He kept walking, step after step, dragging his feet along. The unrelenting light blinded him. Sweat poured down his temples and down his back. When it fell off of him to the scorched ground, it would evaporate within a minute.

Still, he kept walking.

He didn’t know what else to do, so he kept walking, following the sea. It was forever receding into the distance. No matter how long he walked toward it, it escaped him.

The last time he had seen her, it had been near the water. He would wait for her there.

He kept walking, breathing the dry air, remembering the last time. He would wait. There was nothing for it.

There was no way out. There was no magic to take him from this place. He couldn’t wave a wand and be done with it. He had no wand. He had no magic. He hardly had the will to take the next step.

He struggled across the cracked desert ground, eyes downward and aching from the light. His feet dispelled small clouds of dust. Only when he felt himself stumble would he look up. The horizon stretched endless ahead of him.

There was nothing left.

He stopped walking.

This happened every day, but it never ceased to fill him with a vast, hopeless dread.

In all directions, there was nothing but hard, dry earth. The sea had been a mirage. He waited, listened and breathed the still, hot air. He couldn’t see it. He couldn’t see anything. The sun had actually blinded him.

And then there was no sun.

As the rain began to fall, his vision exploded with the memory of the last time he had seen her.

The sudden downpour drenched him. It saturated the arid desert floor. It brought flowers, birds, wind and life to his memory. He remembered how she had looked, bright in the sun; her kind, brown eyes smiling at him. The blue sea and green, fragrant world had been more vibrant still because she had loved him.

She had loved him.

She had loved him.

O

Night had fallen. The rain poured over his face and he choked it down. He drank until his stomach was bursting, knowing it would be another day before he could drink. Then he drank more to drown out the memory.

When the storm passed, he collapsed, exhausted, and waited for the star to come.

It came quickly. Night always came and went quickly, unlike the day. In a moment, its one light was so bright as to make the entire world black. It was dazzling. He felt as if he were floating inescapably toward it. He resisted looking at it as long as he could.

But he couldn’t resist.

It was his sole link to her. He longed, with all that was left to him, for her to comprehend the feeling he poured into this connection.

His mind reached out tentatively at first, trying to contain, to master, to blunt the force of his misery. Yet he was nothing but misery. His heart screamed, over and over, for her to come back. He was waiting, right there, as he had always been. Couldn’t she see what she had done to him?

He cried his despair into the night until he was as parched and dry as the desert.

Morning came again.

He stood and began to walk toward the sea.

OOO

I have had “Si Tú No Vuelves” by Miguel Bosé stuck in my head since I first heard it a couple of nights ago. It’s a shamelessly, hopelessly, melodramatically romantic song and it’s quite beautiful and haunting.

I wanted to turn it into a story but I couldn’t quite decide which ship I wanted to take… Draco/Hermione or Severus/Hermione. Draco/Hermione kept calling to me, but Severus/Hermione made so much more sense with these lyrics. I guess you could read it either way, but I imagine it as a Deathly-Hallows-compliant Severus/Hermione fic. The idea is that they once had a few clandestine meetings and now he is dead, trapped and trying to relive his memories of her.

O

Here are the lyrics to the song:

Si tú no vuelves

se secarán todos los mares

y esperaré sin ti

tapiado al fondo de algún recuerdo

Si tú no vuelves

mi voluntad se hará pequeña

Me quedaré aquí

junto a mi perro espiando horizontes

Si tú no vuelves

no quedarán más que desiertos

y escucharé por si

algún latido le queda a ésta tierra

Que era tan serena

cuando me querías

habia un perfume fresco que yo respiraba

era tan bonita, era así de grande

no tenía fin

Y cada noche vendrá una estrella

a hacerme compañía

que te cuente cómo estoy

y sepas lo que hay

Dime amor, amor, amor

estoy aqui ¿no ves?

Si no vuelves no habrá vida

no sé lo que haré

Si tú no vuelves

no habrá esperanza ni habrá nada

Caminaré sin tí

con mi tristeza bebiendo lluvia

O

And here’s my translation:

If you never return,

the oceans will dry up

and I’ll wait without you,

endlessly trapped in a memory.

If you never return,

my will will fade.

I’ll stay here

with my dog, gazing into the horizon.

If you never return,

nothing but deserts will remain.

Still, I’ll listen in case

there’s life left in this earth

that was so lovely

when you loved me.

The air was sweet; I breathed it in.

The earth was so beautiful and so vast.

It had no end.

Every night, a star appears

to keep me company,

to tell you how I am

so that you will know.

Tell me, love, love, love,

I’m here. Can’t you see?

Unless you return, I can’t live.

I don’t know what I’ll do.

If you never return,

there’ll be no hope, there’ll be nothing.

I’ll walk without you,

in sadness, drinking rain.