"Now, I believe that a reunion is waiting that is long overdue," said Dumbledore. "Harry, Ron, Elizabeth, please come with me." They walked to a thestral-driven carriage that would take them to the train station.
They got out and out of nowhere, "HARRY! RON!" was echoing throughout the station.
"HERMIONE!" the two boys yelled at the same time. The three of them crashed into one gigantic hug.
"I heard what happened!" Hermione exclaimed.
"It was horrible!" Ron commented.
"I thought you'd been killed!"
"We thought you were miserable!" said Harry.
They broke apart, and all three had smiles on their faces.
"I was," Hermione agreed, "I was with the Order in Australia. That's where their new base is, if you can believe that."
"That had to be cool, even if you were in hiding," Harry said.
"It was okay. Not like I was in immediate danger or anything, but I missed Hogwarts an awful lot." She paused and waved at Dumbledore, who beamed back. Then she turned to Elizabeth. "You must be Elizabeth Pentillo."
"Yeah," Elizabeth confirmed awkwardly, "that would be me." She shuffled her feet self-consciously. Watching Hermione and Harry embrace did weird things to her stomach, though someone would have to pay her big bucks to get her to admit it.
"It's so great to finally meet you," Hermione said, offering her hand.
"I've heard so much about you, I practically knew what you looked like," Elizabeth joked nervously as she shook hands.
"We must be getting back to school for breakfast. Come along, you four," Dumbledore interrupted.
Hermione and Elizabeth talked all the way to Hogwarts. They held differing opinions, especially where rules were concerned, but they agreed to let that slide so that they could be friends. Elizabeth, being an avid reader, started discussing the textbooks they had used that year, and that was when Harry and Ron began their own conversation, not wanting to hear anything more about textbooks. Hermione couldn't help but think, 'Aw, look at the way Harry's looking at her. He must fancy her.'
On the way back to the castle, Harry still had questions to ask. "What's going to happen to Cornelius Fudge?"
"He's going to be kicked out of office, and Madam Bones will take his place," Dumbledore explained.
"What happened to Mr. Lupin, Professor? I thought werewolves were sort of…immune to the whole killing curse thing?" Elizabeth brought up gently.
"There was silver on the tip of Wormtail's curse," Harry answered angrily. He was trying very hard to cover up his emotions until he was out of public.
"But how was he able to get silver on the tip of it?" Elizabeth asked.
"When Voldemort gave him that hand, it just happened to be his wand hand. Naturally, he could control the element in question, silver, and make it do strange things. That silver tip, alone, would not have killed Remus Lupin. It weakened him so much that the killing curse proved too much for him."
They were excused, and the four made their way to Gryffindor Tower.
The next night, Harry found trouble sleeping. He had no idea what to do with his anger. He felt like screaming at the top of his lungs. He was walking down to the Common Room when he heard someone singing.
'How would you get by?
How would you be?
If I refused my destiny,
What if I give up?
What if I say no?
Just pack up my bags and go?
'Cause I can't fight the feeling that I'm alone,
No one's here for me.
Life's thrown me in the middle,
Of this chaos, and I just can't let it be.
I was born to suffer,
And maybe to die,
This is killing me inside,
And I won't lie.
I'm scared beyond reason,
Lost beyond hope,
Everyone's dying around me and I just can't cope.
I don't know how to deal,
With all of this,
And I just don't care, anymore,
I don't care if I sound callous.
'Cause I can't fight the feeling that I'm alone,
No one's here for me.
Life's thrown me in the middle,
Of this chaos, and I just can't let it be.
I was born to suffer,
And maybe to die,
This is killing me inside,
And I won't lie.
And I won't lie.
No, I won't lie.'
Harry listened in a trance as the last of the singing faded out. When it ended he went all the way into the Common Room to find Elizabeth.
"Harry!" she exclaimed at seeing him. Her hand went to her chest in surprise. "I didn't think you were there."
"It seems that every time I can't sleep, neither can you," he replied with a small attempt at humor. He only smiled sadly.
"Did you like my song?" she asked quietly.
"It sounds like they're my words."
"Well…I kind of used that link Dumbledore said we had to write it. I got the feeling that you don't really know how to express yourself," she explained.
"I don't, really. Maybe listening to it, again, will help me. Could you sing it again?" he requested. Elizabeth complied. After a couple verses, Harry was singing softly along with her. Though he didn't sob, tears leaked out. Afterwards, Harry was feeling better enough to talk about it.
"I feel like my whole family's dead, now," he whispered.
"You've still got Ron and Hermione. You don't have to be blood to be family," Elizabeth reminded.
"What about you?"
"What about me?" Elizabeth repeated.
"Can't I consider you family?" Harry asked.
Elizabeth blushed. "If you want to. I don't want to impose or anything. We've only known each other for about a year and you have much closer ties to Ron and Hermione and everyone else…"
"I feel like I've known you forever, though," Harry commented. 'Wait, now, where did that come from?' he mused.
"You got that feeling, too? God, this is creeping me out," Elizabeth said.
