𝔪𝔢𝔱𝔞𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔭𝔥𝔬𝔰𝔦𝔰
vingt. — mythology!

( remini is literally magic now )

The following months passed by in a blur of colours for Persephone. After the winter solstice the castle continued its joyous celebrations as the muggle holiday Christmas approached a few days later. It was Christmas Eve that Tom had disappeared completely and he would not return to Persephone's sight until Christmas Day had passed. She had learnt not long before that Tom's birthday was on said day and that he did not like to acknowledge it — commonly disappearing for the day.

Unsure and unwilling to overstep her boundaries Persephone left her humble gift for him on the common room coffee table, wrapped in emerald fabric and topped with a black bow.

A plain black diary with his name scrawled in gold across the bottom.

Though the two never spoke of her gift nor his of his distain for his birthday she was pleased to find that he could be found often scribbling down frantic writings in the diary — or even just sketching in it at times.

When her friends returned from the break, Persephone found that some of them were in slightly somber moods. It was to be expected of course. Walburga had once mentioned to her (after having several glasses of fire whiskey) that though her parents loved her and her siblings, they did not know how to show it and it was a trait long passed on in the Black family. So every year when the entire Black family gathered for solstice it was uncomfortable to say the least. A room full of emotionally unavailable people and their resentful children who would one day grow up to be just as cold and detached as their parents, continuing the cycle.

Druella who usually spent her solstices in small intimate gatherings at the Rosier manor, found herself at the unfortunate Black family solstice banquet. An eerie look into her future as the older generations cooed over what a lovely couple she and Cygnus made — prying about when the wedding would take place, and how soon they could expect beautiful heirs from the young girl.

By the time spring had sprung everybody seemed to have bounced back to their usual selves. The smell of blossoming flowers in the air and the stress of their upcoming OWL's enough to snap them out of their melancholy.

Persephone found another season that she disliked. Whilst she loved the blooming of flowers and new life, and the way that trees no longer looked like haunting, looming figures ready to snatch her away into the forest, she did not like the uncertainty of it all. British weather was usually unpredictable, but in Spring it was even more so. In the months after the winter solstice she found that it could be raining for a week straight — flooding the lake — only to be sunny days later the bright glare of the sun blinding but not warming as students shivered from the chill in the air.

It was only around mid-March that the weather slowly became more tolerable, deciding it was going to be moderately warm the majority of the time with no unexpected downpours on the horizon. That is why Persephone found herself lounging outside reading her book under the shade of a tree not too far from the castle. She wasn't particularly stressed about the upcoming exams having revised thoroughly, but everybody else's stress was giving her a headache. Tom appeared to have had the same idea as her and seemed to have found a secret spot in the castle to hide out in as the others slowly lost their minds.

Nott and Lestrange would constantly shout questions at each other in the common room, great hall, and the hallways, if they got the answer wrong the other would throw an object — usually a book — at the others head. Persephone was unsure how it helped for learning, but wouldn't complain too much since it had been rather amusing when Septimus Wesley accidentally got in the way and was knocked to the floor as a cope of Hogwarts a History hit him in the face.

It was even more amusing watching Professor Merrythought scold the boys on their reckless behaviour.

Abraxas had taken up an interesting technique where instead of studying he sat around all day and stressed about studying — thinking about it yet never actually doing it until it was too late.

The girls were mildly less insane as they created study groups and Costia created customised study schedules for anyone that asked... or didn't ask. Yet another creative form of procrastination.

"Save me, Seph," Druella groaned as she appeared seemingly from thin air and threw herself onto the ground in a dramatic heap, "Costia made me another revision timetable! She's made me six now!"

"Have your stuck to any of them?"

Druella scoffed laying her head in the girls lap, forcing her to move her book to the side as she stared down at the girl in amusement, "No I haven't, I don't need a piece of paper to tell me when to study!" She pouted, "But I can't exactly say that to Costia right now can I? She almost bit of Walburga's head when she said something about it."

Walburga didn't believe in studying. Instead she spent most of her time figuring out ways to cheat in her tests. Though she wasn't actually all to concerned about failing.

"What are you reading anyway?"

"The book you got me!" Persephone smiled excitedly holding it out to the girl, brushing her fingers over the beautifully illustrated cover, "I've already read the stories; Daphne Eludes Apollo, Europa and Zeus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Pygmalion and Galatea, The Death of Hercules, Circe and Scylla, and now I'm reading the story of Echo and Narcissus."

"What's it about?"

"Narcissus was a handsome young man and the son of Cephissus and the nymph Liriope. Whilst wandering through the woods the lovely nymph Echo was entranced by his beauty — though he cruelly spurned her as he had many others, heartbroken she wasted away and died only her voice remaining an Echo to her plight. Hunting in the woods Narcissus stumbled upon a lake or river and decided to drink some water; he saw his reflection in the water and was surprised by the beauty he saw; he became entranced by the reflection of himself. He could not obtain the object of his desire though, and drowned in the water trying to obtain his reflection." Druella watched the girls lips move as she spoke passionately, "From his death the Narcissus flowers grew."

Humming contently Druella smiled up at Persephone, "I mean if he was half as beautiful as me I can completely understand," the two girls burst into a fit of giggles, "Narcissus, it's a strong name I like it. If I am ever to bear a son I think I shall call him that."

"It doesn't seem to be a lucky name?" Persephone wondered out loud to her friend as she waved her wand gently — Narcissus flowers sprouting from the ground all around them as Druella ran her long fingers over them.

"Nonsense, no child of mine would ever be so stupid as to drown gazing at their reflection," when Druella pictured her children she imagined her strong cheekbones and thick hair, but she did not imagine the steely grey eyes of her betrothed, but a warm emerald green that could never be, "Any child of mine would have to be both smart and beautiful."

"That's an awful lot of pressure for children that don't even exist yet."

"Children that are expected of me," Druella sat up turning to face the girl as she plucked a flower from the ground and placed it behind the other girls ear, "people expect thing of me, I expect things of others and the world goes round and round. Greatness must be cultivated from a young age — mother made sure to drill that into me from a young age."

Persephone was silent for a long while as the two simply sat together. Thick emotion in the air as the two considered their very separate futures — what was expected of Druella was that she would stay at home and raise the children, perhaps only having time away from the house when visiting the other pureblood women for a gossip. Whilst Persephone... neither of them knew what was in her future, not having turned up a single piece of information in their research. Smiling slyly, Persephone shrugged her shoulders and broke the tension.

"You know what? I never really liked children anyway. Messy little shits."

AUTHORS NOTE!
Sorry I haven't updated in a few days was feeling a little uninspired! Also a little Easter egg in this chapter... and yes it is now canon for me that Druella named Narcissa in memory of this conversation with Seph,

THANK YOU LOVELIES SO SO MUCH FOR 5K READS AHHH <333

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Unedited
-summer