Quick note:

       Hi, hello. I haven't written Mean Spirits in a solid two years? But, recently I've been missing Emilia and idk, I sort of wanted to write her again, and to give her a nicer ending. If you guys have been reading my other stuff, I posted an AU of my older fic called Briar, which is called Clueless, and I really like the fact that I can sort of do everything in Clueless that I wished I had the balls to do in Briar. It's not so much the same here, but the point sort of stands — I wanted to return to this and make things a little... happier. Obviously not the happiest fic ever, because this is still a Sirius fic lmao, but, happier than the chapter nineteen ending.

       So real quick:

       - This is in present tense. I just... can't write in past tense anymore. Maybe the chapters before were Em looking back on what happened.

        - I haven't written this in two years, so... the writing's gonna be a little different. (A little better?? Hopefully?) And also if I forget minor details I'm sorry let me know and I'll correct them

       And finally, I present to you:

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epilogue

"TO SAVE A SALVATORE"

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PART I — NO TEARS LEFT TO CRY (1977)

       But what if it doesn't end that way? What if, instead of being sent to Azkaban, being left to rot away in the most miserable place on earth, Emilia Salvatore is allowed to walk free — it was her godfather Capulet that killed her siblings and her godmother, it was her family's treatment that gave her this magic based on emotion, and it was her godfather that triggered it, that fatal second.

       The whole house burned down, right from the moss on the roof to the cellar. The secret passageways built for the house-elves, her bedroom that overlooked the street, the small room in the cellar the house-elves inhabited. All of it was gone. Her whole life up until that point sat in the hands of those in the burning Salvatore house. She didn't know what to do with herself, as glass in the windows shattered, as the bricks began to crumble. All little Emilia Elodie could do was watch in horror, and think, they're all gone.

       She's taken to her best friend Carmilla's house, and that night Emilia cries and cries, her head resting on her best friend's lap. She wakes up late the next morning, tears dried against her cheeks, and her best friend's pyjama shorts. Em sits up, washes her face, and thinks to herself, I need to move on from this.

       And over time she does.

       Em doesn't want her life to become shadowed by this. She knows the treatment of her family was not healthy, she knows that everything that happened leading up to that night wasn't her fault — slowly this became clearer to her, the more counselling sessions she attended. Slowly, her magic becomes more manageable, too: "Often this is what happens when wizards are from backgrounds like yours," Dumbledore had told her, their first meeting when he helped her with her powers. She doesn't return to school after Christmas — it's too much, having to deal with the stares on top of everything else — but she goes back to see Dumbledore, twice a week.

       She has all of the inheritance now, so she ends up buying a pretty house in the countryside, hidden away behind blossoming trees. She still plans to return to school, maybe in September, but for now, she keeps to herself.

       She's left a lot of money and the house wasn't much, so she takes her time in decorating the whole place, head to toe. The wallpaper in the living room is white with yellow flowers, and after she puts it all up, no magic involved, she sits back on the carpet, and she feels happy. She feels proud of herself. Slowly, as the house comes together, as this beautiful house holding her soul comes together, Emilia feels so much happier.

       It's not the same happiness as before. Now, it feels carefree. There's a confidence to her cheeriness now. For the first time in her life, there's no weight behind her happiness. She's happy and that's that. No I'm happy right now but I'm also trying not to think about my godfather's last letter. No I'm happy right now but tomorrow when I go home I won't be anymore. All of it is gone, and now there's just her. Just Emilia Salvatore.

       Day by day, brick by brick, Emilia becomes more confident in herself. It's difficult not to be, when there's no one around anymore, pushing her down. She has friends that love her to the moon and back, friends that'll support her no matter what, whether it be her decision to keep her hair brown ("I don't need the blue to rebel, because I don't need to rebel against anything... I have nothing to prove.") or to wait until the next year to return properly, to school. Sure, she hasn't really spoken to Sirius for a while, but she thinks it's for the best. Just for the time being. She needs the time alone, the time to grow. No one else attached.

