Glass Heart, Iron Shield

by rosebud1000

It's a strange thing; to watch the world around you fade into darkness, the lights from wand-tips extinguished with Avada Kedavra. It's even stranger when you are the darkness, but not quite. Living in the place between shadows and light. Strong like a shadow. As easily cast away as the light. And there is one person who is just that. Narcissa Malfoy.

Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Assignment 6.

Magical and Mundane Literature, task two: write about someone pretending to be more powerful than they are.

Word count: 426

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It's a strange thing; to watch the world around you fade into darkness, the lights from wand-tips extinguished with Avada Kedavra. It's even stranger when you are the darkness, but not quite. Living in the place between shadows and light. Strong like a shadow. As easily cast away as the light. And there is one person who is just that. Narcissa Malfoy.

I watch

As the men in black capes that drag along the floor

File into my house,

Brushing me aside as though I am nothing but dirt.

I am not dirt.

Not something to be brushed aside,

Given as little though as

A speck.

As little thought as

The families they steal from.

As the hearts they break.

I will be as powerful as them,

When my husband rises, I rise with him.

And he has risen greatly.

Risen greatly, and put himself

In so much danger,

Danger I cannot take him out of.

He is okay.

He is strong.

He is powerful.

He has no fragility to hide,

No glass heart to protect with a lead shield.

Not the way I do.

I stand strong, though I wish to crumble.

I sit tall, though I wish to fade into the shadows.

I will always be here,

Wishing to be someone else,

Someone stronger.

I could never be as strong as Lucius.

Never as heartless as Bella.

I will settle for this,

A glass heart protected by a lead shield,

Holding it up against the bullets that rain down around me.

It will be my power.

The men in capes will learn to respect me.

They will learn of my strength,

My power.

And I hold it up.

I hold it up, though my arm tires.

I hold my shield until I can't.

Until the shield no longer protects.

Until the damage is inside-out.

Until my son is in danger.

My glass heart will break,

And there is nothing I can do to stop it.

I will let it break.

I will let it break over and over.

I will live this pain,

As long as I do it knowing that my son lives.

When he lives, my heart may mend.

My iron shield will be strong.

I will be strong.

I don't care how many times I break.

If I can protect my son from breaking.

I will be strong.

Strong is something for shadows. Strong is unloving. So who will I be, strong? A monster who ignores my child? No. I will always be a glass heart, protected by an iron shield.