I care

Author Note: I’m still trying to come to terms with the belief that the world in which we have lived with our imaginations has now officially come to a close. We won’t know what happens to the children of our beloved characters. We won’t get to frolic through the hidden passages of Hogwarts with Harry any longer. We don’t get to expand our minds while Hermione reads us passages of her favorite novels. And we don’t get to cheer for the Cannons along with Ron. But as I said a moment ago, we lived with them through our imaginations and in our imaginations, our own little magical worlds of wonder, they will live on to tell us the tales of their many adventures. I wish to take this opportunity to encourage my fellow fan fiction writers to continue those tales and keep the amazement, the profound relationship with those characters, and their imaginations alive.

**For Fred, Remus, and Tonks**

How many long years now have I been a part of your life? How many times I’ve watched you do extraordinary things and take my wonderment to new heights? The time has come and gone to tell you how much I cared. To give you the words to make you understand how much you have meant to me all this time. To say I loved you would be too strong and yet not enough. I will say I cared. I cared if you failed at your attempts or made them successes. I cared if you got hurt. I cared if your emotions were so befuddled that you couldn’t make sense of them. I cared.

It’s an emotion that has more depth and meaning than love. It means that you are held close to my heart and I envelope your existence into my life. It means that when something happens to you, I rejoice with you, I cry with you, I hurt with you, and I smile with you. To say that I cared is hard for me to do. Only those that truly grasp my heart and soul are given those words. To say that I cared seems more intimate and personal. Everyone says, “I love you.” But how many say they care?

The journeys we’ve been on together have left me with laughter on my lips, tears in my eyes, and meaning in my heart. I am a better person having known you. I am a better human being having watched all the trials you’ve faced and overcome. You have been inspiring to me. And I want to thank you.

You are not just some person floating in the universe with which I happened to bump. You are not just a name without a face. I have read into your soul with every word you spoke. I have been given the privilege of knowing you even more intimately with every movement you made. I find myself in a state of amazement that I, meek as I am, have been given the opportunity to become not only a companion on these journeys, but also a friend.

Take with you the knowledge that I will keep your story. That I will retell it and relive it with each time I speak of it. Keep with you my thoughts and well wishes. Know that I will forever be your friend. And that…I care.

*****

As soon as the epitaph was finished, the three of them wiped away the tears and watched as those in attendance placed flowers on the caskets.

Almost last in the procession, Ron was the first of the three to walk up. He did as the others did, placing matching white roses on the mahogany wood that held Remus and Tonks. He lingered for a moment beside his brother, taking his mother’s hand in his own and placed the canary cream beside the skivvy box.

Hermione was slow to approach. She also placed the flowers on the coffins, turned to Ron, and cried into his shoulder.

Harry, the very last to walk the long path, began thinking of his parents and their friends. All were gone now. There was nothing left of his parents but a few distorted memories and some frayed pictures. He placed his roses and stood for a moment as the others left the cemetery. He was the last one to leave. He turned back to look upon them once more. And with a lonely tear, he uttered two words.

“I care.”


AN: My memorial to those that have lost life, and yet, never really lived.