Aionios

Chapter 24

"What a coincidence", he said serenely as he entered through the magic door of the Room of Requirement, and she looked up from the warmth of the fire to the fervidness of his gaze, "Running into you here at this time of the night".

"Technically", she grinned as he approached, "It's the early hours of the morning".

He sighed and settled down beside her on the carpet, basking in the orange glow of the flamboyant flames. "Can't sleep again?", he asked even though he already knew the answer.

"Yeah", she admitted, "A lot of...... things on my mind", she shrugged and laughed weakly, "I'm afraid they might haunt my dreams if I allowed myself to sleep".

"What things?", he asked. He always asked.

If it was about her, he would always want to know.

Even just the smallest details.

"The lives I took", she looked down, because she did not want him to see the tears that threatened to escape her eyes, "Funny, isn't it?", she laughed, and it broke his heart because it sounded so defeated and lifeless, and Isabelle was never those things to him.

She was always the sun. She was warm, bright, and lively. She was the strength that held the world in constant light. And even in her descents, she still gleamed brightly. She still looked mesmerizing. Because she always found the strength to rise again and radiate the same powerful light on the world.

"What's funny?", he held her shoulders, forcing her to look at him, to not hide her tears and her sadness because she did not have to. Not to him.

"I was just thinking", she whimpered, trying to block out the demons that were telling her things she didn't want to hear, but they were all just stating the truth of who she was.

"How many lives have been taken by The Girl Who Lived?".

Timothy and Roberta

Little Dianne and Stacy

Cole

Quendaline

The fifteen Death Eaters she killed the night Cole died.

The countless dark wizards she killed during her time in America.

The two more Death Eaters she killed at the World Cup.

And now, the Horntail.

She could have saved them. All of them.

But she didn't.

It was her fault.

Even to creatures like dragons, she still caused nothing but destruction.

"Maybe it's true what you said", she wiped the dampness that blurred her vision, so that she could focus on him- only him- because he seemed like the only constant in this world- in her world.

"Maybe I really am the reincarnation of the Dark Lord"

"No", he embraced her tightly, as if not ever wanting to let her go again, as if trying to piece her back together, "No, you're not".