Zoe

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There was only one memory following, and it was redder than any other. There were so many memory threads moving into that one. I looked ahead of it and noticed that it only was connected to one other memory on the other side, but from that second one, a million new ones branched out.

That was what I had been looking for. The key memories that I needed to heal and hopefully so many of the others would heal in turn. But... I didn't want to see it. Whatever it was, it was bad, and I was afraid. I wished I could heal the memory without knowing its content, but instincts told me it would be impossible.

I looked back and around. Saw all of the gray threads and let them motivate me. I was still afraid, but I had to do it, so I went in.

I was in a bedroom and it felt completely cold and lifeless. The celling lamp was out, and the curtains were drawn over the windows. There was only a small amount of light coming from a few candles standing on a table.

On the bed was Annabel. She was curled into a ball and seemed to be holding something.

"I'm sorry," she whispered in between sobs.

Harry walked over to her and sat down next to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Annabel, love. You have to let him go," Harry said in a soft voice.

"No," she exclaimed and seemed to hold on to whatever she held even tighter.

"He's gone. He's dead. The only thing left we can do for him is to give him a proper funeral."

"No!" Annabel yelled and looked up, making it possible for me to see what she held.

I gasped and almost ran away. It took all of my willpower to not follow my instincts and leave Harry and his memories. To not let go of him and run to Felix, to make sure he was okay. Because in her arms was baby Felix and he was clearly dead.

"Please," Harry begged her. "You can't stay like this forever and we need to bury him."

"He can't be dead. He can't be!" Annabel answered and looked back down at the too still baby in her arms. Her tears fell on his face. "He was healthy. He can't be dead. I shouldn't have listened to the doctors. We should have stayed at the hospital."

"You can't beat yourself up. We did what we thought was best. We didn't know it would end like this."

Harry continued to try to comfort her, but it was clear she didn't listen to anything and she continued to refuse to let go of the corpse.

Harry looked exhausted, both from lack of sleep and sorrow. I watched as he desperately tried to find the right things to say to Annabel, but he seemed to be falling apart more and more for each word. He wildly looked around the room, as if there would be an answer written on the walls.

I felt sick to my stomach, because I was certain about what would happen. There was only one magical creature that I knew of that had the power to raise the dead. But there was a price to pay for it and the price was steep.

Annabel cried uncontrollably again while whispering how sorry she was over and over. I watched Harry and could almost see the moment he broke. It looked like he went from the deepest of despair to determination. His mind had been made up.

"Annabel, love," he said. "I've read about a type of witches that should be able to fix this. They can make dead people alive again, properly alive."

"Magic?" Annabel mumbled and looked at him.

"Yes. Magic can solve this. Magic can bring our Felix back to us. But I'm not sure. Dad has always warned me against magic. Said that magic is always evil."

"But... If magic can give us Felix back, it can't be all bad. Can it?"

That ended the memory, and I stared at the one ahead of me. I hoped beyond hope I was wrong about what would happen. Clinging to the fact that Harry had said a type of witches, but I knew that was a feeble hope. They weren't witches, but in Harry's mind, he probably didn't differentiate many magical creatures, but just considered them all witches.

After doing my best to prepare myself, I went into what would be the last of Harry's memories that I would have to visit.

The bedroom appeared before me again. Annabel still sat on the bed, holding the dead Felix close to her chest. Harry stood by the bed, next to where she sat. They both faced a woman dressed in black from head to toe, but she had pink hair that just didn't match.

"So, to what do I owe this pleasure?" the woman asked. "It's not often one of my kind gets an invitation from the son of a witch hunter."

"Do you have the power to raise the dead?" Harry asked, straight to the point.

"I do," she answered and her eyes landed on the dead Felix. There was a wicked gleam in her eyes. "But there is a price to pay for my services."

"Name it. We'll pay," Harry said.

"Are you sure? Not many are willing," she went on.

"Anything," Annabel crooked. Her voice was hoarse, most likely from hours of crying. "We're willing to pay anything. Just... Just bring our baby back."

The woman nodded. "Place him on the bed."

Annabel looked reluctant, but did as she was told. As she stood up from the bed, Harry wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug.

"What now?" he asked and looked at the woman.

"I need blood from one of you," she said and pulled out a knife.

"How much?" Harry said.

"Not too much. A few drops will do."

"I'll do it," Annabel said and stretched out to grab the knife, but Harry took it first.

"Please, let me," he said.

"No. I can do..."

"I know you can," he interrupted her. "But I rather not see you harmed, even for this."

I felt my tears stinging my eyes and a part of me wished Annabel would continue to argue, or that the woman would say the whole truth. But I knew she wouldn't, based on the gleam in her eyes. In a desperate attempt to change what would come, I reached out and tried to take the knife from Harry, but my hand went through him.

So all I could do was watch as he cut his wrist and blood dropped to the floor.

"What else?" he asked.

"Just watch," the woman answered.

The room became at once even darker and the woman got a faraway look in her eyes.

"I wish to resurrect the baby," she said. There was a sound as if the wind blew, or whispers that couldn't be heard. At least not by anyone but the woman.

"The blood of the father," she suddenly said. "And the other from the other."

I wanted to swear at her and curse her out of existence. She had chosen her words carefully, made sure to say enough so that the Death Shadows would know what she meant, but not enough so Harry or Annabel would know what was coming.

There were the indistinct whispers again. They made my hair stand on end with how delighted they seemed to be. Then the darkness moved. It went to encircle all of Annabel that stared at it in shock.

"Wait, what are you..." Harry didn't manage to finish the question as Annabel dropped to the ground at the same time as Felix opened his eyes again and screamed.

"Blood for blood, a life for a life. That's the price to pay," the woman said before disappearing into thin air.