#pure blooded queue

[blueeyedslytherin]

Ghosts of the Past

@aparecium-muses

     Narcissa ran her finger tips along the page of the book she was reading, tempting it to cut her finger and make her bleed. She wasn’t seeking pain or punishment, but perhaps prompting life to make her feel, even if all she felt was pain or inconvenience. She spent so much of her life feeling pain that she thought some moments that she was numb to it, tempted it to return to her. Pain had become an odd comfort to Narcissa, seeing as it seemed to be the only feeling that ever had a permanent place in her life. She was given pain by her father as if it were an after dinner mint that she was meant to say please and thank you for, to never cry or scream no matter how many bruises bloomed across her pale flesh. She knew pain in the form of childbirth, the most painful physical experience she had ever known, and that was saying something considering how her father had treated her all her life. She even knew the pain of loneliness. But there was no pain greater than her heartache, than the loss she knew.

     She lost Andromeda when she was too young to truly understand why her sister would ever abandon her, only to learn for herself how badly she wanted to run away as well. She lost Sirius in more ways than one, though they were never close, and watched him follow her sister to the other side of the war and fight for everything their family hated. She lost her soulmate, walking away from Remus to keep him safe even if it killed her because she knew it would protect him. She lost her mother and father, though such losses did not cause as much pain. She lost Bellatrix and Rodolphus to prison. And her precious Regulus...he was lost far too young. Each loss hurt more than the last, leaving her alone. The only thing that kept her from floating away in the wind like ash was Draco, her miracle. She adored him so completely, and knew without a shadow of a doubt that if it weren’t for him, she never would have made it as far as she did.

     She had read the same sentence of the book in her lap over and over again until the words seemed to all mix together and didn’t make sense anymore. Sometimes this happened, she would be lost in her thoughts until things she had longed for and could never get back would float to the forefront of her mind. Sitting in the library here and now, the smell of old books triggering her memories, she could see Remus’s face in the back of her mind. His light pink scars across his sweet face, his warm brown eyes with specks of green in them, his beautiful smile that could only be outshone by his melodious laugh. 

     She missed him, she missed him like someone had cut her arm from her body and tossed it away with no ability to sew it back on. She missed him every time she smelled parchment or drying ink, she missed him each time the moon was full and each time she tasted chocolate on her tongue. She thought of him when the sun would rise and felt him near when she would warm herself in the cold. She could almost hear his voice in her ears in the moments between the notes of music that emitted from her husband’s old record player and often could swear he was wrapped around her in the morning when she was lost in that beautiful place between being awake and being asleep. She missed him a hundred times a day and his memory was never far from her, and perhaps that was what hurt the most. She was still madly in love with a man she would never see again, and she would never be able to tell him that. 

     She took a deep breath and shut the book in her lap without marking her place, knowing she was never actually going to get around to reading it if she kept thinking of Remus. She wished she could distract herself with Draco but he was asleep upstairs and she wouldn’t dare interrupt his nap when he had only just gotten down. She sighed heavily and shook her head, sinking down into the chair she was sitting in. She shouldn’t be like this, she had to be stronger than this. Moping about the manor wouldn’t help. Remus wouldn’t want her to spend her life sad and unproductive, neither would Bella or Regulus. She felt even more achy thinking of her sister and her cousin. She forced herself not to think about her sister rotting in a prison cell somewhere but she couldn’t help how deeply the thought wormed it’s way into her mind.

     She stood up from her chair and held the book out towards the shelf it had come from, watching it float by magic back to it’s original spot. She didn’t bother to watch it get there before she gathered up her skirt in her hands and left the room, turning down the hall and towards the stairs. She had been about to make her way upstairs towards her bedroom when she felt a shift in the house, a sound coming from the den. Lucius couldn’t be home already could he? “Lucius?” she called, taking a step back from the stairs, her hand still on the banister. “Lucius?” she called a second time, looking over her shoulder as if she felt watched. “Dobby?” she called in confusion. Dobby had gone with Lucius to the Ministry today. Who else could that be? 

     She reached into her sleeve to fetch her wand and walked towards the den, knowing the sound in the air and the shift in the house had been from someone using the floo. Surely Lucius couldn’t be done with work yet, it was barely past lunchtime. She took a deep breath once on the other side of the door before pushing it open “Lucius what are you…” but her words were lost in her mouth and began to taste like vomit as she looked up at who had come from her fireplace, her stomach churning and her throat dry.

