THE AFTERMATH - HARRY

He couldn't unsee the Slytherin Champion falling. He didn't even see what had happened before that. The golden light had nearly blinded him. But the next thing he knew, Jade was screaming, and then she stopped.

He had dueled with Voldemort after that. Their wands had done something funny. There had been more golden light, though it had been more yellow this time, and he had seen his mother and father, as well as tons of other people he didn't know. They all seemed to be dead.

He hadn't seen Jade, but her body felt extremely cold for her to be alive. Harry was shaking uncontrollably as he held onto Jade's body, the wind howling as they were about to return to Hogwarts. He had barely escaped, and it was thanks to not only what had happened with his wand, but also thanks to the girl who continued to surprise him.

Harry suddenly slammed into the ground, his face pressed against the familiar Hogwarts grass. His head was swimming; drowning in an endless ocean of emotions. He clutched Jade's body tighter, afraid of letting her body drown in that deep ocean.

Then, a pair of hands seized him, roughly turning him over.

"Harry! Harry!"

He opened his eyes to see Dumbledore's familiar face. Though it didn't make him feel much better.

"He's back," Harry whispered, letting go of the cup to clutch Dumbledore's wrist. "He's back. Voldemort."

"What's going on? What happened?"

Then, Cornelius Fudge loomed over him, his face upside down from Harry's view.

"My God! Is she... dead?" He whispered.

Harry wanted to choke.

Dumbledore calmly reached over, feeling Jade's wrist. He shook her head. "There is a pulse."

All the emotions crashed into Harry all at once. They transitioned from him questioning whether or not Jade was dead to him telling himself that she was alive.

Pulse. Pulse means alive, but why isn't Dumbledore happier?

"Jade!" Harry turned to see a rush of people hurrying towards them. Two Chinese parents were shoving people out of their way. Cho, A Hufflepuff girl, as well as a Slytherin boy were shortly behind them.

The older woman fell to her knees and screamed when she saw Jade, proceeding to sob.

She's alive! Harry desperately wanted to scream, but he felt too ill and injured to raise his voice.

"Harry, stay here -" Dumbledore patted his shoulder before heading to console the ongoing mass of people.

She's alive... she's alive... please stop crying. Harry silently pleaded. Though when he looked at the Slytherin Champion, she looked anything but alive.

--

Harry needed to rest after all the chaos. He just found out that his Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year was actually a crazed Death Eater; a clever mastermind that had set up his treacherous journey as a Triwizard champion.

Dumbledore had explained to him what his wand had done while he was dueling Voldemort. It had been a Priori Incantatem effect, where the spirits of Voldemort's recent victims appeared. Seeing his mother and father among them, Harry wanted to sit in front of the Mirror of Erised again.

To make matters worse, Minister Fudge wasn't buying that Voldemort was back. They no longer had access to Barty Crouch Jr.'s testimony, since Fudge executed the dementor's kiss on him. On top of that, Fudge had accused Harry as deranged and basically rendered anything related to Voldemort coming back, or how Jade had fought against him and almost died, as a delusional story.

It was an insult to not just to him, but to Jade, which was what irked Harry the most.

He was scheduled to meet with Jade's parents the following morning. He didn't know what had happened to Jade yet, so he hoped her parents weren't going to ask him.

Mr. and Mrs. Lin first thanked Harry for bringing Jade back with him. Mrs. Lin wasn't sobbing anymore, but she still looked distraught. Mr. Lin was rubbing his thumb against her hand to comfort her.

"What happened?" Harry tentatively asked. "Is Jade okay?"

Mrs. Lin averted her gaze, her body shaking. Mr. Lin answered for her. "She's alive." He affirmed. "But she hasn't awakened."

Harry bit his lip, trying to explain what had happened. "I didn't see much of what happened, but she summoned something to block the... curse."

"Dumbledore has informed us of what he knows about the situation." Mr. Lin continued, reassuring Harry that he didn't have to explain. "He told us about Jade having an ability to summon a Phoenix Dragon." He closed his eyes, scrunching his face like he was in pain. Mr. Lin then explained. "Jade is physically okay, but... the Phoenix Dragon is not. Dumbledore explained that the Phoenix Dragon is... a part of her, which is why Jade will not wake."

