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Who, after all the wars and strife is over, will still be there? If the struggle killed everyone, who would be left standing?

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They set out in the cool autumn air, hand in hand, giggling as they walked. The little girl stopped to jump into puddles, and her mother just laughed as she watched. The wind was gentle and sweet smelling, the sky a bowl of deep blue; it was a wonderful day for a walk.

The little girl begged her mother for stories. Had she come down this road before? Did she know the people who lived in the tiny thatched houses? Where did that road lead? And the mother answered all her questions patiently and happily, enjoying the chance to reminisce about her childhood on the downs.

"Did you ever get to play at the castle?" the little girl asked. A confused look passed over her mother’s face.

"What castle, Suzy?"

"That one!"

Indeed, just beyond the rise in the road were the remains of a majestic castle. The mother paused, but had no memory of this magnificent building. "That’s odd. I thought that was just an old abandoned lot."

Giving in to her daughter’s requests and her own curiosity, the pair passed through the unhinged gates to the grounds below the castle. A large, ominous looking forest spilled out over the grounds, where the grass was thick as a jungle. The road hadn’t been traversed in a long time, and weeds had overgrown it. A black scorch mark the size of a house could still be seen in the middle of the grounds, although muted by nature and sprouting a riot of flowers.

From a closer view, the castle was even more impressive. Huge and expansive, the stones seemed dignified even though the tower was caving and several walls were sagging. It looked like a place of warmth and laughter that was drowned with sorrow.

"Can we go in?" Suzy’s voice was pleading.

"I don’t know, honey. It doesn’t look safe."

"We’ll be careful," she said.

For some reason, even though it didn’t look safe, even though she would never do such a thing normally, she found herself wanting to enter. It was if the castle was silently inviting them into the main hall.

The stones gave off a chill in the darkness. Through a tremendous doorway, they saw many tables set up for a dinner that was never served, and candles strewn about as though they had fallen from the sky. Sunlight filtered through cracks in the dull, lifeless ceiling. Ivy vines crawled up the walls. In the four corners were molding tapestries, and she could still make out some of the colors: scarlet, green, yellow. The wind whispered through the hall, and she could almost hear the echoes of school children laughing and talking.

Their feet scraped on the thick dust that layered the staircase. Up they tramped, past strange paintings, each one looking more like a candid photograph, the subjects being caught in a moment of surprise; past rusting coats of armor; past odd-shaped statues.

"Mom! Look! A secret passage!" Suzy called. One of the portraits, of a fat lady in pink, had been swung off the wall, revealing a doorway. Inside, thick couches and comfortable looking armchairs lay rotting and tattered, the fireplace full of long-cold ashes. On a table in the center was a pile of books, one opened to a page with a bookmark set carefully in place.

She could nearly feel the warmth of a fire blazing at the hearth, see the students studying and talking, gathered around. But then, she came to her senses and saw the black stones and empty chairs.

"C’mon, Suzy. We should go."

"Oh, please, Mommy. One more room?"

How could she deny those adorable, pleading blue eyes?

They found another secret passage; this one leading to a winding set of steps that went up quite far. At the top was another room, full of the strange portraits and books. The handsome desk that faced a window looking out upon the grounds, and faded overstuffed armchair spoke volumes about the person who had sat there.

"What on earth happened here?" she wondered. "Where did everyone go?"

A squawk from behind startled them both.

"Mommy! Look!"

A large red bird fluttered down from a cage, settling on Suzy’s arm. The bird regarded both of them with expressive black eyes, and let Suzy pet him before he spread his wings and flew back to the perch and sat, patiently waiting. A jingling sound came from the rod he landed on. She approached cautiously.

"Fawkes. What a name for a bird! But surely you can’t be that bird, now, can you?"

Strangely, the bird seemed to nod at her.

Suzy, having tired of the bird, poked through the desk.

"Oh, honey, you shouldn’t do that. Come on, it’s time to get back to grandma’s house."

She took the little girl’s hand, not noticing that she had pocketed something from the desk. The two went back down the long, spiraling staircase, down the stone steps, and out of the hall. The sun seemed to greet them cheerily as they walked out the door. She saw part of a crest, mostly gone and faded, that said "Hogwarts School of W".

They walked home, speculating about what they had seen. The little girl’s grandmother met them at the door.

"Welcome back, my dears! Did you have a good walk?"

"It’s was great, grandma!"

"Go wash up for dinner, honey. You can play in your room until we call you," the mother said. Then, she turned to her elderly mother, who was stirring soup on the stove. "Mom, do you remember a school up on the hill?"

The older woman looked at her daughter with surprise.

"I don’t remember it at all," she continued. "But today, there it was. And Suzy had to see it, so we went all through it. It was sad, almost. The building, I mean."

"Any school would be sad, when its children are no longer there," her mother answered wisely.

"But what happened to it? Why did it close? And why don’t I remember it?"

"Oh, that’s a long, long story, my love. And one you’ll hardly believe. But it ends with your father and his friends and a hot spring night many years ago…"

In her room, the little red-headed girl amused herself with the long, slender stick she had found in the castle. She waved it about, giggling at the shower of red sparks coming from its end.