The Prince's Tale

[17] Final Chapter: Tobeornottobe

They have all gone to their own destiny, what about me?

On the night of May [-]st, [-], I was kneeling beside the sofa with two things in front of me besides my wand - a piece of parchment and a Muggle cell phone.

"Hogwarts is fighting. Come to the Hog's Head."

"Alan is sick, very serious. Come here quickly. Address:..."

Who can tell me how should I choose?One is my last relative in this world, and the other is the ideal that Edward and I adhere to and fight for... Does anyone tell me what I should do?I feel like I'm going to be torn in two...

Maybe I should be with Ellen...my mind is spinning uncontrollably.I'm not fully exposed right now.I have an acquaintance at the Department of International Magical Cooperation, yes, I can ask her to connect my fireplace to Canada...but it's too risky.Maybe I should use Muggle transport, that handjob or something... But anyway, I'd miss the fight as soon as I got past it.

There are Mary and Charlie beside Ellen, but if I don't go to Hogwarts... If you don't go to Hogwarts, there will be others, a voice sounds, but Ellen only has one mother...

but……

I leaned against the sofa, and two lines of tears flowed down very disappointingly.How much I want to hide in the corner alone, but I know that there is not much time left for me to choose.On the battlefield, blood is shed every second.Every second I'm wasting here could indirectly cost an innocent life...

I eventually reached for my phone.Although Edward taught me many times, I can't type on the mobile phone keyboard with full proficiency.In addition, my mind is very confused now, and there is no space to think at all.

"Sorry, we're fighting."

I stared blankly at this line of words for a long time.I'm not sure if those few words capture all of my meaning.Because from an outsider's point of view, it seems a bit blunt, but I can't care less about it.I hit send, turned off the phone and tucked it back into the depths of my robes.There, there is also a crystal bottle filled with Allen's memories.

I held back the sadness and fragility that was slowly pouring out of my heart, took out a medicine box with a traceless stretching spell from the cabinet, and apparated to the pig's head bar mentioned on the note.

Things were chaotic at the Hog's Head.There were hotel guests who were awakened without knowing the truth, members of the Order of the Phoenix who rushed to join the battle, Hogwarts students who were evacuated from the school, Gryffindor students who tried to sneak back to the passage, and some who came to pick up students. Parents at home...

"Mom! You are finally here!" A little boy wiped his tears and threw himself into the arms of a tall woman.I watched the woman hold the boy tightly in her arms, and I had the urge to cry again.

"Let me take a count—Arthur, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Fred, George—"

"Tell you to go home and go home! You disobedient little devils - one day I will chain and handcuff you all together!" Mr. Filch, the elderly janitor, said with a light bulb His eyes glared fiercely at a junior student.The student grinned at him while he wasn't looking.

"I'm George!" cried the red-haired boy. "Mum, you always get us wrong!"

"It's so loud that we can't sleep at all! We want a refund!" An old wizard still in pajamas yelled at the owner of the bar in protest, "Hurry up and get your refund! We have to go to Hogwarts!"

"Madame Pomfrey, I want to go back!"

"Well you're George - your false ears are fine - Ginny! How come you're here! You should stay home!"

"We are all still alive, thanks to Merlin!"

"Business can't be done!" the bar owner said angrily, cursing and slapping Garen and Xi Ke heavily on the wooden counter.Those slapped coins screamed their displeasure.

"Actually, I'm Fred," said the red-haired boy with a grin.

"Mundungus! You thief who stole my family heirloom!" a wizard in bright green striped trousers yelled, "I finally caught you today!"

"Okay, now is not the time for joking!" Bill Weasley said seriously to his two younger brothers.

Like a bystander, I looked at the noisy microcosm of this chaotic world, and suddenly a warmth came out of my cold heart.Have you ever had this feeling, as if the door of your heart that had been dusty for a long time was suddenly opened, as if a whole regiment of cavalry wearing brand-new uniforms and shouting loud slogans entered my lonely kingdom covered by ice and snow, as if there was a The warm current suddenly poured into the bottom of the frozen lake that had been cold and silent for many years. The warmth replaced the cold, the noise replaced the silence, and the colorful colors replaced the monotonous black and white.

It dawned on me once again.This is the original appearance of this world-kindness, warmth, bravery, and sincerity; this is the world that I want to protect with my life.I hope that there will be no more separation of flesh and blood in this world, and that lovers can grow old forever; I hope that there will be no more wars invading this land, and no one will lose their lives because of power and desire; I hope that blood theory will disappear in the wizarding world, and all Everyone can live under the sun with a smiling face.

