She woke up screaming.
Draco almost fell out of his chair as he scrambled into her line of sight.
Her eyes weren't open yet. She was still caught in her dream. She was falling and there was no one there to catch her. There never was. She had thought, for an instant, that Draco would be there, but he wasn't. If he would just show up, tell her it was all over… But she was alone and she was falling back into herself. She was going mad. She had to will the pain away.
"Don't give in," a voice broke through the darkness. She tried to move away from the sound. "Don't turn away. Don't try to hide."
She started to cry.
"Open your eyes, Ginevra. Merlin knows what's behind them. Open your eyes. Don't keep out the light."
"Never sleep, never die," she whispered as she struggled to open her eyes.
He couldn't quite catch her words and was about to ask what she had said when she spoke again.
"I'm afraid of what I see," she turned her face away from him. "And I know there so much more to come. I'm so afraid I can't move anymore." She was still crying. She brought a hand up to wipe her face. "Some day I'm going to be blinded by all these tears. I have to stop the pain. I have to will it all away."
He gently turned her face back toward him. "I told you not to turn away. You don't have to give in to the pain. You don't have to hide."
She closed her eyes.
"Don't do that!" his voice was tense. "Everything you are fighting is behind those lids, keep you eyes open! If you block out the light how will you expect to survive?"
"Never sleep, never die," she whispered again.
Again, he couldn't understand her.
"I'm surrounded by fallen angels," she said, a little louder, without opening her eyes, "and the voices won't stop whispering in my ear. Death is here, lying beside me. Shall I give in?" she finally opened her eyes.
Tears were once again falling from Draco's eyes.
"If I die, I can begin again. I can finally forsake all I've fallen for."
"Then die," he said.
She stared at him in disbelief.
He continued, "Die to who you were. Die to the Dark Lord. Let little Ginny Weasley rest in peace and move on. Rise again as Ginevra. Be who you were meant to be all along. Be who you know you can be. Leave all the pain and all the tears in the grave, behind you."
She looked down at her hand, the one he was holding as though both of their lives depended on it and realized that maybe they did.
"What was it you said under your breath?" he asked.
"Never sleep, never die," she answered. "If I don't dream, I don't relive it all and more. If I don't hear him in my dreams he isn't as loud while I'm awake. If I don't see him in my dreams, he comes less to me while I'm awake. If I never sleep, I don't want to die."
He held her close. "You aren't alone anymore."