake my head. "Not without Margot." My lower lip trembles. I look down at her body, and cry again. "I'm not leaving without you." He says and stands up again. He walks around for a bit, and then he stops. My sight gets blurred again from all the tears, and an anger burns in me. I hear Remus cast a Patronus, and see the bright light fly away. He sits down next to me, and strokes my back, but I do not give in. I let my eyes close, and hold tighter on Margot.

"Hey Margot, why are you up here alone?" I ask her. She's lying on the floor with a bag of apples. Her face is all teared up, and I sit down carefully next to her. She picks up an apple, and throws it as hard as she can against the wall in front of her, watching it break into several pieces. "Are you thinking of Ben again?" I ask her quietly. She doesn't say anything, but picks up another apple.

"I miss him too." I say with a low voice. She hands me an apple, and nods at the wall. "Throw it. You'll feel better." I do as she says, but it doesn't feel better. It has the exact opposite effect for me. I feel rage run through my body, when I throw the apple against the wall. And the explosion of apple pieces just makes me even more sad. "This doesn't work." I tell Margot.

"Come," I say, standing up. I hold a hand down for her to grab it. She does, and we walk down. Out in the field. In the summer, there would be daisies and lavender flowers here, but in the autumn, it's just brown and dead plants. We sit down in the field, and stare at the endless fields before us. Fields we used to run in and chase each other in. And Ben would always catch us. He was the fastest of us.

"Thank you for bringing me here." Margot says, holding my hand.
"Hold on to the good memories, not the bad." I tell her, as a tear leaves my eye.

"Ellie!" I hear a voice call in the distance, and open my eyes again. I'm still holding Margot, and Remus is still holding me. "Up here!" Remus says, and Severus rushes into the bedroom. I don't say anything. I'm just staring into the heavy air, and holding tight onto Margot's body.
Severus sits down next to us, looking at Margot and then me and Remus. "I came as soon as I saw your Patronus." He tells Remus. He strokes my cheek, wiping a tear away. He looks so concerned, but I can't just leave her here.

"Ellie, you have to let her go." Severus says, trying to take my hand. I shake my head. "I'm not ready to live without her, she's my family." I say, as I clench her tighter into my own body. Her body is heavy, but I'd do anything to feel closer to her right now. I just want to hold her, I just want to be with her. I just want... her. The tears start filling my eyes again, and I let them escape my eyes, and fall down over my face. I see Remus exchanging looks with Severus, in the corner of my eye, but right now I just want to be on the floor with Margot.

"Have you told Dumbledore, you're here?" Remus asks Sev, and he nods. "I also said, you were here, and he found teachers to take over our classes for today." He explains.

I feel Remus backing away from me, and Severus replacing him. "I've got you, I'm right here." Sev whispers into my ear. I'm so tired from all the crying, and I feel my eyes close again.

"Some day, I won't be able to look after you anymore," Margot says, smoking her cigarette, blowing rings in the air. I look at her frowning. She's a wise woman, but do we really have to talk about this? And right now?

"Some day, I will be gone, and you'll still be around without me." She says. She knows it's hard for me to talk about. Of course I told her about the other's I've lost through time, but the thought of losing Margot is unbearable. She's so much more than any of the others.

"Don't say that." I tell her quietly. "I don't need this right now." I say. "You do need to hear this, Ellie." She says putting out her cigarette, and moves closer to me. She takes my hands and holds them tight. "I need you to know that you will be happy again." She smiles weakly. "It will be hard for you and me, both, but you will not be alone. I'm sure of it. You will feel alone, and you'll cry and get angry. But that's not the way for you." She says, stroking my hands, as I start to sob. "You must think of our adventures and our life together instead of dwelling with the thoughts of "Could have...". You understand me?" She says seriously. I nod and wipe my tears away. "And always remember, I love you Ellie."

I open my eyes and look down at Margot. I kiss her head and stroke her hair. Severus looks down at me, and I nod. "I'm ready to go now." I whisper. My throat is sore from the crying. Remus helps us up. But before we leave the house, I lift my wand in honor for her and all of our adventures. I open the window for her soul to fly out, and I call an ambulance for her body.