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Harry Potter (ab_harry) wrote in hogwarts_dawn,
@ 2021-05-02 21:03:00

Entry tags:

character: harry potter, character: james s. potter, character: lily evans potter, character: padma patil, character: parvati patil, character: remus lupin

RP: The Memorial
Who: Open
When: 10am 2nd of May
Where: In the cloister of the courtyard
What: It's Remembrance Day

Harry had been present to every ceremony since the end of the war. Each year, no matter how much he hated it, he had insisted on reading the names of the fifty-three witches and wizards that had fallen in the Battle of Hogwarts. It had been his one condition if Kingsley wanted him to show up. Each name had been an admission of guilt for Harry, another way he had failed, a reminder that if he had done better, maybe some of those people would be alive.

This time it was different. Even the weather was cold and rainy, a complete change from the last ceremony he'd attended.

"For the past five years, I've read the names of the dead. Fifty-three people that we mourned. I don't need the Ministry to give me that list. I know every name by heart, but if I were to read it today, there would be only fifty-one names. Remus Lupin and Severus Snape are two names I wouldn't have read, but for the past five years, we've also forgotten all of the other people who died in a war that lasted for decades." He couldn't help looking at his parents when he said that.

"That was that killed so many people ended decades ago and for the younger generation, some of whom are here today and older than us," he said with a small smile, "it was just history. They couldn't understand what all of us suffered. All the losses and sacrifices we made. Today, we're here, in a future marked by more losses and these affect all of us. So today, instead of remembering those fifty-one people, we take a day to remember all of the people who died, because their own government failed them. We take the time to honour them and tomorrow we keep living for us and for them and we make sure that a tragedy of this magnitude never happens again."

He looked around the cloister and realized how much tougher this speech would have been if his friends and his family weren't here. "And hopefully we also get to enjoy this second chance at life. So please join me for a minute of silence in honour of the dead and then I hope that you join us for a pint at the Styx."

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Remus

slowburn_alpha
2021-05-02 06:30 pm UTC (link)

Remus had stayed on his own for this, staying far enough back from the group he could have the castle wall at his back. His hearing meant he still hadn't missed a word of what Harry said. It was...strange, having it pointed out that he'd died on this day forty years ago, an event that was still fifteen years in his future. Remus couldn't imagine he had done it with any sense of hesitation. As he'd told Peter, he would never pick one of his friends over the others to save. He would sacrifice himself first to save them all.

He remembered the smaller, private memorials that still seemed to be just a couple years ago for him. There had been a large memorial for James and Lily, of course. Once the celebratory atmosphere had dissipated and enough people had understood that the tiny baby the young man addressing them had been then was now an orphan, his parents -- both standing off to one side today -- had died to save him. Golden eyes closed briefly against the memory as Remus reminded himself they were now alive again.

Too many days like this, too many speeches about holding onto memories and living for those who had sacrificed, had been what finally pushed his grief-stricken self to leave the country. Memorials, he had decided then, were not for the lost, but for the survivors, much as he'd told Harry after Cassandra's death. It wasn't about remembering loved ones gone, but finding a reason for the living to continue on. But how many didn't have Harry Potter to remember their names? How many names were lost to time because they were simply living their lives despite the politicians and heroes around them?

Memorials were for the survivors, but they weren't for Remus. The speeches were nice tributes, but ultimately, the people were forgotten except by those who knew and cared for them most. He and Regulus had collected enough names, photos, and fragments of lives ended too soon for Remus to think speeches meant anything to the nameless dead.

Still, Remus could look around and see others besides James and Lily who he'd been there to mourn after the first war. Marlene was one, the loss of her entire family had been a huge blow to those in the Order. Peter, of course. He may have been the one to betray them, but two years ago all Remus had known was his friend was gone.

That thought led him to Sirius, the best friend he'd wanted to hate for betraying them, but had never truly been able to believe it. Remus thought he'd mourned the most for Sirius, taken away to Azkaban, as out of Remus' reach as surely as death had taken the others. But, there had been no closure, no chance to ask why. The world had said he was guilty. Remus' heart wouldn't believe it. Now that they were both alive and able to talk, that sense of loss should have faded. And, yet, Remus still feared he was going to lose his best friend now.

