I quite like writing an extra chapter after the story's over. It's like the Special Features option on DVDs. There is nothing in this chapter that advances the plot; it's mostly just a bunch of tidbits- parts of the story that got changed, my future plans, etc.

OC CAST LIST

Alana Montblanc: Patricia Velasquez
James Potter: Chamber of Secrets-era Daniel Radcliffe
Julian Malfoy: Chamber of Secrets-era Tom Felton
Roman Corona: Chris Pine
Tisiphone Niger: Christina Ricci

PRAISE GOD FOR EDITING

When I'd finished writing Light, it was about 84 pages long. When I finished editing, the story had grown to 118 pages long. This was the story that taught me the importance of reading my rough draft through from start to finish before I post, to catch the million and one things that I need to fix.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… In the very very first rough draft of the plot [which I believe was written sometime in 2008 or 2009], Harry was going to take Alana and the boys on a summer holiday to Scotland. While there, Alana was going to receive a note proclaiming The Fallen Shall Rise [and yes, The Fallen Shall Rise was the original title for this story]. She was going to be stalked by an unknown enemy while on holiday, and that would be how my Death Eaters plot would get started. I'm glad that changed; the original plot was much weaker than this turned out to be.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… Originally [once again, this was in the very very first rough draft of the plot], Alana's role in the plot was a much more passive one. She was going to be kidnapped by Death Eaters in an attempt to trap Harry. Fortunately, she smacked me upside the head and reminded me that she has never in her life taken a passive role in anything, and if I tried to make her be passive in this story she would ensure that the story never got written.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… Alana was originally supposed to survive this story. There was supposed to be a happy ending, complete with Harry and Alana actually saying "I love you" [anybody notice how they never once in the entire story said those three words to each other, even if it was basically stated that they did in fact love each other?]. Amazing how she keeps refusing to have a Happily Ever After.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… Even after Alana decided for me that she was going to die, hers was supposed to be the only Order-affiliated death. Julian was supposed to live, and I'm still mad at him for changing that bit of the plot. He was supposed to grow up and become a Healer, restore the Malfoy name, even get married. However, while I was working on edits, Julian knocked me upside the head and told me that since he was the cause for the Battle of Hogwarts in the first place, he wanted to redeem himself and die a hero. Like mother, like son, I swear…

DID YOU KNOW THAT… Originally, after Alana killed Bellatrix she was going to go into hiding in Hogwarts. Tisiphone and the Death Eaters were going to be looking for her all over Europe, but she'd be safely hidden in the Headmaster's office. Oddly enough, I kept the story that way until I was editing chapter fifteen. It wasn't until then that I realized, "Wait a minute, she got into this mission to be useful. She wouldn't just back out because things got dangerous." That was when I worked out a cover for Alana so she could return to work in Spain. And let me tell you what, it threw me off my writing groove for a while until I figured out a way for Alana to [a] manage to get pregnant, and [b] deal with her pregnancy while still going through with her mission.

DID YOU KNOW THAT… Originally, the last chapter was supposed to take place 25 years in the future. Harry was supposed to be sitting by Alana's grave, telling her all about how the children were doing, and how he still, after all this time, didn't understand her. Well, that ending changed after Julian decided he was going to die. I tried to pay homage to the original chapter with the visions of the future Alana shows Harry. Also, I realized that it was absolutely idiotic for Harry to never actually figure Alana out. If they weren't going to have a Happily Ever After, I wanted him to at least finally understand who she was, and to love her for it. Even if they never overtly said "I love you."

DID YOU KNOW THAT… At one point, there was going to be a Roman/Alana/Harry love triangle. Basically, it was going to play on the fact that Roman had come from Alana's world and they were very similar in the fact that they were both traitors to their family, while Harry could never fully understand Alana because he'd never been through what she had. And that worked, until Harry and Alana decided they were actually going to fall in love [yeah, can you believe that? At one point they weren't ever really going to truly, deeply love each other romantically]. Once they told me that they wanted their romance to be genuine, however, any plans I might have had for Roman and Alana had to be scrapped, and Roman was relegated to the role he plays now- as liaison between Alana and the Ministry.

PLAYLIST FOR LEAD US TO THE LIGHT

Diary of Jane, Breaking Benjamin
Lucifer's Angel, The Rasmus
I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You, Marc Cohn
Over My Head (Cable Car), The Fray
Canon in D Major, Pachebel
It's My Life, Bon Jovi
Reflection, Mulan
Quiet Mind, Blue October
Evil Angel, Breaking Benjamin
Natural Disaster, Plain White T's
Better Than Me, Hinder
Murder City, Green Day
Be Prepared, Lion King
The River, Good Charlotte feat. M Shadows and Synyster Gates
Walk Through The Fire, Buffy
Only The Good Die Young, Billy Joel
Only Hope, Switchfoot

BUT WAIT! THIS SERIES WILL NEVER DIE!

Yes, that's right, Alana's not quite done demanding my attention yet. I hold fast to the statement that Lead Us To The Light is the last story in this series. However, Alana's saga is a trilogy of sorts, and I have yet to write part one of the trilogy. Yes, that's right, I'm going to be writing Draco and Alana's story, wherein Alana is created and grows up. It's entitled The Light in the Darkness. It's going to cover everything from Voldemort's decision to breed Alana until the day she's put in Azkaban. Yeah. That's quite a bit of stuff to write about.

I admit it won't be out for a while; [a] I'm going to be posting a few other stories first, and [b] I've only written a couple of chapters. However, seeing as the next few stories to be posted have already been written, I will be starting work on it in the very near future. So maybe, just maybe, you won't be waiting a year for this story to be posted, like you had to wait a year between Darkness and Light.

SO WHAT'S NEXT FROM PERFECTDISASTER22?

Well, next up for me is an Alice in Wonderland trilogy. At the time of this epilogue being posted, I have Books One and Two completely written and ready to be looked over by my brand-new beta, and Book Three is being written [despite its best effort to resist me]. Hope to see you there, or if I don't, I hope to see you when I begin posting Draco and Alana's story!

As always, you can check my profile page to keep abreast of all my progress and latest news!