     Regulus.

     There was no way, there was absolutely no way. Her body was overcome with shock as her hand went limp and her wand fell from her fingers, the floor almost feeling like it had been ripped out from under her as her legs felt suddenly weak. The hand that had been holding the door knob let go and held her stomach as her weak legs suddenly gave up trying to hold her up, causing her to fall to her knees with an unpleasant crack sound. Her eyes were filled with tears as her mouth hung up in a silent scream. “No...it can’t be…” she breathed.

[blueeyedslytherin]

continued from here with @thestrongestmagic

     Narcissa hadn’t expected her niece to start crying, especially not when talking about her father. Narcissa knew what it was like to be upset when speaking about one’s father, or even thinking about one’s father. But then again, this was a very different kind of upset. Dora was upset because she loved her father, because she missed him, because he was a good man who was taken from this world to soon. When Narcissa would get upset when thinking about her father, it was because of things he had done to her and her sisters in the past, because of internal scars that were somehow worse than the external ones that he had given her. Narcissa didn’t know what it was like to have a father who loved you, didn’t know what it was like to have a mother who loved you either. She would admit there was a small part of her that was jealous of her niece because she had had both, but perhaps she was unlucky for it. Because that meant losing her parents caused her pain. Narcissa had lost both of her parents and felt all the better for it.

     She had reached up to brush the tear away from her cheek out of instinct, like she would’ve done had her son been crying. “It’s all right,“ she said softly, her tone more maternal than it had ever been in front of the young lady. “I don’t know what it’s like to lose a parent that you actually loved. But I know what it’s like to lose someone that you once believed it was impossible to live without. I’ve lost my fair share of people that I love, even if they weren’t my father. So I know how hard it is, when you catch yourself crying for them in front of others. I won’t tell if you won’t,“ she said, the look on her face seeming to almost be the ghost of a gentle smile, a motherly smile.

[blueeyedslytherin]

continued from here with @theacerbicprince

     It hurt her to think that Severus really believed that, that after everything they had been through together, he still thought she would tire of him. She watched him where he sat on her bed, turning the hair brush around in her hand as she studied him. “I have never lied to you,” she pointed out, setting her hair brush down on her vanity before standing up, tightening the ties of her robe as she walked over to him. 

     “Severus,” she said, moving to sit beside him on the bed, moving one leg to lay comfortably over his lap as the other one tucked underneath of her. She wrapped her arms around one of his own and kissed just under his ear, moving one hand up to brush his hair back. “I have never lied to you. If I say I will not replace you, then I will not,” she said, though a churning filled her stomach. He deserved to know she would never leave him behind, never replace him. He had been there for her when others had not been, had cared for her and comforted her when no one else had. And in all that time, in her fear of rejection, she had not told him how she felt. Perhaps, just this once, she could break that wall.

     “Sev...” she said, moving her lips to his ear. “I love you,” she whispered softly, her heart hammering in her chest. She had only ever told two other people in life that she loved them, her sisters. And Andromeda had taken that love for granted, while Bellatrix had not. She hoped he wouldn’t be like Andromeda and take her affections for grated, knowing how little people in the world she truly cared for.

[blueeyedslytherin]

continued from here with @theacerbicprince

     Narcissa had a horrible habit of fussing, she always did. She was anal about certain things, sometimes being considered a control freak. She liked to have everything perfect, she needed everything to be perfect at all times. It was how she had been raised, with a need for absolute perfection in all things. Not a hair out of place, not a wrinkle on a dress, not a photo without a smile-everything had to be perfect at all times. 

     But Severus helped her let go, it was part of the reason she adored him so much. She knew she would never be like other women in the sense of being calm, that she would never be as easy going or as relaxed as other women, but she was much less tense around Severus and he helped her to be less picky. She fussed less with him around, could relax and just let things go because she lived in the moment with him. But even with him, sometimes things slipped up.

     She hadn’t even realized she had been fussing with his clothing until he pointed it out, having almost zoned out as her hands moved on their own. She looked up at him when he curled his fingers around her wrist and she sighed “I’m not nervous,” she said, shaking her head and curling her fingers in the fabric of his clothing that she had just been smoothing out. “Why would I be nervous?”

