BEGIN BEFORE THE END | WTM | R.A.B

14

CHAPTER 14
|DEPRESSING|

The scene shifts away from Ryan and fade until it refocuses on James Potter at a meeting with several other wizards in a den of 12 Grimmauld Place. He was surrounded by Dumbledore, Sirius BlackEdgar Bones, Rubeus Hagrid, Alice and Frank Longbottom, Remus Lupin, Minerva McGonagall, Alastor Moody, James Potter, Lily Evans, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Arthur Weasley and his wife Molly who were all there with him.

“I love how the film keeps jumping between the two stories.” Alice said. “It’s like a bridge between two major events.”

“It’s called a flashback.” Cathy said. “Although I guess in this case it would be more accurate to call it a flash-front.”

“So, shall we begin?” Dumbledore said looking into the fire in the fireplace that lit up the room.

“Isn’t that our home?” Walburga questioned. “What the hell are all of them doing there?”

“Let us see, dear.” Orion told his wife in a soothing tone.

“So, we’re sure then?” Alastor enquired to James. “That the girl is a Chaos Castor?”

“Pretty sure.” Lucius Malfoy said.

“It is a bit of a conclusion to jump to.” Frank said.

“But it’s the only one that makes sense.” Sirius said. “And it explains a few things.”

“So now all we need to do is make sure that no one else finds out.” Shacklebolt said. “If word gets to the Dark Lord that Catherine Potter is a Chaos Castor than he’d covet her power for himself.”

Cathy looked around and saw that several of the audience, mostly Bellatrix and the other Death eaters, were sneaking glances at her every now and then. With what they had learn about the Dark Lord Cathy hoped that at the end of the films none of them would go running to the Dark Lord to give him a recap.

“Is it really safe to leave her with the Blacks’?” Molly brought up. “After all the things she’s done for them…”

“They didn’t make her do anything.” James told them. “My sister has never been one to follow rules.”

“Still, Molly’s right.” Edgar Bones said. “The power that girl has is too dangerous to be left in her hands alone.”

“Who’s that?” Fabian asked his brother.

“I dunno but he looks familiar.” Gideon said.

Amelia Bones was surprised to see that one of her brothers had made it to the story of the film.

“That’s my older brother.” She said.

“What do you suggest?” Hagrid said. “We lock her up just for being born the way she was?”

“No but…” Edgar looked uncertain how to finish that sentence.

“Edgar is correct.” Dumbledore said surprising everyone. “As are you Hagrid. Catherine Potter’s power is too dangerous to be left unchecked. Do we know what her gift could be?”

“My daughters’ power is best kept in her hands.” Fleamont said talking to Dumbledore.

“Apologizes, Mr. Potter.” Dumbledore said. “But given what I know about her then, I can’t say I wouldn’t make the same conclusion now as I will then.”

“What--”

“Dad it’s okay.” Cathy hushed her father who still shot Dumbledore a dirty look.

Everyone turned to Lily expectantly. “She once told me she’d only ever used her gift once before and that she thought that is was too dangerous.”

“She mention how she used it?” Gideon Prewett asked.

“What is your gift, dear?” Euphemia asked Cathy. Several people leaned towards them to listen. Cathy didn’t say anything and just watched the screen.

Lily shook her head and Alastor Moody huffed in frustration. “So, what do we know about this girl?”

“She’s a Chaos Castor, she’s a level five Legilimens and she’s no qualms about breaking the law.” Minerva listed.

“Being a level five Legilimens is quite impressive.” Shacklebolt said. “Especially when you consider her age.”

“Is it really that impressive?” Peter asked.

“It’s the highest level there is for Legilimency.” Dumbledore explained. “A level that high means that she can wade through the minds of others and alter them and they wouldn’t be able to catch her in the act. She’d also be able to mimic or learn certain skills and information with ease.”

“I guess that explains how she can speak so many languages.” Edgar said. “I read her file. My sister definitely got lucky recruiting her.”

“Oh, that’s how you do it.” James said in realization.

“What’s the Scarlet Witch?” Remus asked out of nowhere.

Once again, Regulus and Cathy stiffened at the sound of the name.

Dumbledore looked at him with a concerned look. “What?”

“The Scarlet Witch.” Remus repeated. “She reacted to that name when me and Sirius mentioned it. Right before she…you know.”

“Turned you into dogs.” Fabian finished.

