The closing ball of the inter-school dueling tournament was nothing at all like the opening one.

For one thing, whilst Ebele's absence in the previous ball had gone largely unnoticed, she was undeniably the focal point of this one. It took her five times longer than anybody else to travel down the corridors that led from the bedchambers to the ballroom because a gaggle of reporters stood at every corner waiting to ambush her.

For another, Lily was able to spend the entire time from start to finish frolicking along the ballroom floor, where before she had hardly touched it. This was because Ebele turned out to be just as keen a dancer and because the pair enjoyed each others company so much that they spent the entire night paired off with each other, squealing with laughter whenever their knees accidentally collided during a waltz or their feet skidded during a particularly lively fox trot.

Ebele had insisted that they trade dress robes for the night and so Lily was wearing her distinctive gold ones and she Lily's black shimmering gown.

As an opponent in battle, Ebele was fierce. As a pupil mourning the death of her Professor, she was passionately loyal and feverishly vengeful. And as a friend at a celebration, she was joyous, lively, funny- and utterly captivating.

She certainly didn't do things by halves and Lily loved that about her. In a room full of hundreds of students, the pair were in their own little world, prancing about the floor as though they were alone. Their antics on the ballroom floor gathered much attention from the other school's students, who looked on in wonder at how close the two former opponents had become.

Lily certainly didn't feel as though she had just lost. The immediate shock of having been unable to fulfill her deal with Raleigh had stung, but now her heart was full with happiness and gratitude towards Ebele for having helped her to get as far as she did in the first place.

At the train station on the morning of their departure, Lily clung to her and the pair promised to write one another.

Ebele's father, the intimidating head of the International Wizards Confederation, stood waiting for his daughter a few meters away.

'He still has it…' Ebele whispered to Lily as they finally drew apart from one another to say their final farewells.

'But I'm not certain that it's the same… it doesn't have the shine it had when I saw it last…'

'Do you think it might have been swapped for a fake?' Lily asked in a hushed tone.

'I'm going to tell my father to check it's authenticity when we get back' Ebele told her firmly. 'You were clever to think Professor Tau's murder might have been a plot to get him to France to steal it- if it's true I'll be forever regretful that we fell into such a trap'

After their duel, Ebele had understandably had a lot of questions about Lily's desire to know about her father's possessions. They had spent some time tucked away behind the statue of the water dragon in their dress robes discussing Lily's suspicions towards her defense against the dark arts professor. Lily had only omitted the part about Poppy having seen Albus take something, instead making out that it was just a theory that the reason for Jafari Tau's death might have been to draw the Supreme Mugwump to the competition in his place. The last thing she wanted to do was implicate her brother in what was likely to be a serious crime, if indeed he had stolen the stone.

It had hardly sunk in at all that Lily would be parting from her newest friend and greatest source of inspiration before Ebele and her father disappeared into a wisp of yellow smoke and blew away on the wind. She was left with a melancholy feeling of sadness at her absence mixed with happiness that she had met her.

Lily turned to get into the carriage where Poppy, Albus and Scorpius were already boarded and waiting, but as she climbed the first step the sound of a man's voice yelling in French made her stop and turn around.

Professor Maudit was running down the platform, with a level of haste that was rare to see in someone of his age. He had in his arms a square package wrapped in plain brown paper.

He stopped in front of Lily and tried to catch his breath.

''Ave you seen Scorpius?'

It was the first time Lily had heard the man speak English. She shook her head instinctively, not knowing whether Scorpius would want to talk with his estranged grandfather.

But just then there was a grating noise as the window of the carriage was thrust open and Scorpius stuck his head out to glare at him.

'Qu'est-ce que tu veux?' he asked roughly.

The old man paused for a moment, before lifting the package up to Scorpius, his eyes watery with remorse.

'C'était celle de ta mère' he murmured.

Scorpius took it reluctantly. As soon as it was out of his hands the elderly wizard turned and shuffled silently away.

But the bundle of brown paper and string remained untouched by Scorpius's side the entire journey home.

Lily was ecstatic to finally be reunited with Lysander and Fides. Her day-dreaming best friend was there to greet her when she arrived back at Hogwarts, with her loyal feline companion draped over his shoulder.

'Did something happen to you whilst you were gone?' Lysander asked calmly, looking her over with a dreamy smile.

'You seem changed'

Lily snorted and grinned.

'Well... I realized that all of my attempts to use a wand over the past three years have been a pointless pursuit...and I was accused of being a snake-charming vessel of dark magic… then I almost drowned…twice- once in sand and once in icy water'

'Ah! I think it may be confidence' Lysander said with a serious expression, ignoring her pessimistic account of her time away. 'You've gone and got some more of it, how grand!'

