Everything feels strange as of late.

Truth be told, Winnie Buldstrode doesn't quite know what to make of her mother's visit. Her chest still tightened with every thought about that day, shame burned on her tongue at the very thought of how weak she had succumbed to. She had weeped in front of the women who held her at arms length for so long, all she ever wanted was her mothers love, but she isn't sure if she would even call that love. Love shouldn't hurt.

While Harry had been a constant string tied to her hip since that day, always speaking unspoken words of truth and comfort to her, it wasn't even enough to cure the confusion and hurt in her brain.

What was the point of her mother calling her to be there? All of it for nothing, Winnie still knew very little and the very thought burned her.

It was the very reason why she found herself at Hogsmeade once more, this time she sat in a much cleaner, warmer booth in the Three Broomsticks. An odd ray of sunshine blessed the outside world that day, the air still nipped unforgivingly on the faces of passers by. Winter still holding it's grips even as the snow had started to melt into a pile of brown mush, peads of dead grass picking up below the mess. Spineless trees shook in the wind, shivering without it's coat to keep them warm.

Winnie's hazel eyes stayed glued to the outside world, a buttebeer warming her hands as she watched people trickle by. It was an Hogsmeade trip that day, making many groups of student huddle together and giggle with sweets from Honeydukes. The sight made her crave the jumbo sour keys, causing her to make a mental note to stop by before she left to meet Harry at the Weasley's store.

Her eyes caught onto a flock of green, eyes narrowing as a familiar silver haired boy came into set. His shoulders tightly pressed against Theo's, and while her heart threated to squeeze painfully just as it always did at the sight of the boy, she steaded her gaze away. She did not need to know what they were playing at, the duo that one could believe were always best friends.

She knew better, and the very thought brought on an idea so cruel she found herself squeezing her glass tightly.

Draco Malfoy had not mentioned if Theo had taken the mark as well, but the close proximity Theo had to both Draco and Cordelia didn't leave much up to the imagination. Which still unfortunately didn't comfort her, if he did have the mark, why wouldn't Draco tell her? The prat didn't owe her anything, but surely he would've loved to rub it in her face.

'Winnie, apologies for being late. Padfoot keep begging me to bring him," Remus sighed, though a grin chastised his lips as Winnie felt a grin of her own twist onto her lips. WInnie had wrote to Remus nearly an hour after she had calmed down from seeing her mother. Remus may not be related by blood, but she needed him, needed the comfort of a parent that she knew would never look at her with disappointment and would never hurt her.

"Of course he did," Winnie laughed lightly, imagining Sirius in his velvet robe begging to come as Remus tried to leave their little home. A smile stayed fastened onto her face as she stood, allowing herself to be pulled into a hug by the male. Winnie quickly found she often overlooked hugs.

A smell that solemnly reminded her of late summer nights occupied by curling up and reading book with Remus beside her, some muggle music playing or a muggle film playing for Sirius. Nights full of hot chocolate and baked goods from her days when she could do nothing but bakes. Rare nights where they laughed amongst each other, and those nights when Harry was allowed to stay for awhile, joining in on the comfort bubble they grew to have. It was home, it was familiarity that she yearned for.

Her arms tightened around Remus' neck, taking in breaths of chocolate and earthy scent that was completely Remus. His own arms tighetned around her back, her eyes squeezing shut as her fingers gripped the wooly fabric of his cardigan. Winnie felt his lips kiss the side of her face where scarrs danced around the pale of her skin, gentle and protective as he let go.

Her body felt waitless as she sat down once more, she had missed him dearly. Distant and time was such an atrocious killer of her heart and she dispeased it greatly. As Remus' sat across from her, she took this time to look over him. His face was gaunt, hollowed out and a fresh bruise kissed the curve of his left cheek. Dull hazel eyes greeted her as a smile twisted its way onto his face, a tiredness followed his every movement. Winnie surely did not miss the wince that left his lips as his side nudged the side of the table ever so slightly.

"You look dreadful," Winnie frowned, even as a laugh stifled from Remus' lips.

"Just as kind as always," Remus chastised, causing a flush to kiss her cheeks as she pursed her lips. Dragging her arams over her chest, as Remus glanced around, before muttering a Silencio around their table. "Dumbledore has me going undercover in werewolf dens, 'fraid it's making me look dreadful, as you said." Winnie's eyes knitted into a glare at his words, while Remus simply toyed with a loose string in his sleeve.

