Work Text:
Susan Pevensie had returned home from a party with friends when she found a police officer waiting to deliver her the horrible news. Her entire family; her parents, her brothers Peter and Edmund, and her sister Lucy, had all died when a train derailed. The next several months passed in a blur of tears. Her parents had built enough of an inheritance for her that she could live a comfortable, if humble, life on for some time. Which she needed, as she had quit her job as a bank teller. She left her apartment, barely saw her friends, and broke up with her boyfriend.
During those months Susan felt cold and empty, often not able to find enough energy to get out of bed. This carried on until almost Christmas, when Susan worked up enough strength to get dressed to attend St James's Church on Piccadilly, like her family used to do for Christmas Mass before the War. It is at St James's that Susan and her siblings were baptised, and their parents had been long time parishioners. As she sat in the pews and listened to the hymns she stared at the stained glass window behind the altar, the image of the crucified Christ reminding her of another figure she had seen long ago in a far away place.
Susan continued to attend St James's on Sundays, and got a new job as a store clerk. Long after church services ended she stayed in the pew, silently praying, hoping for answers, for a sign, anything. Eventually Father Lambert noticed her sitting alone and went to speak to her. He listened carefully to her tearful confessions and regrets, and offered her the counsel he could. At the store she began to grow close to her coworker, Adam Jackson, and soon agreed to go on a date with him.
These days Susan thought more and more about the stories she and her siblings dreamed up as children, they made her feel closer to her family. Oh, how she missed them, and the days of their youth, where despite the hardships of the War they made happy memories together. She told Adam about these stories too. And in time, she slowly began to believe in them again. Remembering little Lucy, Susan decided she wanted to teach children, and Adam encouraged her as she worked to become a schoolteacher. He also encouraged her to take up the hobby of archery again.
After two years together, Adam proposed to Susan, which she accepted. They were married in St James's, and while this was a very happy day, the absences stung deeply. A year later their first child was born, a baby girl, and Susan and Adam named their daughter Lucy, after Susan's sister. In the following years they had two more children, sons, that they named Peter and Edmund. Susan told her children of her adventures with her siblings in Narnia. As bedtime stories they heard tales of magical wardrobes leading to other worlds, evil witches, kings and queens, and of the Great Lion. One day she would write down these stories, changing some of the details, and publish them for children to read.
In time Susan's children grew up and started their own lives. Lucy met a man named Alexander Granger, and they fell in love and got married. Alexander inherited his father's dentist office, and the young couple went into business together. He had also inherited his mother's love of mythology, and so when Lucy and Alexander had a daughter they named her Hermione. Susan deeply loved her first grandchild, and as an old schoolmistress installed a strong sense of academic importance into the bright young girl.
A few months after Hermione turned eleven there was a knock on the door during one of Susan's visits. The woman at the door, who looked to be around Susan's age, announced herself as Professor Minerva McGonagall. The professor told the family that Hermione had been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Susan was not shocked at the revelation, though she was a little surprised that so much magic existed in this world. While Hermione was excited, Susan had some misgivings at first, given her prior experience with a witch.
But after some questions, some of which frankly surprised McGonagall, she was satisfied and it was decided Hermione would attend Hogwarts and learn magic. After getting her school supplies, Hermione eagerly dug into her books, and told them all about Hogwarts, including the houses. Hermione was especially excited to learn one of the houses was a lion. Susan, along with Lucy and Alexander, awaited Hermione's letters when she left for school in September. She felt some satisfaction when she read that Hermione had been sorted into Gryffindor. It seemed fitting that her little witch would learn under a lion's banner.