xvii. epilogue
✷ Epilogue
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Years had passed, and the echoes of war faded into the winds of time, but their shadows clung to the edges of memory. The Dark Lord, like a tempest, had risen and fallen, leaving scars across the wizarding world. Yet, amidst the ruin, life began to bloom again.
Among the survivors stood Luna Lovegood and her sister Solange, daughters of Pandora, whose legacy lingered like a ghostly whisper. Solange had found her anchor in Neville Longbottom, their love flourishing like wildflowers reclaiming a battlefield. Luna, too, found solace in Rolf Scamander, her heart as boundless as the skies she loved to explore.
It was 2003, a summer morning brimming with quiet promise. In a sunlit room, Luna prepared for her wedding. Her dress shimmered like frost-kissed starlight, and Solange's steady hands worked to fasten the final clasp.
"Oh, Luna," Solange murmured, her voice tremulous with emotion, "Mama would have dreamed of this day. She'd be so proud of you."
"She's here," Luna said softly, her gaze distant. "I feel her."
Solange hesitated, her fingers lingering over the delicate embroidery of Luna's gown. "There's something I need to tell you, Luna. Something about Mama."
Luna turned, curiosity mingling with concern. Solange's voice wavered like a ship caught between calm and storm. "Mama wasn't just Pandora Lovegood. She was born Pandora Lestrange."
Luna froze, the name heavy with unspoken history. Solange continued, her voice a fragile thread. "She left them, Luna. She ran from their darkness because she loved Papa and because she believed in something brighter. But she never escaped their shadow."
Solange's words painted a haunting image of their mother—Pandora by the Black Sea, where her sister Capella and her forbidden love had sought freedom. Bellatrix's wrath had found them first, their bodies claimed by both Death Eaters and the waves. Pandora had carried that grief, a secret wound beneath her luminous smile.
"Mama chose love," Solange said, her tone resolute. "Even when it hurt, she chose light. Just like you, Luna."
The sisters' moment was interrupted by Xenophilius, who arrived looking as though he'd tussled with a dozen Blibbering Humdingers. "Luna, my dear, it's time."
Luna rose, her dress cascading like moonlight. As she walked down the aisle, the sunlight seemed to follow her, a quiet blessing on her path. And far away, the Black Sea swelled gently, its waves folding over ancient secrets, a quiet hymn for those who dared to love despite the darkness.
A week after Luna's wedding, the sisters found themselves standing together under a canopy of trees in the quiet graveyard where Pandora Lovegood rested. The breeze was gentle, carrying with it the scent of wildflowers and the soft rustle of leaves. Solange placed a bouquet of white lilies on their mother's grave, her hands trembling.
"She deserved better," Solange whispered, her voice raw. "She deserved peace."
"She found peace, Solange," Luna said, her tone soft but firm. "Mama's love for us was stronger than anything that tried to break her. She left the darkness behind and built a life full of light."
Solange nodded, but her gaze was distant. "I wish I'd known her better. Known all of her."
That was why they were there, why they'd come to this place and were heading to another. Solange had insisted they go to the Ministry of Magic to uncover the truth about Capella Lestrange's final resting place. The archivists were reluctant to help at first, wary of the Lestrange name, but Luna's calm persistence and Solange's fierce determination eventually led them to a quiet, forgotten graveyard just across from where Pandora rested.
The graveyard felt different—darker, lonelier. Overgrown vines and neglected stones told stories of people who had been buried not with honor, but with whispers and shame. Solange clutched Luna's hand tightly as they approached a grave marked with Capella's name.
"This is it," Solange said, her voice breaking. She knelt beside the headstone, tracing the weathered letters with trembling fingers. "She's really here."
A sob tore from her chest, raw and unrestrained. Luna knelt beside her, wrapping an arm around her sister's shoulders as Solange cried, mourning the aunt they never knew, mourning the losses their mother had carried silently.
After a while, they stood, their feet heavy as they began to leave. But as they walked toward the edge of the graveyard, something caught Luna's eye. A patch of vines curled over what appeared to be another gravestone, half-buried in the dirt and hidden beneath years of neglect.
"Wait," Luna said, tugging gently on Solange's arm. "There's something here."
They crouched together, brushing away the dirt and pulling back the tangled vines. As the name etched into the stone came into view, both of them froze.
"Regulus Black," Solange whispered, her voice filled with awe and disbelief.
Beneath the name, an epitaph gleamed faintly in the dappled sunlight, the words carved with little care:
1 Corinthians 15:55
"O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?"
Luna ran her fingers over the words, her breath catching. "He was so young," she murmured. "And yet, he defied everything for what he believed was right."
Solange wiped her face, her tears slowing as she gazed at the stone. "Do you think anyone ever visits him? Or has he been forgotten like this graveyard?"
Luna shook her head. "No one who fights for the light is ever truly forgotten. Not by the people who carry their legacy."
They stood in silence for a moment longer, the weight of the past settling between them like a soft embrace. As they walked away, the graveyard seemed a little less lonely, as if the sunlight had found its way into its shadowed corners.
For Pandora, for Capella, for Regulus, and for all those who had defied the darkness, Luna and Solange carried their stories forward—living proof that love and light endure.
They said the Black Sea was a graveyard for forbidden love, where the waves whispered the names of those who had dared defy the darkness. Among its secrets was the tragic tale of Capella Lestrange and Regulus Black.
She was born into the shadow of the Lestrange family, a name synonymous with cruelty and devotion to the Dark Lord. He was a Black, burdened by a family legacy of blood purity but harboring a heart that longed for something more. Against all odds, their paths crossed, and they fell deeply, irrevocably in love.
But theirs was a love that could not survive the world they were born into. Capella was hunted by her own family when they learned she sought to escape their grasp. Regulus, disillusioned with Voldemort and determined to undo the horrors he had helped perpetuate, had already set himself on a path of rebellion.
One fateful night, the lovers fled to the shores of the Black Sea, hoping its vastness could swallow their pain and carry them to freedom. As the waves lapped at their feet, they exchanged promises—vows to find each other again, no matter what fate had in store.
But the sea bore witness to their end. The Lestranges found them, led by Bellatrix herself. A flash of green light struck Regulus first, his body collapsing into the cold embrace of the water. Capella screamed, her wand shaking as she tried to fight them off. Bellatrix's laughter echoed in the air as she delivered the final blow, sending her sister tumbling into the waves after him.
The Black Sea claimed them both, their bodies lost to its depths. Yet the locals whispered that the sea itself mourned them. On stormy nights, some claimed to see their shadows walking hand in hand along the shore, and others swore the waves carried their names in mournful whispers.
Capella and Regulus, two souls who defied their legacies for love, were never forgotten. The sea, dark and endless, became their eternal resting place—a monument to love's courage in the face of impossible odds.
AUTHOR'S NOTE━━━━━━━
i twist , you turn , who's the first to burn?
it's official! this book is done!
i've spent so long writing it, i wondered if i would ever finish it. thanks for sticking along.
if you want a similar story, go read my book mastermind, i'm currently working on it!
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