Draco looked down at the letter, for the millionth time. It read...
Dear Draco,
We have been together for so long, and it has been wonderful these past few years. But I think I have to move on. I have been offered a job in Ireland, and will be moving there at the end of the spring. I don't want you to come with me, your job is wonderful and I know you enjoy it. I would not want you to leave everything for me. We should see new people, do new things. Long-distance relationships just won't work for me. I hope you understand.
With Love,
Ginny Weasley
He took another swig from his bottle of Fire Whiskey. "With Love," Draco thought. "She's breaking up with me, but she still says 'With Love.'" He drained the bottle and threw it into the pile with the other bottles he had drunken. He grabbed his wand and summoned another handful of bottles.
He realized he was probably drunk, but he didn't care. He lay down on his bed and drank more. It was mid-spring, he thought again, "Maybe I could go to the Weasley's and convince her... No, No, No you can't do anything about it... But what if I... Stop, she's made up her mind, and when she's made up her mind that's it, end of story."
He sighed and downed the bottle, he reached for another. He kept drinking until all the bottles were gone. He tried to summon more, but he couldn't remember the spell. His mind was too groggy. He looked across the room and saw a half full bottle across the room. He sunk down to the floor and started to crawl towards the bottle. He drank it dry.
He heard a familiar voice in his head, it was Ginny's. It said, "Draco, you can't just drink your pain away..."
"The hell I can't!" he interrupted. Just then, he felt something in his mind give away. "You're dying," his imaginary Ginny voice said. He believed her. With the last of his strength, he rose off his knees. He grabbed a quill off, a piece of parchment, and a rose in a vase from his desk. He sat down on the bed. With a shaky hand he clenched the quill, and he began a letter, that was barely legible.
He wrote a little more than the first sentence. Then, everything was black…
Ginny sat in the room bleary eyed and held a little in her hand. She tried to read it, but it was hard considering she was drunk. She didn't need to read it though; she had it memorized down to the punctuation. It was written sloppy, but she knew why he wrote it that way. It said…
My Dear Sweet Ginny,
I realize that you have to go, and I respect that. I think I might die, but I need you to know this. I love you, and I'll love you until I die…
That's where he stopped and his life ended. She held the rose, now withered, that he had left her.
Draco's house elf had come in the room finding him dead. He had ran to the witch next door, and she had transported him to St. Mungo's, and had pocketed the note and rose from his hands. The doctors told her that he had drunk himself to death and asked her for contacts. They knew his family, but wanted to know about any others. But the witch had not known him very well. That's when she had remembered the note. It was addressed to a Ginny, but it had no last name. She went back to his apartment and searched for more information about her. She found the note Ginny had written him with her last name. The witch had gone to the Burrow to deliver the note and tell them the news.
Ginny looked for another bottle, but there were none near-by. She didn't want to go downstairs to get one and have the family see her drunk. They still didn't know about her stash of bottles under her bed. She always tried to hide the alcohol on her breath. The house was always filled over the top with family, but no one knew how much she blamed herself for Draco's death these past few months.
It was late summer, she had declined the job in Ireland to attend Draco's funeral. She had not been very welcomed amongst all the Malfoys, but Ginny didn't care.
A tear fell down Ginny cheek. She wanted another bottle. Every time she had taken a sip, it felt as if his memory was fading away a little more. It numbed the pain, but Draco just never completely went away. Just then, she eyed a bottle of mouthwash on her dresser. "It has some alcohol right?" she foggily thought. She slipped off the bed and edged toward the dresser.
When she stood in front of it she saw her reflection in her mirror.
"Look at you Ginny," Draco's voice said. "You're terrible!" She was. Her face was green and sickly and she had the darkest rings under her eyes. She grabbed the bottle of mouthwash and flung it at the mirror, it shattered into a million pieces. She opened the dented bottle and took a huge swig. She looked down at her many reflections in the shattered remains of the mirror. "You're dying Ginny," Draco whispered. She believed him.
She collapsed onto the bed and began to shiver violently. She grabbed his picture off her night stand. He was smiling and waving in the moving picture. She clung to it as tight as she could as if she just held on, everything would be alright…
The Malfoys and the Weasleys stood together on a hill in Hogsmeade, next to the Shrieking Shack. Differences were lost as they mourned the loss of two lovers, a brilliant, striking son and a beautiful, sparkling daughter. Narcissa and Molly cried their hearts out and hugged each other while Lucius and Arthur gave speeches and shook hands, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione spoke in soft tones to Vincent, Pansy, Gregory, and Blaise.
The Malfoys had willingly moved Draco's body from the Malfoy's Private Plot to this hill to be buried next to his love (they wouldn't admit it, but they just didn't want Ginny buried along with the Malfoys). They used this hill because this was Draco and Ginny's favorite spot during their relationship. On a Hogwarts trip to Hogsmeade, this hill is where they first talked, not showing any dislike to each other at all. This hill is where they fell in love.
The two families come back to this hill very often. After a few years, the families noticed that out of Draco's grave grew a briar, and of Ginny's a single red rose. They didn't even think about cutting them, and they even threatened the ground's keeper when he asked to. They grew side by side, until they were as tall as a grown man. The rose began to cling to the briar.
And there they entwined in a true lovers knot,
With the rose wrapped around the briar.
