As night fell, the St. Mungo healers breathed calmly at last.

Most of the patients who had arrived from Hogwarts had been discharged, fully recovered from their physical injuries, which considerably lessened the work assigned to them over the past weeks. It also suggested that others with longer-term illness and trauma could enjoy a free bed in the most reputable hospital in the wizarding world.

Maia gathered the last of her belongings from the closet. She had spent nearly three weeks there, during which time the healers had advised her to bring her own clothes or wear depressing white robes. At this, Narcissa's fashion sense had intervened: she had brought the most comfortable but stylish clothes for her daughter, who had been bedridden for more than fifteen days.

The reality was that they had decided to keep her there as a precaution. She had suffered a fractured femur during the last moments of the war, when she tripped over one of the fallen columns, but she had not felt pain immediately thanks to the ecstasy she felt when she saw Voldemort's body fall reduced to nothing. The bone had healed in four days, but the truth was that the nurses had other doubts about her health.

There was no need to remind her, as she knew better than anyone, but facing death in that way and returning without mental damage seemed almost impossible. So they put her through all kinds of tests, inspected her mind and her joints, her heart, her lungs, to make sure she was really healthy. Her fever seemed to rise in those last days, and although she swore she was fine, her mother did not rest until they managed to treat her.

"Everything's fine with the tests, Mrs. Malfoy. Maia is just fine." The nurse assigned to her was repeating.

Maia rolled her eyes at the answer while her mother didn't explain it to her, but the truth was that Maia had a theory. Since she was little, she had weathered the cold well, she hardly ever got sick or had a fever. And now, suddenly, eighteen years later, she was experiencing her first fever and her hands were no longer constantly icy. She thought it was Voldemort's horcrux that had made her so resistant to the cold, and now that it was gone, her body returned to its normal temperature.

She looked around the room for a moment; she would not miss this place, but the world that awaited her outside was very different from the one she had lived months before. It made her think that in the place she was going to find she would no longer be one more, but that she would be, along with Harry Potter, the savior of the magical world. But she didn't want that; she just wanted to go home and let time pass to heal the wounds that no one saw.

She leaned on the crutch that had been provided for her when she started walking again, and found herself doing quite well with the Muggle contraption. She walked, more and more gracefully, to the last room in the hall, and leaned out the window.

Minerva McGonagall lay on the bed, her glasses resting on the tip of her nose and a book in her hands. Maia cleared her throat a little, so that the teacher could notice her presence without being disturbed. The Gryffindor immediately put down her book and a smile touched her lips.

"Maia, come on in," the woman stared at the crutch and luggage that magically chased Maia. "Are you leaving?"

"They're letting me go home as long as I come for a medical check every weekend. How do you not get tired of being here?"

McGonagall shot her a look. "Oh, believe me, I long for going home at last, but they said it was better if I stayed for another week. You know, me being old..."

Maia laughed a bit. "Did they really say that?"

"Not exactly, but a woman can read between lines. I did not argue with them because they're right: I must be fully healed to go back to Hogwarts again." McGonagall stopped speaking when she felt the young woman's gaze on her. "Don't look at me like that. I know it's too soon to talk about school again, but I can't leave those poor children. Hogwarts is their home, mine too, and I don't want them to remember the school as a pile of ruins. You would come back, wouldn't you?"

The head of studies' look was hopeful, and Maia would have had a hard time seeing her sad again, but the truth was that Maia wasn't sure if she should go back. Yes, Hogwarts had been her home for six years, but what happened at the castle made her want to run away from it forever.

"I'll definitely think about it." Maia leaned back on the crutch as she approached the Gryffindor's bed. "I've been thinking these days —I had a lot of time, you see— and a question keeps popping in my head, and I just have to ask you. Did you know about me? Did— Did Dumbledore tell you about the horcrux in me? "

Minerva sighed, her lips pursing. "I did not know. Albus and I were colleagues, great friends, but he was very private in these topics. I always suspected you and Harry were special somehow, for Albus was really keen on keeping you safe. But I didn't know the dark magic inside of you children. Would it have changed anything if the answer was yes?"

"I guess it doesn't matter anymore now." Maia concluded in a small voice. "I just came to say goodbye, I must go now. My brother is waiting for me and he'll worry if I'm just a minute late. See you soon, professor."

The girl did not wait for the teacher's answer, but gave her one last look and left. She left the hospital, and seeing Draco nowhere, she sat on a bench in front of the building. She took the pack of cigarettes out of her pocket and opened it doubtfully. The last one, I promise, she told herself.

