Fic: View From the Other Side - Chapter 1
Title: View From the Other Side - Chapter 1
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Nymphadora Tonks, Charlie Weasley
Word Count: 2709
Prompt: 08. Miracles
Disclaimer: I don't own either of these individuals, nor do I own anything to do with the Harry Potter empire. JK Rowling is the high queen of the universe and I am but a humble page who dwells in the kingdom.
This is a post-Book 7 story. I warned you! Also, I suppose this is an AU so you've been warned about that, as well. Sadly, unbetaed at this point.
Summary: Death is not always absolute. Some people have things left undone, loved ones left without the last blessing they have to bestow. Most of the time, this is done quickly and with very little raucous. One out of every million gets botched and something miraculous happens. Is it a true second chance or has nature been disrupted so severely that it will not stop until the rift is patched and things are back to normal?
And the battle's just begun
There's many lost but tell me who has won
The trench is dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart
-Sunday, Bloody Sunday, U2
She remembered dying. It had hurt more than anything she could have ever imagined. A burning hell of senstaion running up and down every nerve ending in her body then... nothing.
The afterlife she'd always expected didn't suddenly spring up before her. Instead the spirit that was leftover took up residence near where they'd laid her body, hovering near the ceiling against the cool stones. The body she had once been was gray and waxy but what was left of the spirit didn't care. There was no going back and any emotion she spent would only speed the inevitable evacuation to the other side of existance. There were emotions that needed to given back. When that was done, she was free to go.
Remus was laid out beside her with some care that those who entered the room might understand that they had meant something to each other in life. If his spirit was still nearby, she couldn't tell. She gave him a long glance. This was the man whom she had picked to be bonded to in life. Strangely, there was nothing about him that pulled any of the emotions that she still carried. Whatever she had felt for him, it had been used up in the act of dying. Still, she felt as if she must do something to mourn his passing. Letting slip just the tiniest emotion, a bit of the general goodwill she had always felt for those around her, she laid a wisp of a kiss against his forehead and turned away from him, not bothering to give away anything else.
There were a steady stream of visitors to the room but none of them paid more than the barest attention to her side of the room. This was fine with her for they meant nothing to her. At last, Harry slipped in and darted over to her side. A flutter ran through her form, excitement at long last finding someone who meant something to her.
"Good on you, Tonks. Thanks for all you did for me. I won't let you and Remus down. Teddy will be well-cared for. I'll... I'll do everything I can for him." He wiped at the tiniest of tears that leaked out of his eye. It filled her with a happiness to see that she had meant something to him.
It took some effort to let go of only another small bit of herself when all of it wanted to rain down on this sad boy. I give you my faith that humanity is still good. That we should do everything we can to help out whomever we can. But temper it with the understanding I finally learned at the end of my life... You can do whatever you want, Harry. Go. Live life as you were meant to live it. Don't let anyone hold you back from your true life.
This gift left her weak so she went back to hovering near the stones. Old magic seeped from them, like a balm that reminded her of what had been while she was on earth.
Molly came with the baby wrapped tightly in a servette. She couldn't say the words out loud without her eyes welling with tears and her throat closing with sobs that wracked her body, but it was easy to hear what she meant to say as the emotions flooded the area. We will take care of him until Harry has his feet under him. You'll never have to worry that little Teddy is well-taken care of.
There was a great emotion in her for this strong woman and the little boy she held. They were what was keeping her here still when she could have just thrown aside the feelings and gone on. Once again, she had to reign in all that she held so that she didn't overwhelm them. Even so, Molly winced as if she had been able to feel the spectral hand against her cheek. I give you my hope, mother of my heart. Thank you for listening to all I had to say and caring for me in your own special way. Be strong for your life will continue for years and many sorrows will try to drown out your happiness. Continue on.
She turned to the boy, pushing at the blanket so that the eyes she'd so often stared down into with a mixture of adoration and love were able to stare straight at her. He could see her, she was sure, gurgling as she softly touched him so that he wouldn't be scared of her. There was so much she had wanted to teach him as he grew up. Above all else, she had sworn to love him as no other mother had ever loved her child. That was not an emotion she could bestow on him although she hoped he would know that as he grew up with only a remembrance that he had once had a mother and she had died before he could ever truly know her.
