Fifth Founder, harry potter ✓

Epilogue

No one really knows what's after death. You can't ask the spirits what occur when the finally take their last breath. You can't ask the ghosts that stick around either for they were never there, they were never in the afterlife, or gone to heaven or hell. They've never been to their piece of the afterlife because they chose to stay.

Whether it was because they had unfinished business or they didn't want to leave their family behind. And sometimes, sometimes they were scared. They were horrified by what was on the other side, because no one knew.

In that moment, after you die, and you're face to face with Death himself, and you have to choose: do you want to move on from the inky blackness to where ever you go, or do you want to return to the place you last were and become a ghost. Forever seeing, but never feeling.

Margarette Malachite was given the choice after she was killed by Morgana Le Fay. She was given the choice to either go to the other side, get her own slice of nirvana, and possibly see her family again. Or, she could be sent back to her home. Sent back to Hogwarts and the Manor. See her students and teach them. See her son one last time, say goodbye to her husband as she watches him take his last breath, hoping he'll choose the path she chose.

But, he didn't. He chose to go to the other side and see his lost ones, for to him, there was no such thing as Margarette Malachite. She was not a real person, she had never existed. The druid founder of Hogwarts School was never born, she never met the brave Godric Gryffindor, the wise Rowena Ravenclaw, the kind Helga Hufflepuff, and the ambitious Salazar Slytherin.

To everyone in the world, she was never born, she had no effect on the time-line. She was never there.

Morgana Le Fey knew Margarette would return to their plane. She would return to Earth so she could continue with the school and with her family. But, she never got that wish. Margarette was Obliviated from history by her former student who was more powerful than she ever imagined.

When Margarette returned to their plane, her chambers were empty. When she tried to leave she felt excruciating pain and was pushed away from the doors and windows. When she tried to listen to the pitter-patter of the tiny feet of the first years, there was no noise.

Margarette Malachite was left alone in her tower for centuries upon centuries. Constantly regretting her choice to return. But, despite what many ghosts say, that they were afraid of death and forced to turn into a ghost, or they stayed behind for their family. They were all afraid of death, they were afraid of what was beyond the veil.

The unknown, despite leaving curiosity, leaves an overwhelming amount of fear. Unlike in most cases where someone feels them both, curiosity wins. But when it's life and death. When you know for certain what's on one side but are completely oblivious to what's on the other.

The dead choose familiarity. They don't want to go to somewhere unknown. They want to return to a place they know, a place where they are certain of how everything works and nothing can surprise them. Ghosts return from their own fear, but pass it off as not wanting to leave their family behind. But soon enough, the family will leave them.

Margarette stayed behind out of fear, not out of love.

Even if Morgana didn't Obliviate her existence from the minds of everyone, Margarette would still end up alone. Her husband would grow old and brittle right in front of her eyes. But he might not have made the same choice as her. He might have wanted to see his family again and not live a thousand lives.

When Margarette died, she didn't get a funeral, no one said goodbye. She got an empty chamber with no way of leaving. She got isolation for over a thousand years. Margarette got the last words her son spoke to her just a days before.

That was it.

Just those words repeating over and over in her head.

"Mother, I love you."