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a history (of sorts)
2nd May 1998The Battle of Hogwarts. Olivia Fawley, only fifteen and a Slytherin at that, had been evacuated and then spent the night at her best friend Lisa’s. She couldn’t bear the thought of going home - she couldn’t imagine what she’d do if her parents were there or if, even worse, they hadn’t been. They’d gotten to Lisa’s and she hadn’t slept all night. Something hadn’t let her. She’d stayed up and read and reread her history of magic textbook. Over twenty years later, she could still recite the main causes of the goblin wars with her eyes shut if anyone asked.
The next day, she understood why. Liv hadn’t heard from Lauren in months, but for some reason - something in her just said she had to get to Hogwarts. And she’d been right. She couldn’t remember who’d told her - she couldn’t remember how she’d got there - she couldn’t even remember seeing her parents, which they said later that she had - all she remembered was her sister’s body, her sister’s eyes, staring just past her and burnt onto her retinas for the rest of time.
2nd May 2000Two years later, Liv’s parents finally convinced her that it was time to give up. No one could prove that Lauren hadn’t been fighting for the Deatheaters, and she couldn’t afford to keep paying for the preserving potion on Lauren’s body.
Besides, she was seventeen now. The Hog’s Head would still have her back if nowhere else did.
2nd May 2001
"Sssso," Liv slurred, "that could've gone better."
Lisa looked up at her, the common room dark in the evening light. "Do I want specifics or is it best not to ask?"
"Well." Liv tried to smile sardonically, but it definitely came off as more of a grimace. "Mater has promised not to cut me off if I still produce them some nice pureblooded babies."
Lisa looked outraged. "So your only purpose is to breed? Absolutely fuck that."
"Yeah." Liv tried to laugh, but it wouldn't come. She sat down next to Lisa, and leaned her head on her shoulder. "I don't think - I can't live with them after - I can't move home."
"Good." Lisa replied. "I wasn't looking forward to living alone to be honest."
2nd May 2003
Liv had been a bit surprised when she'd been able to get into the five-year anniversary memorial, in all honesty. Though she supposed open to the public did, technically, mean that she could go too, no matter what state her sister was martyred-or-not in. Besides, she'd known that the Potters and their clan wouldn't want a byline in the press.
It had been her first completely sober battle anniversary, and she'd cried more than she'd expected to. What would Lauren think of her? Would she approve - would she be proud of her, even? Liv hadn't made much of herself since she'd left Hogwarts really, just slept with a lot of girls whose names she couldn't quite remember, and managed to just about serve enough drinks in bars she'd kept her own habits going. Maybe she should - well,
do something. Maybe it would've made Lauren proud.
But then again, she'd never know anyway.
2nd May 2006
It'd seemed fitting at the time to start her new job - she'd kept wanting to call it a "side business", but it wasn't really on side for anything - on the anniversary of the day she'd decided to maybe do something with her life. And, of course, on the anniversary of Lauren's - well.
She hadn't anticipated (well, she had, but she'd mentally avoided) the fact that it'd mean spending May 2nd alone in the apartment for as many hours as it took for someone to show up. And that they might not. But she'd figured it'd make sense, that surely it would be a time more than any other when people were thinking about what they'd lost in the war. And hoping someone could help them find it.
Just before she cracked open another bottle at half six, there was a knock at the door. She grinned. Maybe this could work out after all.
2nd May 2015
Liv had known - she genuinely had! - that at some point she might need to grow up. Lisa's separation from her husband had been a bit of a kick in the teeth: it was obviously the right thing to do, but what the hell was Liv doing with her life while her best mate made these actual adult decisions?
Pretty much the week after Lisa'd called her to say what had happened, Liv had seen the advert for the Hogwarts librarian. It definitely hadn't been fate, but she certainly had felt like she couldn't not try. And then she'd got it. And then she'd thought - well, what the hell - why not pick up her old thesis again?
So this, the 17th anniversary (which wasn't really much of an anniversary at all, except it was, it was a lifetime, and how could that be nothing) was Liv's last day in Hogwarts as an alum and not a staff member for what could be a while.
So she enjoyed it. Or at least, she tried. She'd tried very hard to have a chat with her supervisor, but Binns had kept getting distracted, and there were too many students, and it was all a bit much, really.
So she sat by the lake with a drink instead. "To you, Loz." She toasted to the sunset. "As always."
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