It was a mid July morning, and I was ecstatic. I had plans to meet up with Holly in Diagon Alley later that day. I was already weary of home after being there for only two weeks. Any excuse to see people other than my mother and father -- escape their stoic looks, as if they were expecting me to drop dead any moment -- was welcome.

With every passing day, my parents became more and more wistful, more pensive. Lingering glances with sad eyes passed over me every time I exited my room, walking past them.

I understood what they were doing, where they were coming from. I was dying (yes, yes, we all know), and Daphne was gone, so they would one day no longer be parents. It was a horrible thought, but it was true. They'd already come to terms with the loss of one of us, not both.

However, that didn't mean they could begin grieving while I was still alive. My heart was beating (however erratically it may), I was breathing. Something I sometimes even neglected to realize. I was still here. I was still alive.

And I felt alive today, as I got dressed and ready for Diagon Alley.

A bizarre inclination crept over me. Begrudgingly obliging, I reached under my mattress and felt around for the cool metal of my necklace. I pulled it out by the pendant, and ran my thumb over the smooth curve. I smiled down at it, and put it on. I hadn't worn it in months, but the familiar feeling of it was nice on my skin.

I remembered Holly's story about her ring. She had said that one day, it became 'just a ring', and nothing else. But as I clasped it around my neck, I wasn't sure I never wanted this to become just a necklace. It was more, so much more, and that's how it would stay.

* * *

"Oh! I need to run into Madam Malkins and drop this off." She lifted up one of the bags in her hands, one from home. "It's Caleb's school uniform, apparently he ripped it when he was unpacking. How -- I have no idea, but it's best no to question him, 'cause then he just talks longer."

I laughed, taking another spoonful of chocolate and pumpkin ice cream from Florean and Fortescues.

She went to open the door to the store, but I stopped her. "We can't bring these" -- I lifted up my ice cream cup, -- "in. Here, I'll hold yours while you run in."

"Oh, 'kay, here," she handed her Butterscotch cone to me, "thanks, I'll be right out."

I nodded as she opened the door with a small jingle of the little door bell.

I looked around, the sun casting warm light over the crowded street. I figured I would go sit by the tables outside Florean and Fortescues to be out of the way.

All of them were full of families or congregations of friends except for one, which only had one seat taken.

Normally, I would've walked away and just waited outside Madam Malkins, but it was hot, and the two ice creams were melting, butterscotch dripping down my fingers, and the brightly colored umbrella over the circular table was very enticing given the other variables.

"Hello, do you mind if I sit here while I wait for my friend?" I said to the person, whose face was covered by the front page of the Daily Prophet.

My jaw dropped the moment they set down the newspaper. Staring back at me were the clear, gray, widened eyes of Draco.

Out of all the people, all the tables, I had to choose here? Why hadn't I just waited outside the shop?!

I think I audibly gulped and said a shocked "Oh."

"Uh, um--"

"I'm so sorry, I didn't realize it was --" I stuttered.

"No, no it's fine -- you can --" he gestured to the chair in front of him.

"You don't have to --"

"No, really it's alright."

No, no, I wanted to run away and hide from my own embarrassment, not sit right down in the middle of it all. But what would I say, No, I'll be going now because I'm in love with you and don't want to embarrass myself any further?

So I sat down, pulling out the chair with a loud creak, and set down my own cup of ice cream, holding Holly's in my other hand. I looked at it, and back at him, an apprehensive expression on his face.

"These aren't both mine" -- I said, lifting up the cone a bit in the air -- "by the way. Um, one of them is Holly's." I tried to smile and laugh.

"Oh," he said, nodding, and a hint of a laugh.

Then his eyes flickered down, his face softening, a small smile shadowing his lips. I followed his eyes, and when I saw what he was looking at, my hand instinctively met the necklace. I regretted it instantly, and forced my hand back down as quickly as it had risen, making it all the more conspicuous.

His eyes looked back up to meet mine, his wide with stifled surprise, mine sloped down with remorse, a sort of half smile on both of our lips.

He brushed off the moment, and said, "So, uh, how've you been? Graduated, and all."

He remembered I'd graduated. What was I thinking, he wasn't dumb, he could do simple math and realize I was no longer in school. It's not like he was thinking about me or anything. Of course not. Don't be ridiculous, Astoria.

