The Dark Mark (The Girl Who Lived part II)

Draco's Ending: Forget-Me-Not

P.S. At the end, if your confused, please refer to the bottom

The place smelled like soap, and old people. Or, maybe what I had smelled wasn't the building itself. Maybe I'd gotten a good whiff of myself. I hadn't taken a shower in days. Shower's were every Tuesday. The nurses wouldn't allow me to take one by myself. They were afraid that I'd slip in the shower. I always told them that I'd be fine, but they never listened. Every day, there was a designated time for visitors. I'd never gotten any. Not that I could remember, anyway. When I saw other families, it made me feel a tad jealous, while I sat here, stuck alone in a rocking chair.

I wanted a family like that. I liked to imagine sometimes, that I had a couple children. And according to my age, would be old enough to have children of their own. I thought of what it'd be like to hold a grandchild in these wrinkled hands of mine. One of the nurses had tapped me on the shoulder. I looked in her direction. "Mrs. Malfoy". "Who? I asked. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Weasley". The nurse corrected herself. "Yes?" "Would you like a piece of dessert?" I passed. I'd never been too fond of desserts. I hadn't the faintest clue why.

I guess I couldn't say I didn't have a family. I'd often have visitors. If only I could remember their names. Maybe it wasn't blood related, but it was something, I suppose. A man with short grayish hair and glasses entered the building, checked in, and sat in the chair beside me. "Hi. How are you?" He inquired. "Just fine. But may I ask, why are you talking to me?" I asked him back. "No reason" he had said. He simply waved it off. I'd gotten a few more visitors that day. After the man with the glasses left, he passed a group of people as he left. Said something about "She's getting worse". I was next visited by several people. All redheads. I didn't know who they were, but I pretended to know. Because apparently asking had hurt that last person's feelings.I felt bad. A man even older than me squatted in front of the chair I had been stuck in.

Even at this age, there was a mischievous look in his eyes. The look of a prankster. He stared into my eyes, as if they held a secret. As if they had known something I didn't. "Scarlet. Do you remember who we are?" I didn't want to answer. If I said yes, then I'd be lying straight to their faces. If I said no, then they'd leave me. I sighed. "I don't. Sorry. Am I supposed to?" The man with the mischievous look in his eye, squeezed my hand and muttered something before he left. Another man, with a bag full of food, ate. And ate. And ate. I think he has some sort of eating problem. "Ron. Go say "hi" to her". The mischievous one nudged the one who refused to stop eating. He didn't budge, at first, but eventually he came near me. "Hi. Scarlet Weasley, nice to meet your acquaintance". Apparently I'd done something wrong. He looked as though he might cry and turned on his heel and ran for the bathroom. "He's just a little shy, is all". Said the mischievous one. There was a woman that came over next. Long hair, pretty eyes. "Did I upset your friend? I didn't mean to. I-" The woman placed her cool hand on mine. "Nah. He's just sensitive". She patted a few times and then the group of ginger's were gone.

I was then visited by a man who called himself "Neville". He'd helped me out of the chair and into the dining hall. We ate together. He didn't seem as upset as the rest of the people who had visited me. But he did look rather sad. "I recommend the jello. Although, it doesn't quite sit in your stomach. But, it's still better than a number of things". I had suggested when we sat down. We talked about my day. Everything. I felt like he was a therapist. He told me about his as well. But even after talking to someone as understanding as "Neville", I still felt like I was missing something. Someone.

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I woke the very next day, and continued with my routine. I smelled myself. I needed a bath. But they only let you take those on Tuesday. I sat in the rocking chair, by the window. When I tried to get up from the chair, I realized that I was stuck. This had never happened before. 'I'll just wait this one out until it's meal time, and then ask for help'.There was a peculiar man who came through those wooden doors next. His hairline had receded and it was hard to tell whether it was white, or so blond that it appeared that way.

He sat in the other arm chair across from me. He brought flowers. "Hi. I'm Scarlet Weasley. Nice to make your acquaintance". He sucked in a lot of air, and didn't breathe out. "Hello. I'm Draco". We began to talk, and after a while, I learned a thing or two about him. He had said that his wife lived here, but she was gone at the moment. That he couldn't find her. So he had given me the flower's instead. They were extremely fresh. Blue flowers with a yellow inside. "These are very pretty flowers". I sniffed them. I'd missed the scent of something fresh.

"Whoever your wife is, is very lucky to have you". I had said. "Yeah. If only she would remember that". We sat there waiting for her until sunset, talking. But she never came. "I'm sorry, that you waited for so long". I apologized. His stomach growled. "You must be hungry. It's dinnertime. How about I buy you dinner?" It was more of a statement than a question. Because as I asked this, I dragged him with me. We sat at a table. A couple other people sat at the table with us. Two grown ups and a child. They looked a good bit like the man with the receding hairline and story eyes. They would steal glances at me, and then talk among themselves. During this time, he told me of stories beyond any imagination. Stories of dragons, wizards, and dark figures. I clung onto every word. As if it had all been real.

I returned to my normal seating in the rocking chair that I had gotten stuck in. The flowers were still there. "What type of flower is this?" I had asked. He breathed in deeply. "It's a forget-me-not". "Sounds like something you'd give to someone who can't remember someone. A lost love, maybe?". "Indeed, you would". And as I sat there, perfectly content with the flowers as we waited for his wife who would probably never come, I found myself on the verge of falling asleep. And I heard something that the man had mumbled. "When we got married and I had said "Let's start over", this isn't what I meant". He had smirked. But it wasn't one of his usual ones. This one didn't hold any feelings of arrogance, but an overwhelming sadness. "You may always forget me, but I'll forget you not". And as the man said that, there was a flicker in my mind. I'd remembered something from long ago. "I could never forget you, Draco Malfoy". But as I had said this, I had taken one deep and final breath, and fallen into a deep sleep that no one, not even the doctors could wake me from.

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I watched Draco as he aged, from beyond. His hairline was receding and his hair had finally turned from a platinum blond to gray, to white. I watched as he went from standing perfectly straight to hunched over to using a cane. He lived quite a bit longer than I had. But he never was quite the same. There was a hole in his heart, I could tell. And I had been the one that had left it that way. And as I watched him beat himself up about my death, I couldn't help but feel my heart ache. There were so many things I wanted to say to him. I wanted to tell him that it wasn't his fault. That I'm sorry he watched as my memory deteriorated. That I miss him. And that I love him more than life itself. He now laid in a hospital bed. A machine took the job of his lungs. His heart rate being monitored on a machine. He'd grown old, but I still saw the same boy that I'd met at Hogwarts. Our son, his wife, and their child stood in the doorway, watching the heart monitor going from a steady beat to unpredictable. I placed my practically transparent hands over both of his that were placed on his chest. "It's okay, Draco. It's time to let go". 

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I stood in the center of a dreary looking room. I had returned to what I had looked like in my youth. My skin glowed, and my long white strapless dress dragged across the floor as I walked. A coffin was placed in the center of the room. An open casket. I hovered just a little above the coffin. I'd felt a certain sadness. I untied my hair, which was now tied back with a white lace ribbon and tied it around his wrist. "I'm sorry for remembering so late". I said. I closed the lid to the coffin. And just as people were about to enter the room, I only left one single trace besides the ribbon, that I had been there. A single flower with blue petals and a yellow center, placed on the coffin where his name had been engraved. "Draco Malfoy" I began. "I'll see you soon".        

For those who don't understand the ending, Scarlet acts as a guardian angel for Draco