       When September rolls around, Emilia walks onto the Hogwarts Express, practically a new person. No longer is she the girl that sheepishly embraces her family, before walking onto the train, her head down; now, she has her head held high. She's allowed to stay in her year, not repeat her sixth year, because she continued her studies at home, and took the end of year exams to check she was at the right point for her to carry on, not have to repeat. So she has one year left of school, and then she can figure out the rest of her life, with all of the time in the world.

       There's the usual whispers, when she walks past everyone. The start of term feast is spent with everyone glancing over at Emilia, who's sitting at her friends on the Slytherin table, thinking They won't tell me off, will they? There's a level of fearlessness to her now, because she can't help but think — no teacher will tell me off, and why should this be an issue anyway? Her friends are surprised, but happy, by the change in her. Dinah says it makes Emilia hotter.

       The first day of school starts well. Emilia puts in her favourite earrings, little hoops that have a yellow gemstone hanging from them. She straightens her hair, uses her favourite lipstick, the one that makes her lips pink and glossy, and she feels happy. She isn't worried about school. She made sure, over the summer, that she would be ready for this year, reading ahead and further into different topics. She isn't nervous about what the girls in her dorm will say to her, because who even cares what they think? Life's too short to get worried about what everyone else thinks about you.

       Emilia sits in Defence Against the Dark Arts with Melanie, who tries to brush off the fact that she sat on her own, for the majority of the last school year. Emilia frowns at her. "You didn't have to keep the seat empty, Mel," she says quietly, as everyone else is arriving to the lesson. Laurel Crouch walks in with Remus Lupin; James, Sirius, and Peter are close behind.

       Melanie shrugs, and she smiles at Emilia. "Well, there's no one else I'd want to sit with," she says, shrugging. "Have you seen all these fuckers? I'd be downgrading... It would a disservice to that seat, actually, if it had you in it for so long, and then someone far worse sits there instead."

       Emilia rolls her eyes. "Melanie."

       "I knew you'd come back," says Melanie, speaking truthfully now. "So I saved the seat."

       Emilia smiles softly. "Thanks, Mel."

       "No need," says Melanie, dismissing it quickly.

       The lesson's on one of the spells Grindelwald's followers used to use. The teacher doesn't say that, but Emilia remembers her godfather using it, all of the time, saying it was something he learnt through his father, her grandfather. The spell's an awful mixture of all three Unforgiveable Curses; it kills you, it eats away at yours insides, all while someone is controlling you. Capulet used it on house-elves that misbehaved. Once he used it on Chandler, for a couple of minutes, to teach him a lesson. Emilia was only five.

       Their teacher, the same professor since their first year, an old man called Coleridge, asks them, "Does anyone know who's famous for this curse?"

       Behind her desk, Laurel raises her hand, without even thinking. So does Emilia. This time last year, she'd rather die than speak in class.

       "Uh, Miss Salvatore?"

       "Grindelwald used it," says Emilia. "It's banned in most of Europe, because of him..."

       "Exactly," says Coleridge. If anything he's impressed, that for the first time in seven years she's put her hand up to answer a question. "Now, someone put under this spell can survive, but there is a specific time frame. Would anyone like to hazard a guess?"

       "Thirteen minutes," says Emilia.

       Chandler was under for twelve.

       "And that's why it's called the Unlucky Curse," says Coleridge. "Well done, Emilia..." She smiles weakly at him.

       Melanie squeezes Emilia's hand, under the table. She knows why Emilia knows about it, or at least to this capacity. Emilia knows the others in the class will put two-and-two together — the news has reported countless times on her family's ties — but it helps, Melanie holding her hand. It's a silent I'm here for you. And it makes the momentary regressions easier to deal with.

       At the end of the lesson, Emilia stays behind, to talk to Coleridge about any extra work, any support. She did the work, sure, but she wasn't in school for six months, it's still a lot to get used to again. He speaks to her, quickly, about how he was impressed with her exam results, and he asks what she wants to do, once she leaves school. Emilia shrugs her shoulders.

       "I used to want to start up my grandmother's old business," says Emilia. "I'm not really sure, anymore."

       "Well, I think you'd do well, maybe even as an Auror," says Coleridge. "Especially since Dumbledore told me, your powers now are in check, for the most part..."

       "I'd have to think about it," says Emilia.

