Abby's first year at Hogwarts came and went. After the final defeat of Lord Voldemort she'd spent a week at home, followed by another two weeks in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts under the careful eye of Madam Pomfrey. While at home, she had many more visitors than she'd ever expected. Professor Granger took the first train out of Hogsmeade that Saturday, Lily and Paul following not far behind. Headmaster Dumbledore was on that train as well, and even the sinister-appearing Professor Snape came to give his well wishes. *that's for you, Andria!* Dumbledore's eyes were visibly moist beneath his half-moon spectacles when he approached Abby.
"Very well done, young Miss Potter, " he said, sounding as usual more her grandfather than her headmaster. "I would never have expected such courage from someone so young. You have proven yourself well. Take all the time you need away from school. Heaven knows you've earned it."
But Abby didn't want to spend any more time away from school. All her friends were there, and her studies were the only things keeping her sane. During the first few months she had constant nightmares about the events that had passed. When she awoke in the middle of the night, though, all she had to do was tiptoe into the boys' dormitory to be comforted by her childhood friend Paul. No one ever said a word about it, and in time she was able to spend entire nights sleeping in her own dormitory. Nonetheless, there was always that sense of comfort in being with someone you've known since you were born. With all the people who congratulated her, though, the one person she longed most to see never came. Raphael had disappeared that night, and he'd never returned for her to give her gratitude. After all, it was he who had saved both her life and her father's. Yet he never came back to receive any sort of thank you.
Her classes came and her classes went. Before she knew it, the End-of-Year Feast was over and it was time for the Awards Ceremony. Nearly all the wizarding world had agreed on this, and it was the Order of the Phoenix that arranged the final details. With the Dark Lord finally gone for good, the magic world at last had reason to celebrate as they had not celebrated for 34 years. The Awards Ceremony took place at Hogwarts' Great Hall, easily the best place to fit all the most important wizards around the world. Harry met someone he had not seen in many years: his old competitor from the Tri-Wizard Tournament when he was 14, Fleur Delacour. She had apparently grown to become Headmistress at Beauxbatons Academy, but she had not lost her vela flair. When she'd given Ron Weasley a familiar kiss on the cheek, his cheeks flushed to match the brilliant red of his hair.
The Order of the Phoenix took up the staff table, while all the wizards (including those to be awarded) sat at tables arranged at the sides of the room. The only room that remained in the center was an aisle leading to the staff table, an aisle which was carpeted with all the colors of Hogwarts. Abby took pride in seeing the Gryffindor lion beside the Slytherin serpent. It reminded her of Raphael. I wish Raph were here. This is something he would love to see. She hurried back to her table, covering her eyes with her hands so no one would see the tears.
Dumbledore, Head of the Order, stood at the head of the aisle. Immediately the chinking of silverware and the soft din of voices faded away. He cleared his throat importantly. "Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great honor to announce that the Dark Lord Voldemort, formerly known as Tom Marvolo Riddle, has at last been defeated."
An enormous roar of thrill and excitement threatened to burst the walls of the castle. He allowed this to carry on for a moment, nodding his head and smiling with pride. Abby thought she caught a shimmer in his eyes, but then again, it might have been the way the light hit them. He held up his hand for quiet, and the roar gradually died down again.
"Yes, yes, we have much to celebrate! Now that the Death Eaters are in their proper places, it is time to present our prestigious Awards of the Order of Merlin to those responsible for this battle and for this victory.
"First, I would like to invite Mr. Harry Potter to the table. Without him, we may never have had the daring to fight this war. Mr. Potter has been defending our world since he was but a small child, and through the face of great loss his courage never wavered. He has put everything on the line for us. Many times he has risked his own life that another may be saved. And it is because of him that we are able to celebrate as we do this evening. Sorcerers and sorceresses, I would like to present the Order of Merlin, First Class, to Mr. Harry James Potter."
Harry's cheeks had gone as crimson as his robes. November gently kissed his lips before he stood to accept his award. The room had once again erupted, this time with applause loud enough to wake the Hogwarts ghosts. November got to her feet and pounded her hands together. Abby, who sat beside her, followed suit, along with Lily, Hannah, the Weasleys, Paul, and the Finnigans. The Longbottoms were next to rise, followed by all the Hogwarts professors. Abby heard a very loud rumble that resembled, "Way ter go, Harry! I always knew yeh'd be great someday." By the time Harry had ascended the three or four steps up to the table, everyone in the room was on their feet, cheering as loudly as possible. Abby could even se the candles overhead waver slightly from the noise of it all. Dumbledore placed a scarlet-and-gold ribbon around Harry's neck, to which was attached a star-shaped medallion of gold. Abby couldn't remember ever having felt so proud.
