Interlude - Astoria
There was nothing special about August 28th, 2019, as much as I know my family would like to believe there was. The sun rose at 6am as it always did, peeking through my still closed eyes like a gentle invasion. Warmth washed over my covers, too hot for my frozen body, but I could still recognize the pleasant feeling it was supposed to bring.
"Good morning, Astoria,"
Opal's soprano voice rang through the early morning daze like a bell, instantly jolting me into full consciousness. My eyes opened, my nurse leaning down with a subtle smile on her face.
Opal had been looking at me that way for the past few weeks. Yes, she was smiling, it was no longer genuine. Behind the upturned muscles was an ache that reached into my heart and twisted it into taffy. It was pirobably why I cried every morning.
As I was doing now.
The tears didn't feel the same. This time around, I felt as if I was exerting energy rather than emotion, so much that blinking my eyes and sniffling felt laborious. A little pathetic if you ask me. Then again, I had felt the same way a few days before.
"Oh Astoria, you're gonna make my cry too,"
Opal's tears came down in small rivers across her youthful face. Her dark skin hid them well, but the sunlight magnified their visibility.
A second later and a tissue was wiping tears away from my frail face. As gentle as Opal could be, I still winced in pain. Another tear fell down her face. She wiped it quickly with her free hand, probably hoping I didn't see.
Oh, poor thing.
For the next few hours, or that's how much time I remember passing, Opal and I tried to enjoy each other’s company. She didn't answer much, but I mustered up any shreds of strength I had left to tell her a story about a Daphne and I playing within the hostile walls of Greengrass Manor. Based on her lethargic nods and strained smiles, it was probably a story I'd told her many times before.
Draco came to visit around 9, stroking my salt and pepper hair as gently as his rough hands could.
"Morning, love,"
He smiled the smile I loved, even when he held my hair a few minutes later to shield me from my vomiting of a breakfast of berries & granola he'd prepared for me. I was sure I'd cried again then too. He probably wiped my tears with his curved thumb, nails clipped short, like always.
This was part of the reason I'd put up with him all this time. Mad as it may sound, Draco was a truly kind man.
Scorpius might've been there at some point, but I can't recall. I know Daphne was for a while.
"Daph, your hair is getting so long,"
I reached out towards her uneven blonde hair; a choppy cut now grown out to her shoulders. She brushed me off, rolling her eyes in an overly exaggerated manner.
"What are you now, my mother?"
"Well," I humored her, "You're getting to look a bit like Draco, that's all,"
A small howl of laughter went through her. I could only wheeze in return.
Around this time, I would usually be sleeping. Opal suggested it when the malediction progressed, saying a midday nap was essential to preserving as much energy as possible. Daphne seemed to agree. Her face twisted into an expectant look, predicting that I'd shut my eyes in 3...2..1...
And then nothing.
———————
"Astoria! Astoria!"
Daphne. I wanted to open my eyes to see her, but my lids throbbed with a pain that made it impossible. As I mentally examined my body, I realized. Everything hurts. And it wasn't dull.
I could feel my heart working, working, working, blood pulsing through my veins with a ferocity that made me hiss through my teeth. My lungs were trying to pull in as much oxygen as possible, my chest rising and falling with the same intensity of my efforts. My back arched, trying to physically pull myself out of whatever was plaguing me.
"Opal," she said, but it was distorted, "Get Draco."
Hurried footsteps out the door, but they sounded underwater.
"Mum,"
Scorpius's cold hand clutched mine, not gentle at all. I could feel the desperation, the pain, the fear and confirmation that yes, that day had arrived. How badly I wanted to embrace him, to tell him everything was going to be alright. That I wasn't sick, that I wasn't going to die until long after he went off to be an adult.
Another surge of pain.
I tried to squeeze his hand. I'm not sure if it worked, but I do know that just about everything silenced in that moment.
Someone had come in. Heavy footsteps guided themselves to where I lay. I sensed the agony they too held.
Oh, darling.
My life, my love. Now I didn't want to open my eyes. I couldn't bear to see the damage I would leave when I went.
Quiet crying filled the room, the three voices almost in harmony. They each held my hands, their grips failing at the soothing nature they were trying to convey.
I heard and felt Draco most distinctly. He was muttering something unintelligible, or perhaps that was just from the crying. His rough, much larger hand held mine as delicately as he could manage, caressing it every so often.
It had begun to grow fuzzy. The feeling.
His voice rang in my ears, but his touch was growing fainter. I couldn't feel the other two anyone, nor hear them. Maybe this was the time?
I'd always imagined dying quite vividly. Never did I dream I would be self aware enough to witness it.
"Love..."
I could hardly hear him. A sign that I was close.
Please, death. Haven't you taken enough from me? At least let me leave with some sense of warmth, or a white light piercing my eyes.
Not like this. When I can still feel every nerve ending spark like a live wire, but I can hardly hear what I was living for in the first place.
Not like this!
"Love,"
As the word tumbled out of Draco's mouth, the pain ceased to exist.
"Love, you need to wake up,"
I opened my eyes, and I could finally see them. Daphne, Draco, and Scorpius were surrounded by my bed, each extending a hand to me. I looked at my own.
It was plumper, healthier. A slight peach flush covered my arm, veins a blueish-green.
"What's so interesting?" Daphne chuckled, "It's just the inside of your arm, Tori,"
Tori. Daphne hadn't called me that in years.
"Nothing. Just making sure I'm still alive,"
Their faces fell a bit at that comment, but no one broke their smile. Draco took his hand in mine, helping me out of bed.
There was a mirror nearby.
My reflection was unrecognizable. Where were the hollow cheekbones, the gray strands? Even my eyes had a glimmer about them, like everyone used to say about Dumbledore's 'twinkle' in his eye. I smiled, and my cheeks filled with color like a coral rose.
I marveled at my own reflection, "I look so good,"
"You always look good, darling,"
Draco wrapped his arm around my waist, Scorpius and Daphne taking each hand in theirs. I felt love squeezes on each side.
"It's time,"
Scorpius beamed, his pale face rosy with contentment.
"Time for what?" I asked.
"To go,"
Daphne's cerulean eyes met my brown ones, small wrinkles crinkling as she smiled. She led the way, neither Draco nor Scorpius removing their hold of me.
"Shall we?"
Draco had a laugh bubbling in his throat, I just knew it. He only spoke like that in front of his parents.
"We shall!"
I kicked the door open, my leg filled with a strength I never recalled it having. Draco lost it, Scorpius politely giggling at his probably insane parents.
"C'mon, you lot! Let's move!" Daphne shouted.
As we left, there was only one thing I noticed.
The light.