Hello, Again

How it Begun

     Darkness, bloodshed, tragedy, and falling. Four words you'd never expect to be placed together, but to me, they fit so perfectly. In the midst of it all, you showed me that there is genuinely something captivating about falling, even in our darkest times. Whether that be from tricky toes sticking out around corners while you snicker in my dispense or from looking into the depths of your chocolate orbs, falling was what I was best at. Falling for you was effortless.

        Not that you would have given me a choice anyway. From the moment knocked me over while running past on the train, I knew I was utterly yours.  I can't say goodbye to you this way. It should have been me amongst the rubble, but even in the end, you had to one-up me, didn't you? Take me with you; you promised I'd never have to face the day without you. You liar. Here I am facing not only the days but the nights without you; the sheets on your side are losing the subtle smell of you. I bury my nose in your pillow, hoping to catch the soft scent of cinnamon and smoke, but I'm left with such an ache in my heart. How could you? This was supposed to be our safe haven, but I never felt more threatened than the thought of losing the last I have of you. The ghost of you fills this house.

   I pace the hallways hoping and praying for relief. So when Harry shows up at my doorstep, I welcome him with open arms, anything to fill the quiet. He looks beaten down, dark circles surrounding his emerald eyes, and the slump of his shoulders tell me this isn't a visit to simply catch up.

" Emily," He sighs and grabs a seat on the earth-toned sofa placed in front of the fireplace. He takes a moment looking conflicted. " I need your help with something." He glances up at me and continues. " You of all people understand what this war has cost us." I wanted to scream. How dare he. Of course, I knew what we had lost; he was sitting on the sofa my husband and I fought over before he died. I yelled at him over the ghastly thing, and now I can't seem to remember why I disliked it so much. It embodied him with the forest green and muddy brown stitching. It was welcoming, and on the nights when my walls began closing in, burring my head in the cushions letting out silent scream was the only thing that seemed to lessen the ache.

" Spit it out, Harry." I hiss at him bitterly.

" I think we can save Fred." I laugh at him, ready to throw his ass out of my house. I walk towards him to do just that when he holds his hand up in front of himself, stopping my movements. " We can save them, Em. All of them."  His voice catches and he gets a far away look in his eyes. Shaking his head he grabs a vial from his pocket and slips it into my hand. "This will not only send you back in time, but you will be placed in your younger body ." The soft glow from the fire dances across his face. " You could change everything."  To see Fred again was something I had dreamed about plenty of times but was always met with the crippling reality.

"Please, Harry, don't break me again." My vision blurs with unshed tears. I couldn't get my hopes up; my Fred was gone, nothing but a distant memory.  His face softens, and he reaches forward, moving a strand of hair behind my ear.

" Never." I knew Harry had loved me once, I had always known, but to me, he would always be my godbrother, nothing more. We both found our greatest loves long before they were ripped from our grasps. I knew deep down Harry would never try to hurt me, which is why when I open the vial and take a gulp, I feel at peace with the unknown.

"Emily!" A voice wakes me from my slumber. I turn towards the sound, taking my surrounding. The pastel yellow walls and the smell of vanilla brings tears to my eyes. I'm at my mother's house. I grip the sheets under my body, taking in a shuttering breath. Ophelia  Black was a lot of things, but alive, well in my time wasn't one of them.
" Honey, we're gonna be late!" I hear footsteps climbing the stairs. " You would  think after all these years of talking my ear off about it, you would be more excited for your first day at Hogwarts." She flings open the door with a huff. There she stands, her hands propped on her wide hips, her blonde locks falling in soft waves. "Well, young lady, what do you have to say for yourself?" She smirks, her sapphire eyes flashings mischievously. Merlin, she was beautiful. She was everything I wasn't. My black hair frizzed in an untamable halo around my scalp, my body was thin, and my grey eyes seemed dull compared to her bright orbs. She always told me I resembled my father in the most perfect of ways. I jump up from my position, tackling her with enough force to send us sprawling on the hardwood flooring.

"Mum!" I squeeze her tight, afraid she might disappear from my grasp. She gasps and squeezes me back with just as much force. In a very Ophelia Black manner, she takes this to her advantage and grabs at my sides with lighting speed.

"Ha! You left yourself wide open." She yells as she flips us, leaving me pinned to the floor, her hands digging deeper, causing my eyes to widen. Laughter launches from my lips.

"S-Stop!" I manage to sputter out between giggles. She stands quickly and strikes what she would call her 'victory pose,'  her hands outstretched towards the air in fists.

"My mother always had a way to make me feel at ease. I think that made loosing Fred so much harder, because the one person I knew that could convince me it would be okay was lost to me as well. From the very first moment she had met Fred she was taken with him mumbling something about, " like mother like daughter." Watching my father and Fred together I could almost see what she meant. My Father another soul lost in the violence.

" You okay, kiddo?" She frowns and sweeps a piece of hair from my forehead.

"I think I will be." This is my chance. I can't let them leave me again. I wouldn't survive it.