Length: about 670 words (longest vignette ever!! Well, at least where I'm concerned...)

Disclaimer: Lord of the Rings does not belong to me. ... Huh? That doesn't seem right, does it? I think something got confused there... Oh, I meant HP of course! So, HP does not belong to me. That's Tolkien's, that is. ... What the bloody...? Sorry, I don't think I'm feeling quite well today. Don't know where my head is! (Might have forgot it in the refrigerator and it froze up, so...) Anyway, one last attempt: HP does not belong to me. It's all JKR's. ... ... Got it right this time? Thank Merlin!!

Author's Notes: This chapter... well, it's a bit cheesy. At the end. I hope it won't leave you all shuddering at the mere thought of just how cheesy it is. (Because it might; with me it definitely does...) But of course you should read first and then judge. Therefore, as always, I wish you fun with that...

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8. Giving In #2 – Future Matters

She looked… ill. Lately. Worn and tired and simply ill, as if she was trying to compete with him. He didn't think that he had ever seen her this way. She had been so full of life, so vivid, so beautiful in her joy, but everything about her seemed to have changed so fast that he couldn't even catch hold of the moment when she had become this lifeless. Her hair was such a pale shade of pink that he had started to fear the moment when it would lose its colour entirely. Her acting was different as well; hollow, joyless and he would ask himself every now and then if she would ever manage to get back to her usual self. Because the matter obviously had got serious for even people had begun to ask her if anything was wrong, concerned about the happy witch that had become so very lifeless in every way. Yet all he ever heard her answer was a feeble "Fine, just the stress" over and over and over again until he himself couldn't listen to it anymore.

It hurt. Because desire had never been so strong.

And worse even, it was getting difficult to hide this desire and his concern for her for he couldn't stop himself to look at her. Throughout meetings, at dinner, all the time. He knew she noticed and probably hated him for it but whenever he told himself not to watch her anymore, he knew at the very same moment that it was a fruitless attempt and that, eventually, he would seek her sight again and again… and again...

And as if this wasn't enough, he couldn't possibly feel sicker or guiltier for being the actual and only cause of her pitiful appearance, robbed of all her beautiful colours. He couldn't possibly hate himself any more than at these moments when their eyes met and she would silently tell him that, yes, he was the one to blame and yes, there was nothing he could do.

Except for the obvious, of course.

Except for the one thing that he had denied her and himself for so long. But he couldn't, simply could not do it, could not give in because if he did it would mean that all of his struggles had been for nothing. It would prove him weak and unstable in his beliefs and would certainly be the wrong decision and leave them suffering, if not for now than one day, surely, in the future. And the future was dangerous, unknown field and it scared him, so much that he had chosen to run.

Until the day he stopped. Until the day he would, in fact, give in.

And then, suddenly, out of nowhere, before he had even realised it himself, the day had come – and he simply had. He had given in. He had proven himself weak and unstable in his beliefs and therefore he had given in. Too strong the need, too great the desire. He had given in...

And while he stood in the empty entrance corridor with her wrapped in his arms, crying but secure and holding on to him so firmly, almost as if for dear life, he couldn't help the thought that all this time his struggles, indeed, had been for nothing. But for a different reason entirely. Because now, in this moment, he finally understood that he had been wrong, so wrong and she had been right in every way. Somewhere along his lonely path he must have failed to realise that they were two people in love with each other – and that was all. There was no point in thinking about the future and all of its dangers because those would come anyway and for sure. Nothing else was certain. But going through these entire things separately would be more difficult than facing them together. Therefore if they held on to each other, much as they did right now – what was there in the future to come that they couldn't face?

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So many things matter in life. Future matters, cheese matters, pill bugs matter, sunscreen matters, little unnecessary gimmicks matter, fanfiction matters, reviews matter. Oh! Speaking of which...

Let's all give in to our inner demons (werewolves?) - and have some fun; bye bye und tschüß