Dear Ellie,
My beloved Eleonora, you are so loved, more than you would ever know.
You are the love of my life, I loved you long before I had the guts to let you know.
Thank you for making me feel things I thought I could never feel, thank you for bringing meaning to my life. Isn't it amazing how people can feel like home? For you are my home my dear. In a land of fools, you're a queen of hearts. You are worth every star in the night sky, and don't you ever believe anyone who tells you different. The stars could never shine as bright as you. I've come to find that men like me can be quite foolish, but can you blame me when there's a girl as pretty as you? You are everything to me, but always remember that you are so much more than simply a man's purpose. You are a gift to the world, a rare beauty in a messed up time. You are a bright light in the darkest of days, and I believe that there will never be one quite as spectacular as you. I'm lucky to be in your realm, to share a piece of your warmth.
You are soft as spring and bright as the sun. You are kind like nothing I've ever seen before, and you're intelligent and caring. You possess things in your heart that a man like me could never hold, and I will forever be grateful that you've decided to hold my hand as we travel through our journey of life. Thank you for loving me, even though I was far from perfect and tainted with war and heartache. You are the sun, you are the moon and all the stars in the night sky, you are everything I see and everything I feel, you mean everything to me. I will never be able to explain to you how good it feels to look up across a room and see you, with your beauty and your pure heart.
Thank you for believing in me even when things got hard. I adore you for leading me out of the darkness, helping me into the light with a smile upon your lips. Thank you for saving me everyday. I was afraid for a long time, however I am not afraid anymore, you made me believe. I broke all my rules for you, for you changed everything. For you I'd risk it all, time and time again. What a plot twist you were.
You are my soulmate, and soulmates are forever, no matter what happens.
I fell hard for you, and I am still falling. You make me feel like I belong, you make me feel safe, you are my one true happy place. Please don't forget me and all the things we did, remember me with love in your heart. I wish time had better timing for you and me, I wish things were different. I am truly sorrowful for how things turned out. The responsibility of love I took on, to keep your heart safe, I am sorry I didn't do a better job at it. I will keep you in my heart forever, even in the afterlife. I will cherish you for eternity. I love you, more than you ever will know.
Yours always,
Draco Malfoy
Blaise needed help with something, so Draco rushed off. It gave her a moment to read the letter he had left her. She wasn't sure that the war was over just yet, but Draco was alive.
Maybe she shouldn't have read it, for he told her to only read it after the war in the case of him passing on from this life on this earth, but she could not resist opening it. She wanted to know what he had written, what his last words to her would be.
Her whole heart was filled with him, his overwhelming love flooded her every vein.
After a few minutes the tall doors to the great hall opened, and in walked Hermione and Ron with devastated looks upon their faces. The two of them were holding hands as they walked over to her slowly.
"Harry?" she asked quietly "did he..."
"Yes" Hermione said with a weak voice, sniffling as she nodded her head "he did"
Her two friends sat down with her and Ron laid his arms around them, sighing deeply.
"Always a hero, always selfless, the best friend someone could ask for" Ron mumbled, staring at the ceiling "Harry I mean"
Her and Hermione nodded their heads, and a tear rolled down Hermione's cheek. No other words came to them, they didn't need words to understand the situation. The air felt heavy around them, and her chest felt tight. It never fails to surprise her how quickly one thing can change into something completely different. One moment you're happy, soaring high above the clouds in the sky, and the next moment you're brought down by sadness and burdened with what feels like the weight of a collapsing world.
Ginny was pacing nervously around the great hall, biting her nails until she bled. Neville sat in the corner next to Luna, watching Ginny with concerned eyes. She saw Luna laying a comforting hand on Neville's left knee, offering the boy a smile. She figured that Neville had told the blonde girl about his feelings, and it must have gone quite well.
She sighed deeply, letting her eyes wander towards the tall windows in the room. She stared out at the dark sky, and she wondered if it would ever light up again. It felt like rain hung in the air, waiting for the perfect moment to fall... just like tears.
"So this is it?" Hermione asked after a while, gazing at her and Ron "this is how it ends?"
