Someone was crying when I started to come round. I could hear them sobbing near to me as I began to see light from behind my eyelids, feeling them flutter before I could see the whitewashed walls and high ceiling of the hospital wing at Hogwarts. How did I get here? I could also hear something rustling like feathers, a soft call of noise which made me turn to find none other than Fawkes the Phoenix and Orion perched on a chair, Orion on the back and Fawkes on the seat. They were both looking at me, as if they'd been waiting all along for me to wake up. "M-Mia?"
"Mum?" I recognised that voice and when I looked, I saw my mother sitting on the other side of me, her eyes red and swollen from crying constantly and dark shadows underneath them. "Mum what…?"
"Oh, my baby! My poor baby, Mia I'm so sorry, I was so awful to you and stubborn and you almost died!" She sobbed as I blinked in confusion, trying to move but almost immediately had to stop as my body throbbed with pain. "What is it? What hurts Mia?"
"Everything." I admitted and she started crying all the more so I reached out for her weakly, trying to smile. "Alright, alright, I'm not dead yet, no need to weep over my grave." She cried harder.
"Still got that sense of humour, I see."
"Dad!" Now fully alert, I saw dad moving closer to me to take my other hand, kneeling down in order to smile at me as he reached up and pressed his hand to my face. "What are you doing here? It's daylight, you can't let someone see you, you have to…"
"It's alright now, Mia. Dumbledore's had a little word with the Minister, and the truth has been revealed." Dad assured me to quell my panic as I then frowned at him, not understanding what he meant. "I've been cleared of all charges, Mia. I'm a free man again." Gasping, I felt my eyes start to water with tears in blissful hope that this really was true. He smiled at me. "I wouldn't be here to enjoy it if it weren't for you my girl. I'm so proud of you."
"Well, I'm not! How could you do something so reckless? Especially after last year!" Mum protested, sniffling as Leo came forwards and rubbed her shoulders so I gave him a smile and a hello to which he responded, looking just as teary eyed and exhausted as mum. I couldn't believe they were all here, making me start to look around at the other hospital beds. There was no one else there other than a squat looking woman who was staring up at the ceiling. Umbridge herself. I guess she finally got free of the centaurs somehow.
"Where's Harry? And the others? And Uncle Rem and…is everyone alright?" I questioned as my head started to burst with them, wanting to know so many things at once so dad rubbed my hand gently.
"Everyone's fine. Tonks took a bad hit but she'll be up and about in no time. Ron and Hermione came off the worst but they were released this morning. You've been unconscious for quite a while Mia, there's only three days left of the year. We were starting to think about having you transferred to St Mungo's." He told me and my mother and step-dad nodded their heads in agreement. I lay back for a moment, digesting everything. "You were magnificent, by the way." His blue eyes danced with mirth as dad continued, making me look at him with a slight quirk of my eyebrow. "Fighting off all those Death Eaters singlehanded and protecting your friends? I couldn't be prouder."
"Well, I was pretty pissed." I said bluntly, making my mother gasp but I just smiled at her. "I missed you mum. Let's not have another fight for a while, okay?" Nodding her head, mum started to pepper me with gentle kisses which were wet and salty from her crying. Fawkes cawed softly before taking off, circling once then disappearing in a flash of fire which all of us watched before returning to focus on each other. I asked every question that I could think of. What happened after I blacked out? Is Dumbledore back? Why did Umbridge look like she'd been petrified? What was the word on Voldemort? Did everyone know he was back?
My questions were answered one by one until Dumbledore himself came sweeping in to see me, glad that I was awake so I smiled and told him that I was feeling much better. Madam Pomfrey insisted on keeping me in for the rest of the day for observation with no further visitors than immediate family, meaning that even though my friends stopped by, they weren't allowed in. However, a combined effort of both my dads and Dumbledore managed to persuade Madam Pomfrey and mum to let me go join everyone else for dinner.
They were invited to the top table for dinner, and when I entered the Great Hall I walked inside after the doors swung open wide. Striding on in I stopped in order to let my eyes sweep over the Gryffindor table, searching for certain heads in particular until I then saw someone jump out from the bench, catch their foot and stumble but remained upright as others started to follow, a quiet hush following. In the next second I was sprinting down the hall with a burst of speed and Harry, who had almost tripped in his haste to stand up, ran to me as well.
