Some people found comfort in sitting next to a fireplace or having someone hold onto them and whisper sweet nothing into their ear. James Potter did not find comfort in any of these things, instead finding comfort in food, specifically sweet food th...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
chapter thirty eight: a sad day for the potters
The death of Euphemia and Fleamont Potter was not unexpected but nonetheless still devastating. After James and his friends had hugged it out and they had promised to come the following day, Matilda had spent the night with James' head nestled in her chest. Her shirt was damp and her hand never once stopped moving through his hair until he had fallen asleep.
It seemed all they had was bump after bump and it was exhausting and so were the next few weeks. Whilst Christmas and New Years' had been cute celebrations the year before, the festivities were more somber this year. They still celebrated. Matilda and James laughed at the gingerbread houses that their friends had constructed, all of them being absolutely ghastly. They all exchanged presents on the day as none of them really had family that they could spend the day with, their friends were the only family they had and needed.
The January snow had just started and sadness swirled around them. Although good in theory, visiting the graves of both James' parents and Matilda's relatives on the same day were not as practical as they seemed. Not that they expected it to be joyful or anything but it was more of a way to visit both locations and feel all that pain in one day instead of them both having to go through it twice.
James' parents were first and he had decided that that day was the first day he was actually ready to go visit them. It had only really occurred to him how fucked up their whole lives were at the moment as they were getting ready. They were both so young and already had lost all their family. Matilda's hand was held tightly in his and he had never been more thankful for such a thing.
He couldn't imagine going through all of this without her by his side. She seemed to know exactly what he needed whether it be space, comfort, or just words of love being whispered into his ear. She was everything to him. She knew exactly what he was going through because she had already been through it and James was there with her all through it and Matilda had silently promised him that she would be there for him and be by his side whenever he needed it.
He had asked her to not worry about him and to just go and work but she simply shook her head and refused, closing the shop for the Christmas to New Year period. She and James were to go back to their normal routine in a few days, something that they were both dreading but it had to happen. Voldemort and his death eaters had gotten slightly more bold over that period, scaring the wizarding community as it seemed that it was all talked about in the daily prophet.
The snow crunched underneath their feet as they came to a shop at the grave where they had buried both of his parents. Matilda wrapped her arm around her husband, feeling her own lips quiver. They were good people. Too good for the ending that they met. It seemed that death was a constant reminder for the two and today was even more so. James sniffled and pointed his wand at the grave, melting most of the snow away and getting a small patch of flowers to start growing in front of the tombstone.
"They were wonderful people," Matilda whispered to him, James nodding as tears slid down his cheeks causing him to move his glasses up and catch them before they slid too far.
"Yeah, they really were. When Sirius ran away from his place, he was a bloody mess, he came to my house and was trying to make it seem like he was alright. He wasn't." James paused his story to let out a slight laugh, Matilda smiling up at him and giving him all of her attention.
"My mum and dad walked in on him and I talking in the living room at merlin knows what hour and we told them that he'd been kicked out and my mum just shook her head and smiled and said 'Sirius, why would you ever worry about that. You may not be our biological son but you sure are our son.' and my dad had pulled him up and taken him to the spare room and told him to decorate it however he wanted and that this was his home now."
James smiled widely at the memory, remembering the pure joy that was on his best friend's face and the tears that he had shed as he hugged the potters. Matilda slipped her hand back into James' and gave it a tight squeeze causing him to squeeze back and smile down at her.
"Come on then." Matilda nodded and the two quickly apparated to where her father and grandmother were buried, somewhere where Matilda had not visited in a long time. Her stomach twisted at the thought of seeing her mother's grave next to her father's, knowing that it was empty. She swallowed the lump in her throat and sat down next to her father's grave, wiping off the snow from the top. James slid down next to her, ignoring the wet patch that was developing on his knees. He looked at the grave in front of him and saw her mother's name written with a birth date and a date of death.
"I don't know if I'll ever see her again." James turned his head to look at his wife who had not yet shed a tear. She used to feel sadness when she would see her mother's grave but instead, anger filled her.
"Ever since Voldemort was at our wedding, I've been thinking about her. I don't know what I would say or do if I were to see her again. I hate her. I hate that she lied and what she stands for and what she did to dad. But I don't know, deep down she is still my mother." Matilda shook her head and stood with James letting out a deep breath before turning to the last grave. Her granny's. James had never met Matilda's grandmother but from the stories she had told him, she seemed like one of the best people in the world.
"Hi, Granny." Matilda knew that her grandmother would not hear her but maybe in a way, she believed she would. She just needed to speak aloud all the things she wanted to say. James stood by, silently and physically supporting her as she began to cry.
"So much has happened since you left. I finally dated a boy who was worth my time. I married him. I wish you were there. You always talked about how you couldn't wait to see the day I would be dressed in white and used to joke about how you would bring a handsome date. I'm sure that if you were there, Mr. Stewart would be not far behind. He always did have a crush on you. I didn't see him when I went back to the house, I suppose he wasn't there anymore."
"I miss you. So much. Ozmo does too. I don't take him for walks nearly as much as you did and I hate it. I love you." Matilda sobbed throughout her entire speech, clutching James' hand the entire time and using the other to wipe her tears. She looked around quickly to make sure that no muggles would see her and with a wave of her wand a bush of red roses had begun to grow.
She smiled slightly and waved at the grave before facing James and throwing her arms around him, the man wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her tightly against him. He pressed multiple kisses to the side of her head and whispered sweet nothings in her ear that brought her comfort.
"Let's go home."
A bit bloody sad, I promise I won't do too many sad chapters hahaha. The time jumps will be pretty frequent as we got like two more years to get through and I don't wanna drag it out. Tik tok really got me wanting to write like a Ron fic, a Sirius fic, a fred or George fic and bloody even an oliver wood fic.
