A/N: I do not claim to own Harry Potter. I just play with the characters and the wonderful world of JK Rowling's.

This is a short companion piece to my Severus Snape/OC story, In Fields of Purple Amaranth, and fits in the story line after chapter 40. If you read it alone, all you really need to know is that this is AU with Lucius having lost Narcissa to Voldemort shortly after the birth of Draco.

His Forever Faded Flower

When had he ever lowered himself to such wretched and broken depths? How long ago had he sold his entire soul? Once upon a time, he claimed to have loved, far greater than any other. Then, that Love of his was cursed and destroyed. Plucked and tossed aside, fading into the flower of only a memory. Nothing tangible remained.

Lucius sat crumpled on the floor by his bed. His hair askew from its normal queue and his tone body slumped over in disgust. Pure self disgust over what he had allowed. Over what he had eagerly endorsed. For years, the idea had only been a tiny seed. But time alone had fed and watered it. It had been nurtured. And it had grown into an innocent seedling, bidding its time.

The body on the bed stirred. Lucius moaned, unwilling to look, yet unwilling to look away. Just as time ripped her away before, it was about to do so even again. The pain rippled through him, never stopping, always in motion, always uprooting. And he had brought the pain on himself by his selfish and senseless actions. Actions he would never forget and never forgive. Action that forever remained in memory.

Time pressed in, coming to collect once more. Slowly he rose up to watch over his Flower, for his seedling had rooted and bloomed magnificent, with all the glory and splendor. His most treasured and glorious Narcissa. And she lay sleeping. Calm and at peace, existing in that gentle place that hovered between what had been and yet, what was inevitable.

Curiosity maybe was his reason for having done so. Love? Grief? Loneliness? Many reasons could be given. But if the sum of them all could be said to be equal or greater than the repeated experience of the loss, he could not say. For his heart had ceased beating the moment she appeared. It only existed. Existed beside her. Around her. And for her. But mostly, because of her. Time marched on. Without her. His Narcissa was lost into its unending folds.

He fought time and prevailed. He brought her back. He made passionate love to her. He touched her and moved within her. He poured out every last measure of his Love for her. But it was not to be returned. It was not his true Narcissa. In every way it was a perfect copy, down to the last flawless detail. But her eyes held not her twinkle. Her spirit was not on fire and her true soul could not be found.

Time loomed over him. The rush of wetness ran uncheck over his cheeks. Before his very eyes, his Narcissa began to fade once more, forever to be lost to him. Again. The pain crushed as it consumed. Ten years he had held onto the thin, strand of blond gold. Now it was gone and he wished it were still intact. But it could not be retrieved either as it had been sacrificed to revive his Flower. Only now, Lucius knew the truth. Flowers could never be resurrected to their former majesty.

Taking the empty vial within his grasp, he groaned in despair and agony. He threw it at the wall but it did not shatter like he himself had. Mei would wake with no memory. She would never remember that for one hour of her life, she had ceased to be herself to become Lucius' faded Flower. He would simply thank her and pay her for her services rendered. But he would remember. He would be haunted, knowing now that an hour of polyjuice potion would never equal nor return his Love.

His Narcissa was forever faded.