The Tragedy of Walburga Black

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓★

𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟒 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞

She gathered her thoughts quickly and began ascending the basement's creaking stairs. As she moved from step to step, she felt the tears in the skin of her ankles press against each other.

Paper cuts, it felt as if she were getting paper cuts every time she moved up another step.

When she finally reached the door, she pushed through it and was quickly blinded by the kitchen lights and the noise of the house elves cooking something.

"Does Miss need help?" a high-pitched voice asked Walburga. She quickly took her eyes off the lights on the high ceilings and looked down to see Dot.

One of the house elves, Dot was a sweet one - she had served the family since before Walburga was born. The first memory Walburga ever had was of Dot caring for her rather than her parents.

"What is the date and time?" She asked as she quickly leaned on the long black oak wood table. She was overwhelmed and overstimulated.

"August 15th it is, miss." Dot stood beside Walburga and noticed the blood from her short height on her ankles.

"Okay, thank y-"

"Miss is hurt! Let Dot help Miss! Oh, let Dot help!" She whined louder than she usually did when she encountered a beaten-up Walburga.

"If you want to help me, Dot, bring a vial of essence of Dittany to my room and a big warm cup of tea...plea-." She faltered for a second and feared that her mother would hear her say such a thing to a house elf.

She had grown somewhat close to the house elves, given how often her mother would force her to be with them as a punishment and help them clean and cook.

"Yes! Yes! Dot will be up shortly, miss!" with a snap, she disappeared.

She huffed and looked to see the other house-elves continuing their work she gathered they weren't cooking but cleaning up the after-dinner leftovers.

"Pardon, but can you tell Dot that I will have a bit of whatever is left over from dinner sent up to my room as well?" She always felt odd forcing labor on such little creatures, but she had always tried to be a little bit nice or as lovely as someone like her could be.

"Yes, Miss!" Walburga didn't bother looking at the house elf, that replied as she limped her way out of the kitchen and into the long hallways. She hissed as she made it into the halls, she leaned quickly and glanced at her wrists.

The skin was rolling outward, there was a line going around her wrists, and blood was free-flowing. Gagging, she tried to pull the raw skin back into place, holding back tears.

She gave up, it only led to more blood and pain shooting up her arms. She figured her ankles were the same, considering the immense pain.

She sucked in the air and wiped the tears from her face, leaving more blood on her face, and composed herself.  She began to walk or limp more so.

The hallway was endless, with high ceilings and filled with a ridiculous amount of family portraits that gasped and called her names such as "living ghoul "as she hobbled by.

The walls that weren't decorated with the paintings of her ancestors were lined with green wallpaper and gold trim that swirled in intricate designs.

Slowly she finally made her way into the foyer before staring up at the spiraling staircase, cursing herself as she made her way up.

It wasn't until she was midway up the stairs that she dared to glance back, only to see that she was leaving bloody footprints on each step of the marble floor.

She ran the rest of the way up until she made it to another extremely long hallway, of course, her room was the farthest away.  Each step she took felt as if she was walking on blades. She would have to ask Dot and the other house elves to scrub each step all night.

She quickly passed her brother's room and made a mental note to check on him.

Finally, she reached her door she couldn't have opened it faster if, she tried.

Upon entering her room, she collapsed onto her pine wooden floor. Exhaustion had finally caught up to her. Perhaps it was the blood loss as well though she couldn't tell.

She leaned against her door, trying to regain her breath from running up the stairs, noticing that her lamps were still on, she glanced at her unmade bed curious, she thought, 'Why hadn't the house elves cleaned up?'

A familiar snap came from the left side of the room, and she saw Dot.

"Worry not, miss; Dot is here to help."

With a small tired smile, Walburga hurried Dot to help her pour the essence of dittany onto her ankles and wrists, as well as the small cut on her cheek and one drop on her left eye.

It was painful and disgusting to see her skin grow back, almost as if someone were sewing something back together from within, it reminded her of a novel she once read, the creation of Prometheus, the bringing together of a creature that did not want to exist in the first place.

When the healing was over, she was left with thick scar tissue lining her wrists and ankles, and the ribbing of extra skin had protruded from her skin, leaving scars behind.

She was left with nothing but scars and dried blood.

"Tea and dinner are here, miss; eat quickly!" Dot pointed to the meal sitting on her writing desk it smelled of warm roasted chicken and mashed potatoes. Heaven on a plate to Walburga at that moment.

"Dot will fill the bath for Miss, oh yes, very warm for Miss."

Walburga looked away from the meal and back to Dot, who was putting away the vial of dittany next to her. It was odd how a creature worth nothing could carry such a warm and caring heart.

"Thank you" Awkwardly, she stood up and walked to her desk to eat her first authentic meal in weeks.

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By the time she exited her restroom after a well-needed bath, her skin was red from the amount of scrubbing she had done. Dot had left to wash the floors marked by her blood, but not before ensuring that Walbruga was okay.

She finally blew out all of the candles, turned off her lamps, and went to her canopy bed to lay down on something warm and welcoming.

Her mind was so loud and constantly full of questions and wonderments that she couldn't seem to ever turn them off. She finally let her exhaustion take her away and left every worry behind.

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