Lighter and Darker Shades of Gray

My Niece

Rose
I was about to call to the girl. She looked like she had no home, yet two blocks away, she turned and ran inside an old house. Wasn't that Bathilda Bagshot's old house?
I felt very sorry for her. But filled out was dead. She must've known Lily and James, as well. Many people knew of them, but no one would come to pay respects unless they knew them well. Even though they died 16 years ago, everyone in Godrich Hollow still missed their presence.
I decorated the grave with flowers, and then went over to that little girls house.
I knocked on the door and the little girl answered. She looked so much like Lily.
"Umm... Hi?" She asked, very timidly.
"Hello," I say, very sweetly. "I am Rose. "
"Umm... I'm Hallie," she tells me.
"Do you know James and Lily?" I ask, not trying to be rude. I already know that she knew James and Lily, but I was just trying to make her trust me.
"Well, it is kind of complicated. I know of them, and I know who they were, but I never met them. Well, I was only a few months old when I saw them last. I got to see them on the night of their death. I was very young, so I didn't know what was coming when they said 'goodbye.'" She explains
"I knew them too. I know how you feel. I got to see them just two days before they died. At that time didn't know what was coming. I didn't know that I had to say goodbye," I try to explain with an even face. It was so hard to talk about Lily.
"What is nice, though," she continues, "is that I get to see them every night in my dreams. I hear a yell, a curse, footsteps, pleading, a curse, a scream, a curse, and tears."
"What do you mean?" I ask, confused.
"Every night I hear my parents's deaths. I was over at Bathilda's. She always watched me during the day and mum and dad hadn't come over to get me yet. I could still hear everything even from down the street."
Her parents. And I thought I had it hard. I thought being Lily's sister made the deaths horrible. Her parents. I couldn't get over it. I felt bad enough for Harry, her brother.
"Your parents?" Is all I managed to get out.
"Yes," she says, wistfully.
"You're my..." I start, but the word gets caught in my throat.
"Yes?" She prompts.
"Niece."