CHAPTER THREE
↳ are we in narnia?

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The rays of the early July sunrise burnt golden on the group as they trudged through the forest, feet screaming at the ground. Elara knew this forest all too well. From the sweet willow that's branches hung loosely in the middle of the forest, from the orchard that waved beautifully, revealing the dark shadows to them, she recognised every path she trudged through. Possibly, she had been down this path a thousand times before, but she always found something new to be fascinated by.

"Elara, where are we even going?" Cedric whined, his feet scrapping the ground and yawning in exhaustion. "I'm so tired!" He complained.

Daphne hit his shoulder. "That's what you get for drinking all of Mr Lupin's coffee at one in the morning,"

"I'll have you know that his coffee was more exquisite than a first class meal on the
Titanic,"

Morgan sighed besides him. "I should've known teaching him about Titanic food would've backfired,"

Elara turned around, still walking forwards ( or well backwards now that she was facing Cedric ). "Stop being a whiny twat I told you we're going-" she was cut off by her foot accidentally breaking off a rock and rolling down the hill. She shrieked as she fell down, luckily not hitting her head and instead dropping into a pool of water. Cedric, Morgan, Gaia, Lois, Daphne and Wisteria all held hands as they quickly followed where she had fallen, right behind a bush of vines.

Brushing the vines away from their faces, a large blue lake, glistening in the sun came to sight, no Elara anywhere.

"Shit shit shit," Cedric mumbled over and over again and then started calling her name.

Wisteria, however, was peering into the water where a murky figure laid. "U-Um C-Ced?"

"What is it Wis?"

SPLASH!

Water erupted and drenched Cedric Diggory. Elara's head popped out, her hair flattened due to it being soaked and her clothes see through. Everyone laughed at the sight of Cedric's dripping body. He glared at Elara, shivering lightly. "Don't be dramatic, it's only water," she splashed at him more, soaking him further.

Shaking his head, he decided to live a little and dug his whole hand under the water and splashed a huge amount of water at her. She screamed out in zeal, falling back as she slowly began stepping into the lake. The two continued to fight in the water, that was until Morgan and Gaia were drenched.

Gaia brushed a lock of her braid out of her face, smirked and began taking her shirt off, leaving her in her grey bra. "You're gonna get it now," she jumped in, immediately swimming towards Elara as the younger girl began swimming away. The two were in a water fight, Elara losing as Gaia began shoving her playfully.

For a moment, everything was peaceful and the birds sang and pranced. Elara felt like she was in Narnia. Perhaps this was Narnia. She imagined it must've been this beautiful, serene. The water was benevolent, that must've been how it was in Narnia, "Are we in Narnia?" She asked dreamily, laying on her back as she floated in the water peacefully, her curly hair gliding in the water. Wisteria had also gotten in, having removed her t-shirt and just wearing her small training bra and shorts.

"No, Elara," Cedric deadpanned. "You found a secret pathway to a lake, that isn't Narnia, whatever it is,"

Elara splashed him, causing him to fall back into the water. "Don't be a sour pus," she turned to where the edge of the lake was. Lois and Morgan both still standing there, dry as can be. "Come on you two!" She waved at them. Before Morgan could answer, Lois pushed him into the water, however he took her with him, causing her to shriek as they both fell in.

"You son of a bitch!"

"You realise you're insulting mum?"

Lois shrugged. "Who cares?" She pulled Morgan down, dunking him. The two continued to bicker, until Cedric swam towards them, grabbing onto Morgan.

"Want to jump from a tree?" He smirked and the two climbed out the lake, walking, hand in hand, to the tallest tree to climb.

"I say we rate their dives," Daphne chimed, swimming further away from the edge of the tree.

Nervous, Wisteria said, "Are we sure no muggles will see us?"

Eyes closed and majority of her body sunk deep in the murky blue water, Elara peacefully sighed out. "Who cares? We aren't even using magic and there's a reason why we chose to live here," shrugging as well, Wisteria decided to relax and began trying to float on her back, constantly falling down as she tried so.

"Okay! Okay!" Lois clapped her hands gaining attention. "Judges of these pathetic baboons watch and see two gays flop into the water," Morgan pulled the middle finger at her and Cedric laughed, trying his best not to slip. "Ready, steady-"

"DO A FLIP!" Daphne cheered, arms flinging up enthusiastically and soon enough, Cedric flipped into the water, causing everyone to scream out as water splotched everywhere.

As Cedric rose from the water, water dripping down his face, everyone laughed and rated it. "Weak, a five," Lois said, her voice monotone as Cedric choked out incoherently.

"Six,"

"Seven,"

"Five,"

"Nine!" Wisteria said, enthusiastically. She couldn't give him a bad score, she thought he did pretty well.

