Matilda Matlock

Heroes

Matilda was standing on the cobblestone bridge that had managed to stay intact during the battle, not the wooden one that Harry and Seamus had destroyed to block Voldemort's army from coming, but the one that led to the other side of the hills. The hills that rolled in front of her in a peaceful green, as if nothing had ever happened.

She stood looking out into the horizon, the dawn offering a new day, the breeze gently rustling her hair and cooling her scratched, dirt-stained face.

She was quiet. She was thinking, about everything, about all of it, about the people she wished she could see again, the people who didn't make it out of the battle. 

She was thinking of the people who did. 

The ones who were now recovering from the fight, distantly murmuring and talking and checking in with one another, embracing and crying and quietly rejoicing. Some still in shock. Some relieved. Some hurt. Some not.

Matilda inhaled slowly again, flicking her eyes across the grounds becoming bathed in new sunlight.

"Tillie?"

She hesitated, then turned at the sound of her name to see that Fred was the one who offered it.

Still standing towards the edge of the cobblestone bridge, she watched him slowly approach her, his hands folded behind his back, his clothes ripped and muddied and stained with battle. He had a new scar along the side of his narrow face. 

Beside him was George as well, in a similar state. His eyes were soft, and hurt... Matilda knew he was thinking about Charlie. It pained her to know this.

And yet, through it all, Fred was still smiling at her, just a little... just enough. He always offered the girl a smile. 

George was trying too. He was still somehow putting in the effort... he was making it a priority.

Matilda turned back out to the view. They moved to stand at her sides and looked out too.

"It's quite something, isn't it?" Fred said after a while.

His soft voice reflected on the beautiful horizon in front of the three of them.

Matilda swallowed, taking in the presence of the two boys on her side- they had truly never left when she thought about it. Them, and everyone else, who had fought for her, even when they weren't with her.

"You were very brave," she said quietly. "Both of you."

She heard George breathe in a little. "Just trying to keep up with your record."

She smiled, looking down. Then she looked up at Fred.

"The sword," she said. "Did you know you would be able to-?"

Fred shook his head. 

"I just hoped," he said. "I know you said it could kill Horcruxes. And... well, the snake... I just hoped. And... it worked, somehow."

"It worked because you're a true Gryffindor," she smiled. 

He laughed a little through his nose, looking back out at the view. "True Gryffindor, huh?"

"It means you were worthy," she said. "You are. I think I knew that before the sword did."

Fred didn't say anything, he was just smiling a little into the dawn air, so Matilda spoke again.

"I think I knew back at Malfoy Manor," she said softly. "When you... faced Vivian. You lied for us. Of course, you're worthy."

"I'm not surprised either," George said from her other side, and when she turned, he was smiling at his twin brother.