"That's insane! You could get hurt I-"

"You-Know-Who tried to recruit werewolves to his side last time, he very well could try again. I need to try, and Dumbledore saw-"

"I'm a werewolf, I could help," the words tasted bitter on her tongue as Remus frowned, shaking his head as if the thought was erased the very moment she spoke.

"You are a child, you will not be putting your life in dang-"

"You were a child too!" She argued, and though Winnie had very little interest in spending time in a werewolf den, she could not deny the fact that she hated the idea of Remus putting his self in danger all the same. A panic rissen in her chest and her throat constricted with every swallow. "I just-" she paused licking her lips as she chewed slightly on the inside of her cheek before continuing. "You are all I have left. You're the only parent I have, I don't know what I'd do if you were gone too," her voice was weak, a meer volume of a whisper as Remus' frowned. His calloused hands reaching over for her wrist, holding them in his hands tightly.

"I have no intention of leaving you alone, not now or ever. I swear it," Remus promised, and though she has heard those words many times before, they have each been a lie. But her hands squeezed back against Remus' own wrist and nodded, call her naive, but self presevation was never her sharpest skill. Winnie found herself unable to do anything but believe him, she had to.

"Fine, I still don't like it," she grumbled, wrinkling her nose as she sat back in her chair. Remus snorted, leaning back against his own chair as he shrugged, as if they simply had no say in it. Which she supposed they didn't, especially given it came from Dumbledore himself.

"Now what is it that you needed to tell me? You sounded awfully urgent in your letter," Remus questioned, eyes glued onto her as Winnie's frown deepened. Her eyes floating towards the window, watching tiny groups of third year students huddle together outside of Honeydukes, jumping up and down with excitement. It was such a bitter sight, reminding her of her first ever Hogsmeade trip. Corderlia and her had bought so many sweets their teeth were surely meant to rot out of her head.

Winnie tore her eyes away, swallowing bitterness as she blinked. That was nearly years ago, when they were both different people, when the world was torn between a raging psychopath. Before Cordelia took the mark and regrettably never told her.

"I saw my mother," Winnie started, starling Remus as the male straightened. "She wrote me letter asking to meet at Hogs Head the first of March, told me she had things to tell me, things I didn't understand." Her voice was clipped as she stared at the dying foam of her drink, her finger traced through a circle of condensation on the wooden table. "Which she didn't by the way, she just brought me to this stuffy abandoned library which had me sneezing for days afterwards by the way."

"You... you went somewhere with her alone?" Remus' voice was strained, eyes glaring at her with disappointment. This, however, she could handle. She recgonzied this look from when she almost burned down the kitchen last summer, causing her face to flush as she pressed her lips into a line.

"Well, I didn't intend to! Harry was with-"

"You brought Harry with you and not me?" Remus barked as Winnie flinced. Eyes squeezing shut as she dragged out a heavy breath. "You both could've been killed! Your mother has done nothing but terrioze you your entire life. What were you thinking?" In moments like this, Winnie often wished she never had met Remus Lupin, for then he would've never felt the urge to take her under his wing like a parent. It would save her from twitching in under his galre, would save from wringing her hands tirelessly.

'"I know all that!" She argued, opening her mouth to speak again as Remus shook his head, dragging a hand down over his worn, scarred face.

"Bloody hell, you're infuriating sometimes," Remus mumbled as Winnie's mouth open.

"Oi!" The girl argued, offended as Remus snorted, shaking his head. "She told me she had things o trell me. She said that she had no idea about the attack and I-" WInnie paused breathing in deeply as she twiisted her ring against her finger. "Some stupid part of me wanted to believe that loved me, that she truly cared for me somewhere."

Remus' face flattered, his gaze softening as he nodded. A trickle of understanding engulfing his features. 'Did she tell you anything?" He questioned, voice much softer now as Winnie fell back against her chair, brushing her finger agianst the side of her glass.

"No," she muttered, defeated and ignoring the eye roll Remus' offered. "She just told me she'd see me soon, whatever the bloody hell that meant."

"You're not seeing her again without me present, do we understand each other?" A place of authority reached her ears as she glanced up at him, his eyes staring coldy at her, while she wanted to argue that was perfectly capable of handling herself, she found herself nodding begrudidly.

"Fine," she mumbled, once again ignoring the satisfied nod he gave her as the bell above the door rang. Winnie's eyes trickled to the front door just as her finger froze it's tracing against the rigid edges of her glass.