“Yes, thank you.” Remus said slightly annoyed.

Dumbledore didn’t speak but looked very strange. “Albus.” Shacklebolt spoke to the headmaster. “What is it?”

The seasoned wizard held up his hand a book flew from one of the shelves and landed in his hand. Albus opened the book and began to flip through its pages.

“The Scarlet Witch, Scarlet Witch…” Everyone watched as the headmaster found the page and placed it on a table and everyone came close to see what was happening. The page depicted a black colored in image of a woman with long hair and a strange M shaped object at the top of her head.

“What is the Scarlet Witch?” Remus asked eagerly.

“The Scarlet Witch is a Chaos Castor.” Dumbledore said. “A very powerful Chaos Castor that was passed down as a legend for thousands of years.”

“So, this witch was that powerful?” Sirius asked. “Why’s that so bad if she lived that long ago?”

“Because she isn’t dead.” Albus informed him. “She is a prophesized witch that was often revered and even worshiped by ancient wizarding communities.” Dumbledore looked down at the book and showed the page that he was looking at. He placed his hand on the page and began to read.

“The Scarlet Witch is a being of infinite power. She has no need for wands or incantation. Her power exceeds that of all Chaos Castors that come before her and all those that will come after. It is her destiny to rule and destroy the world.”

Everyone was silent. They all heard the words that Dumbledore had said and were silently frozen with no feeling of what to say or do.

A lot of the people there looked to Cathy and begun to speculate and whisper to themselves about her.

James decided to break the silence. “Well, if nothing else at least my sister has some goals to aspire to.”

“That’s all you have to say?” Edgar Bones questioned.

“What do you want me to say, Eddie?” James shot back. “It’s just some story about Chaos Castors. We have no reason to believe that Cathy is this Scarlet Witch.”

“Can we really afford to not to weigh on the side of caution in this situation?” Edgar asked everyone. “This girl disarmed all of you and threw you around like ragdolls. Infinite power? No need for wands or incantation? Sounds like you sister is doing a bit more than just aspiring?”

“I don’t like this blokes’ attitude.” James said and the rest of the Marauders agreed.

“Careful.” James warned him. “My sister may have done some questionable things--”

“Questionable?”

“—but at the end of the day Cathy still does the right thing.” James finished. “She would never hurt or kill someone unless it was absolutely necessary. She wouldn’t rule or destroy the world.”

“James is right.” Remus spoke up. “Edgar you don’t know Cathy but we do. We saw her grow up. We know what kind of person she is.”

“I agree.” Lily nodded as did Peter.

“Aww guys!” Cathy smiled at everyone who spoke up on her behalf.

Before anyone else could say anything else, Marlene McKinnon burst into the room. “We have a situation!”

“What is it?” Sirius asked.

“Voldemort. He’s attacking the Ministry!” Marlene declared.

“He’s what!” Harold Minchum, the Minister exclaimed.

Dumbledore and everyone rose up and took their wands out. “We must leave at once!”

The scene faded away with everyone leaving the room and focused again into the Black kitchen.

“Dammit it was getting to the good part!” James complained and several people nodded in agreement.

“Are you sure about this?” Cathy asked her son the day after Christmas. It was later in the afternoon and Harry, Ron and Ryan were all in front of Cathy and Regulus as they had a tea with Walburga.

“Yeah.” Ryan nodded.

“I glad that you lot are taking you studies seriously but,” Cathy looked slightly concerned, “going to Hogwarts for the night…”

“Let the brat go.” Harry and the other two boys turned around and saw the ginger cat Whisk walk by and hop up to Cathy’s lap. “If nothing else, at least the house will be quieter for a few hours in the night.

“I completely forgot about that cat.” Regulus said.

“I do too sometimes.” Cathy admitted. “She comes and goes as she pleases that I just don’t really expect her to be anywhere until she just shows up.”

“Ooh I like that.” Cathy nodded. She gently scratched behind her familiars’ ears.

“Oh, hey Whisk.” Ryan greeted. “Where have you been?”

“There was a certain tom cat that had me over for the holidays.” The cat purred.

“That’s nice.” Ryan nodded.

“We have a history essay to finish on the witch hunts.” Harry lied. “We forget to read up on it and we just need to spend the next few days in Hogwarts for the afternoon.”