His gaze moved then, inevitably, to Regulus and he smiled softly. He hadn't known Regulus well enough to mourn his presumed death beyond the sadness of a young life lost and his friend's loss of a brother. It hadn't been until they all got their second chance that he'd gotten to know the younger Black brother well. It was strange how much Remus had come to care for him in just two and a half months. And, yet, he knew that Regulus was now one of those he would sacrifice himself to protect.

The same people Remus would die for were the reason he would live, now, and try to do better than before. People didn't live for faceless graves and lofty ideals, he thought. People lived for the people in their lives, the people that mattered to them.

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Jamie

curseseeker
2021-05-02 06:31 pm UTC (link)

Jamie stood near his siblings, as he had for their entire lives, and listened to Harry Potter talk about sacrifice and remembering the lost. They had just 'celebrated' the thirtieth anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts a couple months before he and Al appeared outside Hagrid's hut. It was the oddest feeling to realize that he had attended more of these memorials on this day than Harry Potter himself, now. It was even stranger to realize their positions were reversed.

His father, too young by decades and yet still the father from Jamie's earliest memories, spoke of how Jamie's generation didn't understand the loss of the war. Then, in the next breath talked about losses that only truly seemed to affect those present who were of Jamie's generation. The older generations thought of the wars. Despite the nod to the end of the world, this memorial was mostly about the war. None of them had come from a time when they even knew the world that had been lost.

But, Jamie did. Al and Lilu did. Scorpius and Savannah and Roxanne did.

Folding his arms as he listened, Jamie tried to push down the feeling of wrongness. Somehow, it felt wrong to have the destruction of their world tied to Remembrance Day and the war. It felt...dismissive...of what his generation had lost because their parents and grandparents had tried to kill each other off entirely and then panicked when they realized what that meant. Maybe they didn't understand the war, but he thought they understood this current immediate loss far better. For thirty years his father had read the names he felt guilty for. Today the only two names spoken were for those who were alive. Jamie supposed it was because for his father and the older generations, it was as much 'just history' as the war was to the younger generation.

But, for the younger generation, those dead had names. They were his cousins, aunts, and uncles. His mother. His classmates and coworkers. They were his parents friends, the other members of the DA.

In a way, it was Jamie's father, too. For all that Harry was standing right in front of him, it would never be the same. He would never be the man who had taught Jamie how to fly, how to cast the patronus. Harry might have been impressed with the stag that first night, -- Jamie wasn't actually sure of that -- but Jamie's father had actually been there, for a rare moment he'd been present and emotionally connected when he'd said he was proud of Jamie for casting it so well, when he'd seemed pleased to have the stag run in the family. No matter what, if any, relationship he found with this younger version, Jamie was never going to earn the affection of the man who was supposed to have been there to put a plaster on his skinned knees or for Jamie to talk to when he started to realize he might not be quite as straight as he'd always believed. That man was gone, even if Harry Potter lived to be a hundred and fifty, Jamie's father was gone.

It was almost funny. His father had grown up without his parents. Jamie had, in theory, grown up with both his parents. And, yet, the one thing they had in common was not knowing much about them. Maybe it was time for Jamie to admit defeat, admit he was never going to get that father-son relationship, and just be happy that his father, at least, was getting the chance they both had wanted.

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Padma/Parvati

parvati__patil
2021-05-02 10:07 pm UTC (link)

Parvati couldn't be sad about fifty-one people who had died forty years ago, not when an entire civilization had died out, it was hard to focus on a few, just because they happened to have died during a battle. If anything, she felt more for all those young people who never got a chance to grow up, killed by something they didn't understand. Harry was right about something, they owed it to those people and themselves to create a real society.

With that in mind, she went to where Padma was and hooked their arms together. "I'm going to take over the Ministry," she said after a privacy spell. "Not really the Minister's position. Harry can keep that."

