Seconds rolled into minutes. Minutes rolled into hours. Hours rolled into days and then weeks and then months.

Finally, after what seemed like a thousand lifetimes, but was probably only several hours, the Healer returned.

Her face was solemn, and she took a deep breath when she got to them.

"How is she?" George asked eagerly, standing up. The rest of his family was nervous, worried, but George, in his state, was in no condition to be able to read body language.

"It didn't go well," the Healer said. "You should go in there now. She should be able to hear you. You should go say goodbye."

And George collapsed.

*****

There were people all around him.

"George?" Ginny asked worriedly. "George please wake up."

Everyone was asking the same thing. Wake up, be okay, telling him everything would be okay even when everything knew it wouldn't. suddenly Katie stepped up.

"George," she said crossly. "You get up and go in there and you tell her what she needs to hear before it's too late.

No response from George.

"I mean it. You didn't get to say goodbye to Fred," -that hurt him- "but you can say goodbye to Allyson. She needs you more than she's every needed anybody, and I swear if you don't get up and get your arse in there, I'm haul it in there by your ears."

"Do it," a voice whispered in his ear. George didn't bother to look around for it this time. He already knew Fred wasn't there.

Slowly, mechanically, George began to sit up. First his right leg, then his left, he stood and faced the hallway. He left without another word.

Had George been thinking properly, he would have realized he had no idea where Allyson's room was. In the state he was currently in, however, somehow, he just knew.

And there she was. Her blonde hair was pressed into her head with a huge, bloody bandage. Her eyes were closed, the veins in them too prominent to be healthy. Her skin was clammy and pale. George took one of her hands.

"Aly," he said quietly. "I'm really gonna miss you."

A single tear rolled down George's cheek. "You were here for me when I needed you most, even though I didn't realize it. I don't take back what I said when I first met you. You are my guardian angel.

"You made me laugh at times I thought I'd never be happy again, and you helped me understand that it was okay to be sad.

"I love you Aly, and I always will."

Nothing. Not that George had been expecting anything. He stood there for a moment before lying her hand gently down on the bed. Then he turned and walked out, slowly.

"George?"

George turned incredulously, not daring to hope, but wishing despite himself, just in time to see her eyes flutter open weakly, delicately.

"I'm not going anywhere."

*****

AN: Only one chapter after this! Nooo! I love writing this story! It's fun! Oh well. All good things must come to an end. So sad.