At the top of the highest dune of a secluded beach in England, there stood a solitary cottage.
A girl lived in the cottage. A girl with long curls, big brown eyes and the defeated appearance of someone who had recently lost everything they loved.
The girl loved the beach. She loved to stand with the waves tipping around her ankles, watching the ebb and flow of the water. She loved to sit at the big windows of the cottage and write, with a blanket curled around her shoulders.
But recently, she was riddled with nerves. Because time was passing, agonizingly slowly, and she had heard absolutely nothing from the boy she feared she would never see again.
The days flicked by, and still, she heard nothing. And with each minute that passed, she grew more certain that they would never again meet; that she would never again look into his icy grey eyes. That she would never get to say that she loved him.
Until one day, exactly two weeks since he had been there last, the boy appeared halfway down the beach.
He appeared from nothing. One moment there was no trace of him; the next moment, he was there, walking across the sand towards the cottage.
When he arrived at the foot of the dune, he looked up at it. He raked a hand through his white-blond hair, and he marvelled at her work.
And before he could take another step, the front door was flung open and the girl appeared. They paused for half a second, and that was all it took for it to register to them both that this was real. That this all was truly happening - that both of them were there, that they weren't dreaming.
He started up the steps towards her, but she was already hurtling down them. And then her arms were around his neck and his were around her waist, and they were holding each other so tightly that neither could properly breathe. They buried their faces in one another's necks and twisted their fingers into one another's shirts -
He was the first to step back, to take a breath and push the hair from her tear-streaked face.
"You remember," Isobel said, her voice shaking. "I can see it in your eyes."
"All of my memories are back," Draco told her. "I gave them all to Blaise before my father erased them."
"I know you did," she said. "I watched them. And your father - is your father -"
"My father is in Azkaban, for now," said Draco. He brushed his thumb along the scar on her cheekbone. "But the Ministry know what he did. If he ever gets out of prison, he won't bother us again."
Isobel's pulse raced. "And Blaise?" she asked. "Blaise and Astoria?"
"They're together," said Draco. "They're happy." His mouth lifted into a half-smile. "And I think you need to give me a tour of this place."
Isobel laughed, and nodded, and took her hand in his. "Of course," she said. She tugged him up the stone steps, brushing hot, happy tears from her cheeks.
She showed him around the cottage; showed him what she had done with it. Their tour ended in the kitchen, and as they looked out at the sea, their hearts were full.
"There's one last finishing touch that we need," she said, and he raised his eyebrows in questioning. "We're going to need some glow-in-the-dark stars."
"Isobel Young," said Draco. He circled one arm around her waist, and pulled her close. In the distance, waves broke softly against the shore. "I will buy you every star in the sky, if you want me to."
Isobel placed her hand against his cheek. "Do you remember what you said in your last letter?" she asked him. "About - about loving me forever -"
His eyes flicked between hers, and a smile curved at his lips. "Even if I don't remember you," he said, "my heart will belong to you, forever."
Isobel nodded. "I mean that, too," she said. "No matter what happens, I'll love you forever."
Draco kissed her cheek. The touch was enough to make her tears spill, once more.
He smiled into her salty tears, and mumbled against her skin, "Forever will do, Belly."
In a different life, one much like this one, the girl and the boy were kept apart by the forces of the world - by the restraints of society, the people that told them no. They did not fight to break down the walls that were built to keep them apart. But in this life, they did.
In another life, the girl and the boy were separate.
In this one, they were together.
t h e e n d