Cathy looked to her husband. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s alright.” Regulus nodded as he sipped some of his tea. “They’ll just spend an hour or two at the library and be back for dinner.”

Cathy looked to her son and nephew and Ron and nodded. “Fine.” A fold opened up behind the three of them. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

“Thanks, Professor.” Ron said.

“Yeah thanks.” Harry also said.

The three of them stepped through the fold and disappeared. The fold closed itself and Cathy was sitting there thinking to herself. “Anyone else thinks it’s odd that Ryan begged to go study?”

“I think that it’s good that Orion is taking his studies so seriously.” Walburga said.

Cathy looked unconvinced. “It must be nice to be able believe children when they’re so clearly fibbing.”

“If you’re so convinced they’re up to something why didn’t you just read his mind?” Walburga questioned.

“Good question.” Remus nodded.

“Because when we had children Catherine and I agreed that going through the minds of our kids was an invasion of their privacy.” Regulus answered.

“That is good move as a parent.” Andromeda smiled at her cousin and Cathy.

Cathy smiled and rolled her eyes. “Plus, Reg thought that it gave me an unfair parenting advantage.”

“Yeah that too.” Regulus admitted.

“Never mind.” Andromeda said making several people chuckle.

“Oh, before I forget,” Walburga reached down and pulled a blue box out of her bag. She passed it to Regulus who held it with a strange look on his face, “I was in France the other day and got you both some chocolates.”

“Chocolates?” Remus repeated.

“Oh. Did you?” Cathy, like Regulus, also had a strange look on her face.

“Catherine.” Regulus passed the box of chocolates over to his wife and she waved her hand over it. Her hand glowed red with Chaos magic and so did the box and her hand went over it. “Nothing?”

“What’s going on?” Walburga wondered.

“We’re good.” Cathy said opening the box and popping a chocolate into her mouth.

“Really?’ Walburga asked in an annoyed tone. “Still?”

“I’m sorry mum but after the last gift you gave us--”

“That was thirteen years ago!” Walburga said.

“You drugged us.” Cathy told her.

“She did what?” Cathy questioned.

“How was I suppose to know that that scented candle was an aphrodisiac?” Walburga defended. “I was told that it would be a great gift for newlyweds.”

“A what?” Fleamont looked slightly disturbed at the thought of her daughter being under the effect of an aphrodisiac.”

“It wasn’t.” Regulus said.

Cathy sipped some of her tea. “Well…”

The scene shifted to the boys who were all at the library. Madam Pince, the school librarian walked by pushing a cart of books. She looked down at them whereas they didn’t even look up from their books. She paused at the three of them and Ryan looked up and saw that she had her eyes at Ron.

“What’s that?” Ryan said making Harry, Ron and Madam Pince look to the Herbology section. Ryan quickly grabbed Ron’s book and flipped it the correct way as he had been holding it upside down.

“Good save.” Peter said.

“What?” Harry asked as he and Madam Pince looked back to them.

“Oh, it was just Peeve’s floating by holding a bucket of water.” Ryan said dismissively. Madam Pince looked annoyed and when she saw that Ron’s book was it the correct state she reluctantly kept walking.

“What do they think they’re doing?” Madam Pince wondered.

“Sorry.” Ron apologized. He watched as Madam Pince kept walking. “She’s about to turn. In three, two one…go!”

Madam Pince turned in walked in between two shelves. Ryan’s body flicked for a second and he placed a set of keys on the table in front of the other boys.

“You should see your face talking in slow motion.” Ryan chuckled.

“Aw…neat treat.” James nodded.

Harry quickly threw the invisibility cloak over his head and walked towards the restricted section. He unlocked the lock on the door and walked inside.

Harry walked through the shelves of the restricted section and tried to read the titles of the books. They didn’t tell him much. Their peeling, faded gold letters spelled words in languages Harry couldn’t understand. Some had no title at all. One book had a dark stain on it that looked horribly like blood. The hairs on the back of Harry’s neck prickled.

Maybe he was imagining it, maybe not, but he thought a faint whispering was coming from the books, as though they knew someone was there who shouldn’t be. He had to start somewhere. Setting the lamp down carefully on the floor, he looked along the bottom shelf for an interesting looking book.

Harry began to read the books that did have titles. “Famous Fire-Eaters. Fifteenth-Century Fiends. Flamel. Nicholas Flamel. Where are you?”

