Lucius Malfoy - Well Darling...

Chapter 22 - Unread Letters

Lucius stared at his ceiling, wallowing in his thoughts. He missed her. It was as simple as that. The door flung open to reveal a heated Narcissa bursting into his separate room. He sighed. Part of him imagined it was Isabel bursting into his room to proclaim that she wasn't dead; that he had just suffered from a horrible night terror and she was there to comfort him. But it wasn't. Groaning at the sight of her, he didn't dare to look at his wife. "I want a child." Narcissa demanded. Never in a million years did Lucius think that is what would come out of Narcissa's mouth in this moment in time. He scoffed at her demand.

"It isn't going to be mine." He snapped, rolling off the bed and out of the room. He knocked into her shoulder, completely disregarding what ever else she had to say.

"Please Lucius!" she shouted, trailing after him but he didn't give her a second look. "Don't you want an heir?"

"No." he couldn't be anymore blunt. Trying to keep up with him, her steps got faster.

"Why not?!"

"Because I don't want another child, Narcissa. Especially not with you who would probably weaponize it to make me stay. I don't want to replace Draco either."

"You're leaving me?!" She was shocked. Why? She cared for him. Was compliant. Didn't give a second look when Narcissa saw him flirting with another girl. She was practically the perfect wife.

"Maybe. I haven't decided yet." He continued walking until he got to his liquor cabinet.

"You can't leave me!?" her cries were being drowned out my Lucius making his actions as loud as possible. Even going out of his way to play classical music on his record player.

"Oh, but I can." He sighed taking a swig of his liquor. Calming her attitude, she came closer to him, her hands placed on his. He stared at the position of her hand before looking back up at her in disgust. He finished the contents of his glass to deal with her actions.

She left the room for a while, Lucius sinking through the bottle of whiskey on his table not bothering with a glass at this point. He just sat there. Resuming his emotionless stare that led him back to his heavenly day dream. Ever since Narcissa brought up her desire to have another child he dreamed of having one. Just not with her. He dreamed about having one with Isabel. A mini them running around the place; Lucius being the perfect father. Being the father he should have been to Draco.

So immensely drunk in his thoughts, he believed Isabel crept in the room and pulled him out of his chair. Believed that she snuggled herself into his chest before she began to kiss him. But their kiss wasn't as electric as he remembered. He believed that Isabel took his hand and twirled herself around before they danced around the room. But he wasn't believing. It did happen. The only difference being that it wasn't Isabel he was with; it was Narcissa.

-

Isabel saw no point in continuing her pursuit. She would be fighting for nothing. Not leaving the room for a number of days, she thought tonight she might. To find Severus. To tell him that she felt no will to continue. To surrender her wand and all power in magic. Isabel wanted to live a simple life in the muggle world. A fresh start. In a place where nobody was after her or thought she was dead. Where she could move on and start a family.

Being nightfall, she roamed the corridors careful of not being seen. On her way to Severus's office she found herself walking past Lucius's door again. Only this time his door was open. She gazed in, noticing that no one was in there. Hesitantly walking in, she scanned the room. Sitting behind his desk, her hands trailed among his belongings. She missed him so much. Deciding to be nosey, she decided to open a few of his draws, only expecting to finding documents, money or other work-related items. She found just that. However, she got to the other side of the desk draws and pulled out one of the bottom draws. There was a bundle of parchment wrapped in ribbon. Leaning down to retrieve them, she placed them down in front of her. They were love letters. She shook her head at them, tears of sorrow brewing in her eyes.

'My Darling Isabel,' she was startled by the opening. Thinking that it would address to Narcissa, she smiled at the pleasant surprise. 'I understand how pointless this letter are seeming you will never read them, but I feel like you will. I want to tell you how much you mean to me. Every day is a step closer I am to be reunited with you and I cannot wait. If the Grim Reaper wasn't such a daunting man, I may visit him sooner.

I heard your laugh one night before bed. Waking up the next morning to your beautiful face made me think that this was all a night mare. But it wasn't, I had woken up from one. The false reality of you still being there, in my arms was a cruel joke that this universe had played on me. I must have been an awful person in a previous life for you to be ripped away from me like this.

I always thought I knew what love was and what it meant to me. Oh, how I was so wrong. You taught me how much love can hurt and confuse a man; how horrible it can be. But not in the slightest does that mean that I would trade it for anything else in this world. All the pain that this has caused me was completely worth it. Completely worth knowing you for the time I did, however brief it was.'

As the tears streamed down her face, she felt extremely bad for leaving this man in such a brutal place. Not wanting her tears to ruin or leave a trace of her existence in this room, she placed them back where she found them. Whilst down there, she heard the approach of footsteps coming close. Fuck. Ducking underneath the desk, she saw a pair of shoes entering the room. Bobbing back up, she sighed in disappointment. "Isabel?!" the voice questioned.

"Severus." she returned the greeting.

"Why are you here!?" angry at her presence, he fully entered the room and closed the room behind him. "I thought I sent you to live in the South, not inviting you back to Hogwarts."

"Well... Errmm..." she failed to answer him.

"You couldn't stay away could you. Especially from him." He shook his head and rubbed his eyes in frustration.

"Look Severus, I am truly grateful for your help the past few months, but I'm fed up. I don't even know what I want anymore." She chocked up the tears. Conflicted. Severus huffed; he didn't know what to do either.

"Montgomery," he struggled to give her advice. He could only offer sympathy. "Let's get you out of this office." He held his arm out, hoping that he could usher her out of this place of eidetic memories. She did just that.

Only if fate brought Snape a few minutes later, Isabel may have read the letter that would cause her to make up her mind for definite. Slightly poking out of his desk, hidden under the piles of document was that letter. It's ink still fresh.

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