She rubbed it against her lips and blew out a breath of air that was familiar. She knew it was not a healthy way to escape reality, but she felt that this time she really deserved it.

"There you are! I was looking for you."

When Maia turned around, recognizing her mother's voice instantly, she knew she had screwed up. She turned around, still with the cigarette in her mouth, under the watchful eye of her mother.

"What are you doing with that?"

Maia looked at her intently. "Can you blame me?"

"Oh honey..." Narcissa sighed, a pained look taking over her face. "We will get through this. I promise we will. The three of us: we are together, we have each other."

"Do you think this is going to be as hard as I think it's going to be?"

Narcissa stroked her daughter's hair, a shy smile occupying her lips. "I know it's going to be hard, and I know it will take time for you to forgive me and for me to be the mother you both deserve, but I know it's also going to be worth it. I finally have you with me, and I will fight to make you happy at last."

Maia seemed equally surprised and satisfied with the answer, so she blew out one last time and stubbed out her cigarette in front of her mother, who nodded to herself. At that moment Draco appeared in their fields of vision, very different from what Maia had in mind of the boy. He had left behind the black suit and replaced it with a more youthful white shirt, custom-made black pants, and black shoes. He looked much better than Maia remembered the last time she had seen him.

The Slytherin frowned when she saw a bag in the boy's hands with a large M drawn on it.

"I'm sorry I took so long!" Draco said as he approached them. "I thought you'd be hungry, so I went to buy something with the few muggle money I got to exchange. This is the best I could get."

"McDonalds?" Maia read on a package wrapper. "What even is that?"

"I don't know, it smelt good," Draco defended himself. "I remember you used to like burgers back in Hogwarts, so I thought you'd give these a try."

"My goodness," Maia bit the chunk. "This is really good. Like taking a bite off heaven."

To say that Maia was nervous was an understatement. She was about to make a decision that would completely change her life. Still, she knew she would not regret it.

She knocked on the door of that modest house. Knowing the owner's last name, she had expected something more luxurious, not so shy and hidden, but she also understood that she now lived in the Muggle world, and that after everything that happened with her family, surely she would have preferred to separate herself from wizarding society.

Ted Tonks had tragically passed away about three months before, when Voldemort was still standing and had sent the order to capture those Muggle-borns who lived with real wizards. Shortly after, it was time for Tonks, her own cousin, who passed away, as she would later learn, taking her husband's hand.

So now Andromeda Tonks was alone in this world, unhappy, probably wondering what it was that tied her to it, now that her husband and daughter had been murdered. The only answer she could find was that little boy lying on the sofa, waving his hands and feet as the only way to express himself, making jovial noises every time Andromeda caressed him.

The image Maia found of her aunt was far from what she had imagined. She had drawn in her mind an imposing woman, with long dark hair, perhaps tied up in a bun, with high and marked cheekbones, like Bellatrix, slim, with majestic features and elegant clothes. But what was in front of her was quite different; she was thin, yes, but perhaps sickly. Her hair was shorter than she had thought, combed to the side, just like her mother. She was wearing Muggle clothes, a knitted sweater, and baggy pants, but what caught her attention was the deep dark circles under her eyes.

That image shocked her so much that she came to think she had gone to the wrong home.

"I'm sorry if I disturb you. I'm Maia Malfoy. You must be... Andromeda?" Maia introduced herself, unsure of how she should address her own aunt.

Andromeda smiled and her eyes seemed to light up for the first time in a long time. "Of course you're Narcissa's daughter: you look just like her when she was your age. Come in, please."

Maia smiled in response, somewhat uncomfortable with the past between her mother and her aunt, but obeyed her invitation. The home was warm, welcoming, far removed from what she lived in the Manor.

"He doesn't know you yet, but he's been kinda nervous these days. Like he knows something's going to happen."

The youngest did not beat around the bush. "Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, I understand you don't know me at all, and given the past between the family... I would understand if you'd preferred to stay with him."

"Nonsense, dear," Andromeda dismissed. Then she scooped Teddy up in her arms. "I'm not in my best health state to take care of him, even though I'd ​​wish nothing more than that. Besides... it was Nymphadora's choice. I want her to have what she wished before passing away." Her eyes crystallized at times at the slightest memory of her deceased young daughter.

"She was one of the bravest people I've ever met. She didn't die in vain, I hope you know that. She fought until the end to give her child the best life he could have."

"I'm sorry," sniffled Andromeda. "It's still a very sensitive topic for me."

"I can only imagine. I'm so, so sorry I couldn't do more."

