Merely Misunderstood

Chapter Seventy-Four

Mirah.

Mirah, my best friend, the strongest person I knew.

Mirah, the one who promised I would always have her with me.

Mirah, lying stony and unmoving in a pool of her own blood.

"Oh, God..." Draco sounded like he might be sick. I might have felt the same, but I couldn't tell — I felt nothing but cold.

It simply didn't make sense. I was missing something, some crucial factor that would explain all of this: Mirah had created a double. Someone drank a polyjuice potion and fought as Mirah. Mirah had a secret twin that I'd never known about.

There had to be an explanation. She was too tough to go down like this. Besides, Mirah would never leave me. She promised.

"This... isn't real," I whispered, and Draco froze from beside me. Maybe he was unsure about how to respond. Maybe he was just as dumbfounded as I was.

"Brianna..."

"That's not her, right?" I begged. I wanted to look at him, to meet his eyes for confirmation, but I couldn't tear my eyes off her.

Draco's arms wound slowly around me. "Bri—"

"No!" I pushed against him, staggering to my knees when he let me go. I crawled toward Mirah, studying her motionless body, searching for something, anything, that would tell me this was all some sick joke.

"No, no no — Mirah?" No response — of course there was no response. She wasn't even breathing.

I checked for a pulse. None.

"Mirah! Mirah, please!" I shook her shoulder, waiting for her to gasp, to blink, to look at me — anything. "You promised me, remember? You promised!" 

Nothing happened. She remained still, empty.

I reached for her face, brushing her gorgeous hair from her forehead. Her skin was cold to the touch. How long had she been here? Did anyone know she was fighting? Had she been alone?

I looked into her empty eyes, trying to find remnants of some emotion she might have felt. I wondered whether she'd been scared, whether she'd called for her parents with her last breath. Whether she'd thought about me.

"And where was I?" I wondered out loud. I caressed her face, my fingertips wiping at the moisture that must have escaped her eyes the same way it trailed from mine now.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here, Mir. I'm so sorry —" My voice broke. My vision was so blurred, I couldn't see her anymore.

I can't see her.

I'll never see her now. I won't see her smile. She can't reassure me that everything's okay, or promise to stay by my side.

Mirah, Mirah, Mirah.

What were you thinking, when you faced your death here without me?

I might have uttered her name again, though I can't be sure. I would have said it a thousand times if it would make her smile again.

I cried over her limp body for what simultaneously felt like hours and mere seconds. Draco tried to get me to leave — something about it being dangerous — but I didn't see why that mattered. Mirah wouldn't have run and hid. She would've stood her ground and fought to the last breath — and so she had.

"We can't take her with us, Bri! She's —" Draco cut off with a sound like he'd choked. He cleared his throat and continued shakily, "She'd want you to be safe."

She did. That was what she'd always wanted.

She'd protected me, stood up for me, fought for me. She'd been by my side no matter how many stood against us.

She'd been my everything, and now she was nothing.

I hadn't deserved her.

A clamor arose from somewhere in the corridor, and Draco's voice shouted that we needed to move. I told him to go on without me, and he responded by wrapping his arms around my torso and hauling me off the ground.

I screamed and thrashed and fought, reaching for Mirah, watching as she grew farther from me. If I let her go now, would I ever see her again?

We rounded a corner, and everything faded.

Mirah Holland was gone, taking everything that kept me here along with her.

*A/N: short update, i know... i couldn't add any more to this (especially since i could barely see the screen through my tears T-T). sadly enough, i always planned for this to happen. i think i knew from the beginning that Mirah wouldn't survive the battle of Hogwarts. yes, i suck, and feel free to say so in the comments </3