Back at Hogwarts for her second year in the modern world, equipped with a brilliant group of friends and a boy who loves her dearly, Azalea Hogwarts, protector and shield of the school itself, could not be happier, despite the war raging on around h...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
As Azalea stood within the shadows of the bottom of the astronomy tower, her body tore itself in two. She knew that the time had come, the time she had been dreading all this time. Glancing up, she could see them and she leant into the wall, breathing deeply, eyes closed because she knew that she could do nothing now. From the gap in the stairs, she saw him. Dumbledore smiled softly down at her with a gentle wink and she felt her entire body shudder as Draco approached him, shaking himself.
"Harry" Azalea whispered softly, approaching where he was. The boy was frozen in the dark, pinned against the wall, staring up with wide eyes at the scene above him. He could not move because of Dumbledores spell and he was forced to watch as the horrible took place.
Death was a fickle thing and everyone approached it differently, Dumbledore was greeting it calmly, he had accepted this moment and as Severus Snape swooped into the scene playing out above them, Azalea knew that the time had come. Severus Snape and Azalea Hogwarts would follow through with their orders that evening.
"Harry" Azalea whispered again, fingers reaching up and she slowly took his cheek, turning his hollow emerald green gaze to face her. Harry stared at her in panic, incapable of moving, unable to do anything but plead with those stunning eyes of his. He could not understand what ran through her mind as she kept his face trapped, facing away from the old man. He could not understand why Azalea Hogwarts, powerful witch and daughter of the four founders, was not saving Albus Dumbledore from a gaggle of Death Eaters, a student and a haggard potions professor. "It's okay" she spoke.
There was something eerily beautiful about Azalea that night in the darkness, her curls flew around her head brilliantly from the whipping wind, doe eyes dark and face blank. She was stunning, though utterly terrifying and Harry looked deeply into those chocolate brown orbs as a flash of green illuminated her features.
Grief was like drowning and it stabbed through you quickly. It was slow and aching and the moment the spell on Harry dropped, the grief smashed into them like a railway cart. Together they tumbled, clattering to their knees in the dust and darkness, holding on for dear life. For a long time, Harry would wonder why Azalea did not act that might. But as he stared into those chocolate brown orbs that melted into tears, raining down her lightly tanned cheeks... He could do nothing but hold her in her pain and grief.
Azalea Hogwarts was completely and utterly human that evening as Harry chased the Death Eaters like a wolf stalking its prey. She was completely and utterly human as she approached the figure splayed hauntingly at the base of the astronomy tower. The pain was something she had never felt before, the pain of grief and she knew that her parents had died but somehow, it still felt like they were there.
Clattering to her knees emotionlessly, staring at the empty body of Albus Dumbledore... She finally understood grief, she finally understood pain as she pulled his head to rest in her lap, gently pushing the strands of white hair from his face. He looked so peaceful now, sleeping. And she knew that this was what he wanted. He didn't need to suffer anymore, he didn't need to feel grief, guilt or pain. It was wrong to pity the dead... One should pity those left behind.
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was reunited with his dearly departed sister that evening as the stars flittered brilliantly from their place in the sky and the sounds of the students approaching fell on deaf ears for Azalea as she held him, trying with whatever strength she had to push through the pain and grief... To feel better.
It was a beautiful display, the wand tips raised to the sky but she didn't see them, staring into those shimmering blue eyes that sat across from her in many meetings for the past year, the eyes that had once been intense, scanning and were now empty.
Azalea had accepted Dumbledore's death before it even took place... But she did not get over it and she wouldn't, not for a long time. It was the first pain she had felt.
Harry sat beside her softly, holding her calmly, tears running endlessly down his cheeks under the moonlight.
There was something agonising by the silence from Azalea. The sight of a sobbing Harry tore the crowd apart, their great hero in a sense of despair but Azaleas haunting, empty eyes was something they would never remove from their mind. Even the feeling of Harry's arms around her could not remove the pain that Azalea felt that evening...
