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runenc03 · 3 years

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HH - epilogue (part 8)

Writing date: February 2020

Genre: fluff

Warnings: I can’t think of anything to warn you about. This being the last chapter? Lol, congratulations for reading through it haha

Word count: 6k

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

2 months later...

Kaycee had rarely felt this nervous. A glistening layer of sweat covered her whole body, and while part of that was undoubtedly caused by the Australian heat, she knew that the current situation she was in had to do with it as well.

Hermione glanced towards her, and Kaycee nodded, signaling that she could lift up the spell, and bring their family back to the truth, back to them.

Hermione turned around once more, facing their parents, Kylie and Devon, there in the small house they owned. Kaycee had to admit that Hermione had done a good job with their fake living arrangements, about a year ago. She was grateful now, for all the work her sister had put into this. Kaycee hadn't wanted to do anything related to this, claiming that her sister was better in these intricate kind of spells, and now that she could see with her own eyes what it had been like for her family, she knew for sure that letting Hermione handle this had been a good idea.

"Reminisce"

The effect was immediate. Streams of light blue sparks flew out of her sister's wand and started circling around her other family members, who stood still, pupils dilated, a crazy look in their eyes. This lasted for about 20 seconds, until Hermione's wand seemed to stop producing the blue stuff, and Hermione put her wand down, a movement which made their family member's eyes immediately return back to their normal state.

Kaycee started to fidget, desperately wishing she'd stop sweating so excessively. While she wiped her hands on her shorts, she briefly wondered who would notice the small, but elegant ring on her left ring finger first. More importantly, she worried about what her parents would think of it on top of all the things that had happened. In the Wizarding World, getting engaged at a young age wasn't rare at all, but in the Muggle world, not even being 18 and already getting ready to marry someone was unheard of, and she doubted her and Sean's decision to stay engaged at least 2 years before actually getting married would help in them accepting this. She just hoped they would be happy for her.

"My-my girls..."

It was her mum, and she was immediately shook out of her worries upon hearing her voice again. It was a sound she hadn't prepared for enough. Actually, coming here, she'd prepared herself for yelling, fights, feeling guilty for agreeing with Hermione, apologising. She hadn't prepared at all for her mum's wobbly voice, the sight of her, her tears already running over her cheeks, her skin several shades darker than it used to be. Then, she was swept into a hug, and she could only close her eyes, soaking in the love she currently felt, a love only felt between a daughter and her mother, an unconditional kind of love.

"Mum...how much do you know?"

Kaycee cringed as soon as Hermione spoke the words she'd been dreading to say herself. She didn't want to leave her mother's arms, didn't want to have to face the truth. It was, however, inevitable, and Kaycee knew that they didn't have the right to keep the truth from them any longer.

"Uhm....well, I-I'm not...I'm...Laura Granger..."

Kaycee could see her sister's eyes light up, excited since it seemed like her spell had been correct.

"What more do you remember? Do you know why you're here, mum? Or why Hermione and I weren't?"

Her mum's excitement upon seeing her 2 newfound daughters seemed to come to halt as soon as Kaycee started asking questions, and Kaycee already folded her hands behind her back. That would come later.

"I...I don't know. Why don't I know? Devon, you're good at remembering things, why....why are we here? God it feels weird to ask that question. It feels weird to call you Devon."

It was definitely time for them to sit down. As soon as she thought those words, Hermione said them out loud, and Kaycee had to smile, reminded that she wasn't alone in this mess. They all took a seat at the big, mahogany wooden table that stood in the middle of the living room. As soon as she was seated opposite her brother and next to Hermione, she felt someone take her left hand underneath the table, lightly rubbing her ring finger. Sean. To be honest, she'd forgotten he and Ron were here as well, so wrapped up in her own fears regarding the reveal of everything that had happened to her family.

She smiled again when she felt him slip his fingers in between her ones, a silent reminder that he would always be by her side.

Then, Hermione started.

"Mum, dad, Kylie, Devon....we're here today to let you catch up on a lot of things that have happened in the wizarding world this past year. You were here, in Australia, and not in the UK because....because I enchanted you all."

She stopped there, and Kaycee only realised now that this wasn't only hard for her, but for Hermione as well. She was the one who cast both spells, who arranged their new life, who was most responsible. To her surprise, their parents and siblings didn't immediately start yelling. They were actually very calm, her dad quirking an eyebrow, her mum and Kylie slightly tilting their head to one side, interested, and Devon looking like he had already expected this and was merely irritated because it happened.

"So.....why?"

It was their dad, and Kaycee couldn't help but sigh in relief when she heard his voice again for the first time. It was steady, and low, a sign of him feeling like he was responsible for them all, like he needed to protect them. She decided to give Hermione some rest, and answered her dad.

"You see, we told you about Voldemort, the bad wizard, returning, didn't we?"

Her family nodded, and Kaycee thanked Merlin for their open mindedness. They had never acted weirdly towards her and Hermione, had always been open to the idea of magic. Her parents even read the daily prophet to know more about what was going on in their part of the world, and Kaycee knew it was going to come in handy now.

"Well, without going into detail, he had basically made himself immortal by putting mental pieces of himself in certain objects. To put it simply: he couldn't die as long as those objects weren't destroyed. Our mission this last year has been to get rid of all those objects, and make Voldemort mortal again, so he could be killed. And we did it, dad, I know it's probably hard to understand, but we put a spell on you to make sure Voldemort wouldn't use you to get to us. We were able to lift it a few minutes ago because we defeated Voldemort. The wizarding world is free again, there's no more danger or hiding. We're free."

It was Kylie who had the strongest reaction now, abruptly standing up and hugging both Kaycee and Hermione, immediately followed by demanding them to tell her every single detail of the past year.

So they did. They all took turns in telling a part of the story, not leaving anything out, not the cruel parts -'Mione....won't the word ever disappear?'-, not the dangerous moments -'so you actually walked around with a part of Voldemort around your neck?'- and definitely not the good memories -So you just kissed him there in the woods? I thought you'd like a bit more class, Mione' In a way, Kaycee mused, this year had brought them a lot of good things as well. Ron and Hermione had found each other, the government now put a lot of effort in making sure every member of the Wizarding World got treated equally, and of course her engagement was the best part of the year.

It was hours later when someone finally noticed. She'd gone to the kitchen with Devon to make tea for all of them since it had become late and her mum's craving for orange tea had only been intensified by the fact that she hadn't had a cup in a year. While she was waving her wand to fill the cups with hot water, she saw Devon's eyes widen upon seeing her move her hand. He didn't say anything though, and while Kaycee wanted nothing more than to talk with him about it, she was also scared he'd throw a fit and alert the rest of the family before she had a chance to explain for herself.

When Devon wordlessly took 2 cups and brought them to the living room, Kaycee hurriedly enchanted the tea cups to follow her out of the kitchen. And then, she stopped in the doorway, rooted to her place by the sight of Devon placing a tea cup in front of Sean and murmuring something that sounded a lot like 'I trust you to take good care of her. Congratulations'.

And she was suddenly reminded of why they fought for a world like this.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 years later

"Does your wife get like that too?"

Neville and Sean were sitting in the small kitchen of Nevilla and Luna's house, drinking butterbeer and watching Luna waltz through the room, her belly getting bigger every time Sean saw her.

"She's not my wife yet, remember? Also, I have no clue what you're talking about."

Sean said it with a chuckle, he knew perfectly well what Neville was going on about, he just liked innocently irritating him. Somehow it always brought out the confident side of his friend, and Sean liked seeing the emotional progress he'd made since they were both in their early Hogwarts years.

"Just, getting obsessed with the most random things! Muggle Pride parades, why does she want to walk in one so suddenly?"

"You know you won't be able to stop her, mate. In fact, I'm pretty sure you don't want to stop her. Luna wouldn't truly be Luna if she didn't have these random obsessions, and you and I both know you wouldn't love her as much if she wasn't such a pure, unapologetic version of herself."

Neville could only shrug in response, silently agreeing with Sean. He took another sip of his butterbeer, and Sean decided to follow his example.

"Honey, are you ready to side-apparate me? You promised you'd do that for m- Oh hi Sean! How nice to see you here, although you have terrible timing. I'm so sorry, but we've really got to go now, Neville and I are walking in a Muggle Pride parade today! It took some time for me to convince him, but in the end he realised that it is really important to show our support to the muggle LGBTQ+ community. It's a true shame we don't have something like that in the Wizarding World yet, but I'm planning on writing something about it in the Quibbler, so-"

"Darling, Sean is a Muggle-born, remember?"