I hope that there will be no wars and bloodlines, and everyone can live a normal and happy life.Maybe the kids will still throw tantrums at their parents for buying a better broom, maybe the parents will still fret about the money they live in, maybe office workers will still be fretting about their daily jobs, maybe the Hogwarts professors They will also protest to the principal for a salary increase.

The janitors will catch students who may violate the school rules, the students will be frowning because of the papers assigned by the professor, the employees of the Ministry of Magic will still yawn when they go to work every day, and the patients who come to the pharmacy will wonder what is in the medicine. Chasing after... But our life is very cute because of these shortcomings.We will be angry, jealous, grateful, sad, greedy, vain, elated; we have laughter, tears, maybe lazy or hardworking, maybe clumsy or smart.Everything is vibrant, everything is so fresh and full of vitality.

So ordinary, yet so extravagant; so dull, yet so beautiful.

I really love this world.

The warmth in my heart continuously gives me strength.Never before have I realized so clearly what it means to be in the world.I am still living in this world, and I am still needed by others. I will do my best to make her get rid of the darkness and become better.

"Jane, it's great that you can come!" A female voice brought my thoughts back to reality, and I watched Madam Pomfrey block the students who were trying to return to the passage, "No! Creevey, how many times have I said that? ! You are not yet of age and cannot participate in battle!"

Madam Pomfrey and I returned to Hogwarts.It's been years since I've been back to Hogwarts, but now is never a good time to lament how time has passed.We walked in the corridor, the armor statues on both sides had disappeared, and the portraits on the walls were only dusty canvases.The floor was shaking, dust was floating in the air, people were dueling everywhere, and a spell could drop at any moment.

"Remus led a team to the playground, and I'm going too," I said.

"We should help the wounded and those students who didn't have time to evacuate!" Madam Pomfrey said, "It's more useful for you to stay here!"

"No, I'm going!" I had to raise my voice to make sure she could hear me, "I'm not just a pharmacist! I'm counting on you here!"

War has finally revealed itself to me at its most brutal.Scream, die, bleed.Every minute someone is dying, every minute someone is being killed...and I have to be a part of it.Two or three Death Eaters fell under my wand screaming one after another, and I also went from panic at the beginning to indifference and numbness at the end.

Why am I still going on?Why is the war not over yet?Why do we still kill each other?The scene from many years ago was squeezed into my brain that was already crowded and burst——

"What about me? Should I forgive my brother's murderer, then kneel before your robes and weep and say words of gratitude? You think you are saving the wizarding world noble, but the essence is the same as those Death Eaters .”

It was in [-], the end of the last war, the cry of a young girl who lost a loved one, even though her brother was a Death Eater... I thought again of Moody and the man he blocked young wizard...

For a better world... "Avada Kedavra!" A green light flashed, and I watched numbly as yet another hooded Death Eater fell under my wand.

Did I ever think at that time that one day I would become one of those "essentially no different from Death Eaters" in her words?I know I can't relax now, but those desperate emotions hit me like a flood breaking through the dam, and I can only struggle hard in this helpless daze...

"Do you know where my mother is?" Above the dusty ruins, a childish voice suddenly woke me up, as if the fresh air was to a drowning person, like a breeze with the smell of the forest Into the dusty crock.I turned around, and a little girl ran over and tugged at my sleeve.I looked into her familiar, innocent, bright eyes and suddenly remembered who she was.

"Are you Catherine's daughter?" I knelt down and took out a handkerchief to wipe her little face. Although I could do better with a spell, I didn't want to use that blood-stained wand on the little girl. The worldly face, as if it were a kind of defilement, "Why didn't you come home?"

"Mother didn't come—" the little girl whimpered, "Mother didn't come for me. Who are you? Do you know where she is?"

I was speechless for a moment, and a strong sense of guilt welled up in my heart.Am I going to tell her that I cast the Imperius Curse on Catherine, got her involved in all this right and wrong, and ended up dying at Umbridge's hands?Do I want to tell her that I am the one who indirectly killed her mother?

"I—I'm your mother's colleague," I couldn't bear to look into her eyes, "come with me. I'll take you out of here first."

I stood up and held her hand, ducking down and carefully avoiding those shuttle spells.With her in front of me, I advance cautiously across the battlefield.

The air suddenly exploded.Everything was frozen at the moment before the danger came - the flashing light of spells, the shouts of fighting on the battlefield.I felt like I was flying into the air, and all I could do was hug the little girl in my arms tightly to protect her from harm.

