2.| ✮𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮, 𝓑𝓲𝓵𝓵. ✮ {𝓑. 𝓦𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓵𝓮𝔂}

\𝓉ℯ𝓃\

"Molly..." Mr. Weasley said warningly. "Slow down."

"I will not! I need you to heal my son!" Mrs. Weasley was absolutely screaming by now, and Eleanora flinched at every word.

"Come on," Lupin said, leading her back over to a chair. "You really should let them check you out. You got hit with a lot of spells-"

"I don't care." Eleanora fought out of his grasp and went back to talk to the healer. "When can I see him?"

The healer turned away from Mrs. Weasley, looking slightly disturbed. "I can get you in in about ten minutes. Just- maybe- one visitor at a time." He cast another worried look at Mrs. Weasley.

"Thank you," Eleanora murmured, and finally let Lupin help her into a seat. Mrs. Weasley had only gotten halfway through the counter-curse for her stomach before Bill had had his attack, and the pain was only getting worse.

It didn't help that she kept twitching as an after-effect of the Cruciatus curse and her face had started to bleed again. She wiped the trickle away absentmindedly and watched Mr. and Mrs. Weasley argue with the healer. The words 'I can't give you any definintes' kept ringing in her ears. No definites meant Bill might live or he might not. It meant the possibility of a world without her Bill. Without the long walks on the beach or cozy nights in his room at the Burrow. It meant an end to dancing in the kitchen and laughing at each other and the long talks they liked to have before bed. Without Bill, Eleanora had nobody to spill all of her feelings to, nobody that she looked forward to seeing no matter how she was feeling.

"Breathe," Lupin said, pulling Eleanora out of her thoughts. "Just breathe, and take it all slowly." Eleanora nodded, but buried her face in her hands again, trying to block out the outside world.

"William can take a visitor now," a voice came from the doorway. The healer had reappeared. Eleanora stood up, slipped past Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and limped after the healer to room 346. She paused at the doorway, scared to go in. She hated the idea of Bill in a hospital bed, looking anything less than himself. She wanted more than anything to be at the Burrow or Shell Cottage, to walk into a room and see Bill's face lit up with life and happiness. She gritted her teeth, took a deep breath, and entered the room. Bill was sitting up in bed, and when he saw Eleanora, his face split into an adoring smile.

"Hey," he said, his voice scratchy. "You shouldn't be here."

Eleanora sat down on the edge of his bed and took his hand in hers. It was shaking slightly and felt thinner than usual, but his fingers wrapped around hers and held on as tightly as Bill could muster. "Don't be stupid," she said softly.

"You look awful." Bill let go of Eleanora's hand to reach up and wipe a bit of blood from Eleanora's cheek.

"I'm not the one in a hospital bed."

Bill laughed and then settled his gaze on Eleanora's face, reaching to take her hand again. "Ahhh, we're a mess, Marks." His eyes closed and he leaned his head back on the pillows for a second.

"Bill." Eleanora's voice was suddenly serious. "Why didn't you tell me it was getting worse?"

Bill picked his head back up, opening his eyes to look at Eleanora solemnly. "I didn't know it was getting... this bad." He gestured at the hospital bed. "I mean, I honestly felt fine for the last few days. You knew there were ups and downs, but... not like this." He shook his head. The laughter had left his face, and he suddenly looked as though he hadn't slept in weeks.

Eleanora stared at his face with sad eyes. "I talked to your doctor."

"I did too." The way Bill was looking at her, she wasn't sure if they were on the same page. "El, we need to talk."

"I thought that's what we were doing."

Bill's mouth twitched into a half-hearted smile, but then settled back into a frown. "I think we both know what we need to talk about. We heard the same thing from the doctor."

"Bill, no..."

"Eleanora, there's a chance-"

"No."

"It's not always curable-"

"Stop it."

"If I don't make it-"

"Stop!" Eleanora's voice cracked and she let go of Bill's hand to wipe her eyes furiously. "You're not going to- no, no. You can't."

Bill let out a pained, slightly shaky breath and ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm just saying-"

"Well don't." Eleanora sat up straighter and pulled her hand away from Bill's again. "No, no, you're not going to die. Not until we're married- until years after we've been married- in fact, I want to go first. Yeah, I'm going first, no arguments."

Bill laughed softly and wiped a fresh mixture of blood and tears from Eleanora's face. "El..."

"You have to get better," Eleanora whispered. "Please. You can't leave me, not now- not-"

"I'm not going anywhere." Bill moved himself over a few inches and pulled Eleanora next to him.  "I'm right here, see?"

"Good," Eleanora murmured, laying her head on his shoulder. "Keep it like that."

Bill wrapped his arms around Eleanora and rested his chin on the top of her head, closing his eyes. "That's the plan," he said, feeling his heart sink even further as he held Eleanora close. He didn't want to leave her- he couldn't leave her. He wanted to have a wedding and a life with the woman he loved, but he couldn't help replaying the doctor's news in his head.

"It's hard to come back from this stage."

"There's a good chance you won't feel the same way you used to even if you do come back from this."

"There's technically a fifty-fifty chance either way, but... it's more complicated than that."