𝐀 𝐑𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 | ʟᴜᴄɪᴜꜱ ᴍᴀʟꜰᴏʏ ꜰᴀɴꜰɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴇɪɢʜᴛᴇᴇɴ: ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴇᴛᴛᴇʀ

Today I was finally getting released from the Hospital Wing. Even though I wasnt feeling that bad, Poppy insisted to look after me. While feeling physically well, I've lost a lot of my powers – even a simple Levitating charm was a great difficulty for me. But yesterday I managed to perform an Accio charm on a bottle of water Poppy held 10 meters away from me, which she took as a sign of recovering.

After I took off the nightgown (which I wore for three days straight) and put on the clean clothes Zelda brought from my closet, I also packed a few things I had in the nightstand. Then, I needed to get to Poppy's office to sign me the medical findings and other documents.

"Dont get me wrong, Catherine, but I hope I won't be seeing you here in a long time," Poppy said through an honest laugh.

I definitely agree, I responded, also laughing at her remark. "You're such an outstanding nurse and everything, but let's meet somewhere else than here."

"Maybe you won't believe this, but you should be thankful to Mr Malfoy's father," Poppy said as she was signing the last couple of papers. "Not only that he had taken you from that house, but the day after he sent me an owl to ask how have you been."

As she said that, she made me feel my stomach flutter. My eyes widened slightly and my cheeks began tingling with warmth and blush. My lips curled in a smile as I looked down shyly.

"Now that's something I didn't expect," I said and laughed nervously.

"It's possible that he just wanted to be courteous, but judging by the tone of the letter, he almost sounded like he honestly cared about you," Poppy said with a mysterious smile.

"Impossible," I said sarcastically.

"I said you might not believe it, but I think you two would make an outstanding couple," Poppy whispered out, saying that in a very excited tone.

"I see. Thank you so much, Poppy," I said, accepting the bunch of signed papers.

Waving her off, I left the Hospital Wing with my bag in one hand, papers in other one, and with a head full of thoughts. I couldnt stop thinking about Lucius – it seemed unbelievable that a man like him would care about someone they didn't know very well.

I made myself comfortable in my chamber and brewed a tea with milk. Since I've been gone for almost a whole week, a lot of lessons were missed and I've lost control over my work schedule. While sipping on my tea, I've planned all of my lessons for the rest of the week. As I was doing that, I was thinking about Poppys words – they sounded so honest and comforting to hear from someone who wasn't Zelda.

Of course I love her, she is my closest cousin, but that's exactly why she was somehow obliged to be optimistic. After all, Poppy was a side-person, she was observing the situation from far away, just like a trustful narrator in the 19th century novels.

***

Albus told me to bring him the sick-leave documentation he had to send to the Ministry. That was the last thing I had to do before returning to work tomorrow. It was a great idea of mine to check and sort the papers Poppy gave me, because in the bunch of papers I've found a piece of parchment which didn't fit in with the rest of the documentation.

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but at the same time I felt interested in what the paper could be. Somehow I did have an idea about what it was, and soon enough I found out I was right. The parchment was styled differently – it was whiter, and there was no sign of Poppy's blue ink. Instead of it, the ink on this parchment was almost black, but with a slight shade of dark green.

As I unfolded the parchment, I recognized it was a letter. From what Poppy told me, I couldn't be more certain about what that letter was.

Dear Mrs Pomfrey,