He showed up about fifteen minutes later, in my room. As soon as I saw him, I launched at him in a hug.

"Rosalin, I'm so sorry." he said, rocking me back and forth. "I just... I don't know what else to say."

"I just want to go away from here and forget," I said,burying my head in his shoulder. "Please."

He nodded. "Is your stuff together?" he asked.

I shook my head, "Sorry. I'll get it together. I was talking to Dad."

"Oh?"

I wiped my tears and nodded. "He said that it's okay for us to be in love. He wants me with you."

His jaw fell, "Seriously?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. He said that life is too short to fake who you're in love with, and that you'll protect me better."

"Can I go talk to him?" he asked.

"My mum was down there last I checked."

"I peeked in the windows before I came up here and I didn't see her."

"We'll stop there on our way out."

I gathered up some clothing and my toothbrush and threw it in a bag. He picked up the bag and we creeped down the stairs very slowly.

I found Dad in his office, slumped over in his chair asleep. I exchanged glances with Harry. "Let him sleep." he said.

I kissed his cheek, and took his glass of bourbon from his hand.

We left from the front door and aparated.

"Where are we?" I asked, looking around the bar room.

"The Leaky Cauldron." he said. "I'm going to talk to Hannah and get a room. Follow me up in five minutes. I'll be waiting for you."

I nodded, and watched as he went and talked to the blonde woman at the bar. I took a seat on the other end and ordered a shot of firewhiskey.

I downed it, threw some coins on the table, and went upstairs. He was waiting on the flight of stairs, and I followed him. We were on the fifth floor. I went to the window and looked. We could see all of Diagon Alley, the shops' lights twinkling beautifully.

"There's been another attack." he informed me.

"Dad told me," I said. "I think he was listening to the radio in his office. Where was it this time?"

"A little ways out of London." he said. "Smaller attack this time. The Aurors really need to get their shite together. At this point, there's been, what, ten deaths? There's going to be no more villages at this point."

Our room was small and modest. There was a fire going in the fireplace, and a four poster bed. He went over to the liquor cabinet and picked up the firewhiskey and two glasses. I sat on the bed. He kicked off his shoes and got into the bed, pouring drinks.

I did the same, curling up to his body. He was warm and comfortable and I wanted to be as close to him as I could be.

"I'm so sorry." he said, handing me the firewhiskey. "You said you wanted to forget."

I nodded, and took another sip of it. "Thank you. You're the best."

He drank some of his and shuddered as the alcohol entered his body. Then he set it down and straddled me.

I kissed him, and he started sucking on my lip. We were both a little drunk, so things were a little sloppy, but I don't think that either of us minded too much. He just wanted to make me feel better, as he worked his way down my body with his hands.

"Are we breaking all of our relationship rules tonight?" I asked.

"No," he said. "I'm not having sex with you. I'm just helping you forget."

"Thank you," I said. I wrapped my legs around him and pulled him closer to me. "You're... I love you."

"I love you too." he mumbled, as he sucked on my neck. I knew it would leave a mark and I didn't really care.

We fumbled around for a little longer before he made us stop. I was a little grumpy from being sexually frustrated, but I did feel better. I was glad I could focus the energy somewhere else.

We finished our drinks, and it was already after midnight.

"Think you can sleep?" he asked.

I removed his glasses from his face. "Yes," I said. I curled up tightly against him and drifted off to sleep.

~.~

I did not wake up naturally.

There was a large boom outside our window. I thought that maybe something in the Apothecary two stores down had blown up. Harry was up and out of bed in an instant. He dug around for his glasses and shoved them on his face.

He ran to the window, looking for the source of the sound. I was next to him a moment later, my hand on his bare shoulder.

I got to the window just in time to see Olivander's Wand shop blow up. The roof jumped off the building and the windows blew out.

I thought I might throw up. I was sickened- whoever was attacking us was here. And so was I.

The ice cream shop next to Olivander's went next. And only a few secoonds later, the Menagerie went.

I ran to the bathroom to throw up. The firewhiskey from last night burned my throat and mouth. Harry came right behind me and handed me a Hangover potion. I watched him take his mood stabilizer and a few other potions that I didn't have enough brain to identify.

He was pale, all of the blood had left his face. We returned to the window. People were flooding the street. I saw a few Healers on the scene, running to help the wounded. They must have been on their way to the seven o'clock shift at St. Mungo's.

A few seconds later, about a dozen figures dressed in a dark, dark gray appeared in the alley.

"I'm going downstairs." Harry said. "Stay up here."

"Harry." I groaned. "Don't leave me."

"I need to. I will be back," I could tell he just wanted me to go back to sleep.

"I'm afraid you won't come back." I admitted. "Please, please come back."

He nodded. "I promise. I will come back. I'm just going to see if they have some form of protection on the inn."

I ran and hugged him, burying my head in his chest. He seperated from me. "I love you." I said.

"Love you too." He said, and turned. When he got to the door, he turned around.

"In the left pocket of my bag, there is a vial of Erumpent fluid," he said. "If, for any reason, anyone is able to get up here that we're trying to keep out, just take a small sip. Don't let them torture you and kill you."

