Sorry, this took me longer than I thought it would, but I hope you enjoy anyway. Please R and R :-)
"I will not do it," Blaise stroked Ginny's cheek tenderly as the battle raged on either side of them
"You don't have a choice," She took his hand and held it, eyes large and glowing in the firelight. "I understand, if I am not dead then Voldermort will kill everyone in this school. That includes my brothers Blaise, and all of my friends. I can't do that, there isn't a choice here."
A wave of anguish ripped through Blaise, almost bringing him to his knees. He gritted his teeth, speaking quickly and fiercely, "There is a choice, we can run. You are all that matters to me Ginny, I love you more than life itself."
She smiled ruefully, a smile that did not reach her eyes. Moving forward, she pulled him towards her and kissed him with such great regret he felt the tears springing to his eyes. Blaise wrapped his arms around her waist, wishing he could keep her there and safe in his arms forever.
She rested her head against his shoulder, "We had so little time," She whispered. He could feel her trembling, and a dark patch spread on his shoulder that he knew was a pool of her tears.
He rested his forehead against hers, "We have all the time in the world,"
She shook her head, amber hair glinting as it caught the light and bit her lip to hold back further tears, She didn't want to make this any harder for him than it was already, and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, trying to hold on to him, to keep him with her.
He held her closer, as he murmured in her ear, "We have another choice," There was no sudden flash of hope in her tear filled eyes; rather a shadow of fear flew across her face. "I could offer myself in your place,"
Instantly she frowned, her hands clenching into fists on his shoulders, "Not while I have breath in my body,"
"I will never hurt you Ginny; I would rather kill myself,"
"I'm doing this for everyone," She told him, still convincing herself, "You can build a new life, you can live for us both,"
"Don't say that," He pressed a finger against her lips, the words burning into his soul.
"I can, and I will," She had broken away from him.
"No, because there can be no life after you," She normally would have laughed at the corniness of the line, but a strange numbness had spread through her, coupled with a sharp sense of unreality she was still trying to tell herself this was actually happening.
She looked past Blaise, staring down the corridor in amazement at the flames that were slowly creeping towards them with a dull roaring sound that was a distant whisper to her ears.
She looked up at him, him whom she loved with all her heart and soul and released his hand. He gazed at her, uncomprehending of what she was doing, until he whipped around and saw the golden fire advancing menacingly, reflected in his light, blue eyes.
"You can't..." The words themselves choked him, as he reached in vain for her hand. She smiled heart wrenchingly sadly, and started to walk away from him, her back to the danger that pushed hungry, red, hands towards her fragile form.
The heat burned her back mercilessly, and yet she did not turn. She fixed her eyes on Blaise as he stood in agony; she wept as she took the still beating heart from his chest and ripped it with faltering fingers. The tears blinded her, and she blinked them away, furious that anything should seek to take her last gaze away from her.
He could do nothing as she silently resolved herself to her fate.