Chapter 1
The moonlight cast a little circle on the waters of the lake. Elizabeth slid her hand under the circle of light and watched as the water slipped through her fingers. If only she could pick up that circle of light, that circle of hope. It was drizzling, but she didn't care. All she cared about was singing.
She raised her voice to the heavens, let her voice echo through the misty fog. Soon, a figure appeared through the mist. As the figure came closer, she recognized who it was. It was Harry Potter…one of her best friends.
He plopped down, cross-legged next to her.
"I heard you singing." He said softly. Elizabeth drew her knees up and clasped her arms around them…like a frightened child. And it was true. She was frightened.
"Oh, Harry." She said, her voice shaking. "I wish this could all be a bad dream. But it's not."
Harry shut his eyes tightly and opened them again to keep intact the dam protecting the wall of tears from cascading downwards. He didn't want to think about this. About how he might lose one of his best friends in the world…to cancer. Not even to anything heroic or brave, so that he might have something to console himself. No, the thing that he might lose her to was a disease…a horrible, evil disease.
"What if, I keep thinking. What if I die? What if I leave you, Ron, Hermione…everyone who knows me…behind? What if…I can't sing anymore?" Elizabeth's frightened voice cut through the blackness behind his eyes. Harry opened his eyes and saw that tears were now cascading down his friend's face. He hugged her tightly, and remembered that morning, when life had turned into a nightmare.
Elizabeth had looked pale that morning. He remembered. He didn't think anything of it until later…
Memories swam through his mind…not really organized. He heard the echo of the voices in his head.
"Riddi…Riddik..Ri…" she said shakily…her knees gave way. A loud scraping and clunking as Elizabeth collapsed to the floor.
"Riddikulus!" Lupin shouted…banishing the boggart. He hurried forward, kneeling at Elizabeth's side. Harry, Ron, and Hermione just stood there, scared and upset. "Get Madame Pomfrey!" Lupin shouted. Hermione, looking terrified, rushed out of the classroom and up to the hospital wing.
After that, things were all a blur. The only clear-cut memory after that was later, when Professor McGonagall told Harry, Ron, and Hermione that Madam Pomfrey wanted to see them, and led them up to the hospital wing.
Madam Pomfrey gestured them into the hospital wing. Lying in a bed, now in a hospital gown, was Elizabeth.
"The reason I called you here," she said, "was because you are Elizabeth's three best friends. I have some very grave news. Elizabeth has a tumor in her brain. It's inoperable, and cancerous. There is a very good chance she will not survive."
Now, the cool breeze breaking the flow of memories, Harry looked down and saw that Elizabeth had fallen asleep. Brushing the straight brown hair out of her face, he felt a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach, and lying down next to his best friend, he let the dam break, and the tears started pouring down his face.