New Romantics | Hermione Granger Book IV

|92| Epilogue

E P I L O G U E 

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The next week felt to Saffron like she was back in Squires during the time in which she, Rachel and Rowan were without Maya for two whole years, whilst she was attending Hogwarts. The three of them lacked direction and spent most of their days cooped up in a room together, unsure of what to do with themselves because this time they knew that Maya wasn't coming back. It blurred to the point that Saffron was unable to distinguish the days from each other but she was okay with it because there was very little that she wanted to remember of the time.

The Mitchell siblings were broken and it was going to take them an awfully long time to be fixed without Maya there to guide them. They all lost the same person but lost so many different things that the others didn't lose because they never had. Saffron had already dwelled over what she was losing but her heart was far heavier over what her siblings were losing more than anything.

Rowan lost someone who snuck out colouring books from department stores for him as a child in Squires. Someone who truly filled the big sister for him, considering Squire did treat her like his son, unlike how she treated the girls. He lost a mentor in Ravenclaw who was always in the common room for him to go to if needed and vice versa. There was never any doubt that he would have any issues in Ravenclaw if he had Maya around and that proved to be the case. Those quirks translated into loving personality traits and he was never going to find someone who had those exact traits again.

Rachel lost the closest person to her in her life and true mother figure. Ever since she was a baby, she had taken to Maya in ways she didn't take to Saffron. They were as thick as thieves ever since. She lost someone she could never get annoyed at because she understood just how much she had done for her over the years. She lost someone she could talk to about anything, at any place, whether it be the bullying she received from Squire or the uncertainty she had about Hogwarts, Maya was there, no matter what. Rachel wasn't going to find that person again, as Maya was one of a kind in that regard.

Their collective lost was immeasurable and far beyond the scope of what one ever could have imagined for just one person. That highlighted the essence of Maya and how much of a meaningful impact she had made on her family during her seventeen short years of life.

The Mitchells stayed together constantly in the week that followed. Sirius had gotten them a few rooms in the Three Broomsticks in order to get away from the commotion at Hogwarts for the rest of the term, which they appreciated greatly. There, they spent most of their time as they did in Squires, trying to make the time go away as quickly as possible. Though, they had Noah, Sirius and later Sage and Harry for company, for which they were truly grateful.

Saffron only returned to Hogwarts on the last day of the term because she had one last goodbye that she had missed that she needed to deliver. That being to the boy she spent the year being imperiused alongside. Whereas Rachel and Rowan opted to spend time with Elena, Emilia and Noah out in Hogsmeade, under the supervision of Sage and Sirius. It reduced Saffron to tears to see their closest friends rally behind them like that and she could already see Noah being a wonderful support for them when he finally joined Hogwarts next year.

On the last day, the students from Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were all bidding each other farewell in the Entrance Courtyard. Saffron was with Hermione, Lavender and Parvati, making her way through crowds, all four of them on the lookout for who Saffron desired to see.

"There he is!" It was Hermione who spotted the blond head of Olly Jowett, sat on his school trunk in conversation with Parvati's twin Padma.

Saffron thanked Hermione and made her way. She hadn't had a chance to talk to Olly since before the Third Task as he was in recovery then once he had recovered she had left the school for the week. Saffron felt the need to talk to him. What about? She wasn't too sure but figured it wouldn't be too hard to work out what it was she had to say once in front of him, given what she had already gone through over the past week.