Bound By Blood.

ch.111~ Everything you wanted.

"You got everything you ever wanted.

I'm still picking up the pieces, Brookie.

Maybe, the next life will be for us.

I love you, always have, always will.

Take care of your self, baby."

Recovered Translated Correspondents between Former Death Eater Mattheo Riddle, to former Order Member Alexandra Brooks, 2005.

Ireland, 2005.

Alexandra. 

I died that night.

That I know for sure. 

Right there, in the middle of the courtyard, I gave up. 

I gave in. 

I died. 

Then, I was in a classroom, with none other than Theodore Nott standing over me, begging me to live. 

And I want to say my decision to stay, to fight like he pleaded me too, was easy. 

But in truth, it was the hardest decision I have ever made, to this day. 

The one who convinced me to stay, was Fred. 

As sick and twisted and morbid as that sounds, it was all Freddy. 

He came to me, in where I'd like to think was the in-between.

Not my father, Fred. 

He found me there, in that strange, weightless place between life and death. 

I wasn't in pain. 

I wasn't anything. 

Just... drifting.

And then I heard his laugh, soft and familiar, like it was echoing from a memory I didn't know I still had. 

I turned, and there he was—smiling that crooked smile that used to make the world feel a little lighter.

"I know it hurts," he said. "More than anyone should have to bear. But you've got something, Brookie. You've got people who need you. Places you haven't seen. Love you haven't felt yet. You deserve all of it."

I told him I was tired. That it would be so easy to stay here, wherever I was, with him.

"I know," he whispered, stepping closer. "and I'd love to have you, just not yet. Hold on, yeah? For me."

So I did.

And when the door to that warded room slammed open and Mattheo stumbled in—bloody, broken, eyes wild—I knew I had made the right choice.

He collapsed at my feet like every part of him had shattered the moment he saw me. 

His arms locked around me like I was the only thing keeping him breathing. 

And in that moment, maybe I was.

The way he gripped me, the way his voice cracked when he said my name—it tore me apart and stitched me back together all at once.

How could I ever leave him?

Then came the words. 

The ones that changed everything.