"I don't know Hermione" Ron mumbled "I don't know"
The time in the great hall passed by so very slowly, every minute felt like an hour as they sat still, awaiting their fate. She gazed around the room looking for Draco, but he was nowhere to be seen. She wondered what him and Blaise were doing.
"Remember that time the three of us and Harry got locked out of the common room beacuse the fat lady had gone to visit another painting?" Ron suddenly asked her and Hermione.
"Yeah" Hermione laughed "in our second year, I was so mad"
"And Ellie you were so chill" Ron laughed, looking at her.
"Yeah well I had all the time in the world" she mumbled, reminiscing over the memory they shared as twelve year old children "I was with my friends"
"And that one time when Harry fell seven times as we were walking to herbology" Hermione added with a laugh "in our first year, you guys remember?"
"Yeah" Ron said, shaking his head with a small smile upon his lips "that was some type of a record"
"And in our third year when he wrote us all those sweet Christmas cards" she said, sighing as she thought about it "I still have mine stacked away somewhere in my room"
"Me too" Ron added.
"Yes me too" Hermione said "mine's on my desk at home"
There wasn't a shortage of happy memories surrounding the boy with the scar that they all adored, one of their best friends. He was, and had always been, a true friend. Remembering the good moments with him made his fate slightly easier to deal with, even if the thought of him standing up against Voldemort, one of the most powerful wizards of all time, haunted her.
Suddenly their peace was broken by loud noises, the rest for the ones that were left standing was over. Everyone got on their feet quickly, looking across the large room.
"What's happening?" she asked Ron.
"I don't know" Ron said quietly.
The room filled with nervous chatter and anxious whispers. Everyone began moving around throughout the castle, worry and fright once more reflecting on their eyes.
She followed Ron and Hermione through the ruined stone hallways, and it was hard to imagine that she had once walked down the same path towards class. She had skipped along she hallways with new books that she loaned from the library pressed to her chest and she had sneaked around corners to kiss Draco. Nothing was the same, nothing remained as it once was and those memories felt so distant and hard to picture now.
They stepped over large pieces of stone and small piles of rubble, making their way out of the school to see what the commotion was all about. Further down the hallway she saw Ginny walking next to Neville and Luna. Neville and Ginny had really grown close over the years, and they shared a special type of friendship.
She entered the school yard and all around her she saw dark shadows and destruction. Along the narrow pathway from the forbidden forest walked a long line of people dressed in black, death eaters amongst the dark lord's other followers.
She looked around for Draco but he was no where to be seen, neither was Blaise.
Voldemort walked amongst his masked mercenaries, looking pleased. The sight of him sent chills down her spine and a cold feeling clung to the air. Everything around her felt like a nightmare that she could not seem to wake up from, and everything only got worse and worse with every step the dark lord and his dark forces took. They were getting closer, and there was nothing more anyone could do. They all just stood there, standing their ground despite feeling defeated. No one moved, and for a moment if felt like no one even breathed.
Lord Voldemort strode into the middle of the demolished entrance yard of Hogwarts, a devilish look upon his ghastly face. He smiled with his rotten teeth and his eyes shone with ill intent and some type of sickly success. Besides the grim and gruesome wizard meandered a dark serpant.
The last horocrux, she had heard Harry, Ron and Hermione talking about it earlier.
Neville limped forward, trying to walk on his injured leg, as he inspected the scene before him. The nervous boy held the sorting hat in his hand, and dried blood grazed dirty face.
Then she saw it, Hagrid was walking behind the dark lord with thick ropes tied to his wrists and ankles. The giant was holding something, or rather someone... but no that could not be him.
"Who is that Hagrid is carrying?" Ginny's broken voice echoed as the red haired girl grabbed onto Neville's arm firmly "Neville who is it?"
Neville didn't answer, the boy looked too sorrowful. Arthur Weasley walked up to his daughter, laying a comforting arm around her.
Then it came, the words they had all dreaded to hear. Those words ringed through the air with agony, and stung like a thousand knives.
"Harry Potter is dead"