by Black-Diamonds
 
 

Epilogue
The Silence That Follows The Cold
 

A silence follows the cold of the night...a dawn will rise, and take away the pain...

Loss is something that can not be illustrate through hollow words, only felt through a bleeding
heart that cries in aching silence.

A window can be broken, spilling forth secrets and loves, discovery and damage. Glass can
be broken so easily.

But a single moment of joy and fulfillment, though fleeting, can not be broken...it remains with
the memories, forever imprinted like a beautiful silk print on a web of time.

Rain turns the world grey...snow covers everything in a thick blanket of immaculate whiteness.

Hermione stood in the midst of the falling snow flakes, eyes gazing upwards, as if waiting for a
miracle. The snow was her friend. It made her cheeks tingly, and numb. With numb cheeks, she
could pretend she wasn’t crying. A tear froze on her cheek, suspended in time. She put her
fingers up to it. It was like a diamond. A diamond of sorrow, that melted away at the touch of
her hand. Does everything you value melt away eventually?

You always kill the one you love. Wilde had said that. And you do...you twist the blade.

Hermione didn’t even really feel the glass slash against her skin. Didn’t feel anything. She only
saw the ruby red blood drip on to the pure white of the snow, staining it. Red dissolved to pink...

Her head started to spin. Hermione smiled, watching the stars dance before her eyes, blurring
with the snowy landscape that surrounded her. A dark form came up behind her. Half-delusional,
Hermione cried out in fear. But she needn’t fear. It was only Snape, shoulders drooped,
expression almost as emotionally exhausted as hers. Snape pressed material tightly to the wounds
at her wrists, and spoke calmly to her.

“You have to live Hermione. For him.” Another layer of bandages.

“There is no life without him.” She tried to shrug her wrist out of his grasp, but found herself too
weak to do so.

“Hermione he will always be with you. I sincerely mean that, it’s not just some romantic garble
those muggles came up with in their movies. He WILL be with you, and he would want you to
live...to go on and do wonderful things.”

“I can’t without him...” Hermione found herself crumpling to her knees like a puppet with cut
strings.

The tears though, were strangely cleansing. They purged the sadness in her own soul as she
wept for The Boy-Who-Wouldn’t-Live. Perhaps in some alternate reality...perhaps. He might
have lived. Things might have been different. Perhaps right now in a parallel dimension, they
were both living a happily-ever-after ending. But not in this realm. Not where the snow was
suddenly bleak and crisp around her, Snape’s hand reasurring on her shoulder, almost fatherly,
and the dawn breaking over the white-ice hills.

The sun never stops rising. She'd eventually learn to move on...eventually.

Of course, nothing would ever replace his sunshine-oxygen existence in her life. But from one
horrible day to the next, she’d live. For him.
 
 

*deuxieme fin*
 

......
 

~
A fair slim boy not made for this world’s pain,
With hair of gold thick clustering round his ears,
And longing eyes half veiled by foolish tears
Like bluest water seen through mists of rain;
Pale cheeks whereon no kiss hath left its stain,
Red under-lip drawn in for fear of Love,
And white throat whiter than the breast of dove -
Alas! alas! if all should be in vain.
~
- from Oscar Wilde’s ‘Wasted Days’
 
 
 
 

After the final curtain has fallen...
.....
There was no way Hermione could or would have anything to do with the ministry any more. A few days after
Draco's death and obstinately refusing to answer any questions about anything, Hermione officially quit her previous
ministry job. She packed her bags and her belongings from the office and simply left without saying goodbye to
anyone. It hurt too much to be surrounded by everything that linked her to the past. She resolved to living among
the muggles in a small London apartment, not that far away from where her parents were buried.

She worked part time in a muggle library. Sometimes, very rarely, after work she would go and visit The Leaky
Couldron and Diagon Alley. Most of all though, she just wanted to forget about everything. Her attempts at writing
a few books for the magical world was proving to be pointless...she just didn’t have enough emotional energy or
inspiration left to write. Living was proving to be excruciatingly difficult. Amongst the dusty library shelves, a day
could seem like a year.

Draco of course, was a memory that danced across her thoughts like wild fire every day and night. Try as she might,
she couldn’t surpress the burning ache in her heart every time she allowed her mind to drift to him.

'The Dark Lord' seemed like an entirely different person to her Draco. It was someone only the ministry was really
concerned about. But even to them, he was a closed book. Because now he was gone. Harry Potter moved on,
and found other things to be a hero over. Ron Weasley was extremely disappointed. After all, he hadn't even had
the chance to lay one finger on the much-hated 'pasty pathetic git'. But that had been The Dark Lord's plan...to not
die at the will of someone else.

Severus Snape disappeared from society and also from the ministry. Some say he moved to the muggle country side.
Despite wanting to leave the past behind, a part of Hermione wished she could talk to Snape again. He was a link to
Draco. Someone who had come close to seeing the boy beneath the ice.

Ginny Weasley was never caught either. It was rumoured she escaped the ministry and travelled to America. Some
say she died in a run-in with the wizarding law a few months later. Upon hearing the rumours, Hermione fiercely
hoped the latter was just that...only a rumour.

Sooner or later, Hermione realised, she’d have to let go of Draco Malfoy. Finally give him the peace he so very much
deserved.

The very fact that he was dead seemed to often mean nothing to her. It was just a word that could be looked up in a
dictionary.

Dreams often haunted her. She would wake up, and not fully recall the dream, or what had happened within it. But
that was all they were. Empty dreams. For when someone dies, they can only exist in our memories and dreams.
They don’t live again. Do they...
 
 
 

THANKYOU:

the readers and reviewers: every time i see your comments it makes me feel wonderful...peachy :)
j.k. rowling: thankyou for creating the world of harry, draco, hogwarts and all those within the walls
of your fantastic books

mom + dad: thanks for putting up with my consistent, persistent, and often down right whiney
babblings about my stories. thanks:)

my friends: so i've seen harry potter how many times....? lol, thanks again for putting up with me
guys, and thanks for the support

A closing note:
This epilogue was altered slightly. Hope you find this version a bit better:)
A sequel is on its way. Hoepfully, it will be posted within the next few days. :)

so finally:
thankyou, and god bless
*~
 

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