Warrior

Prologue

It was that time of the day when you knew that the darkness would soon be quelled by light. You knew it was bound to happen yet it can never arrive soon enough. The hundreds of people gathered in a circle in front of the ruined castle that had nurtured, educated or in simple terms made many a witch and wizard, were eagerly anticipating the light to bring about an end to the darkness. Their eyes were transfixed on the two men standing at the centre of the circle, few meters apart from one another indulged in what would seem like an intense conversation.

The first rays of the sun peeked out of the earth and as it slowly made its way upwards, the dark sky was gradually beginning to brighten. The voices of the two men could be heard as they bellowed with all their might, the incantations which they believed would save them. The next second, the older of the two stumbled as he fell backwards, hit by his own spell and fell with a thud on to the ground and the younger of them stood, staring blankly at his counterpart, holding two wands in his hands.

When the realization hit that Lord Voldemort had at last been defeated, the hundreds standing in the circle rushed forward, towards the man who had saved them even though he would forever be known as a boy.

The Boy Who Lived.

Even as every person rushed towards Harry Potter, Susan Bones felt her knees go weak and she just took a step backwards, and sat down on the ground. Tears which could be of relief, pain or even joy streamed down her cheeks, as she realized that this was the end. Her family had been avenged. Plenty of nights, she had cried herself to sleep and in her dreams, she had always pictured this day. When she woke up, she would remember each and every detail and often wondered how it would feel and when that day had finally arrived, she couldn't explain what she was feeling. After all, killing the man responsible for her family's death was never going to bring them back. So she did the only thing that she could.

She wept in joy, thankful that at least, in the future, no other child would have to suffer as she did.

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It was the day after the Battle of Hogwarts. Most of the students, old and new, and their families were at the castle trying help in any way that they could, in mending what had been broken. However Susan Bones was at the cemetery. She stood in front of her families' graves talking to them silently as she always did. She still was bursting in to bouts of crying but she knew that she would eventually get over it.

"Mother, the war has finally ended. Everyone is safe now," she whispered.

But even as she said that, 'Safe, but still broken' was her thought.

She wiped away a tear and saying her goodbyes, she started walking towards the other part of the cemetery to visit the grave of that one person. She had tried a lot of times before, but she could never muster enough courage to do so.

As she neared his tombstone, she was surprised to see another person already there. The man was placing a bunch of flowers on Cedric Diggory's grave, and was whispering a few words. When he turned to leave he seemed just as surprised to see her.

It was Susan who recovered first. "Hi Harry," she waved at him.

He offered a small smile and waved back. She could see that he too had been crying which was evident from the tears glistening on his cheeks.

"Umm..You come here often?" asked Harry.

'More times than I can count,' she thought but simply nodded.

"My family, they are-." She couldn't bring herself to say 'buried'.

Instead, she just pointed towards the direction of their graves.

Harry seemed to understand. "I am sorry," he said, and she could see that he really meant it. When her parents had died, many people had come to her and said those same words. But most of the time, they seemed just words, a mere formality. With a jolt she remembered that, he too was in no way different than her. His situation had probably been worse. Looking at him, she could see that he was barely holding it together. Suddenly she wished she had spent more time with him during their Hogwarts days.

"Thank you," she replied. "How are you holding up?"

Harry seemed startled by the question but he immediately recovered and gave her a sad smile. "Good," was his answer, but his eyes told Susan an entirely different story. He had that wretched look in his eyes which she was more than familiar with. She saw the same in her own eyes every morning in the mirror.

He bid a hasty goodbye and hurried past her. Susan looked thoughtfully at the place where he had just stood. At that moment, something clicked inside her.

'The physical wounds can be easily healed, but what of those of the soul? How do you heal such scars? Is there even a way to do that?'

With these thoughts, she too started to leave, completely forgetting why she had decided to come there.

As she stepped outside the cemetery, she had already decided what she was going to do.