A large black and silver volume caught his eye. He pulled it out with difficulty, because it was very heavy, and, balancing it on his knee, let it fall open.

A piercing, bloodcurdling shriek split the silence — the book was screaming! Harry snapped it shut, but the shriek went on and on, one high, unbroken, earsplitting note

“What the hell is that?” one of the first years questioned.

“Who's there?” Madam Pince quickly walked over to the restricted Harry quickly ran over he opened the door and ran out just as Madam Pince came into the restricted section.

“Oh, he’s gonna get caught.” Remus said.

Harry ran into the corridor and passed Filch in the doorway. Filch’s pale, wild eyes looked straight through him, and Harry slipped under Filch’s outstretched arm and streaked off up the corridor, the book’s shrieks still ringing in his ears. He came to a sudden halt in front of a tall suit of armor. He had been so busy getting away from the library, he hadn’t paid attention to where he was going.

Filch looked around the area in the dark and held up a lantern as he walked towards Harry. “I know you're in there. You can't hide. Who is it? Show yourself.”

Harry backed away slowly and when he got out of sight from Filch he ran through two more corridors until he slowed down and stopped. He tried to catch his breathe when he heard the sounds of two people speaking in hushed tones. He walked further and came to the turn of another corridor where he saw Professor Snape pushing Professor Quirrell up against a wall.

“Well, well, well what’s this?” James asked.

The DADA professor was stuttering as usual. “S-S-Severus, l--”

“You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell.” Snape warned him.

“I-I don't know w-w-what you mean.” Quirrell said in a scared voice.

“You know perfectly well what I mean.” Snape said. Harry walked round them when Snape turned to his direction after hearing his footsteps. He reached into the air and Harry backed away. Snape disregarded Harry and turned back to Quirrell.

“Almost got caught.” Remus said.

“We'll have another little chat soon.” Snape said. “When you've had time to decide where your loyalties lie.”

“Death eater.” James coughed.

Harry walked off and entered what he assumed was an unused classroom. Harry threw the cloak off him and walked to the center of the room where a large mirror was standing. When he stood in front of it he saw that the mirror reflected people behind him.

“Oh no.” Dumbledore whispered to himself.

He whirled around. His heart was pounding far more furiously than when the book had screamed — for he had seen not only himself in the mirror, but a whole crowd of people standing right behind him. But the room was empty. Breathing very fast, he turned slowly back to the mirror.

“Hey, that’s us.” Fleamont said to his wife when he saw their reflection in the mirror.

There he was, reflected in it, white and scared-looking, and there, reflected behind him, were at least ten others. Harry looked over his shoulder but still, no one was there. He in fact in a room full of invisible people and this mirror’s trick was that it reflected them, invisible or not?

He looked in the mirror again. A woman standing right behind his reflection was smiling at him and waving. He reached out a hand and felt the air behind him. If she was really there, he’d touch her, their reflections were so close together, but he felt only air, she and the others existed only in the mirror.

She was a very pretty woman. She had dark red hair and her eyes her eyes are just like mine, Harry thought, edging a little closer to the glass. Bright green exactly the same shape, but then he noticed that she was smiling. The tall, thin, black-haired man standing next to her put his arm around her. He wore glasses, and his hair was very untidy. It stuck up at the back, just as Harry’s did.

“Lily look.” Cathy said. “It’s you…sort of.”

“It’s like an older version of you and James.” Marlene said.

Behind them was his Aunt Cathy smiling and in the arms of her husband who was holding her lovingly.

“Mom?” he whispered. “Dad?”

They just looked at him, smiling. And slowly, Harry looked into the faces of the other people in the mirror, and saw his grandparents who he recognized from the pictures that his aunt had show him the previous day.

The Potters smiled and waved at Harry and he stared hungrily back at them, his hands pressed flat against the glass as though he was hoping to fall right through it and reach them. He had a powerful kind of ache inside him, half joy, half terrible sadness.

The scene changed to show that Harry had been running through the school and back into the library where he grabbed both Ron and Ryan, threw the cloak over them and led them back to the room.

“Come on! Come!” Harry said eagerly as he pushed them into the room and towards the mirror. “Come look, it's my parents!”

Ryan stood in front of the mirror and exchanged a look with Ron before talking to Harry. “I only see us, Hazza.”

“What does he mean?” James said. “We’re there.”

“Me too.” Ron said.

