Chapter 54: Voldemort Returns

I felt like I was trapped in my own body, and my own body became a black hole. I knew I was still in pain, but I couldn't feel it at all. I just felt constantly tense, as if I was preparing for the pain. I heard voices-familiar voices- all around me. I tried so hard to get to them, but I couldn't. They seemed to get closer and closer. I tried to walk to them, but there was no end to the darkness. Until I heard a single voice calling out, "Ami?" That word seemed familiar. A light seemed to form in the middle of the dark. I walked toward it. When I finally reached the light, my eyes opened.

I saw Hermione's face hovering over me. But she was pushed away by Madam Pomfrey, who seemed relieved I was awake and gave me a potion to drink. Expecting it to be disgusting, I reluctantly drank the potion, but it was surprisingly warm and delicious.

Hermione said to me, "Oh thank goodness you're alright! We were worried when you wouldn't wake up."

I saw that Harry, Ron, Luna, and Neville were also there, reading the Prophet. They all looked completely healed.

"How long have I been-er-asleep?" I asked a bit nervously.

"Just all yesterday and today. Fred and George sent this this morning." Hermione said, handing me a colorful basket of goodies, some from the shop and some from their mother. Hermione also gave me a letter from them, but I set it down, not wanting to read it right now.

Hermione informed me that she wasn't completely healed from the curse that had been fired at her, but she was taking a bunch of potions and was improving. Harry handed me the Daily Prophet that they had been reading, which headlines read: HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED RETURNS. Obviously, the Minister finally believed Dumbledore and Harry's story.

"How did we get out?" I asked my friends.

"Some members of the Order came, including your aunt. Dumbledore came too, and he fought You-Know-Who." Ginny said. Hermione bit her lip, and grabbed the closest piece of paper-my letter. She scribbled some words on it, and then showed it to me.

It read: "Sirius died."

My eyes widened, and I didn't dare look at Harry. Ginny cleared her throat, "Flitwick got rid of Fred and George's swamp. But he left a tiny little corner of it, probably as a monument."

I nodded approvingly. "And Umbridge…?"

All six of my friends turned their eyes to the left. Umbridge was sitting on her own bed, sleeping. She was no doubt still recovering from her centaur incident.

Ron said, "She gets really freaked out when you do this." He made a sound with his tongue that sounded like hooves clopping on the ground.

Catching on, I called, "Hey look! Centaur!"

Umbridge sat up quickly, and looked around like a scared deer. When Madam Pomfrey came over, she sat back down, muttering some nonsense.

"Everything is pretty much back to normal. The only person's who's unhappy is Filch. He still thinks Umbridge is the greatest witch to walk the Earth." Neville said.

"I'm sure Draco-poo is unhappy too, right? Did they put his dad and the Death Eaters in Azkaban?" I asked.

"Yes, but the dementors have revolted, so we don't know how long it is before they escape." Harry said solemnly.

I sighed, and let my head fall back onto my pillow. The potion Madam Pomfrey had given me had made me feel much better, but it didn't change how tired I was. I fell asleep immediately, but this time, I had no more nightmares.

Hermione and I were cleared out of the hospital wing in a few days, just before the end of school. We packed our bags together in silence, as the rest of the Gryffindors had already packed.

"Are you staying at the Burrow this summer?" I asked Hermione.

She nodded, "Probably for the last few weeks or so. You?"

"I'll be at the joke shop. But we'll probably stop by a few times. Are you going to come down to see it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Of course, Ami. Now that you three are not selling them around the school, I'm perfectly happy admiring your little trinkets." Hermione said, smiling.

I rolled my eyes at her. "You'll be back at Hogwarts next year, right?" Hermione asked me.

I nodded slowly. "It will be different without the twins, though." I said quietly. "Much different."

I threw a chocolate frog at Ginny, but it accidently hit her right in the face. She glared at me, but there was a playful glint in her eyes. She scooped up a pile of the chocolate frogs we had, and began pelting me with them. I laughed as I tried to dodge them, and I started to throw them back at her, along with several other candies that I happened to grab. Hermione tried to tell us to stop, but that just led to her becoming our next target. I threw some Every Flavour Beans at her face, and they splattered everywhere.

Soon, our compartment on the Hogwarts Express was covered with all kinds of candies, and the three of us were laughing hysterically. Ron and Harry walked into our mess with bewildered expressions, but they sat down anyway and Ron began to eat a chocolate frog that landed on the floor.

Cho Chang and her friend Marietta passed by our apartment. I noticed Harry looking at Cho.

"How are you two, anyway?" I asked him. The last I had heard from Cho was that she and Michael Corner were in love, or something. Harry's expression turned dark.

"Nothing's going on with us," he said.

"I heard she's dating someone else." Hermione said.

"Yeah, Michael Corner." Ginny said.

"Wait, I thought you were dating Michael Corner?!" Ron asked incredulously. Hermione, Ginny, and I all rolled our eyes.

"I was, but he got all sulky when Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw in Qudditch. I ditched him and he ran off to comfort Cho." Ginny said. "I'm dating Dean Thomas now."

"WHAT?" Ron exclaimed. Hermione and I already knew about Ginny's new boyfriend, and I thought they were cute together.

Luckily, the train pulled into King's Cross Station before things got ugly. Hauling my trunk, I went ahead with Ginny.

We spotted Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Fred and George. I was about to run up to Fred and George but Mrs. Weasley stopped me with a great hug. "We're so glad you two are alright!" She exclaimed, pulling Ginny into the hug, too. "Tara sends her regards, Ami. She got held up in Transylvania."

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley." I said, trying my best to politely pull away from her. She smiled brightly at me, and released Ginny and I.

I looked behind Mrs. Weasley to find Fred and George, but they weren't there anymore. Then a pair of hands covered my eyes.

"Boo." Fred and George said.

I laughed and pulled Fred's hands off my eyes. I spun around and jumped into his outstretched arms. I giggled like a little girl as he twirled me around and kissed me. I didn't realize how much I missed him.

Fred set me down and I threw myself at George. I hugged him tightly with my arms around his neck, and lightly pecked his cheek. I watched him blush, and turned away so he wouldn't see my own face reddening.

I took Fred's arm, and waved goodbye to Ginny, Hermione, Harry, and Ron. Fred, George, and I then Apparated to the shop.

Once there, my eyes had to adjust to the enormous amount of color. There were candies, and tricks, and joke items as far as the eye could see. They covered every corner of the walls, and it looked absolutely magnificent. Fireworks exploded periodically, and replicas of the twins and I shouted out descriptions of items at random times.

I walked in a circle, trying to take it all in, but that would be impossible. I turned back to Fred and George, my eyes shining with tears. "It's perfect." I said quietly.

I grinned widely and ran to my two favorite people in the whole world, hugging them both as tight as I could.