[blueeyedslytherin]

@thestrongestmagic

     This was an absolutely ridiculous idea, that was the only way she could think of it. This was a ridiculous, foolish and stupid idea. What did she expect would come from this? After all these years apart, what did she think going and visiting her sister would bring her? Peace of mind? It wouldn’t bring Bellatrix back, it wouldn’t bring back the 30 years that they had lost with each other, it wouldn’t bring back their cousins or their parents or Ted. What could she possibly think would come of this other than humiliation? She wasn’t quite sure, which was unnerving considering Narcissa was usually very sure of everything. 

     Right down to the very last minute detail, Narcissa Malfoy always knew exactly what she wanted and exactly what she was going to do. Every little minuscule thing about life from the way her hair was styled to the color of the walls in her house had a reason and a rhyme, everything about her life had purpose and belonging. So where did this moment belong? What was the purpose? Not knowing the answers to those questions, walking into a situation is so complicated and volatile without a plan or a back up plan to the original plan, was quite possibly the worst and most terrifying thing that she could possibly do.

     But no amount of not knowing, no lack of reasons, was enough. None of that was enough to talk her out of what she was still going to do anyway, because Narcissa Malfoy was an extremely stubborn woman and once she put her mind to something and decided that she wanted something or was going to do something she was going to make it happen, no matter the cost. And what she had decided she wanted was to go and see Andromeda, maybe it was because she wanted to apologize for the death of her husband or because she was lonely, maybe it was because she wanted to see if her sister truly missed her or if her sister’s child look anything like her own son. There were so many questions and curiosities that she had never admit it out loud, not to anyone, And perhaps this day was how she would get those answers.

      And that was how she had ended up here, standing outside of a house she had never seen before but that she had found through the connections she still had even after the end of the war. It was a nice looking house, much smaller than her own or the home they had grown up in together. But it was nice, it was simple. She didn’t know what she had expected, whenever she imagined her sister’s life she didn’t really know how to picture it. Sometimes she pictured a home that was a carbon copy of their own but with brighter colors, other time she had pictured a hovel because what could Ted have offered her financially that they could not? But she knew well enough, especially now that she was grown, that Andromeda had not left because of what could be offered to her financially or a sort of security they couldn’t understand. She had left for love, for love that she never would’ve been offered if she had married someone she had not chosen herself. When she was a young girl of only 15 she couldn’t understand or comprehend that kind of desire, knowing only unyielding loyalty to her family name and to Bellatrix, knowing only that it was her duty to marry who she was told. But now that she had married someone that she could not love, had loved and lost a man that many called a traitor and others called a war hero, she knew that she would’ve run away from every last piece of it to be with him, as long as it meant she could keep her son. 

     She felt like her son was the only person she had left in this world, now that Bellatrix and Severus were gone. Perhaps she was looking for Andromeda to fill that hole inside of her, perhaps that was why she was here. She didn’t think Andromeda could ever replace Bellatrix, no one could. Bellatrix was the other half of her soul, her better half if not her darker half, she was the other piece of her. And she never wanted her to replace Severus because she knew no one could, no one could replace that friendship or that forbidden love that they had shared, even until his very last moments. But perhaps she wanted someone to fill that empty place in her heart where they have both lived, that place that even though she loved her son he could not fill it. She was lonely, and perhaps more than anything, she was seeking family.

     Narcissa took a deep breath and ran her hands down the front of her dress to smooth out any wrinkles that could’ve been there, but she knew damn well there weren’t any there. If Narcissa was anything it was a perfectionist, down to the very last hair on her head and the littlest detail. Some called her anal and most of them teased her, but she knew that without a doubt everything in her life was absolutely perfect, at least aesthetically, everything looked perfect; even if everything was actually a mess. 

     She took a deep breath, feeling the warm air fill her lungs and then come back out slowly, closing her eyes for a moment as she pulled strength from the ground beneath her feet and called upon someone or anyone to guide her through what she knew would be a trying experience. She didn’t know who she was praying to, she didn’t think she had ever believed in God. Perhaps she was praying Bellatrix, but she knew that Bella would highly disapprove of this. No, she was thinking of Severus. If reconnecting with Andromeda made her happy he would’ve encouraged it, he would’ve encouraged most anything if it made her happy as long as she was safe. She knew that was true, beyond all things she knew that was true.

