This is the chapter that I really don't want to write, but I have to. I don't think our characters will have a simple happily ever after, do you? And I don't own Harry Potter.
Saying Goodbye
Over the next few weeks, Elsie noticed a definite increase in the amount of time both the twins spent with Angelina, Alicia, Katie and Lee. She wasn't jealous though, but she knew why they did, and it pained her heart to know that she had to do the right thing and let Fred go. She prolonged it for as long as possible though, not wanting to give up the best thing in her life, so she kept herself busy, helping Hermione with S.P.E.W and doing her homework in the library or with Myrtle in the bathroom, but after one D.A lesson she waited for the twins in the corridor. They hurry up the stairs with strange ingredients in their arms,
"What are you doing?" she asks them,
"We're going to use these to experiment for our products." George says showing her the strange objects,
"Where did you get them from?"
"Potions." Fred says shrugging,
"You were stealing?" she exclaims stunned,
"Like you havent helped us steal before." George replies and she shoots him a cold look,
"Can I speak with you?" she asks Fred who nods and George turns to the fat lady and says,
"Niffler." And she swings open and he hurries inside.
"What's wrong, Els?" Fred asks her and she takes a deep breath,
"I don't think I can do this anymore." She says and he looks at her curiously, "It's not fair on anyone. I think it's time we ended this." She says and he sits down beside her on the floor,
"What do you mean? I really, really like you." He says urgently and she smiles sadly, tears springing to her eyes,
"But you don't love me." She states and he looks at her unable to say anything, "You love Angelina, and she loves you. And I don't want to get in the middle of you two. So…" she says tailing off,
"So." He replies upset and she gets to her feet slowly, "We'll still be friends though, won't we?" he asks her and she turns to face him,
"Of course. We've been through too much to not be." She says before she enters into the common room and hurries up to her dormitory.
But Fred doesn't ask Angelina out. Elsie decides it must be because he is either being considerate towards her, or that it is true that George likes her too. But soon she sits by herself not only in class, but at mealtimes and in the common room as well. The only thing keeping her going is her schoolwork and the D.A meetings, where although she shines, people there still forget her name. She spends more and more time sitting with Luna who is as lonely as she is, and she soon learns things about her that she would never have guessed.
"My mum died when I was nine."
"I'm so sorry. My mum died when I was little too." Elsie replies and Luna looks at her in surprise,
"I thought so. But I wasn't sure, you're a very sad person." She says and Elsie looks at her bewildered, "But you've gotten even sadder this year. You're less bright than before." She says and Elsie has realised this too. She no longer cared for her bright clothes that much, although occasionally she would have to wear something bright if she had nothing else to wear. At this moment in time she was wearing a brown knitted jumper, dark green skirt and bright blue tights.
"Why are you so sad?" Luna asks and Elsie looks down at her dirty shoes, "You shouldn't be. You'll see your mum and Cedric again one day." She adds before skipping away.
Elsie starts to revise for her exams months before the actual date, also trying to keep up with her masses of homework and D.A meetings, but it is one meeting where her and her friends practice the Patronus charm that something truly awful happens. She waves her wand and cries,
"Expecto Patronum!" and watches as her Hawk flies around her head, graceful and solitary as there is a loud thud from outside the room. She looses her concentration and it vanishes into thin air and she turns around to face the source of the noise. Spectacularly the large mirror spreading across one wall breaks and crashes to the ground in a million tiny pieces. She sees a small gap in the wall behind, and Harry and Nigel walk over to it and peer through it, before Harry drags Nigel away from it as the whole wall explodes, cascading rubble and dust at the members. Elsie gets back on her feet and when the dust clears she sees Umbridge, Filch and members of the Inquisitorial squad and… Cho Chang. Elsie looks at her stunned as the twins hurry over to Elsie, looking over her to make sure she's alright.
"Get them." Umbridge says and the members rush in and Goyle grabs Elsie's robes harshly and yanks her away,
"Ouch, Merlin's sake!" she says fiercely as he pulls her along,
"Shut your mouth, mudblood." He spits at her as they are taken away.
The D.A is over. Dumbledore took the blame and now he's gone, leaving Umbridge to fill the post as headmistress. All the members of the D.A are given detention, and Elsie again has to carve words into the back of her hand, as Umbridge sits in the headmaster's chair, watching them. Fred and George are furious, and as she sits silently with them, Lee, Angelina, Alicia and Katie they discuss how they are going to get Umbridge back. Elsie sits with her hand in Murtlap essence which relieves the stinging, staring into the fire, not really paying much attention.
"Elsie! Elsie!" Angelina says and she looks at her dazed, "Are you coming to bed?" she asks worriedly and Elsie nods, getting to her feet and following them up to the dormitory. The news that Dumbledore has left the school creates panic and a new wave of rule breaking occurs. Now that their beloved headmaster is no longer in charge everyone seems to want to make as much hassle for Umbridge as possible and she starts to give out detentions by whole classes, but this doesn't deter the students, and Fred and George tell Elsie over lunch their plans.
