“She’s going into shock again,” said a nurse, rushing towards a wall with a big red button on it. The nurse slammed her hand onto it and the Healer rushed into the room.

“Pulse is 108,” he said, removing his fingers from her wrist. “Fever, clammy skin, eyes dilated. This is serious.”

However, it didn’t look like it. Marie just laid there, her eyes blank and her mouth slightly open. She would take a short, deep breath occasionally, but besides that, she was still.

The Healer wheeled around towards Remus. “You all need to make a decision, or she’s going to die. Are you sure that she doesn't have any family?”

I wanted to slap him for being so insensitive, but I knew he was right. “Positive. Did you get any eflornithine?

He shook his head. “No, no. What’s your decision?”

Remus bit his lip. “Just give her the melarsoprol, but be gentle.”

“We’ll be as gentle as possible,” he promised. He pulled out a long needle as the nurse held down Marie.

“Come on,” I said softly to Remus. “You don’t want to see this.”

He nodded, turned slowly, and walked out of the room. When we were in the hallway, he collapsed onto the ground. “I don’t feel right about giving that to her.”

“It’s her only chance, Remus,” said James softly. “You made the right choice. She’d want you to do anything you could to help her.”

A loud beeping suddenly echoed out around us as two more Healers raced past us and into the room.

****

“I'm very sorry for your loss,” said the same blonde nurse who had announced that Marie was going into shock. “A funeral director will meet you shortly.”

She left Remus there, tears falling down his cheeks softly.

I raced after her. “Wait! I have a question.”

“I'm sorry,” she said. “All questions really need to go to the Healer.”

“It’s just… I mean, you said she had an allergic reaction to the melarsoprol,” I began. “Just what exactly happened?”

She shifted her weight from her right foot to her left. “I'm really not at liberty to discuss that. If you’ll just speak to the doctor-”

“Please,” I begged. “If not for me, than for him.”

I nodded my head in the direction where Remus now had his head in James’ chest. Compulsions took over his body so much that he was shaking wildly.

“I… I didn’t even get to say goodbye,” he moaned between sobs.

The nurse looked at him so long that I thought she was about to cry herself. “All right, but don’t tell anyone I told you. When Miss Newcomb had her reaction… her brain began to swell. We had to put her on painkillers and drill a hole in the back of her head, to drain out the excess liquid, but it didn’t work. She… in a sense… Drowned herself.”

****

“Mister Lupin?” asked a shy woman in green scrubs- I assumed she was working her way up to becoming a Healer. All of the other nurses wore purple and the Healers wore blue.

“Yes?” replied Remus. He’s finally stopped crying long enough to breathe, but his eyes were still bloodshot.

“We… we found this next to her nightstand. We don’t know how it got there… The best assumption was that Miss Newcomb came out of her coma for a few minutes, and no one knew. How she ever managed to get enough strength to write something out is mind blowing...” The woman handed over a doctor’s prescription pad.

Remus took it in his shaky hands and I read over his shoulder.

Wobbly, uneven words met my eyes.

“Dear Remus,

I love you, and I want you to be happy. Don’t mourn. It’s okay.”