O N E M O N T H L A T E R
i s o b e l
Isobel stood in a small, dark room on the fourth floor of St. Mungo's hospital. In front of her was a large metal basin, swimming with the silvery light of Draco's memories.
For a month, she had battled with her own fear. She knew that watching his memories would intensify everything she was already feeling; would only cause her to feel larger waves of sadness and regret. She had feared that watching their whole story - finally witnessing all of the moments she had once known - would cause her to miss him unbearably.
As it turned out, she already missed him unbearably. She didn't need to watch the things that had happened in a previous life in order to miss him so much that it hurt.
She had worked up the courage to Apparate to St. Mungo's. She had tracked down the Healer who had cared for her mother and asked to use a Pensieve. And she was here now, and there was no going back.
She had watched her mother's memories first, immediately. She told you everything she knew, Draco's letter had said. There will be no surprises. Still, Isobel's chest had felt tight with nerves and her fingers had shaken as she emptied the vial into the Pensieve.
Her mother's vial had included short segments of the life they had shared. Snippets of Isobel's childhood, where both of her parents were happy and healthy, where they had laughed and danced together and everything was good. Isobel watched her tiny eleven-year-old receive her Hogwarts letter as her parents looked on, watched herself hug her mother and father and step onto the Hogwarts Express; watched her mother wipe away tears as the doors slid closed and the train rolled away.
These were moments that Isobel remembered herself, of course, but it was strange to consider them from her mother's perspective. It was strange to think about her relationship with her mother from her mother's side rather than her own, and it was when she watched her mother get the news of Isobel's father's death - was when she saw her mother hold her breath as she waited for Isobel to return from Hogwarts - that Isobel began to cry, too.
The scene dissolved, and Isobel stood in the living room of their old house. She saw own body lying on the couch, a star-shaped burn on her throat. Her mother knelt beside her, sobbing over the daughter she had almost just lost.
She watched as Lucius Malfoy burst in, watched her mother scream and stand her ground as he threatened her. She watched as Maggie made a rash decision that would impact the course of their entire lives. Maggie packed their belongings, erased her daughter's memories under Lucius' eagle-eyed gaze, and as instructed, erased Lucius and Narcissa's memories, too. She moved Isobel into their new home and several days later, Isobel regained consciousness.
The scene dissolved and Isobel found herself in her mother's bedroom. Maggie was standing by her window, opening an envelope. She slid out two separate pieces of parchment.
The first letter was signed by Narcissa Malfoy. It said only:
I am sorry for the loss of your daughter.
I found this letter in Draco's room, and thought you might like to have it. Even if they were never right for one another, they truly were in love.
The second letter had been Draco's. Isobel watched as her mother studied the letter, watched tears form in Maggie's eyes as she began to understand the depth of Draco's heartbreak. Maggie folded the parchment and placed it on the top shelf of her wardrobe, held down by a jar of Floo powder. The scene faded once more.