     “I know, I know,“ she said out loud to herself, though it was not her she spoke to. “Stop fidgeting, she won’t notice the wrinkles in my dress, she’ll simply notice that I’m there at all,“ she said, knowing exactly what he would say if he was standing there beside her. She felt a burning behind her eyes before pushing the thought away, ignoring the feeling but acknowledging it all the same. She walked up the cobblestone path to the front door, curling her hand into a fist until her sharp nails had dug into her palm but not enough to draw blood. She could still turn back, she knew that she could. But again she drew on the strength that her former lover would’ve given her if he was there, he would tell her she had been through so much worse than this and that he believed in her, and she would believe him because he was the one that said it. So after taking a final deep breath she raised her hand into the air and knocked on the door, the pattern even and rhythmic. If she were lucky, maybe Andromeda wouldn’t even be home?

[blueeyedslytherin]

Headcanon:

     After Narcissa got married, she gave a necklace to her sister ( @thestrongestmagic ) with two stones on it to represent them both, one that she could always wear. When Bellatrix was sent to prison, Narcissa received the necklace along with all of her sister’s other possessions (even her wand) and wore it ever day until Bellatrix escaped from Azkaban. When her sister returned home from prison, she took it off for the first time in over a decade and gave it back to her. A few years later, when Bella was killed during The Final Battle, Narcissa lost a part of herself she could never replace. The closest she could get was to once more take on her sister’s necklace, wearing it every day for the rest of her life. After her sister died, Narcissa refused to take off the necklace for any reason or occasion, wearing it even to sleep. She never wanted to truly admit that her sister was gone forever, as if she could convince herself that Bella was simply in prison again and that having her necklace once more around her neck meant that somewhere, Bella was waiting for her and that she would see her again. 

[blueeyedslytherin]

continued from here with @theacerbicprince

     It had been happening so often since she got married, and it seemed to become more and more frequent the longer she was married to Lucius. At first it started once a month, her father would claim that he was dropping by because he wanted to give her something or tell her something but he couldn’t tell her in a letter, and then the conversation would build and build until eventually he got angry. And then it started happening twice a month, every other week he would come and he would build under the disguise of a father who simply wanted to visit his daughter when really she knew better. More often than not he showed up on days when Lucius wasn’t there, his hours working for the Ministry of Magic causing him to be gone often from early morning until late in the evening, sometimes he would even take several trips throughout the year out of the country. Her father had a way with timing, one of his many cruel and unusual talents. 

     She stopped counting after he started coming once a week, continuing to blame her for the fact that she wasn’t pregnant yet. She was trying, honest to Merlin she was trying. Not only did she want a child but more than anything she wanted to give her father a reason to stop, she wanted to give him a reason to go away and never come back, never berate her about her dust filled womb ever again. She understood that she was a disgrace, she understood that she was a disappointment. She had been a disappointment all her life simply because she was a girl, because she had not been the son he had longed for and failed to have three different times. She knew that she was a mistake, an unruly mistake that would never be good enough or strong enough or man enough for her fathers liking. 

     But things had gotten so much worse when Andromeda left, when she had betrayed them for a Muggle born boy who is so below their status that they had struck her face of the family tree. She heard a while back that her sister had been graced with the presence of a daughter, a half blood filth that they would never except. She would’ve given anything to be like her sister, so she wouldn’t say it out loud. She would’ve given anything to be with a man that she loved, to have a child with him, to be free of the abuse and the toxic nature of her family. But she couldn’t leave behind Bellatrix, and it was all too late now. She was married and that was that, she was caught up in this world of death eaters and dark magic and it was far too late for well wishes and old memories. All of it was much too late. 

     But the difference was, her father seemed to only pretend in front of her husband. If Bellatrix was here he still would’ve let his rage go, and the same things seemed to ring true of Severus. She wondered if it was because Cygnus was so drunk he hadn’t even noticed him there, or perhaps he had considered him unimportant because he was a half blood, or because he simply wasn’t someone he was concerned about within the moment. She wondered but she did not ask, she could not bring herself to do so. His shouting got worse, she didn’t bother to look at her lover for help because in a way she thought she deserved it. She deserved it for not being good enough, she deserved it for not being pregnant yet, she deserved it because her father told her so. 