       "Of course, of course," says Coleridge, and he smiles. "Just a suggestion."

       Emilia walks out of the classroom. She told Melanie she can go on without her, to not worry about it, she'll meet her in the hall for dinner. The classroom door closes behind her, clicking shut, and then she hears a voice.

       "Fuck, Emilia," says Sirius.

       "Not Salvatore?" says Emilia, raising an eyebrow.

       "I didn't know if you'd want to be reminded of your family," he says, shrugging his shoulders.

       "It's fine," says Emilia. She smiles softly. "I don't need to be weighed down by my surname... Not if I don't want to."

       Sirius smiles at her. "God, I've missed you."

       "You know, I'm sorry for ending things like I did," says Emilia. "I just had too much to deal with... I needed to be on my own, for a while."

       "I don't mind," says Sirius. Emilia feels bad, for the first time in a long time she feels so guilty for how she ended things. There was no other way, she knows that, but she didn't want to hurt him... She hopes she didn't. "We can just be friends, if you want?"

       Emilia frowns. "Really?"

       "You know, Em, I just want to know you're doing all right," he says. They smile softly at each other, and part of Emilia just wants to kiss him, but she doesn't want to rush things. It won't make anything easier, rushing back into a relationship. If anything, she worries it'll make things worse.

       She smiles at him. "How have you been, then?"

       "How have I been?" says Sirius. "How have you been?"

       And they spend the evening talking. And the next evening. And slowly, over the next couple months, they're closer than they ever were. Emilia and her friends start hanging out in Gryffindor Tower, the lot of them — Lily and Laurel included — finding it funny, the initial shock of certain others, when they see the Slytherin uniforms stepping foot on Gryffindor carpet. September turns into October and October bleeds into November, and by the time December's in full swing, Christmas trees and all, Emilia has the cheesiest smile across her face, as she and Sirius leave the others, walking up the stairs to the Astronomy Tower, having figured out at Halloween that it's never locked.

       They stole some of the food from Slughorn's party, grabbing some of the cupcakes and hightailing it out of there, before anyone realised they weren't supposed to be there, in the first place. They set the cakes down, once they're at the top of the tower, and Sirius pulls Emilia towards the railing, to show her the star he's named after.

       "You know," she says, turning to him. "I never thanked you, for how nice you've been, about all of this."

       "It's nothing," says Sirius.

       Emilia shakes her head. "But it's not," she says. "I—I broke up with you. I completely ignored you, for months. And now you're so nice to me." She pauses, as she looks up at him. He has an odd look on his face, as if he's deep in thought over something. "It—It means a lot, Sirius. It really does."

       "Emilia," says Sirius.

       She nods. "Yeah?"

       "I love you," he says.

       And her heart stops.

       The candle behind them goes out, Emilia's magic apparently reacting to her own surprise. Emilia looks at Sirius, frozen in a state of shock, and he looks a little sheepish, for coming out with it, just like that. Her lips part.

       How didn't she pick up the signs? The past couple of months? The way she's felt even happier, when she's around him? She doesn't.... know if it's love, she doesn't know if she loves him, but she knows she still wants to be with him.

       So Emilia steps forwards, her hands resting on his chest. And, without a word, she kisses him, softly. She can feel her heart beating fast, as if she's never kissed him before — but then there's this sort of familiarity, everything about it. The way that Emilia runs her fingers through his hair, the way he rests his hands on her waist, her hips, her back. She's missed this, so much.

       They pull apart. Emilia smiles softly. "I don't know if I—"

       "That's fine, Em, I understand," says Sirius. "You went through a lot."

       "You did, too," she says.

       "Not the same as you," says Sirius. "But — I wanna be with you, again."

       "I do, too," says Emilia. She smiles again. "God, Dinah's gonna have a field day when she finds this out—"

       Sirius grins. "Wait until you see Prongs next term."

       Emilia laughs. Her heart feels as if it's gotten warmer. Everything feels as if it's fitting into place now. Everything's going to be OK.