But what to give him? How could she sum up everything that she still carried with her that she wanted to bestow on him. My darling boy, I give you my joy. Wake up every morning looking for beauty and go to sleep every night knowing you found it no matter what your day held. Know your mother and father loved you madly and laid their lives down for you.
A fissure of anger ran threw her at the thought of the battle. She hadn't laid her life down for her son. Not really. She had gotten herself killed because she'd been foolish in thinking she could be an asset. Quickly, before she could rethink this gift, she brushed a kiss across Teddy's forehead and let herself sink down into the oblivion she had been promised... down... down....
"Charlie! You made it." It was all Molly could get out before she started sobbing once again.
The last bit of emotion flared and she found herself rushing back to her body. Standing over it stood a boy she could only dimly see through the haze of the netherworld that had been strong in her until she had heard that name.
"Sorry I didn't make it sooner, Mum. Climbed on my broom as soon as we got word. I wish... I wish I had been here in time."
"You wouldn't have been able to do anything. It was meant to be this way, Charlie. We were meant to lose some we loved. It makes us... makes us stronger." She hunched over the baby and fled the room as if she could stand it no longer. There was no pain in Molly's leaving although she would have valued more time just to stare at her baby boy even though he was hers no longer. This new regret washed over her, bringing forth emotions she hadn't thought to hold onto. For years, she had pushed these emotions down so she didn't feel them at all.
An even stronger emotion stirred as Charlie took the waxy hand that had been laid on her chest. "I'm sorry, Bug." It was his pet name for her, dating all the way back to the first time they'd met. He'd saved her from an unlikely alliance with several of the meaner First Years that she had set with on the train to Hogwarts. They were girls with last names that she recognized from her parents' whispered conversations. Their narrowed eyes and pursed lips had made her uncomfortable but she didn't seem to think she had any other choices until a skinny Second Year in wrinkled robes came up and asked her if she knew how to ride a broom. Since she did thanks to her father's unconventional belief that parents should get to teach their students something, she let herself be led away. The conversation turned to names and Tonks found herself explaining, not for the first time and definitely not for the last, her full and complete name.
"I don't like Nymphadora," she stated. "I'm not a nymph and only my father gets to call me Dora."
"What? You don't want to be likened to an insect not fully formed?"
She'd gapped at him, in awe that he understood what she'd meant without the quick explanation she normally had to give. He had started calling her Bug and she had sworn her undying allegiance to Charlie Weasley. Now he stood over her dead body, crying more than she had ever seen him cry. The look of pure misery on his face made the emotions she still held onto swirl and writhe within her weakened grasp. There was something she should give him and then she could leave again. Something important she needed to tell him.
As she floated near, she caught a glimpse of the wind in his air, a swirling phantom of freedom that beckoned to her. It distracted her long enough that she forgot what she was planning on saying. The beckoning reminder of her many flights with Charlie on her broom... she wondered where that broom was now. The impulse to find it and go for a ride around the castle was so strong she actually found herself flowing toward the doorway as if she actually needed it to get outside these walls. The stone magic felt her in the room when she tried to leave. It jolted her back to her purpose. It was time to say goodbye to Charlie.
"I wanted to write you so many times but it never felt right. It would have just brought up the past and I didn't think eiter of us were ready for that." He was kneeling on the floor now, his lips pressed against her palm. She remembered one other time in her other life where he had done that. The memory pushed at her until she felt the urge to run out of this room again. "Now I wish I had begged you to come to me. I wish I had been able to say the words. You needed to hear them at least once from me."
The words hovered in the air just above his head as his subconscious fought with his conscious mind. Her Charlie had never had trouble stating his mind before. An array of memories flashed up from her bundle of emotions, weighing her down to her body once again. Thinking of him like this made her hurt the way she did when she was dying. This was an agony she was familiar with.
