Sing me to sleep
Sing me to sleep
And then leave me alone,
Don't try to wake me in the morning,
'Cause I will be gone

Don't feel bad for me
I want you to know
Deep in the cell of my heart
I will feel so glad to go...


X

The room had been quiet one moment ago, lit faintly by dull candle lights, the night cool but still. The long draperies at the window had hung limply, letting in only the slightest hint of starlit sky. She lay amidst pillows and blankets, a pale, slender form in the bed, breathing deeply but with a certain finality, her eyes gently shut, her fiery hair like a halo of brilliance around her pale face.

The room had been still. And then suddenly, there had been the slightest lift of breeze, the curtains shifting slightly to reveal a brilliant star, and quietly, so quietly, he'd entered the room.

After his entry, not a leaf stirred, not a breath sounded in the room. He stared at her silently, and took soft, agile steps towards her bed.

She was dying. He knew it. That's why he was here. That had to be the only reason he could be here. Otherwise he was barred from her world - he could always see her, but she couldn't always see him...but for those moments when he broke through all barriers to reach her, and she could turn up her face to smile brilliantly at him the way she used to.

She was dying, and he could hear her shallow breathing. Slowly, holding his breath, he knelt by her, and he looked down at her with gray eyes were raging with feelings he couldn't seem to contain. And as if she knew he'd be there, she stirred slightly, and opened her eyes.

Still so beautiful, he thought as he stared silently into her face. Even with just few more minutes here, her eyes retained that fire, that brilliance, that strength and beauty.

"Draco," she said softly, smiling. "I was waiting for you."

He swallowed, and with slightly shivering hands, he reached up to run his fingers across her cheek softly. She shut her eyes at his touch. When he spoke, his voice was quiet and hoarse. "I was always here."

"I know," she whispered. "I can feel you. But I can't always see you, you know."

"Well..." He leant down to kiss her softly on her forehead. "You can see me now, can't you?"

"Yeah." She laughed gently. "And you look as pretty as ever."

His insides ached so much he had to contain himself again as he looked down at her desperately, but unwillingly, he smiled. "I told you I'd look gorgeous all my life, didn't I?"

"But I haven't seen you in so long..." Sighing, she lifted a pale, slender hand, and gently ran it through his silvery hair. He held his breath, closed his eyes.

"Ginny," he said hoarsely. "Ginny, don't..."

"Don't what?" She was still smiling. "Don't you get all corny on me now, Draco. I can do anything that you can."

"What do you mean?" he asked warily. How could her eyes still be so bright? Was there any...any chance at all that she wouldn't...?

The hope clenched itself around his heart like an iron fist.

"I'm pretty sure it must have hurt a hell of a lot more for you," she told him. "It doesn't hurt for me. Not much, anyway."

"Shut up!" he said harshly, clenching his teeth. He couldn't stand her talking like this, like it was nothing at all. He wished she'd have some more consideration about how he felt.

Ginny was...so alive. She deserved to share her brightness across the world, to live, to laugh...to love. Not like him. He deserved his deal, but...she didn't. And it killed him now - killed him time and time again, to see her like this.

"Shut up," he repeated, glaring down at her. "Don't talk about death as if...as if it's not a bad thing. I don't...I don't..."

"You don't what?" she prompted gently.

"I don't want you to die!" he said hotly, and his voice burned, as did, to his shock, his eyes. "I don't want you to hurt, I don't want you to die..."

She gazed at him quietly, before her breathing hitched. "Draco, don't," she said softly. "It's not as bad as it seems."

He dropped his eyes to the floor, trying to regain control, but at her words, his eyes snapped back to hers. "How?" he asked desperately. "How can you make this any better?"

"I don't know about that..." She slipped her hand into his, and it burned into his palm with the fever that was burning her from the inside out. And gently, too gently, she squeezed his hand. "But I know how you can make it better for me. If you want to."

"You're making this too hard," he told her but she saw that his gray eyes were tired, and yet glowing with a certain frenzied light that made her know what he was feeling despite the anger in his words.

She looked up at him with beautiful brown eyes that beseeched him, in some way, that appealed to him in a way that made him want to cower into the ground and lift her into his arms and hold her close, at the same time. "Then let's make it easier," she said quietly.

He gazed up at her, gray eyes wretched. "Make it easier, Gin. I can't stand this."

"I'm sleepy, Draco," she breathed, shutting her eyes for a moment before opening them slowly again. "Draco, I'm tired. Sing me to sleep, Draco."

"What?" he asked, and as he saw the light dimming in her eyes, something in him sunk him into an abyss of horror.

She smiled tiredly. "Lie next to me, Draco. Hold me."

He rose, and climbed into her bed, and he lay there. He could smell all of her, that wonderful smell of roses and green apples that he loved, and she was so soft, so beautiful beside him.

"When I wake up every morning," she whispered into his ear, "I look for you beside me, and I can't see you there. I'm tired of that, Draco. I'm tired of everything."

"Don't be," he said roughly. "Gin, don't say that. You know I'm always here."

"So I'll always be here, too," she promised. "Hold me, Draco."

He wound his arms around the hot, thin frame of her, pressed his face against her silky, sweet-smelling hair.

His Ginny was in his arms, and suddenly he was holding her tightly, too tightly, like he'd never let go. She'd saved him, in so many ways, and now she was slipping away, and he wanted to hold onto her, to save her. His teeth clenched against the swirl of hopelessness in him, and he shut his eyes tightly, blocking out the heat.

"Ginny..." he whispered against her hair.

She laughed softly. "I love you, Draco," she said fondly.

"I don't know why," he said, with a shaky laugh, a little, bittersweet smirk curving his lips, "but I sort of love you, too."

She pressed her lips to his once, and he saw her big, beautiful eyes burn into his, look right into his soul, and embrace him, for one moment.

When he rose, he fled from the room, into the night, one with the stars, that were suddenly brighter than ever, and his eyes blurred and stung, his whole body revolted against the truth. He felt it swallow him up, that truth, that absence in the world, and it was all crashing down for one moment, it was all enveloping him until there was only darkness.

Except for that one star, beaming at him from that endless expanse of black sky.

And from somewhere in that billowing smoke, that suffocating pain, she came, smiling, her hair like a halo of fire, and she took his hand.