PART II — MIA BLACK (1979)

       And everything is fine — or at least for a while it was. For a couple of years, everything was going to be fine. There was a war, yeah, but they were going to live through. Emilia's filled with this sense of hope, that it'll all work out. Everything will be fine. She knows this. Emilia has gone through enough to know that everything will turn out OK in the end. It always does, at the end.

       The year is 1980, two years after they finished school. For the first year they don't live together — or at least they don't technically, but Sirius spends most nights at Emilia's little house with the blossoming flowers, and once James announces that he's got to move out, to move in with Lily, Sirius moves in full-time. And everything is fine.

       Everything isn't just fine, it's great. It's amazing. Both of them join the Order, as do the rest of their friends. Emilia ends up becoming a Healer, specialising in children. She's still training, but she's enjoying the work. She never thought this would be where she'd settle down, but she enjoys it. She enjoys looking after children. She enjoys going home, where her boyfriend's made them dinner, having sent her three letters throughout the day, telling her how superior this spaghetti is going to be.

       "I'm home!" says Emilia, Apparating into the hallway. She puts her bag down on the bench next to the front door, where she always leaves it. Sirius greets her, kissing her. She raises an eyebrow, noticing the excited grin across his face. "How good is this spaghetti supposed to be?"

       "Just wait," says Sirius. "But I've got a surprise for you."

       Emilia wiggles her eyebrows. "Dessert?"

       "Just as exciting," says Sirius.

       Emilia narrows her eyes. "Garlic bread?"

       "No," says Sirius.

       "Well now I'm gonna be disappointed, nothing compares to garlic bread," says Emilia, laughing. Sirius is smiling still — no, beaming. "What is it, then? I'm out of guesses."

       Sirius takes her hand, and walks her into the living room. Emilia's smiling at him, completely confused but smiling still. If anything this is making her excited, anticipating God knows what he's so happy about. She knows it'll be something small, but still. It's nice to get excited over the small things.

       He sits her down on the sofa, and he kneels in front of her.

       Emilia frowns. "What are you—?"

       And then he takes out a ring box.

       Emilia's jaw drops.

       Sirius looks up at her.

       "Emilia Salvatore, will you marry me?"

       Emilia, without a second thought, throws herself onto him, kissing him. She nods, and she pulls away from him. "Yes!" she says. He grins at her, and she can't stop smiling. Quickly she has a thought. "You made me think you bought fucking garlic bread, but you were gonna propose? What the fuck?"

       Sirius grins, and she gives him her hand. He puts the ring on her, a pretty diamond twinkling under the light. "I actually bought garlic bread," he says. "And dessert, but they weren't the main surprise, so."

       "You're amazing," says Emilia, smiling brightly. He kisses her.

       And things are amazing. Everything is fine. Soon they get married, in the pretty little church near their house, and Emilia feels as if nothing can go wrong... That feeling starts to dwindle, soon afterwards...

       Melanie's the one that dies first, the result of a curse that no one knows how she got, but it's suspected it was from a Death Eater. Blood turned to poison. She was dead within minutes.

       The next is Carmilla. She tried to hide, actually. She and her fiancé, the muggle boy she's always loved, were found dead in their home on New Years' Day. Muggles living around them claimed there was a skull in the air.

       Finally there's Dinah. She was the Secret Keeper; they kidnapped her and tried to get her to talk, but when they realised there was no use, they tortured her, killed her. They dragged it out for as long as possible, just because they were pissed off. Emilia thinks it's because, at one point, they thought she was going to join them. So they made sure the final death hurt.

       And it did. Emilia could've sworn she cried for a full week. All of her friends had been murdered, one by one. It was different, to when she saw her family dead. Her best friends had all been there for her, all helped her, all supported her. She lost three pieces of herself when they became names on graves.

       It was soon after Dinah's death that Emilia grew sick, and the realisation hit her. It's not long until Sirius gets back from the Order meeting, and she sits him down in the living room, like he had done with her, and her eyes are filled with tears as she tells him, "I'm pregnant."

       Sirius doesn't throw himself onto her, not like she had done, but he embraces her in the warmest hug imaginable, and she bursts into tears. He tells her how great of a mother she's going to be, how excited he is, how they're going to get through this war, for this child of theirs.