Sean couldn't help but grin, he had indeed known about the LGBTQ+ community for a long time now, but it was still funny to see how passionate Luna was about it. The fact that she hadn't noticed him entering the house at least half an hour ago, made it all the more hilarious.

"Oh, yes, how could I forget! Well, we really must be going now. Tell Kaycee I look forward to going wedding dress shopping tomorrow, Sean. Neville?"

She looked at him expectantly, but didn't seem to notice the dread on Neville's face. For a split second, Sean wondered if he was against everything that had to do with LGBTQ+, but he soon discarded that thought. Neville would never be against something that represented acceptance.

"Luna, are you sure you want to go today? It could get tiring, and your feet are going to ache so much more, and then we're not even speaking about the noise! Are you sure the baby will be fine as well?"

Luna smiled, lighthearted, and Sean realised that she had been glowing even more since she got pregnant.

"I read somewhere that sound is good for the baby, and the atmosphere is just going to be so inspiring there, I can't imagine something like that being bad for our little one. Now come on, we're late already! I want to get the full experience, from beginning to end!"

Neville sighed, but they all knew he was going to apparate Luna to the pride parade. He would do everything for her. Sean decided the whole situation would be less awkward if he went home now.

"I better go bring your message to my fiancée then, Luna. Neville, it was nice catching up again, we should do that more often. I love coming here. There's just something about being so close to hogwarts that reminds me of the magic flowing through my veins. Anyway, I'll see you around. Good luck at the Pride parade!"

And with that, he apparated back home.

Neville would tell everyone about the pride parade for months. He had loved it there, had felt so accepted even though he wasn't a part of the LGBTQ+ community. It was an incredibly wholesome experience, and Neville had vowed to himself that he would never, ever forget the importance of acceptance. And so when, exactly 17 years after that first Pride parade, their oldest son came to his parents and told them with shaking hands and a trembling voice that he was gay, Neville seated himself opposite his son, and started talking.

He told him everything about his own Hogwarts years, all his insecurities, his fears, his loneliness, his fiery desire to really belong somewhere. He would never want his son to go through the same thing.

By the end of their conversation, they both had tears leaking out of their eyes and streaming down their face, but at least Neville had made sure that his son knew that within this family, he wouldn't only be accepted for everything he was. He would be loved for it as well.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 years later

"Hmm...I feel like there's missing something...I don't know what though..."

Sean sighed, looking at the girl who was, after all these years, still his best friend, even if she could irritate him immensely.

"I just don't get it Hermione, we've been working on this piece for weeks, I feel like we won't be able to do it any better than we do now. Also, Kayc is coming home in 15 minutes, so I suggest we just drink tea or something, before she realises what our birthday present is."

Hermione was already shaking her head, stubborn, and Sean asked himself why he had even agreed to this in the first place. When his wife got home, he just wanted to make her dinner and cuddle on the couch together. He loved Hermione, truly he did, but she could definitely be exhausting sometimes, and right now, he could already feel his eyes close for extended periods of time.

"No, I asked Kaycee to pick up James from kindergarten. I actually promised Harry I'd do that, but then I told Kaycee I wasn't feeling too well and she offered to go get him. Exactly as I had planned."

Harry wanted to ask Hermione why she wanted Kaycee to be home later than usual, but Hermione was faster, continuing her story.

"I think I know what's missing. We need a beat."

Sean frowned. Hermione was acting very strange today. Out of the two of them, she had always been the one who was careful not to change classical pieces too much, to stick to the original. A beat was often something she disliked, she always told him it took the attention away from the actual masterpiece. No, Hermione definitely wasn't one to experiment with music that had already been written.

She swiftly took her wand out of her pocket and started waving with it, and Sean once again questioned why she decided to do the spell nonverbally.

"Okay, done...do you hear it?"

Sean listened carefully, at first not hearing anything because he wasn't trying to, he had assumed the beat would fill up the entire room, but that wasn't the case. Then, very faintly, he heard something, one soft beat immediately followed by another, after which there was a slight pause before it began again.

His eyes shot open, immediately looking at Hermione, finally realising her slightly strange behaviour.

"This is....a heartbeat."

Hermione nodded, but Sean still didn't put the pieces together. His mind was spinning, and he still felt tired of course, but that didn't mean he didn't want to know what this all meant.

Clearly, Hermione had come to the same conclusion after a few seconds, because she turned her body more towards him, taking his hands.

"The heartbeat is my baby's...I'm pregnant, Sean."

Now that was something Sean understood.

His eyes widened, his mouth curling into an open-mouthed smile, and he wrapped his arms around her on instinct, laughing from joy, feeling so, so happy for his best friend.

"You're going to be such a good mum, Mione."

His words were muffled by her curls, but she heard him, and slightly shifted backwards, keeping her arms around him but creating pace between their heads so she could look him in the eye.

"Sean, there's a reason I decided to tell you before all the rest of the family. Well, Ron knows, obviously, and Kaycee was with me when I took the test so she knows as well, but apart from them, you're the only one. I need to ask you something."

Sean nodded without hesitating. She was pregnant, and he'd always thought he would do anything for her, but that thought meant so much more now that she was carrying a baby.

"Of course. Anything."

Hermione smiled, and Sean noted that she truly hadn't looked as happy as she did now in a long time. Her work had been bugging her down, he knew she stressed too much about banal things like deadlines and mistakes in files, and he was so happy that she could finally experience something so wonderful.

"Sean Charles Lew, do you want to the baby's godfather?"

And he hugged her again, allowing the tears to escape his eyes, feeling his heart get filled with love for his godchild.

"I'd be incredibly honoured to."

And he was.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 years later

"Is she asleep?"

His wife was whispering, afraid of waking up his goddaughter if she was indeed asleep.

Rose.

His eyes stayed glued on her, her rosy cheeks, plump lips, tiny fingers slightly balled into two little fists.

In terms of mesmerising him, his wife had encountered serious competition since Rose came into their lives.

From the moment he had first held her, his entire being overflowing with a love unlike any love he'd felt before, he had felt their connection, knew it was going to be something special.

He turned around, looking at Kaycee, a watery smile undoubtedly on his face. He shook his head, and Kaycee came closer, carefully leaning over the crib and noticing that Rose indeed hadn't gone to sleep yet, slightly moving her little body from left to right, as if to say that she wasn't tired yet. Then, she scooped lower, taking Rose into her arms, gently swaying her into different directions. Rose let out a sleepy giggle.

Sean thought his heart would explode at the sight of them.

Kaycee looked from Rose to him, and a million images of Kaycee holding a dark haired baby in her arms flooded his brain. He tried to shook them out again, never having thought so directly of that, but the images lingered pleasantly in his mind.

"Look, she's asleep now honey."

And Rose was, indeed.

He watched as his wife put his goddaughter into her crib in their guest room, that had actually been turned into a baby room since Rose had been born. Sean had insisted they needed all the baby things for when Rose would sleep over, and Kaycee had agreed without much arguing, turning their guest room into a real baby nursery.

Sean wished the room wasn't empty so many nights.

"Hey, Kayc?"

She looked up from the crib, and her eyes almost held something hopeful, like there was something specific on her mind he wanted her to say.

"Should we....should we maybe start trying for a baby of ourselves? Our own little Rose, but then different? A little niece or nephew she could play with..."

The hope in his wife's eyes transformed into a tear rolling over her cheek, and her smile told Sean all he had to know.

Around a year later, he and Kaycee became parents for the first time. Everyone around them reasoned that that was the start of their life as a family. For Sean, however, the start of their life as a family would always be that one night where he stayed in their guest room, his arms around his wife, looking at Rose and knowing that soon, she wouldn't be the only one sleeping peacefully there.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 20 years later

"Aunt Kaycee?"

The voice sounded small, and unsure of whether or not it was supposed to be heard. Kaycee turned around, surprised when she saw Lily just outside their fireplace, pyjamas on, her arms crossed over her chest in a protective manner.

"What's wrong darling? I thought Samantha was sleeping over at your place?"

She heard her own voice going up in worry, always afraid of one of her children getting hurt. Samantha was a very shy girl though, which was the reason she got along so well with Lily, Lilly was able to let Sam experience adventure and Sam could calm lily down, but her daughter's timid nature had always worried Kaycee a little.

"Sam? No, she's asleep, an apocalypse probably wouldn't be able to wake her up now."

Kaycee grinned, her daughter once again reminding her of her husband. Samantha truly was the female version of her dad.

