Yes, you read that right, the end. Don't be mad please...
That last chapter wasn't really the ending that I had planned for this originally, and I think it somewhat feels bit anticlimactic, which I can't say I'm happy about, but I've got some of a sequel written already so I guess it's not too big of a deal that there are plot holes galore. This book has been long.
Perhaps I'll write little one shots now and then of Ellie and Sirius' life between this and the night that it all went wrong on the Halloween that shall not be named, because I do have ideas, just nothing that's going to sustain the story all the way up until that point. Because that's where it was always supposed to end - with heartbreak, of course. Early on in my plans, Ellie was going to die, I won't lie. She was going to die an awful death and leave everyone behind to mourn her horrifically as the first casualty of the war. But I couldn't bring myself to be ruthless enough, so Adelaide and Camille took hits instead. Perhaps if she had died, it would feel like there was more closure, but then, I figure, there wouldn't have been space for a sequel.
And a sequel is coming, I promise.
It's coward of me to stop this now, but the years after Hogwarts, the years during the war, always felt intimidating to write, and I was dreading finally getting to that point which had no structure in my mind. It feels like a nightmare to have to try and fit everything in that happened canonically as well as the storyline that fits my own characters (without it being deathly boring), and I applaud everyone out there that has managed to do it so flawlessly. So instead of torturing myself and falling out of love with this, I tried to find an ending that fit, not necessarily one that I wanted, nor the one that I feel really does this book justice.
Maybe one day I'll re-write all of this and it'll get the ending it deserves, but for now, thank you so much for sticking with this all the way until the end; thank you so much for the support, the votes, the comments; and thank you so much for tolerating (if you can) this poor excuse of an ending - it won't be the last that you'll see of Ellie and Sirius.
You're all absolutely beautiful human beings, and perhaps I'll see you in the sequel?
I'm thinking it'll be called 'as the world caves in'.
All my love
-E