▼ h o g s m e a d e ▲

The winter of her sixteenth year had been exceptionally cruel—

(marriage prospects, the unshakable sense of dread that came with academic obligations, Andromeda's abnormal obsession with all things that weren't suitable for a member of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, Narcissa's insistence at being a professional, incompetent, incorrigible brat)

—yet she found a sliver of solace as she walked around Hogsmeade. Alone.

The snow reminded her of home;

(twirling, tumbling, silent throughout its descent, transforming into a gray, unrecognizable mush once it was beneath her sleek, black boots);

destruction, deception, a cautionary tale without a proper ending.

▼ t w e n t y ▲ : if only.