"They say that drowning is painless," she breathed, nearly choked by her tears. "Isn't it?"

No one had ever noticed the marks that grotesquely blemished her body and yet told a tale, a tale of nothing but sheer despair.

Narcissa lost herself long ago, but it takes more than insanity to escape from her shadows.

It's his indifference that hurts her the most.

It was the least she could do, they said, help to improve Azkaban's security. She would be safe, they said. How wrong they were...

The potions made her forget.

It was their first Christmas without Father, and their last as a family.

They said she would not live to see the sunrise, but even though Narcissa does recover from her wounds she still feels Death's cold hand upon her shoulder.

Narcissa would do anything to protect those she loved most, and she was willing to pay any price the cruel queen would demand for her family's safety.

Pansy Parkinson knew how to distract herself, would never stoop to crying in a corner, and yet she could not help but wonder what drove Hermione Granger to do that very thing.

Years later, Andromeda reflects over her Sorting and wonders whether the hat has made a mistake.

It felt as though it had been a hundred years since Catelyn Stark last kissed her husband, last saw her children, last walked through the icy cold corridors of Winterfell. But the end was coming, and she could only hold on for so long.

When looking back on her life, Emily Gilmore could not help but wonder what it would have been like.

The war claims more victims with every day and Narcissa grows tired of always having to remain strong. One night, everything falls apart.

After escaping from her mother's terrifying regime, Narcissa decides never to look back at her past. But years later when Druella is on her deathbed, she returns to her childhood home and makes a discovery that causes not only her own life to fall apart.

It wasn't her first Christmas alone, and she knew that it wouldn't be her last.

Her sister's cruel demands terrify Narcissa, but most of all she terrifies herself for still being completely and utterly in love with her.

For the second time within her life, Andromeda loses what is most important to her and this time, she also loses herself.

Too many of them had attempted to change what could not be changed, and they all had failed. Too many of them had dared to dream. Narcissa's hopes and dreams had been blighted when she had been only a girl, in a time when she had just begun to sincerely believe they could come true.

After years of illness, Narcissa encounters death; she reflects on her life, family and marriage.