Serenity
This world was
created by JK Rowling. I have the pleasure of being able to build my little
holiday-home inside it. Firefly was created by Joss Whedon, produced by Mutant
Enemy and 20th Century Fox, and is copyright to one or all of the
above.
On the 20th
of June, someone revisits the last hours of the war. Inspired by the Firefly
theme song.
A/N: I have
been watching an indeterminately huge amount of Firefly lately. Why they pulled
the show, I have no idea, as it was so brilliantly wonderfully great. Anyway, I
spawned this little plunny listening to the theme tune and I just thought “what
if…?” It’s one of the two theories I’m favouring at the moment for book 7. The
quote right at the very end comes from Serenity, the Firefly movie. Thanks as always
to PirateQueen for beta reading for me.
Take my love, take my land,
Take me where I cannot stand…
The words rang
cold and true as she walked. Land she wasn’t so sure about; technically he –
they – still owned property in London and the country.
Love, she was
certain about. Love had been ripped from both of them, pure hearted deep love,
a match of the souls. It didn’t matter, true love transcended all. She tried to
take comfort in this as she trudged on through the brilliant sun, warm on her
back as though trying to melt the leaden coldness she still felt after all
these years. She knew he couldn’t stand where he was, but that didn’t matter
either.
…I don’t care, I’m still free,
You can’t take the sky from me.
She stopped
walking, and rested her head against a wall, choking back tears. No matter how
many times she came, this always happened somewhere on the long walk. He was
the sky; she still caught herself looking for him to fly from the deep blue. He
was the sky; he always had been. Part of the final attack had been from the
air. Trained attack dragons and Aurors on brooms had decimated the assembled
ranks of the unsuspecting Death Eaters. In the end though, he became the sky.
Take me out to the black,
Tell them I ain’t comin’ back…
That was easy. He
wasn’t coming back, that much was clear. The sky was black on the night he went
away. It had to be, the force of Aurors and Dragons had hidden in the thick
storm clouds, waiting, waiting for the signal to unleash hellfire and fury.
Bright against the black, black sky, dragons like comets flashing down, magic
flying like fireworks and lighting the ground, lighting up that black, black
sky.
…Burn the land, boil the sea
You can’t take the sky from me.
The lake was gone;
the water that hadn’t been used to create the storm clouds had been evaporated
by the sheer magical potential in the air. The Forbidden Forest had never grown
back; the land on which it had stood was still as black as the day the War
ended, when fifty dragons had scorched it to the ground to take the last of the
Death Eaters down. The Centaurs, Acromantula and other denizens of the woods
had relocated long before the last battle. The merpeople and the Giant Squid
hadn’t been so lucky. The empty bed of the lake had been filled in shortly
after the end of the War. Nobody could stand to look at the grisly remains any
longer than they had to. Only one part of the grounds had remained unaffected
by the chaos. By the shore of the now dry lake, stood the white tomb. It was
here that they had made their stand, for within the radius of Dumbledore’s
final resting place, was serenity. Utter calm permeated the area around the
tomb, and allowed the fighters to gather their thoughts for the last, decisive
fight between the light and the dark.
There’s no place I can be,
Since I found Serenity.
They would have
lost, and all would have been in vain, had it not been for Dumbledore’s last
gift that in his wisdom, he had provided the world. He had accepted his death
long before it occurred. He was at peace with Life, and in his death, passed
this peace on to those who were to fight for the world. With their backs to his
tomb, they were suffused with serenity, wisdom, and clarity of thought and
purpose. With their backs to the tomb, they were filled, for the last time,
with Phoenix Song. Fawkes returned, to sit behind them and sing. He sang his
last song, he sang until their hearts burned with resolve, and he sang as he
flew towards Nagini. He sang as he took the last part of Voldemort’s soul, and
he sang as it consumed him in flames. The song continued within each of them as
Voldemort took up his wand. The song continued as he pointed it at her. The
song continued as he whispered the words, “Avada Kedavra.” The song
continued as he jumped in front of her, blocking the Killing Curse with his own
body, protecting her, saving her life once again. The song continued as his
living soul, removed from his body by the Curse, turned its power on Voldemort, multiplied a hundred-fold by the
love he felt for her. The song continued as Voldemort’s body was stripped of
its horrific half-life. The song continued as both bodies were consumed by the
power, to scatter on the winds and fill the suddenly clear sky. Then the song
stopped. And the War, was over.
But you can’t take the sky from me…
And you couldn’t,
for he was the sky. He was everywhere now, since that last battle. She started
walking again. Not far now, just on the other side of the castle. Although the
forest and the lake are gone, Hogwarts had been repaired, and once again, was
the premiere wizarding schooling institution.
Her own daughter,
his daughter, would be attending in a few years. Today though, Bethany is with her grand parents, as some things need to be done alone. There, where the
shore of the lake used to be, are two low white shapes. Two tombs. She walks
over to Dumbledore’s first, still unmarred by encroaching vegetation and
unscathed by the battle of nine years earlier. She stops, and rests her hand on
it, offering as always, her thanks. Then she turns to the next one. This one is
engraved with two lines of simple, undecorated text, below which is a name.
I am a leaf on the wind
Watch how I soar
She took a deep
breath. “Hi Harry…”
A/N – OK,
that’s a lot of firsts for me. First one-shot, first tying in with a song,
first that’s trying to explore sadness, first take on the end of the series.
I’d be very grateful for any reviews, but constructive criticism is especially
appreciated – tell me why if you hated it!