"And, drum roll please," everyone began patting their thighs as Lois counted with her fingers, adding up the score. "That brings your total to an impeccable... I don't care," Elara knew it was because she couldn't do math. "MORGAN DIVE LIKE YOU'RE ON THE TITANIC OR ELSE I'LL MAKE SURE TO EAT ALL YOUR HARIBOS!"

"DON'T YOU FUCKING EAT MY HARIBOS!"

"DO A FLIP AND MAYBE I WON'T EAT THEM!" She turned to the girls and in a hushed voice said, "I've already eaten them," And with a large splash, Morgan dived in, head first. Lois yawned, shaking her head. "I'm not even going to ask for a score, ladies that sucked," resurfacing behind her, he pulled her into the water, Lois screaming as she fell in.

"That's... for being a bitch," he heaved out as he coughed out some water.

She spat the water at his face. "Do it again, I fucking dare you," she threw water at his face and soon the whole group were having one massive water fight. Grabbing onto Elara, Cedric put her on his shoulders and Morgan grabbed onto Daphne, who was pretty short and quite slim. The two began wrestling playfully, legs held by the two boys as they giggled in enjoyment as they both collapsed back into the water. Lois was helping Wisteria do a handstand in the water and Gaia was busy splashing Lois every few seconds, the brown skinned girl turning towards her playfully angrily as her girlfriend finally let loose and had some fun.

Everyone seemed normal. Just a bunch of teens and a pre-teen. It was as though Elara and everyone weren't magical people, capable of gifts so extraordinary. It felt as though they were all one big happy family that no one could break apart.

Just one big happy family; bonds unscathed even by fates cruel punishments.

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When the night finally cracked and the sun's gold was replaced by the stars, all the group crashed in Elara's room. Elara slept on her bed, Wisteria sleeping at the foot of her bed as she was so short and then everyone else laying on the ground, as comfy as they can be. The night grew colder and Elara tossed and turned in her sleep, breathing heavily as she dreamt once more about the horrors of the shattering green light and voided grey eyes.

Once again, Elara shot up, breathing heavily and her hands shaking horribly. She couldn't think for a moment. Her mind seemingly froze and proceeded to go blank as she tried to clear it of all her pains and worries. She turned to look to Cedric, who was sleeping directly next to her bed, praying to see his alive state, peacefully asleep.

Only, Elara blinked and saw his empty voided eyes glaring up at her, screaming at her. Blaming her.

WHY? They yelled furiously. WHY? WHY WERE YOU SELFISH? WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN US?

WHY?

WHY?

WHY?

I CAN'T! Elara tried to scream back. She wanted so badly to close his screaming eyes that broke her down. I'M SORRY!

But no apology would erase death.

No apology would stop fate's cruel punishments.

No screams left her gaping mouth, an invisible necklace choking her as she tried to yell in horror as his eyes continued punishing her. Her mind was drowning under water, being pulled further and further down, sinking deeper and deeper into pain and anxiety. Shakily, she managed to press her hand against her mouth and stifled a cry. She held back from waking him up, fearful that maybe he was dead.

However, when she blinked again, her eyes watered and she saw his still body, eyes now closed and his expression peaceful. No longer did his eyes glare at her and blame her. Instead they remained closed, a soft smile on his face as Morgan's arms wrapped around his waist.

Elara felt cold as she laid her head down on her pillow and stared up at her ceiling. Was what she seeing really a reality? Was Cedric really going to die? Why? Elara's mind searched back to what her Divination asked her when she took her exam in June.

"Your aura reminds me of a seer that passed a little over a decade ago. Are you perhaps related to any seers?"

Was she? She knew a little about her mum, from the letters she had read that were addressed to her parents, months before she was born.

Dear Rem,
Me and Xavier are expecting! How exciting! I hope they're a girl, a little darling daughter to dress up and read bedtime stories to.

I'm betting my life he'll be a little rascal, 100% it's a baby Xavier. Was written in scrawny handwriting, contrasting to her mother's elegant cursive handwriting. She knew her father must've written it.

Dear Siri,
I'm still in need of baby names. Bless, Xav wants her middle name to be Lily, after Lil, or Juliet, after that Muggle play he loves a lot. I don't know, we want Rem to be in our baby's name somehow. Some moons do have pretty names. When she's born ( little poppet's very eager ), I'm sure Uncle Padfoot and Moony will have the best name picked for their little poppet.

Her birth mother's letters never suggested anything about any seer stuff. Her mother just seemed to be a giddy soon to be mum that didn't make it past day one. Closing her eyes, she could only envision about her mum and dad. She had never met them properly, never listened to their voices or even gazed into their eyes, but she still could only imagine. She knew what they looked like, but that was when they were young. She wondered what her mum's favourite flower was, whether her dad liked to play any instruments. She imagined how they would greet her, their baby.

