div class="chapter preface group" style="border-width: 1px 0px 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.5em 3em; padding: 0.643em 0.643em 0px; float: none; color: #2a2a2a; border-style: solid initial initial initial;" role="complementary"
h3 class="title" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: 400; font-style: inherit; font-size: 1.286em; font-family: Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0.5375em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1; background: transparent; text-align: center;"a style="color: #666666; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 19.4443px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer;" href=" /works/17039231/chapters/40061867"Chapter 1/a: Prologue: A God Falls and a Phoenix Rises/h3
/div
div class="userstuff module" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 1088.63px; float: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: #2a2a2a;" role="article"
h3 id="work" class="landmark heading" style="border-width: 0px 0px 0.25em; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; font-weight: 500; font-style: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0.125em; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; height: 0px; clear: both; color: transparent; border-color: initial initial #333333 initial; border-style: initial initial double initial;"Chapter Text/h3
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Loki looked up into his brother's face as he hung dangling from Thor's grip above the chasm expanding the space of what had once been the Bifrost. Thor's shouts and pleas bouncing off the shrapnel of Loki's shattering heart. Everything and everyone he had ever known was a lie. His mother's love was a lie. His father's encouragement was a lie. Ha! Even the brotherly concern he could see in Thor's desperate gaze was a lie./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"All he wanted was for it all to stop. He didn't want to see, or feel, or think about this anymore. He just wanted to let it all go… and so he did./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="center"***/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Loki fell, and fell, and span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"fell. /span It was becoming a never ending cycle. Whether it had been days, weeks, or years he did not know. All he knew now was the fall was not going to kill him. What was the point of falling to your death if there was nowhere to fall too. He wasn't sure what he had expected by falling into the void, but it was definitely not as boring as this./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"The last thing he wanted to do was think, but his mind was the only thing he had left to entertain him. Shouldn't he have died by now? He knew it was hard for a god to die but only the gods of necessity were impossible to kill outside of Asgaurd. He was not one of those gods. They brought order and stability to the world. He was the one that created chaos and destruction. There was nothing necessary about him! /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Mind finally spent and patience long gone, Loki did the only thing he could think of. He used his magic to do it himself. Silently he began to build his power inside himself at a single point in the center of his sternum. He imagined that power like that of a bright star as he poured more and more molten chaotic magic into the compact vessel. Brighter and brighter it burned until finally something had to give. The star shattered with more power than the greatest supernova in history in a burst of light so great it was blinding. Thus the god of chaos died, or so he thought.../p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="center"***/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Narcissa Malfoy stared out the window at the falling star feeling as though her spirit were dying with it. Below her dead eyes she protectively clutched her stillborn daughter to her chest as silent tears fell from her cheeks. Lucius and the mediwiches had tried to reason with her only to be met with wrathful glares. Now her husband sat in stunned silence in his own world of grief as he clutched their still week newborn son. Any time he would start to drift off into sleep, he would suddenly start and lift he son to his ear to check that he was still breathing./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Healer Meadow slowly entered the room as not to startle the grieving parents. She approached Lucius first as the the more stable of the two and gently lifted the child from his grasp. While Lucius aloud her to hold his son he did not remove his hand from his son's back./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Once finished with the diagnostic spells, Healer Meadow inched forward to examine Lady Malfoy. She did not respond, even when the diagnostic spells ran over the distraught mother./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Once her task was complete Healer Meadow kneeled before Lady Malfoy. Laying her hand gently over the mother's, Narcissa finally made eye contact with the Healer. "I know that I can not understand what you are going through right now, but as your healer I am concerned about your mental well being." /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""You are right. You can't understand how I am feeling!" growled Narcissa. