Evanora

After the War Snippets:

HALLOWEEN'S EVENING

We walked along the stone path through Godric's Hallow.. It was Halloween. Tonight meant something to both of us. A group of adults came out of a tavern afar, laughing about something. The evening breeze rustled through the trees, carrying orange and yellow leaves in front of our path.

"Beautiful day," I whispered, squeezing Harry's hand. He squeezed back, but didn't say a word. We made our way to the graveyard. Near the entrance was a stone that read:

JAMES POTTER LILY POTTER

BORN 27 MARCH 1960 BORN 30 JANUARY 1960

DIED 31 OCTOBER 1981 DIED 31 OCTOBER 1981

The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

We stood in silence in front of their gravestone as the sun began to set, leaving an orange glow on all of Godric's Hallow. I remembered the letter that I brought with me. Harry watched me curiously as I knelt down on the floor by my bag and picked out a folded piece of paper. I stood up and in front of him, careful not to block his view of the gravestone. I started out nervous that he would be mad at me for keeping it from him.

"So-- uh-- when I was going through Sirius's stuff last summer, I found something and saved it for you." I handed him the folded slip of old parchment. "I'm sorry I didn't give it to you sooner, I thought it would be a bad idea to. . . distract you," I said. He furrowed his brow slightly in confusion at me before looking down at it. I watched him examine the old parchment before gently unfolding it. "But I didn't read it without you. Please don't be mad," I said sincerely, watching his facial expression as his eyes skimmed all around it. Without looking up, he pulled my arm to his side and lowered the paper so we could both see it before he began to read.

Dear Padfoot,

Thank you, thank you, for Harry's birthday present! It was his favourite by far. One year old and already zooming along on a toy broomstick, he looked so pleased with himself, I'm enclosing a picture so you can see. You know it only rises about two feet off the ground, but he nearly killed the cat and he smashed a horrible vase Petunia sent me for Christmas (no complaints there). Of course, James thought it was funny, says he's going to be a great Quidditch player, but we've had to pack away all the ornaments and make sure we don't take our eyes off him when he gets going.

We had a very quiet birthday tea, just us and old Bathilda, who has always been sweet to us, and who dotes on Harry. We were so sorry you couldn't come, but the Order's got to come first, and Harry's not old enough to know it's his birthday anyway! James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell -- also, Dumbledore's still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance of little excursions. If you and Eva could visit, it would cheer him up so much. Harry has already added "Eba" to his vocabulary! Wormy was here last weekend, I thought he seemed down, but that was probably the news about the McKinnons; I cried all evening when I heard.

Bathilda drops in most days, she's a fascinating old thing with the most amazing stories about Dumbledore, I'm not sure he'd be pleased if he knew! I don't know how much to believe, actually, because it seems incredible that Dumbledore

The letter ended. "I couldn't find the second page," I said, looking up at him. I remember searching the entire room twice, collapsing on the bed exhaustedly, and searching the rest of the house. He picked up the little photograph inside the paper with James and a one-year-old Harry floating two feet above the ground on a broomstick. We both smiled, and his eyes widened.

"Eva, I saw the second page to this letter in Snape's memories," he said. "It said, 'could ever have been friends with Gellert Grindlewald. I think her mind's going, personally, Love Lily.' Snape tore the other half of the picture to keep for himself. The side with Lily," he said. His bright expression lit up the night. His eyes twinkled with a heartwarming happiness as he looked at me. I wished they would stay like that forever. He looked back down at the picture and so did I. James was beaming next to a giggling baby Harry as he soared around on his broomstick.

"You've got his hair," I said and began to grin as I stared down at the picture. "And his smile," I said. Their jaw flashed the same smile. "Except those eyes, of course. . . I remember her eyes in a dream. . . When I met you on the train, you looked unbelievably familiar." I said. I had told him before that he looked familiar when I met him, but I couldn't get over our past. It fit so perfectly. Like we were destined for one another.

I looked up from the photo in search of his beautiful green eyes and sighed. I could feel my cheeks just barely heat up. Love was the one emotion I was unable to control. I had been through enough to make my heart numb, but with him, I can feel again. He folded up the paper and slipped it into the bag hanging over my shoulder before taking it off of me and slinging it on his own. I blushed in the darkness and we walked back down the street with his arm around me keeping me warm. We were meant to meet up with Ron and Hermione at the three broomsticks soon, so I grab his hand and we apparrate ten feet away from the three broomsticks.