Restoring Life
As they made their way outside, neither of them spoke. Narcissa occasionally glanced back at Lucius to make sure he was still following.
When they made it to the door, Narcissa clutched his hand in hers before pushing it open. Lucius felt discontent, but didn't have time to protest. As soon as he stepped outside, he fell to his knees. The garden that had once been withered and gray had been restored to its former glory, alive, colored and beautiful. Everything was just as he remembered it when his son was alive, down to the smallest plant. The grass that was once dead had become beautiful and bright green once again, almost like the color of Draco's eyes. For a second, he almost felt that Draco was still there, attentively watering his favorite flowers.
A tear rolled down Lucius's face. How had he not noticed this? He didn't even know Narcissa was in the garden. After all, it was too painful for him to look at it anymore.
But for the first time in months, with the wind caressing his hair and chilling his soul ever so slightly, the sun beating down on the warm summer day, on the magical plants that seemed both old and new at the same time, he felt as if he, too, was alive again. No longer a decrepit corpse rotting away, but a man, a human man with a steady pulse pumping cold blood through his body. A body that now felt like his instead of that of a stranger. He breathed fresh, windy air into his lungs, feeling them rejuvenate as he inhaled. He had been sitting in his puddle of grief for so long that he almost forgotten what real sunlight and fresh air felt like, but now that it was enveloping his body he remembered just how pleasant it was, how fortunate it was that he could feel this. The earthy, perfume-like scent of the plants carried in the wind, just enough that he could pick up on the slightest hint of it. It felt calming to his restless body.
He noticed tears creating a small puddle on the pavement in front of him. He looked up at Narcissa as he felt her hand lay comfortingly on his shoulder.
"You did this?" He murmured. She nodded in confirmation.
"....I love you." He choked. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for everything I've done."
She grabbed hold of him.
She didn't have to speak. He knew that he'd already been forgiven, even if he didn't believe himself to be deserving of it in the slightest.