She started to walk away from others. "I had a discussion with Ron. We are creating a new and better DMLE that can fight a war, that's what he said. I don't want to use my powers to fight a war. I want to use them to make a better society, so I'm going to create a new division and I'm going to use it to direct others when I can. The Department for the Advancement of Magical Needs aka DAMN, I'm good. I might have to ask for your help on occasion."

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Re: Padma/Parvati

lotusraven
2021-05-02 10:24 pm UTC (link)

"We're going to fight a what?" Padma exclaimed softly, following alongside her sister without a second thought. "I'm going to assume there is no logical reason for that line of thinking, just more of the same twisted thought processes those three excel in, because otherwise I'll end up going down a useless track of wanting to know who we could possibly go to war against and how we wouldn't just all end up dead from sheer lack of numbers to fight."

Honestly, that was as ridiculous as Harry telling everyone to stop trying to figure out what happened to kill off their society, as though ignoring that history would allow them to avoid repeating it. How those three had ever survived the war to be named Saviours of the world in the first place was beyond Padma. Clearly it was proof that sheer dumb luck existed and those three had Felix Felicis instead of blood in their veins.

Her sister's new department had her laughing softly, however. "I think I can easily be persuaded to help with something like that. I just want to know, was the acronym meant to reflect 'Damn the man' sentiments toward the three of them? Or the expected 'Damn it, Patil, what do you think you're playing at?' you're likely to get from them?"

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Re: Padma/Parvati

parvati__patil
2021-05-02 10:42 pm UTC (link)

"A war. Don't you know? That's what we're doing, preparing for the war that might come, because we should be prepared in case Voldemort returns. Never mind the problems we actually do have," she said, looking serious. "Either that or the assassins that the Confederation might send."

Parvati laughed. "Actually it was going to be of Magical Society and then realized that it was an opportunity that couldn't be passed, so DAMN it is. And a little bit of both, but they would never say Patil. They always use first names."

She looked around. "I actually have a plan. I want Kirley off of Treasure. Why the hell do we need two different people to do commerce and treasure. There's literally not enough to do for Lucius with two departments, let alone one. I want them writing and making music. I also want to see if we can make expensive beauty potions. Also I want to make a new man line called Rebirth, inspired by Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore, modeled by one and only Scorpius Malfoy. We need to generate economy and discussion. I also want to steal the Potter girl from Remus and use her for our advertisement. Or maybe the Minister's spokesperson. I mean how much does he have to do. Harry sends a letter a month."

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Re: Padma/Parvati

lotusraven
2021-05-02 11:24 pm UTC (link)

"Right. Because either of those scenarios make perfect sense, really." But, only in the paranoid minds of those three. Padma shook her head. Honestly, the biggest problem they had right now were the three idiots thinking they could lead people any better now than they had been able to during the war...from hundreds of miles away and while on the run. "I wonder if any of them would know what to do with themselves if they could be convinced there was more to life than war."

Padma rolled her eyes. "Never mind that there are times and places for surnames, they have a very casual relationship with proper formality. I've even caught myself doing it lately just because almost everyone here seems to have picked up their habit."

Listening, Padma found herself looking for potential holes in the plan. But, it mostly made sense and wouldn't disrupt much of anything else already going on that she could see. "Consolidating and expanding non-governmental work seems sensible and would be far more productive. I don't object to trying to make society more equal, at least not the way some here talk about it." And she didn't mean the three in charge. Yes, Harry was the Minister, but everyone knew those three worked as a unit. "But, there's no need for all of this structure. Peter and I asked to be allowed to do research into the castle and I've got an herbologist and a healer in my department now because they had to be part of the Ministry somehow? It's getting to the point where there isn't enough work at these jobs for the number of people we have." And if she felt that way after only being there about a month, how much worse was it going to get as more people arrived?

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Re: Padma/Parvati

parvati__patil
2021-05-02 11:47 pm UTC (link)

"Totally, because the Confederation is so terrified of twenty-five people hidden in a castle in Scotland that they need to attack us." Parvati snorted. "I tried to explain, but I should have known better. The sad thing is that Ron is truly convinced that the best thing we can do for the generations ahead is to create a DMLE that is able to expend as a military unit as our numbers grow."