He was gone, and I was left with that parting though.

I went to his bag. I usually kept out of his stuff, because I knew that was how he liked it. But I looked through it. This must have been his personal stuff. I dumped it out on his bed.

I went through the vials first. Many vials of potions for him, his mood stabilizers, antidepressants, and hangover vials. I found the Erumpent fluid next; the silvery fluid suspended in a little water. I wondered why on Earth he had this with him, so close to me when it would take so little to hurt me.

I found the antidote next.

A picture of him and Ginny, the one that had been on his bedside table before. A picture of me was next. It was a picture that had been in the Daily Prophet when Gringotts had announced their apprentices.

Another picture of me was next, it was of the Hogwarts' Choir. Nathan and I had been singing a duet at a concert.

I found a bag of owl treats for Rex and a letter from Ron. I didn't read the letter; I was doing enough digging.

I put all of the stuff back into his bag except for the Erumpent fluid.

I was really troubled by what he had said and why he was carrying this poison for me. I saw the radio in the room and started to play with that. I needed really badly to have a distraction.

I dialed in a radio station that was giving a recap of past attacks. As I listened to it, a pattern started forming in my head.

I took parchment from his bag and a quill, and began my sketch. I sketched Great Britain, and placed a dot in each village that had been attacked over the past two and a half months.

As I suspected, it did form a patter. They made a big V, and intersected here; in Diagon Alley. I needed to tell Harry this. I really wanted him to come back. I was worried and my stomach was upset.

About an hour after he left, he returned to the room. I launched myself at him, crying in relief. I was so glad that he was okay.

"Rosalin," he sighed, resting his chin atop my head.

"Tell me what's going on," I said. "Please."

We sat down on the bed. "Well." he began. "There's been an attack."

"Obviously." I said. "That's not news."

He sighed. "Well." he said. "We were able to put up a shield that's blocking whoever that is out there. They've all got hoods on, I've no idea who it is out there. There are two Aurors and me in here, and we're waiting for contact from the Ministry. But there's no aparating, no Flooing, and no port keys, they'll all break the shield."

Tears started flowing from my eyes. I knew he was terrible with crying girls, but I couldn't help it. He tried to soothe me. "We're going to die."I said.

"No, we won't." he said. "I've got you safe up here."

"I don't want to die," I cried.

"I won't let you get hurt. Hopefully the Ministry will show up soon and then they will be caught and everything will be better." he said. "I will keep you safe. I promise."

He let me cry for another minute, then began to kiss me.

"Can we have sex, please?" I begged.

"Rosalin..." he said, slowly, trying to resist.

"As much as you want to deny it, it's a very real possibility that we may not make it out of here," I said. "And I'm not dieing a virgin."

He sighed, "I've never done it before." he admitted.

I was a little surprised, "Really?" I asked.

He nodded, "I never had time, with Ginny."

"Well, we will learn together." I said, taking his hand in mine. I led him to start undressing me as I kissed him.

"It's not going to be very good," he warned, as he fumbled with my bra. We had gone this far before, and I felt comfortable.

"Well, lucky for you, I've nothing to compare it to." I said, grinding my hips against his. A slight moan escaped his lips, and I kissed him.

I reached down to undo his pants, but he stopped me. He got up and did it himself, before getting back on the bed and straddling me.

I slipped my underwear off and threw it on the floor and spread my legs beneath him.

"You're gorgeous, you really are," he mumbled, his lips along my stomach. I took his hand and guided it to where I wanted him to touch me. I dug my nails into his shoulder as he brought me to a climax, muttering his name. He took a second to catch his breath as I rode out the last tremors, and then lined to up enter me.

"I'm not going to last long," he warned me.

"I don't care," I told him. He entered me, and while it hurt, I tried not to think about it. It started to feel better after a minute or so of us rocking together. We found a rhythm, and he was right; it only took him a few minutes to climax.

"Rosalin," he moaned, as he was still coming down from the high. "I love you."

I kissed him. "I love you too," I said. I wrapped the blanket around us. It was not the greatest thing ever, but I was very glad I had talked him into it. "Thank you."

"Thank you." he said. I rested my head on his chest and drifted off to sleep for a few moments.

We awoke to a knock on the door. "Harry," a gruff, male voice said. "We're going out in twenty minutes if you're coming. Be down in fifteen."

"All right." Harry called. He turned back to me, nuzzling me. "I wish things were different."

"Hmm?" I asked.

"That I hadn't taken you here last night. I wish you were at your home, in bed right now."

I just blinked at him. "You promised we would be fine," I said.

"I said you would be protected. And you will be," he said. "The wards will stay up. We left one window unprotected and that is how we will go out."

Tears sprang into my eyes. "You're not going to come back." I said.

He couldn't meet my eyes. "You know that I want to come back." he said. "I don't want to die, but I do want to protect you."

I didn't want to lose him. I was numb from the surreality of the whole situation. He was going to come back. He was going to come back.

I had a feeling he wouldn't come back. I got up, still mostly naked, and went to the window. Outside, there were still a dozen people in black. They'd cast a protection bubble around themselves, but were firing at the protections that had been cast around our building.

