Hello!
Kitkat2007 - thank you! It didn't seem right that everything would just be back to normal. If Harry and Andy have changed, so would their relationship. Kelly - haha it is a mammoth. Thank you so much! Unfortunately, I don't have any more stories planned at the moment, but who knows? It's bittersweet to finally close this chapter with Andy, but everything has to end sometime.
Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this journey with me, even if you've just stumbled across it. I greatly appreciate every comment and every thought you've had on my story. Writing is so great but so personal, and I've always struggled with the idea of writing something no one would ever read. So thank you, again.
I hope that you've enjoyed reading Lie to Me and Left Behind as much as I have writing them :)
Keep on reading and writing!
So, one last time,
Enjoy!
Wooden boats lined the shoreline.
The castle looked magnificent in the sunset. Stunning golds and blushing pinks danced across the sky like watercolor paints spilling over a canvas. Graduates in their black robes and pointed caps crowded the water's edge. Many of them spread out among the grass, talking loudly in groups. Everyone was excited, the air buzzing with electricity.
I glanced down at the black cap in my own hands. A silver ring twinkled back at me. The faint loopy scar on the back of my hand was hardly visible anymore, not that I could even really remember what it had felt like anymore.
"Hey."
I looked up as he bumped his shoulder against mine. He was dressed like everyone else; wispy black robes as dark as his hair whisked around his ankles. He was so ordinary, if anything about Harry Potter was ordinary. His glasses reflected the setting sun. He looked beautiful.
"Hi," I said back, my brain unable to compose anything else. His hand brushed mine as we looked out over the group of students in front of us. It was impossible to distinguish anyone by house anymore, but I saw some familiar faces. Dean and Seamus were battling enchanted stick figures by the shore. Luna and Neville talked beneath a shady tree. Pavarti was talking to two girls with flowing blonde hair. Hermione was already wearing her cap and had turned her attention to fuss with Ron's robes, who had flushed the color of a shiny apple. He looked at the sky as her fingers swiftly adjusted his scrunched collar.
"They just need to kiss already."
Harry's fingers squeezed mine playfully. "Is that your powers talking?"
"You know those have been gone for a long time."
I was Andrea Ashworth. The daughter of Death Eaters. A prophet. Voldemort's creation. A weapon destined to kill The-Boy-Who-Lived.
My prophecies, along with my connection with Voldemort, all had been severed by his death. The monster was gone. I wasn't that person anymore, nor did I feel like I ever truly had been. When asked about my powers, I told them how I could feel them slowly going dormant, retreating to the edge until I could no longer feel them anymore - like an itch unable to be scratched. Voldemort had taken my powers to his grave. Now, I could only do magic with my wand.
At least, that was what I told everyone but Harry.
After Dumbledore's funeral, The Daily Prophet had a field day with me.
Only bits and pieces had escaped into the public. Most of the people who had witnessed the battle had only seen the dramatic end and the surviving Death Eaters weren't too keen on talking about me all the way in Azkaban. There were only four people, including myself, who knew the true extent of what had occurred that night - and two of them were Malfoys.
Dodging reporters became my pastime. Rita Skeeter had pestered Hermione constantly for an interview until Harry agreed to meet with her on my behalf. I don't know what he said, nor did I ever ask, but the harassment stopped shortly after that. She published an article a few weeks later in the Quibbler about the medical uses for Niffler snot.
Talking about a past I never knew wouldn't have helped anyone. In the end, it all came down to names. Who's name went with what side. Who's name had been scorned. Who's name was condemned.
And, unlike Harry, I had the choice of choosing my name.
I was Andrea Goodrich. A Gryffindor. A honorary member of the late Order of the Phoenix. The daughter of Muggles.
And, like all news, the commotion eventually died down. Life had gone on, limping along as it slowly regained its strength. The school remained closed for the rest of the summer but, with a lot of help, it was able to restart that same year. There were some people who dug their heels in, as if Hogwarts wasn't going to be the same after the battle. No, of course not. But, for the first time in a long time, it was safe. The danger that had plagued the world for years was gone.
Hermione helped me organize a memorial garden in the courtyard. A memorial garden was a Muggle thing, really. The flowers would persevere through any weather, never dying, an immortal piece of all the people who had lost their lives to save the rest of ours. After the opening ceremony I showed Harry the single bush of snapdragons in the back that, instead of growing in hues of orange and yellow, had been enchanted to bloom a dark red that looked almost black. There was no plaque, no name, but I told him that in India they were more commonly known as Dog flowers.
Harry's voice snapped me back to the present. "There's always something going on in that head of yours, isn't there?"
I chuckled. "I've got a lot to think about." I shoved my cap into my pocket, looking out over the water. "It'll be two years next week."
"I know," Harry said lowly, eyes also on the horizon.
When I said it aloud, two years seemed like an awfully long time. But in my mind it wasn't. The emotions were still there, just as fresh as they were the night everything happened. Time hadn't healed me; it just made burying everything far beneath the surface that much easier.
"The nightmares always get worse." It was as if my body could feel the anniversary slipping closer each time. Cold sweats turned into violent dreams, so violent I would come to dread night.
"And I'll be there," Harry said. His fingers wrapped around my wrist and guided me towards the trees. "Anyway, I got you something."
