War is Over

20.

I walked through Hogwarts castle on my way to Minnie's office to sign some papers. Students clamored around me on their way to their morning classes. Nearly headless Nick swooped by to say hello.

"Hey! Potter!" A familiar looking ghost called. I watched her long braids embedded with gold clips sway. Dorcas.

"Oh my- Cas?!" I yelled. She laughed as she floated up to me.

"How've you been? How's my girl?"

"Alright, the both of us. We miss you." She frowned.

"Yeah well, I'd do it all over again if I had to." We both nodded. "Plus it's pretty fun to scare the shit out of first years again. What're you doing here?"

"I'm- uh- I'm formally accepting a position." She laughed.

"First Reg, now you?"

"Have you seen him?"

"No, I- I've listened in in his classes though. I'll find him eventually." She said with a nod. I nodded.

"It was great to see you Cas."

"We'll have to catch up in the Great Hall sometime, yeah?" She called as she floated away. I just nodded. "Oh! Hey, Potter?"

"Yeah?"

"Bring her 'round sometime will you? I never got to say goodbye." I nodded. She nodded back.

"Oh, and Potter?" She asked as I turned around, I raised my eyebrows. "Congrats, I heard Reg tell Mad Eye you're pregnant." She blew me a kiss before floating through a first year with a laugh. I walked into Minnie's room and pointed at her.

"You didn't tell me Dorcas haunted the halls." I tried to keep my voice steady. She gave me a sad smile before pulling me into a hug.

"I try to forget myself, how many students haunt the halls." I nodded as I hugged her tighter. I sniffled and pulled back to wipe a few stray tears. She dug through her files to grab paperwork.

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"So you're really going to be a professor?" Sirius asked as I laid on the couch at him and Remus' flat. I hummed in response.

"Appears that way." I told him. He laughed from the floor while he smoked. "You'll never guess who haunts there now."

"Oh, Merlin, don't tell me the Prewett boys made their way back." I let out a little laugh.

"You always held such a grudge against them for no reason!" I pestered.

"Gideon tried to get with you, right in front of us!"

"It's not Gideon."

"Good, Regulus would kill him dead for a second time." I let out an abrupt laugh "Who then?"

"Cas." He sat up.

"Cas? Like, Dorcas Meadows, Cas?" I nodded.

"How many Casses did you know?"

"Just the one." His face fell. "Did you tell Marlene?" I shook my head.

"She just told me the other night how much she misses her, I don't want to reopen a wound." He nodded.

"You need to tell her, Nova." Remus told me as he entered the living room. I pulled my lips into a line.

"I will, just not right now." He gave me a look.

"When then?"

"When she gets more settled. When I start actually teaching."

"If you don't, I will."

"Promise?" He rolled his eyes at me.

"Nova."

"I'll tell her. Just not right now. She's finally allowing herself to be fragile."

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"Mum? Where's the-" I cut James off by handing him a rag and the vile he was looking for. He smiled awkwardly.

"Mother's instincts kicking in already." Mum joked as she patted my shoulder. I laughed lightly.

"I accepted the position formally today." I told her. She nodded.

"So you know."

"Know what?" She gave me that look only mothers were capable of giving. I looked around for a moment before leaning closer to her. "You know about Cas?"

"Minerva took that one the hardest. Peter she could justify, Dorcas died protecting us, all of us." I gulped. She grabbed my hand. "She deserves to know, but no one knows Marlene Mckinnon better than you. If you think she isn't ready I trust your judgement."

"I don't know what to do, mum. She hasn't let herself be vulnerable this whole time, she's getting there, and I just don't know if knowing Cas is at the castle will make it better or worse."

"Oh, my star," She pulled me into a hug. "time will tell. You're all too young to know this pain, I wish I could take it away."

"It'll be better for Harry and Luna and, well, mine, right?" I basically begged. She squeezed my arm.

"Things only get better darling, we've walked through hell and never once dropped one another's hands. We can face anything." I leaned on her shoulder.

"That doesn't sound like everything's going to magically get better." I pouted. She stroked my hair.

"We may be magical, but this world is anything but. Go be with your friends, you deserve that my darling. You've fought so hard, for so long, relax a little." I nodded as she shooed me out of the kitchen.

"Vix!" Sirius shouted at the sight of me. I smiled at the group of them. "Come help us pick a movie before Lily convinces them all to play Scrabble. I fucking hate Scrabble." I made my way to the couch, Remus scooted over and let me sit between him and Reg. I leaned my head on Reggie's shoulder while we flipped through one of the boxes of movies dad had collected over the years. Remus helped Lily argue we should play Scrabble while Sirius mimicked the both of them and called them "complete fucking losers." Marlene, Barty and Evan searched through another bin looking for a movie we hadn't all seen a million times. James shot me a look over the chaos, asking if I was okay. I just nodded.

I might have been absolutely terrified of what the world would become, but I knew in that moment that I had more than a handful of people in my corner ready to do whatever it took to make sure we stayed safe. I had my friends and my family and that was truly all I needed.