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Meadow's hand tightened in sympathy over the other woman's hand. "Narcissa. Your daughter is gone. I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can say to make it any easier on you. I know you are trying to protect her, but she doesn't need your protection any longer… Your son does." Narcissa's hands began to tremble beneath Healer Meadow's. "Let me help you let her go," said the healer in her most gentle whisper./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Lucius came to stand at his wife's side as the healer gently lifted their daughter from her mother's arms. With a wail of pure anguish, Narcissa wrapped her arms around his midsection and began to sob. Healer Meadow gently swaddled the to still form, covering her face before passing the dead child to a somber faced mediwitch. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Slowly she approached the couple again. "Based on my diagnostic spells you are all free to go home and rest, but I would strongly advise your return for follow up outpatient care with one of our mind healers or a grief counselors in town. I have taken the liberty of writing down a few that I would recommend." She paused before leaving to say with concern, "I am truly sorry for your loss."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="center"***/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"An hour later Lucius guided his grief stricken wife with one hand and cradled his son in the other as they exited the hospital in silence. As they passed through the doors to head for the nearest apparition platform, Narcissa's knees gave way and she sank onto the floor clutching the soft green baby blanket to her chest as she keened in sorrow. Lucius tightened the matching one more securely around his son before he knelt and embraced his wife. Her cries echoed off the stone walls and pillars as she wept and for once Lucius did not care about the people who passed them by or what they thought of their spectacle. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Narcissa's cries began to fade as Lucius stroked small circles on her back, but her cries still echoed around them. Suddenly Narcissa stood and began foraging through the garden that ringed the outside wall of Godric's Hollow Hospital. Confused Lucius tried to pull his wife to her feet, but she broke free muttering as she continued her frenzied search. "Babybabybabymybaby..." Until finally she came to an Alder tree in the garden ringed in sweet flag irises. There below its low slung branches lay a small wriggling bundle./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="center"***/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"The infant frost giant under the tree struggled and cried out for help, but as the branches parted the cries stopped. Gentle hands reached down and as they made contact every hope, every dream, and every wish the woman had poured into the child and she became them. Just as Loki had in the hands of Oden. Narcissa gazed down at the newborn baby girl in her arms and her heart clenched painfully. She gently stroked the feather soft tufts of platinum blond hair above her porcelain face. She stared into the baby's intelligent green eyes for a long time before turning to her husband. He didn't take long to convincing, he always was soft when it came to her./p
/div
h3 class="title" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: 400; font-style: inherit; font-size: 1.286em; font-family: Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0.5375em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1; background: transparent; text-align: center;"a style="color: #666666; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 19.4443px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer;" href=" /works/17039231/chapters/40061867"Chapter 1/a: Prologue: A God Falls and a Phoenix Rises/h3
/div
div class="userstuff module" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 1088.63px; float: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: #2a2a2a;" role="article"
h3 id="work" class="landmark heading" style="border-width: 0px 0px 0.25em; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; font-weight: 500; font-style: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0.125em; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; height: 0px; clear: both; color: transparent; border-color: initial initial #333333 initial; border-style: initial initial double initial;"Chapter Text/h3
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Loki looked up into his brother's face as he hung dangling from Thor's grip above the chasm expanding the space of what had once been the Bifrost. Thor's shouts and pleas bouncing off the shrapnel of Loki's shattering heart. Everything and everyone he had ever known was a lie. His mother's love was a lie. His father's encouragement was a lie. Ha! Even the brotherly concern he could see in Thor's desperate gaze was a lie./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"All he wanted was for it all to stop. He didn't want to see, or feel, or think about this anymore. He just wanted to let it all go… and so he did./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="center"***/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Loki fell, and fell, and span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"fell. /span It was becoming a never ending cycle. Whether it had been days, weeks, or years he did not know. All he knew now was the fall was not going to kill him. What was the point of falling to your death if there was nowhere to fall too. He wasn't sure what he had expected by falling into the void, but it was definitely not as boring as this./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"The last thing he wanted to do was think, but his mind was the only thing he had left to entertain him. Shouldn't he have died by now? He knew it was hard for a god to die but only the gods of necessity were impossible to kill outside of Asgaurd. He was not one of those gods. They brought order and stability to the world. He was the one that created