"From the first time you smiled at me, I knew how I felt about you. But what fifteen year old know how to say that sort of thing out loud. I don't care what we said or didn't say. I'm too late but... I love you, Nymphadora Tonks."
The words pulled an emotion from her grasp and it swirled around Charlie like a wreath of red and orange cords. Try as she might, she wasn't able to contain the strands and lost them almost entirely. I love you, Charlie Weasley. You are the owner of my heart, the best of who I am. Remember me always.
"What was that?" he yelled, jumping up and clawing at his chest where the lights still swirled around him. Tiny burns erupted from the clothing and skin where they had landed with a force she hadn't intended. Anger and love mixed to form a force that couldn't be controlled by nature or killed in death.
The remaining mixture of emotions boiled and seethed as Charlie's words combined with their essence instead of melting away into nothingness. Strong feelings from both of them combined to create something more. Something different. Something dangerous. Sparks began to erupt from her spirit, visible in both planes. Charlie was too busy slapping his chest and arms to notice right away but his eyes grew wide as he realized what was going on over the body of his slain friend.
"Bloody hell! This isn't funny. Is this someone's idea of a joke? This is a room of mourning."
She wanted to laugh at him but all she could do was try to hold on as her spirit began to jerk and convulse... and change. Something was definitely wrong but she had no idea what to do about it. Pain was ripping through her until she wanted to scream from the agony.
"What was that?" Charlie screamed, falling down as he tried to backpedal away. "Who just screamed?"
So she had done that out loud. The pain was beginning to abate so that she could reason out the possibilities of what was happening. Nothing made sense but she didn't care. All the hate and anger and lonliness that she had pushed down were foaming up, defining a new Nymphadora Tonks.
The look on Charlie's face was so comical that she couldn't help but laugh. She loved his eyes but this was too much. As she held a hand over her mouth, she realized that she was actually holding up a hand. It shimmered slightly, an opalascent sheen over pale white skin. Her skin.
"Well, would you look at that."
"Tonks?" Charlie crooked. "Is that you? You're dead."
They both looked at the body laid out between them. "So I am. I'm not going to argue with you on that one."
She slid a hand up through her hair, no longer short and spiky. It was long and silky, hanging well past her shoulders. No longer the bubble gum pink she had enjoyed for so many years, it was now a rich blue-black. Her fingernails, always chewed down to the nub before, were long and painted bright red. She held out one foot and saw the same color on her toes. She also noticed something she wasn't used to seeing on her legs. Hose. She was wearing a skirt. Short and red in a much softer fabric than she was used to wearing before. Silk, she decided quickly. Her mother would be so proud to see her daughter dressed up like a lady at long last.
"Are you a ghost?"
To prove the truth to both of them, she stepped up on the bed and stood towering over them. With her thumbnail, she scored the back of her other hand until a tiny sliver of blood welled up. "Can ghosts bleed?"
"But how... what are... how did... when... what happened?"
"I have no idea. Are you going to argue with the gods? I'm certainly not. I was dead. Now I'm not. I'm also not... that anymore." She pointed down to the waxy body in front of her. No denying that was definitely who she had once been. "I'm something new. Someone special."
Charlie's eyes narrowed. "You were special before. Don't you dare think whatever happened now makes you any more special than you were before."
"Point taken. Calm down there, Red. You're going to have a coronary and it would be a shame to lose you after I've finally found you again. Come on. Let's get out of here before someone comes in and we have to explain ourselves. I don't relish that thought when I barely understand it myself."
He stood up and crossed his arms over his chest. She well remembered this gesture. Until he got a better offer, he wasn't moving. "What do you mean, you barely understand? Something happened and you're alive again. Surely you must understand what happened?"
"Nope. I was a wisp of energy one second and a body once again the next. You said you loved me and I answered back with the only blessing I had left and BAM! Here I am."
"Blessing?"
"Blessing. Not hard to understand. I had people I had to say goodbye to. I'm sure it happens all the time."
"Not to me."
