I'm waiting for you inside of our shared flat. I have something to tell you, but it must be said to your face. You've been good to me and you at least deserve my honesty.

Truth be told, I've been pacing the house for hours, imagining how this conversation might go. I've paused to look at the many pictures of us that liter the hallway, trying to remember each moment, trying to remember what it felt like to love you passionately like I once did.

The love that I used to feel has been replaced by hollowness. Where you once provided lightness, I now feel nothing but heaviness. You have become a weight that is sinking me. Though you love me, you have begun to suffocate me. This place has stifled me causing the death of my dreams. I can no longer tolerate it, regardless of how much I still care for you.

The green flare in our fireplace drags me from my thoughts. You smile at me, but the smile does not extend to your eyes. They remain sad and distant. You know what I am about to say. In fact, you've known it was coming for months. The small little fissure that began ages ago has grown to a chasm and we seem to be stuck on opposite sides.

"I'm sorry," I tell you.

Again, a sad little smile creeps across your face.

"It's alright. You have nothing to apologize for," you reply.

I wish that were the truth, but I do owe you an apology. When we started dating, I was lonely and you were kind. I grew to love you, but deep down I knew that we were wrong for each other from the jump off. You wanted the stability of the family that you never had growing up and I wanted nothing more than to cut ties and fly away with the whims of the wind. I stayed because I was lonely, had been lonely for so long and because I knew that you had too. In that, we could relate to each other.

Now, here we are two years later, living together and neither of us has been happy for ages. I have been unable to give you the stability that you so desperately seek. Maybe someday I'll want a family, but I'm not sure when, if ever, and I can't ask you to wait around for a maybe.

On the converse, I want to travel, to see the world, maybe find the elusive Crumple Horned Snorkack. I know that you would go with me if I asked, but it would take you far away from your parents and grandmother. I know you would also wait if I asked, but I can't bring myself to leave you twisting in the wind while I decide what it is that I want. I suspect that I would come to the same conclusion anyway.

I look into your amber brown eyes, now stormy with emotion. "You're a good man and someday you'll find the right woman and she'll be lucky to have you," I say. And I mean it too. You are a good man and I was lucky to have you while I did, but it's time for me to cut the cord and give you the chance to find the love you deserve.

You step forward one last time, lifting your hand gently to my face. Your fingertips caress my cheek on the way down to my jaw. Gently, you lift my chin and meet my lips with yours. It's a chaste kiss, one that is haunted by the memories of the passionate kisses of the past. I close my eyes out of reflex and feel one small twinge of sadness at what I am giving up.

You step back from me. "Goodbye Luna," you say.

And then I walk out the door.

Hi there!

This was originally posted on HPFF for ad astra's Sink Your Ship Challenge in which we were supposed to sink our OTPs. I chose to break up Neville and Luna, who at the time were my favorite couple.

I'd love to know what you thought of this, so please leave a comment and let me know!

Thanks for reading!

~Kaitlin/TreacleTart