Unconsciously, her hand slipped up and grasped her locket as she thought more and more about her family. She did not sob, nor scream, she instead allowed tears to fall down her cheeks as her body laid still compared to how tangled her mind was. She didn't wipe her tears, she didn't deserve to wipe them away, not when she remained silent on what she was imagining.

She didn't deserve to fall into a peaceful slumber that she would awaken from.

She didn't deserve it, because, she knew that one day Cedric's going to fall asleep and never wake up. She knew she had the privilege to actually wake up, soon he'd lose that privilege and he'd always be trapped in his mind, no longer accompanying his vessel and instead forever a wandering soul.

For a moment, she tried tricking herself into believing this was all just a bad dream. But something about the fact her skin was so badly pinched told her she was, in fact awake. But how would this all come true? Dreams held meanings, these meaning related to the future. Dreams of someone dying represent a change coming, the feeling she got told her that this change was evolving from his demise.

She had dreamt his death twice already, dreams don't happen twice, this was a premonition, she was convinced.

Elara's mind remained an astronomer, trying to pinpoint all the stars there were in the ever growing darkness that corrupted the absence of her thoughts. Her mind searched and searched, begged and begged, for the stars she so desperately required, the answers she wanted to scream. Bullets of guilt and blame penetrated her soul as she tried scratching out coherent words to even fathom that she was witnessing the possibility of her best friend's death.

Cedric's life was an hour glass, the sands slowly draining and soon those sands would never appear again and Elara was being forced to watch as that hour glass drained, forced to watch for all his remaining time, unable to scream as those specks of sand choked her.

All she could do was watch and cry and blame, because that was all she was capable of doing and Elara Lily Lupin hated that, she hated it with a fiery passion that scorched her for all eternity, until all the stars burnt out and left her in darkness for the rest of her days, incapable of lighting back up, even with all her fiery passion.

And soon, Elara Lily Lupin's eyes shut again, falling into another dreamless sleep as she remained cursed to never tell a single soul of her vision and forced to suffer in the loud silence as she watched as a life's hour glass ticked away, her hand allowing the sand to slip through its cracks and drain away, incapable of stopping it.

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FIRST OFF THANK YOU ALL FOR 16K- AH IM SO HAPPY-

I LOVE YOU ALL-

ALSO- POOR ELARA- THE FUTURE IS A REAL BITCH ISN'T SHE?

LOIS AND MORGAN'S SIBLING RELATIONSHIP >>>>>>>>>

Cedric, my poor bean- elara hating herself for being incapable of preventing death.

A L S O
I'M GOING BACK ON THURSDAY- YIKES
SO THAT MEANS LESS FREQUENT UPDATES- SORRY ABOUT THAT-
I'LL TRY AND UPDATE ONCE A WEEK OR SO, MAYBE MORE WITH THIS ACT
BUT GOF ACT IS GONNA TAKE ITS SWEET ASS TIME BECAUSE I HAVE TO EDIT AND SHIT LIKE THAT ETC- ANYWAYS ENJOY

next, I want to highlight something important, if you get uncomfortable at this mention, please close the chapter and I hope you enjoyed and are well:

tw : assault and violence mentions

okay so in the UK, a woman was found dead. Her name was Sarah Everard. Now you don't have to know her personally to care, so I'm here to explain the situation.

The murder suspect Wayne Couzens is suspected to have murdered Sarah.

She did everything women are told to do to protect themselves: She walked in front of camera, wore bright colours so that she stood out and could be identified if needed, didn't wear high heels so she could run if she needed to, called her boyfriend so he knew where she was and if she was okay and tried her best to stay safe.

Yet doing that stuff didn't protect her.

Women face so much sexual harassment. 97% of women to be precise. This, however, isn't an issue between men and women, this is an issue with people and predators. We aren't blaming men, we are blaming predators.

I'm fifteen years old and I worry about my safety. I shouldn't have to worry. No one should have to worry. A middle aged woman shouldn't worry, a woman who's just starting her career shouldn't worry, a man shouldn't worry, NO ONE SHOULD FEAR GOING OUT ALONE !!!!!

Sarah Everard should be alive today.

A police officer is being accused of her murder, yet they're supposed to protect us. why did this happen? why can't we have better background checks on police? why can't we have regular mental health evaluations on them?

why are predators the people who are supposed to be helping us stay safe from the predators?

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON'T BE SILENT ON THIS ISSUE- this isn't a UK problem, this is a worldwide issue that needs to be addressed. Violence people face on the streets needs to be something we are aware on.