dissonance
closed starter for @worth12malfoys
They’d moved her to a private room. It was a nice space... good-sized, decorated like a real living space. Meant to trick you into forgetting you were still locked in a hospital. She should be grateful— trust Augusta to see that she’d get the best care they could provide.
Alice sighed, purposely slowly, and leaned back in her chair. This was good care, technically. Careful observation, comfortable housing, the right potions to get her....somewhat...back on her feet. She did look surprisingly presentable, for someone who’d just opened her eyes last week for the first time in fifteen years. It wasn’t the healers’ fault she didn’t want care.
She wanted to know more about what was going on outside these walls. She wanted to see her husband. She wanted to see her son. Her son—
It had taken the full week to arrange to pull him out of school for a visit. Not so long, given the circumstances; she should be grateful. Her hand clenched into a tight, angry fist, or....tried to. She watched it wobble unsteadily.
He hadn’t been even two years old the last time she’d seen him.
Someone knocked on the door, and she turned carefully in her seat; she’d fallen often enough lately to know she couldn’t trust her legs to hold her. Alice wasn’t going to cry, not in front of him —they’d already put enough weight on her son’s shoulders, hadn’t they—god, he was only sixteen—god, he was already sixteen,— but whatever greeting she’d been about to form died in her throat.