Mrs. Lin buried her face in her hands.

Harry gulped, realizing what this meant. "Is there a way to... heal the Phoenix Dragon?"

This time, Mrs. Lin answered. "This has never happened before in St. Mungo's medical history, so we are not sure if there is a way to bring the Phoenix Dragon back; our daughter back. We have no clue as to how long it will take to discover a cure, if there even is a cure to discover." She looked like someone had just ripped a part of her soul out of her.

Harry bowed his head. "I'm sorry," was all he could think to say.

He then saw the sack of gold on his bedside table. The prize money. They had given two sacks of one thousand Galleons to Harry, since Jade was currently unable to claim her share.

"Jade and I tied for the win." Harry started. "She won. I wasn't even supposed to be a champion. Someone set me up, but your daughter surprisingly helped me through it. We actually didn't like each other at first." He saw her parents raise their eyebrows. "But she's the person who deserves this win and glory the most, and I sincerely respect her."

"Our Jade... won?" Mr. Lin repeated, a bit shocked.

Harry nodded. He pushed one sack towards them. "This is for you. Jade told me the real reason why she entered the tournament. She would want you to have this."

Mrs. Lin straightened, wiping away a few tears. She didn't reach for the gold, though. "Please, tell us. Why did our daughter do this?"

He wasn't particularly happy that he was the one talking to Jade's parents about this and not Jade herself. Even though she wasn't able to do so, Harry felt like he was taking away something valuable from Jade. He reluctantly explained what Jade had told him that day, including how Jade had known about their struggles with work and as a consequence, money.

Mrs. Lin had her hand over her mouth, eyes wide in realization. Her hand shook, as though the truth was too much for her to bear. Mr. Lin took the news a bit better. He mainly seemed surprised, but tried not to show it so openly.

"How... how could I not notice my daughter's true intentions?" Mrs. Lin whispered. "I... I didn't even notice and I..." Her voice cracked as she buried her face once more.

Mr. Lin nodded slowly. "Thank you for telling us. To know this now and with everything that has happened, I don't have words to explain how I'm currently feeling right now." Mrs. Lin leaned into her husband, shaking like a leaf. "You take care of yourself, Mr. Potter, and thank you."

Harry pushed Jade's gold to them. "Please, take it."

Mr. Lin paused, giving a last nod in thanks and tentatively reached for the gold. His eyes became blank when he picked it up. Harry could practically read his mind.

My daughter sacrificed so much for our sake, for this price. This sack of one thousand Galleons will help us with our problems from work, just like she wanted it to.

But it won't help us bring Jade, the reason we endure all our hardships, back.

Harry watched as they headed out, and thought about how he had judged Jade so harshly when they had first met. Regret settled in his heart, of how badly he had treated her before, and how he couldn't do anything to prevent what had happened to her.

--

The End-of-Term Feast this year was the most quiet. People were cautious not to be overly loud or happy. Dumbledore then stood up from the staff table, quieting everyone to silence.

"The end of another year." His gaze flitted to the Slytherin table, who were all looking down at their plates. "There is much that I would like to say to you all tonight, but I must first acknowledge the loss of a very fine person, who should be sitting here, enjoying our feast with us." He gestured to the Slytherin table before proclaiming. "I would like you all, please, to stand, and raise your glasses, to Jade Lin."

Harry rose, followed by every single person in the Great Hall. Everyone raised their glasses and echoed in rumbling voices. "Jade Lin."

Throughout the crowd, Harry caught a glimpse of Jade's friends. He had never seen Laverna look so sad. She was probably the person at the Gryffindor table besides Fred and George that was never sad. Preethi Patil was consoling Cho, who had silent tears running down her face. The Hufflepuff girl that Jade had taken to the Yule Ball, Cait Gibbons. Her glass shook, liquid spilling out onto the floor as she constantly wiped tears away from her face, red from crying.

Dumbledore then proceeded to explain what had happened at the graveyard, laying the truth out.

Voldemort was back, and he had done this to Jade.

"In the light of Lord Voldemort's return, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open." Dumbledore continued.

He then finished. "Remember Jade Lin, a girl who was good, just, and brave, and let us pray that she will wake."

And let us pray that she will wake. Harry mentally repeated.