Elizabeth woke to the sound of some terrible coughing. She slowly opened her eyes, yet the world before her was dark and blurry. "Where am I?" she asked woozily.

"You are in the House of Madame Pomfrey," answered a soft, yet sharp female voice. "And it is ten o'clock in the morning. On February the sixteenth, if you want to know."

Elizabeth's vision suddenly cleared. "Madame Pomfrey?" she asked, and tried to sit up, yet fell back weakly onto her lovely feather pillow.

"Yes'm. We thought we'd lost you for a moment there. But you do have some strength in you, my brave muggle."

Elizabeth smiled, and turned her head to the right. There she saw Katie and Harry laying in cots, and to her left, Ron was sleeping in the cot next to her. "Are they alright?" she asked the nurse apprehensively. "They'll be alright?"

Poppy smiled kindly. "Oh, of course. Did you really doubt my master healing powers, especially after all of my experience?" she chuckled.

And at that moment, Ron coughed hard again, and sat up slowly. His coughing had made the others stir, and they, too, began to rub their eyes sleepily and turn over.

"Ron, Harry, Katie," voiced Elizabeth with glee. "You're all okay!"

"I told you they would be," Madame Pomfrey said, almost to herself while rolling her eyes annoyingly.

"I feel miserable," said Katie, and Ron nodded, rubbing his leg, while Harry held his head in his hands as though he was experiencing terrible pain.

"So what happens now?" asked Ron.

All at once, the large wooden doors opened at the end of the room, and in walked none other than the infamous Professor Dumbledore. "Well, well," he said in his chain-smoker-like voice. "I see our heroes have finally awoken." He eyed the quartet suspiciously. "The whole school knows of the feat you have overcome, of course. And we are having a Post-Valentines Feast to celebrate. We expect to see you all there." He turned to leave after this brief speech, but Harry called him back.

"Professor?" he whispered in a hoarse voice. "Why was it that Ron told the Amecurt that he loved her, and she disappeared? What was this power that he had?"

"Ah, Harry," he nodded. "That is something that I wish I could tell you now… but I think that I will mention it in a few years when I realize that I made a mistake and that I should have told you today…"

And with that, he swiftly turned and strode out of the room, leaving them all to ponder this confusing statement.

"Maybe it will all make sense in a few years when someone dies all because Dumbledore didn't tell me what he should have told me?" Harry ventured to guess. The others nodded their heads in agreement, but they were a bit confused as to what they were agreeing to.

"Well," interjected Madame Pomfrey. "I suggest that if you wish to attend the feast tonight, you get some rest. I have the final call as to whether or not you get to leave the infirmary, you know."

Feeling threatened and blackmailed, the four heroes lay down in their cots and pulled the covers up to their chin. The last things Elizabeth saw as she closed her eyes were Ron's blue staring sweetly at her…

That night, Katie, Harry, Elizabeth, and Ron all made their way to the Great Hall, wearing the new clothes that they had been given from a mysterious donor. Katie wore a pale pink gown (http: to the right) and Elizabeth wore a lovely dark red gown (http:www.cinebso.

com/picture.php?idvanhelsingfoto1221452202004051). Ron and Harry were each clothed in their respective dress robes. The men were leading the ladies down the staircase by the arm.

When the got to the bottom of the staircase, Ron turned left while Harry turned right. They looked confused. Then Ron understood. "Oh, Harry's right. I forgot. The location of the Great Hall changes every year, for some unknown reason, you see," he explained to Elizabeth.

So, they turned right and walked through the entrance to the Great Hall. As they stepped over the threshold, there arose around them loud cheering, as everyone in the room (with the exclusion of Malfoy and his Slytherin cronies) stood and clapped their loudest. As they walked down the aisle, they were clapped on the back, and heard many things such as, "Well done, mate!" and "That was bloody brilliant!"

They continued down and took their seats at the Gryffindor table, and Dumbledore stood up at the front of the Hall. "We have some heroes among us tonight," he began. "But their lives have been altered by this terrible creature that they have succeeded in destroying. For, how do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand... there is no going back. There are some things that time can not mend. Some hurts that go too deep...that have taken hold."

He sat down suddenly to a large amount of clapping, and Elizabeth and Katie looked at each other, knowing how Dumbledore liked to make the strangest speeches at the strangest times. Yet, somehow, this one seemed to be strangely appropriate for the situation…

"Well," said Ron. "I suppose this is the end of our adventures together…"

Katie laughed. "No, silly. It's only the start."

And just then, monstrous amounts of food and drink appeared on the long tables and the school began to feast.

THE BEGINNING