chaos and destruction. There was nothing necessary about him! /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Mind finally spent and patience long gone, Loki did the only thing he could think of. He used his magic to do it himself. Silently he began to build his power inside himself at a single point in the center of his sternum. He imagined that power like that of a bright star as he poured more and more molten chaotic magic into the compact vessel. Brighter and brighter it burned until finally something had to give. The star shattered with more power than the greatest supernova in history in a burst of light so great it was blinding. Thus the god of chaos died, or so he thought.../p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="center"***/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Narcissa Malfoy stared out the window at the falling star feeling as though her spirit were dying with it. Below her dead eyes she protectively clutched her stillborn daughter to her chest as silent tears fell from her cheeks. Lucius and the mediwiches had tried to reason with her only to be met with wrathful glares. Now her husband sat in stunned silence in his own world of grief as he clutched their still week newborn son. Any time he would start to drift off into sleep, he would suddenly start and lift he son to his ear to check that he was still breathing./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Healer Meadow slowly entered the room as not to startle the grieving parents. She approached Lucius first as the the more stable of the two and gently lifted the child from his grasp. While Lucius aloud her to hold his son he did not remove his hand from his son's back./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Once finished with the diagnostic spells, Healer Meadow inched forward to examine Lady Malfoy. She did not respond, even when the diagnostic spells ran over the distraught mother./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Once her task was complete Healer Meadow kneeled before Lady Malfoy. Laying her hand gently over the mother's, Narcissa finally made eye contact with the Healer. "I know that I can not understand what you are going through right now, but as your healer I am concerned about your mental well being." /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""You are right. You can't understand how I am feeling!" growled Narcissa. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Meadow's hand tightened in sympathy over the other woman's hand. "Narcissa. Your daughter is gone. I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can say to make it any easier on you. I know you are trying to protect her, but she doesn't need your protection any longer… Your son does." Narcissa's hands began to tremble beneath Healer Meadow's. "Let me help you let her go," said the healer in her most gentle whisper./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Lucius came to stand at his wife's side as the healer gently lifted their daughter from her mother's arms. With a wail of pure anguish, Narcissa wrapped her arms around his midsection and began to sob. Healer Meadow gently swaddled the to still form, covering her face before passing the dead child to a somber faced mediwitch. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Slowly she approached the couple again. "Based on my diagnostic spells you are all free to go home and rest, but I would strongly advise your return for follow up outpatient care with one of our mind healers or a grief counselors in town. I have taken the liberty of writing down a few that I would recommend." She paused before leaving to say with concern, "I am truly sorry for your loss."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="center"***/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"An hour later Lucius guided his grief stricken wife with one hand and cradled his son in the other as they exited the hospital in silence. As they passed through the doors to head for the nearest apparition platform, Narcissa's knees gave way and she sank onto the floor clutching the soft green baby blanket to her chest as she keened in sorrow. Lucius tightened the matching one more securely around his son before he knelt and embraced his wife. Her cries echoed off the stone walls and pillars as she wept and for once Lucius did not care about the people who passed them by or what they thought of their spectacle. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Narcissa's cries began to fade as Lucius stroked small circles on her back, but her cries still echoed around them. Suddenly Narcissa stood and began foraging through the garden that ringed the outside wall of Godric's Hollow Hospital. Confused Lucius tried to pull his wife to her feet, but she broke free muttering as she continued her frenzied search. "Babybabybabymybaby..." Until finally she came to an Alder tree in the garden ringed in sweet flag irises. There below its low slung branches lay a small wriggling bundle./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="center"***/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"The infant frost giant under the tree struggled and cried out for help, but as the branches parted the cries stopped. Gentle hands reached down and as they made contact every hope, every dream, and every wish the woman had poured into the child and she became them. Just as Loki had in the hands of Oden. Narcissa gazed down at the newborn baby girl in her arms and her heart clenched painfully. She gently stroked the feather soft tufts of platinum blond hair above her porcelain face. She stared into the baby's intelligent green eyes for a long time before turning to her husband. He didn't take long to convincing, he always was soft when it came to her./p
/div