One wish alone have I

Epilogue

You could have written at least two or three other books after this one, given all the things that happened in your life after you stopped writing! Our childhood in itself was quite an adventure for both of you! I can still hear you, Mum, yelling, “Eilionoir, stop feeding on your brother and let him sleep, by Cerridwen!” By Merlin, you must have repeated it thousands of times! What patience you had… it must not have been easy every night to raise a cainite child and a human one. Poor Perseus, did I persecute him! Ha! But he did defend himself pretty well, however. Oh, the number of times we duelled in the dungeon corridors when you were both working! I will greatly miss him, after he is gone….

Fortunately for me, I had the chance to find an immortal husband. The night before my wedding, Dad gathered the whole family around the fireplace after dinner and told us a secret he had been holding back for decades. He had not even told you, Mum, but I am not surprised, given Daddy’s secretive nature. He explained how, on the hundredth night of your pregnancy, you and he had agreed not to make any attempt to know if I was to be a Clan ruler one night or not, because you wanted me to have a normal life. Mum acted accordingly and did not bathe her face in the moonlight, but Dad changed his mind. He said he figured out that what we did not know would not hurt us, so he went outside while you were still resting and he turned his face to the sun. A sharp burning sensation told him at once that the sign of the God had been traced on his forehead.

He hid it with a Concealing charm, of course, and the hectic events of that day prevented him from being tempted to tell you anyway, so he remained silent about it until that very night. I had thought that he strongly disapproved the relationship Ivantie and I were slowly building, but I understood then that he must not have been surprised when we told the happy news to you and him. In fact, Mum, you told me that Daddy was simply taken aback that his fifty-seven year old daughter was engaged in a very serious relationship that might lead her to marry; he found me a bit young for such important decisions! It makes me smile and giggle, now. Dad was starting to reason like a true cainite!

Indeed… what a splendid couple you two would have formed among our kind. My heart aches terribly when I think of the possibilities that could have been, had you two chosen to go through a rebirth and become immortals. I wonder how you could spend so many summers among us at Zaharia and not suffer from seeing how time had halted its course in our bodies and how fast it seemed to race in yours! Usually, Dad said jokingly that him scaring generations and generations of students for many centuries would have led the school to close its doors eventually. Or one of you merely pointed to the portraits I kept on the wall of our resting room and said that time had halted for you thousands of times, and that one of those had been captured in these frames when a talented wizard in Provence had painted them for you two years after my birth.

Speaking of which, I do not know why I bother keeping your two paintings on that wall; Dad’s frame is always empty anyway! Ivantie and I really do not mind Daddy’s almost permanent visits into your frame, Mummy, but let’s simply say that, when you two just cannot help yourselves, it can sometimes become embarrassing when we have guests! Ivantie merely laughs when it happens, and reminds me of the forcefulness of the passion you and Dad shared during all your life together. I came to accept it better, with time… and simply draw the curtains over your painting and cast a Silencing Charm on the frame until you two behave yourselves.

And as I look at you and Dad, smiling at me from your painting right now, your faces still gleaming with the freshness of your young age and the love you so obviously feel for each other, I know that I will always find your presence next to me when I need it, which is one of the reasons why you offered me those paintings in the first place.

Still, I held a lot of resentment against you for not going through a rebirth, at first. There were times when my anger was almost unbearable, especially when one of you was suffering from one of those typical illnesses related to old age and reminded me that one night or the other, you would leave this world.

And you did. One morning, you never woke up. I found you in your room, still curled up in each other’s arms. Mum had her head resting lovingly on Dad’s shoulder and his cheek was leaning protectively against her forehead. Dad was one hundred and seventy-six years old and mum was four hundred and twenty-two. The castle’s Healer told us that you both died of heart failure, but I find it to be a very cold description and I prefer not to think of it that way.

I prefer to think that both your hearts stopped beating at the same time because they would simply have been unable to go on beating without the other echoing that strong and steady sound nearby. I prefer to think that Cerridwen wanted your two beautiful souls to intertwine as they left your bodies, so they could be joined together as they transformed and travel in the universe as one.

I buried you together in Mum’s old coffin. Dad always taunted Ivantie and Niculaie that he wanted to die and be buried in bed with you. I thought this was as close as we could come to his wish. As for the place we would bury you in, it was easy to find. It was common knowledge that, when you two did not show up for the evening meal, you were probably taking a stroll on a very particular mountain in the Carpathians. The view is still splendid, and the sunsets are of incomparable beauty.

Many people were there for your burial; Perseus’ children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all their spouses and partners, the close friends you had among the Clan and a few of your friends from England formed an impressive crowd. Many people suffering from lycanthropy who had received your help during a difficult period of their lives came to pay you their respects, too. Once everybody was gone, I asked Ivantie to give me a moment alone with Perseus and we sat together with Mum’s book. We stayed there for hours, reading and reading, until our eyes were too weary to continue.

Two nights later, an old wizard showed up at the castle’s door and asked to see me. When I was told that a Mister Malfoy wanted to speak to me, I was strongly tempted to send the guards back and have him thrown into the dungeons, but Ivantie told me about my mother’s attacker’s death and I reluctantly accepted to meet him.

That wizard introduced himself as Draco Malfoy. He told me the news of my parents’ death had reached him and he asked, quite humbly I must admit, to be brought to their grave. I accompanied him myself and once he found himself in front of the small but wonderfully carved stone marker, he took a long moment to meditate on some very serious thoughts. After a while, just as the moon started rising in the sky, he took out a blood-stained dagger from his cloak and placed it next to the grave.

“Thank you,” he murmured with emotion with his outstretched fingers against the cold stone, before he courteously wished me a good night and Disapparated.

I just thought I would let you know… maybe you already know.

Perseus and I finished the book yesterday night, and I noticed that a few pages have been left blank. So it is I, Eilionoir Snape, Lady of Zaharia, who takes the quill tonight and continues the story. I first wondered why you wanted me to read all those details, some intimate, some that did not concern me, some that could even hurt or shock me…. But then it occurred to me that what you wanted was to let me look at you like you really were, to stand naked in front of me, to show me the profound trust you honoured me with.

You gave me peace, from that moment on. I am able, now, to feel your presence around me as intensely as if you were there, behind me, ready to run your caring hand through my hair like you used to do. You were right about that, too, Mum. All the things in this world do not really disappear… all one has to do is look, listen, feel… and the missed presence then becomes salient. This is the true eternity… and my dear parents, you two are eternal to me…

…and to those who will come after me, for this evening, I woke up with a smile… which was fully reflected on Ivantie’s lips when I turned to him to share the news.

It seems just the right time, now, to start a book of my own.


FINITE INCANTATUM

AUTHOR\'S NOTES

Well... that\'s it, my dearest readers! ;o) I cannot say that my heart is not bleeding right now. *sigh* I never thought that novel would be this long... or that I would succeed in writing one, at long last! I just wanted to tell you that this experience was incredible and unique. You, and your so kind and genuine reviews, were a big part of what made that experience so exhilerating. Thank you, so very much, for your presence, for sticking with me until the end! It has been a long journey since February!

And, of course, my special thanks and immense gratitude go to Vaughn and CareCrystal, my editors, whose patience and talent were invaluable in the realization of this project. *hugs*

I can swear to you that I will write more. Maybe (hopefully!) not another 700 pages novel (writing so much each day almost felt like slavery at times, *smiles*), but J.K. Rowling created a world that will keep inspiring me for a while (I do have a couple of ideas already...). I hope, with all my heart, that you will do me the honour of reading and reviewing my work again in the future! All of you, take care!