     She wasn’t surprised as he shouted, she wasn’t surprised that she felt her stomach churning and she wasn’t surprised when he raised his hand as if he was going to strike her. What had surprised her had been Severus, when he stood up in anger and wrapped his hand around her father’s wrist, her eyes burning with tears of both fear and shock. No one had ever done that before, no one had ever stood up for her before, had defended her before. Bellatrix had done her best, had thrown herself between Narcissa and Cygnus, but she had never really tried to stop him before, because she knew better. She knew he couldn’t truly be stopped. He was a madman who would do as he wished, when he wished and with whom he wished. Severus had been the first person to ever stand up to her father and attempt to protect her, and she thought perhaps she fell in love with him all over again for it. 

     “Who the hell do you think you are?” Cygnus growled to the younger man, his eyes like daggers as he stared at him. “This is none of your concern! This is between me and my daughter!” he shouted. You could hear it in the way he claimed her, he thought of her as his property even now, that she belonged to him as much as a piece of land or furniture. She was property. 

     “Father, please,” she said, finally attempting to speak up, though her voice was scratchy as she attempted to swallow her emotion like a hand full of needles. “That’s enough,” she said, taking a step closer. “You should go home...I’m sure Mother is wondering where you are,” she said.

     Cygnus looked between Severus and Narcissa before snatching his arm back and staring at his daughter. “You will do well to remember your place, Narcissa,” he said, his voice almost a growl. “You will do well to remember how you got to where you are, who brought you into the life you have become accustomed to. And learn to be grateful,” he said. He glanced at Severus before taking a step back “We aren’t done here,” he warned his daughter before turning and taking his leave. 

     Narcissa felt her stomach drop as the front door slammed and tears finally filled her eyes, her hand coming up to her throat that felt so tight as her bottom lip began to tremble. She knew he meant it, he wasn’t done here, and this wouldn’t be the last she saw of him. 

[blueeyedslytherin]

Canon scene: When Draco left for Hogwarts for the first time

//Tagging my Draco babes and my Lucius for BIG EMO REASONS: @mindthevoices @aparecium-muses @xfpureblood

     She knew it should not have been this hard, she was a grown woman, why was she getting so emotional? She knew the answer to that, why was she bothering to lie to herself? She wasn’t stupid, she knew exactly why she was being so emotional right now. Draco, her first and only child, her baby boy, was off to Hogwarts for the very first time.

     She could still remember her very first day of school, 11 going on 12 and absolutely nerve wracked. Both of her sisters were already in school, Andromeda a budding third year and Bellatrix a stunning fifth year, both of them already living and breathing embodiment of what her reputation should look like at school. Both of them had impeccable grades and wonderful social standing among their classmates, both of them had been sorted into Slytherin and had made their family proud for it. 

     She remembered on that day, standing at platform 9 ¾, with absolutely no doubt that she would get sorted into the same house as her sisters and would take her place beside them not only at the Slytherin table but also at Hogwarts. She would take her place beside them as they made their way down the hall, the family to beat, the sisters to impress, the Black sisters once more united on an educational front to take down all social standing and to beat the odds. And from that day on, at least for the next few years, that was exactly what happened. By the time Narcissa entered her fourth year of school Bellatrix was graduated and married freshly, leaving her and Andromeda to rule the school alone. And then at the end of her fifth year, when Andromeda graduated, she lost her sister in an even more permanent way, left alone to walk the halls in humiliation.

     She hoped so dearly that Hogwarts would be a different experience for Draco, that he would make wonderful friends and learn all the things the wonderful wizarding world had to offer him, that the professors would treat him with the respect he deserved as her son, the other students would respect the Malfoy name and that he would end up in Slytherin just like his parents before him. Now is the time for him to start making a wonderful reputation for himself, because it would reflect on him later. Lucius often spoke about the ties that he had in business were ones formed with people they had gone to school with, and the same reputation that garnered him his business allies had also garnered him enough respect and power for him to become her fiancé by the time she was 16 years old. The things her son said and did for the next seven years at the school could determine not only his career but who he ended up marrying, especially with blood and wealth like theirs. It was a lot of pressure, but in the same vein, she wanted him to have a wonderful time.

