1977
Alastor stood alone in the front of the room. His new eye whirled around in its socket, seeing more than his brain could quite process in the moment. The band holding it in place pressed his short hair into his head, each strand poking him uncomfortably. He shifted from one foot to the other, swallowing hard. Somehow his throat was too dry, yet his eye-- the normal one-- was far too damp.
He opened his mouth. No sound came out. Sweat started to bead on his temples, pooling under the eye's leather strap. The eye started whirring once more, seeing through layers of clothes, underneath the floorboards, through the palms of his hand. His brain struggled to focus as the eye kept moving.
He cleared his throat. "Excuse me a moment," Alastor mumbled.
He turned his back toward the small crowd seated around him. He wrenched the buckle at the back of his head open, ripping the contraption from his face. He set it on the table next to him and sighed.
After a moment, Alastor turned back around.
"I apologize for my appearance. I'm still not used to that damned thing," he said, gesturing to the eye.
He took a breath.
"At the beginning of the year, Natalie and I started to plan out a wedding. Nothing big, so we wouldn't draw attention. Just something small, with the members of the Order, so we could finally say we were married. We always said we would wait to get married until the war was over, but after eight years we decided enough was enough and we were going to celebrate our love for each other.
"But that celebration is never going to happen," he said angrily, hot tears welling in his eye. He wiped at them furiously, and took a deep breath.
Calm down, Al. This isn't about you. Do it for her.
He cleared his throat again. "I don't know if I can find the words to express just how much I love Natalie. She saw me for who I was and did not back away.
"She stayed by my side through thick and thin-- till the very end. She died protecting me. Protecting the life and love we built together.
"With her last breath, she loved me. And when I take mine, I will find my way back to her.
"Until that day comes, I will continue the fight."
With that, he snatched his eye from the table, and strode off.
The crowd began to whisper, but he did not turn back.
He knew eulogies were meant to memorialize a person, but how was he supposed to put all that Natalie was into words? Even if he was in a decent frame of mind, which he certainly was not, he could not describe all that she was to him.
She was simply... Natalie. And to him, that was beautiful.
THE END
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wow. Guys I started this short story seven whole ass years ago. I was 16 when this whole thing started, and I figured it deserved an ending, so we could finally put this thing to bed. I wanted to give it a cutesy sad little ending, but just imagine that after this he basically retreats into his shell and cuts off his emotions bc he's gone through *trauma* and that's how he deals with it-- that's where canon Moody's personality (aka paranoia) come into play. While I would love to say that I can write that kind of storyline I think it's safe to say that after 7 years I will not be doing that. I still wanted to give a semi-decent ending to this story, but I know the end has a different tone to the beginning so here I am talking to you explaining that shift. One last thing before we wrap up: I'd like to give a big ol' fuck you to JK Rowling to being anti-trans. You suck girly pop-- and so does anyone who agrees with her <3 Okay thanks for reading love ya byeeeee)
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Paranoia (Alastor Moody)
FanfictionAlastor Moody wasn't always paranoid. He wasn't always so gruff, and cold, and restrained. He used to be kind, and sweet, and had a profound love for adventure. He was a fun loving person, that was reckless and in need of order, and he found his bal...