Theo Nott and Draco malfoy strolled into the pub, eyes guarded as she glanced around the room. Winnie stiffened, findin her body sitting straighter as Theo's eyes clashed with her own. The glazed over appearance to his green eyes made her chest constrict, still, despite being seemingly near a friend, he was occluding. It seemed as of late he lived in that dull state, tearing apart every part of him she loved.

Blinking, she glanced away, swallowing thickly as she stared down at the golden liquid of Butterbeer. Her hand wrapping around the glass as she chugged the remains down, wiping at her mouth with the sleeve of her jumper. By the time she glanced back at the front door, the pair was gone. Disappearing among the crowd in the pub, sitting somewhere out of sight, which was a small blessing she was grateful for,

"What happened?" Remus' questioned quietly, drawing her attention to him. He had tilted his chin downwards to catch her eyes, a frown piercing his lips while a softness grew in his eyes. Winnie swallowed thickly, tapping her fingers against her class. Last thing Remus knew about Theo was that Winnie was going to profess her love for him like some cheesy muggle romance novel.

"Draco Malfoy and Cordelia took the mark," she admitted, voice barley a whisper despite the fact that the silencing charm still floated temporailry around them. Remus' eyes blinked, his mouth falling shortly as Winnie twisted her lips into a line. "I saw it with my own eyes, Dracos' anyways. But he told me so anyway."

"Why would he tell you?" Remus quetsioned, eyebrow raised slightly as Winnie snorted.

"I suspect he just wanted to see me hurt," WInnie didn't bother to mention that she saved his life that day, Remus hardly needed all the details. Though she watched as he stared at the table, eyebrows knitted together. "I haven't told Harry," she admitted quietly, "I've only told you." Remus was quiet for a moment, mulling over her words as she sat with her back presse dto the uncomfortable wood behind her.

"It's probably for the best that you don't tell him yet," Remus admitted quietly, causing her eyebrow to raise slightly. "He's dealing with enough as it is, he doens't need anything else." While Winnie couldn't help agree, she also couldn't shake the feeling of guilt that ate at her heart. Winnie nodded anyway, not having it in her to argue against that, not when she saw how defeated the raven haired boy looked everyday. "Do you think Nott has one too/" Remus' questioned, seemingly remember the way her eyes darted away from the boy when he walked in.

"I don't see how he could not," she sighed, despite the words tasting bitter on her tongue. "Theo spends almost everyday with them lately, his father was one. I hardly see how he couldn't be," she admitted, watching as Remus nodded, pressing his lips into a line.

"But Malfoy didn't tell you?" He quetsioned, tilting his head to the side as the female swallowed shaking her head. "Wouldn't he have told you? He told you of himself and Cordelia, what makes Theo different?"

"I-I don't know," she sighed, running a hand through her blonde hair, grumbling as her finger snagged onto a tangle. "I just have this feeling. You don't understand, I know Theo, and that..." she paused, pressing her lips into a line. "There is something wrong. He cut me out, he... he's marrying my sister. Last year he wouldn't have anything to do with Draco and now, well you saw them yourself."

"Have you spoken to any of them?" Remus questioned, watching as she shook her head. "Don't do anything stupid then, it's almost the end of the year. If there were to do anything they would've done it by now. Just focus on finishing and coming him safely," while his tone was soft, Winnie couldn't help but not miss the demand hidden beneath. There were no room for arguments, only cooperation as she nodded.

She had every intention of ignoring it, every intention of coming home safely, but that didn't mean the slytherin's in question would allow her to do such a thing.

A war was brewing, and no one was ever safe.

༺♥༻

       A relationship tethered unsteadily like a broken branch; a tear once held so dearly was broken, and the cousins could see no solution. It was simple.

Cordelia Flint did what she could to survive, and Winnie Buldstrode could not look past the ache in her heart.

Betrayal was not an easy wound to stitch.

Several things have been built inside her chest, festering like an unintended wound that grew like an uncomfortable itch.

