Somebody That I Used to Know

[Pandora Cohen]

Although Pandora Cohen wanted nothing more than to crawl into her parents bed and cry she put on makeup as she looked into the reflection of her mirror in her childhood bedroom. She had her first kiss only footsteps away with a boy who was wholly unimportant and when she'd last visited her parents she had slept beside the man who was everything but unimportant. She had been unable to face her apartment that was laced everywhere with his scent and pictures of them so happy together. It was horrible for her to know that while she had been sleeping peacefully the love of her life had been fighting a loosing battle until he died. It was hard for her to accept this because she expected him to stumble out of a hospital room, smiling wide as ever and mentioning something about how much he loved the smell of hospitals. Scorpius was always in hospitals, perhaps more than she was, and his first quidditch injury was one that they had looked on fondly because it had brought them together when she'd rushed down from the stands to help the on-site healers. As she thought about the horrible humor of the puppeteers who seemed to control her life and the motions she was currently making, as they were not her own, Panda fought to keep her tears in. Shed been crying for days now but she needed to look put together, like she didn't wish she had died with him because press would be there.

Pandora hated that this normally private event would be interrupted by cameras and journalists but she had to make some sort of effort because funerals were not for the dead so much as they were for the living and right now it was what the public needed. Or this was what Scorpius' publicist had so rudely told her when she'd barged into their home, a place that now suffocated her each time she entered. A place that she wished to be frozen in time so the scent that still lingered was still there, so that the clothes were on the floor the same way they had been when he'd left. It only now occurred to her that she would have to continue living in this condo or let the landlord rent it to other people which brought on another embarrassing gasping noises, like her lungs wanted to collapse into each other. But Pandora collected herself and walked down the stairs before taking her normal seat at the breakfast table, nodding her head when there was a certain pause to her mother's lecturing about her appetite. She, however, did not swallow a bite. It was impossible.

When the time came her shoulder was touched by her father and she was apparated with her small family to Cork. They'd arrived an hour early, upon Panda's request, so she could walk about and have the goodbye she never got. She had also requested to do this alone but her parents forbade it, perhaps they knew that she was desperate and if she had summoned enough bravery she would try to kill herself but she'd lost all her spirit and any sort of gumption she had to order this from them so she walked onward, under the terrible burden of destiny. This stroll through memory lane, had not been so. Instead it was a young brunette wincing every few moments until she could wince no more and was at the wake.

Although Pandora had helped Scorpius' family plan this the concept still seemed to confuse her so she held her father's hand tightly as if she were the child she wished she was so a hug from her parents could make everything better. However the time came when the casket was sitting there alone so she left her parents behind her. This was something that had to happen between only the pair of them. as much as she wished she could see his face and touch his hand she knew it must have been gruesome so she touched the wooden casket and bowed her head over it. "I'm so sorry, Scorpius," she mumbled quietly. "I should have been there with you. I love you and always will." Although Pandora could continue talking to Scorpius like this in the hopes that he might just be asleep in the coffin she was being watched silently so she found her way over to Scorpius' parents who she hugged tightly and cried quietly with them. Then it was time for obituaries which lead with Scorpius' mother who couldn't finish her speech and let her husband finish for her. Then his younger brother, Orion. The boy was her favourite of children and did not deserve to see his brother die and neither did Cassie who would not understand this for some time. As much as Pandora wished she could get out of making a speech she had not been able to so she squeezed her mother's hand tightly and walked up by the casket with tears in her eyes as she urged her feet to take her there.

