Our windows will never close again, and the light will always penetrate inside.
I love you, it even brings me pain, and I will always wait for you on our seaside.
—
"Violet," The voice insistently broke through the noise in her ears as the dark haze in front of her eyes began to clear, "Violet." The voice was soft and singsong, but it sent a shiver through her.
It was a familiar voice that seemed to be hurting her, twisting her insides and breaking her bones — she held her breath.
"So," The hoarse voice came again from somewhere higher up, and when her vision finally cleared, she looked around.
The familiar dark walls, the familiar stairs leading up to the dark second floor, where was the room she had been locked in for months, the familiar cold floor where she knelt, and the familiar faces of the people standing in front of her.
Her heart ached with despair and incomprehension — she was at Malfoy Manor when only seconds ago she had been in her room at Mariel's house, with Draco.
But now she recognized him as one of the people who had been there, and waited for the next development.
"How did you like the movie I made for you?"
The voice that had brought her to her senses belonged to Voldemort, who was now grinning maliciously, mocking her helplessness and lack of understanding.
Violet felt a sudden surge of nausea and dizziness as the thought of him pulling her even out of the ground haunted her.
She would never be able to escape his torture and abuse, he would never leave her alone, he would never let her live happily — she was doomed.
"Stop it." Violet whispered, realizing that she had completely wasted her sanity just now, and everything up to that point was nothing, because what she was feeling now couldn't be compared to anything.
She had failed miserably in his cruel game, she had been completely destroyed, and, as he had wanted, she no longer knew what was real and what was an illusion, who was really alive and who was a figment of her imagination — she felt a fire inside that she did not know if it was ever possible to extinguish.
"Stop what? You didn't like your carefree life without me in it?" The question sounded surprised, mockingly surprised, "I knew my daughter loved me." Then he laughed viciously, his hollow laugh joining with the laughter of Seth, Bellatrix, and Barty, who had caught her.
They were all loyal servants of the Dark Lord, and they all laughed at Violet's stupidity and helplessness now.
"Do you want it to happen again? Do you want to go to the cellar, to meet sweet Luna Lovegood? Do you want us to bring old Ollivander to you right now? Do you want to live there for a few months? Do you want to live what I just showed you?"
Voldemort bombarded her with questions, putting more and more pressure on her, and on her psyche. He wanted to make her beg for mercy, he wanted her to be completely dependent on him, he expected her to completely break down, leaving only a pile of cold dust behind, and then he would take control of her, and this time completely.
"Do you want to run away again?"
Violet felt the tears begin to choke her, and her hands, still cold and frozen from the winter air, fell to the floor, her nails digging into the wooden surface.
Her eyes lifted, searching for a certain grey ones, waiting for it to help her not feel so much pain and despair, waiting for those eyes to help her figure out what to do next, waiting for those eyes to calm her down. But as soon as her gaze locked with Draco's, she felt the futility of her efforts.
Draco watched her with eyes full of fear and pain, unable to do anything but watch her suffer.
He was as helpless as she was, and even the two of them wouldn't be able to stand up to the others.
It was a failure — it was the end.
"Why are you silent? Don't you have anything to say? Pleas for mercy, excuses, promises to never lie to me again?" Voldemort's last words were almost a whisper as he squatted down in front of Violet, "You didn't think you could fool me, did you? And you certainly didn't think that I would never have known that you lied about Potter's whereabouts, or that you were visiting your relatives, did you?"
Violet felt her nails break as she dug into the floor with all her might.
"Just kill me." The words came out of her mouth, and then a fresh flood of tears came out of her eyes — the thought of her own death did not frighten her, she was afraid of the possibility of staying alive and living the way he wanted,
"You all made a mistake, my mother wasn't the one you needed, the prophecy won't come true, I won't do anything to destroy the world, so just kill me. Kill me already, and do what you need to do, without being distracted by me."
She spoke in a low, hoarse voice, gasping for air and coughing from the pain in her lungs. It was a plea, it was the plea for mercy he was talking about. For Violet, the only form of mercy and freedom now was death, and she begged for it, despite the pain and suffering.
"You're so much more than just a distraction," The Dark Lord's voice was... dark and poisonous, like the worst poison seeping into Violet's brain, "You're just worthless and pathetic. So pathetic that you're begging me to kill you. But you know, it seems reasonable to me," He straightened up, slowly raising his wand in her direction, "You're useless, anyway."
Violet relaxed her entire body and closed her eyes, waiting for the killing beam to pierce her chest and finally release her. She waited with a sinking heart to be reunited with those she had once lost, she waited for the story to end in reality, and not in her head, she waited for freedom, and the road to the place to which she was drawn.
She heard Draco start to take a step towards her, but Narcissa stopped him, she heard the commotion and the noise of voices, she heard Voldemort say the two words that would have ended everything, and then there was the sound of a body falling to the floor.
But she was still alive. Her ears popped from someone's loud scream, and when she opened her eyes, she saw that Draco was lying motionless in front of her, and Narcissa was already on her knees beside him, crying over his body.
Draco had died again — he had given his life again to save Violet, without even thinking.
It was the last coincidence — a repetition of what had been in her illusion, before the green ray finally reached its destination and she lay down next to Draco, falling into an eternal sleep.
As they say, before they die, people see their whole life in a flash — they have the opportunity not to forget, but to remember their whole life in a second, before they get a new one, before they have new moments that they will remember.
And Violet, at the moment when her heart beat its last beat, saw not darkness, but those moments from which her dying consciousness was filled with happiness for the last time.
"I'll always be there for you"
"I'm waiting for you"
"Everything will be fine, I promise"
"Welcome home!"
"Did you miss me?"
"Write a poem about me"
"Your eyes are like a frozen fountain"
"Don't close the window"
"It's just a dream, it's okay"
"Don't leave without me"
"Don't you dare forget me"
"This is the most wonderful sunrise of my life"
"Violet loves violets?"
"Just admit that you can't live without me"
"This will all be over soon"
"Stop laughing at me"
"Your hands are so cold"
"How are you?"
"Good morning"
"Where do you think we'll be in five years?"
"You threw a snowball at me!"
"A thousand times good night, beloved"
"I love you"
And maybe she didn't know what would be waiting for her after her soul left her body — eternal darkness, or eternal sun, but she wanted to hope that at least there would be happiness. She hoped that they would be given a second to completely forget their previous lives, she hoped that they would have an eternity for new ones.
And as she fell asleep forever on the cold floor of Malfoy Manor, she thought,
"How warm it is at last."