"We've decided we don't care about getting into trouble anymore." Fred says and she looks at them calculatingly,
"When have you ever cared?" she replies and they grin at her,
"Well, we've never been expelled have we?"
"We've always known when to draw the line."
"But now, that we have our premises, we don't care about getting into trouble."
"We only care about giving our new headmistress all the chaos she needs." They finish and Elsie looks at them worriedly,
"You both had better be careful. Umbridge…"
"Don't you get it Elsie? We don't care anymore." George says and they get to their feet,
"We're going to get ready. You wait and see." Fred says winking at her, and even now her heart is torn in two, she still feels her stomach swell up as she watches them go.
In her History of Magic class after lunch, in the silence she hears a loud whizz, and then a colossal bang and fireworks burst into the room through the door, fizzling and dancing, making words or shapes or just bursting into light. Professor Binns tries to stop them but it's too late, all the students run out into the halls with the rest of the school and follows the fireworks down the stairs where they watch as Umbridge gets chased along the great hall by a colossal dragon made from red and yellow and gold fire. It snaps its mouth shut and the enormity of it causes all the educational decrees to come crashing down to the ground, paper and glass shattering everywhere. Elsie watches as Fred and George fly past her on their broomsticks and into the courtyard outside and everyone pushes through and watches as they fly away, causing a trail of blazing light and laughter behind them. Elsie grins for the first time in weeks as she watches as her best friends disappear, the teachers looking as triumphant as the students.
A few days later Elsie receives a letter from Fred and George and she opens it quickly on Saturday morning,
'Dear Elsie,
We told you it would be cool! Is Umbridge getting lots of hassle now? How long did it take her to realise that trying to vanish the fireworks would cause them to multiply? We managed to get premises in Diagon Alley and our joke shop is starting to get set up, and we're still getting massive orders in. We hope you do well in your N.E.W.T's and we'll see you really soon!
From Fred and George'
Elsie gets up and heads to the owlery quickly, writing her letter before sending Margot and her barn owl from Christmas which she named Cedric to the twins' new address enclosed with the letter. She knew she didn't need to send both of them, but she didn't want them to feel like she had a favourite, which she didn't.
Over the few weeks, Elsie finishes her N.E.W.T's once again and believes they went as well, if not better than the ones the previous year. One day though she opened up her delivered Daily Prophet and read on the first page that Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna had went to the Ministry of Magic and fought of you know who, and that the Ministry had realised he was truly back. It also turned out that Lucius Malfoy was in fact a death eater, and now he and several others were in Azkaban. She looked over at the Slytherin table and saw Draco Malfoy looking angry and displeased and she smiled smugly. In fact, it also said that Sirius Black was not a death eater at all, and that he had been killed by Bellatrix Lestrange whilst helping fight off the death eaters. Elsie felt sad that this man had been slandered and wrongly accused of killing many innocent people, and then having his life taken from him days before the public found out that he was innocent. Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Neville were sitting at the Gryffindor table, but Harry was not among them and she wondered whether he was close with Sirius and had known that he was innocent all this time, but knew that no one would believe him, just like no one believed him that Voldermort was back. Umbridge had resigned, and Dumbledore had been reinstated and soon Elsie was packing her bags, ready to depart her home for the past seven years. She made her bed lovingly, but left the hangings open as though she would be back later to climb beneath the warm covers, even though this was a lie. She hugged Angelina, Alicia and Katie and bid goodbye to Hermione and Ginny, who hugged her unexpectedly too, and Elsie realised that although she wasn't widely known, there were some people that would miss her. She went to find Luna and said farewell to her as well,
"We'll see each other one day again, I expect." Luna says happily and Elsie nods,
"Hopefully. Goodbye Luna."
"Goodbye Elsie." She says skipping away down the corridor. Elsie went to find Myrtle in the bathrooms and she was even more upset than usual,
"You're the only one that comes to visit. Now you're going as well." She says and Elsie looks at her sadly,
"I'm sorry."
"No, you go! I'll be fine here by myself, I'm used to it." She snaps, turning her back on her,
"Goodbye Myrtle." Elsie says sadly, leaving the bathroom.
At the end of term feast Elsie looks at the many teachers she had got on well with and had known for the best years in her life. Professor Dumbledore was his usual cheery self and was deep in discussion with Professor McGonagall, the woman who Elsie had connected with most as they had so much in common. Then there was Professor Sprout and Flitwick who Elsie had always liked, Snape who she was glad to be rid of, but there was Hagrid at the end of the table, who she waved too and he waved back. In no time at all it seemed that Elsie was on the Hogwarts express for the last time, wondering whether she will ever be back perhaps, and wondering what she was going to do next with her life.