Anna’s year at Hogwarts is ending, in a most peculiar way; Secret keepers, hiding places, changes of attitude and loyalty.  New lives, old memories, shifting priorities and deadly miscalculations are coming to light in the bright summer sunshine. 





Prologue

Draco and Narcissa exchange letters and bits of news. Gwen, Narcissa and Dobby say good-bye to the ‘Little Lodge’ and begin their journey.

Anna arrives, the students leave, the Aurors descend on their unsuspecting target and Draco shows that he’s truly the new head of the Malfoy family.  Oh, yes, there’s a new resident ghost. And it’s only the first day of summer holiday.

The morning papers are full of news, none of which is unexpected.  Voldemort turns his attention to punishing Draco, with a surprising twist.  Sudden shock and sorrow descend on Hogwarts.

The Daily Prophet carries the event far and wide.   Harry, Draco, Narcissa and Anna send messages. 

Goodbyes and farewells; leaving the old, familiar places and heading for the next destination. Surprises and new beginnings; with friends, old and new.

The Floo connection to St. Mungo’s gets a lot of traffic from Ottery St. Catchpole.   Neville and Luna don’t panic, but do manage to put two and two together.  The word gets out, decisions are made and secrets are revealed.

The weather isn’t the only thing that’s bad; Severus has one lousy day.  Draco and Harry work well together, under adverse circumstances and Gwen doubles Anna’s burden.  Which isn’t, necessarily, a bad thing, come to that.

Everyone has places to go and things to do. But what if they’re seen?  Would it matter?  Would anyone suspect who they really are?  And then there are those cravings one gets when one is pregnant.

Draco plays his part to perfection, and learns something that might help.  THE MORNING AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE … not so loud!  It’s time for some strategy and planning, for Draco’s sake. This might hurt a bit. It’s midnight, do you know where your house elf is?

Gwen makes her presence know, and plans her Christmas surprise; surprise being the operative word.  “I’m dreaming of a White Christmas.”  Stop being stubborn, and that goes for both of you; kiss and make up.  Mistletoe optional.  Gwendolyn  Anastasia Malfoy meets the head of the family.

Now if everyone who does know can just keep their mouths shut…what am I saying?  And speaking of ‘saying’; what was that, Sybil?  Let’s take a trip down the rabbit hole, shall we?

Things happen fast and furiously; timing is everything.  It’s not the drop…it’s the sudden stop.  An unexpected and unconscious houseguest.  Wormtail waits and watches, and wishes the worst.

Severus checks out the makeover of his old home and gets reacquainted with Cyrus.  Wormtail gets the scare of his life and a few questions.  Surprise!  Now…don’t tell anyone, understood?

The aftermath of the attack at St. Mungo’s; the news spreads quickly, in all directions.  Gwen pays a visit, and Theo makes his own ‘fateful’ decision.  Fred and George make a delivery…oh, goodie, new ‘stuff’!

My, my, such comings and going… everybody out and about, north and south, in and out.  A little reminiscing, a little follow-the-leader, a little breaking and entering; busy day.

Surprises, quick thinking and family ‘secrets’ come into play, and the D.A. has only been at King’s Cross for five minutes!  It’s family reunion time, with more pleasant surprises. ‘Big Hug’

 

Playing Wizards chess takes skill, concentration, determination, and sacrifice…plus a bit of cunning and a dash of bravado.  That’s all well and good, but make it real, with living witches, wizards, house elves, giants, Inferi,  Dementors, ghosts, a Hippogriff and one gung-ho Muggle and…well….you’ll just have to watch and see who makes the first move!   Aren’t I a stinker?

 

Once it gets started, it’s the old “snowball rolling downhill and picking up speed” scene. D.A.s doing their thing, Death Eaters popping in and out, here and there, giants falling down, Inferi going up in flames and Tom does a little redecorating, just for ‘fun’.

It all comes down to this….but we knew it had to, didn’t we?

A wizard’s debt is repaid and “the dead shall arise, more than one.” …this is the chapter with the final battle, I promise.  And later that morning…

I wrote this epilogue a year before I had a word of this story on paper.  I just knew where I wanted to end it, at the beginning . . . . sort of.   What goes around…comes around…lost and found…love.