Epilogue: Home at Last

Dumbledore's potion was much kinder to me than Tom's fridge had been. With the potion I only had to push my foot back to keep my balance. My right hand flew down to my butt to make sure the letter was still there. The cloak hanging from my arm flapped wildly behind me, but I held tight. The rose and feather both seemed barely touched by the wind. Then, it stopped.

I was standing in the middle of Tom's garage. Everything was exactly has it had been. I could even hear Barb outside talking. I guessed Dumbledore sent me back to the same day I left.

"Shayna sure is taking forever in there," I heard Barb comment.

"I'll go see what she's doing," Kelli volunteered. The sounds of running dogs died off.

Kelli walked into the garage, slightly out of breath after her chase with the dogs. "Oy! What's taking you so…?" She stopped dead. I was crying and she knew it. She walked up to me. "Are you okay?" she immediately asked.

I tried to say yes, I tried to say I was fine, but I knew before the words left my mouth she would see right through it. I told the truth. "No," I said bluntly.

"Shayna, what happened?" She looked at my arms. "Where'd you get all this stuff?" I didn't say anything. She looked me right in the eye. "Shayna, talk to me."

"I…" I couldn't say it. How do you sum all that up?

"Okay…" She quickly glanced around and saw a chair. "Sit," she ordered. I was too depressed to object. Then she knelt in front of me.

"Now, tell me what happened," she requested. I broke down and did the only thing I could think of. I pulled the box out of my pocket.

"Read…this," I said between sobs. She looked awfully confused, but did it anyway. The farther she read, the more her face said "Awww! Cute!" When she hit the ending, I knew she was lost.

Kelli looked up at me, her whole faceabsorbed inconfusion. I couldn't help but laugh at her. "Draco Malfoy? But…" she looked back at the letter.

"Kelli?" I said, finally able to talk.

"Yeah?" she asked, her attention focused on the letter.

"Can we go to my dad's? I havealotto tellyou."

Noticing that I wasn't sobbing anymore, Kelli said, "Yeah you do!" She folded the letter up and put it back in its box. "I'll go tell Barb and Tom you feel sick or something. I'll be right back."

"K." And, within moments, she was back. I thought of reaching for the fridge handle again, but I knew I needed to talk to Kelli really bad.

"Alright, let's go," she said, reaching for me in case I needed help walking or something. Maybe it was for moral support. I don't know.

"Oh, and Kelli?" I pulled out the feather. Again she looked at me in confusion. "This is for you. It's from a certain phoenix."

Then she looked up at me in suspicion. "No way…"

"Way."

"You have a LOT of explaining to do woman," Kelli said, her eyes focused on the red-orange feather in front of her.

I shrugged, knowing that sooner or later everything would be better again.

alas, we have reached the end. i'm still not sure whether or not there'll be a sequel. i want one, but i don't want to go against the books too much. i might have to wait until the seventh book comes out. maybe. idk.

i'm thinking of starting another ff soon, so keep an eye out for that.

3, greeneyes