       Their daughter Mia is born eight months later, a few months after Remus and Laurel's daughter Briar. For the whole pregnancy Emilia and Sirius didn't know what to name their child — what to name their daughter, when they found out they were having a girl. Every so often they'd suggest the name of a loved one, maybe, but that suggestion becomes a sad one when you're in their position. Which loved one? They went through baby books, everything.

       And then it happened. 

       Emilia, to say the least, was on a lot of medicine when she went into labour. Everything under the sun to make it less painful, Emilia had in her system. And when she was given her little girl, she had a thought.

         Isn't weird, how it's so common for men to name their sons after themselves? Isn't it weird, how that's so normal? It's bizarre. Why don't women do that, with their daughters?

       And then Emilia turns to Sirius.

       "Let's call her Mia," she says. "Short for Emilia."

       Sirius grins at her, kissing her forehead. "Fuck, Salvatore."

       "Black," she corrects him, smiling warmly.

       And Sirius takes a hold of little baby Mia, already the most beautiful little girl Emilia's ever seen. Emilia, that first day, can't believe how much love she's consumed with — if anything it upsets her, thinking how on earth her own mother ever even left her, because Emilia would rather die than see anything bad happen to her little girl. Little baby Mia is Emilia's world, just like that.

PART III — FINE, FINE, FINE (1981)

       Everything is going to be fine. That's what Sirius tells Emilia, on the night he never returns from, as she stands in the upstairs hallway, arms crossed. He goes into Mia's room, to kiss her forehead, and he reassures Emilia again. Everything is going to be fine. Emilia can feel dread growing in her stomach, and she frowns at her husband.

       "I don't want you to go," she says. "I have a bad feeling about this..."

       "Everything's gonna be fine, Em," Sirius tells him.

       He puts his hands on her arms, and she looks up at him, frowning.

       "I love you," she says, softly.

       "Don't say that," says Sirius. "I'll be back, all right?" 

       Emilia nods. "OK."

       She watches him leave their house, and she sits at the foot of the staircase, too worried to go to sleep. She sits in the living room for a while, in the armchair she was in when he proposed, when he found out they were having a baby. Eventually she goes upstairs, to sleep, but she doesn't sleep well. She doesn't know what to do with herself.

       She's worried senseless. She can't lose someone else. She's lost her entire group of friends. Sure, she's become friends with Lily and Laurel over the years, but it's not the same. It's not the friends that the Death Eaters murdered. She doesn't know what she's going to do, if she loses Sirius as well.

       By the time morning arrives, Emilia is upstairs, looking after Mia. She's two years old now; she's the light of Emilia's life. Emilia gets Mia dressed for the day, a sunflower yellow dress with tights. She helps Mia climb down the stairs, Mia's little hands holding onto the railing as she takes one step at a time. Emilia sits Mia in the dining room, as she makes her breakfast.

       Then the doorbell goes.

       Emilia already knows it's going to be bad. Sirius wouldn't ring the doorbell, would he, he'd just walk in. He lives here. So if it's not Sirius...

       She opens the door, and Remus looks at her, upset.

       Emilia can barely get the words out. "What happened?"

       "He told You-Know-Who where James and Lily are," says Remus. He steps into the hallway, closing the door behind himself. Neither of them go into the kitchen, already able to hear Mia talking to herself. "Were, I mean."

       Emilia's stomach drops. "They're dead?"

       Remus nods. There are already tears in his eyes.

       "What about Harry?" she asks quietly.

       "He's with Lily's sister," says Remus.

       "Sirius couldn't have told him," says Emilia. "He wouldn't..." She ignores how oddly he's been acting weirdly, how for months he was convinced Remus was with the Death Eaters. Emilia shakes her head at Remus, tears falling down her face. "He wouldn't have..."

       Remus hugs Emilia, as she bursts into tears.

       She's lost him, too.

       "Mummy!" says Mia. "Mummy—!"

       Emilia steps back from Remus, and she wipes her tears. "You can, um, come in, if you want," she says, and she walks into the kitchen, where Mia is. Mia smiles brightly at Emilia, and says that she wants more drink, and Emilia sorts it out, as Remus makes Emilia a cup of tea, knowing his way around from when he's visited before.

