The Dark Mark (The Girl Who Lived part II)

Harry's Ending: Fearless

Even after Hogwarts, I continued my charade with Harry. And with time, I found myself growing more and more attached to him. It was like I had been a fly caught in an inescapable web that people refer to, as "love". But as we grew closer, I had more to fear. More to lose. This was the exact reason why when Harry and I moved in together, that I always kept a suitcase packed, underneath the bed. I'd often told myself that I can't do this to him. Not to myself. But I'd already fallen. Hard. And there was no way to get myself out of this mess. Harry was currently working as an Auror. No one's come to find me, even though I have an affiliation with Death Eater's. But they would some day. And I dreaded that that day would be very soon. I sat in front of the mirror in the bedroom our apartment. I looked at myself and then at the large vial of the Forgetfulness potion. My thoughts drifted to how much easier it would be to simply run away and take as much potion as I needed to forget. "Forget what?" you may be asking. The answer is simply, everything. All the feelings, the love, the heartbreak. But then I thought of how that would leave Harry. It might solve my problems, but it would leave Harry with so many. I'd be pushing all of my problems onto him. And I cared too much about him to do that. I sighed, a deep one. Once again, I couldn't do it. There was a knock on the wall of the bedroom. "Scarlet. I'm home". I hadn't heard him come in. I jumped in my seat. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. "Harry. You're home. I didn't hear you come in". I said, looking at him in the mirror. "What are you doing? If I'm correct, that looks like a potion". He said, coming closer. "It's nothing. Just perfume". I answered quickly, placing the vial in my side of the drawer. "So, how was work?" I asked, changing the subject. I swiveled around in the chair to face him.

My heart began to beat quickly as I awaited the answer. "I'm waiting for my next assignment. I should be receiving it tomorrow". I didn't feel any better after he spoke. "Scarlet..... are you alright? You're shivering". His face was full of concern. Something that I felt like I didn't deserve. He came towards me and placed his hand on my forehead. "You don't seem to have a fever. Let's get you near the fire". Harry held my hand as led me to the couch in the living room in front of the fireplace, directly under the television set even though I had known where it was. He sat me down on the couch, ignited the fire, and placed several fleece blankets on me. He then went to the kitchen and began heating a can of soup. As he ran back and forth, I tried talking to him, but he seemed to have had shut off all functions of his ears. "Harry... I'm really not sick. I don't even feel cold". That was the absolute truth. I didn't feel cold. But I was burning up on the inside. Only did Harry partially listen when he took a seat next to me on the couch, with a bowl of soup. He raised the spoon up to mouth. "Harry. This is ridiculous! You're not feeding m-" When I opened my mouth to protest this, he shoved the spoon into my mouth. "The sick shouldn't waste their energy". He said, as he attempted to feed me more soup. And as I protested, I thought. I thought of how this may never happen again. How he'd never look at me in that loving way again. That the time in the hourglass was shrinking. And each grain of sand was just as important as the next. And finally I thought, 'I should enjoy this while I can'.

After consuming as much soup as I could handle, we sat and watched a movie on the couch. Harry wrapped ourselves in the blankets. But even though it was extremely warm underneath the covers, he held me close. I took in everything. His scent. His touch, The feel of his breath on my neck. And finally, the way he pushed up his glasses when they began to slide down his nose. At the end of the movie, I looked up at him. "Harry. Do you think we'll always be like this? That we'll always love each other?" Whenever I said the word "love", it made me feel a little strange. But never had I meant it more than I did now. "Always". He answered, without the slightest bit of thought. And as we headed to bed, I found myself unable to sleep. My heart felt heavy and my Dark Mark burned underneath my metal bracelet to conceal it. My fingers itched to grab my suitcase and the vial while Harry heavily slept next to me. But like most itches, this one was best left unscratched.