HP • Legilimency | 𝐍. 𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐅𝐎𝐘

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞

Folks, this chapter is brief, yet incredibly meaningful. It's the one I'm keeping you all curious about

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𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟕, 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟏

It was raining, a night filled with lightning and thunder. The sky was so dark that it was impossible to see the presence of the moon, and the night fell into absolute darkness.

She was distressed, pacing back and forth, biting her nails. Then she counted down from a hundred, subtracting all the prime numbers to try to calm herself. ─ But it didn't work. The beast within her didn't like to stay still, growling, scratching, wanting to break free and run.

It was past 10 o'clock at night, and she had no news. She knew something was wrong; she felt it in her bones.

That's when she heard a knock on the waiting room door. She turned abruptly in that direction. There, standing, was a mediwizard. He looked tired and equally frustrated.

"So?" she asked anxiously in the silence.
"You might want to sit down."

She gasped. It's a common understanding, to ask to sit down; it's a response that it wouldn't be good news.

"They were tortured, both of them. It was by the Cruciatus curse; the Lestranges got carried away, and..."

"Tell me, tell me now," Narcissa exclaimed in frustration, her chest heaving rapidly.

"They no longer know who they are. They can't recognize who's in front of them, not even their own son. They are being examined at the moment, and Mrs. Longbottom has requested the best specialists. But it's uncertain if there's a cure. I did my best."

Tears fell before she could contain herself. A single sob before she stood up abruptly, grabbed her wand, and ran through the corridors.

She burst into the room; there were two beds side by side. Alice was in the right bed, eyes open and a vacant look. Frank was in the other bed, but his eyes were closed, and one could say he was in peaceful slumber. Narcissa approached slowly, a tightness in her chest as understanding washed over her. She called her name, but there was no reaction. Her gaze remained still, distant, lost.

"Look at me. Please, Alice, look at me," she pleaded with a trembling voice.

She held the hands of the woman who had been her greatest love. They were cold, and there was no response to the touch either. Alice's scent was still there ─ it smelled like vanilla.

Her heart felt like it was going to jump out of her chest. She was gone, her Alice had gone down the rabbit hole.

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Narcissa had spent so much of her life hidden in one way or another that no one knew the true Narcissa. She had to, to survive in a family full of lunatics. She consciously hid her thoughts from the age of four, and probably unconsciously from the moment she began to speak. This all grew and strengthened when she became an Animagus to escape home hidden in the night.

So, imagine her surprise after all these years when none other than a little girl managed to pierce through her mental shield and hear her thoughts.

She was shocked, to say the least. The child was so sweet, with such a sharp mind. Probably the most beautiful child she had ever seen in her entire life.

"Very rude to poke at someone else's mental shield," Narcissa joked, trying to hide her shock. The little girl blushed, her round cheeks turning pink.

"I'm sorry," she murmured quickly, then cleared her throat to regain her composure. "Astria Shafiq, pleasure to meet you, ma'am."