THE FURIES ▸ Draco Malfoy

Chapter Thirty-Seven: CLOTHO

"You continue to say this...'you and Andromeda'...what do you think your death will do in the end? We've discussed this before, Alastiare. No letter is going to fill that emptiness for her. She has already changed as a result of your coldness. You may think it be for the best―pushing her away, pushing me away―but that does not dull our love for you. All it does is hurt."

"I do so in hopes that it will hurt less when I am gone."

"So you truly have decided then."

Alastiare and Celicia stared at one another, a ways across the large room, the books providing company against the echo felt in their hearts. For a moment, they were just children―seventeen years old once again, and the talk of the First Wizarding War was hot on everyone's tongue. Celicia remembered the pressure that he felt to join from Eldrice Nott and Lucius Malfoy, just as she could tell you every detail of the painful arguments he had with Sirius not long after. I see what brother you have chosen, Sirius had said. Alastiare was still full of life then. Draining, dripping, messily and painfully every step led closer to the Dark Lord. Now, there was nothing left inside of him. Nothing left at all.

It was the memory of the life that once lived inside of her husband that brought forth the burning sensation of tears in her throat. A funeral for all of the pieces of him she'd lost along the way, only to have him bury himself in the end. No amount of fight she produced would deter him. She'd been trying for months, unsuccessfully, but his mind was made up. She stared at the love of her life and tried to figure out when would be the time she finally said goodbye.

"We were seventeen when I first told you how I felt about you. Do you remember?"

Alastiare's heart could be seen shattering ahead of her own. "Of course I do."

"I said I would love you always...through every fault and every flaw you showed me along the way...through every pain you put me through....I loved you from the moment I met you, Alastiare, but I always knew...I always knew you'd take my heart and I would never see it again," she answered pitifully, her words breaking up under the pressure of her tears. "And now you tell me you are going to take it away for good, and all I feel is this emptiness growing inside of my chest knowing I'll never see you again...and you ask me to accept that..."

"I never asked for your acceptance, Cece...all I ask is that you continue holding my heart in return."

"While mine dies with you. While Mia's turns cold―"

His words were thick in his throat as he glanced down at his desk, the picture of baby Mia with Sirius in a frame that had been thrown at every wall in his office more than once. He'd tried ripping it, burning it, but never once was it destroyed. Celicia had placed a spell on it, of course. He appreciated that now. He could see the man holding his entire life. Sirius would be the reason Mia received a better life―a second chance. He was sure of it. He had to be.

"―she has a heart like yours, Cece," he muttered softly, his tearful eyes catching with adoration on his little girl. "One built to understand and empathize, to love and not destroy...she will battle this pain because she has your strength. I must believe in that...but she deserves a life that is not led by my mistakes. I want her free of my burdens―my pain―and this is the only way. You hold the largest piece of my heart and that will follow with you until we meet again, my love, but for now...I must give the rest of me away knowing that Andromeda will shine brighter without me...my littlest star..."