HOGWARTS

Madeleine and Harry sat side by side on the old bridge that separated the castle from Hogsmeade, leaning against each other as exhaustion took over their bodies. Their legs hung over the edge, and they dangled in the empty air.

She looked at the boy who was the closest thing she had to a brother. "Can you believe it's over?"

He laughed tiredly. "No. Not at all."

He rested his head on her shoulder and rooted around in his pocket, retrieving the Elder Wand. "Y'know, it's mine. Technically. It belonged to Dumbledore, then Malfoy disarmed him the night he died. When I disarmed Malfoy at the manor...well, it's mine now."

Madeleine's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and then she was suddenly snorting. Her laughter was high-pitched and manic, and for a moment she sounded just as deranged as the woman she'd killed hours before.

"Why are you laughing?" Harry demanded incredulously.

She took a gasping breath. "It's not yours. Not even remotely." Her voice was abruptly devoid of humor. "I broke into the school a few weeks before Christmas. Snape had confiscated Ginny's owl—to keep her from writing home, I'd assume—so when F—" she paused, clearing her throat. "When her brother told me that she hadn't written in a while, I broke in.

"I only got halfway to Snape's office when Malfoy caught me. He tried to disarm me, but I did it first. Petrified him, returned his wand, and went home. But since the wand was technically Malfoy's..." She trailed off, eyes glinting with mischief.

Harry looked shocked. "You've got to be kidding."

She grinned and held out a hand. "Nope. Give me the wand. It's rightfully mine."

He was reluctant to hand it over.

"If you don't give me my damn wand, I'll push you off the bridge and you'll be The Boy Who Killed Voldemort, Only to Be Murdered by His Sister."

When the knobby wood hit her palm, she felt a sense of power wash over her. It terrified her, to have the most coveted magical weapon in the world in her possession.

She realized then, as she held it, that she would be hunted for it. People would want to kill her just to get a taste of that power.

Her smile fell, but only slightly.

The war was over, and Madeleine's story was only just beginning.