When we were close enough we sprang at each other and our arms collided in a tangled mess as we gripped onto one another tightly, squeezing as the sense of relief and gratification filled us both. Embracing together, we were then joined by Hermione, Ginny, Ron and Neville, all of them approaching and I pulled them into our hug before then looking to Luna and signalling for her to join us. She skipped on over, pale hair bouncing lightly until she squeezed in between myself and Ginny as we all sombrely processed all that had happened to us, how close we'd come to death and how hard we'd all fought to protect each other.
Then somebody started clapping. I have no idea who it was, I couldn't see them before other hands joined them and then the Hall was filled with the outpouring of applause which remained reverent yet praising. I was so glad to see that everybody was alright that I even started to cry a little but I sucked it up, taking a deep breath before I then announced that I was starving and needed food. We sat down together, even Luna joined us at the Gryffindor table and although people whispered, there seemed to be a general rule not to ask us what had happened, though it seemed like the Daily Prophet had covered pretty much all the points.
Hermione had eagerly handed me her copy from that morning which had a rather long and detailed account of the events from that night, including pictures and names of the Death Eaters who had been caught, and glowing appraisals of Harry and myself. Apparently, we were no longer attention-seeking, deluded, dangerous and liars, but upstanding young members of the wizarding community who had bravely endured slander and judgement in order to stand by the truth. They talked about Harry a great deal, I was said to be gravely misunderstood, and there was even an article about my dad and how his name had been cleared.
Although all this should have made me feel giddy with relief and excitement, I just didn't feel it at all. There was a hollow pit in my stomach, knowing that Voldemort wasn't going to take this lying down. He's going to retaliate, declare war, and we had no idea how this battle was going to take place. I had no idea what to do next, thinking about getting a job or career seemed pretty pointless right now. There was no way I was going to do nothing, however, there had to be things that I could do in order to help prepare for what was coming, and as I had promised Fred and George many years ago, I was going to make sure that my leaving Hogwarts was going to be equally as memorable as the one they had given.
I spent the final three days preparing in secret, often disappearing in order to enact my plan which Peeves was more than happy to help me with once I told him what I intended to do. We also made sure to send Umbridge off once she was recovered enough to pack her things into her bright pink trunks and totter out into the courtyard, disgraced and loathed by all. She had tried to slip away unnoticed, but Peeves dutifully kept an eye on her then yelled about the castle that old 'toad-face' was leaving, so everybody swiftly came running to see.
It was like they expected something to happen, everyone having so much hate for that woman that there was no way that someone wouldn't try to express their feelings in some way. We were not disappointed. Everyone booed or hissed – or at least, everyone from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw – as she passed, her head held high and her eyes focused directly ahead as if she could not see anyone else there. None of the teachers made any motion to quieten down the students, silently standing on our side as they all smirked quietly to themselves with a keen sense of justice being served.
Someone started to make clip-clopping sounds like hooves which caused Umbridge to squeak and look around fearfully, then hurrying her step. The closer she got to the door, the worse it became. Those of us who had the ability, myself and Cedric Diggory including, transfigured horses to gallop down the hallway which earned a magnificent screech from the old toad before she broke out into a run in order to escape. Then the first and second years banded together in order to start pelting things at her. Dungbombs, stink pellets, eggs, her Defensive Theory books, anything to hand really. I noticed Lee creating a tower of eggs for people to grab from as they split and cracked upon impact, showering her in yolks as Umbridge then abandoned her trunks in order to run screaming from the castle with the ammo flying after her as everyone laughed and cheered, the horses chasing her all the way to the carriage where she dove in and promptly shut the door.
With a wave of my wand the horses disappeared, my dad standing nearby and roaring with laughter and I noticed that he had been showing the younger years how to make their dungbombs fly. Everyone was now cheering and celebrating, shooting sparks from their wands as I turned and launched a hug on Cedric so that the two of us shared a moment of victory together. McGonagall swept towards the trunks that Umbridge had abandoned and I saw her shake her head with a titter of her tongue. "Dear me. I suppose we'll have to send these after her." Then with a wave of her wand, she made them both float away and seemed completely oblivious to the chaos around her even as Filch stood gaping, mop in hand.
It was a liberating feeling, finally driving Umbridge out of our school and I class it as one of my greatest victories, but on the final day with the ending feast, I couldn't help but grin knowingly for what was coming. Dad had decided to stick around in order to make sure that I was completely better, and because I'd dropped a hint that I was intending to leave Hogwarts with a bang and he was eager to see what I was made of. Intending to make sure I didn't disappoint, I went over the plan with Peeves and put everything into place.