There was a hush over the family, friends, colleagues and past-lovers of Scorpius Knight as Panda breathed heavily as she looked at the pictures and flowers that were carefully placed around them. "Scorpius Knight was a great man, one who ended up in my wing of the hospital more times than I cared for, one who did everything he could for his friends and loved his family with all his heart." Panda wiped away some tears before continuing on, "Scorpius was the kind of person you read about in books and wish they were real and I loved -" Panda stopped short to correct herself, "love him and will truly miss him." There was nothing more for Pandora to say so she stepped down after touching the casket again and let others remember Scorpius for the person he was.​

 

[Will Connors]

For a young man of nineteen death had become familiar. Just months ago Will Connors had buried his daughter Beth, who had been stillborn, he still hadn't been told how it had happened, though at the time the healers had said that often they never knew, but that the most important thing to remember was that it wasn't anybody's fault. But when he had held her in his arms he couldn't help but think that everything was his fault, that if he hadn't been tipsy and stupid he wouldn't have gotten Riley pregnant, and none of this could have ever happened. If he hadn't gotten her pregnant his daughter wouldn't have died, if Beth had felt any pain before her death it was on him, but he had to stay strong around Riley, for she was more broken than he was, and even if he hadn't been able to protect his daughter, it was now his duty to protect his girlfriend. He felt terrible for being away from her for this day, though it had been something that he had been doing quite frequently lately, she was so hard to be around if he told the truth. The Riley he had fallen in love with was a bouncy and beautiful blonde who could kick butt on the Quidditch pitch, but now she had been reduced to a pale young woman who burst into tears at the mention of almost anything and lay across the front of her dead baby's crib day after day. Will was only nineteen and it had all become too much for the young Quidditch player, so he began to spend more and more time training and playing for his team, making excuses as to why he couldn't make it home and working himself harder to try and forget. He wasn't sure yet what he wanted to forget, his life? Beth's death? His girlfriend at home weeping? Everything. But as he pulled on his black suit and tie, which hadn't been dry cleaned since he and Riley had lain their daughter to rest, he knew that all of these things couldn't easily be forgotten, especially not today in the attendance of a colleague's funeral. Though Will hadn't known Scorpius closely, he had been a fellow Quidditch player and had started out before the nineteen year old and Will had often secretly admired his technique, and though he couldn't remember he had probably had a post match drink with him at least once. His death had been splayed across the papers already, in the most harsh and impersonal of ways, and Will could sympathise with his family greatly, the same thing had recently happened for he and Riley someone had leaked news of a death in their family to the papers and reporters had hounded him since.

So, arriving at the funeral, Will hung his head low, sneaking past the reporters and their cameras, knowing that no words he said could do the death of a young man justice. When one caught him and bombarded him with questions he looked up briefly, dismissing them with a simple "No comment." it wasn't fair on anyone, especially Scorpius' family to have to speak of his death to them today, or even ever. The nineteen year old joined the gathering of Scorpius' friends, colleagues, lovers and family and swallowed hard, swallowed back tears that he held not for him, but for all that had had the chance to get to know the young man, today was for them, and Will listened intently to the speeches, especially that of Pandora's, his girlfriend. For such young people the both of them had been touched by death and heartache and he closed his eyes trying not to show his tears. He was here with his team and his friends and he didn't want them to see any more of his tears. Standing next to Will was Amy and Jenn, and he was grateful when Amy took his hand in hers and squeezed it, somehow she must have known how painful it was for him to be there, he squeezed it back and kept a tight hold on it, he was glad that Riley had decided not to attend with him, she hadn't left his apartment in Paris since she had come home from the hospital and this certainly wouldn't have been the right destination for her first outing. As Pandora finished her speech and gathered with Scorpius' family Will held his head in his free hand. One thing that he had been lucky with was that his cold and dead daughter that he held had been perfect, beautiful and untouched by the world, the Quidditch accident would have left Scorpius badly scarred and battered, something that nobody wishes for their last memory of a family member to be. As the service ended, Will couldn't help but feel how fast things could happen, how any player could have met the same fate, how it could have been him, and how he prayed it never would be. Even though Will hadn't thought much of heaven, he truly did hope that there was a place all of his loved ones would be, happy and safe, waiting for him, waiting for them all. ​