Epilogue Part 4: Drinking and Dreaming

Narcissa Malfoy awoke standing upright, completely unclothed and optimistic, a smile that she'd never even worn in her youth on her face. She felt younger, brisker. She, realizing she was not dressed, wished for some clothing, and some appeared on her, in her favorite shade and the most flattering form she'd known in her life. When she opened her eyes, Celestia Greengrass, the squib aunt of Astoria and Daphne Greengrass and the love of her life stood beside her.

Celestia smiled when she saw Narcissa, and pulled her into her arms.

"I've missed you so much, Cissa." Narcissa's smile grew (if it were even possible) even brighter than it was before, delighted to hear her soft lilting voce speaking the nickname that Celestia had made for her herself.

Cissa was so much softer than Narcissa, which although it was a captivating floral name, it was marble-cold and just as hard, and Cissy, the name her sister, Bellatrix had nicknamed her, was so childish. But Cissa was smooth and silky, like skimming your fingers through the luke-warm waters of a persistently moving stream.

"I missed you too, Tia." Cissa nuzzled her neck and mumbled happily into the curve of it, drowning her senses in all that was her love.

Looking up at her as Tia pulled her over to the couch that had materialized before them and a cozy room materialized with it, Cissa reminisced. "Do you remember the day we first met?"

Celestia was a woman who no one knew about, and her story was much like Merope Gaunt's—the mother of Voldemort himself—and her tale was the one that drew her to Celeste in the first place. The evening they met, Narcissa went out drinking at a bar and had found Celestia, tired, overworked, and lonely sitting beside her. Telling the story of how she'd been excommunicated from her family due to her lack of magical talent, Narcissa fell in love with her.

"Remember, Cissa? Remember?" Tia responded rather incredulously. "How could I forget? In fact, I'm surprised you remember that evening at all, seeing as you got yourself so piss-faced that evening." She, no matter how stern her tone, was smiling knowingly and teasingly, the affection she felt in her eyes shining out.

"Yeah, Tia, like you're one to talk. How many glasses of firewhiskey did you consume that evening, by chance?"

"Four, which evidently wasn't enough, as I could actually remember how many I consumed, therefore, I wasn't drunk. You, on the other hand, Cissa, had over twenty, I'd tell you exactly how many, but even I lost count at one point, which was why, when I came around to realizing I wanted to, I couldn't make love to you that night. That would have been taking advantage of something ridiculously unfair. You were drunk, so making love was not an option. So I kept it hidden, and simply brought you home, stripped you and swathed you in bed clothing and the bed sheets, and walked home, sad that I couldn't do what I wanted to do so much." Tia's smile became a bittersweet one as she looked back on the sad memory.

"You were going to take me to bed with you?" The look on her face was of complete and utter shock. She had never known this before.

"No, Cissa, I was going to make love to you." She pulled her close, so close that their noses were touching, so that Tia could look into Cissa's eyes.

"As in…" Cissa's thoughts trailed on, but due to the shock of the realization she had just made, her vocalization ended there.

"Yes, Cissa, but I thought you knew. I loved you. I did until the day I died, and I love you still."

Cissa pulled Tia tighter to her, her grip not tight, but firm. She nearly started crying as she bawled softly into the arms of her love. "I've loved you all my live, Tia. I hoped to tell you as soon as I could, despite my marriage to Lucius, but when you died in that squib raid of '81 on the same night as the Potters' deaths, I fell apart. I couldn't even attend the funeral due to my undercover duties under Voldemort and my husband. I had to pretend to toast your, and so many other squib deaths that evening, and fell into a drunken stupor. Lucius himself was in no happy shape either, having learned that James had been murdered that evening, and we…connected, you could say. It was the only reason Draco was even born. Every night after, as I stayed with the family I loved as much as I could, I thought of you, of living for you, hoping to see you after death. And here I am. And here you are. And now, all I want to do is be with you."

"And I with you. For all eternity. If that's what you wish."

"For all eternity? That sounds like the perfect way to spend forever."

Forever had granted wishes, and the elderly Veela woman's eyes twinkled, knowing that her job was done. True love will always find a way to win out, even through the boundaries of death, marriage, or supposed hatred. That's why love is the only part of life that supersedes death—overcomes death. Because in the end, nothing else matters.

THE END