     Hogwarts had been some of the best and worst days of her life, it had been some of her closest memories with her sisters, some of her safest days because she was away from home. It had been where she met Lucius, completely unaware that love would one day strike them as hard as a broom flying at top speed. She wanted him to make amazing memories and amazing friends, for him to look back on that time in his life and be terribly happy about it. That was part of why she was so emotional, because she knew she wouldn’t be present for such happiness in him. Draco had always been very attached to his mother, and she was attached to him in returned. He was her only child and the thing she loved most in the world, the only good thing that had ever come from her, her bright light in a dark world. That was why it was so hard for her, taking him to the train station.

     Lucius had taken the time away from work, she had practically begged him to. She knew how busy he was and that there was a lot to be done at the ministry, but this was a special day. This was their son‘s first day of school and she wanted to be able to see him off. It was painful, definitely, because she never been away from him for a long time before. She knew it was coming, but it didn’t make it any easier. She had never been away from him for more than a few days before, days when she would sometimes leave him with his grandfather so that she and Lucius could go away on a miniature vacation just the two of them. But she had never been apart from him for more than a few days, not even a full week. And here she was, in early September, having to say goodbye to her son knowing she wouldn’t see him again until the holiday break in December. And then what was she supposed to do after the holidays? Then she wouldn’t see him again until the summer break and that was an even longer time!

     She held back tears as she watched her husband give her son one last good speech as they stood beside the Hogwarts express, listening to Lucius talk to him about always remembering to write home and that should he ever need anything, just let him know and he would be there in a flash. She watched them hug and bit her lower lip so that it wouldn’t tremble, but she knew that her sorrow was obvious by the way that her son clung to her before he ever even said anything. She hugged him back tightly, momentarily not caring for her reputation as she allowed  tears to fill her eyes and simply hoped that her mascara would not run.

     “You’ll be a good boy won’t you? You’ll be safe for me?“ She asked, watching him nod his head, her fingers stroking over his gelled hair, a style that he had insisted on because he thought it made him look like a proper young man on his first day of school. “And you’ll write home to me often? You must be sure to pay good attention to your classes and always do your schoolwork. I’ll be sending you lovely thing from home all the time, your favorite treats and anything else you should like,” she promised, reaching her hands up to hold his face.

     “I’ll write all the time, I promise. And I’ll be very good, I’ll make both of you proud,“ the young boy promised, making both of his parents smile.

     Narcissa smiled brightly and hugged him tightly one last time, her lashes wet from her tears. “I love you, Little Dragon,“ she said, her tone breathy and emotional.

     “I love you too, Mother,“ Draco said, his voice very sure of himself. He was his mother’s boy, and she had spent his entire life making sure that without a shadow of a doubt, he always knew how loved and how special he was. When he pulled away he smiled at her, clearly trying to hide his own emotions because he didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of the other students. She held his chin for a moment and smiled, slowly releasing him although she was hesitant. She watched as he hugged his father one last time, promising his father that he would write to him should he ever need anything and bidding them farewell until the Christmas holiday.

     She sniffled softly as she watched him get onto the train, watching for a towheaded boy who would stick his hand out the window to wave to them as she had hoped he would. And when he did, a bright smile on his face, she had hoped that maybe everything would be all right. She felt a strong arm wrap around her waist, turning her head to look at Lucius who she could swear was a little bit emotional himself. They were never usually ones for extremely affectionate acts in public, usually keeping all of their affection behind closed doors, though the affection was very strong and passionate. But in moments like this, when it was matters of family and when she couldn’t really help herself, she wouldn’t complain. She leaned into the strong arm around her and smiled softly, bittersweet almost.

     “It’ll be all right, Cissa," Lucius promised, turning his head to kiss her temple before looking back at the train. “He’ll be back for Christmas, and then you’ll miss the quiet,“ he said with a smile.

     She smiled in return and turned to look at him, shaking her head. She knew that she would enjoy having her husband to herself for a few months, free reign of the house without having to worry about what Draco may see or hear, some time to experience each other alone in a way that they never got before because their love hadn’t blossomed until after they had become parents. It would be a nice thing to experience. But she knew that she would often miss the sound of her son’s quick and footsteps across the hardwood floors, that the halls without his laughter would never be the same, that only seeing one of her boys at the breakfast table would be heartbreaking. 

     “No, not really. I don’t think I’ll ever miss the quiet…I’ll be too busy missing him,“ she said, her eyes closing as her husband pressed another kiss to her temple as the train began to move.