A/N: This is written in response to Staff Challenge #4. It really was a challenge. I had such a hard time writing it. Thanks for the great challenge!
Countdown
Twenty-four hours.
One thousand four hundred forty minutes.
Eighty six thousand four hundred seconds.
That’s how much time I have left to live. One day. One day to say everything that I need to say to everyone that needs to hear it. One day.
Its funny how you can take little things like time for granted. When everything is perfect it seems like you have all the time in the world. You’re immortal. So, what changes this feeling that you’re going to live forever? Why does it have to change? Sometimes you wish that days could go when you don’t even think about death, when you don’t even know that it exists. But, in reality, no matter how much time you think that you have, death is always just around the corner.
It’s funny. I never thought that I’d go out this way. Not after everything that I’ve been through. Not after fighting Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort himself. I never once thought that I’d be poisoned.
At least if I did, not this way. I didn’t think that it’d be an accident. Drinking poison intended for someone else. Ironic isn’t it? Things in life never turn out the way that you expect them to.
I look up at the ceiling of the room in St. Mungo’s that I’m currently occupying. The bright, florescent lights are almost blinding, and I think back to that phrase, don’t go towards the light, but I want to, the light seems to be calling me. But maybe I’m just delusional. Maybe the poison has started to affect my brain.
And it’s only going to get worse.
*** *** *** *** ***
Six hours.
Three hundred sixty minutes.
Twenty one thousand six hundred seconds.
That’s how much longer I have left to live. Not even half a day. I have a quarter of one. One fourth of an entire day. Its funny how fast time flies. So much time can go by before it dawns on you how long it’s been.
I stare at the clock on the wall and watch as the second hand moves by.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
I never really noticed that time had a rhythm before. It’s almost like precious music; you have to enjoy it while it lasts.
“’Mione?” a voice calls from the other side of the room.
I turn my head slowly, feeling rather nauseous, and notice Harry standing in the door way, he looks deeply depressed. I can understand why. Harry and I are close. We always have been and I thought that we always would be. I thought that we would have more time than this. But, for once, I was wrong.
I smile a shaky smile. “H-h-hello, you,” I manage to stutter out, barley able to speak. Even I can tell that my words are slurred.
I can tell that my friend is surprised. I guess that that he didn’t realize my condition was this bad, even though he’d already been informed of it.
Harry walks over and sits down on the edge of the bed, right beside of me and I can feel the mattress sink and it causes my stomach to jolt, I think that I might be sick.
I gaze up at my friend, the brother that I never had and I see tears streaming down from his emerald eyes and I reach up and wipe the tears away. A surprisingly difficult feat.
“D-d-don’t be sad,” I whisper.
“How can I not be?” he says, his tone quiet as he looks down at me.
“J-j-just be happy that we had this much time together,” I say.
Harry nods, he understands. I’m not sure how. I can barely make sense of what I’m saying myself.
“’Mione, I just want you to know, if it weren’t for you, I’m not sure that we would have defeated Voldemort. You were such a big part of it. If it weren’t for you, I would’ve been the first to go instead of you. You’re my best friend, my sister and I love you,” Harry tells me, tears appearing once more.
“I-I-I l-l-love you too, Harry,” I slur, a weak smile on my face.
I start coughing, convulsing almost and Harry looks frightened, and I think that he’s afraid that I’m going to die now, but I’m not, wizarding poisons are accurate. I have more time, just not a lot of it.
*** *** *** *** ***
Zero hours.
Thirty minutes.
One thousand eight hundred seconds.
That’s how much longer I have left until I breathe no more. Before I leave this world and see what’s beyond. Not even an hour before I no longer exist. It’s a scary thought.
I hear the door squeak open and footsteps tip-toeing to the bed and again, I feel the mattress sink down as someone sits on it and I look up and see him, his perfect grey eyes looking down into mine.
But, they aren’t so perfect right now, they’re not the eyes that I’m used to seeing. They’re sad, red around the outside, I hate seeing him this way. I hate knowing that I’m leaving him in such a short time.
“Hey there, beautiful,” he whispers, stoking my cheek gently with his thumb, his voice shaking. I can tell that he’s trying not to cry.
I smile slightly, but I don’t have enough strength left to manage it for long and it fades almost as soon as it appeared.
There’s tears on his face and I try to reach up to wipe them away but he stops me, not that I could’ve made it that far anyway.
“Don’t strain yourself, ‘Mione. Just take it easy…i-i-it’ll be over soon. The pain will be gone,” he says, his voice almost an inaudible whisper.
I some how muster the strength to grab his hand and lace our fingers and he looks surprised, he knows how weak I am, he knows how much time I have left.
“It always amazed me how strong you were, ‘Mione,” he says. “That’s one of the many reasons I love you…I’m never going to find anyone like you.”
More tears come from his eyes and I feel a pain in my chest, whether it’s from seeing him so upset, or because I’m about to die I’m not sure. But I hate seeing him like this.
My monitors start going haywire, the beeping getting continuously faster and he lets out a sob and I know that it’s almost time. It’s almost time for me to leave him behind, even though I don’t want to. It’s not my choice though.
He looks at me, as if asking if there’s anything I want, or need and I know what I want the last thing I want to see before I die is, my favorite thing in the world.
So with every last amount of strength in my body, I take a deep breath, my last breath and say, “Smile for me, Cedric.”
And he did. He smiled the most perfect smile I’d ever seen and then, I closed my eyes for the last time.
THE ENDA/N: Eh...that was so hard. Geez. but thanks again for a great challenge! R&R!
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