𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕊𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕡

16- The Land of Dreams

"It's funny how a memory
Turns into a bad dream"

Her quill scratched the paper rigorously as noon struck on the clock down the hall. Three girls sat in a row in front of her, each sitting as still as the next. The two older ones looked nearly identical, the only difference in their aura. The youngest stood out with her blond hair.

The woman bit her lip, crumbling the paper in her hands and throwing it out the window behind the girls. Their eyes widened, suddenly questioning everything they knew about their mother.

"Mother," the middle child questioned, "was my work that terrible?"

Her mother stood up from her chair and folded her hands in front of her. She appeared to be embarrassed of her outburst, it was apparent in her body language.

"No, Andromeda, your work was just subpar," she spoke critically, but less harsh than usual.

"Why did you throw it out the window then?" The youngest asked, eyes wide with wonder still.

"You won't need that at Hogwarts," she adopted a dreamy tone of voice.

"But Father said-"

"I don't care what your Father said," the woman replied, clearly not interested in whatever her husband has to say. "Hogwarts is the land of dreams, and we can't kill yours until you get there."

...

Andromeda often thought that nothing her mother had ever said was right, however, when she called Hogwarts the land of dreams, she was on to something. The Enchanted Ceiling appeared as if there had been no ceiling at all and the Great Hall just led to the heavens, something Meda would only be able to dream of creating.

Druella had also made a promise all those years ago. Meda came to the epiphany as she sat at the welcome feast listening to Dumbledore talk. Her mother had meant it when she said they would wait until they made it to Hogwarts to kill their dreams. By conspiring with the Carrow family to slip a ring around Meda's finger, her mother had made her promise become true. Meda really did feel as though all her dreams were dead.

Dumbledore's words seemed worthless to her now. He was supposed to be a symbol of hope, of fulfilling one's deepest desires. Yet, Meda reckoned he was pretty powerless against the force that was her mother. The ring on her finger might as well have spelled out Meda's fate since the chance of escaping it felt slim to none.

"Try not to look so dead, would ya?" Narcissa asked, her voice cutting through the thoughts that had been crowding Meda's head.

She looked up at her sister with unamused eyes, rolling them as she went. Meda really was grateful for the distraction that her sister had created, but that didn't mean she had to act like it.

"My apologies," Andromeda deadpanned.

Without much else to speak about, they tucked into the feast in front of them. Flavors exploded in her mouth immediately, and the food fooled her into thinking the rest of term might not be as bad as she thought.

...

If Hogwarts had provided Andromeda anything over the years, it was privacy. She was always able to ditch the prying eyes of her sisters and other various relatives, even if that took Meda down an occasional spooky corridor. Her found safe havens were what had gotten her through her schooling.