"Then what are you doing here? Don't get me wrong, I love you a lot, but it's the middle of the night, the only reason I'm awake is because I was choreographing something...what's going on?"

And she knew by the way Lily's facial expression changed that there was indeed a reason the girl had come here.

Lily took a few steps, sitting down on the couch and turning her body towards Kaycee, who was looking expectantly now. The small girl took a deep breath, and started her story.

"Okay. I've been dealing with this for a few months now, and I don't want to go to mum with it because she'll say I'm too young for it and so I thought my godmother would be my best option...are you okay with keeping whatever I'm going to say a secret from all the adults, auntie?"

Kaycee was quick to nod, her heart warming at Lily's words. Just like Sean had always had a unique connection with Rose, she'd had a special bond since the beginning with her own goddaughter as well. And after all these years, Lily still came around to dance with her, still gave her these heartwarming hugs, still called her auntie, even though she wasn't actually family by blood.

"Okay so...you know I used to go to Auntie Luna and Uncle Neville a lot, don't you? Well, I used to go because I liked playing with Fleur and listening to Auntie Luna's stories about animals, but now..."

Kaycee's eyebrows furrowed, she'd be surprised if this turned out to be a problem between Lily and Fleur, Luna and Neville's oldest daughter. The 2 girls had been inseparable ever since they were old enough to crawl. Luna had always claimed it was the second reason she had named her daughter Fleur, because it was, just like Lily, a flower, and the girls were destined to be friends if they were both named after flowers. The first reason was of course to honour the woman who had saved her life. Kaycee still remembered the tears that had poured over her face the night she heard Fleur's name for the first time.

"And now...you don't like to do things with Fleur anymore? I thought you two were still very close.."

Lily's eyes widened, and she was quick to reassure Kaycee the friendship was still going strong.

"No it's not that all! I love Fleur! It's just that now, she's not the only one I love anymore...or at least I don't think so. It's confusing. Aunt Kaycee...is it normal to love someone romantically when you're 13?"

She looked so innocent sitting there, opposite Kaycee, red hair in a loose ponytail, eyes big, full of questions.

But she was growing up.

"You know Lily, a long time ago, when I was in Hogwarts, there was this girl about your age. I didn't really like her back then, but now I do. The girl's older sister had a friend, and she fell hopelessly in love with him during the first summer that friend of her sister stayed in their home over the summer. Of course she didn't realise it at that time, but she was definitely in love. Want to know how old the girl was?"

Lily nodded eagerly, probably not having expected this kind of story.

"11."

"Are you....really? She was younger than I was? How do you know she was actually in love with her sister's friend? Wasn't it this childish kind of love? Did the boy love her back?"

Kaycee smiled once again, memories of her feelings as a thirteen year old coming back to her. The feelings hadn't changed much, it was the way she dealt with them that had.

"Oh, he did. He only told her years later though, they were friends for a long time before he confessed to her. I heard he first told her he loved her while they were stargazing in the astronomy tower... romantic, don't you think?"

Lily listened with open mouth, her eyes filled with hope, and inspiration. She nodded, letting Kaycee know she loved the story, and Kaycee silently smiled, wishing with all she had in her that Lily was indeed blessed with that same kind of heartwarming love she had been, and still was, able to experience from her love.

"Aunt Kaycee, what happened to them? Are they still together?"

"They are. The two of them married almost as soon as the girl graduated Hogwarts. I was there, you know, and I've never seen someone look with so much adoration in his eyes as the groom on that day. They traveled a bit, and then they settled down and decided to start a family. First, they had a daughter, and then two sons. I see the guy regularly and I know for a fact that he his wife are still very happy together .... So now that this story is over, care to tell me who I need to give my blessing?"

Lily's face went from amazed to shy, her head going down, her eyes focussing on her knees. The smile that stayed etched on her face didn't go unnoticed by Kaycee, however.

"Avi Longbottom."

In all honestly, Kaycee kind of expected that name to roll off of Lily's tongue. Luna and Neville had a lot of kids, 3 sons and 4 daughters to be exact, and together with her own kids and the ones from Hermione and Ron and Ginny and Harry, they all formed one close-knit family, but Kaycee had always noticed how Avi seemed to take care of Lily in such a subtle and unconditional way, and how Lily would always defend Avi and his quiet demeanor to her extroverted friends in a passionate and fiery manner. If Lily was fire - and everyone knew she was - , Avi was earth, and Kaycee had known for years that it would probably work out very well if they ever realised how perfectly they matched themselves.

"Is it bad that I've been kind of shipping you two for years?"

Lily's shy face transformed into one of playful indignation. She didn't hesitate to bury her head in Kaycee's shoulder though, and Kaycee closed her eyes, trying to soak in the feeling of this moment, her and her goddaughter, both so alike, and yet so different because of the era they were born in. Considering her extra mind capacity and the knowledge about it that came along with that, Kaycee liked to think of Lily as someone who could have been her mind twin if she had had one. She was grateful for this role as Lily's godmother though, and after all these years, her promise to Ginny still stood. She would help Lily with all her might, whatever it took. A soul as pure as Lily's deserved nothing short of everything that was needed to shine, to warm everyone around her with her fire.

"I'll let Uncle Sean talk to Avi next time we visit Aunt Luna and Uncle Neville, okay?"

But she didn't receive an answer. When she looked down, she saw that the girl had fallen asleep, lips parted, snoring slightly.

Kaycee smiled and summoned a few blankets from Samantha's bedroom letting them land all around the small redhead cuddled up to her.

The hue told her that somewhere far away in a dream world, Lilly was already shining her light, her small hand warming Avi's.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- 31 years later

His daughter's hand felt clammy in his, but Sean couldn't be deceived. It was definitely his hand that was showing signs of nerves, not hers.

She was one bulb of light, shining, lighting and lifting up the whole room. People always compared her to him, but in this moment, she was definitely and completely her mum, and it was okay. It was good even. Every time he looked at her, he knew that she definitely wanted this, and even if it was still difficult for him to let his daughter go, it also made him elated that she was chasing her own happiness.

Samantha squeezed his hand, letting him know she was ready to start walking. He set his first step, and was reminded of why they took a small break right before walking into the large tent in front of them. His legs felt like jelly, and he silently cursed himself for having mixed feelings on a day like this. He was supposed to jump up and down from joy, to laugh from ear to ear in happiness, and while his heart filled with warmth upon looking at his daughter radiating unlike ever before, he was also very scared of what would happen after today.

They were in front of the altar before he knew it. He blinked his eyes, looking to the left, where his wife was, nodding reassuringly at him, and some of his nerves subsided, but not all of them.

"Dad."

It was Samantha, looking up at him, even if she didn't have to crane her neck as much as she had had to do when she had been a child.

She wasn't a child anymore.

Apparently, he'd said that out loud, because the next thing he saw was Samantha's smile broadening, her hands resting lightly on his tuxedo-clad chest.

"I may not be a child anymore, but I'll always be your child."

Her words worked like cold water on burning skin. They helped him to focus again, to see beyond the chaos in his head. He now saw the way her hair was braided, and knew it was Fleur's work, noticed the thin, silver necklace dangling around her neck, and remembered that he had given it to her on her eighteenth birthday. Now, she was about to receive a ring from another man, and he would have to learn to live with that.

He looked at his daughter's fiance then. The boy was only a few feet away from them, looking at his daughter with the utmost adoration in his eyes. It was the moment Sean realised that they would create something beautiful together. He turned back to his daughter, ignoring the impatient cough of one of his far relatives, and started whispering to Samantha.

"Always remember that I love you. I have loved you since you were born, and I will love you until I die. Unless there's an afterlife, then I'll still love you from there. I can't hide that this is a bit difficult, someone else is going to take care of you from now on, but I do want you to know that I am so immensely proud of you, the woman you have become. I love you."

Sean withdrew his head from hers after kissing her cheek, creating just a bit more distance between them. Again, his gaze landed on his soon-to-be son-in-law, who was looking at him as well now, and nodded. Sean smiled in return, knowing his daughter had made the right choice of marrying this man. He truly was a kind hearted, genuine person, and he respected Samantha, which was the most important thing for him.

After he had laid his daughter's hand in her fiance's, he sat down next to Kaycee. She immediately took his hand, giving his cheek a kiss just like he had given his daughter. Kaycee knew it wasn't easy for him. Truth be told, Sean felt kind of an idiot when he looked at his wife, being so genuinely thrilled at the prospect of their daughter getting married. He couldn't help but feel like he would lose her, however, like their bond would disappear as soon as she had a ring on her left ring finger.