I had to decide on how to answer his question. Hmm, let me see. A lonely pathetic introvert who's still obsessed with her ex-boyfriend: you?

"Okay, I guess. You know, just a bit bored without Hogwarts and everything." He nodded and smiled. It was a fake smile, and I hated the idea of him having to fake a smile for me.

"How about you?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Good, I've been. . . well." He said it almost as a question. "I tried out for a position on the Appleby Arrows --"

"Oh!" I said, excited for him. But he waved his hand in front of him, a small smirk appearing on his lips.

"No -- I, I didn't get in." He laughed lightly.

"Oh," I said again, this time solemnly.

"But I've just been practicing for next season."

"Oh." It was the nine hundredth time I'd said 'oh'. Could I manage no other words? But atleast I was nodding, doing something with myself other than melting into a puddle right in front of him.

Madam Malkin's was only a few shops over from where I sat, and I saw Holly trotting over with an exasperated expression on her face.

"Sorry It took so long but the lady had --" she stopped dead in her tracks, her mouth open, eyes wide when she saw Draco. "Oh." Maybe the 'oh' thing was contagious.

"Hello," Draco said, an uneasy smile on his lips.

"Uh, hi," Holly said, her eyes full of confusion, darting back and forth between the two of us.

"Um, well uh -- it was nice seeing you, Draco." I meant it, and the sincerity caused another small wave of surprise to wash over him. He nodded.

"Yeah, it was." His smile was sad and faltering. I could feel my heart breaking inside my chest as I took the first step away. I willed myself not to look back. Just walk away.

"Um, Astoria?" He called after I was a few paces away.

I turned back around, a childish excitement filling me to be talking to him again. Holly walked away a few steps, still watching us, however, with a curious and mischievous gleam in her eyes.

He was standing now, and looking down at the ground. "Uh, I don't even know if you remember it, I mean, probably not, but, uh" -- he looked up but not directly at me -- "that day, you know," yes, of course I knew, the day was on a constant loop in my mind, "um, I asked 'what were you thinking, you can't say stuff like that to our parents'. . . ." His eyes were now locked with mine. "That was really stupid of me and uh, well I'm just sorry." He sighed, and said almost to himself, "I'm sorry about everything."

Was he serious? Why was he apologizing? It was me, I was the one who broke up with him, the one who was cursed, the one who ruined everything.

I sighed, pushing down the shadow of tears that threatened me, pushing up in my throat. "Me too." A rueful whisper of a laugh. "Really sorry."

He nodded, a small smile on his lips, looking down. I began walking away, forcing myself to leave. I caught up to Holly, who'd heard the whole thing.

"Are you okay?" she said, placing a hand over my shoulder.

I shook my head, handing her the melted ice cream cone. "No."

* * *

The next morning I woke up late, still wearing the necklace. A refreshed sadness resonated from yesterday, like I'd broken up with him all over again. Outside was overcast, the sun bright behind the clouds, illuminating the world in gray.

I stumbled out of bed and brushed my teeth, too lazy to change out of my pajamas or run a comb through my hair.

I trudged down the stairs when there was a knock at the door. Considering the door was right in front of the staircase, I really couldn't doge answering it.

I opened it, and Draco turned to face me, a vague kind of bewildered, wild look in his eyes. "Astoria," he said with more than a smile, but a perceivable wash of relief.

My heart stopped when I saw him. What was he doing here? Then I realized I'd just rolled out of bed, and a rush of embarrassment hit me. "Draco -- what are you doing here?" I said, a little panicked, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear (as if that'd help).

He walked up the rest of the stairs as he spoke. "I'm sorry, I-I know I shouldn't be here but --" he searched for something to say, and stopped at the step just below me so we were eye level. He took a deep breath and sighed, letting his shoulders fall as his face broke into a glowing smile. "Yesterday, I, I mean after seeing you there, and talking. . . ." He was looking into my eyes with a clear determination, a bright radiance.

He sighed again. A pause. "Astoria, I love you. I still do, and I know you think we can't be together but. . . I don't care about any of it, it all means nothing without you."

I felt myself tearing up. After a stunned moment, I cupped his face in my palms, those wonderful gray eyes, and smiled. How was it that I saw my whole life in those eyes?

I kissed him. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer.

"I love you," I said, a small giggle escaping. He pulled me in for another kiss.