"That feeling's creepy to you?"
Elizabeth's eyes widened as she saw Harry misunderstand her…again. "No, no! Not the 'knew you forever,' bit. That's not what creeps me out. It's the fact that this all started when you touched my rose and I don't understand it…Well, you saw what happens when I don't understand things. Someone died because of it. But, this is just a little weird, that's all," she explained quickly.
They stayed down there all night. They talked about life, destruction, death, and rebirth.
The next morning, everyone was curious about why the Whomping Willow was gone. Ron, Harry, and Elizabeth were only too happy to tell the tale.
"Miss Pentillo, we have reason to believe that your learning of the animagus' art was not coincidental. That book you found in the library did not belong to Hogwarts. It was a plant by Professor Blade. He created the barrier so only you could go through. After that, the voice in the shadows was meant to kill you, not Professor Blade. Because you have mastered this art, and retained your life, I excuse you from the Transfiguration finals," explained Professor McGonagall. "Just don't tell Weasley, Potter, and Granger."
Harry's worst final was potions. He just barely skimmed by. He couldn't believe he'd done such a bad job. He got an O on his OWL test. During that same potions final, Elizabeth's liars' potion went completely wrong. The main ingredient was nightshade, and since Elizabeth didn't grow her nightshade correctly, the potion could have killed whoever might have consumed it.
Everyone passed their finals well, except for Ron, whose career was shifted. He had no idea what he wanted to do, yet, so he kept his all his classes, except for the Auror training.
Gryffindor had won the House Cup this year and their wall hangings were there to show it.
"What's that mean, again?" Elizabeth asked Harry.
"It means that we accumulated more points than the other three houses, this year," he explained.
"Ladies and gentlemen," started Professor Dumbledore, "This is the end of another year at Hogwarts. I hope your brain is not as filled with cobwebs and dust as it was when this year started.
"For those of you who will be our leaders and prefects next year, you're going to have very big shoes to fill. Let us hope that you have a normal year, for once."
After the feast, everyone went back to their dormitories to pack.
The next morning, Ron asked Elizabeth, "Are you staying, or not?"
"Of course!" she said with a lopsided grin.
They got on the train and joked around. At the last hour of the trip, Harry asked if he could talk to Elizabeth, privately. Ron and Hermione went into the next compartment.
"Elizabeth, I've never met someone who understood me as much as you—"
"Wait. Before you start thinking I'm super psychic or something, I have to confess something to you," she cut off.
"What?"
"I'm very good at acting."
"And that has what to do with anything?" Harry looked very bewildered.
"Remember the first day I met you. How I said that I didn't know you? Well…I did." She went into her handbag and pulled out a book and a magazine cutout.
"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban?" Harry read aloud. "I thought I was only briefly mentioned in a couple wizarding books."
"Someone knows you very well, Harry. Her name is J.K. Rowling, and she got inside your head. But anyway. The reason I showed you this, is to tell you that I cheated. I reread these over the year. That's how I've been able to know things word for word, like your 'saving people thing.' Don't begin to think that I'm some magical seer who can read your mind. Someone else has already done that."
Harry flipped through The Prisoner of Azkaban and was surprised to find his exact words in it. "Do you have my seventh year?"
"It won't let me read it. Look." She took out the seventh book, and its cover was white, and the title was unknown. The pages were blank.
"I couldn't read the sixth one either until last night. And then it lied. It ended with you going to sleep, not knowing what the next year would bring. But, anyway, Harry, I've known you forever, really. Since I was about ten."
"Wait. This is all confusing me. How about we forget about these?" he put the books back into her handbag. "That's not what I wanted to talk to you about."
"I know. But you had to know before you made assumptions and think I was better than I am."
"Elizabeth, you are a much better person than you think. Look, you're honest. I bet any other girl wouldn't tell me, and they would lead me to believe that they really were the most understanding person in the world. I tried to tell you this in Hogsmeade, but I got cut off. Elizabeth, I really fancy you. I have no idea why, or how, but I do." Harry said it so fast, he had to breath when he was finished.
"You have no idea how big of a screw-up I am. It's because of me my Secret Keeper's dead. It's because of me we almost died. I just—"
"Shush. If I judged you on your flaws, what kind of friend would I be?" he asked. He grabbed her chin and pulled it up a bit to face him.
"Not a very good one." Elizabeth managed a small smile. Harry nodded and let go of her chin. Elizabeth took a deep breath. "I hope you know that I fancy you back," she replied.
Suddenly, the two of the broke out into wide smiles, and started laughing. When the laughing subsided, they locked eyes, and moved in for their first kiss. It would have been romantic, had the train not come to an abrupt stop that made them fall towards the end of their compartment. They could hear on the PA system, "Sorry about that. New conductor, you know. Had to stop the thing by magic since he wasn't paying attention."
Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Elizabeth said their goodbyes out of the station. Harry and Elizabeth departed as friends, but inside, deep in their hearts, they knew that something would happen by the end of the next year.
The four of them left, thinking basically the same thing. 'I sincerely do hope we have a normal year, for once.'