This feeling kept residing in his heart until the moment Samantha's eyes locked with his while she was doing her first dance. She was swirling in her husband's arms, graceful as always, but the moment her gaze met his, time stopped. Rose's fiery hair didn't capture his attention anymore, nor did Neville's awkward dancing with Luna, or Hermione's words of praise towards Dobby because he made excellent food.

Samantha winked at him, just like the stars did on every special occasion in his life. He recognised them now, in his daughter's eyes, the stars.

It dawned on him then that all his worries had been for nothing. You see, love isn't a story of choice. It's a story of addition, of multiplication, even. His daughter would indeed always be his daughter, the only difference was that now, he had gained a son. And he knew, without anyone telling him, that their love would soon multiply, would soon give him one, or even multiple grandchildren to love.

Life is all about love. It's about being loved and giving love in return, about spreading love to cure the hate, about teaching children how to love and reminding people who are lost of how powerful it can be to experience love.

And he felt grateful for the loving life he received, for his siblings, his wife, his children and godchildren, all giving him love for the love he gave them.

And standing there, in that massive party tent, music playing, a warmth filled him, unlike anything else before.

It was a good life.

#the end #hogwarts #hogwartshighlights #seaycee #Sean lew #kayceerice #nuna #romione #hermionegranger #ronweasley #nevillelongbottom #lunalovegood #fanfiction #dance #epilogue

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runenc03 · 3 years

Text

HH - Kaycee’s first year (part 2)

Writing date: November 2018

Genre: Fluff?

Warnings: Genuine childish innocence. Also, get ready for beta-ed (someone explain this conjugation to me) stuff in the next chapter :)

Word count: 9k lol

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Autumn

"Granger, Kaycee!"

The 11-year old hesitantly walked towards professor McGonagall, so the sorting hat could decide which house'd be best for her. She saw her sister give her a thumbs up from the corner of her eye, but it didn't help calming her nerves. The walk to the front of the Great Hall seemed to take ages, but in reality of was only about 40 seconds. Before she could really prepare herself for her sorting, the hat was already pulled over her head.

Kaycee closed her eyes, waiting for the sorting hat to say something. She knew what would be coming. Hermione and Sean had told her all about their conversation with the sorting hat.

Except, there was no such thing as a conversation right now. The sorting hat stayed completely silent.

Time seemed to stop, even though mere seconds seemed like hours in that gigantic room. Kaycee wanted to ignore everything around her and focus on the hat instead, but it was simply impossible. And it became even harder when the other students began whispering to eachother. She strained her ears, trying to hear what they were talking about. The word she seemed to hear the most was 'hatstall', but she absolutely didn't know what that was. Was it a wizarding term? If it was, Hermione surely hadn't told her about it.

Just when Kaycee was convinced that there had been some kind of cruel mistake and she wasn't a witch, the sorting hat surprisingly shook her out of her thoughts:

"You're quite the extroardinary lady, miss Granger. It's a very rare occurence that I have difficulties sorting a new student... I'm going to be very honest with you. It's going to be either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuf. You have this massive amount of loyalty in you and your kindness is one of your strongest traits, but I can't just ignore your uniqueness, your individuality, which could indicate that you're destined to be a Ravenclaw...what do you think, yourself?

Kaycee was silently thinking, eyes closed. If she was 100 % honest with herself, she had to admit that she felt like a Hufflepuf. She couldn't explain it, she just felt like she belonged there. However, there was also a part of her that screamed: 'You're a weirdo! Ravenclaw praises uniqueness! And Sean's in Ravenclaw..."

And she didn't know why, but she suddenly had to fight a heavy blush from coloring her cheeks. The sorting hat on her head was long forgotten.

"Okay, miss Granger. Your thoughts really helped me making a decision. You've sat here way too long, people are already talking about the fact that you're the first hatstall in years."

Kaycee wanted to ask what a hatstall was, but the sorting hat seemed eager to get this over with.

"You've got a unique personality, miss Granger, but your kindness outnumbers your uniqueness effortlessly. And now I know that you don't really have a preference, I am convinced that you're destined to be a...

"HUFFLEPUF!"

Finally, Kaycee opened her eyes. The first thing she saw were Hermione and Sean, simultaneously standing up from their respective housetables and urging on their housemates to join them in their standing ovation.

A smile crept on Kaycee's face.

And then she caught sight of the Hufflepuf table.

All her housemates were, without exception, beaming at her, applauding, beckoning her to come over and join them.

So she did.

She didn't doubt it anymore.

She was a real Hufflepuf.

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"Take your books on page 24. We're going to investigate the difference between monkswood and wolfsbane. Everyone is going to make an essayment about what you learned this lesson and hand it in by next one. The minimal length is..."

Kaycee couldn't help it. She tried to listen to professor Snape, but his voice was so monotone that she couldn't help but zone out. Her mind took her away from potions, and brought her to an evening during the summer holidays.

She'd been at home, it'd been pretty late. She'd been to Disney world with her parents, her siblings and Sean that day, which had resulted in her brain being way too active to go to sleep. There was only one thing that helped her when she couldn't sleep: dance. After tossing and turning for a few hours, she'd tiptoed downstairs, towards her dance room.

When Kaycee'd arrived there, she'd turned around, straining her ears to hear if she woke anyone up. The whole house had been silent, so she'd quickly opened the door and gone into het dance room...

She was dancing, moving her body to the music like she was water, so fluid. Her mind went blank, the only thing she felt was the immense happiness dancing brought her. When she was dancing, she could really let go of everything and just be herself.

She absolutely loved it.

The music stopped, and Kaycee hurriedly ran to her phone to pick another song. She was busy choosing one, when she heard a voice speaking, not that far away from her:

"That was really beautiful, Kaycee. Hermione told me you dance, but I didn't realise that you'd be this good..."

Kaycee turned around as fast as possible. She hadn't meant for someone to see her, and certainly not Sean. He stood there, leaning against the door frame, with an expression of wonder on his face.

She felt her cheeks turn crimson. How could she draw the attention away from herself?

And then Hermione's letter from a few weeks ago shot through her head: "Sometimes, he reminds me so much of you, it's unbelievable. And not just because you both dance..."

Kaycee got an idea. She smiled at Sean and said:

"Oh, well, thanks. But I'm not that good...anyway, Hermione told me you dance too! Care to show me something?"

She looked right into his eyes, and saw something flicker in them. It was kind of hard to say, but she thought she saw a mix between curiousness and passion in them. Dancing clearly meant as much to him as it meant for her.

He walked a few steps into the room, still hesitating. "Okay, then. But only if you dance with me."

Kaycee thought about that. It wasn't a bad idea. In fact, it'd be the perfect opportunity to get to know him...

"Deal!"

She turned around and let the music blast once again through the speakers. When she was done, she turned around and saw that Sean was beckoning her to come over to the middle of the room. When she was close enough to him, he gave her an encouraging smile, as if to say: let's do this together, and began dancing. Kaycee watched him move. At first, it was slow, but soon, he seemed completely in his own world, not even moving in time with the music, but owning it.

Kaycee felt herself move in sync with him. She didn't even try, it just felt so natural...they locked eyes again, and the world seemed to stop.

In the few days that Sean had been here, she'd gotten the impression that he was a nice boy, but she hadn't really gotten the chance to get to know him. She'd wondered why Hermione had seemed so convinced that they would get along so well.

She had her anwer now.

She had never felt so connected to someone in her entire life. She was dancing her heart out, pouring out so much emotions without feeling embarrassed that he was there to witness it. Without agreeing on it, they were already dancing like this was a duet and not just some improve. A wonderful feeling spread through Kaycee's entire body. She felt warm, safe, she'd even go as far as to say that she finally felt like she was ho-

"Miss Rice, do you care to explain why you are still sitting here? I thought I made it very clear that the class was dismissed, but apparently, you find yourself important enough to force me to repeat myself. You. Are. Dismissed."

With every word that Snape said, he came closer to Kaycee, who'd woken up from her daydream as soon as the scary teacher's voice had echoed through the dungeons. She looked around the class room: it was completely empty, except for herself and professor Snape. How had she managed to daydream for so long without noticing?

Her eyes landed on the greasy-haired man again, and she suddenly remembered what he said.

She collected her stuff as soon as possible and scurried out of the class room, all the while mumbling apologies.

She turned the corner and let out a deep sigh.

