In which two souls in mourning find each other a second time, connected by a bond they both share with another. Newt Scamander knows, better than anyone, that two of the most important people in his life are suffering.
His best friend, a y...
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"I didn't think I would return here alive. You know, there is a legend, a myth, that when Dragons die, they rejoin the earth as trees." Theseus froze, her words echoing through her mind. "I grew up in this temple, in these caves. I sat beneath these branches all those years ago. This is a cemetery. A graveyard of Fáfnir's children." Theseus gaped down at the young witch, who's tears continued to fall as she began to weave him a tale, a legend really, that was passed through her family as their very own secret history, the key to a family garden. "When we die, our bodies disappear. I don't know why, or how, but they do. And they reappear here, as trees. Everyone in my family is buried here, beneath a sacred tree. And everyone that they married, or fell in love with comes to rest here too, as starlight in the Acheron, the lake of living skies. I left these halls with my family twenty four years ago. We never had the chance to return together after. My sister's never got to see it. They'd have been thirteen, today. They'd have started their third year at Hogwarts, if Grindelwald hadn't forced us into hiding. It used to be almost empty, in here. A few trees in each ring." She paused, considering her words, hesitating to tell the auror everything about the secret she guarded.
"The tree rings are sorted by generations. The further out you go, the further down Fáfnir's line you reach." Theseus hesitated, before asking her what had been on his mind, playing at the edges of his thoughts as she wove her story for him. "This tree, is it-?" He couldn't finish, but he didn't have to. The small woman nodded, her eyes never straying from its boughs. "This is Yggdrasil. The connection between realms, and the first grave marker of my family line. This is Fáfnir's tree. The portals closed when his sister and children buried him beneath its roots. His sister is in the first ring, behind him. His children are the other two, the daughter on the left and the son on the right." Theseus gaped, trying to put it into perspective. "How old-?"
"Very." Rooney laughed, "Very, very old. It's best to not think about it, truthfully." He nodded, still gaping at the ancient tree. "Would- would you like to meet my sisters?" She asked tentatively, and Theseus nodded, "I'd love to." With a gulp, Rooney took his hand, tearing her eyes away from Yggdrasil to lead him to the right side of the tree rings, walking only a few paces before stopping before a pair of trees, so deeply intertwined with each other they it looked as though they had grown as one.
"Hello, Asteria, Hecate. I've missed you." They had stopped before the second ring, and Theseus nearly fainted. "Perhaps I ought to start from the beginning?" Rooney asked him, and he nodded, gaping down at her. She had yet to look at him, but she spoke all the same. "My family loved the Norse, even if they told our story wrong. It became a layer of protection, in a way. Outsiders believed the false legends they spoke, and my family were left in peace, forgotten as we passed the true tale down through generations. Some of it was rooted in truth, but most did divulge. It starts similarly, though. Many, many years ago, before the dawn of wizards and men, there was a tree that connected the nine realms. This, you know as Yggdrasil. Within its roots, you could slip through portals, and the nine went on in harmony. But over time, Odin grew power hungry, corrupt, and he began his conquests of the realms. They fell to Asgard, one by one, till he set his sights on Midgard. Your realm. He commanded his two greatest warriors, siblings, to come and study the people here. They stayed for many years, revered as gods by the witches who found them, never changing as the world around them grew, aged, and died. They reported once a year a small finding, hoping to protect this magical culture from the Allfather. But the plan fell through when the younger of the two warriors, Iduna, fell ill with Dragon Pox. It was a foreign illness to the siblings, and when it became clear that his little sister was not recovering, Fáfnir carried her through the portal, home to Asgard. He went to his father Hreidmar, and begged that he go before the King and ask that he heal his youngest child, Fáfnir's little sister. So Hreidmar went before the royal family, and in audience to Odin, begged that he honour his children's sacrifice for him, and heal Iduna of the illness. But Odin was petty and cruel. He turned his back on my family, casting Hreidmar from his halls to ensure my family wouldn't grow any more powerful."
