video; man's greatest treasure (after the blood rains stop)

[reparo]

[The video isn't accidental this time, and focuses on Hermione - her face rosy-cheeked and smiling, actually smiling.


To the observant eye, one can tell she's in the old, dilapidated house that some people used during the final battle in Hatthevar as a sort of refuge. (It's the Macarena house.)]

Friends - ah, I've been thinking all day what I'd say to us all after a battle as final and difficult and hard as this one. I didn't get to say this to my friends back home, I didn't get the chance to say this to Harry, but...here goes.

Well done. You did your best, and you somehow saved the day. Look at this place. Look at this world! I know the beacons are being repaired, so it's still sometime before we leave but I think we could say we're leaving it better than we found it?

[Like it's hard. She lets out a tiny laugh.]

Also, I think - and I'm not taking any feedback on this - that I've earned myself this.

[The view focuses on the floor, where she is sitting currently, and specifically on a half-empty bottle of wine. Hermione gone wild.]

Comments

[clavesregni]

[Caitlyn barely manages to get her awkward blush under control before she finally pulls out of the hug. It's a bit silly, how many people she's confessed her love for Vi to, all without having said it to Vi.]

With your seal of approval, I'm sure Vi will be quiet overcome and throw herself romantically into my arms. [Despite being a joke, there's not a hint of sarcasm. Caitlyn knows that Vi values Hermione's opinion, and if Hermione...

Well, she did value Hermione's opinion.

Caitlyn's smile fades as she remembers that Vi will likely have forgotten all about their adventures together here. She has her notes and photographs that she can share, at least, and perhaps, with time, some of those memories might come back.]

I'm sure she'd appreciate it. I know she cared for you, too.

[reparo]

[Her smile falters, the same thought crossing her mind. Quietly,]

She won't remember me. I know.

[She rubs the back of her neck, glancing at the cups of wine, she pressing her lips together.]

I'm going to drink the potion to remember, even if my friends call me delusional when I return, so...

[clavesregni]

I am too.

[A rueful smile crosses her face.]

Before coming here, I spent years wanting to see the world. I begged my parents to let me go anywhere at all. But I was too young or it was too far or too dangerous or there was no reason to go. I wasn't even allowed to cross the river. Now that I've finally seen the world, even if it isn't my own, how could I choose to forget it? Or all the friends I've made?