𝐔𝐍𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐂𝐘, 𝘥. 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘧𝘰𝘺

| 15 |

▬▬ fifteen; the encounter.
⋆.｡.:* ☆:**:. 

WAR IS TRULY suffocating and terrifying when you are in between the two sides. Death is more of a friendly stranger than the end when you are approaching your final breaths knowingly. While she wanted to cry for every moment of life she would never experience it felt so peaceful to know exactly how you are supposed to leave and when. The only thing destroying that peace was the things she would leave behind. The people that she would leave to suffer in grief and Lauren knew how painful grief could be. That pain of knowing you can't talk to that person ever again, not knowing where they are, not having said everything you wanted them to know. She remembered what Dimitri had said while they had been eating soup,

"When you are born to sacrifice yourself you have to make sure you have nothing to care about but to die. The most horrible thing a person can do is leave selfishly and not think about the hearts you break as you go. So prepare them for your death, and your sacrifice will be less painful. Make them forget you and grieve your disappearance way before you actually leave."

She understood every meaning of his words, everything that he meant. Lauren couldn't have a life, she couldn't have someone to care about or someone that cared about her. She was supposed to be a ghost from her birth to her death.

The girl looked up at the blonde boy who sat by the lake. He was washing his hands in the cold water and overlooked the view of tall majestic mountains. She brushed a piece of hair behind her ear and bit her lip. She had to be a ghost.

"Draco," she said. He turned around and looked at her with the best smile he could form considering he was tired and the night was falling once again over them. They had been walking all night, completely forgotten by most of the world, they supposed.

"What is it, darling?" He asked as she had zoned off and forgotten her words.

She gulped and looked down nervously, "Have someone told you about the prophecy?"

Draco walked over and sat down beside her on a rock. He held her shaking hand in his and frowned, "No. Tell me about it."

"It's a prophecy about Harry and Voldemort... and me." She could barely look into his eyes, the pounding in her heart was killing her. "It's... Uh..."

She was shaking and Draco tried to stroke her hand to assure her she was alright. "Take your time," he said.

"It says that... neither one can live while the other two survives." Lauren looked up at him patiently waiting for his reaction. His eyes searched hers as he thought it over and over and over again.

"What are you talking about?" 

"It's either Harry or Voldemort, and I'd much rather have Harry alive--"

"What about you?" He exclaimed frustrated and stood up. "What if you live and they die."

"It's already decided what's supposed to be, Draco."

"How long have you known?" He asked lowering his voice, now he looked so miserable. She looked away full of guilt, he knew his answer. "Why didn't you tell me sooner. Do you even realise what this means?"

"You think I didn't want to tell you? I couldn't. This is hard for me too, Draco, I don't wanna leave you or my friends but it's not my decision to make."

"Exactly, it's not your decision to make and it's no one else's either. You're not sacrificing yourself for Potter!" Draco didn't think clearly. He knew very well this was much bigger than his undying love for this girl, but he finally got her. The idea of her disappearing forever was unreal, it sounded like a joke to him.

"I can't let you leave me, love," he said and took her hands in his as he kneeled down before her as she sat on the rock.

A tear rolled down her cheek, "I didn't mean for you to be hurt. But I... I couldn't stop loving you when I knew I should've."

"Please don't cry, Lauren," he said and stroke her wet cheek with his cold hand. She ignored the cold and leaned into it, feeling his touch because she didn't know when she would feel it again.

—

The light of another long day was coming to its end. Since this morning by the lake they had walked in silence, only a few complaints about needing to sit down for a minute had been exchanged. They were in the woods now. Draco had ruffled together a pile of leaves and laid a blanket on top of it for Lauren to sit, she wanted him to join her but the boy quickly said he needed to think and had walked off. She knew he was coming back though.

Lauren looked up to the dark sky splattered with stars and felt her heart drop just a little, it was at this moment she understood everything that was going on. Twenty-four hours have now passed since the death of Albus Dumbledore, her friend and her mentor. She mourned him silently in her mind until she leaned back and closed her eyes. Before she could even notice how tired she was she had fallen into a light sleep.

In the meantime, Draco sat not too far away by a tree. Pieces of the wood laid on the ground around him as he had used his knife to stab the innocent tree out of frustration. As the darkness closed in around him he figured he should go back to her. When he stood up something flew by behind him and rustled the bushes. He quickly whipped around and made sure to grab a hold of his wand, figuring it would be more useless than a knife.

The next time Draco turned around was to continue his walk and ignore whatever was hiding in the woods, but he caught himself as he almost walked straight into the tall wizard himself. His white pale face gave the impression of death. Lord Voldemort's eyes dug right into Draco's. The way Voldemort was floating and his frame a little seethrough made Draco believe this was only a dream.

"I am not here," his raspy and snakily voice said. "I am in your mind, because of your mark."

Draco pushed a hand onto his covered wrist to ignore the mark he had been trying to forget. 

"You want her to stay with you," Voldemort continued. "That is why you are hiding her here. Let me help you."

"Get out of my head!" Draco yelled. "He's dead. What more do you want?"

"You bring her to me..." Voldemort said and Draco looked back at Lauren sleeping a few lots away. "...I can save her. With her by my side, thanks to you, I will make sure she is not to be sacrificed."

"Why would I believe you," Draco spat and held his wand shakily against his own imagination. 

"I would never hurt my own daughter." Draco didn't know what to believe. The only thing he was thinking about was how to save Lauren, and he thought to himself while filled with stressful thoughts and a growing heartache for what could happen, and then he looked up at the visitor of his mind. It was not confirmation that Draco gave Lord Voldemort, but neither was it a rejection.

A father would only want to save his daughter, right? No matter who he is. That was the only argument he could think of, the only thing he decided to focus on.