All For The Better

Sarah awoke in the hospital wing. Her head was throbbing like mad. She sat up wincing. Realizing she was back in Hogwarts she started to get up.

"You're not suppose to leave yet," said Draco who had been staring out the window beside her bed. "Madam Pomfrey said you'd need to stay here for a couple more days."

"How did I get here?" she asked ignoring Draco's last words.

"All I know is that Snape came into the school while we were eating dinner. He was carrying you and he took you here."

"When?"

"Night before last, you were in an awful state," he said with a slightly worried voice.

"Yes, I was," she said and started heading out of the room.

"Madam Pomfrey'll be mad," he warned.

"So? I feel fine." Suddenly her head gave a particularly painful throb not to mention the other aches her body had. She was sore all over from the curses she had received. She clutched her head and gritted her teeth.

"You sure you're all right." She relaxed herself and stood straight.

"Of course I am," and she walked down to the Great Hall.

"So, what happened?" Draco asked.

" 's a long story; tell ya later." She passed a window and happened to see her reflection. "Is that me?" she said horrified.

"Um… we, you were in a duel." Her whole body was black and blue or had deep cuts. She had lost a dreadful amount of weight, and her hair was a crow's nest. She took a detour to the Slytherin common room where she went up to her dormitory. She pulled out a brush and yanked at her hair until it was straight again but it still looked stringy. She pulled out a hair gel she had received for Christmas from one of her friends and applied it. Finally after a couple of minutes it "revived" her hair. Next she put on some "Create-a-face" cover-up. She had been saving it, but it was clearly time to use it. She rubbed it on, and the bruises on her face seemed to disappear. She hadn't been changed out of the clothes she had worn that night so she dug out some nice blue jeans and a light blue, long-sleeved shirt. She looked at herself in the mirror; she still looked odd, like something was wrong. She figured it must be her expression, for as much as she dismissed the pain it still expressed itself through her eyes. But other than that she looked great. She went downstairs where Draco was still waiting, and they walked to the Great Hall together as it was almost time for dinner. It was their last day of school, and there would be a magnificent feast that she wasn't going to miss because of some minor cuts and scrapes. Sure enough, everyone was gathering early for the feast. She ran over behind Harry and put her hands over his eyes.

"Guess who?" He turned around with a wide smile on his face.

"Sarah! You're supposed to be in the Hosp…" he began.

"She released me," Sarah replied. Harry gave her a doubtful expression.

"Well, you look great; you must be a fast healer," Harry said. She smiled.

"But why is it…" she began with a sneaky smile, "that Draco was going to give up tonight's feast at my bedside and you weren't?" Harry sat thinking fast.

"Dinner hadn't started yet; he would've left," Harry assured.

"Maybe, but why were you not there?"

"Uh…" he was stuck. She began to laugh.

"Oh, don't worry about it; I was just trying to make you feel guilty." And with that she got up and left to join her fellow Slytherins. Harry faced his two friends who wore odd expressions. Harry figured they hadn't quite got used to the idea of Sarah being his sister. He looked past them and saw Julie entering the Great Hall! His jaw dropped. Muggles couldn't see Hogwarts; but perhaps Dumbledore was able to make some sort of exception for her. She scanned the tables a little shyly. She spotted Harry and ran over to his side. She squeezed between Harry and Ron. Ron looked a little surprised and offended as he scooted over. Hermione was looking purely confused but interested, as she did not know who Julie was.

"Hi! So this is where you go to school," she said happily. Harry nodded still shocked.

"Hey, this is Ron, of course, and this is Hermione who's also in my House," he said. Julie and Hermione exchanged greetings.

"This is an odd sort of school, but after what I've seen I'm not too surprised."

"Are… are you a… a muggle?" asked Hermione shocked.

"A what?" asked Julie.

"Of course! Look at her," said Ron who seemed to be a bit jealous.

"What did you call me?" she asked again.

"Muggle is a term for someone non-magical," explained Hermione.

"Non-magical?" Julie asked confused.

"All right. I'll start from the beginning," said Harry.

"There are people in this world who are magical, meaning wizards and witches. We can do magic." Julie seemed doubtfully surprised.

"Example," Hermione pulled out her wand. "Orchideous!" Several small beautiful flowers floated out of her wand. Julie's mouth was hanging open.

"How'd you do that!" she asked amazed.

"Magic," Ron said. And Harry told her his story, from Voldemort to the school, and from the wizard world outside of Hogwarts to what happened a couple of nights ago. Julie was over come with information. She was speechless as Harry finished his story.

Dumbledore clapped his hands twice as he stood up. Every face in the Great Hall turned to his attention.