"But I didn't get you anything!"
Harry chuckled and reached inside his robes. He handed me a parcel. "Don't say that until you actually see what it is."
I knelt in the grass and Harry sat beside me. I glanced at his smiling face curiously. The parcel was small but sturdy - the perfect size for a book. The string untied easily and I let the paper fall into my lap. It wasn't a book. It was a wooden picture frame. And inside -
"You're really cocky enough to gift someone else a picture of yourself?"
Harry laughed again. "Just watch it."
Harry was flying on his broom, scarlet Quidditch robes whipping through the wind. Harry jumped off his broom while still in the air and landed hard in the dirt. He tossed his Firebolt to Ron with one hand, still holding the snitch aloft with the other. Without hesitation, he walked past his teammates, striding towards the crowd of students who were streaming onto the field. Suddenly, I ran forward, pushing past Hermione and Neville. Harry grabbed me around the waist with one strong arm, pulling me against him as he spun around and around. The glittering golden snitch that was fluttering helplessly in his grasp was just as bright as our smiles. I looked happy. We looked happy.
"Harry - " I stopped, wanting to watch the picture play out again. That moment been months ago, but I still remembered it clearly. I hadn't known anyone had been photographing us.
"It's so when you go off for your internship, you have something to put on your desk like everyone else."
"With my luck," I teased, "you're just going to be right down the hall."
"And, you know, so you can have a picture of the famous Boy-Who-Lived. I thought about signing it, but I thought you'd hit me."
"I still might."
"You know, not too many people have my autograph," he said. "It would be worth at least a couple thousand Galleons."
"And then I'd be rich enough to buy myself a new boyfriend."
Harry feinted a shot to the heart. "To leave me dying brokenhearted and alone."
"Thank you," I said softly, dropping the act and holding the picture against my chest. "I love it."
Harry's expression softened as he dipped his head. The familiar, comfortable pull tugged at my heart -
Someone cleared their throat.
Draco stood over us, hands behind his back. The sun was against him so that his silver hair was gold. He nodded once. "Potter."
Harry nodded in return. "Malfoy."
"You have five minutes to finish - whatever it was you two were doing." The Head Boy badge on his chest glinted in the dimming light.
"We'll be ready."
"Congratulations!" I called out as he was walking away. He stopped. "Your father would have been proud."
"Thanks, Andy," he said with a shadow of a smile.
"Come celebrate with us later? We'll have a table at the Three Broomsticks. Harry wouldn't want you to miss it." At my words, Harry scoffed, looking at the ground. I elbowed him sharply in the ribs, which only made him cough.
Draco chuckled too. He looked us over once. "I'll think about it."
I tucked the picture into my robes, watching as Draco snapped his wand towards Dean and Seamus. Immediately, their dueling stick figures crumbled into splinters. Seamus let out an anguished cry but Draco ignored him, ushering them towards the boats. "Now I feel guilty that I didn't get you anything."
"Don't worry about it," Harry said. He stared at me, his green eyes so intense that I blushed and dropped my gaze to the ground.
"Don't do that."
"Do what?" Harry said.
"Be - you." I blushed even harder.
"Don't be me?" Harry said. "First you deny an autographed photo and then you tell me to stop being myself?"
"I'm not the only person who would think that's lame. Ask around!"
Harry rolled his eyes. "I thought it was funny."
"It was funny," I said under my breath.
"Eh?" Harry said, leaning forward. "What did you say? I didn't hear you."
"I said it was funny." I absentmindedly reached for his arm and rubbed his wrist. There was a beat in our banter and the mood changed. I focused on the wind that caressed my hair, the slightly sweet smell of the trees, the cool grass under my legs. I listened to the chatter of my classmates, felt the warmth of Harry next to me. His skin was smooth. I broke down each sound, each touch, each sensation, wanting to remember it forever.
"I don't know if I ever told you this," Harry said, "but I felt something from the moment you fell into my lap on the train - even if I didn't realize it yet. I think that we're meant to be sitting here, you and me."
"Oh, don't remind me. That was the weirdest day of my life," I said. "Why didn't you just ditch me after that?"
"If I'm recalling this correctly, you insisted on following me around like a lost puppy. Someone was so thick they couldn't take the hint."
"I was not!" I said defensively and Harry laughed. It was a nice sound, one I was okay never getting used to. I leaned back against Harry's shoulder. Silence fell, but with Harry it was never uncomfortable. We watched the rest of our class head towards the boats. In the distance, black Thestrals grazed peacefully. They walked along the water, close for some yet unnoticed by most.
"Never thought I'd ever survive long enough to actually graduate," Harry said to no one in particular, his face lifted towards the darkening sky.
Somewhere, I hoped Harry's parents were proud. I hoped that mine were too. I had chosen my own destiny, despite all the shots it had thrown at me.
Normality was overrated anyway.
"You and me both, Potter."
He draped his arm over my shoulder and loosely linked his fingers through mine. "We did it."
The sun was almost kissing the horizon. It would only be a matter of time before McGonagall called for us. Then we would sail away across the lake and into the twilight. I didn't know what lay ahead, but I knew I liked it that way.
"Yeah, we did."
THE END