Parvati chuckled. "If we had to use manners, we'd have to use the Mr. and Ms. and really no one does that at the Ministry, so I'm willing to give them that one. I also think that it's easier when half the people here are related. You say Potter and you could be talking about half the people here. Three Malfoys, two Patils, two Blacks. Then it becomes rude to use it only for the people with no relatives."

She grinned. "Well, good, because I know from being Harry that Peter is really good with potions. Maybe not Snape good, but really good, and if we stop worrying about stocking up for a potential war, then we can make potions we can sell. Maybe even perfumes. I'm sure we can find people to market them. Weird Sisters for men, Savannah and Lilu maybe for women, people always remember Quidditch. I'm also going to steal Scorpius from him. Harry sees about three people a week. He can do his own damn schedule honestly, but I'll be nice and have Scorpius help him. Really the poor man is there to write down all that Harry forgets to do and say."

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Re: Padma/Parvati

lotusraven
2021-05-03 03:23 am UTC (link)

Padma was silent for a long moment, trying to think of something to respond to that, but she could only just shake her head. "You probably should have known better. But, then, if no one ever tries to explain why they're wrong, they will definitely continue to believe only they know what's right." And it wasn't law enforcement acting like a military force.

"I had to insist on the manners in Mysteries or old Bletchley would have come up with some horridly condescending nickname." Padma wrinkled her nose at the memories. "I've never found manners to be a problem, even with multiple relations. But, I also know when to pick my battles and with whom.

She shook her head vehemently. "No, you can't have Peter. Or Theo. I need those two working on the research, no question. Harry's mother is supposed to be quite good at potions, as well. You can steal my Herbologist, but not my Unspeakables." Not if they were going to have any hope of figuring out how to let the castle let them out a bit. She laughed at the idea of Harry managing his own diary and reminders. "Harry will be lost within a week. Or Jamie will take over that as well as trying to deal with teaching his father how to talk to other nations. We'll spend half those Department Head meetings reminding him of what he's supposed to be doing."

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Re: Padma/Parvati

parvati__patil
2021-05-03 03:41 am UTC (link)

"Yes, and if I hadn't said anything, I wouldn't have found out that Ron's idea of dealing with visions is to obliviate the Seer and any witness." Her words lacked the amusement that they had previously held. "I swear I will kill them if they try to take away my visions. As much as I dislike them, they are a part of me, part of who I am to my core in a way that knowledge isn't. Not that we'll have to worry, because I'm not telling them any visions from now on."

She honestly couldn't care less about manners, despite their mother's teaching, not when they were dealing with problems like these. "Fine, I can't have them, but can I burrow them on occasion?" she asked with a grin. "I was going to ask Snape. He's my first choice since he'll get bored with no war to fight and not much to do. A few students will hardly be enough to keep him occupied."

She grinned. "I'll allow Scorpius to help. In fact I want to steal Jamie too. They can both do whatever they do now, which shouldn't take them that long anyway. I want a full campaign with Britain being the new trend place for unique and bloody expensive. In fact, we'll just run everything and we'll just make Harry think that he's in charge. They can keep preparing for the war and we'll create the culture that any country needs to survive."

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Re: Padma/Parvati

lotusraven
2021-05-04 12:19 am UTC (link)

"He wants to what?!" Padma's expression hardened. If there was one branch of so-called 'Light' magic she detested, it was obliviation. While it might be deemed necessary when dealing with muggles and the need to keep the Statute of Secrecy, she thought the very idea abhorrent. It was even worse when it was deemed acceptable to use those spells on another witch or wizard simply because an individual arbitrarily decided they knew best. Knowledge wasn't evil, only those who would use it for evil and you could not justify the misuse of one as a reason to violate others. "They need to be reigned in, firmly. They resort to that solution far too easily and often. If we're not careful, they'll turn into the very dark wizards they purport to fight against."

