Rose straightened her robes and walked to the door to collect the potions that would induce Sam's magical coma.

She levitated the phials through the glass compartment they had been placed in, and started walking back towards Sam's room.

Her wand wavered with nervousness - inducing magical comas was nerve-wracking enough even when the patient wasn't your long-lost lover who might never wake up again.

But what will we do if he does wake up?' Rose thought to herself.

Somehow, the thought of Sam waking up and coming back into her life for good seemed equally terrifying.

.

So far since he'd been back in her life, they'd been cocooned up in their own little bubble, away from reality.

Quarantine was completely separated from the outside world, there was no one in there except themselves, and it was so easy to forget about the commitments Rose had back in the real world.

Her mind started drifting back to life before quarantine, before Sam, before he had come flying back in to dredge up old memories and traumas - most worryingly she still hadn't really told him everything about herself, especially her personal life.

Even though she felt guilty for hiding things, it had been so easy in quarantine to pretend like the world beyond their two-bedroom apartment didn't exist.

Sam had a whole life back in India that he'd been building for years, who was to say that he would even want to to move back to Britain based solely on the fact that she had assured him he could?

Just last week, Sam had been explaining how hard he had had to work when he first moved to Bangalore and the friendships and life he'd built with his colleagues there, who all still thought he was coming back.

"First of all, the humidity is insane - I mean, it feels like you're breathing in steam and you can barely function when you first get there. It's not just hot, it's a whole 'nother level."

They were sitting at a small table in the living room eating lunch, a special request Sam had called in to the quarantine zone.

"You have to try this."

Rose looked questioningly at the savoury donuts and various curries and condiments on the table.

Sam smacked his lips, "Come on I'm in quarantine, food is the only joy I have! Just humour me."

.

He had ordered his favourite Indian dish into the hospital, it was called: vada.

The fried donuts were thick and crispy, and so hot on the inside they steamed as you broke them in half to dip into the other dishes, as if they'd just been pulled out of the deep fryer (Merlin bless magical take-out, the chefs had truly perfected the art!).

It was served alongside mutton curry, dhal and potato masala as well as raita (a yoghurt condiment) and a range of different chutneys; lime, mango, pickles - the flavours were intense and Sam gave it his stamp of approval as almost as authentic as vada you found deep in the south of India.

"Hospitality and friendliness is off the charts in India, they think Britts are all cold fish who don't know how to treat guests and can't eat spicy food to save their life, which let's be honest is mostly true."

They both laughed as Sam dug into the food, eating with his hands with gusto, and Rose attempted to follow suit, for his sake.

.

After a moment of silence Rose couldn't help but ask what had been on her mind for a while.

"Do you think you'll go back there? After we get out of Mungos?"

Sam looked up, caught by surprise, a splash of curry comedically dribbled onto his chin, "I mean, I was only supposed to be here for a week - I told everyone I was sick back when I first got here, and then obviously passed on the diagnosis of Scrofungulus so they could all get checked out. Turns out most of my co-worker's had it as well. But they all think I'm coming back when I get better…"

.

His voice trailed off, if he was honest with himself, he wasn't all that sure of himself and on this particular topic.

It was a big decision to make, and he had so many friends and colleagues waiting for him.

Of course he was going back, wasn't he?

But what about Rose?

The only real reason he'd moved to India at the end of 7th year was to adhere to her wishes, and now that that reason was gone he didn't have to live so far away from his family, didn't have to wait for Al to get approval every time he wanted to come over for dinner.

Rose grabbed a napkin and passed it to Sam gesturing at his chin, he quickly scrambled to wipe his face in embarrassment.

.

"I mean, I get it," Rose interrupted his thoughts, "You've built your whole career over there, you have a life you have to get back to."

But Rose was older now, and she knew the feeling of a twinge of regret when she felt it.

She was too wise not say anything when she felt it, "Unless you want to move back here, be with your family again, Al, you don't have a reason to stay away anymore."

Sam smiled tiredly, teasing Rose in order to ignore his conflicted feelings about a very difficult decision he might soon have to face.

"Are you trying to convince me to move back here so you can see my incredibly handsome face more often?" He was joking, but he also wasn't.

Things between him and Rose felt like they could be moving forwards, what if there was the possibility that they could be more than friends?

Would he give that up to go back to his career in India?

Rose scoffed, "As if I would want your clearly poor hygiene and health practices around my hospital! Nobody in Britain leaves a disease like Scrofungulus unchecked for this many weeks Sam, no one."

They quickly moved on to lighter banter, but Rose hadn't been able to get the conversation out of her head since.

.

As Rose walked back into Sam's room levitating the phials of potion to rest on the desk next to his bed, she tried to push down the nervous and tumultuous thoughts running through her mind.

All their future possibilities haunted her as she sat down and tried to focus on administering the potions.

"You don't have to take the drafts right now. Do you want to talk to your parents? Or Al? We can get them to send their patronuses in here or-"

"No, it's fine. I've written them letters," Sam opened a draw of the bedside table next to him and showed her the envelopes inside.

Rose hadn't seen the envelopes before, nor noticed Sam writing them.

"When did you write those?" she asked, confused at why he hadn't told her about them.

He looked up knowingly at her, "I've thought for a while now that I might not get out of here Rosie-"

"Don't be ridiculous, of course you're going to get out of here!"

"Okay... but I wrote these a while ago. Just make sure they get to my friends and family okay? They're labelled."

Rose nodded firmly, but the thought of where Sam's head had been when he wrote them was making her feel a peculiar combination of queasy and angry that was not helping her calm down.

.

"You'll have about one minute before the potions take effect after you drink them. They need to be taken together in quick succession."

Sam picked up both phials and unstoppered them, "Okay. Should I do it now?"

He was doing everything so quickly, Rose felt her vision tunneling and her breath shortening, and all of it was centreing around those stupid phials.

How were they already here? At this moment?

There was a pregnant pause, with both of them not quite sure what to say.

Rose sat down on the bed and placed her hand on his arm, giving it a warm squeeze.

"You can take your time, really, I am not going anywhere, I will be right next to you the whole time. And when you wake up, I'll be here and you're going to move back to Britain and we're going to have a huge welcome home party - the one you should have got when you first landed. All the Weasleys and Potters will be there, Jen and Annie, Cory, Greg and Bee, Adam, the whole Hogwarts gang, everyone you left behind."

.

Rose's voice was quivering like crazy as tears started to fall down her cheeks.

Sam leaned forward, "Come here Cherry."

She moved closer and he gently rested his on her chest, "Rose, after I wake up I'm not going to go back to India okay? And we're going to do all those wonderful things.'

Rose nodded and took a few deep breaths.

Slowly, Sam lifted the vials to his lips and downed the potions one after the other as Rose watched carefully.

.

She couldn't look away as his lips closed around each phial, and his Adam's Apple moved up and down as he swallowed.

And just like that, it was done.

She helped him lie down comfortably in the bed, clasped his hands in both of hers, and as his eyes began to drift shut she whispered something softly into his ear.

"I love you too Rose," he replied, then he kissed her lightly on the cheek and fell into an unwakeable sleep.