Lily gave him a wack on the arm to hide her embarrassment, but secretly she felt rather pleased and the corners of her mouth twitched upwards in a faint smile.

'Well... I did also make some good friends' she admitted.

No-one had predicted that Lily would get as far as she had in the tournament and so she was greeted into the great hall each night for that week with a standing ovation. It was no longer just the Gryffindors which sung her praises. Just as many Ravenclaws and Hufflepuff's joined in when Johnathan began the 'Queen of the Qauffle, Goddess of Gryffindor' chant (he had now replaced 'winner of the wand' with 'Hero of Hogwarts'). She even saw Raul Pucey yelling it out in his booming voice much to the obvious displeasure of Horon Carrow who sat a few seats down from him.

Easter holidays followed soon after, and Lily was glad for the opportunity to see her parents. She wanted to talk to her father and was glad to find him in his study the day she arrived home.

He was sitting at his desk holding up a copy of the Daily Prophet, which had a picture on it's front page of Lily and Ebele waltzing in their traded dress robes.

Lily laughed at the sight and her father poked his head out and grinned proudly at her.

'How long have you had that sitting on your desk so that you could do that when I walked in?' Lily teased him.

'That newspaper must be over a week old!' she cried.

'And yet seeing you in it never gets old' Harry chuckled cheerfully.

Lily flushed but she couldn't hide her happiness at having received praise from her beloved father.

Harry went back to looking at the article. Then Lily cleared her throat.

'Mum, said not to disturb you…' She said hesitantly. This was true. Ginny had seemed unusually worried about her husband, a fact that she tried her best to hide from her children but which she did not succeed at.

'You could never disturb me Lils…' Harry beamed at her. Lily looked back at him with concern. Her worry for him made her immune to his praise this time.

'Well… not unless you got a boyfriend' Harry teased, in a thinly vailed attempt to change the subject.

'Dad-!' Lily moaned in embarrassment. She scrunched up her nose in distaste.

'I've no interest in boys' She announced defensively.

Then she folded her arms and turned the conversation back to the matter at hand with a grave face.

'Mum said you had been working round the clock lately… that you might not even be home when we got back…'

'Nothing to worry about love' Harry said dismissively. He got up to stack some of his papers and put them away in a chest of draws at the back of the room. But Lily needed answers and she wasn't about to let him off the hook.

'Did something happen with Ebele's father?' She asked pointedly.

Harry paused with his back to her and his hand over another stack of papers. He turned to give her a sharp look.

'Why would you say that?'

'Well…' Lily began nervously, not sure how much she should tell him.

'…because it seemed odd that he was forced to come to the tournament after Professor Tau died of Noirmorter…' she lied.

Lily could tell from his face, that she had hit the nail on the head.

'And...Ebele told me something of his might have been stolen…' she added for good measure.

Harry's face paled, apparently alarmed by how much she knew.

'We became good friends and she writes to me sometimes' Lily rushed to explain.

Harry walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders.

'I know you are worried for your friend, and her father. But I must ask you not to put your nose in this Lily. This is a very serious case and if anyone were to find out that you knew such information-'

'They might think you gave it to me-' Lily finished for him in a mumble.

Harry sighed.

'They might think that you knew everything about it and try to get more information from you…'

Lily looked down at her feet. She was well aware that their family often received unsolicited attention from the press, a fact that often worried her parents. Certainly, Teddy and Victoire had been the centre of a number of Witch Weekly articles until Ginny had used her authority as the Daily Prophets head sports writer to step in and put pressure on magazine to leave them alone.

'I'll forget I ever heard anything then' Lily reassured him. She shuffled her feet, feeling rather guilty about the fact that she certainly would not forget about what had happened and how it could all be tied to Professor Raleigh.

Harry's shoulders slackened in relief and he let out another sigh.

Lily quickly forced a smile back on her face and said;

'Anyway, that's not what I came to talk to you about'

'What did you come to talk to me about then?' her father asked her curiously.

Lily pulled the Phoenix feather wand she had been carrying around since the tournament out of her jeans pocket and held it out to him handle first.

'I can't use this. I don't need it. I want you to have it back' She announced firmly.

Harry furrowed his brow in concern but Lily lifted her chin higher and went on.

'I'm going to do things my own way from now on'

Harry gingerly put a hand out and took it from her, looking her over with a sad and yet somewhat bemused smile.

'Good' He said finally.

'Being true to yourself is all I've ever wanted from you'

Lily swallowed hard and nodded. She looked her father's serious face over one last time and then marched confidently out of his study.

A/N: Just a short chapter to wrap some things up. I'm so excited that I'm almost up to Book 3, which is what I've been looking forward to writing the most (in fact I've written a few chapters in advance). What are you guys hoping to see in Lily's 4th and 5th year? We're almost there!