It's Okay To Cry
Long brown hair spills across crisp white sheets and the machines beside her bed beep in time to her breathing and heartbeat. Pale skin nearly matches the color of the sheets she lay on, the smattering of freckles she'd had have long since disappeared. She hasn't left this ward since the war ended. All the others have given up hope, but still he remains. Each day, his hand in hers, he sits by her bed.
Someday, he thinks, someday I'll be able to tell her…He smiles softly and traces circles on her hand with his thumb while the nurse looks over her vitals. The nurse is a kindly woman, bushy brown hair and a smile to light up a room.
"Excuse me Mr. Finnegan," she asks gently, coming around to his side of the bed. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave, her family is on the way."
He looks up, startled for a moment and then back down at the way his fingers are entwined against the pale skin of the nurse's ward. He slips his hand from hers and stands, nodding to the nurse. Then it hits him, the nurse had used his name, his real name.
He hasn't gone by Finnegan since the end of the war, due to certain actions he'd taken. But the nurse, she'd known his name, which meant that she must have known him during his school days. A vaguely formed face floats to the front of his mind, bushy brown hair and gleaming brown eyes that are full of intelligence, but not superiority. A shapely nose, and lips that always seemed to be drawn into a thin line as she studied.
Seamus looks up at the nurse again, and she smiles. "How do you know my name?" he ventures to ask, walking with the nurse out of the room. It's then he notices that she's not just a nurse, she's a medi-witch of the highest order. Her white robes are spotless and they hug her body like they were made only for her.
The medi-witch brushes a strand of hair from her eyes, "Because I went to school with you," she replies. Seamus purses his lips in thought, and he can feel his brow furrowing as he does so. So it is her then, he thinks, but when he looks over at her to confirm his suspicion he notices she's gone to meet the family.
He steps out of the way and lets them pass. They slip into the room. There is a moment of quiet deliberation and Seamus hears Hermione's voice but not what she is saying. A silence settles over the ward and Seamus realizes that the machines that kept Lavender Brown alive are no longer beeping. His stomach drops to the floor and he sits down heavily on one of the chairs in the lounge.
After a few more minutes, the family shuffles out, heads bowed and Lavender's mother holding back tears. Seamus stands and walks back into the room where he'd spent so many of his waking moments. Hermione looks up in surprise and her face melts into concern a moment later. Seamus moves toward the bed, bending down to press a kiss to Lavender's forehead and then stands.
"She's in a better place now," Hermione says gently, coming to stand beside Seamus. She puts an arm around him, offering silent comfort. Seamus blinks quickly to dispel the tears that are forming in his eyes and Hermione gathers him to her chest, holding him close to her. "It's okay to cry," she whispers, her own voice hoarse and thick with emotion.