To my beautiful Cissa, Missing you seems to be all I can do lately now that we’re not together everyday. I miss you so much. I wish you were here with me or that I was there with you. I wanna spend forever with you. Let’s go on a date to Hogsmeade when you’re free. Don’t worry about how we’re gonna get there, I already have it all sorted out. See you in a few weeks, Love, your darling A
1981
They never got to go on that date. She felt the tears burning at her eyes threatening to fall. She let them. The tears fell, the ink on the letter became slightly smudged but she didn't care. The parchment in her hand was years old. The edges were crinkled and it was creased in random places. The letter had been one of many. It wasn’t the first one, but it had been the last. If she knew it all back then, maybe things would have gone differently. And maybe she wouldn't be here now under such fucked up circumstances. In the Janus Thickey ward at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies, standing and silently sobbing at the foot of one of the many hospital beds.
The woman in said bed was in a deep slumber, still unconscious but bruised and beaten head to toe. Physically and mentally. She looked clean at least, less ill than a few days ago. Her injuries and wounds had been treated thoroughly. She was grateful for that. The woman stood at the bed had lengthy platinum blonde hair cascading down her back, a long navy coat over her shoulders. Eyes bloodshot and swollen, her head ached as though it had been physically pounded by the guilt in her heart. Any stranger passing by would immediately be able to realise that this was a fragile, heartbroken, and devastated woman. The mysterious woman stepped forward, her navy heels clacking against the cold tiles that made up the ground floor. Shakily, she lifted a hand towards the bed but stopped when she noticed her wedding band. She sobbed harder before slipping it off and placing it in her pocket. She held the woman’s hand, ice cold and in desperate need of warmth. She couldn’t provide that warmth anymore, but she didn’t care.
After a few moments of hesitation she sat on the wooden chair beside the patient bed. Her hands never left the bandaged one she was holding on to. Her grip was so tight that she thought she ought to let go in case she inflicted further damage, but she simply could not bring herself to do so. So she stayed. For hours, she sat beside the bed, holding the unknowing patient's hand as though it were a lifeline, supplying the little warmth she could - without ever letting go. The mysterious woman continued to let a few tears fall every few minutes, but didn’t wipe them away. If she let go to wipe her tears she might never get to have this moment back. The brown-eyed woman might disappear and never come back if she let go now. She would never be able to take this risk again, never be able to look at her and hold her hand ever again. It was only when she heard the sound of footsteps down the hall that the tears came to a halt, and her breathing became steady.
“Miss-” the nurse said.
“Yes, I know.” she cut her off in response.
Taking a deep breath, she gently let go of the fragile bony looking hand between her palms. She took one last glance before turning back once again to leave her one true love, her little bit of magic and everything good. Her hands and jaw were clenched, every limb was tense as she made her way out of the hospital, into the night. And if anybody saw Narcissa Malfoy sobbing at the bedside of Alice Longbottom that day, then they were wrong. They saw Narcissa Black that evening, and Narcissa Black no longer existed, she first died in 1979 when she got married, but she came back out once when she needed to see Alice, after that she was completely wiped out of existence. Narcissa Malfoy may have been the name she went by, but in that hospital room, she was Narcissa Black. Up until she left. After that day, she was Narcissa Malfoy forever because Narcissa Black died the day Alice did.