       "They're taking him straight to Azkaban?" says Emilia, quiet enough that Mia won't pick up on it. Mia doesn't know what Azkaban is, anyway, but Emilia feels better, trying to keep it quiet from her.

       Remus nods. "I'm sorry, Emilia..."

       "I told him not to go," says Emilia. "I told him..."

       "Well if he is—"

       "I did not marry a Death Eater, Remus," says Emilia.

       "I'm sorry," he says quietly.

       After a while Remus leaves her, to go back to his family. Emilia sits down next to Mia, who's now playing in the living room, and Emilia can't help but cry.

       "Mummy," says Mia, confused. She sits on Emilia's lap, trying to hug her.

       Emilia holds Mia in her arms, and she forces herself to smile at her. "I love you so much, Mia," she says softly.

       And Emilia holds her daughter in her arms, her heart the heaviest it's ever been. She hugs her daughter and she thinks to herself, everything has to be fine. Emilia can't stay upset over this, she has to get through this, she has to make sure that everything's fine for her little girl. Emilia needs to get through this, for Mia's sake.

       Everything is going to be fine.

PART IV — MOST NOBLE (1994)

Introducing Naomi Scott as Mia Black

       The men in black stood outside. Colourful fabrics didn't peep out from pockets of jackets, but rather, hoods covered their faces, their wands hidden underneath their sleeve, ready to attack at any given moment. Men that hadn't been seen alive, or outside of an Azkaban prison cell for decades, stood around, looking around at the insides of Rupert Salvatore's home.

       The house is big. It's large, and arrogant enough to be named a manor, or anything equally cocky, and it's certainly enough to resemble a home taken over by the National Trust. Like, the ones with hidden hallways and priest holes market to the capitalistic tourist as "haunted," the ones with a chair you absolutely cannot sit on, because apparently once when Shakespeare was still alive, Queen Elizabeth I sat on it.

       Upstairs, someone that used to be a Salvatore has her gaze fixed on her own reflection. The candles next to her are lit, but the flames are still. She doesn't want to risk them flickering out, or perhaps worse, and getting herself into anything worse.

       "Little Emilia Elodie..." says an awful screech of a voice. Peter, her husband's old friend, pulls back the cloth, and Emilia sees it — Voldemort, now just a small, horrific-looking creature. She almost steps back, she's that taken aback by it. But she doesn't, she doesn't flinch, she doesn't show she's scared. She's learnt, over the years, how to hide her emotions.

       "You were supposed to be one of my followers... There is no need to be scared, Emilia... As long as you follow my word, your daughter will face no harm..."

       Everything will be fine, Emilia tells herself, even though she feels as if the world is falling part. Everything will be fine, she tells herself, as she leaves Voldemort and Peter and Barty Crouch Jr. in her grandfather's home, the old muggle caretaker dead on the staircase. Everything will be fine, she tells herself, as she picks her daughter up from Kings Cross, having finished her fourth year at Hogwarts, as Mia says goodbye to her best friend Cedric. Everything will be fine, she tells herself, as Mia grins up at her, and begins to tell her how she met Dad last night...

       Everything will be fine, as they get home, to their pretty house with the blossoming flowers, and there he is, Sirius, sitting at the bottom step like she had done when he first left. Mia runs into Sirius' arms, launching herself onto her father, and as Mia leaves the hallway, to put her trunk upstairs, Sirius turns to Emilia. She can't even react like she wants to.

       "I should've told you sooner, I'm so sorry, I didn't want them to hurt you..."

       Emilia begins to cry. Sirius hugs her.

       "I'm so sorry, Em," Sirius says.

       Emilia shakes her head. "It's not that."

       "Then what is it?"

       And, upstairs, Mia Black is standing ever so still, on the part of the landing where you can't be seen from the ground floor. Her parents' voices become quiet, and she knows they're still talking, but she can't hear a word of it. Mia's brows furrow. What's going on...?

       "Everything's going to be fine," says her mum.

       Everything's going to be fine...?

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to continue in "most noble"

coming soon...

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me: oh i'll just write a short lil epilogue

me: writes 5000 words