[Chapter Twenty Eight. The Sense of a Sequel. Edited.]

The moment before you're awake is serene. You aren't in pain, you aren't freezing, and the world isn't impossibly cruel to you. Of course, moments pass and whatever world you're living in can feel too hard to bear. But sometimes, when you have friendship and laughter and love, weeks can pass as though you're in that moment.

The best days I ever had in my life were the days I finally broke free from my Father's reign over me. It wasn't as though it was easy to do, and it wasn't as though the story of my parents has ended, but I broke far enough away to discover the world. Behind the walls of a castle at eleven years of age, I began to live. Even though there were stressful times – like trying to smuggle a dragon out of the castle – I was living my life amongst people who cared about me. I was completely aware of how good I had it and I would fight tooth and claw for it to stay that way.

The moment between sleep and wake scarcely seemed to pass. I was warm. I was in no pain. The room was bright from behind my closed eyelids. I wasn't afraid. I knew I was inside the Hospital Wing, and if I were lucky, I'd be in the bed overlooking the grounds. I opened my eyes and stared out the window beside me – the outdoors looked as lush and beautiful as they ever did.

"Good Morning, Willow." said Dumbledore. I turned and he was sitting beside me.

"Good morning, Professor Dumbledore. What's been happening?"

"Voldemort is gone, Willow."

"Does that mean Quirrell is, too?"

"Unfortunately."

I frowned. Evil or not, death was never the best option. I wasn't sure what was, but I knew what it wasn't.

"Is Harry alright? Voldemort – Quirrell, whoever – they threw him at a wall. He's okay, isn't he?"

"He is still unconscious," he gestured towards the bed opposite me, hidden behind the curtains.

"He is going to be okay, right, Professor?"

"Yes, I believe so."

I exhaled in relief. "You should have seen him down there, sir. Vol-Quirrell? He was saying terrible things the whole time, about Harry's family... I don't know how he did it, sir... But Harry... He's the bravest person I've ever met. He was so collected. He would have died to protect that stone, I just knew it... He would have died to protect me." Professor Dumbledore smiled at me. "Like, Gryffindor house personified is Harry Potter... He's just kind of inspiring, Professor, I dunno."

"I'm proud of you, Willow," Professor Dumbledore said in earnest. I didn't know what to think. "You are sweeter than sugar – which your admirers have tried to tell you." He gazed at something to my left. Following his eyes, I saw a table piled with half of a lolly shop.

"Why?" I asked, because I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"What happened down in the dungeons between you, Harry and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows."

"How long have I been in here?" I had that feeling where you wake up from a nap and you can't remember what year it is.

"Just two days. Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger will be most relieved you have come round, they have been extremely worried."

"What about the stone? What about Flamel? How'd you get back? How'd you figure out about Quirrell?" All my questions poured out at once, but I pretended it was intentional. Professor Dumbledore smiled at me, nonetheless.

"It was all quite peculiar. Fawkes, my phoenix, met me midair. Fawkes seemed to be carrying a note from you, a note describing about Quirrell going through the trapdoor and how you were going ahead of your friends."

"What? I painted the message on a door."

"It was very much a piece of parchment. It was addressed to Harry, Ronald and Hermione. I have honestly no idea how it came to be of my possession. I feared I might be too late ––"

"You nearly were. Harry was gone, I'm useless – Voldemort would have gotten the stone ––"

"Not the Stone - you - the effort involved nearly killed you. For one terrible moment there, I was afraid it had. As for the Stone, it has been destroyed, Nicolas Flamel and his wife have enough Elixir stored to set their affairs in order and then, yes, they will die." Dumbledore smiled at the look of amazement on my face. "To one as young as you, I'm sure it seems incredible, but to Nicolas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a very, very long day. After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.

"You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all -- the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them."

I didn't really have a response to that, "Thank you for saving me sir."

Dumbledore smiled at me and said, "You saved me, Willow."

I didn't understand, so I kept speaking, "Sir, we haven't gotten rid of him haven't we? Voldemort, I mean."

"No Willow, I'm sure he will try many other ways of coming back. He left Quirrell to die; he shows just as little mercy to his followers as his enemies." There was a long silence, and I thought about my parents. I knew they were old Voldemort followers...Would he show them mercy?

Dumbledore looked up at the ceiling and began to hum.

"Professor..." I began slowly "I know that Voldemort twists things people say and is evil and all that...but he...implied that I was...related to Harry...and I couldn't help but overhear that I look like Lily Evans," his facial expression changed. It was now completely unreadable. "I...do you know anything about that, sir? I just want to know about who I am."

"Indeed, Willow, I do not know. I assume Voldemort was trying to manipulate you into a way of thinking. You do look remarkably like Lily Evans but Harry is her only living child." We frowned at each other. "However Willow, it doesn't matter where you come from, who raised you, or what house you're in. It is the choices we make that tell us who we are, not our histories."

