Preview 3: Eleven Roses

Italics indicate the lyrics to Eleven Roses by Crystal Bernard.

Bold indicates narrator speaking.

Normal indicates setting the scene and dialogue.

FLASH indicates scene change.

He promised her eleven roses...

"Happy anniversary!" Harry smiled brightly, holding a bouquet of roses out to his fiancé, Ginerva Weasley, who had been working in their garden.

"Aww, thanks Harry!" Ginny looked at him lovingly as she accepted the red roses.

A stormy summer came and went
In the garden that we grew back then
I remember when
The single rose you gave to me
With a vow that you would never leave
One you didn't keep
Regretfully I understand
Why the flower crumbled in my hands

"Hey... this one's fake!" Ginny pulled a rose out of the bouquet, looking thoroughly confused.

"I know," Harry said.

"Why?"

"When the last rose dies, I will stop loving you,"

"Oh Harry, that's so sweet!" Ginny threw her arms around her husband's neck.

FLASH

Ten real roses, one fake rose...

There's only eleven roses
I know I should have known it from the start
Tell me why there's only
Eleven roses left here to show
Something's missing from your heart

"Ginny!" Harry called after her, running up the stairs.

"No, Harry," Ginny growled, her face showing none but pure anger.

"Ginny, I'm sorry!" Harry tried desperately.

Ginny slammed shut her bedroom door. A moment later, she opened it again and held up a red rose. A fake red rose.

"It's dead Harry! Today, you proved it was dead!"

Pressed between the pages
I see the missing rose you couldn't find
From the years gone by
Sadly we just threw away
What could've been a beautiful bouquet
So I turned the page
Tonight I just can't bare to see
The faded rose that meant the most to me

FLASH

He promised to love her until the day that last rose died...

"Ginny?" Her best friend knocked softly on her door.

"Yeah?" She asked quietly.

Hermione entered her room.

"Do you know what today is?" Ginny whispered tearfully.

"Yeah..."

"It's been five whole years since Harry broke his promise. Five. Whole. Years!" Ginny cried, throwing herself at Hermione. "And you know what the worst part it?"

"What?"

"I still have the rose,"

FLASH

There's only eleven roses
I know I should have known it from the start
Tell me why there's only
Eleven roses left here to show
Something's missing from your heart

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," Ginny mumbled her apology after bumping into someone. She picked up her things and looked up. She gasped.

"Ginny?"

FLASH

"I can't stand this! I can't work with him!" Ginny cried out.

"Maybe this is good for you," Hermione whispered.

"How so?"

"Maybe that rose isn't dead..."

FLASH

In her eyes, that rose is dead...

The only thing that we forgot
Is do you love me, or do you love me not?

"Ginny, please, let me explain!" Harry pleaded.

"Explain what?" Ginny growled, threateningly. "How you broke your promise, throwing away my heart, our love, and my life? How you killed that rose? I still have that rose Harry! I still have it!"

FLASH

But to him, that rose is still very much alive...

There's only eleven roses
I know I should have known it from the start
Tell me why there's only
Eleven roses left here to show
Something's missing from your heart

"Something's missing Hermione," Ginny sobbed.

"I know, sweetie," Hermione hugged her tightly. "And you need to go tell him. You need to fix this. You have to listen to him."

Ginny blinked.

FLASH

Ginny sniffed as she stroked that rose that had held the key to their love. She looked into those emerald eyes that had haunted her dreams endlessly and whispered, "I'm ready to hear your story."