He returned to his seat quickly, and it took some time for the noise to lower enough for Dumbledore to speak again. But speak his did, and when he did Abby was suddenly fascinated with her dinner plate. "Our next award, if I may continue, goes to a girl who is possibly too young to realize the consequence of her actions. Then again, Miss Abby Potter is no ordinary 12-year-old girl. She has been taken by the hands of Voldemort himself and fought for us, refusing to give in despite the odds. She's faced taunting and teasing for everything from her name to the side that fights against the Dark Arts. She has shown courage above and beyond any that a grown witch would have had. Abby is an extraordinarily brilliant student with a good, strong head on her shoulders. No one should have had to experience the ordeal she experienced, but like her father her courage never wavered. That is why it is my great pleasure to award the Order of Merlin, First Class to the youngest recipient in wizarding history, Miss Abigail Mae Potter."
Shy, soft-spoken Abby got her feet, and almost instantly she was greeted with the same sort of accolade that her father had just been seated to. He and her mother smiled proudly at her, her mother nudging her gently to accept her award. Her feet had suddenly gone cold, and all the praise in the background seemed distant. Not me, she thought as she stepped slowly up to the staff table. All this can't possibly be for me. She nodded at the familiar faces on the ends of the aisle, particularly Professors Granger and Flitwick, her two favorite teachers through her year at Hogwarts. There was even one elderly witch wearing staff robes that Abby didn't recognize. Her robes were a silky emerald green, and she wore her hair in a bun at the nape of her neck, almost as Professor Granger did. Her cheeks were dripping with tears of pride and Abby felt obliged to smile at her, though she had never seen the woman before. More than likely she was simply an old friend of her father's. It seemed everyone else was.
Abby lifted the front of her robes slightly so as not to filth the hems in dragging them up the steps. She smiled at Dumbledore, the back of her ears brilliantly red and her scar a deeper black than ever. No more, however, would it burn green. She took comfort in this. Dumbledore nodded at her, and she bowed her head and lowered her body to receive the award. He placed the ribbon carefully around her neck, giving her a moment to catch the colors it had been made with. Like her father's, there was a strip of red going down the middle…but the edges, rather than trimmed with gold, were trimmed with silver. She looked to Dumbledore for an explanation.
"I remember Raphael Demore's parents at Hogwarts. They were not Dark wizards, and neither was he. You were quite possibly the only one able to see that. Ironically, my dear, it is our differences that make us so similar." With these words of sage advice, he gently kissed her cheek as she rose again to her feet. Her heart felt full at this recognition. She never believed Raphael belonged in Slytherin, and his actions that night had proved it. She tried to put the thought out of her mind. Thinking about Raphael was too painful.
Just as she had risen, the giant oak doors of the Great Hall were swung open loudly. Abby wheeled around to see what had caused the intrusion, as did the rest of the Hall. An uneasy quiet descended upon the celebration. The one who had forced the doors open stood at the entrance, his black robes a dark contrast to the jubilant colors worn by the other witches and wizards. He looked familiar, though Abby couldn't quite place it. He had to be just slightly younger than her father, his mid-20s at the youngest, with disheveled raven-black hair and sparkling blue eyes. Every inch of him was covered in some sort of mud or dirt or other filth, bringing the darkness of his robes down a shade or two. His hands and legs were bleeding through the cloth, and he had a dark red necklace of blood across the base of his neck. This, luckily enough, had dried, and he wasn't in any mortal danger. But it did frighten those who had a good look at him enough to make them gasp. He opened his mouth, and his voice was quivering. Abby recognized it immediately.
"Congratulations, Abby. You've finally found your own place in the sun."
"Raphael!" she squealed with delight. It was her beloved friend, the Age Charm lifted to make visible his true age. But that didn't matter to her. When she saw him, she saw the young boy she'd shared that moment outside the Dark Forest with, the one she'd wondered if she'd get her first kiss from. She paused only a moment before tumbling down the stairs and bolting toward him. The eyes of the rest of the Hall followed her, but they were again just a distant memory. She tossed her arms around him, and the momentum carried the both of them in a wide, off-center circle. He laughed, and broken though his voice was, she knew he was the Raphael she'd come to adore.
"Raph, you never gave me the chance to thank you," she said once they'd stopped spinning. He had his arms placed firmly around her waist, and she pressed the palms of her hands against his cheeks. "That night…the night Voldemort fell…you saved my life. If it wasn't for you, me and my dad would both be dead. And you left before I could say thank you."
