As we leave the campsite Draco is smiling and Tony seems exhausted in the backseat. Of course, we all should be tired as the weekend was the most fun I have had in a long time. The only pains I had were in the night, but I don't dare tell Draco this, as he had been shooting me worried glances throughout the festivities. Now he turns to me, a broad, satisfied smile on his face, his grey eyes twinkling.

"What?" I ask suspiciously as he turns his gaze back to the road, his grin growing wider.

"Nothing," he sighs majestically. "I'm just happy for Harry and Ginny."

"Have they been trying for a while or something?" Tony asks tiredly from the backseat.

I laugh slightly, laying my head back. "Not trying, but they've been destined from the start to have a family together."

"Oh," he says quietly. Then, "Think it'll be bald when it comes out?"

A look of incredulity comes over Draco's face as he looks at me. I shake my head in disbelief.

"What?"

"Well," he reasons, "their kid is going to have to live up to Harry, a.k.a. 'The Golden Boy's'' reputation. I'm thinking it better be really shiny when it comes out."

I glance at Draco and we all burst out laughing. For a long time we can't stop. I grow more tired by the minute. As we turn onto another highway, Tony and I fall quiet and Draco begins to ramble on about the Potter child.

"I suppose it will have to be perfect," he says more to himself than to us. "Mind, there's no Dark Lord to vanquish now, but people still need saving, don't they?"

"Sure," I sigh, my eyes falling closed against the setting sun.

"Well, Harry and Ginny will good parents. Or at least Ginny will, since her mother and father were good to her. But Harry never had real parents. I guess he'll treat the kid better than he was treated. Mind –"

"Dear," I sigh, "you're not making any sense."

"I am though," Draco says half-heartedly, not knowing what he's saying as he reaches down to turn on the radio and James Taylor comes softly through the speakers.

The music lulls me to sleep, and I dream. I dream of Harry and Ginny holding a child. It must be a girl, because it is clad in pink pyjamas. Although her hair is red, I feel positive her eyes are a bright green – like Harry's. And I hear them regard it as Hermione. Standing in a small kitchen, pots and dishes piled high, I can't help but wish to stay in this dream and just watch them. Harry seems happier than ever, and Ginny is merely glowing as she hands the little Hermione over to her daddy. They seem so happy, and even the baby is giggling as Harry holds her above her head. The nervousness in Ginny's eyes is hidden behind the sheer glee. A knock comes on the small door and the one on the other side opens it slowly, calling to the little girl. Warmth rises in me as Draco and Tony enter, each smiling, and Tony runs to Harry and the baby. Draco moves over to the sink, laughing and chatting with Ginny as he dries the dishes. It's then that I notice the kitchen is my own; our own. But a steady beeping fills my head, and a misplaced shuffling sound interrupts the happy scene.

Opening my eyes, I am no longer in the happy kitchen, but in a dimly lit hospital room. Draco sits beside me, almost asleep, staring across the room at nothing. I hear a door close as the nurse leaves.

"Draco?"

He looks up, grey eyes filled with fatigue and apprehension. "You're awake," he sighs, grabbing hold of my hand.

"Yeah."

"Doctor says – he says you can go home for – for –"

"As long as I have left," I sigh, tears coming to my eyes.

"It'll be okay," he intones, his hand moving across my cheek. "But the sooner we get home the sooner Tony will be relieved."

"Get the doctor then," I say quietly, the tears ceasing to spill.

Draco smiles as he stands up slowly.

"You're so brave," he breathes.

In less than two hours I'm leaving the hospital.

My days pass on, and I have everything I had wished for as a child. A fantastic husband and the most wonderful son a mother could ever ask for. My family is as complete as I could ever want it, and even more so with my "extended" family. We all spend a good part of the day together, whether it is going to the beach or just having a picnic in the back yard. We are so much closer now than I think we ever were, and I can't get enough of it. Tony fits in as if he had always been with us. I think it is because of Tony that Draco is staying so upbeat and being as he used to, before I got sick. Sometimes I even forget that I am counting my days.

But every night, after the dishes are done and it is only the three of us left in the house, I remember again. In the beginning, I would just fall asleep and wake up in the morning. But I began to grow restless as I slept, and would toss and turn for hours, never waking up. Then the dreams began. Never imaginary, my dreams would be scenes from my past. Some were of bad time, some of good, and some of times I had foolishly taken for granted and forgotten. I discovered that the dream I had of Harry and Ginny was actually a vision, and I made a point of writing it down. I wrote them all down. And I put them all in a shoebox.

Last night I slept without tossing, but my dreams were more vivid than ever before. The doctors say that it is normal for someone in my state; and Ginny (now a Healer) says that my magic is enhancing the images, tastes, smells, and feelings I experience every night.

Shaking my head, I look around the dimly lit living room. No one is up yet, and I can just see the sun peeking though the village of houses. Pink and gold fill the sky, and it reminds me of a poem written by Robert Frost. The book containing the poem is open in my hands, and I feel sad as I look down to the pages.

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leafs a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

I whisper the last line as I look back out the window in time to see the leaves begin to fall from the oak trees across the street. I realize that I'm witnessing a miracle, and tears come to my eyes. It's the first of September, and Tony is going back to school. More leaves fall and it hits me that today might be the last day I would ever see him. And he's my son.

"Why are you crying, mum?"

Tony lays his hand on my shoulder, squeezing it lightly.

"I don't – I mean – I'm going to miss you."

"Oh mum," he whispers, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into his chest. "I'm going to miss you, too."

"Forever?"

"And ever and ever," he breathes, pulling back and eyeing the poetry book still clutched in my trembling hands. "Robert Frost?" he asks quietly, grinning cheekily.

I nod.

"Is it?" he asks again, actually looking into the book for the name.

I try to say 'yes', but it does not come. I can see his lips moving, but it is as though I am under water, drowning. My eyelids fall shut and I cannot see. But I can still feel him beside me.

And then he leaves.

I sway on the spot as Draco rushes into the living room, Tony, tears in his eyes, behind him. Draco catches me before I fall and lays me on the couch, kissing me frantically as though it's the end. I can feel him shaking as Tony hands him the phone, but he waves it away. As Tony begins to dial, I feel Draco's lips against my cheek and his shaky breath on my skin. I feel him whisper 'I love you.'

And I wish I could say it back.

And I lose all sense of where I am. All I know is that Draco is beside me.

And then I lose that feeling as well.