The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa the bad things don't always spoil the good things and make them unimportant.
-"Vincent and the Doctor" (Doctor Who)
Your thoughts are the same. Exactly the same. Just for this moment. You know it. You know precisely what he's going to say, how he's going to say it, and you know he's thinking right now how he can explain all of this.
But you don't need him to. You get it.
And then something appears in his eyes that understands.
He says it all anyway.
And even though you know it won't make any difference, you try to stop him anyway. You tell him you don't care about any of it, that you can handle all of it, that you're more than willing to help.
And it's not awkward, and you're looking each other right in the eye, and it's all so very matter-of-fact that all you can do is try to maintain the normality for just a second.
And suddenly he says that one thing you weren't expecting.
You don't talk for what feels like a very long time, because what he said…
Well, you can't argue that it isn't a possibility. It's pretty likely, actually, that your own funeral is approaching rather more rapidly than one would generally hope, so long as you're with him.
But when you do speak, you're oddly nostalgic, and there's a small, bitter, twisted smile on his face, and somehow you're laughing, and you tell him, at last, that you've always known, and he walks away, and you're almost grateful, because neither of you could stand to look at each other much longer.
But you think, at the same time, that it's maybe okay.
Because those glorious days of happiness are just as real as they ever were, those days of Hermione's "She's trying to study, Harry"s and Ron's rather obvious disgust when the two of you would so much look at one another. All of that, it's real.
Okay, it's not like you've never been better, and it's not like those things just make you forget.
But nothing can get rid of them.
And that's all you can really hope for.
AN: Sorry for not getting this up quite as soon as I'd hoped. Nevertheless, thanks very much for reading, and, as always, I hope you enjoyed.