Leave it to Sean to get her into trouble when he isn't even physically there.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kaycee Granger sat on the grass, in a secluded spot near the Great Lake. This was by far her favorite place in Hogwarts. It was an afternoon in late octobre, but the sun shone brightly and it was surprisingly warm for the time of the year. The young girl tilted her head backwards, letting herself bask in the warmth of the sun. She loved this: the slight breeze that blew through her hair, the birds singing one last time, before they flew to warmer regions, the sun rays touching her skin. It was one of those perfect moments where you just want to stay in forever.

Kaycee was just contemplating whether she could procrastinate her homework for another hour or not, when she heard Sean's voice coming closer and closer to her.

"Unbelievable! The nerve of that boy! How dare he call you a mudblood!"

Kaycee turned her head now, wanting to know what was happening. Walking in her direction were an annoyed looking Sean, a strangely emotionless Harry, her sister who was seemingly very determined to figure out her thoughts and Ron....who was vomiting?

No-one seemed to notice her.

"Hey, Hermione, wait! What happened?"

All four of them now stopped in their tracks, looking at Kaycee. Sean didn't seem to mind that he had another person to spill his guts to, so he quickly turned around and sat down beside her. The rest followed suit.

"We came across Draco Malfoy", Sean began, still worked up from whatever had happened. "He found it necessary to call Hermione a 'filthy little mudblood'. I was angry, but apparently, Ron was much angrier, because he took out his wand and tried to jinx Malfoy. But the spell backfired and now he's stuck with vomiting slugs until the spell wears off."

Kaycee looked at Ron sympathetically. The poor boy couldn't say anything. Every time he opened his mouth, a handful of slugs came out. She really pitied him, he was a nice boy who was only trying to protect her sister. Kaycee considered him as a friend, after all the stories her sister had told her about him and the few times that she had spent time with the group of friends.

Her eyes shifted towards Sean, and she put up a sad but determined smile, addressing both Ron and Sean.

"Guys, I know Hermione means a lot to both of you, but you should really calm down about these kind of things. There'll always be people like Malfoy who go through life like this. He was raised this way, he can't really be blamed for the way he thinks now."

This time, Ron said something. Or at least, he tried to.

"K-urghhhh Kaycee! Are you seriou-uuuuuurhhg defending that ferret now?! You th-think it's okay-uuuurggghhh to, to call people mudbloods? Seriousl-uuuurggghhh"

Kaycee shook her head.

"No, I'm not saying it's okay to call people mudbloods, I'm simply stating some facts here. Malfoy shouldn't have done what he did, but let's be honest: his dad doesn't seem like a warm and caring father either. I'm saying I'm not surprised by how Draco acts, if you see in what kind of family he grew up."

At this, Hermione's head shot up, surprised by her sister's words.

"You saw Draco's father? When? Where? And where was I when at that moment?"

Sean had to admit that he too was surprised. He began feeling slightly sick to his stomach. First, Hermione being called a mudblood, and now Kaycee apparently knowing Malfoy's father. Both girls meant the world to him, and the last thing he wanted was to see them hurt. He asked himself the same as Hermione had asked Kaycee: where had he been when Kaycee saw Draco's father?

Sean felt a twinge in his chest. He should've been there when she had seen that man.

But Kaycee was quick to reassure her friends.

"Don't worry, guys, nothing serious happened. You were all busy with professor Lockhart's book signing. I was just looking through the shop when he passed me. The opening between the stacks was quite small, so he grunted that I should move for him. I did, but he still brushed against me. He didn't apologize to me, but it doesn't really matter. I'm okay now, aren't I?"

"If you say so...But if you see him again, or anyone else who makes you uncomfortable for that matter, please make sure that I'm around, okay?"

"Don't worry, Sean. I can handle those purebloods. I appreciate the fact that you want to protect me, but you have nothing to worry about."

Kaycee was sitting there beside him with a smile on her face, convincing him that she was okay.

But the sinking feeling in Sean's stomach didn't go away.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Winter

About a month went by since the slug incident, and the temperature outside had dropped dramatically. Kaycee, however, had other things on her mind. It was approximately 5 in the afternoon, and she was walking with quick strides towards her destination: the ravenclaw tower, or more specifically: Sean Lew.

Originally, she'd intended to go to him to ask him about a specific chapter in her DADA book she didn't really understand, but now that she was walking, she didn't even remember her question anymore. Deep down, she knew she could've asked him when she saw him tomorrow, she just chose to go to him immediately.

While she was walking, her mind drifted towards Sean. She was sure he wouldn't mind her coming to him for her questions about her homework. In fact, she realised while a smile began forming on her lips, he didn't mind her asking him anything.

Maybe they could go to the abandoned classroom they always went to to dance together after he'd answered her questions.

She'd been so lost in thoughts, that she hadn't realised she already arrived at the ravenclaw common room.

And then it hit her: she didn't know how to enter. Moreover, she didn't know if she was allowed to enter altogether.

"Do you want to go in?"

An airy voice startled Kaycee out of her thoughts. Quickly, she looked in the direction the voice came from and saw a girl around her age, with long strawberry blond hair and a dreamy expression on her face. The Hufflepuf nodded, she hadn't found her ability to speak yet, still trying to recover from the shock of someone seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

"If it was my decision, I'd let you enter, you seem like a genuinely nice person. Unfortunately, only Ravenclaws are allowed to enter, and if I'm not mistaken, you're a huf-- wait a minute! You're Kaycee, aren't you? Sean Lew's friend? I saw him this morning, he was complaining about the fact that he couldn't just dance with you, instead of going to professor Snape's class. I guess you're here for him? I'll make an exception for you, and I'll show you how to enter, listen closely!"

The rambling girl smiled at her and began enthousiastically explaining to her how to enter. Kaycee couldn't contain her smile either.

"This eagle knocker asks a different riddle every day. If you answer the riddle correctly, you are allowed to enter. If not, you have to wait until someone solves it for you. It's as simple as that!"

Kaycee wanted to answer the girl, but the Eagle already cut her off:

What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?

Kaycee wracked her brain, trying to understand the riddle, but she didn't get it...someone behind a computer who talked to people around the world with the help of the internet? But a computer was a muggle object, surely the knocker wouldn't ask something like that, would it? She turned her head towards the other girl, who was watching her with a mild smile on her face. She wasn't laughing at Kaycee though, it was an encouraging kind of smile, and for that, she was the ravenclaw incredibly grateful.

"Can you help me please? I really don't know the answer...?"

The girl's smile became even brighter, and for some reason, she reminded Kaycee of herself. Her whole family always told her how her smile was her best characteristic, and it was the same with this girl.

"Of course! Anything for a friend! And the answer is a stamp."

The door opened, and the girl turned around to walk away, clearly just here to help the huffelpuf and not to enter herself."

"Wait- STOP!"

The blonde stopped in her tracks and shifted her attention towards Kaycee.

"I wanted to say thank you! And I don't know your name yet!"

"I'm Luna Lovegood. It was nice helping a new friend, Kaycee Rice. But now I really should get going. I promised the thestrals I'd visit them today. Bye!"

She didn't know who the thestrals were, come to think of it, she didn't even know if the thestrals were a group of who or what. But as she watched the quirky girl walk away, she realised that she was glad she made friends with someone like Luna. Someone who wouldn't only accept kaycee's weirdness, but also understand it.

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"SEAN CHARLES LEW, YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW ANGRY I AM AT YOU RIGHT NOW!!"

Sean was sitting in the library. It was the 26th of decembre, and Hermione had been brought to the hospital wing after her 'makeover' yesterday. Sean felt guilty. Even though he hadn't really been responsible for Hermione's semi-transformation into a cat, he had been participating in their plan to get Harry and Ron into the Slytherin common room. His guilt made him come to the library, even though teachers didn't give them tests anymore. He wanted to find something to cure Hermione faster. The young ravenclaw knew madame Pomfrey was already doing everything in her power to make Hermione better as soon as possible, but trying to find a better cure seemed to ease the guilt just a tiny bit.

Hermione had been incredibly embarrassed yesterday, not even wanting to show him her face. She'd made them swear not to tell a soul about the incident, about how she looked, and the boys had all promised to keep their mouth shut.

But apparently, Kaycee had discovered her sister's condition.

And judging by the volume of her voice, Sean Lew was about to face her wrath.

In a library.

He tried to say something that'd stop her from making a scene in such a silent room, but no words came out of his mouth.

With blazing eyes, she hissed: "come outside. I need to talk to you. Right now."

