Minerva McGonagall's first act as Headmistress was to fire Binns and Lockheart, the second to order a mandrake restorative draught immediately, and the third was to finally get some sleep.

Lily Evans was uncertain she wanted to do this, but she reassured herself with the thought: at least if it works, I can tell Shadow who her father is. If it doesn't...Well, it won't matter. Checking to see Madame Pomphrey wasn't looking, she took a tiny drop of blood from her daughter's hand. Hurrying to the Room of Requirement, hands shaking slightly, she poured the blood into a green potion, which was designed to show the bloodline of the child. "Maternal bloodline: Lily Evans, Mother, Petunia Dursley, Aunt, Dudley Dursley, Cousin. Juniper Evans nee Costello, grandmother, Davey Evans, grandfather..." more names spelled out in the smoke, but Lily was most interested in the paternal bloodline's smoke. "She's his," breathed Lily. "Nigel didn't exist. I knew it, of course, but...his." Lily broke down in tears, screaming, "Why did she have to be his?"

Meanwhile, in the silent Hospital Wing, Shadow became still, hearing her mother's crying. Suddenly it stopped, and a few minutes later Lily, rumpled looking and tearstained, hurried back inside. Madame Pomphrey looked at her. Shadow's, Ginny's, Luna's, Hermione's, Draco's, Penelope's and Colin's bodies lay in the hospital wing, their 'souls' standing next to their bodies. Madame Pomphrey dripped the potion into their mouths, rubbing their throats to get it down. Shadow blinked, blinking again, feeling her lashes against her cheek, she gasped. She had a body. She was real again! She could talk to her mother, feel real, eat, sleep...she could do it all again! Lily gathered her daughter, who's emerald eyes so like hers, so like hers, shone with tears that overflowed, and they clung to each other like they were drowning and the other was their lifeline. "Luna! Is Luna okay?" Shadow gasped, heading to her friend's bedside, then along to Draco's, Ginny's, and the others all in turn. They all hugged, crying tears of joy to feel again. Draco's blonde hair mixed with Shadow's black, Shadow's with Ginny's red, Ginny's with Luna's blonde, Luna's with Hermione's brown...they were a huge circle of gasping, sobbing friends, which soon turned to laughter then to tears again. Shadow and Draco hugged, only them hugging, while the others watched, laughing like maniacs, drastic contrasts, like night and day, sun and moon, dark and light. After an awkward moment, when they seemed to realise they were hugging a lot longer than friends would, they sprang apart, blushing. Lily turned to her daughter. "I have something...surprising to tell you," she said.

"Okay," she said. "I'm sorry, guys, but I'll be back in a moment."

"Shadow," said Lily, "Nigel Black wasn't a muggle. And Nigel Black did not exist." Shadow listened in growing horror as her mother began to explain whom, exactly, her real father was...

James Potter sat with his young, beautiful, and completely weak willed wife. She was named Callie, but he just called her C, when he actually talked to her. To James, she was a trophy to show off at Pureblood events, bragging to the world he had a blonde bimbo for a wife.

Sirius Black was sat with Remus Lupin in the Hog's Head, because Madam Pomphrey had sent them out of the castle, backed up my Minerva, for the families to be reunited. They spoke about Shadow Evans, Lily Evans, and whether James knew she was back.

Severus Snape was still in the castle, down in his dungeon, brewing a pepper-up potion. Apparently, the more students in the castle (only a few more, though), she needed at least three new batches. And usually, he'd only have to make one more batch at this time of year. Sighing, he looked at his clock. Only ten more minutes, and he'd have to deliver it to Poppy.

He looked around to the sight of Lily Evans running towards him. He'd always felt that he should tell Lily about Nigel Black, about getting her pregnant, but he couldn't. It was more than simple guilt, it was more than that, it was about what he had given, taken, from her and Shadow...

Lily looked at the man who had become Nigel Black, the man whom she had known before, the man she'd fallen in love with. She looked him over. "Put it on, the Nigel Black guise." He did so.

"You look old," she sighed.

"You look as young as ever," he replied, reaching out tentatively.

"I can't love you anymore. You left me."

"Not before you left me. But you're right. Let me be Shadow's father, please, Lily. That's all I ask, to know my blood-child."

"For your sake, I hope Shadow wants you. She's..." Lily couldn't find a word to describe her daughter, back up at the castle with its stone walls. "Anyway, just friends, right?"

"Just friends, Lily," he smiled, before turning around and dissaperating with a sharp crack.

Shadow Evans sat on the windowsill of the open window of the hospital wing onto the brightly lit night. It was a full moon, clear and sharp. She never had been able to sleep on full moons. They're beauty made her restless. Someone walked up behind her. Draco, her mind supplied as the soft, slim hands made gentle contact with her bare arm. She numbly patted the seat next to her. He sat, looking down at their legs with slight shock. "You're not scared of heights?" He questioned.

"I think the idea of falling is thrilling, not frightening," she replied in an almost trance-like state, staring down at the hard ground. "I think it's not the falling that they fear it's the ground. I fear neither. I am not a stranger to pain, Draco, I am far more experienced than I would wish to be. In both matters of the heart and body, I am experienced in pain. I thrive upon the wishes, resisting the call of death." She looked at him, emerald eyes clear. "I will welcome death, Draco, when he comes. I will embrace him. But I will not make his job easier."

Draco nodded, seemingly accepting her answer. He stood, offering her his arm. She took it, smiling, and under the moonlit sky, they danced in the eyes of a world that loved them, but the people in it hated them.

Lily walked slowly back to the hospital wing when she saw, through a crack in the door, Draco and Shadow dancing close to one another, feet moving through a quiet waltz. Silently, she took a step back and went back to her own rooms, and hoping that Shadow and Draco would soon recognise the feelings they had for one another, and sighing over what could have been her happy ending.