In truth, she wanted a few seconds alone to think. She had just reached the Entrance Hall when Malfoy came up the other way. They stopped. He looked around. Megan was pretty sure it was to make sure no teachers were around.

"You're dead, Potter." he said in a low hiss.

Megan raised her eyebrows.

"Really? That's funny, I was alive, last I checked..."

Megan had never seen him so furious. It was a pleasant change from his smug arrogance.

"You'll pay. You hear? You'll pay for what you did to my father."

"Well, my goodness me. I didn't realise you could be so scary," Megan retorted sarcastically. "I suppose Voldemort's nothing compared to you three, is he? I mean, how would I know, I only faced him, what, four times, now, and survived when he attacked me as a baby. Mate of your dad's, is he? You're not telling me you're scared of him, are you?"

"You'll see, I'll have your neck. You can't just send my father off to prison..."

"Well, that's very strange..." Megan said thoughtfully. "I thought I already had..."

"The Dementors are gone from Azkaban. The others will be out any time now."

"Yeah, I suppose. At least everyone will know them for who they are, now."

In a split instant, both had drawn their wands, though Megan had been faster in doing so, thanks to her DA training. She had seen first hand how useful it could be to be a quick drawer, and had tried to teach the others.

"Potter!"

Snape came striding down the steps.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, Malfoy looked about to curse me, so I was preparing a defence," she said coolly.

"Put that away at once. And ten points from Gryff-"

But his furious face turned to one of glee.

"Ah, too bad there are no longer any points left to take away. Well, then, we'll just have to..."

"Add some more?" suggested a voice behind Megan.

Professor McGonagall came marching in with a bag in one hand and a walking stick in the other. She looked more tired than Megan remembered, but still carried herself with authority and elegance.

"Professor McGonagall!" Megan exclaimed, beaming. "I'm so glad to see you're back!"

"Thank you, Potter. It is good to be back, now that things have returned to normal," she said with a small smile. "Now. You two," she pointed to Crabbe and Goyle. "Make yourselves useful and get this to my office."

She handed them her bag and cloak.

"Now then. I think Potter and her friends should all have fifty points apiece for alerting the world of You-Know-Who's return, don't you?"

Snape clearly disagreed, but said nothing.

"So, that's Potter, Granger, the two Weasleys, and Longbottom..." she said. "And Miss Lovegood and Mr Diggory, as well."

A flurry of red rubies poured down into the hourglass, as well as a few yellow topazes and blue sapphires. Snape said nothing, but his lips thinned.

"You wanted ten taken from Potter, did you say? Well, then, let's see..."

A few rubies hobbled back up, but the difference made was slight.

"Well, Potter, Malfoy, I believe you should be outside on a day like this."

"Yes, professor."

The head of Gryffindor house turn to leave, when Megan said:

"Professor?"

"Yes, Potter?"

"Welcome back."

And for a brief moment, McGonagall smiled at her.

The journey home was interesting, to say the least. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, who'd been dying to get back at Megan without teachers being around, tried to ambush her on the train as she made to return from the toilet. It might have worked, if not for the fact they had chosen the one compartment full of DA members, namely Hannah, Terry, Susan, Justin, Ernie and Anthony, who had rushed to Megan's aid with a wide variety of hexes and jinxes. They then hoisted them into the luggage rack and left them there.

"I would love to see Malfoy's mother's face when she sees him," Ernie McMillan chuckled. "Goyle's mom will think he looks better, though," Ron grinned.

He had come with Harry and Cedric to investigate the commotion. "Anyway, the food trolley's here, if you want anything, Megan."

Thanking the others for their help, she walked back to the compartment, where they enjoyed cheerful banter, wizard chess, sharing sweets. Megan tried not to think about how long her next two years at Hogwarts would feel without Cedric. They probably wouldn't be boring, not with Voldemort around. But Cedric was a great part of the reason she was strong enough to confront him.

"You know, I've been thinking," Megan said at one point. "About Voldemort, and how things changed since he came back. And I realised something. I think whatever happens, it'll be okay, somehow. Because we have something Voldemort hasn't."

"What's that?" Hermione asked.

Megan looked up at Cedric.

"Something worth fighting for."

They smiled at each other. She rested her head against his shoulder.

As they reached London, Megan's heart tightened. She was going to face a long summer. That she was sure of. Cedric helped her down and kept her hand in his and they crossed the barrier into the Muggle world. But as she did, she was surprised to see a group of people waiting for her. Mad Eye Moody, looking the same as always, a grinning Tonks, Lupin, Mr and Mrs Weasley along with Fred and George.

"Ron, Ginny!" Mrs Weasley said, hugging them. "Megan, dear, how are you?"

"I'm okay," she said. "Thanks, Mrs Weasley. Hi, Fred, George. It's great to see you."

She hugged them when Mrs Weasley had released her before turning to Tonks.

"Thanks for... well..."

"Don't sweat it," Tonks smiled. "It's our job."

"Wouldn't have needed to if I'd been less stupid..." Megan muttered.

"Love can do that," Lupin smiled. "He would have come, but we managed to convince him it was too risky."

"Yeah. Tell him I'm thinking about him, okay?"

"Will do," he smiled.

"What are you doing here?"

"Thought we'd have a friendly chat with your aunt and uncle," Moody said.

"Uh... I'm not sure that's wise..."

