Chapter 23- A Step Closer

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Lucius entered his office, confused about the subtle changes in his room. Swearing that he had left his door open slightly. As he carried in a handful of boxes, he kicked shut the door behind him and dropped the boxes down on the floor, completely disregarding them. He slummed down in his chair, rubbing his stubbly face with his coarse hands. God, he hated it here.

Pulling a piece of his parchment out from under the piles of books and papers it was hidden under, Lucius began writing again. Dipping his quill in the glossy, black ink, he scribed:

'My Darling Isabel, I am so sorry. I can't tell you how sorry I am, for a number of things. One of them being that i forced you into this mess for my own selfish gain. For something that caused you to leave me. I will never forgive myself.

Another apology I owe you is something that I myself can't quite understand. Narcissa is pregnant. I hope to god that it isn't mine. I often find myself praying every night to a higher power, in hopes that it isn't mine. I don't want a child, only if it's yours. I've decided on our future that we were to have a little girl. Whether its eyes are blue or brown, hair blonde or brunette; if it's a child of ours, I will love her endlessly. However, I often forget that this will never happen.'

This would be a letter that would have made her stay around. A man Isabel thought was quite selfish at times, would leave it all to start a family with her. A fantasy that she could only dream of. A fantasy she wanted.

He reached down to add it to the pile of other letters addressed to her. Soon they would overflow that draw; they would start to overflow all his draws at the rate he wrote to her. With it being a late night, he would lock his draw and leave the room for the day. But Lucius being too tired, forgot. The key never left his neck to seal his secretes shut. They were just hidden.

-

As Severus help Isabel set up in a nicer room, he left briefly before returning with dozens and dozens of books. Piling them on her bed, she looked up at him in confusion.

"Light reading." He remarked, cocking his eyebrows up.

"What!? Why are you off loading these on me?" she argued.

"Maybe if you read at the titles of these books you might want to look at them at least." Severus sassed before leaving the room. Many of the books consisted of information and heading about titles like 'Horcruxes', 'Dangers of Dark Magic' and 'Blood Purity'. These must have been all the books that Voldemort removed off the shelves in order to make it easier to spread his propaganda. Flicking through the books, Isabel became overwhelmed with so much material on the subjects. Her hands aching from the continuous writing. Never had she written so much, not even during her exams and revisions.

Into the night, Isabel didn't know what the time was and fell asleep at her desk midsentence. Being awoken by a knock at her door, she shot up. Wide awake. Severus, not hearing a response, left; probably going to try again later. As Severus turned his back, half way back down the corridor, Isabel rushed out of the room. Not fully woken up. "Up then?!" his humour was dry.

"I'm sorry. How come you knocked?" rubbing her eyes, her question was drowned out by her yawning.

"You have lessons. Get ready!" he informed her before swishing his cape away in his exist.

"Severus..." she knitted her eyebrows, "I literally can't. I'm...I'm dead."

"Oh, come on Isabel. Nobody noticed you when you were alive, what makes you think they will notice you after you've died." Horrified, she stood there and slowly bobbed her head.

"Fuck you Severus." She snapped back, "Fuck you." she turned back into her room, gathering up her notes before storming out of his way. He watched Isabel leave, unable to empathise with her.

Marching to the library, she buried her head into the notes. Even if she didn't contribute anything more to them, she tried to use it as a distraction. Isabel was furious at Severus's comment. She knew that he had said it in rash thinking but it stilled annoyed her. A grown man should know better. while in thought, a black figure appeared in front of her. Severus. Rolling her eyes, she turned to leave the table, not caring for an explanation or apology from him. "Montgomery!" he called out, leaning on the table.

"What?!" she snapped.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." Although she didn't want this apology, it sure was satisfying to hear a grown man apologise.

"Thank you, I guess." She placed her notes back on the table, but didn't sit down.

"If you want to stay here, you have to attend classes." His eyebrows raised, "I'll put a jinx on you if you don't want to be recognised."

"Severus, it would look weird if a girl who is rumoured to be dead just turned up." She backed chatted.

"If you really want to go through with the original plan you told me up in the Astronomy Tower months ago, then the total amount of time that you will be dead for will be about a year. If you want to destroy Voldemort, you will have to lay low again. But this time, under my strict orders. A lot of Death Eaters will be after you. You know how much Bellatrix is in love with him." He reasoned. Isabel sighed deep in her thoughts, contemplating whether or not it was a good idea. Whether she should rip the plaster off now and just leave for the muggle world to start a new family but away from him. Or whether she should carry this out in chance of being with Lucius however it wouldn't be definite especially with Narcissa being... Saying it made her sick. She didn't want to accept it.

"Fine." she yielded with him. "Grab me some robes. But if they're Gryffindor, I swear to God." she instructed before strutting off back to the room. Severus smiled to himself, thankful that she made the right decision. 

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Authors Note: Sorry if this was messy. And also sorry if you're Gryffindor, I don't mean there to be a lot of Gryffindorr slander lol x 

Lucius Malfoy - Well Darling...Opowieści tętniące życiem. Odkryj je teraz