“Look in properly.” Harry grabbed Ryan and pulled him away from the mirror. “Go on, stand there.” Ron stood in front of the mirror by himself and looked into his reflection. “There. You see them, don't you?”

Ron’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief. “That's me! Only I'm head boy.”

“What?” Peter looked really puzzled.

Ryan peeked into the mirror but he looked like he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. “Say what?”

“And I'm holding the Quidditch Cup.” Ron continued. “And bloody hell! I'm Quidditch captain too!”

“Let me see.” Ryan said standing in front of the mirror. He looked deeply into his reflection.

“Do you see something?” Harry enquired.

“I see…” Ryan looked even closer at the mirror.

“What? What do you see?” Ron asked eagerly.

“I see…” Ryan stretched out his words dramatically. “…nothing. I see nothing.”

“What?” Ron and Harry looked at each other before Ron pulled him from in front of the mirror and said; “I look good. Harry, Ryan do you think this mirror shows the future?”

“How can it? Both my parents are dead.” Harry replied.

“I don’t like that thing.” Sirius said. “It’s weird.”

“It’s definitely some kind of dark object.” Regulus suspected.

The scene shifted to the three boys back to the library and then home and then back to the library and Harry in front of the mirror. The scene showed Harry sitting on the floor watching his family in the mirror. He was so absorbed into the mirror that he didn’t notice that there was someone else standing behind him.

“Uh-oh.” Frank said.

“Back again, Harry?” The eleven-year-old turned around and found that the headmaster of the school, Albus Dumbledore, was standing in the room. Dumbledore walked closer as Harry got up to his feet. “I see that you, like many before you have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised.”

“Mirror of who?” Cathy questioned.

“I trust by now you realize what it does.” Dumbledore watched as Harry shrugged and smiled a bit. “Let me give you a clue. The happiest man on earth would look in the mirror and see only himself exactly as he is.”

Harry thought about this for a while. “So then, it shows us what we want. Whatever we want.”

“Yes and no,” said Dumbledore quietly. “It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them.”

“Oh.” Remus said. “I get it now.”

“Ryan couldn’t see anything.” Harry noted.

“Ah Mr. Black’s resistance to the mirrors power would be the work of his mother.”

“What do you mean, sir?” Harry enquired.

“Catherine Potter is famous not only for her status as a Chaos Castor but her skills as a Legilimens.” Dumbledore explained. “When each of her children were born with the same affinity for chaos magic as her, she and her husband feared that there would be those who’d attempt to brainwash or bewitch them. So, she placed a very powerful spell on them to make them immune to all forms of mental magic. Even this mirror, as powerful as it is, is no match for your aunts’ power.”

“Very impressive.” Orion Black complimented her.

“Uh…thanks.” Cathy said.

“You’re welcome.”

Regulus and his brother and cousin were all surprised that the Black patriarch had spoken to Catherine in a polite and genuine manner.

“That’s why Ryan couldn’t see anything.” Harry nodded.

“Harry you must know, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible.” Dumbledore said. “That is why tomorrow it will be moved to a new home. And I must ask you not to go looking for it again. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”

The scene shifted to Harry back at the Black resident sitting in front of the fireplace staring into the flame. Ron and Harry were sitting behind him playing chess. They would look over to him every now and then.

“He looks so depressed.” Mary said sadly.

“Alright.” Cathy came over to the boys with a plate of cookies. “Here you are.” She placed them down in front of them.

“Thank you, professor.” Ron said.

“Thanks mum.”

Cathy looked over to Harry who was still staring into the fire. Ryan spoke up quickly. “Hazza’s pretty tired from all the research.”

“I imagine looking into the Mirror of Erised has that effect.” Cathy said surprising all of them. Harry, Ron and Ryan looked to her with wide eyes. “Dumbledore told me.” She explained.

“We’re sorry.” Harry said.

“Yeah well, I don’t know what you were doing but now I’m sure that you weren’t trying to write an essay.” Cathy smiled. She looked at her nephew and an idea came to her. “You know what, Harry go get your coat.”

“What? Why?” Harry asked.

“Because I wanted to take you somewhere pretty depressing and Christmas wasn’t the holiday to do it.” Cathy said. “But since you’re already depressed I don’t see why I shouldn’t take you now.”

“That’s an odd way of thinking.” Fabian said.

“Um…should I get my coat?” Ryan enquired.