Taking a breath to sheath her anger at the very idea of her sister being threatened with that, she nodded primly. "Yes, as long as you don't run off with them entirely, you may borrow them as needed. But, be gentle with Peter, please. He's actually very sweet and you are far too charming for his own good, sister dear." She snorted softly, utterly unladylike despite her earlier praise of manners. "Please let me e there to see his face when you do. I honestly think he might be intelligent enough to see the sense of your idea. But, his expression at anyone thinking to ask him will be priceless all the same."

Padma couldn't help chuckling because it was so very like her sister to want to change the world through fashion. Moreover, it was funny that Parvati was taking charge in her way while Padma was taking charge through her own department. "So, it will be seventh year all over again. They'll focus on their grand quest and the rest of us will do the work of keeping everyone going so there's a civilization left for them to save."

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Re: Padma/Parvati

parvati__patil
2021-05-04 01:13 am UTC (link)

"He wants to obliviate the Seer and any witness. I don't think his brain caught up with his mouth and he didn't realize that said Seer would be me," she said, before shrugging. "Don't think I'm taking this lightly. I will be keeping track of my visions and if I figure out that they have obliviated me, I will hex them. They can't become Dark Wizards if I kill them. On the other hand, I'm hoping this is Ron being Ron and Harry would know better- What the fuck am I saying? Of course he won't know better. For all that he's in charge, he'll go along with them too."

She frowned. "He's the bloke who turned to Voldemort, got his friends killed and then brought Voldemort back. How sweet is he? Because I'm not sure that's the word I would associate with him." She shrugged. "If there's one person who understands doing whatever is necessary, that's Snape. I think everyone is underestimating him."

Parvati giggled at the comment. "It's perfect. They can have more accolades and we get to have fun this time around. You know, the only thing that's making me want to do this instead of running them out is Harry's memories. He- Padma, he has no idea how to live. It's depressing. He has no hobby, no interests, nothing he loves doing. He has spent his life since he was eleven trying to stay alive and he knows nothing else. What he did was crucial, but it's no life. He couldn't do what I want to do, not because he's mean or whatever, but because he can't even imagine having fun."

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Re: Padma/Parvati

lotusraven
2021-05-04 03:36 am UTC (link)

Padma raised an eyebrow as her sister talked, waiting for the moment when it finally hit. "Exactly. None of them know better and there are already three of us walking around with missing memories because they decided it was best." She may not remember what it was that was missing or why. But, she'd been smart enough to leave her self a reminder it was done and by whom -- one she'd replaced in a new location just in case for the future. "Their answer to information they deem dangerous is to take it away from whoever's learned it and that's even more dangerous than whatever the information was in the first place."

Rolling her eyes, she patted her sister's hand. "I don't know why he betrayed his friends, but this Peter hasn't done it, yet. Any more than a certain werewolf portrait gossip says you were rather chummy with after the Full Moon earlier this week. Whatever his future self did, Peter as he is now is very sweet. And I'm not underestimating Professor Snape. I just think that despite understanding the need to do whatever is necessary, his initial gut reaction before reason takes over will be amusing. If for no other reason that he'll still be surprised someone would actually ask him for that."

Padma sighed. "Is that really true, though? I had Hermione's memories, too. There were plenty of moments when the three of them were having fun. He had fun during the D.A. lessons. You could see it. He was focused, but he made the lessons fun, too. And what about Quidditch? He always seemed to be enjoying that. I get that his childhood was terrible. But, the other Weasleys aren't that bad and he spent plenty of time with them. How much is that he doesn't know and how much is that he chose not to have fun after the war out of some misplaced sense of duty? He could have walked away. But he's built his entire identity around that fight. He's lost sight of who he is as Harry, instead of the Boy Who Lived...Twice."

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Re: Padma/Parvati

parvati__patil
2021-05-05 12:16 am UTC (link)

"The only reason they get some leeway on that is because two of us agreed and it was their memories, but I understand your concern and yes, they are a little too quick to go to that solution so they don't have to deal with the problems." They'd just have to be careful from now on. "I honestly would have let them take everything if it had been possible, but if they had, then whatever happened that week wouldn't have made any sense."

