Impossibility
The weight of Hermione’s newfound love for Lucian Malfoy, and the devastating impossibility of it, sat heavy on her shoulders as she wandered through the halls of Hogwarts. Days had passed since their heartbreaking confession, and though the words still echoed in her mind, they did little to ease the ache in her chest. Every moment she wasn’t teaching, she spent buried in books, searching for an answer, for some spell, some lost magic that could bring Lucian out of his portrait and into the world of the living.
But it was futile.
Ancient tomes were scattered across her desk, the pages yellowed with age, their spines cracked from centuries of use. Hermione’s once-steady hands trembled as she flipped through the books, her frustration growing with each page that offered nothing but dead ends. She had always prided herself on her ability to find answers, to solve problems no one else could. But now, with Lucian trapped behind the canvas of his portrait, she was helpless.
Her eyes burned from hours of sleepless nights, but she couldn’t stop. She wouldn’t stop.
“I’ll find something,” she muttered to herself, the words barely more than a whisper as she read through yet another dusty manuscript. Her heart pounded in her chest, a steady reminder of the time slipping through her fingers. “There has to be a way.”
But deep down, Hermione knew—magic had its limits. Even the brightest witch of her age couldn’t change the fundamental laws that governed life and death. And Lucian… he had already crossed that line.
Her frustration boiled over, and she slammed the book shut, the sound reverberating through her small office. For a moment, she simply stared at the pile of books in front of her, her chest heaving with the weight of her emotions.
It wasn’t fair. Nothing about this was fair.
Lucian’s love was real, his presence in her life undeniable. Yet he remained trapped in a portrait, nothing more than an image of the man who had once lived and breathed. Her love for him was as impossible as it was deep, and the more she searched for answers, the more that reality seemed to crush her spirit.
But she couldn’t give up. Not yet.
///
That evening, after finishing her classes, Hermione made her way to the ancient archives of Hogwarts. These archives were rarely used, their contents untouched for centuries. If there was any place that held the secrets she needed, it would be here. She had already searched through every book in the library, scoured every magical text she could think of, but now she was reaching for the most obscure sources, hoping for a miracle.
The archives were dark and cold, lit only by the dim glow of her wand. As she stepped inside, the dust stirred in the air, and the faint scent of old parchment filled her nose. Her footsteps echoed in the vast room, the shelves towering over her, filled with tomes that hadn’t been touched in generations.
Hermione felt a flicker of hope in her chest, though it was quickly tempered by the knowledge of how impossible her task was. She moved through the rows of books, her fingers brushing against the spines, her eyes scanning the titles for anything that might offer her a clue.
Hours passed, the silence of the archives weighing down on her as she searched. But book after book yielded no answers. The spells she found were ancient, powerful even, but none dealt with pulling someone from a portrait into the realm of the living. It was as if the very laws of magic rejected her desperate wish.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Hermione sank to the floor, the cold stone pressing against her legs as she cradled her head in her hands. The reality of it all was crushing her. She had tried so hard, pushed herself to the limit, but there was nothing she could do.
It was impossible.
A quiet voice, so familiar and gentle, broke through her thoughts. “You need to stop this.”
Hermione looked up, her heart lurching in her chest. Lucian stood in his portrait, watching her with a look of quiet sorrow. He had been watching her through the night, though she hadn’t even noticed his presence until now.
“You don’t understand,” she said, her voice trembling with desperation. “I have to keep trying. I can’t just accept this, Lucian.”
Lucian’s face softened, but there was a weariness in his eyes that told her he had accepted their fate long before she had. “Hermione, you’re chasing a dream that isn’t real. There’s no magic that can bring me back.”
His words felt like a dagger to her heart, but she shook her head, unwilling to give up. “There has to be something. I can’t just… let you go.”
Lucian stepped closer to the edge of his frame, his hand resting against the canvas as if he wished he could reach out to her. “You’ve already done so much. You’ve given me more than I could have ever hoped for, but this… this isn’t healthy, Hermione. You’re torturing yourself for something that can never be.”
Hermione’s eyes filled with tears, her hands trembling as she stared up at him. “But I love you,” she whispered, the words breaking her all over again. “I can’t just stop.”
Lucian’s expression softened, and for a moment, he looked as if he might break too. “I love you too. More than you’ll ever know. But I don’t want you to lose yourself in this. I don’t want to be the reason you suffer.”
Hermione let out a sob, her hands covering her face as the weight of her emotions came crashing down on her. She had been holding it all in for so long, pretending she could find a way, that there was hope, but now… she couldn’t hold it in any longer.
Lucian’s voice was quiet, filled with a deep, aching love. “Hermione, you deserve a life. A real one. And as much as I wish I could give that to you… I can’t.”
She looked up at him through tear-filled eyes, her heart breaking all over again. “I don’t want to lose you,” she whispered, her voice barely audible.
“You’ll never lose me,” Lucian said softly. “I’ll always be here. But you have to let go of this idea that I can be anything more than what I am.”
Hermione’s heart ached, torn between the love she felt for him and the reality she knew she had to face. She had searched and searched, but there was no magic that could fix this. No spell strong enough to bring Lucian back to her.
All that remained was the impossible wish she could never fulfill.