“No this doesn’t concern you two.” Cathy said as she walked over to a coat rack and grabbed hers and Harry’s. She passed the coat over and when the two put them on, a fold opened up behind them. “Off we go.” They stepped through and vanished with the fold closing.

When Harry opened his eyes, he found himself outside in the snow. He looked around and saw several houses and people walking around.

“Where are we?” Harry asked.

“Godric’s Hollow.” Cathy answered. She pulled a hood over her head as she looked to Harry. “Alright, off we go.” She began walking and Harry followed suit after her.

“Why are we here?” Harry enquired. They took a turn into a corner and Harry found himself walking with his aunt into a cemetery. Cathy didn’t answer him but continue to walk until they came to a stop in front of a grave stone.

“Here.” Cathy said. Harry looked to the gravestone and his eyes widened. In front of him, engraved into the stone, was the words ‘Alice and Frank Longbottom.’

Both Frank and Alice looked pale at the sight of their graves. Augusta gripped her sons’ hand and Marlene and Lily did the same with Lily.

“Neville’s parents.” Harry realized.

“Yes.” Cathy smiled sadly. “They were buried here. All of them were.”

“Them?” Harry looked puzzled.

“Our friends. Our family.” Cathy said. “Years ago, your parents, Reg and I and all our friends were drinking one night and we all agreed that if any of us died, we’d be buried in the same place. To make it easier to visit for those of us who lived. It was a morbid type of thinking but like I said we had been drinking. I suppose that we were scared of all the people we had already lost and thought to make it a big joke. Turns out the joke was on us.”

No one said a thing. The silence was almost deafening in the hall.

“I’m sorry.” Harry said.

“I didn’t just bring you here just to depress you even further. Visiting the grave of a loved one honors the memory of that person. It is a way of showing that these lives had significance when they were here and that they are not forgotten.” Cathy said. “Come on, let me introduce you everyone else.”

The pair of them walked along snow filled path and came to a stop at another grave.

“Marlene McKinnon.” Harry read out.

Marlene’s hands wavered in Alice’s hand. Alice held her hand tightly and Dorcas put her arm around her.

“She was one of your mum’s friends.” Cathy said. “She was very pretty back when we were in school. And brave. Even at the end.”

Cathy walked a bit further and stopped at a grave that read; ‘FABIAN AND GIDEON PREWETT. BELOVED BROTHERS.’

Molly looked to her brothers and they both were staring at the screen in shock and horror.

“Fabian and Gideon.” Cathy smiled. “They were twins. Molly’s brothers which makes them the Weasleys uncles. Weren’t pranksters like Fred and George but they told the best jokes” Harry didn’t say a word as Cathy continued to walk through the cemetery.

‘Peter Pettigrew.” Cathy smiled. “He was one of your dads’ closest friends.”

Peter turned white as a sheet. Both Remus and Severus threw their arms over their friend as if trying to defend him from death.

“Dorcas Meadows. She fought Voldemort one on one before he took her life. But she was also smart and kind and could out drink sailors at a pub.” Cathy walked further and stopped at another grave. “Peter Pettigrew. He was one of your dads’ best friends. I think I liked him the most because he was so quiet.”

A lot of people were now in shock and fear at their names be read off of the gravestones.

Harry kept walking to the until they finally stopped at the final grave. Harry looked and saw the names that were carved into the stone. ‘IN LOVING MEMORY OF JAMES POTTER, LILY POTTER’

“My mum and dad.” Harry said.

“Yes.” Cathy nodded. “We grew up here. Your dad and I. When he and Lily got married they lived in the same house that we did. This is where your life started and where it was stolen from you.”

“Why did you bring me here, aunt Cathy?”

Cathy knelt down next to Harry so that she was at eye level with him. “I want to show you that the love that the mirror showed you isn’t something that was born from your desires. It was a part of you that is imbedded in your heart and your mind. But we shouldn’t dwell on the imagery too much lest you lose your way.”

Cathy stood back up and looked to her brothers’ gravestone. “Besides you forget many things in life but you’ll never forget things like kindness, happiness and love. It stays with us forever.”

Cathy heard someone sniffle and looked and saw her mother wiping away a tear.

“Mum?”

“I had something in my eye.” Euphemia said.

“Yeah.”  Peter said “Me too.”

“Yeah.” Marlene said as she and the other girls wiped away their own tears.