Ethereal Catastrophe | Tom Riddle

chapter sixteen

TW: mentions suicide. 


Sobs broke out of Walburga's throat like a knife slicing into your back.

Her whole being felt as if she was being suffocated. Like a rope continuously getting tighter and tighter, so tight that you can't breathe. So tight that all you feel is torment. So tight you feel nothing at all.

She knew it would come. She just didn't realise the deadly waves of misery that would flow into her bloodstream and drown her from within.

So as she laid on her bathroom floor with a damp letter clutched to her chest all she could think about was the future she would never have. The forced smiles, the ambition to be better, the weight loss, the constant agony all for nothing. All for this. All for a future she was bound to forever.

A future filled with pain so cruel she wished it would kill her.

Walburga,

I hope this letter finds you well.

This day seems to have come so quickly, just yesterday you were so little and now you have come to be a woman. A woman with such an esteemed name, so noble in the wizarding world- a true treasure. As you know, with that name comes purity. The Black bloodline is so strong and untainted.

When my parents were arranging my betrothal, the noble Black name was truly the most eminent. I had to claw many other girls who wished to be known as Mrs Black to get to your father and luckily his parents saw me and whisked me away to marry my husband.

Then we had our two sons, Alphard and Cygnus. My two boys. So grown-up but so so precious. The love I felt for those two boys can only be described as otherworldly. It was the best feeling in the universe that you shall one day feel soon enough.

Your father and I have been verbalising this for a while now. You must have known this also.

You must also know how important it is to keep the bloodline pure. Any sort of tainted blood is unacceptable in The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black and that is why we have been communicating with other purely bred families- discussing the options for you because this is all for you Walburga.

However, we have found no better suitable match than from our own.

That is why, after many discussions with Arcturus and Melania, we have concluded that Orion will be your perfect suitor.

I do hope you are as excited as I am about starting the wedding planning. I hope to speak with you more about this soon.

Keep well, daughter.

Mother.

She noticed the sharp black feathers of her families owl as it swooped down and gave her the letter. She was surprised, in all six years at Hogwarts never once had she received one. It was the morning of the first Hogsmeade weekend so her mood was vibrant and the sight of a letter only uplifted it more. Then it murdered her.

She had read the letter so many times that she had it memorised. The words that clawed her heart felt numb like a dark cloud floating through your veins to your brain. Corrupting your thoughts with darkness so evil it let the tissue rot.

She had never felt so heavy. Never felt this kind of pain before. When her brain let her, she thought this may be karma for all the bad things she had done to this world. The universes way of revenge, but then she concluded that no person ever deserved to feel the way she did. No one.

All of her ached as she screamed and wailed and kicked the cupboards. She banged her head on the cold floor, the crumpled letter ripping in her hands. Whilst she sobbed, she felt sick flow through her throat, chunks of eaten vegetables painted the floor as she cried and cried and cried. The whole situation made her feel extremely ill.