Today, it was announced that Helen McCrory has died and that has saddened me in a way that is akin to Alan Rickman's death. Helen was a glorious actress and a true humanitarian and though I'd never met her and I've never even seen her in person, I feel that the world is darker in her absence. As a writer, the best way I know to process my grief is by writing and so I've written this in her honour. As a way to say goodbye to a woman who was more than just Narcissa Malfoy or Aunt Polly. She was somebody's wife and somebody's mother and my heart just hurts.
-0-
Had he not stopped to look at the report from his latest mission, Harry would have missed it completely. He stared and stared at the piece of paper peeking from under the other reports on the Healer's desk. There was no other name that he could equate to the letters he could see.
He dropped his own report while he stared.
"Are you alright Auror Potter?"
"Um," he shook his head. "No, yes?" His hands were shaking. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course."
"I -" Harry warred with himself, still staring at the collection of letters. "If I asked you if you'd seen someone in a professional capacity recently would you tell me?"
"You mean -"
"Yeah."
"Perhaps."
"Narcissa Malfoy?"
The look on the Healer's face was enough to tell Harry all he needed to know and he dropped into the chair that he usually ignored.
"I hadn't realised you were -"
"No," Harry whispered. "Nobody would."
"It was," the Healer winced. "Quiet, in the end."
Harry didn't take much comfort in that. Draco and the rest of his family had kept an extremely low profile since the War. He'd married and Harry was relatively sure there was a baby on the way, or recently born, but he'd had no idea Narcissa was -
"Was she ill?"
"I cannot tell you that," the Healer shrugged. "But," he shrugged. "If you compare her age to that of those around you."
He trailed off and Harry nodded.
"I apologise for putting you in this position," Harry muttered as he stood and retrieved his report. "I just," he shook his head. "Can't believe it."
"I should not be telling you this, at all," he muttered. "But if you needed to find some closure I believe the body is being delivered to the Graveyard in Wiltshire. There's," he shrugged. "A family plot."
Harry nodded and as he reached for the door, the Healer spoke a final time.
"They picked her up half an hour ago. So there is not much time if you wish to join them."