    One. The day Ron Weasley had been harmed, nearly killed with the sickening taste of poison slipped into elf wine, her heart twisted painfully. Winnie had stood, nearly off to the side in the pale white of the hospital wing as Molly Weasley wept over her son's sleeping form. His lips were tinted blue, and his skin was so shallow and translucent one could think you could see his bones through his freckled complexion. Harry looked nearly as ill as his best friend, standing next to her and Hermione who primmed over him almost as worse as his mother. It was Lavender Brown's tears that choked Winnie, it was a fear that Winnie felt grow into her bones. It festered like a loose thread that grew with each tug, digging further and further inside of her. Nobody questioned her nervous prickling at her fingers, or the pale, sweaty complexion of her features. Blaming it on her worries for the redhead boy, which was true, she find worry stifling inside of ehr chest. But there was deeper resentment of guilt, she had no proof that Malfoy or Cordelia were behind this, but there was no denying that she knew something pivotal that she hadn't told anyone.

    Winnie's chest heaved with pain, even as Ron awoke as fine as every, perhaps a little stiff with aching bones, but still Ron.

    Two. The day she had returned from Hogsmeade after visiting Remus, she had run into a particular troubling scene that left her head pounding. If Winnie Budstrode could avoid all Slytherin's for the rest of her life, she would, but fate did not seem to want to take the easy road on the blonde. Her fingers were tight around a bag of sour keys as she stumbled back against an alcove, her ears heightened as she stood still against the rough surface of the wall. Theo stood, leaning down over a trembling Malfoy. There were in public, at least out enough that people could see them. Though this hallway was darkened, flicking with orange lights as it was well past dinner time. Many students were either tucked away in bed or laughing soundlessly with others. Not Winnie, never Winnie who seemed to stumble upon the worse situations no matter the situation. Theo was whispering comforting words to the silver hair boy, whose breathing was slowly regulating. Talks of promises that he will not be alone left Theo's lips and her heart threatened to split further. There was a deep intimacy between the two boys, not like lovers sharing an embrace, but a familial intimacy that Winnie only ever felt with Cordelia, or she supposed Harry as well. The promise of shared pain and brotherhood, Theo was no longer the boy who hated the silver haired boy with every piece of his soul, instead there was a unspoken secret they shared, one that bonded them for life.

    Death Eaters. Death Eaters.

    Three. Harry Potter was the start of her outfall. He was the effect that finally made the string she pulled so tightly in her chest snap restlessly. Burning her inside as it twitched her emotions. It had been a perfectly normal Saturday for her, her nose stuck in her studies as she wrote an essay tirelessly, ink staining her fingers and tips of her nose. She was blissfully unaware of everything, until Harry Potter appeared at her feet with a cheshire grin so wide so wondered for a moment if he was pissed. He wasn't, however, for he smelled perfectly of laundry detergent and treacle tart. Instead, he fell into a wide monologue about how a goldfish solved his entire problems ( she wasn't exactly sure what that meant ) and how kissing Cordelia Flint felt like coming home. It's important to note that Winnie had no problem with Harry kissing witches or wizards, in fact, it was a nice change from his broody, obsessive self.

But kissing Cordelia Flint left her feeling a deep, unsettled rage in her chest.

The rage shimmered instead of her until the very moment her eyes had landed on her cousin, her fingers wrapped tightly around her wand with the sweet taste of hexes on her tongue.

While spells did not leave the curpse of her lips, the fingers that dug into Cordelia's wrist so suddenly as Winnie dragged them away was noticeable enough for the false redhead to hiss in disapleasue. The blonde paid little attention to the duo her cousin had been standing with, leaving her unaware of silver and green eyes that watched them leave.

'Winnie what in Salzar are you doing?" Cordelia questioned though her teeth, her fingers digging into Winnie's own wrist to get them to slow down. Though Winnie's feet only picked up her pace, her magic flickering through strands of her erratic hair as Winnie pushed them into an empty classroom. Her hand retracting from Cordelia's wrist as she waved her wand across the door, locking them inside. Cordelia was rubbing her wrist, sending worrisome glances towards Winnie as the female seethed silently.

There was a thousand words Winnie could utter, all that would bite and leave wounds against Cordelia's heart. There was once a time when Winnie had promised to never truly be mean to her cousin, she knew her words had a sharpness that left people twitching with disdain and hurt, she had promised to never do that to Cordelia.

But promises seemed to hold little feeling and truth between the pair as of late, and there was a storm awaiting to strike in Winnie's chest.

'What the fuck would you kiss Harry?" Winnie snapped, wand still poised in her hand as she glared across the room. She had been pacing, a tactic to help the flickering of magic in her chest. Hazel eyes watched as Cordelia blinked, her hand freezing its movements against her wrist as something unspoken crossed Cordelia's bright crystal eyes.

