I awoke, tears splashing from my eyes.  I was comfortable, warm, rested, and filled with grief…

            The song.  I'd dreamt about it, a whirlwind of terror and mourning following the foreboding dance of Death. 

            Vindictive Death, robbing the life of her and, in the same fell swoop, the spirit of her lover.  I didn't know who she was, but my heart cried for her, wanted to save her.

            Death's hand gently tucked a loose lock of hair behind my ear.

            No, not Death.  The hand was real, warm.  My eyes had been staring at the ceiling, clouded, unfocused.  I turned them, blinking, through the Hospital Wing to the origin of the hand.

            Him again.  Severus.

            Drops of water formed a trail down my face, decorating his hand.  He deserved something, anything, better than me.  Didn't he know what had happened?  Why did his eyes dance in the candlelight for only my undeserving self to see?

            He breathed.  Precious air sustaining his life as I, contemptible, watched.

            "I was a fool not to tell you," he said, as if he had thought it many times.  "I watched your love tear you apart and yet I worried…"  He looked at the candle, the flickering light illuminating his face.

            "I worried that I had imagined it."

            It was real.  No veil of sleep hid me from reality.  I wished for it—I was unprepared for this.  The things I had said to my illusion, the words I had deeply meant…

            Tainted.  The millionth repetition would have ruined the purity of the moment, left it for routine…

            "You didn't."  I hated the sentence, choked, devoid of the feelings I had wanted it to carry.

            The medicine was wearing off.  I was slipping, slowly, softly, becoming confused…

            His lips met mine, pressing them, kissing me.  The world was fading, leaving me with this, our bodies touching in a deep, impassioned, yet unadulterated kiss. 

            Finally, he let me go, gently laying me back on the bed.

Once again, I hated sleep.