"You don't remember, do you?" he whispered. "I killed you, Abby. I let hate consume my heart, and Voldemort came and took control of that. That's why it was so easy for him to put me under the Imperius Curse."
Abby was slightly taken aback by this. She'd dreamed of this moment for months. She'd had it planned exactly, and this was not what Raphael was supposed to say. "But-but you broke it. You broke the Curse." At this Raphael gave a weary smile. It was clear he had just gone through something terrible, and it broke Abby's heart to see him this way.
"If hate makes us subject to the Curse, then love is the only thing that can break it. I fell in love with you, and that love has never done anything but gain strength. But as a Death Eater, I took as many lives as I have just saved. I'm even with the Order of the Phoenix now, though the Minister of Magic doesn't quite see it that way. I can't stay. I must return to Azkaban, where they've placed all the other Death Eaters."
Abby shook her head stubbornly, struggling, for the hundredth time that night, not to cry. She bit her bottom lip and felt her heart plummet like a rock to the bottom of her soul. What was he saying? "No," she said softly. "No, you can't. He can't make you. You're not a Death Eater anymore! The Order, they want to award you an Order of Merlin, Second Class, for saving my life. Please, you must stay. I need you. I…I love you." She could hardly believe the words that left her own lips. But they were true, and she didn't regret saying a single one. Raphael gave a gentle chuckle.
"Ah, Miss Abby, sometimes I forget just how young you really are. It doesn't matter that I'm no longer joined with the Dark Arts. I have taken life, and for that I must be punished. But even afterward, I cannot meet with you again, and you must not look for me. After the ceremony, you will have a Memory Charm placed on you. Little trace of me will remain in your memory. No, please don't argue. Remember what I told you? When I was younger I visited with your future self. You had never seen me before, and things must stay that way. It is against wizard law to change time, and the consequences of returning to you now could be disastrous. No, you must not know about me. Perhaps, after your 16 years have passed and I am gone, I will come back to you. I don't know. But this is how it has to be. You've done the world a great thing by eliminating the Dark Lord. I'm terribly proud. And don't forget – you may not have me, but you'll have my necklace. Your memories of my saving you at infancy and the story will be etched forever in your mind."
Raphael smiled at her again and placed a soft, sweet kiss on the cheek Dumbledore had kissed just moments ago. She hated to let him go, but he was too strong for her. He had released himself from her grasp and was now walking, with a slight limp in his right leg, back out through the doors of the Great Hall. She watched him go, her heart breaking with every step. Saving the wizarding world meant nothing to her if she had nothing to fight for.
She sighed. He was right, much as she hated to admit it. Placing the Memory Charm on her was the only right thing to do. As she watched him walk out of her life, she toyed listlessly with the locket around her neck. She slid her thumb into the clasp and carefully unlatched it, looking to the portraits for some comfort as she had done all these many years. What she saw, however, made her gasp out loud. Both pictures of her parents were gone. In place of her mother's picture was a photo, a wizard photo, of Raphael as the 11-year-old boy she remembered. He was winking at her and pointing toward the other half of the locket. There was no picture on this side. Instead, in his familiar scrawl, he had written the words, "I love you, Abby Mae Potter." She smiled at the secret, closing the locket again.
"I love you, too," she murmured, in a voice so soft no one else could possibly hear it. "I love you, too."
~
In the deep, dark cells of Azkaban, far removed from the other repenting prisoners, a shadow was tapping her fingers anxiously against the bars that enclosed her. The only part of her that was visible was the broad, evil grin she wore. Her voice came as a hiss that no man, woman or snake could understand.
"They may have destroyed you, Father, but I will avenge your death. I will be sure the Potters know the true cruelty that resides in the blood of the Riddles."
~*~
*to Mrs. Elham Weasley, who has been begging me since Day 1 to make this an Abby-Raphael story*
As you can see, this is the end of The Potter Name. As you've also gathered, there's going to be a sequel. The sequel is going to be Abby-Raphael based and will take place sometime in their 6th or 7th year. However – and this is where I need your help – I've been toying with the idea of writing a Harry-November story from their time at Hogwarts. Whichever I choose to do, it's going to be a romance. And since I can only write two stories at a time and The Phoenix Chronicles are my priority, I can only write one of these HP stories at a time. So my question to you is, which should I do? I'll end up doing both, rest assure, but which should I do first?
Thanks for your input, you're a wonderful audience, terrific people, and excellent writers. You're all inspirations to me.
And I look forward to seeing you again soon!