'I-," Cordelia paused, uttering a chuckle that didn't quite seem as joyous as Cordelia had intended it to be. It was full of airy breath, forced out. "Is that what this is about? Are you seriously this pissed because I kissed Harry? Why would it affect you?" There was unspoken question twisted in with her words, bitterly reminding Winnie of how she clung to Harry's hand when they passed each other just a week prior. Cordelia's words built around her like a defence where she stood with her arms crossed, a line pressed in her lips as Winnie scuffed.

"Oh give me a break, I am not interested in Harry in that way-"

"Then what's your problem?" Cordelia questioned, her shoulders softening as Winnie scowled, returning to her pacing.

"My problem, Cordelia," Winnie spoke, drawing out her cousins name with a harsh spat. Her eyes narrowing as Cordelia's eyebrows furrowed. "Is that you can't just go around kissing Harry whenever you feel like it!"

"Oi!" Cordelia argued, pointing a finger at her cousin who continued to ware a hole in the floor with her pacing. "I've had just enough with you making me feel like shite with whatever is going on between Harry and I! Key words, Harry and I! Not Harry, Winnie and I. You have no idea what is going on-" Cordelia's words were cut short as a laugh broke from Winnie's lips, it was sour, harsh to the ears as Winnie bent forward, her fingers clenching onto the wood of a chair.

"Oh, I know more than you think Cordelia," Winnie's were a void of calm, quiet manner that chilled even her own body. A shiver ran down the blonde's spine as she stared bitterly at her cousin, who's face fell short. A pale sheet falling over her freckled face as she blinked. All the anger Winnie harboured over Harry had faded, though perhaps she was never truly that angry over the whole kiss incident. It was just the fire that finally set her off.

"What's that supposed mean?" Cordelia questioned, her voice a quiet tremor as Winnie scuffed once more, her teeth digging into the side of her cheek. She twirled her wand in her fingers, not missing the way Cordelia's eyes followed her movements like a hawk. Cordelia stood taller now, one foot in front of the other, mimicking the fighting stance they had both learned last year during Dumbledore's Army. While Cordelia's wand wasn't in her hand, Winnie wouldn't be surprised if Cordelia's fingers itched to take out her wand.

"How's your arm?" Winnie questioned quietly, not missing the way Cordelia's hand instinctively reached for her left forearm, her shoulders flinching as Winnie's lips twisted into a smile. It was cruel, really, how easy it was for her to slip into such an ease of cruelty. Perhaps she wasn't so different from her parents after all. Though they stood an healthy distance away from each other, Winnie stared at her cousin as if she was beneath her. Her arms folding against her chest as she turned her gaze away, walking towards the window where the half moon twinkled brightly in the sky. Her eyes resembled ambers burning in a fire, emotions flickering like a film, displayed across her features perfectly. Her jaw was tight, while her fingers dug into the flesh on her arm.

Out of sight, but just behind her stood Cordelia Flint. Her limbs had grown skinner, bones sticking out against her skin, hidden beneath layers of clothes she seemed to be obsessively wearing, as if all the layers could bury the ache and nightmares that no longer just plague her dreams. Her hair fell in straight wisps, brown roots growing against her skull as the bright red faded into a dull crimson. Her cheeks, that always held a sharpness to them was translucent, much like Ronald's Weasleys complexion when he was poisoned. There was gauntness to her body, the way her fingers always itched her left forearm, hiding the blistered mark that twisted an ugly black against her skin. Cerulean eyes were dull, a gaze over them that made her appear not quite there, as if some part of her was always locked away beneath bookshelves. Now, they stared almost at lost at Winnie's back, her fingers wrapped around her arm, mouth running dry as she swallowed. The sound harsh as it reached Winnie's ears.

"Well?" Winnie snapped, growing tired of the quietness as she turned to stare at her cousin. Her lips twisted into a scowl as she kept her chin high, fingers tapping against the crook of her arm as Cordelia blinked. Though it seemed her cousin had very little urge to reply, leaving the blonde to glare harder, hazel eyes the colour of thick bark as she turned, starting to pace once more. "Fine, if you won't speak I will. You know I could've handled you being tainted by the bloody fucking Dark Lord, I wouldn't have bloody well loved it but at least I would've known. But I did know didn't I?" Winnie questioned bitterly, watching as Cordelia's eyes widened for half a second.

"Winnie I-"

"No. I'm speaking now," Winnie cut her off, holding up her hand. "The worse part of this all is that I did fucking know, and then, and then you stood aside as Draco bloody fucking Malfoy erased my entire memory and then you let me feel like a bloody idiot all year."