And with that, she turned around and marched out of the library. Sean wasn't stupid. He didn't even think of dissobeying her. The scared boy immediately scooped up all the books that were scattered on the table, and followed her outside. As soon as both of his feet were outside of the library, she began her tirade once again.

"I am so incredibly dissapointed in you. I never thought you'd be so stupid. I thought you were nice, God, I thought we were friends, but apparently, I was wrong."

Sean's eyes widened. She didn't want to be his friend anymore? He knew she'd be angry with him when she'd discover what had happened with her sister, but breaking their friendship? Malfoy wasn't worth such a high price.

He didn't like the blonde Slytherin, much less trusted him, but if she wanted him to leave the ferret alone, he would.

For her.

"K-kaycee, I am so sorry...I know it was stupid of us to make that potion, but I swear I only joined because Malfoy had insulted Hermione. I mean, I don't want that to happen to her again, and I certainly don't want it to happen to you. I just wanted to protect the two of you. It was stupid of us, and I-I just hope you can forgive me. W-we're still....friends, right?"

Sean looked with his hopeful eyes in her angry ones. She didn't seem to be any calmer than before his speech.

It scared him tremendously.

"Don't you get it Sean? I'm not angry that you made that stupid potion or tried to enter that common room, I'm angry because you didn't tell me! If I'd be even a tiny bit important to you, you would've told me what you guys were doing all that time, but no, you leave me out of everything you do!! Why? Because I'm a year younger than you guys are? Seriously, I'm not a baby anymore, you can tell me things!!"

Kaycee sighed.

"Why do I even care? You clearly don't care about me. I'm not talking to you anymore."

She turned around, but Sean was quicker, terrified that she'd leave him alone.

He laid an arm on her shoulder, which made her stop in her tracks and turn around.

Sean felt his heart sink. He could handle an angry Kaycee, but the intensity her eyes held only moments ago was gone. Now, he only saw hurt and immense pain in those beautiful, big brown eyes.

It made his heart break.

"Please Kaycee, I'm sorry. Don't go. Talk to me."

But while he was looking into her eyes, he already knew her answer.

"We'll see about our friendship when Hermione gets out of the hospital. You really hurt me, Sean."

With that, she walked away again, and this time, he let her.

But it broke his heart all over again.

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Spring

Sean Lew was absolutely desperate. Hermione had been in the hospital for weeks, and Kaycee had kept her word: she hadn't talked to him in 36 days and 14 hours.

And Sean was absolutely miserable without her.

It was still quite early in the morning, his roommates not bothering to get up anytime soon since it was a Sunday, but Sean had other plans. He'd visit Hermione today, just like the previous 37 days, but today, he'd also talk with his best friend about Kaycee. He needed Hermione's advice on this, he wanted to make it up to Kaycee, but had absolutely no idea how to begin with that.

Ignoring the cold that hit his body when he pulled te blanket off of him, he got out of his four poster bed and put some clothes on. After quickly brushing his teeth and putting on some shoes, he began walking towards the hospital wing.

His mind was filled with a million questions on his way there. How was Hermione doing? Would she be able to get out of the hospital wing soon? Would Kaycee talk to him after that, or still be stubborn? Would their friendship really end?

His mind was so busy with all those questions, that he almost walked right into the massive oak door of the hospital wing. Scolding himself for being so inobservant, he raised his hand to open the door, until a certain voice on the other side made him freeze.

"Come on, Kaycee. How long have you been avoiding him? Just admit to yourself that you are hurting because of this as well. It's pointless, Kayc. Why don't you just admit that you hate not being around him?"

Shit. Kaycee was visiting Hermione.

Some part of him wanted to get away from this situation as soon as possible, but another part of him was really curious about Kaycee's answer.

He stayed.

"I know, Hermione...I- I don't...He-"

Her voice clearly gave away her frustration.

"Can I tell you something really personal, Hermione?"

"Of course Kayc, I'm your sister, I'll always be there for you, and you know that."

"I never would've thought not talking to him would affect me so much. I thought it'd bother me a bit at first, but I'd get over it after a few days. But, really, I don't eat, I'm never hungry, and when I want to sleep, I constantly dream about him and wake up even more exhausted then when I went to bed...what do I do now, Hermione? I am getting desperate.."

Still wide-eyed from what Kaycee had told her sister, Sean tried to hear as much as he could from the conversation. He could hear a bit, but the thick wood of the door wasn't making it very easy.

Sean needed to hear more. He had missed her voice.

The 12 year old knew very well that it was a bad idea, but nonetheless, he opened the door only slightly, peeping through the crack he'd made.

He saw Hermione, who looked a lot healthier then she did a few weeks ago, sitting on her bed with her legs crossed. Then, his eyes shifted towards the other person in the room, and his breath hitched.

There she was, Kaycee Rice, long, curly hair hanging loosely around her shoulders, eyes big with worry, arms crossed over her body, as if to shield herself from the world.

"You solved your own problem, Kaycee, if you miss him so much, you have to talk to hi- Oh look who's there! Sean, come in! I think it's about time that you and my sister have a serious conversation!"

Shit. That didn't go as he'd planned.

Hesitantly, he made his way towards Hermione's hospital bed, looking at the ground, scared of making eyecontact with the 2 sisters.

"Hi, Sean"

It took only 2 words to change his mind. He looked up from the ground, and locked eyes with the girl he had missed more than anything he ever had in his entire life. Her eyes were big, and looked at him with more emotions swirling inside them than sean could count.

They didn't talk, didn't have to. The 2 of them just stared at eachother. They talked without words, their bond still strong enough to communicate by just looking at the other.

They understood effortlessly.

Sean saw the hurt in her eyes, but he also saw the hope. Hope, he realized, that they could fix whatever they'd broken a few weeks prior. Hope that their friendship would be as strong as before, if not stronger.

Hope that everything would finally be okay.

He prayed that she understood his eyes as well. That she understood how sorry he was, how much guilt he felt. How much he'd do to fix this.

And then suddenly, he saw something change in her eyes. It almost seemed like the last barrier, the last thing holding her back from forgiving him completely, crumbled.

And she did as well. Shaking, she put a few steps forward and fell into his arms, clinging to him. Her sobs made his sweater wet, and his teardrops landed on her hair.

They didn't care. All they felt was the other's presense, their warmth, the fact that the other was really there, was real.

They didn't know how long they stood there, just holding onto each other like their life depended on it. It could've been minutes, or hours, or days.

It didn't even matter.

"Ahem. I'm really happy that you guys, uh, talked, but if you don't want to get yelled at by madame Pomfrey, I'd make sure to get out of here. If she discovers I haven't had a chance to sleep in about 3 hours, she probably won't let me go tomorrow, and I don't want to lay in this bed a second longer than is necessary."

Sean had completely forgotten about Hermione, but something she'd said had caught his attention:

"You're allowed to leave tomorrow?"

Hermione gave him a bright smile and nodded.

"Yup. I can finally get back to class now!"

But that wasn't what Sean was concerned about. Sure, he was really happy for Hermione, she was his best friend after all, but he could only think about one thing: if Hermione was leaving the hospital tomorrow, would Kaycee consider talking to him again?

He looked down at her, only to see that she was already looking up at him. She answered him verbally, knowing him well enough to understand what he was thinking.

"Of course I forgive you, Shamu. You still hurt me, but I talked with Hermione about it and I understand now that you didn't do it on purpose. So we'll continue our friendship from now on...if you still want to, that is..."

Her eyes grew worried towards the end of that sentence, and Sean didn't know if his heart was breaking or melting. He wanted to take away her doubts, worries, pain. And even though he really didn't know what he was feeling at this moment or what he was supposed to do in a situation like this, he just did what felt right.

He tightened his arms around her and gave her a light kiss on her forehead.

"Of course I still want to be friends with you, Ricebowl. I wouldn't want to trade our friendship for anything in this world."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Why are you packing your stuff already? We've only been in here for 2 hours!"

Kaycee was in the library with her sister. While her time in the library had been very productive - Hermione had made sure she was actually studying and not zoning out - she really wanted to get out of there and actually have some fun.

"Sean's almost coming. We agreed to watch the quidditch match between Hufflepuf and Gryffindor toge-"

"You ready Kayc?"

Both sisters turned their head and saw Sean. He had a bright smile on his face, clearly excited for the quidditch match, although Hermione secretly assumed it had something to do with the fact that he'd go somewhere with Kaycee.

Kaycee nodded her head, equally as excited, and stood up from her chair, ready to walk out of the library.

"Slow down guys, not so fast...Sean, where's the time you cheered for Gryffindor?"