He was up and next to me, having pulled the blanket around us. "I'm going to throw up," I announced, feeling my stomach flop. This was disgusting. I just wanted to get out of here. He dug through his bag and handed me two potions.

"Don't ask, just drink."

I obeyed. I was still crying, and he picked me up and brought me back to the bed.

"How will I know if you die?" I asked. .

"Please, Rosalin, I'm begging you. Do not watch out the window. Do not follow us." he said. "I'll curse the windows so you can't see out of them if I have to."

I just shook my head as he held me. He sat up and grabbed his wand and muttered a spell. His watched glowed for a moment, then stopped. He placed it back on his wrist.

"If anything happens to me," he said slowly, "Then this watch will come back here. All right?"

I nodded. Tears stopped as he finally admitted something might happen to him.

"And, hopefully, it won't come to this, but if it does, you take that Erumpent fluid. Don't let yourself be tortured. Hopefully, the ministry will come in and save you before too much damage is done."

I was quiet, but nodded. I still had the potion.

"Now, come here. My fifteen minutes are almost done and I've still got to get dressed."

I obeyed, and ran to him. He kissed me. "Please don't leave,"I begged.

He just sighed. "I love you," he said. "And the past six months have been amazing. I wish that we could go on... maybe buy a cottage out in the country, away from everyone, just be happy together... You would work for the Curse Breakers... I would, well, I don't know for sure. Find some way to pass my time. Maybe we'd have a kid... maybe just... let the unhappiness end with us. I think that'd be lovely."

I nodded. "Sounds much better than Peter's version of happiness for me." I said.

He kissed me again, and threws on his clothing. I sincerely hoped I would see him again.

"Good luck." I said. He kissed me one more time, and I told him that I loved him.

Then, he was gone. Once he was gone, I broke down and cried. I had no idea what to feel- everything overwhelmed me. I wanted it to be tomorrow. I would be dead, grieving, or flooded with relief. I weighed the odds.

I knew I would most likely be dead.

If that was the case, I thought of how I should spend my, ideally, last minutes. What did I regret most?

The situation with Peter. I went to the Floo, and saw there was a thing of Floo powder. I picked it up and called Peter.

I stuck my head in the fire. "Peter!" I called. I could tell he was sill in bed.

He got up. "What- Rosa?" I could see his hand move to the grate.

"Don't!" I yelled."Please, Peter, I don't know how long I have."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I'm... just... I'm in a bit of a sticky situation and I'm not sure if I will see the other side, so please, just listen to me for a moment."

"You have a minute."

"Great!" I said, relief flooding through me. "Thank you, thank you."

"What did you want to say, Rosa?" he asked, leaning down. He was shirtless, having just gotten up from sleep.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Peter. I treated you like absolute crap and you deserved so much better. I don't know why I treated you like crap... I didn't want to. I never wanted to hurt you, but I did. I used you terribly. You've been the best friend anyone could ask for and I'm so sorry. I know I can never ask for friendship again. At this point, I just want you to be happy."

I could see that he was listening. "Okay," he said. "Where are you?" he asked. "Rosa, what's going on?"

"I can't tell you. You'll find out soon enough." I said.

He sighed. "More secrets. Great." he said. "Well, your minute is up."

"And tell Nina that I'm sorry... please."

"Fine." he said. "But I can't promise an ounce of forgiveness."

"Just tell her. That's all I'm asking."

He nodded.

"Goodbye." he said, and slammed the grate shut. I was forced back into my room, my head spinning.

There was a loud popping noise, and then silence. Suddenly, a metallic clank rang out from my room. I turned around.

Harry's watch sat on the table. He was dead.

I did throw up this time, but was unable to get to the toilet in time. I just left it as I sat on the bed, so dizzy with grief. Why? "Why?" I begged, as I choked and sputtered tears.

I was busy focused on my loss, when the great silence had been replaced by screams. They were coming from downstairs. Slowly, the screams rose, and I heard people in the staircase, making their way up, towards me.

It was then I realized that the protection had been shattered as I used the Floo to call Peter. How stupid could I have been? I was now at fault for any lives lost here. I just cried harder.

I grabbed the Erumpent fluid. I only had a moment, I knew, but I felt time slow.

Here I was, in between two very difficult decisions. The most difficult decision I would ever have to make.

Did I obey Harry? Part of me thought that was best. He had my best interests in mine. But had he ever really belonged to me? Not in the sense of property, but in the sense that he loved me more than he had ever loved Ginny?

The only thing we ever shared that was uniquely our own had happened this morning. We had sex.

I heard footsteps on my floor now. "Come out, come out wherever you are!" a menacing voice called from the hallway.

I uncorked the Erumpent fluid, and tipped it into my throat. I knew this concentration of the poison would have me unconscious in mere seconds. I said goodbye to the light, and let darkness wash over me.

Author's Note: Well... that was the ending I told you that you'd hate me for. Meant to upload this chapter yesterday, but I wasn't done with it and I was pretty sick. But, at this point, you know me. I always upload when I say I will, if not before. I'm feeling better now, thankfully. Please, let me know what you all think. I really appreciate it. The epilogue will be up in a few days.