"It's not your fault, dear," Andromeda tried to cheer her up. "You did more than enough."

Maia looked up to hold back tears. "It's just— I've lost more than I've been given. I really wish I could've done more to keep everyone safe and sound."

The middle of the three Black sisters decided it was time to put Teddy into the girl's arms. The baby stirred at first, uneasy at not knowing where it was going to be, but got used to it as soon as Maia gave him her finger and he took it gladly. The blonde's heart softened at this gesture, momentarily forgetting the rest of the sorrows.

"He will cheer up your life. He's the remedy, dear niece. One look at him and you will have a big, big reason to keep going. I promise you."

A single tear rolled down the younger girl's cheek and landed on the blanket that wrapped the little one. She sniffed and smiled through her tears as she saw Teddy flailing in her arms and reaching out with his little hands to touch her face. When he did, he gave a chuckle that seemed to repair a tiny part of her soul. Good thing there would be hundreds and hundreds more of them.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Maia whispered one last time.

"It's more than okay. You both need each other."

Maia nodded several times. "Please, come by sometime. I'm sure my mother would love to see you."

"You really are just like her." They were the last words Maia heard come from Andromeda. She disappeared from there in the blink of an eye, with little Teddy in her arms.

She appeared in the hall of Malfoy Manor. She looked around almost wistfully, missing the good times she had spent there, but instantly remembering everything horrible that happened between those four walls, and decided to focus her gaze on the little one in her arms. She left him in her room, in the little crib she had managed to buy for him, knowing that she would not stay much longer in that manor. If she really wanted to heal, she had to get away from there as soon as possible.

Hearing whispers downstairs, she decided to take off her sweater and go down to the kitchen, where the sound was coming from. She saw the figures of Draco and their mother, their backs turned and whispering to each other, as if trying to cover up something.

"What's happening here?" Maia wanted to know.

Her mother and brother turned quickly, knowing each other surprised. They shared a look of frustration. "I told you to inform when you arrived!" Draco reproached her.

"What are you hiding from me?"

Narcissa sighed. "She knows, Draco. We've been caught."

The two of them stepped away from the kitchen counter and Maia approached carefully. On the gleaming marble lay a small chocolate cake with two candles numbered eighteen. Narcissa pointed her wand at them and they ignited. An incredulous smile crossed Maia's lips when she saw a photo printed on the cake: Draco and her when they were seven, their two front teeth missing and grinning widely, posing with their brooms and looking at each other.

"Happy birthday, Maia." Draco gave her a short kiss on the cheek and a tight hug.

"Happy birthday, my children."

Seeing herself surrounded by two hugs, her heart suddenly sank with love. She had never celebrated a birthday surrounded by people she really cared about, she had always celebrated it at Hogwarts, with her table mates, who did not even notice that it was the birthday of the Malfoys. She let herself be caressed a little more as the heat penetrated her to the bones.

"We have a present for you."

Maia shook her head. "I didn't buy you anything, being in St. Mungo..."

"That's okay, Maia," her brother assured her. "Besides, I have a list of presents you could buy whenever you wish to." The blond laughed. He carefully removed a small wooden box from his pocket and placed it in her hands. "Open it."

Maia obeyed and opened the box in imitation of the care Draco had given her. Soon she had in her hands a beautiful and elegant gold chain, with a pendant at the end of it. She looked expectantly at her family, who were almost begging her with their eyes to decide to open it.

The breath caught in her throat. Those brown eyes that had brought so much peace to her life and that had now closed forever stared back at her. It was an old photo of the Yule Ball. Eden bowed as he reached out to take her hand, and she placed hers on the boy's in an elegant gesture; then they burst out laughing and looked at the photographer who was capturing that moment. It had been more than three years since that photo and she kept remembering it as if it were the day before.

The image kept repeating itself in a loop, but her eyes were no longer on the stage, they had lost track of time. She still couldn't believe that Eden had gone before her eyes, that she couldn't have saved him as he had done so many times with her. She still dreamed of him, of the horrifying wound that took his life, of his kind eyes that turned cold every time he said goodbye.

She was beginning to feel the silent tears roll down her cheeks as she kept her gaze on the pendant, but Draco took it from her hand and wrapped it around her graceful neck. Maia took one last look at it before closing it and resting it right next to her heart.

Right where it should be.

hey there! so this is officially the end of the story in the 90s era. you could say the story finishes here, but i wanted to do a few more chapters to show the final development, so that the whole story closes properly. what do you think of it? let me know!

as always, thank you for all the love! i didn't expect this story to be this successful and i'm really grateful to all of you for it x