Where there's love, there's hope. Sometimes you keep on loving because you hope it'll be the last day. Because you hope that, eventually, you'll be able to wear this out.

How to Destroy Rome in a Day

There's only one beginning (although its events are highly debated). Everything after the creation of Earth is just the middle—exposition, rising action, and lots and lots of conflict before the inevitable end. The end, also, is the only one of its kind.

Lowe likes this idea: nothing ever begins or ends, it just is. She thinks it's cute. Everything seems much smaller when you look at the world that way. Of course, she doesn't believe it. She knows all about supposedly non-existent starts and ends. She knows exactly when she began to fall in love with Cedric Diggory (when he asked her for a quill in third-year Potions because Lowe likes being asked for things), she knows what it looks like when Eug enters the onset of a panic attack, and she remembers very clearly when her mother stopped liking her. That's probably the one she's clearest on, simply because Lowe has to believe her mother's distaste is something that began—that her resentment isn't just the middle of anger that's been with her since Lowe was still in her womb. It's okay. Lowe and her mom just don't like each other. That's how they know they really love each other.

Lowe also knows how the First and Second Wizarding World Wars began and, in her dreams, she knows how they both end. Well, she knows for sure how the first war ended. It's the second one she's still betting on.

That ending is perhaps the only thing Lowe and Imrie have ever disagreed on, so they typically avoid discussing it all together, even if it's getting harder to ignore. It's hard not to look forward to the end when you're neck-deep in the middle.

Imrie doesn't think they'll win. Lowe doesn't understand why he'd choose to believe in such a fate—even she's not that cynical. Sometimes, Imrie contemplates explaining that you don't always choose what you believe in, like how Lowe can't help but worship beginnings and endings for a shred of hope, or how Laine can't help but worship his father because, despite giving him his anger, he also gave him his brother. He doesn't know how to say that, though.

Imrie functions on instinct. He's been looking over his shoulder since childhood (and has developed scoliosis as a result), eyes peeled for a threat with a face he doesn't recognize. That's the fucked up thing about estranged fathers. He's been caring for his mother just as long as she's been caring for him, so, naturally, his friends find him overbearing and mature in that stuck-up, un-fun kind of way. He's been anticipating the end since his ostensible beginning, so, naturally, he assumes this war is the end to all ends.

That's just Imrie, though. Lola's cynicism isn't natural like his—it doesn't even go deeper than her flesh. Sometimes, Imrie thinks Rosemary may be the only person who understands the fear and thrill that runs down his spine when anyone mentions the war. Rosemary terrifies Imrie. It makes sense that he relates to her.

He used to think Rosemary and Eugenie were the most alike, but Imrie's nothing like Eugenie, so he must be wrong. (Or ignorant to just how complex people can get—a more likely reality for a sixteen-year-old boy.) Sure, Rosemary and Eugenie both have that pureblood burden, but one embraces it like a golden axe-to-grind and the other hides it in her stomach, with all the other desired-to-be-forgotten feelings. One of them's stronger, but Imrie's not sure who. That's another dispute to be settled and buried in the war.

Eug has lots of things she's hoping to bury in the war, but that's just her pureblood privilege talking—what a gift it is to use slaughter as a distraction. Furthermore, what a gift it is to not have to do the slaughtering. Eugenie isn't violent, but she is complacent. They're almost the same thing, nowadays. They didn't always used to be. Eug thinks she'll have to start changing with the times if she still wants to feel good(ish) about herself. She doesn't know who she is if she isn't good: good girl, good sister, good student, good fuck. Please. Complacent or not, Eugenie Greengrass must still be good.

Cedric thinks she's good. He thinks everyone's good, inherently. That's probably why Eug likes him so much—why everyone likes him so much.

Who will see the good in the world when Cedric Diggory is dead? Maybe that's how the war really began. Lowe thought it was with Harry Potter, but this is a defeat she'll accept. Harry and his sanity could probably benefit from things not being about him for once. This is the real beginning, Lowe decides. Cedric dies and the war is in full swing, slicing through the air like a pendulum until someone, something, or a combination of both slows its momentum to a stop. 

This is where Lowe's plan for the ending comes in; everyone's talking about how the war will end, but no one knows for sure except for her. (No one is as determined as her.) 

This war started with Cedric Diggory, and it will end with him, too.

LOLA LABESKI. (Lowe.) Sixth-Year Ravenclaw.

IMRIE KOVAC. Sixth-Year Ravenclaw.

EUGENIE GREENGRASS. (Eug.) Sixth-Year Hufflepuff.

ROSEMARY PARKINSON. (Romy.) Fifth-Year Slytherin.

DELAINE LAURENCE. (Laine.) Seventh-Year Hufflepuff.

Lola Lowe Labeski Mikey Madison / Imrie Kovac Mark Edelstein / Eugenie Eug Greengrass Kaleah Lee / Cedric Diggory Kit Connor / Chloe Cho Chang Ashley Liao / Rosemary Romy Parkinson Lukita Maxwell / Delaine Laine Laurence Caleb McLaughlin.

Pansy Parkinson Momona Tamada / Harry Potter Aryan Simhadri / Ron Weasley As Described / Hermione Granger Malia Baker / Draco Malfoy As Described / Micah Laurence As Described / Astoria Greengrass Leah Sava' Jeffries / Daphne Greengrass As Described.

Author's Note     You know I had to run my kitcedric shit back. It's just perfect. Still, that is one of the more minute reasons as to why I'm so excited for this fic. (Which should tell you just how excited I am.) Hogwarts needed some cool older kids for Ginny Weasley to idolize, so I made them!

I'm honestly not sure where to begin in describing my vision for this book. I'm aware that Lowe seems like the main character from the introduction, but that is far from the truth! This book is about all of the characters and their relationships with each other because, trust, they run deep. The summary only skims the surface of the dynamics I want to explore, and that was some intense web weaving if I do say so myself.

I guess we'll start with the only main character who is actually canon to the story. Cedric Diggory is to me what Beth March is to Greta Gerwig, and the Goblet of Fire is going to highlight that. While the summary was written after his death, he is alive for the first book!!! And they obviously don't know he's going to die!!! Goblet of Fire is going to feel lighter and more expository (because it is). We'll start to see cracks and instabilities in some friendships, but post-Goblet of Fire is when I plan to really get into the meat of the characters.

Like I said before, most of the main characters aren't canon to the books, and their lives won't be either. The story will generally follow canon events, but these characters are going to seem more removed from the war at the beginning because they are—anyone who wasn't in the Golden Trio and intertwined with the war from the very beginning really was just kind of thrust into it, so that's how these characters are going to feel.

I think I'll keep the rest to myself for now...but please keep in mind while reading that these characters are not meant to be perfectly or constantly lovable! Of course, I love them, but that may just be because I'm incapable of hating any character I create no matter how evil they are. They are literally living through and fighting in a way before their brains are fully developed.

Anyway, that's all I have to say for now! As per usual, thank you so so much for clicking on this story, I hope you stick around & enjoy!

XO,
Mada