Bound By Blood.

ch.54~Tainted.

"There was no moment to ruin. My mistake if I made it seem that way. 

In fact, theres really no need for these letters. 

Wish you well."

Recovered Translated Correspondents between Order Member Alexandra Brooks, to Death Eater Mattheo Riddle, 2003.

Remains of Hogwarts, 2003.

Alexandra. 

When I ran into him outside of the "Great Hall," it was like all my senses disappeared. 

Coming here, it was a horrible idea, I knew that. 

Yet, I was still the one to suggest it. 

And as I sat on the edge of my old dorm room bed, the familiar creak of the frame beneath me sent a shiver down my spine. 

The memories flooded in—laughter that echoed off the stone walls, the warm glow of candlelight during late-night study sessions, the secrets shared under the enchanted ceiling.

Hogwarts had been my safe place, a place where worries floated away like the autumn leaves scattered across the grounds.

But now, everything felt so distant, so beyond my grasp. 

Five years of war had dulled every part of me, the cruel reality chipping away at the girl I used to be. 

I thought that if I returned here, it would somehow mend the frayed edges of my sanity. 

The weight of it all—the loss, the betrayal, the endless nights spent replaying painful memories—had become too heavy to bear alone. 

I wanted to feel the warmth of belonging again, to escape into the hallways that had once felt like home.

I had thought of us when I made the suggestion—Mattheo. 

When he first requested we meet, I thought there was no better place than here. 

But now that we were here...

A complicity formed in moments of silence, our mutual understanding forged through unspoken pain. 

He was a piece of my past, someone who had shared laughter and struggles within the same hallowed walls.

I believed that by returning with him, the reality of everything could dissolve into the air, if only for a little while.

That for a moment, even if just for a moment, I could feel like me again. 

Like it was just us, hiding in my dorm, after a day of sneaking around. 

That, just beyond my door, Fred and George ran around, laughter filling the space around them. That Hermione was tucked into a corner of the library, while Ron and Harry begged her to join them outside. Luna would be lost in her own world but always had an open seat beside her—one filled with whimsical thoughts and endless curiosities, while Neville followed.

That we were all still happy, still youthful. 

Untainted. 

I wished so desperately to slip back into those moments, to feel the simplicity of just being alive, of waking up in this castle without the burden of the world pressing down on my shoulders.