The World and Her Stars

Chapter Forty-Three

ROSE POV

"Mother?" I whispered as I passed the open doors of the library.

I couldn't sleep, and seeing Draco so peacefully in dream-land made me envious, so I opted for a walk around the dreary place to hopefully induce some sort of melatonin production in my brain.

"Rose. My goodness, you scared me, dear." She whispered back, putting a hand to her chest.

"What are you doing in here? It's late." I asked, wrapping my arms around myself as I approached her, sitting in a cushioned chair by the fire place.

"I couldn't sleep." She replied quietly, eyes fixated on the fire.

"Any reason why?" I asked. I crawled in the seat next to hers and folded my legs up.

"I would say no, but you would be too naïve to believe that." She smiled weakly.

I scrunched my eyebrows together.

"I never wanted this for you. I begged and begged your father to find a way out of this, and he refused, and I curse myself every day for not fighting harder for you." Her voice was choked up already.

"Mother you shouldn't be speaking like this right now." I looked around nervously, not wanting anyone to hear.

"Do you want to know the life I would have chosen for you? If...that mark was just a mark. If it held no meaning. If there was no..." she didn't have to say it. I knew what she meant.

"I could see you working in some sort of law field. You are quite like your father in that you are good in arguing. If not law, then something where that gorgeous face of yours is seen everywhere. You're absolutely gorgeous, darling. I hope you know that." Her bottom lip trembled slightly.

"W-why are you—" I started.

"I just hoped that in all of this darkness you would find light. I've hoped to every star in the sky for two years that the twinkle in your eye would return, and I nearly fell to my knees when I saw that it had." She looked at me now with glassy, water filled eyes.

"What do you mean, mother?"

She smiled weakly and a few tears spilled over onto her cheeks, "Love, dear. I can see it in the both of you." She stated, "To know that you have...found someone that makes you happy and that you love just...it makes me feel at peace. That while everything is a mess...while everything is scary...you have someone that can be there for you like I wish I would have been your whole life. And I was more than thrilled to see that it was Draco." A cry left her lips, and I sat there with my mouth agape.

"Love is a powerful thing, Rose. As long as you have it in your heart, you will always make the right decision. No choice made in love is one that is not of your heart's best interest. As cliché as it sounds, follow your heart no matter how loud your head is screaming at you not to." She cried.

I pushed myself up and walked over to her chair, fell to my knees in front of her and pulled her into a hug, and she cried.

She cried. I cried. We cried.

We were both victims. We were both silently suffering. Except I had my crutch. I had my Draco.

She was alone.

My heart broke for her.

She didn't deserve this.

"No matter what happens, dear..." She pulled me back gently by my shoulders, "Fight for what your heart tells you is right." She pulled down my left arm and pulled up my sleeve, and for some reason, I let her. "Your heart knows the truth. Listen to it."