"You don't understand-" Cordelia tried again, only to be cut short by a dry chuckle that left Winnie's lips.

"You're right I don't, because you never gave me a chance to. I would've carried that pain with you, I would've held that burden for you. You know that I would've, and yet you let him take away my mind. You let me go all year pretending everything was okay like some bloody Hufflepuff and you never once, not once did you tell me the truth." Her voice was raw, harsh with every word as she pointed at Cordelia, her eyes glistening with unuttered tears. Tears that Winnie quickly swiped at her face for, tears that she turned her back from Cordelia for, not giving her the moment to see her cry, to see her take a breath in and cover her tracks.

Silence greeted them as Winnie squeezed her eyes shut, tapping her finger against her wand. One, two, three. Four, grounding herself in this moment.

"How'd you find out? Was it Theo?" Cordelia questioned quietly, her voice thin as Winnie snorted, digging her nails into her eyes as she sighed heavily.

"Am I to assume that Theo also has the mark, then?" Winnie questioned, her voice no longer holding the same bitterness. The blonde turned, watching as Cordelia furrowed her eyebrow for a second, before her face hardened, her lips twisting into a line as she raised her chin.

"Draco told you," it wasn't a question, but an observation that Winnie didn't truly need to confirm. There were no others that could've told her, and she surely hadn't heard a word from Theo. "You can criticize me all you want, it won't change anything."

'I'm not trying to change anything," Winnie argued, her teeth biting into the side of her cheek, ignoring the copper that twinged it's way onto her tongue.

"Then what do you want?" Cordelia's questioned threw the blonde off, as she stood, blinking and staring at her cousin who stood so rigidly across the room. What did she want? That was a loaded question with very little answers. Winnie wanted her family, she wanted the word to not be divided by good and evil, it simply was not that simple. She wanted her summers to always be filled with baked goods and lazy, summer evenings reading books beside Remus. Regrettably, she wanted her mother, like a stubborn child who yearns for familial love, she wanted it. Deep down inside a part of her that she keeps locked up, she knew she wanted Theo. But that was a dangerous line of thought, especially knowing that the mark lived on his arm, that fact made his departure from her so much worse, for now she wondered if he meant it.

But from Cordelia? She wanted so much and Winnie didn't even know if that could be possible.

"I want honesty," Winnie replied, quiet and quick as Cordelia sighed, shifting on her feet.

"I can't give you that," Cordelia whispered, her eyes staring at a desk as Winnie swallowed bitterly, nodding her head. Winnie had the impossible habit of forgiveness, of stretching out an olive branch hoping others would latch one, more often than not, she was left empty handed.

It was a deafening feeling. Feeling so detached from the person who was supposed to be by your side for everything. Winnie could have forgiven Cordelia easy for lying, perhaps she could've even forgiven her for keeping quiet when her mind was oblivated over time. Winnie would never find out, for the last of her branch had snapped when Cordelia refused to make eye contact, refused to speak even. All Winnie was asking for was honesty, and for some impossible reason that she will never understand, Cordelia could not give her that.

"Then we are done here," Winnie swallowed, blinking as she waved her wand in the air, unlocking the door with a quick click. The blonde didn't bother to look behind her as she left, leaving half of herself with Cordelia.

Somewhere, deep inside of her, Winnie begged for Cordelia to follow, to chase after her.

Cordelia never did, and Winnie had never felt so alone.

       — winnie is the best example of someone saying 'i never cry!' and then they cry five seconds later.
       — so i looked at my outline for this story and i just realized that i'm actually two chapters away from the ending ... as in chapter fifty eight is the last chapter 😭 i started this story in october 2020 when i was honestly very depressed with covid and missing my graduation. i had felt like i had nothing to work for, and then i started this story. while a lot has changed since the beginning, i can say wholeheartedly that i have poured my whole entire being into this story and winnie herself. she shares the most intimate parts to me and at times she was the only one i had. so it is incredibly bittersweet to realize i am finishing this part of her story
       — but her story is certainly not over!! her second book that covers a fanon rewrite of dh is will on its way with planning and i can not wait to write it <3
       — DEDICATIONS!!!
             now to test who really reads these author notes, comment here stating that you want a dt to the story <33 i will be making an announcement that the second book is up when it is but i still need to know ahead of time for who wants to be tagged xoxo