"Those we love never truly leave us, Harry. There are things that death cannot touch."
Some curses are meant to be broken . . .
Part three of the Astoria Greengrass Series
In the year following Astoria's death, Scorpius finds himself lost. But one m...
Scorpius sat with his head in his hands, gazing lazily out at nothing. The moon lit the contours of his face, so drawn, so sallow, so devoid of his innate light. Where had that chipper, merry boy gone?
He sighed, and even the tone of his breath sounded different.
His legs swung absently through the stone balusters like he was floating over the black lake. Suspended here in the silence.
A few birds cawed through the inky night sky, and he wondered what this view must've looked like all those years ago, when she'd sat here with his father.
What it must've looked like when the sun was still there.
The sun was gone now; from the sky, from him.
Whoever he was had died with her.
Letting his forehead thump softly on the stone, he clamped his teeth together tightly.
It'd been over a year and yet . . . and yet this loss still pulled down on him, from the middle of his chest to the bottom of his stomach. A weight so heavy, so draining. The gravity of it all pulled him down so deep he wasn't even sure where the surface was anymore, let alone how he could break it and come up for air.
One of those noisy birds landed with a soft patter on the railing. It barely caught his attention, and he didn't bother to pull an expression for it. Because here, in the quiet of the night, in the solitude of this stillness, in the ghostly lifelessness of the once bright and beautiful place, he didn't have to lie. He didn't have to pretend he was okay.
Because he wasn't.
His hands trailed over the floor of the balcony, and he tried to imagine it.
His mother and father sitting here a lifetime ago, smiling and talking and eating sweets. The beginning of their story.
And now he sat here at the end.
It was over. Her life was gone. Her time with him, with his father—her time to exist had vanished like smoke on the wind.
And Scorpius was sitting at the end.
Burning questions that demanded answers he'd never get were hardened to resentment.
Why hadn't someone done something?
Why hadn't healers or ministry workers come together to find a cure?
Why did he have to pretend he was okay?
Why did she marry Draco Malfoy and desert him with no one but him as a father?
Why did she bring him into this world if only to live without a mother?
His fists were balled up tightly, pressing into the stone painfully. These thoughts were only born of his hurt, he told himself. They weren't really him. It wasn't how he really felt.
But a small voice told him yes, it is.
Tears of frustration rolled down his cheek. He felt like a flustered child again, throwing a fit because he didn't understand. He couldn't understand.
Why was this the life he had been dealt?
His self-pity hurt him all the more, but it was the only feeling that filled the hollowness. Worse though was his pity for the world.
Because the world now had to go on without her.
Kids laughed in the corridors, Quidditch teams cheered after matches; feasts were piled up high with hearty foods and merry smiles; the sun still shone through the windows; everyone just . . . went on.
Like nothing had happened.
Like the world wasn't crumbling beneath his feet.
Had already crumbled beneath his feet.
So he just sighed and stayed there, his face blank and heart bruised, and waited for the day he'd be able to go on too.
He watched the bird fly away, soar through the sky and leave him alone with his hurt.
That day would never come, would it?
So the bird flew, and he kept still.
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A/N: HI! OH MY GOD IT'S BEEN FOREVER! I believe the last time I published an Astoria book on this site was when I was in ninth grade, but now I'm a senior in HS applying to a creative writing university program, all thanks to this series of stories that taught me to love writing. I am so grateful for all of you who stuck it out and were so patient with me, even when I made you wait YEARS.
But enough trite words, I'll simply update you guys on the story a bit!
So this is obviously a prologue to the story, but the whole thing isn't quite ready for publishing, so if it's not too much to ask, just give me a little more time before it's all set for publishing! Nevertheless, the story will be out within a few months, and my posting schedule will most likely be a few chapters a week.
I'll also make a second author's note before we get into chapter One when the time comes to explain the timeline a bit further—the short of it is to make sure you've read Light in the Darkness and Malediction before reading the rest of this book, but as I said, I'll explain that further with a following author's note when I'm all set for the full story to drop.
Anyways, I hope you at least liked this little bit! I can't wait to share this story with you all, thank you so much for everything, truly!
Much love,
Emma, aka hermionescappuccino
P.S. I also want to make a little fancast book, or who I pictured as each character when I wrote Malediction, so I'll have that posted on my page pretty soon (spoiler: Tom Felton, though I love the guy, was never my Draco while writing lmao). I also will be making an updated playlist for this story, so that should be published here soon as well. Okay, bye for real now, see you soon!
