Bittersweet
By Nyx
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I look down on my companion. She's a head below me, but sometimes it seems like leagues. She smiles nervously. I'm sure she's trying to calm both herself and me, but it's a time when there's no calming down. I'm going to my death, I know. My hand snakes around hers and squeezes; the touch of her fingers is comforting, and I feel a little better.
I'm too young to die. I don't want to freely run into the arms of the Dark Lord! But I know that I have to, that otherwise many more people will die, and that my life for theirs is a bargain. She must be following my train of thought, because as we stand outside the Ministry headquarters in the predawn darkness she pulls me into a bone-crushing hug.
"You're going to come out of this. Don't you ever think you aren't," she admonishes me with a conviction that comes only from denial. "You're unstoppable. You know it, I know it. Otherwise I would've never helped you with this." I hope I am, I truly do, but knowing goes a little far. And she would've helped me with my crazy crusade whether or not she thought I would beat the Dark Lord; she's one of those people who thinks anything's worth a try. And I had to try, or I couldn't live with myself.
Suddenly, I know one thing I have yet to do. "In case I don't come back," I mutter, almost under my breath, and lift her chin. She just looks at me, half-worried and half-expectant, for a long moment before my lips descends on hers and her eyes flutter closed. The kiss is deep, and I can feel the tears running down her cheeks and mine as I explore her mouth and nip gently at the lip she's been biting ever since the Dark Lord rose again. My body tingles with desire, and I know that if I don't leave now I won't be leaving anytime soon - so I roughly break away from her, checking to make sure my wand is still in position, and whisper a goodbye into her ear before pulling open the great double-doors of the Ministry and stepping inside.
The image of her standing mussed and rumpled on the Ministry's steps will stay in my mind until I die.
-----finis
Dis: The Ministry and the Dark Lord don't belong to me.