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Chapter 53: The Aftermath

I was in numb shock as it slowly dawned on me. They voted guilty. They voted guilty. They believed us when we said that the Spades were evil. There was a little part of me that thought that the Spades were going to be let off the hook, that they were going to get away from justice despite the hundred or so witnesses.

I didn't even register the people around me standing up, murmuring to themselves about the trial, debating whether or not they agreed with the jury on the verdict. I didn't even feel Jake tapping on my shoulder and hearing him softly speak my name. Slowly, very slowly, Jake's calming and soothing voice took hold over me and I let him gently raise me out of my seat. I could see Oliver doing the same thing with Lilly except that she seemed to have a better hold on the situation that I did. But then again, I have to keep reminding myself that Lily has been through a great ordeal and that she had to be strong in order for her to survive. The classic: kill or be killed.

On our way to the car, it had begun to rain. Slow at first but after a minute or two, it picked up momentum and it began to come down hard. We all put our coats over our heads and ran to the car, our shoes being splashed by the puddles that were unavoidable.

Nobody spoke in car ride home. I was driving with Dad next to me with Lilly, Jake and Jackson in the backseat. Mrs Oken had taken Oliver home.

There seemed to be this impenetrable silence inside the car. It was hard for me to concentrate on the road as I couldn't stop thinking about the trial. We had won, so shouldn't we be celebrating? The problem was that it was a very taxing and emotional trial, so no one was in the mood for celebrating or perhaps it was simply a case of disbelief at the fact that we did in fact win. That the Spades weren't going to hurt anyone ever again.

It all felt like a dream these last few months. It feels like in a few moments I'm going to wake up and I'll be sixteen again and Lilly hadn't be captured or I'll wake up and none of this will have happened. Lilly will soon be gone, probably dead or never to be heard from again. Who knows what would have happened if I never recognised her at the hospital all that time ago? Would she have eventually found her way back to us or will I have continued with life as it was, never to know what had befallen my best friend?

Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if Lilly hadn't decided to go on that hike. We probably have graduated school together and then gone to Stanford as planned. Lilly probably gotten in on a sports scholarship and I would have continued as Hannah Montana. Then perhaps Lilly would have gone on to marry Oliver and me Jake. Lilly would have been my Maid of Honour not someone else.

That all seems like another life now. Instead my life went on without Lilly for ten years. Ten very long years. I remember hoping for so long that she wasn't in fact dead, that it was all in my head, that I would wake up and see Lilly with Oliver by the beach putting on sun block ready to go surfing. But those days are over now.

But as I think about it, one more thing could have happened. Oliver was sick the day Lilly went on the hike. What would have happened if Oliver hadn't been sick? Would they both be taken or would the Spades have left them alone? I remember Lilly telling me that they like to pray on lone travellers as they are more venerable. So the big question remains: would Lilly haven been taken or would the Spades had gone on their way?

But if Lilly hadn't been taken then would the Spades have finally been brought to justice as they so rightfully deserved? Was it all a blessing in disguise? Did my pain prevent others from feeling the same way? Would it have been, as Albus said in his letter to Grindelwald, for the greater good?

"Uh Miley?" Jackson said wrenching me out of my thoughts.

"Yes?" I said jumping and repositioning my hands on the steering wheel.

"Weren't we suppose to turn off at the last exit?"

Damn, I had been so engross with my thoughts that I hadn't been paying attention.

"Miley, are you okay? You've been extremely quiet." Jake asked with a concerned look on his face.

"No I'm alright."

"Is it the trial?"

"In a way and hasn't everyone been quiet?"

"Not as quiet as you."

I noticed out of rear window that I wasn't the only one. Lilly had been staring hard out of the window, deep in thought as the rain pitter patter against it. I wish I could read minds and knew what she was thinking. Ever since Lilly had come back to us, she was very closed. Usually I could tell what she was thinking about but not anymore. She was no longer the happy smiling child she once was. Her experience had left her with physical, mental and emotional scars. She was a different person than she once more. She moved, talked even spoke differently. Everything about her was different. At first it was like she was a stranger to us, we knew her but she didn't know us. I no longer knew how to act around her or even talk to her. But now, perhaps I could learn.

It was fifteen long minutes did anything happen. I had finally found our exit and continued en route back home. It was fifteen minutes before anyone spoke.

"Aren't we even going to talk about it?" Jackson said, his voice barely a whisper but it seemed to be so much louder as if he had shouted it.

We all knew he was talking about the trial but still nobody answered him. I guess we were all thinking about what to say. Nobody knew what to say, that was the issue. What do you say at a time like this?

"I believe we're all in shock." I said after several minutes of even more painful silence.

There was a moment when everyone looked around at each other to see their reaction to my statement.

"I believe everyone had their doubts." Jake said. "We couldn't know for sure that the Spades were going jail."

"The Spades wormed their way out of everyone." Lilly said, speaking for the first time for a long time.

We all looked at her, I even slammed on the brakes and turned around.

"There were once an investigation years and years ago. I had only been there for a few months and the police had come to the Spades to investigate a missing girl case. The Spades managed to talk the police out of searching the place in case they found us. It was one of the only things the Spades were innocent of."

"The Spades are master liars." I said turning my attention back to the road and pushing on the accelerator. "They could be caught with blood on themselves with the murder weapon and several witnesses saying they murdered someone and still be let off. It's in their genes to lie, cheat, steal, kidnap and murder."

I spoke the last word in a deadly whisper that seems to send shivers down everyone's backs.

"Did they even have a single decent bone in their body?" Jake asked in a shocked whisper.

For an answer, Lilly simply shook her head.

There were some more tense moments after that. The rain continued to bucket down. The only noise was the sound of the wind screen wipers and the rain hitting the ground and the car.

"Do you believe that everything happens for a reason?" Lilly asked.

"Yes." I said turning a corner.

"Do you believe I was taken for some purpose?"

"Yes."

Lilly didn't response to my answer. She had obviously gone into some serious deep thinking mode. The car once again fell into what seemed a cone of silence. Nobody even moved, they just stared at one spot such as out the window or at their hands.

I opened my mouth to speak, to say something, anything, but the words seem to lose themselves in my throat. No words seem appropriate to speak. It was if being normal, having a normal conversation seemed to difficult or impossible. I had given up hoping that we would eventually return to normal a long time ago. Normal had abandoned us the day Lilly had been kidnapped.

"Could the Spades make an appeal?" Lilly asked not looking at anyone but staring out of the rain soaked window.

"Perhaps," I replied slowly. "But I also think that if they did, it would be denied considering they were found guilty of murder."

"No chance of parole either." Dad said speaking for the first time in a while.

"So what happens now?" Lilly asked directing her gaze to the back of my head.

"Well life goes on and we must go on." I said slowing down as the familiar road turned into our driveway.

I could see in the rear view window some nodding of agreement.

I slowly brought the car to a stop and everyone unclicked their seatbelts at the same time and got out of the car, everyone except for me and Lilly. I slowly reached out and unclicked mine before turning around to face Lilly.

"We won, that's the important thing," I said. "Don't dwell on what to come or what has been but focus on what is now."

Lilly managed a small smile.

"That reminds me of something that Hagrid once said." She said.

"What?"

"What's coming will come and we'll meet it when it does."

A/N I hope you enjoyed reading this update. Please review! I hope everyone is having a great summer holidays!