"Oh, it is." He said. "That's them, is it?"

He pointed over his shoulder. Megan glanced in that direction and spotted her cousin Nathalie and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, who both looked positively shocked by her welcoming committee.

"Yes," she said. "But..."

"Shall we?" Arthur said.

"Yes." he said.

They stepped towards the Dursleys, Cedric holding Megan's hand.

"Good afternoon," Mr Weasley said politely. "I'm Arthur Weasley, you might have heard of me."

They seemed to guess because of Ron and the twins, not that they appeared too happy about it. Vernon couldn't decide whom to keep his eyes on, while Petunia kept glancing around in case someone she knew passed by. Nathalie on the other hand was looking at Megan and Cedric.

"Yes?" Vernon asked gruffly.

"We just wanted to set right a few wrongs regarding Megan." Mr Weasley went on.

"About how she's treated at your place," Moody put in.

Vernon snorted and puffed his chest.

"I don't see how what goes on in my house is any of your business." he said indignantly.

"What you don't see would fill quite a few books, Dursley," Moody growled.

"Anyway," interjected Tonks on Megan's left. "The point is, we'll find out if you've been anything less than decent to Megan."

"And make no mistake, we will hear about it," Lupin put in pleasantly.

"If we get any hint she's being mistreated, you'll have us to answer to."

Vernon clearly did not like intimidation attempts.

"Is that a threat?" Vernon demanded.

"It is." Moody said coldly.

"And you think I'm the sort of man who is intimidated, do you?" Vernon went on.

"Well..."

He spun his magical eye and Vernon jumped back in horror.

"I'd say you are, yes."

He turned to Megan.

"So, send word if you need us. Three days without news from you and we'll send someone to you."

Megan heard Petunia whimper, and knew at once that she was just worried about what the neighbours would say if they saw someone like that walking up their path.

"Bye, then, Potter." Moody growled.

"Keep in touch," Lupin said, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"See you around," Tonks said, hugging her again.

"Yeah, we'll see you soon." Ron said.

"Real soon, promise." Harry concluded, hugging her too.

"Yeah. Bye, guys."

Megan and Cedric watched them leave. Just as the Weasleys were walking away, however, Hermione suddenly called out and ran back towards them. She threw herself into Fred's arms and kissed him. He lifted her up, his face hidden by Hermione's hair. Megan glanced at Ron. He'd seemed to want more than friendship last year. But he didn't seem upset. A little surprised, but not hurt. Perhaps she'd been wrong. Maybe he'd thought he was jealous because Krum was the first boy to really show interest in Hermione, and Megan herself had always been close to Cedric so them getting together hadn't been as much of a surprise. Fred let Hermione down and kissed her one more time. Then, she hurried back to her parents, waving as she went.

"Did you know?" Cedric asked, looking just as surprised as the others.

"I suspected," Megan admitted with a smile. "Fred asked me for advice on her Christmas present."

"Ooh," he grinned. "That's what his secrecy was about that day. I thought his present for her had been rather unusual. I was actually wondering if I should be worried," he teased.

She grinned back and nudged him playfully. They were truly alone, now. And the pain of their separation came crushing down on Megan. But she fought to not let it show.

"They're waiting..." He said glancing at his parents.

"Yeah... Coin me, every now and then, okay?"

"I will. Not that I need that to think about you." he smiled, touching her nose.

"Nor do I." she said. "I'll coin you my first Hogsmeade visit."

"And let me know if you need me," he added.

Megan sighed.

"It'll feel so strange, not seeing you every day, next year..." she told him sadly.

"I know. It'll be weird for me, too."

He caught her face in her hands.

"But listen: as long as we love each other, nothing will get in between us."

Megan nodded, fighting back her tears. She didn't want his last sight of her to be one of her crying.

"And never forget that I love you."

"More than anything," she agreed.

"And forever," he concluded.

They kissed for a moment that felt too short.

"You should go. They're waiting for you."

He kissed her once more, very gently.

"... I'll see you soon," he said.

She didn't trust her voice, so she just nodded. He turned around to join his parents and Megan let her guard down just a little. Tears welled up in her eyes. He joined his parents and turned around to smile at her one last time. She didn't want him to worry about her, so she quickly blinked her tears out of her eyes and smiled back. They left and she turned around to wipe her eyes.

"What's the matter with you?" Vernon asked gruffly.

"Nothing," she said shortly.

She had no wish to confide in her uncle or her aunt. And she knew that they had no more desire to listen. They made their way out of the station. Nathalie asked in a low voice:

"Did you break up or something?"

Megan didn't even have it in her to be surprised by Nathalie talking to her.

"No, it's just that he graduated from our school and... I haven't yet, so he won't be around as much."

"Oh... well... you can still talk, right? That's something."

Megan could hardly believe Nathalie was actually comforting her.

"Yeah. I suppose."

She lifted her head. No good would come from moping. She would see them all again, she just had to focus on that. And besides, it was a beautiful day. And the fact that they had all come just for her... it meant more to her than she could say. So, she followed Nathalie out, a smile on her face.

*******

Thank you to all of those who followed Megan's journey up to this point! Tune in next week for the sixth chapter in Megan's exciting story: Megan Potter: Dark Temptation! The dark forces draw ever near, sometimes from sources unexpected. Will our heroes remain true, or will the temptation be too hard to resist?