"Well, that's something we have in common. It's never happened to me before, either." She stood still and let the silence of the room envelope her. The magic in the stones of the room called to her, mocking her. They weren't happy about what had happened. This time, when she fled, there was nothing they could do.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Nymphadora Tonks, Charlie Weasley
Word Count: 2709
Prompt: 08. Miracles
Disclaimer: I don't own either of these individuals, nor do I own anything to do with the Harry Potter empire. JK Rowling is the high queen of the universe and I am but a humble page who dwells in the kingdom.
This is a post-Book 7 story. I warned you! Also, I suppose this is an AU so you've been warned about that, as well. Sadly, unbetaed at this point.
Summary: Death is not always absolute. Some people have things left undone, loved ones left without the last blessing they have to bestow. Most of the time, this is done quickly and with very little raucous. One out of every million gets botched and something miraculous happens. Is it a true second chance or has nature been disrupted so severely that it will not stop until the rift is patched and things are back to normal?
And the battle's just begun
There's many lost but tell me who has won
The trench is dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart
-Sunday, Bloody Sunday, U2
She remembered dying. It had hurt more than anything she could have ever imagined. A burning hell of senstaion running up and down every nerve ending in her body then... nothing.
The afterlife she'd always expected didn't suddenly spring up before her. Instead the spirit that was leftover took up residence near where they'd laid her body, hovering near the ceiling against the cool stones. The body she had once been was gray and waxy but what was left of the spirit didn't care. There was no going back and any emotion she spent would only speed the inevitable evacuation to the other side of existance. There were emotions that needed to given back. When that was done, she was free to go.
Remus was laid out beside her with some care that those who entered the room might understand that they had meant something to each other in life. If his spirit was still nearby, she couldn't tell. She gave him a long glance. This was the man whom she had picked to be bonded to in life. Strangely, there was nothing about him that pulled any of the emotions that she still carried. Whatever she had felt for him, it had been used up in the act of dying. Still, she felt as if she must do something to mourn his passing. Letting slip just the tiniest emotion, a bit of the general goodwill she had always felt for those around her, she laid a wisp of a kiss against his forehead and turned away from him, not bothering to give away anything else.
There were a steady stream of visitors to the room but none of them paid more than the barest attention to her side of the room. This was fine with her for they meant nothing to her. At last, Harry slipped in and darted over to her side. A flutter ran through her form, excitement at long last finding someone who meant something to her.
"Good on you, Tonks. Thanks for all you did for me. I won't let you and Remus down. Teddy will be well-cared for. I'll... I'll do everything I can for him." He wiped at the tiniest of tears that leaked out of his eye. It filled her with a happiness to see that she had meant something to him.
It took some effort to let go of only another small bit of herself when all of it wanted to rain down on this sad boy. I give you my faith that humanity is still good. That we should do everything we can to help out whomever we can. But temper it with the understanding I finally learned at the end of my life... You can do whatever you want, Harry. Go. Live life as you were meant to live it. Don't let anyone hold you back from your true life.
This gift left her weak so she went back to hovering near the stones. Old magic seeped from them, like a balm that reminded her of what had been while she was on earth.
Molly came with the baby wrapped tightly in a servette. She couldn't say the words out loud without her eyes welling with tears and her throat closing with sobs that wracked her body, but it was easy to hear what she meant to say as the emotions flooded the area. We will take care of him until Harry has his feet under him. You'll never have to worry that little Teddy is well-taken care of.
There was a great emotion in her for this strong woman and the little boy she held. They were what was keeping her here still when she could have just thrown aside the feelings and gone on. Once again, she had to reign in all that she held so that she didn't overwhelm them. Even so, Molly winced as if she had been able to feel the spectral hand against her cheek. I give you my hope, mother of my heart. Thank you for listening to all I had to say and caring for me in your own special way. Be strong for your life will continue for years and many sorrows will try to drown out your happiness. Continue on.
She turned to the boy, pushing at the blanket so that the eyes she'd so often stared down into with a mixture of adoration and love were able to stare straight at her. He could see her, she was sure, gurgling as she softly touched him so that he wouldn't be scared of her. There was so much she had wanted to teach him as he grew up. Above all else, she had sworn to love him as no other mother had ever loved her child. That was not an emotion she could bestow on him although she hoped he would know that as he grew up with only a remembrance that he had once had a mother and she had died before he could ever truly know her.