Then, once everyone was at the feast, we made sure that everything would go perfectly. I slipped away halfway through dessert, making sure that I wasn't noticed leaving then ran about the castle launching spells in every direction, Peeves cackling as he flew over my head and dropped spherical orbs filled with different coloured powdery clouds. They bounced and rolled, falling everywhere around the castle until the whole place was completely filled and then, with a final wave of my wand, they all exploded.
Great bursts of colour rushed in massive powdery plumes, splattering the powder all up the windows and walls, people already screaming in shock as they became covered in puffs of colour. Peeves cackled wildly, singing at the top of his lungs as I fired off spells at all the suits of armour so that they sprang to life and began to duel each other, swords and shields clashing as I then released several illuminated owls into the air and they flew off into the Great Hall, making everyone now gasp and shout. "It's the Night Owl! Who is it? Where are they?"
After casting some more spells, other explosions shaking the castle as they went off, I then proudly walked through the huge oak doors as they swung open to admit me, causing everyone's head to swivel towards me. Spreading my arms, everyone grinned with powder splattered faces, all robes and hats completely altered and, with a great deal of personal mirth, I noticed that Snape had been painted a rather shocking shade of pink against the plain black of his usual attire. Dad was laughing loudest of all, beaming at me with blue and yellow smudges all over him and I grinned back before making a sweeping bow, the owls now circling over my head as the castle erupted into chaos.
The fighting suits came battling into the Great Hall with an epic display of heroics which made everyone cheer and urge them on, voting for their favourites and placing bets on who would win, but would have to duck if a helmet came flying off after being struck in some manner. Beds of grass and flowers began to spread across the floor, blanketing the entire castle in a springy, floral carpet of foliage whilst flocks of butterflies came sweeping in from where I had made them earlier. Bubbles the size of a giant's head floated everywhere, and every time one burst it would create a cacophony of sounds and shower the unfortunate people below with something, such as rain, snow, flowers, rice, sauce, pumpkin juice…one even burst full of mice which landed squarely on Malfoy, much to Harry and Ron's satisfaction. Peeves did his job throwing things around, laughing all the while though he saluted me when he passed over, the ghosts all shaking their heads despairingly.
All in all, it was an exceedingly impressive send off for us seventh years, and there was nothing anyone could do to punish me since it was the last day of my final year. It's not like they could put me in detention, though Filch looked like he would have loved to have given me a whipping just for old times' sake. Finally everyone was smiling and laughing, cheering and dancing as the bubbles continued to burst one after the other and make music, food now flying in all directions as the most colossal food war then ensued. A splatter of ice cream hit me on the side of my face after it broke out and I immediately looked at the guilty party, Ginny, then lunged after her with a custard pie.
Meanwhile, all the teachers had just sat at their stable staring at us all, as if completely giving up on any chance to make us stop. I could see Dumbledore smiling and, in a moment of spirited glee, flicked some custard at a rather powdery purple McGonagall. She blinked, stared at Dumbledore, then proceeded to flick her wand which caused a huge bowl of trifle to topple onto his head. This just reinvigorated the war and now, most of the teachers had joined in. Professor Sprout had armed herself with a plethora of profiteroles and was using a tray like a shield as she grouped together with her Hufflepuffs, whilst Hagrid and dad were throwing cakes, doughnuts and tarts at each other and at Harry and the rest of us.
Speaking of Harry, I hadn't seen him this happy in a long time. There was no tension or stress, no residing anger or constant flicker of pain. His smile was wide and he head cream smeared all over him as he fought with Ron to smother Hermione in treacle pudding, his favourite. For a moment I just stood there, slowly turning around to see the madness and chaos to just soak it all in. Everywhere I looked there were smiles and laughter, the houses fighting with and against each other as the suits of armour had also abandoned their weapons to take up arms with desserts and puddings. Closing my eyes, I let the feeling and sounds wash over me in order to allow it to sink in fully, breathing in deeply to enjoy these last moments at Hogwarts, a place I would always think of as home.
A projectile of jam and cream hit me in the face, snapping me awake and so, with a wild grin, I dove for a towering cake and sent it flying right back at Harry and Ron, seeing their faces drop in alarm before they were both covered in it, frosting and sponge making their faces practically indistinguishable as I laughed then teamed up with Ginny, Luna and Hermione to fight off the boys, the battle renewed and barely having begun.