I thought about that for a moment, "Neville's got to be pretty brave, then."

"Indeed he is."

"When we tried to sneak out of Gryffindor Tower, he tried to stop us. He was going to fight us." Dumbledore smiled at me. "Neville is a good egg."

"I love eggs." Said a voice in my head. It was the same voice who'd spoken in the chamber. I couldn't be bothered to worry about my sanity, though.

"Sir, I have one more...thing, to ask."

"Just the one."

"I don't have to go back to Malfoy Manor for the summer, do I?"

"Of course not." He said as soon as the words had tumbled from my mouth. "We'll work something out for you. Now, enough questions. I suggest you make a start on these sweets. Ah! Bettie Bott's Every Flavour Beans! I was unfortunate enough in my youth to come across a vomit flavoured one, and since then I'm afraid I've rather lost my liking for them -- but I think I'll be safe with a nice toffee, don't you." He smiled and popped the golden-brown bean into his mouth. Then he choked and said, "Alas! Boogers!"

Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, was a nice woman, but very strict.

"Five minutes, please!"

"Absolutely not."

"Dumbledore came in!"

"Well, of course, that was the headmaster, quite different. You need rest."

"I am resting! It's good if people are with me – You don't want me to be lonely, do you? Go on, Madam Pomfrey..."

"Oh, very well," she said. "But five minutes only." And she let Ron and Hermione in.

"WILLOW!" Hermione looked ready to fling her arms around me, when I was sure Madam Pomfrey was out of sight, I pulled her into a hug. "Oh, Will, we were sure you were going to –Dumbledore was so worried –"

"The whole school's talking about it," said Ron. "What really happened?" I gave him a hug too.

I told them everything: Quirrell; the mirror; the Stone; and Voldemort, (including the part where I punched him in the face. I needed someone to know I punched him in the face. Especially the punch for Neville, and the punch for myself. It was very symbolic.) I told them about how I passed the challenges too. I also told them about how I could be related to Harry.

"Hang on," said Ron trying to work something out. "His birthday is on the thirty-first of July and yours is –––?"

"I still don't know."

"Really?" Hermione asked.

"No one ever told me."

"I guess it still could work, then!"

"I'm just clutching at straws," I shrugged. "Unfortunately, I'm a Malfoy for life."

"So the Stone's gone." said Ron finally. "Flamel's just going to die?"

"Dumbledore said: 'to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.'"

"I always said he was off his rocker," said Ron, looking quite impressed at how crazy his hero was.

"So, what happened to you guys?" I asked curiously.

They launched into a story, full of elaborate detail. It involved Ron sacrificing himself – "Oh, he was so brave!" Hermione said, tears in her eyes – and Hermione giving Harry a long, dramatic speech about friendship and bravery.

They left soon afterwards. The weekend passed quickly and before I knew it, Harry was awake.

Like me, he was visited by Dumbledore. He told us what Dumbledore had said, even though he hid something. I could read Harry like a book for some reason.

"What happened to you two?" he asked turning his head to look at the others. Hermione seemed to be happy to tell her story.

"Well, I got back all right," said Hermione. "I brought Ron round -- that took a while -- and we were dashing up to the owlery to contact Dumbledore when we met him in the entrance hall -- he already knew -- he just said, 'They've gone after him, haven't they.' and hurtled off to the third floor."

"D'you think he meant you to do it?" said Ron. "Sending you your father's cloak and everything."

"Well," Hermione exploded, "if he did -- I mean to say that's terrible -- you could have been killed."

"No, it isn't," said Harry thoughtfully. "He's a funny man, Dumbledore. I think he sort of wanted to give us a chance. I think he knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know. I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try, and instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don't think it was an accident he let me find out how the mirror worked. It's almost like he thought we had the right to face Voldemort if we could...."

"Yeah, Dumbledore's off his rocker, all right," said Ron proudly. "Listen, you've got to be up for the end-of-year feast tomorrow. The points are all in and Slytherin won, of course -- you missed the last Quidditch match, we were steamrollered by Ravenclaw without you -- but the food'll be good."

At that moment, Madam Pomfrey bustled over.

"You've had nearly fifteen minutes, now OUT!" she said firmly.

"Anyway Harry, thanks for saving my life." I added before I left.

"But you saved mine Willow."

"We saved each other." I smiled.

"No, really. You saved me."

I was so tired that I didn't care enough to be confused. We trudged back to our rooms and went to bed.

The hall at the End of Year Feast was mostly full and it was decked out in the Slytherin colours of green and silver to celebrate Slytherin's winning the house cup for the seventh year in a row. A huge banner showing the Slytherin serpent covered the wall behind the High Table.

"Another year gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were... you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts....

"Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor, with two hundred and fifty two points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw has four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy- two." A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table.

"Yes, Yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore. "However, recent events must be taken into account." The room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little.

"Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes...

"First -- to Mr. Ronald Weasley..." Ron went purple in the face; he looked like a radish with a bad sunburn. "For the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points." Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver.

Percy could be heard telling the other prefects, "My brother, you know! My youngest brother! Got past McGonagall's giant chess set!" At last there was silence again.

"Second -- to Miss Hermione Granger... for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points." Hermione buried her face in her arms; I strongly suspected she had burst into tears. Gryffindors up and down the table were beside themselves -- we were a hundred points up. "Third -- to Mr. Harry Potter..." said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet. "For pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points." The din was deafening.

Dumbledore raised his hand. The room gradually fell silent.

"Fourth -- To Miss Willow Malfoy ..." he said smiling down at me "For overcoming the odds; for exceptional bravery and great personal sacrifice. I award Gryffindor house sixty points." the room practically exploded.

"Great personal sacrifice?" Harry mimed to me as I sat in shock.

Once again Dumbledore raised his hand. The room went silent again except for a few excited squeals, one of which by me.

"There are all kinds of courage," said Dumbledore, smiling. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom." Someone standing outside the Great Hall might well have thought some sort of explosion had taken place, so loud was the noise that erupted from the Gryffindor table. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I stood up to yell (I jumped on the seats with Fred and George) and cheer as Neville, white with shock, disappeared under a pile of people hugging him. He had never won so much as a point for Gryffindor before.

From the seats, which now half of Gryffindor stood on, I could see Malfoy; he couldn't have looked more stunned and horrified if he'd just had the Body-Bind Curse put on him. I felt a bit bad for the Slytherins. There must have been a lot of them who worked hard to get their house points, for it to all mean nothing. I felt especially bad for the seventh-years who'd wanted to win one last time, and for Jimmy, who'd probably end up getting beaten up over it.

"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, for even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin, "we need a little change of decoration." He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became scarlet and the silver became gold; the huge Slytherin serpent vanished and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place. Snape was shaking Professor McGonagall's hand, with a horrible, forced smile.

It was the best evening of my life, better than Christmas, or knocking out mountain trolls... I would never, ever forget tonight.

I had almost forgotten that the exam results were still to come, but come they did. To my great surprise, I had just passed the written aspects, but my practical applications were almost on par with Hermione's. Hermione, of course, had the best grades of the first years. Even Neville scraped through, his good Herbology mark making up for his appalling Potions one. We had hoped that Goyle, who was almost as stupid as he was mean, might be thrown out, but he had passed, too. It was a shame, but as Ron said, you couldn't have everything in life.

Annabeth Pike gave me a massive hug as we all were leaving, "I'm going to miss you, you sweet, weird, little angel. Keep everyone in line for me, eh?"

"Of course, Annabeth. It is my sworn duty."

"Righto kid. I'll be seeing you again, I'm sure. I'm planning to become an Auror. If You-Know-Who ever does make it back, I want to be the one to punch him in the face." I beamed at her. "It'll be quieter without me talking all the time, so you've got to make up for it, okay? Talk loud, talk much, talk often."

And suddenly, our wardrobes were empty, our trunks were packed, Neville's toad was found lurking in a corner of the toilets; notes were handed out to all of us, warning us not to use magic over the holidays ("I always hope they'll forget to give us these," said Fred sadly); Hagrid was there to take us down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; we were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating Bettie Bott's Every Flavour Beans as we sped past Muggle towns; pulling off our wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station.

"Hey Will," Hermione asked thoughtfully as we pulled into the station.

"Yeah," I hummed absent-mindedly

"Where are you going these holidays?" I honestly had no idea.

"I'm going to find myself." I said vaguely.

"Who are you staying with?"

"No one."

"That's not safe, Willow!" Hermione gave me a very stern look.

"Don't you worry about it, Hermione. I'm always okay, aren't I?" I gave her a reassuring smile, which she did not return.

"You are the least OK person I have ever met. You probably spent more time in the Hospital Wing than out."

True.

"I've actually got it all sorted with Dumbledore," I lied, to stop her being stressed. "I'm staying in Diagon Alley."

"Ohh, we should meet up to buy our school supplies!" She cheered.

We crossed the barrier into the muggle world, hugged each other, and went our separate ways home. Or, in my case, to the very unknown. It was going to be an interesting summer.

Hey readers, I hope you liked this book! Book 1 is now 100% edited and updated and there shouldn't be any issues with it. If there are, email me at [email protected] so I can fix it right up for you. :) 
Book 2 might be a little out of sync with this book for the time being, but once I've edited that, it'll be uploaded and everything should make sense again. Thank you all for being yourselves. I love you. 

xxoxooxoxoo 

Lucy

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