It's a strange and magical place
Here where no sense is made
Songs are sung with no voices
And soundless sonatas are played
The nursery was beautiful, a tasteful and relaxing peaches and cream motif. All the toys were neutral not the typical pink or blue. It was all in place for the big day. The only thing that worried her was the big bay window right by the changing table where the baby could easily fall out (as Malfoy Manor wasn't outfitted with screens over the windows like most modern Muggle houses). Draco had assured her, told her that there was a rail on the side of the table facing the window, that the table was too far from the window for the baby to drop out anyway. She had relaxed and gone into the kitchen to bake something which always seemed to calm her frazzled nerves.
She sighed and exited the large room, walking with a slight waddle because of her seven month pregnant belly. She laid a hand upon the swollen mound for a second, smiling and trying to feel her child's heartbeat. She closed her eyes and imagined that she had her child with her, cradled safely in her arms.
Suddenly she heard cries from the nursery she had just left. She turned and walked back, pushing open the door in puzzlement. Why would there be someone crying in there, hadn't she just left? She gazed confusedly around the room, there was no one there. She turned to leave, convinced that she needed to lie down for a little as the strain was making her hear things, but then she felt something tug at the hem of her skirt and looked down. she gasped and clutched at her heart, backing away in shock as her eyes met the sight before her.
"Mama?" a thin little voice rasped unnaturally, slipping forth from chapped and bleeding lips. A large head graced a skeletal body marked with gruesome gashes. Pieces of what looked like the old Maple tree outside the nursery window were stuck in its stringy hair. Large blue-gray eyes stared up at her, pink around the edges and projecting their owner's pain.
"Please mama...please...it hurts so much" the child-thing gasped, crawling forth and grasping her dress tighter. Her eyes were fixed on its tiny little fingers, smearing blood all over the pristine white fabric. She gasped out a sob and shook her head,
"N-no! No!" she cried, shuffling backwards. The child followed her, those wide distinctly Malfoy eyes staring up at her
"Please...please...it hurts so much..." it said, tears spilling down its sunken cheeks.
"N-no! I'm not your mother!" she cried, pressing herself against the wall and trying to make herself very small. The child-creature moved forward and took her hem again and looked up at her, large eyes full of malice. Its toothless and rotting mouth slid into a mocking smirk,
"Please mama" the creature said, its voice high pitched and unchild-like
"Please...why did I have to die?" the innocent sounding question said in such a voice made chills run down her spine. The child pressed closer,
"They told you...why didn't you listen!" anger now, those eyes burning hatred
"Keep it away from the window! Can't you see the danger! Move it somewhere safe! Somewhere safe!" the accusation in its voice was too much.
"NO!" she screamed, running away down the hall.
"No!" tears fell from her eyes as she ran. Finally she collapsed on the floor of the hall, panting hard.
"Why do I have to pay for your folly mama? Why do I have to die?" she moaned in agony, her abdomen burning suddenly. Curling over on the ground, she clutched her throbbing belly.
"It's your fault...your fault..." the child-creature was back, leering strangely at her, half obscured by the gloom, its sickly skin ghostly in the flickering candle light
"No! I didn't know! I...I love my baby! I would never..." she cried. The child-thing before her sneered
"Everything was supposed to be perfect...everything was supposed to go well..." it whispered, eyes slitting. She sobbed silently on the floor.
"Never forget mother..." the child-thing murmured, dragging its emaciated and corpselike body towards her,
"Never forget me...your first failure...the life you lost...Aurelius Draconis Malfoy..." it put its tiny grubby little hands on her and began to shake. She closed her eyes and tried to will herself away, tried to banish the horrifying little monster of a child from her mind.
She shuddered and...
Opened her eyes.
Someone was shaking her.
"Darling?" it was Draco.
"Are you alright?" she looked into his wide blue-gray eyes and suppressed a shudder.
"y-yes I'm fine" she stammered, wrapping her arms around herself and looking furtively around. She stood in the same hallway she had been in when she closed her eyes,
'Just a dream then...just a terrible dream' she thought, sighing in relief.
"Love, perhaps you should have a bit of rest..." Draco was saying, steering her down the hall towards their rooms.
He paused as he passed the nursery and he looked in,
"That's odd..." he said
"I'm sure the changing table was clean the last time I saw it..." she looked in, on the once white surface were Maple tree leaves and bits of branches and twigs.
What looked like blood was smeared across the top.
"Well...I'll have to get the house elves to clean it. Now time for a nap, are you coming dear?" Draco said, already at the door to their room. She pried her eyes from the mess in the room
'It was just a dream, it was just a dream' she repeated in her head as she walked towards her bedroom, keen on a nap to take away all the hallucination inducing stress.
"Oh when you wake up, I have a list of baby names! I rather like Lucius for a boy" Draco said. She opened her mouth to agree when a whisper sounded behind her
"Don't forget..."
She paled and hurried inside her room, closing the door tight.
'It was only a dream' she thought firmly again.
A pair of wide blue gray eyes stared at the door for a moment and their owner gave a toothless smile before disappearing into the shadows.
This is a place where the soulless lay
And hollow eyed children smile
Where darkest desires and evil ones stray
Blood letting and laughing all the while
Lily: I quite like this actually…it's nice…it's very…morbid