If I die...if I die soon...

I thought Charlie and Mary would raise Ellen instead of me.Without those memories, he can live just fine.He doesn't need to know that his parents died in the war, and he doesn't need to bear the heart-piercing pain and hatred that can swallow people.Now I don't even want him to be a brave Gryffindor, I'd rather he be a hardworking and honest Hufflepuff.I just hope that he can live happily in this world, and live an ordinary life, just like the peaceful life I once had, William and Edward wanted me to live...

I'm falling... I'm holding the little girl tighter... Instead of solid ground, I'm greeted by darkness...

Am I alive, or am I dead?I am wandering in the chaos, I don't know where is the way back... I feel a ray of light, but I hesitate to go forward, I don't know if there is a place for me in that light...

I opened my eyes and found myself lying on a hospital bed.It's clean and bright.I turned my head and saw a blond girl in a green robe sorting out the clutter on the bedside table.

"Ah, you finally woke up," the blonde girl said to me cheerfully, with the name tag of "Lisa Walker Trainee Doctor" on her chest, "You have been in a coma for half a month." She saw me struggling to sit up , and thoughtfully stuffed a cushion behind me.

"Hogwarts—"

"Hogwarts is being rebuilt, and the war is over. You protected a little girl that day. She wanted to see you very much, and she stayed in the ward next door and refused to leave. Do you need me to call her over for you? "

I didn't have the energy to speak, so I just shook my head slightly.I don't know how to face Catherine's daughter.Lisa looked puzzled.

"The war is finally over," she said with a happy smile on her face. "The war is over, and those damn Slytherins are finally going to stand trial—"

"Don't say that," I said softly, "I'm a Slytherin. I'm proud of it."

Lisa, who was chattering, suddenly quieted down, her expression was a little weird, and she seemed to have lost the ability to communicate with me.I turned my face away and squinted at the sunlight coming in from the window.The sun has finally returned to the earth, and the world I love is finally no longer clouded.

At this moment, I suddenly felt that all the sacrifices, all the struggles and pains were worth it.

Although it was all worth it, the end of the war does not mean the end of the pain, and it does not mean that everything will automatically return to the previous track.In this land trampled by the war, everyone is suffering the pain of losing their relatives and friends, everyone is facing a world full of holes, and everyone's soul is marked with indelible marks deeply imprinted.Nobody knows what we got from the war itself.

I was transferred to the general ward.Two days later, at my strong request, my attending physician finally approved my early discharge.On my way to discharge from the hospital, I ran into trainee physician Lisa Walker again.

"Mrs. Jones, I want to say sorry to you." She held a book and looked at me with red eyes, and I was startled.

"what happened?"

"I shouldn't think all Slytherins are bad guys," she wiped her tears with the back of her hand, "poor Professor Snape—he's so great and selfless. I hate him for deducting a lot of points, but I'm really touched by his love for Lily..."

I figured that one of us must be delirious or hallucinating.I glanced at the title of the book in her arms - "Prince of Sadness Severus", surrounded by countless pink hearts.It looks like an unreliable love story.I couldn't laugh or cry immediately.

"You can't believe all of this kind of novel." I said honestly.

"What did you say?" Lisa stopped her babbling and looked at me blankly with eyes swollen from crying.

"You should check out Skeeter's book. I hear she's coming out with a Snape biography soon. What's it called? It's like Snape: Scoundrel or Saint. I just want you to read it." Don't come to the opposite conclusion when it's over," I patted her on the shoulder, she looked at me in confusion, "put a spell on your eyes to reduce the swelling, hurry up and go to work, don't cry to death over this boring novel gone."

She blushed and looked at me incredulously. "You can't say that!" she said fiercely.

I watched her look as if she was going to duel me for Snape, and sighed.I gave up trying to argue with her.After all, it's a good thing she can let go of her prejudice against Slytherin - albeit in a way that makes me laugh.

"It's nice to be young," I finally said with a smile.

Readers, never envy the characters in the story, and don't envy their wonderful life with ups and downs.Believe me, they both would much rather have an ordinary, happy life with the people they love, maybe the kind of life you are having as you read this.

But I also believe that if you stand in their or my position, you will only do better than us.Because there is a prince living in everyone's heart, and when danger comes, everyone will raise the sword in their hands to protect the love in their hearts.

This is my story, the story of the Princes, and the story of all those who stood up for love and justice in their hearts.

I hope every story has an ending like this——

"Since then, the prince and all the people around him have lived happily ever after."

——The End——

20171222 Winter Solstice