Sean looked sheepishly at his best friend. He didn't really know what to say to that. Was she really that upset about him cheering for Hufflepuff? She didn't even like quidditch, or did she?

He didn't have to worry though, because Hermione giggled, and quickly reassured him that she was just making fun of him.

"I'm only kidding Sean, of course I'm not upset. Go have fun, I'll stay here and study a bit more. Maybe I'll come as well when I'm done here. But just so you know it, I'll cheer for my own house."

Sean and Kaycee both got a big smile on their face, glad that Hermione wasn't upset. They both knew very well that an angry Hermione was not so easy to deal with. And for some reason, it was so much more fun to do things when you knew your best friend or sister supported you.

So they waved goodbye to the Gryffindor, and off they went.

The walk to the quidditch pitch was filled with laughter. Kaycee realised that she really couldn't help but feel good whenever she was around Sean. He made her smile, made her a happier person, a better one.

Soon, the game began, and Kaycee couldn't have asked for a better afternoon. They both weren't that fierce about quidditch, but that wasn't really a problem. Whenever there wasn't a lot of action during the match, they'd both come up with crazy dancemoves they could try on a broom. Maybe they could even try a whole broom choreo in the future...

Time seemed to fly, and before they knew, the game had ended. The sun already began to set, and Sean and Kaycee decided it was time to go inside. The 2 students began walking towards the castle, and Sean grabbed her hand so they wouldn't lose each other in the mass of people. As soon as his fingers closed themselves around her palm, her palm heated up and weird sparks seemed to come off of it, but Kaycee shrugged it off, not really knowing what the feeling meant. Little did she know that these kind of things were something she would worry about a lot, a few years from now...

Even if she wanted to at 11, she didn't get the time to overthink those sparks, because professor McGonagall was standing in the middle of the still buzzing crowd, and she was coming their way.

Kaycee had an uneasy feeling that the grim expression on her face had nothing to do with the fact that the rest of the quidditch season had just been cancelled.

"Mr Lew, miss Granger, please come with me. I need to show you something very important."

She didn't say anything else, she just turned around and began making her way through the crowd.

Sean and Kaycee shared a worried glance. What was going on? What did professor McGonagall want to show them when they both weren't even in her house?

They entered the castle. Kaycee and Sean followed the professor blindly, staircase up, staircase off...until they arrived in the hospital wing.

Kaycee felt like an ice cold hand got a grip on her heart. All previous sparks Sean's hand had given her were gone, and they were replaced by shivers that went up her spine.

If professor McGonagall wanted both Sean and her to come with her to the hospital wing, it could only mean one thing: There was something going on with Hermione.

Nothing could've prepared Kaycee for what she saw when the curtains to Hermione's bed were opened.

There her sister laid, completely stiff, eyes wide open in terror, with a mirror laying in her still raised hand.

The cold fist around her heart tightened its grip, and she felt like she couldn't breathe.

Her sister had been petrified.

She heard Sean's sharp intake of breath beside her only slightly, much less registering his hand around her shoulder, trying to comfort her, or the soothing words he tried to reassure her with. The only thing Kaycee's mind could register at the moment was the rigid form of the sister she was closest to.

"Breathe, Kayc, you need to breathe. Come on, let's sit down, I don't want you to pass out."

Sean led her to the two seat beside the bed, gently made her sit down and then sat down beside her himself.

"Now I know that you're scared Kaycee, but everything will be fine. Hermione's really strong, and we both know that. She won't give up so easily. Besides, there's a cure for this, professor McGonagall just said it, but I don't think you were really listening...it doesn't matter, I listened for the 2 of us. Anyway, this might look really scary, but it'll be okay, I promise. Don't be scared, I'm with you. Just please breathe."

Kaycee forced her eyes to look away from Hermione, and took a glance at Sean. She didn't know what she did to deserve him. They'd known each other for what? 11 months? And she was already attached to him like her life depended on it. He was the only one who could calm het down, the only one who could make her breathe.

"But Sean, aren't you scared? Your best friend is in hospital. You shouldn't have to worry about me.."

She wanted to look away, being ashamed all of a sudden, but Sean was having none of it.

"Nonsense Kaycee. Here's the thing: I am worried about Hermione, I really am, but I can't do anything to make her better right now. I can, however, let you calm down. You both mean a lot to me, and if I can't help one of you, I can at least make sure that the other one is safe and well."

The hand around her heart loosened its grip just a little bit, and while she was still worried sick, the panic wasn't paralyzing her anymore.

Kaycee knew full well that this situation was nowhere near good, but Sean's comforting hand and soothing words were registering now, and they made the world at least a little bit better.

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Summer

Sean Lew felt like the past few hours of his life were a movie he had been sucked into.

It had all begun a few hours ago, when he was walking under the first few warm sunrays of this year, trying to clear his head. He was just strolling around the lake, when Harry and Ron came towards him, all the while calling his name.

They had told him that they figured out where the chamber of secrets was.

He'd raised his eyebrows at first, not really believing them, they had been searching for a whole year after all, but when the two Gryffindors explained it to him - Hagrid and his spiders, the girl who was killed in the bathroom and Hermione's clue about the basilisk- it suddenly made sense.

The 3 of them had made their way back to the castle, forced professor Lockhart to take them to moaning Myrtle's bathroom and upon arriving there, had had a hurried conversation with the latter.

After that, Harry had opened the chamber by speaking parseltongue, and they'd all crawled through the opening. They knew they didn't have much time left. The writing on the wall, "her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever", was still engraved in all of their minds.

But then, Lockhart had begun being a thorn in the flesh, threatening to wipe their memories, and Sean had been scared that their plan to save 'her' from the chamber would've been in vain. Fortunately, Lockhart's spell had backfired and Ron had proposed to stay behind, which permitted him and Harry to continue their way through the previously hidden dungeons.

They came across a set of doors, and Harry had to use his ability to speak parseltongue a second time that day.

They went through the door, and arrived in the chamber of secrets.

On the other end of the chamber was a gigantic statue of Salazar Slytherin, and right in front of that laid a seemingly lifeless body.

Kaycee Rice's body.

This whole time, Sean had felt as if he was in some kind of movie, everything had happened in a blur, but now, standing there in that gigantic chamber, looking at the laying form of the girl, he felt as if an ice cold bucket of water had been thrown over his head.

That girl there was kaycee, not some random person, but the girl he had fun with, trusted, subconciously already loved.

He didn't hesitate, didn't think about the consequences of running through a room that had been locked for over 50 years. He just did it.

When he was close enough to her for his liking, he let himself fall on knees. His hands automatically went to her shoulders, gently trying to shake her awake. "Kaycee, please, wake up, we've got to get out of here."

"Oh believe me, she won't wake up."

Sean quickly turned around. In front of him stood a pale boy, black hair, Dark eyes, emotionless expression on his face. Whoever this boy was, Sean immediately took a dislike to him.

But Harry apparently didn't.

"Tom! Please help us! We've got to get out of here with Kaycee, please!!"

As Harry came closer to him and the pale boy, realisation dawned upon Sean.

This was the mysterious Tom Riddle, owner of the diary Harry had told him all about.

Tom didn't seem that affected by Harry's entreaties, he merely scoffed.

"How could you have survived Voldemort's attack on you as a baby?"

And suddenly, all pieces clicked together in Sean's head. He understood. In a fright, he looked over at Harry, only to see his friend with a confused expression on his face.

Sean knew he couldn't start yelling, he couldn't do anything now to warn Harry that he was talking to you know who. He just had to keep calm and try to get harry and Kaycee out of here before Tom Riddle could cause even more harm.

A cold, vicious laugh echoed through the chamber, and made Sean wake up from his previous thoughts.

"You don't get it, do you? Okay, let me help you, Harry"

The pale boy took out his wand and began writing something in the air with red, glowing letters.

TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE

I AM LORD VOLDEMORT

Sean saw Harry's eyes widen, his head turning to him, looking at him with eyes full of terror. Sean tried to give Harry a look of reassurance, to tell him to stay calm non-verbally, but it just didn't work. As much as he loved Harry, they simply didn't have the same connection as he and Kaycee had.

There wasn't much time to communicate, however, because Tom Riddle began speaking again:

"You think I kept my filthy muggle father's name? No, I gave myself a new name, a name I knew people would fear once I became the greatest sorcerer of all time! "

It was at that moment that Sean's blood seriously began to boil. Not one muggle, or muggleborn for that matter, should be called filthy. Being a pureblood didn't make you a great wizard, muggleborns were just as good. And the fact that he had the nerve to call himself the greatest sorcerer of all time made Sean just forget his previous plan to keep his mouth shut.