She wasn't that convinced. "Just because he didn't betray the Potter, it doesn't mean that he didn't betray the other friends in the Order. Marietta got scarred for mentioning the DA. He would not have fared well with her." There was no question in her mind that for all of Harry's posturing, Hermione was the one to look at for. "Well, I'll let you know what he says when I tell him."

She knew how it could seem that way to someone looking from the outside. "I think it is, though. Look at Quidditch. He doesn't really like the sport, he likes the danger and the rush he gets by winning. Sure, he was around the Weasley, but he was on the outside when they were having fun. The lessons were another rush, getting people ready, because we're going to be better, we're going to fight and we're going to win. The problem is that he didn't know how to have fun before the fight and then he continued not to have fun. He had the bloody Marauder's Map and to him, it was a way to fight the evil coming. He had the invisibility cloak and instead of using it for parties or snogging, he used it to fight a war. I think he built his entire identity on fighting Dark Lords at eleven and never learned how to be a human being."

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Re: Padma/Parvati

lotusraven
2021-05-05 05:40 pm UTC (link)

"Not strictly their own memories," Padma admitted. "Hermione took the memory of our even talking about obliviation, her and I. The only reason I know it happened at all is because I can read a journal and I left myself a separate reminder as well. I can't concede on the leeway point, however, because by that logic anyone could justify obliviating the person who had their memories. I know you chose it and if it's what you wanted, that's fine. But, even if you hadn't, they'd have done it anyway because they think they have the right to do it."

She shook her head. "And Marietta was only doing what she thought she needed to do in order to protect her mother. But, no, Peter wouldn't have fared well. However, he has been very sweet with me and if we were to treat everyone here as though they had done what their future selves did, then there's no incentive for them to do better this time around."

Padma sighed. She didn't want to feel sympathy for Harry. She never did. Yet, she always wound up feeling it anyway and letting him get away with things because he was Harry Potter. "As much as I don't want to, I can feel bad for him. But, if all of that's true, it means he's one of the very last people who should be running things here because you can't lead people you don't understand and he doesn't even seem inclined to try to understand. He's just decided he knows best and we're the stupid ones for not seeing it his way."

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Re: Padma/Parvati

parvati__patil
2021-05-05 06:34 pm UTC (link)

"They didn't with me, but I guess that's because I agreed. I have no idea with Jamie, though." She sighed. "I don't know, I don't think I would blame that many people if they took those memories, because they don't belong to them. They visions are mine."

Parvati felt that the situation was very much alike, but she trusted her sister. "I trust your instinct on this, and I suppose you are right." She smiled a little. "The Gryffindor self-righteousness gets the best of me. I can't help it."

She chuckled. "That's another reason I was happy if they had taken more memories from me. It's... exhausting to carry them. I honestly don't know if he can understand, but that's where we are, and I don't know if I want to shake that tree. I don't know what the solution is, but I did want you to know about what's happening. Just in case they get to me despite precautions. Now how about we go to the pub and drink at ten in the morning, because that's the Potter/Weasley way."

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Lily

lovingsacrifice
2021-05-03 10:04 pm UTC (link)

Despite having known quite a few people who died or who had their lives irrevocably altered thanks to all the warring that went on, Lily had never gotten to attend any of the events that honored their passing during the first war. She and James had been in hiding, trying to keep Harry safe. To see him now, giving a speech about the reason for the occasion, looking every bit as composed as she expected someone with so much thrust onto their shoulders at a young age would be, it both warmed her heart and brought tears to her eyes.

There was a slight feeling of dissonance that she could feel in the back of her mind; while Lily accepted that she was watching her and James' son, she couldn't help the pang of longing for the baby who she used to dance around the house with to try and calm him down when he got fussy. She missed those days, and didn't think she'd ever fully get over having missed out on seeing Harry grow and mature.

Her emotions were starting to get the better of her, so Lily decided to take a look around at everyone else who was in attendance. Smiling at her grandchildren, Remus, Sirius, and even Peter, she reached down to take James' hand, leaning her head against his shoulder for a little added strength.

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