"Another year gone… and yet another one will follow. Many things have changed… new and wonderful. But also, some of us have lost something inside. As Voldemort and his followers continue to grow among us, people will lose their lives. And our way of living will no doubt change. We must do our best to preserve and fight for what we have; troubled times have already begun. We must prepare ourselves for the worst." Dumbledore paused in complete silence. Several of the students looked worried and some were gently sobbing. Harry recognized the Hufflepuff girl who had received a Death Letter the same day Ron had; her eyes were moist. "Now, on to the House points," Dumbledore continued with a brighter tone. "All of the Houses did a remarkable job this year. We," he motioned the teachers' table, "are all very proud of you. In forth place, Ravenclaw with 398 points. Third, Hufflepuff with 400 points. And in second…" he paused. "This was a very close race… Gryffindor with 415 points." Harry looked behind him at his sister's table. She sat there in pure shock, but a smile began to creep up her face. "And, with 418 points, Slytherin wins the House Cup." There was an explosion of cheers from the Slytherin table, and Harry watched as they patted each other on the back and exchanged smiling faces. He even thought he saw Sarah sneak a kiss to Draco. Harry looked back at his table and his friends surrounding them. But as he watched their dull faces, he felt an unexplained sense of happiness inside him. That feeling grew until he broke out in a laugh that sounded more like hysteria. For a few moments, the Gryffindors thought he had gone mad. But just watching Harry smile made them all slowly start to smile. Laughter is contagious and pretty soon the whole Gryffindor table was enjoying themselves once again.

The banners above them were green and silver celebrating Slytherin's moment. Suddenly, the plates filled with luscious food more to Julie's amazement. And Harry ate a most wonderful dinner, talking amongst his friends and sharing his final moments of happiness before he'd have to go back to the Dursleys'. When they had licked their plates clean. The leftover food disappeared to leave the tables as clean as ever. Dumbledore arose once more.

"I have one last final notice. For various reasons, I have decided to wait one more day before you are all sent home. So enjoy the extra day you will have here, and we will be sending you off shortly." The Hall applauded him before they began to wander their way back to their common rooms. Harry took a moment to catch his sister before she left to congratulate her; her response was a giant hug and a smiling face.

The next morning, Sarah left for her father's office. She knocked on the door. "Come in," he said in a very harassed voice. She opened the door.

"Hey, Pappy," she said softly seeing how exhausted he looked. He put down his quill and looked up at her.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"All right," she said closing the door behind her. She looked at him expectantly.

"I suppose you're hear to ask about the other night?" he said looking down at his desk. "In the early years of Voldemort's rise, he came to me one night at my home. He threatened me, saying he'd kill 'my family.' He never lied about that kind of thing; I was forced to join him against my will. After a while, I was caught by the Ministry, but Dumbledore got me off. I stayed a spy for the Ministry. When I got back and worked for the Order I found I had lost Lily." He stuttered over her name. "But I could hardly blame her. When she died, I …" Snape was gritting his teeth hard. Sarah reached for his hand.

"Well, don't blame yourself," she ordered. He looked at her much the way he had when he first saw her as his daughter on the Quidditch pitch. He nodded and recomposed himself. She waited a few minutes before continuing. "What'll become of the Death Eaters we captured the other night?"

"They will be tried by the Ministry," he replied vaguely.

"No, I mean, when they're found guilty, where will they be held? Azkaban is no more." Snape thought seriously on this.

"That I don't know, and even if I did I would not be allowed to tell you."

"Which ones did we catch?" she asked next.

"I am not permitted to say, but I heard you almost killed Avery," he smiled. "He still hasn't recovered, and they say he'll remain on the ward for permanent brain damage for a while." He managed a laugh, the first she had ever heard.

McGonagall beckoned Harry and Julie, who had stayed the night in Gryffindor tower, to follow her up to Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore was in a very welcoming mood. He kindly asked them to take a seat.

"I need to discuss with you what you saw a couple days ago," he said. "You were not suppose to see anything you saw," he looked at Julie. "Usually, we would have erased those memories from that night, but I have found an exception for you." Julie looked a little shocked, still not being used to magic and memory erasing.

"Why?" asked Harry, for he knew that was a strict law. "For her, I mean?"

"Because of you, Harry," he said. "As long as she knows you, she takes a dangerous risk. She must either know everything about you, or nothing at all.

So, unless you wish her to be permanently removed from your life, we decided that she had better know what's going on; it might help later." Harry was relieved to hear this. "I have also sent for your sister; there are other things that must be discussed." At that moment the door creaked open and there she stood. "Ah, Miss Evans, please enter." And so she did. Dumbledore turned back to Julie, "Thank you Miss Waters; if you could please excuse us." She stood up and told Harry she'd wait outside for him. Sarah took Julie's seat.