"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest sorcerer of all time!"

Slowly, Tom Riddle tore his eyes away from Harry, and focused on the young Ravenclaw instead.

"And what gives you the right to talk to me? I don't think I've ever seen someone who looks like you in a book about pureblood families, which means that you're either a mudblood or a halfblood, and that means that I won't spend my precious time talking to you. Just go lay with your mudblood girlfriend or something."

Sean didn't think he had ever been this angry. He wanted to run to Tom, swing his fist in his face, spit at him, strangle him, but Harry took a hold of his arm before he had a chance to do anything. Tom Riddle, however, didn't pay much attention to the younger boy's sudden outburst. Instead, he simply turned his back towards them, and began speaking.

In parseltongue.

Harry turned, once again, to Sean, eyes even wider than a minute ago, if that was even possible, and this time, their communication went flawless.

Run.

But Sean didn't want to.

Harry seemed to have forgotten the curly-haired girl in all his fright, but Sean definitely hadn't. He had to keep her away from harm, at all cost.

And it wasn't even that he wasn't scared, 'cause he definitely was. He was terrified, frightened, panic-stricken, you name it, Sean felt it.

But loosing Kaycee would hurt so much more.

They should've known that there would follow something much worse than just the sissing sound of parseltongue, should've known that those kind of Dark things always led to other Dark things, but they weren't prepared for what came closer to them as a response on the parseltongue.

Out of nowhere came Salazar Slytherin's basilisk.

And the creature was ready to attack them.

Instinctively, Sean shuffled closer to Kaycee, trying to protect her. He was looking for something to defend himself with, but when he looked up, he saw that he shouldn't be scared for his own life.

He should be scared for Harry's.

The basilisk seemed to ignore him and Kaycee completely, diving to Harry as if he was the only one in the room.

"HARRY! COVER YOU EYES!!!"

His friend didn't turn around, but followed Sean's advice, thankfully.

Harry was blindly running now, seemingly not really caring where he was going, as long as it was out of the basilisk's eyesight. Just as Sean began to think about a plan to help the Gryffindor, he heard a long hoot.

He looked up. There, high up in the chamber, was Fawkes the Phoenix, with in his beak, the sorting hat.

Sean watched while the beautiful bird flew a few circles in the air, and then descended, letting the sorting hat fall near Harry's feet. He saw Harry looking at him from where he stood, a questional look in his eyes. Even though this wasn't the perfect moment to roll your eyes, Sean couldn't help it. Sometimes, when Hermione wasn't with them, Harry seemed to believe that Sean knew everything, just because he was a ravenclaw.

"I don't know! Pick it up! Maybe something's in there!"

Harry seemed to understand him, because he was already reaching for the hat, when an aggresive sounding hoot came from Fawkes. Harry, knowing that he couldn't look up if he didn't want to die, screamed at Sean:

"What's going on up there? You can look for me, he doesn't seem to notice you!"

Agreeing with the Gryffindor, Sean looked up, only to see the Phoenix dug his claws in what seemed to be the creature's eyes, or at least near them. He couldn't look directly in the basilisk's eyes, of course, but since the creature's back was turned to him, he didn't have to cover his eyes, which meant that he had a fairly good view on what was happening.

He was fascinated by the way Fawkes seemed to be absolutely livid. What made him come here? Maybe professor Dumbledore had sent h-

"SEAN! THERE'S A FREAKING SWORD IN THE HAT!"

Sean's eyes flew towards his friend, surprise probably quite noticeable in them. He figured that it wouldn't be a coincidence that Fawkes had taken the hat with him, but a sword? That was probably the best thing he could've brought. He made a mental note to ask professor Dumbledore about all this later, when they came out of this chamber.

If they ever came out of it.

Trying to push down the anxiety that treatened to overtake him, he screamed back at Harry:

"GO ON! DEFEND YOURSELF! I'LL TRY TO GET KAYCEE OUT OF HERE!"

He saw his friend nodding, before taking the sword out of the hat and running towards the basilisk. Sean had to admire his bravery.

Quickly, he did as he had promised. He turned around to face the girl, ignored the pang in his chest when he noticed that she didn't look any healthier than she did a few minutes ago, and scooped her up, letting her rest on his shoulder. His arms were tightly wrapped around her legs, terrified he'd let her fall.

He stood up carefully, and began shuffling towards the other side of the room, crossing the distance he had run towards her once again. He made sure to stay close to the wall of the chamber, trying to be as unnoticeable as possible.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Harry, mainly trying to dodge the basilisk's strikes.

The third time the creature tried to hit Harry, however, Sean saw something change in his friend's posture. Harry seemed more confident, more prepared. Sean stopped in his tracks, it felt like he forgot how to move his feet.

Something was going to happen.

He was right. Something did happen. It all happened so fast, Sean couldn't really follow anymore. He saw the basilisk move, saw Harry move, and the next thing he knew, the sword of Gryffindor was pierced into the basilisk's beak, while Harry was laying on the ground.

And to top all that, Tom Riddle seemed to appear next to Harry out of nowhere.

"You'll be reunited with your mudblood mother soon, Harry."

Something about Tom's voice seemed to trigger something inside of Sean, something outrageous, violent, dangerous.

He knew he had to help Harry. He would do the same for him.

Even though he was livid, he found enough gentleness to lay Kaycee down on the floor slowly, careful not to let any parts of her body fall harshly.

Then, he rushed to the middle of the room, where Harry and Tom Riddle were.

Only when he came closer did he see the reason why Harry was laying down: a large fang pierced his skin.

Tom Riddle didn't do anything to stop the boy from coming closer to his friend, probably thinking that a 12 year old without magical parents couldn't be a threat.

Well, Sean would learn him not to underestimate 'mudbloods'.

"This is going to hurt a bit, sorry Harry", Sean said, while walking straight up to the two, not even acknowledging Tom, and therefore not giving him any time to react to Sean's sudden move.

Before Riddle or Harry could comprehend what was happening, Sean had crouched down, gripped the fang, and ripped it out of Harry's arm.

The poor boy gripped his arm, rolling up into a ball, grunting in pain.

Originally, Sean had only planned on getting the fang out of Harry's arm and finding a way to get out of here before Riddle could get to them, but now that he stood there, he noticed the diary, laying on the floor.

And suddenly, everything became crystal clear.

He gripped the fang with both hands, took a deep breath, and burried the fang in the diary.

The boys were shook to their core when Riddle let out an absolutely terrifying scream. They both looked at the young form of you-know-who, who seemed to get burned from the inside out by a bright light. First, only his chest lit up, but after a while, his whole body was glowing, until he exploded into into more than a thousand little sparks.

Sean let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in.

Tom Riddle was gone.

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Sean found himself sitting on the side of a hospital bed for the umpteenth time that year. Only this time, it wasn't Hermione laying in it, but Kaycee. Sean thought back to what had happened a few hours ago. He felt a shiver run up his spine and shuffled closer to the curly haired girl, still needing to convince himself that she was here, alive.

When they had come out of the chamber a few hours ago, Madame Pomfrey had immediately taken Kaycee with her. Sean had followed, begging the nurse to tell him in how bad of a state Kaycee was. After inspecting her for a few minutes, she had turned around to the boy and had given him a smile. She had told him that Kaycee would be fine, as long as she would rest enough. Sean had thanked Madame Pomfrey and had quickly rushed to the bedside, taking a hold of Kaycee's soft, but cold, hand.

And that's where he still was, a few hours later.

There was one thing he'd learned from this whole adventure, he decided. He and Kaycee had a special connection. He didn't know what it was, or where it came from, but it was definitely there. He'd felt it for the first time when the basilisk came out of it's hiding place. The first thing that had flashed through his mind, was that he had to keep her safe. He didn't know why, but he seemed to want to be close to her, whether that was to protect her or something else he didn't understand either. She was definitely something special.

After quickly looking around to check that the curtains surrounding her bed were closed, he acted on that instinct, shuffling closer to her and, after a moment of slight hesitation, gently lifting her head and placing it in his lap, so he could run his hands through her soft curls.

He didn't know what the future would be like for them, didn't know where they would be 10 days from now, let alone ten years.

But all that wasn't important at the moment. Right now, she was in his arms, safe and well.

And that was all that mattered.

#hogwarts #hogwartshighlights #seaycee #seanlew #kayceerice #harrypotter #ronweasley #hermionegranger #dance #romione

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