But what to give him? How could she sum up everything that she still carried with her that she wanted to bestow on him. My darling boy, I give you my joy. Wake up every morning looking for beauty and go to sleep every night knowing you found it no matter what your day held. Know your mother and father loved you madly and laid their lives down for you.
A fissure of anger ran threw her at the thought of the battle. She hadn't laid her life down for her son. Not really. She had gotten herself killed because she'd been foolish in thinking she could be an asset. Quickly, before she could rethink this gift, she brushed a kiss across Teddy's forehead and let herself sink down into the oblivion she had been promised... down... down....
"Charlie! You made it." It was all Molly could get out before she started sobbing once again.
The last bit of emotion flared and she found herself rushing back to her body. Standing over it stood a boy she could only dimly see through the haze of the netherworld that had been strong in her until she had heard that name.
"Sorry I didn't make it sooner, Mum. Climbed on my broom as soon as we got word. I wish... I wish I had been here in time."
"You wouldn't have been able to do anything. It was meant to be this way, Charlie. We were meant to lose some we loved. It makes us... makes us stronger." She hunched over the baby and fled the room as if she could stand it no longer. There was no pain in Molly's leaving although she would have valued more time just to stare at her baby boy even though he was hers no longer. This new regret washed over her, bringing forth emotions she hadn't thought to hold onto. For years, she had pushed these emotions down so she didn't feel them at all.
An even stronger emotion stirred as Charlie took the waxy hand that had been laid on her chest. "I'm sorry, Bug." It was his pet name for her, dating all the way back to the first time they'd met. He'd saved her from an unlikely alliance with several of the meaner First Years that she had set with on the train to Hogwarts. They were girls with last names that she recognized from her parents' whispered conversations. Their narrowed eyes and pursed lips had made her uncomfortable but she didn't seem to think she had any other choices until a skinny Second Year in wrinkled robes came up and asked her if she knew how to ride a broom. Since she did thanks to her father's unconventional belief that parents should get to teach their students something, she let herself be led away. The conversation turned to names and Tonks found herself explaining, not for the first time and definitely not for the last, her full and complete name.
"I don't like Nymphadora," she stated. "I'm not a nymph and only my father gets to call me Dora."
"What? You don't want to be likened to an insect not fully formed?"
She'd gapped at him, in awe that he understood what she'd meant without the quick explanation she normally had to give. He had started calling her Bug and she had sworn her undying allegiance to Charlie Weasley. Now he stood over her dead body, crying more than she had ever seen him cry. The look of pure misery on his face made the emotions she still held onto swirl and writhe within her weakened grasp. There was something she should give him and then she could leave again. Something important she needed to tell him.
As she floated near, she caught a glimpse of the wind in his air, a swirling phantom of freedom that beckoned to her. It distracted her long enough that she forgot what she was planning on saying. The beckoning reminder of her many flights with Charlie on her broom... she wondered where that broom was now. The impulse to find it and go for a ride around the castle was so strong she actually found herself flowing toward the doorway as if she actually needed it to get outside these walls. The stone magic felt her in the room when she tried to leave. It jolted her back to her purpose. It was time to say goodbye to Charlie.
"I wanted to write you so many times but it never felt right. It would have just brought up the past and I didn't think eiter of us were ready for that." He was kneeling on the floor now, his lips pressed against her palm. She remembered one other time in her other life where he had done that. The memory pushed at her until she felt the urge to run out of this room again. "Now I wish I had begged you to come to me. I wish I had been able to say the words. You needed to hear them at least once from me."
The words hovered in the air just above his head as his subconscious fought with his conscious mind. Her Charlie had never had trouble stating his mind before. An array of memories flashed up from her bundle of emotions, weighing her down to her body once again. Thinking of him like this made her hurt the way she did when she was dying. This was an agony she was familiar with.
"From the first time you smiled at me, I knew how I felt about you. But what fifteen year old know how to say that sort of thing out loud. I don't care what we said or didn't say. I'm too late but... I love you, Nymphadora Tonks."
The words pulled an emotion from her grasp and it swirled around Charlie like a wreath of red and orange cords. Try as she might, she wasn't able to contain the strands and lost them almost entirely. I love you, Charlie Weasley. You are the owner of my heart, the best of who I am. Remember me always.
"What was that?" he yelled, jumping up and clawing at his chest where the lights still swirled around him. Tiny burns erupted from the clothing and skin where they had landed with a force she hadn't intended. Anger and love mixed to form a force that couldn't be controlled by nature or killed in death.
The remaining mixture of emotions boiled and seethed as Charlie's words combined with their essence instead of melting away into nothingness. Strong feelings from both of them combined to create something more. Something different. Something dangerous. Sparks began to erupt from her spirit, visible in both planes. Charlie was too busy slapping his chest and arms to notice right away but his eyes grew wide as he realized what was going on over the body of his slain friend.
"Bloody hell! This isn't funny. Is this someone's idea of a joke? This is a room of mourning."
She wanted to laugh at him but all she could do was try to hold on as her spirit began to jerk and convulse... and change. Something was definitely wrong but she had no idea what to do about it. Pain was ripping through her until she wanted to scream from the agony.
"What was that?" Charlie screamed, falling down as he tried to backpedal away. "Who just screamed?"
So she had done that out loud. The pain was beginning to abate so that she could reason out the possibilities of what was happening. Nothing made sense but she didn't care. All the hate and anger and lonliness that she had pushed down were foaming up, defining a new Nymphadora Tonks.
The look on Charlie's face was so comical that she couldn't help but laugh. She loved his eyes but this was too much. As she held a hand over her mouth, she realized that she was actually holding up a hand. It shimmered slightly, an opalascent sheen over pale white skin. Her skin.
"Well, would you look at that."
"Tonks?" Charlie crooked. "Is that you? You're dead."
They both looked at the body laid out between them. "So I am. I'm not going to argue with you on that one."
She slid a hand up through her hair, no longer short and spiky. It was long and silky, hanging well past her shoulders. No longer the bubble gum pink she had enjoyed for so many years, it was now a rich blue-black. Her fingernails, always chewed down to the nub before, were long and painted bright red. She held out one foot and saw the same color on her toes. She also noticed something she wasn't used to seeing on her legs. Hose. She was wearing a skirt. Short and red in a much softer fabric than she was used to wearing before. Silk, she decided quickly. Her mother would be so proud to see her daughter dressed up like a lady at long last.
"Are you a ghost?"
To prove the truth to both of them, she stepped up on the bed and stood towering over them. With her thumbnail, she scored the back of her other hand until a tiny sliver of blood welled up. "Can ghosts bleed?"
"But how... what are... how did... when... what happened?"
"I have no idea. Are you going to argue with the gods? I'm certainly not. I was dead. Now I'm not. I'm also not... that anymore." She pointed down to the waxy body in front of her. No denying that was definitely who she had once been. "I'm something new. Someone special."
Charlie's eyes narrowed. "You were special before. Don't you dare think whatever happened now makes you any more special than you were before."
"Point taken. Calm down there, Red. You're going to have a coronary and it would be a shame to lose you after I've finally found you again. Come on. Let's get out of here before someone comes in and we have to explain ourselves. I don't relish that thought when I barely understand it myself."
He stood up and crossed his arms over his chest. She well remembered this gesture. Until he got a better offer, he wasn't moving. "What do you mean, you barely understand? Something happened and you're alive again. Surely you must understand what happened?"
"Nope. I was a wisp of energy one second and a body once again the next. You said you loved me and I answered back with the only blessing I had left and BAM! Here I am."
"Blessing?"
"Blessing. Not hard to understand. I had people I had to say goodbye to. I'm sure it happens all the time."
"Not to me."
"Well, that's something we have in common. It's never happened to me before, either." She stood still and let the silence of the room envelope her. The magic in the stones of the room called to her, mocking her. They weren't happy about what had happened. This time, when she fled, there was nothing they could do.