"Hey, Elizabeth!"
It was a beautiful afternoon, but sadly she wasn't enjoying it. Harry had been in the hospital wing for three days. She insisted on staying at his bedside until he woke up, but Madam Pomfrey had thrown her out and refused to let her back at all. That didn't stop her from spending all her free time whinging outside the hospital wing until Madam Pomfrey threatened to get Professor McGonagall.
"Hey Fred, hey George," she said as she turned around to see the Weasley twins approaching her. "I meant to thank you for those dungbombs you gave me. Remind that I owe you one later."
"More like three," said Fred.
"How 'bout I don't tell your mother that you're supplying them to students and we'll call it even."
"Deal," said Fred hesitantly.
Elizabeth smiled. "Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Weasley."
"Going back to the hospital wing?" asked George.
"Of course. I think if I'm persistent enough Pomfrey will break. Sorry that she confiscated the toilet seat you sent Harry. Bet he would have got a kick out of it."
"Yeah, so you'll tell us when he wakes up, all right?"
"Will do. See you two later."
Her relationship had really come along with Fred and George. She was no longer mad about the tree incident and they were no longer mad about the Pharaoh incident. They reached a nice ceasefire and she finally considered them her friends.
Even though she was worried sick about Harry, she was still sour she never bet Ron about Snape. It was Quirrell all along who was after the Stone and he had perished down in the dungeons trying to get it. Ron, Hermione, and Neville were all fine after the night's events. None of them had gotten Gryffindor in any more trouble and even Mr. Filch had stopped giving off that dungbomb smell. The dirt had even come off Elizabeth's hands after a few washings. She was ready for the school term to finally be over so she could go home. Surely she was going to have one heck of a summer once her grandmother heard what happened. Despite the imminent trouble, she missed her home above Flourish & Blotts and spending her days in the bookshop with her grandfather. She missed her bedroom, she missed the hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley, and mostly she missed William. She couldn't wait to get back and tell him all about her first year in Gryffindor. She thought he would surely be anxious to hear how she got along there.
She reached the double doors of the hospital wing. Before she opened them she heard a voice that made her stop. It was Harry. She pressed her ear against the door to hear better.
"And the invisibility cloak ─ do you know who sent it to me?"
"Ah, indeed I do," said Professor Dumbledore. "Mr. Wellington is in possession of quite of few of his fallen friends' items. I assume he thought you might like it. He was fond of it himself in his school days. He used to borrow it from your father and use it to sneak around the castle. Mainly, he would go out after bed and would nick items from a teacher, usually hanging it from the Whomping Willow. He was quite a handful in his time here."
Elizabeth had heard about that. William had a terrible habit of doing terrible things with his terrible friends, according to Margaret, of course. One of his favourites was to take things from people he particularly disliked, like Professor McGonagall, and hang them on the top branches of the Whomping Willow. She never found this amusing and he always got detention for it. He had more detention with McGonagall stories than anyone else that ever had her at Hogwarts, Elizabeth was sure.
"Elizabeth's uncle sent it to me?"
"Yes, he did. He wrote me a letter shortly after the night you got that scar that he had salvaged a few things from your parents he thought you might care to have when you got older. He wrote me another letter shortly after sending it to you that he had thought it was time to start turning them over to their rightful owner."
"But then why didn't he sign the card?"
"Well Harry, he never has." Dumbledore laughed.
Elizabeth smiled. That was William. He never did sign his name to anything. Elizabeth felt that the invisibility cloak must have come out of the wardrobe and whatever else William had kept in there with it had been relocated. Claudius must have known all along what was in there and what William's intentions were, so he sent the key back using Elizabeth, hearing from Richard that she had met Harry at school that year. They functioned so similar, William and Claudius, sometimes, that it was a wonder why they ever split paths.
The double doors opened to reveal Professor Dumbledore.
"Miss Wellington," he said, " I expected you to be close by. I assume you know he's awake."
"Yes sir," said Elizabeth meekly.
"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt for you to see him." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.
Elizabeth smiled. "Thank you, Professor." She walked in quietly, not to alert herself to Madam Pomfrey's attention. "Harry!" she exclaimed. She rushed towards him and threw her arms around him.
"Ouch! Elizabeth, my head's still sore."
"Sorry," said Elizabeth embarrassed, letting go of him.
"OUT!" yelled Madam Pomfrey spotting Elizabeth. "Wellington, get out! Potter needs his rest."
"He's been knocked out for three days," Elizabeth whinged. "He's rested enough."
"Please, Madam Pomfrey," Harry pleaded, "just five minutes."
"Absolutely not," said Madam Pomfrey sternly.
"But you let Professor Dumbledore in," said Elizabeth.
"Well, of course, that was the headmaster, quite different. Potter needs rest."
"He's resting. Look, he's laying down."
Madam Pomfrey glared at Elizabeth, but finally gave in. "Very well. But five minutes only."
"Harry!"
Ron and Hermione had come to visit Harry as well. Madam Pomfrey looked at them, then Elizabeth.
"Don't look at me," said Elizabeth innocently. "I didn't tell them."
"Oh, Harry, we were so worried!" said Hermione.
"The whole school's talking about it," said Ron. "What really happened?"
Harry told them everything. He told them all about Quirrell, retrieving the Stone from the mirror, and most importantly Voldemort.
"So Quirrell had Voldemort under his turban?" said Ron. Harry nodded. "Wow, I never would have guessed he'd be evil."
"And I thought all along that turban only bothered me because it blocked the blackboard," said Elizabeth.
"So the Stone's gone?" Ron asked.
"Dumbledore said it was destroyed," said Harry.
"Well, thank goodness," said Hermione. "At least this is all over."
"Not yet," said Ron. "There's still the end-of-year feast tomorrow. Slytherin won the house cup again. We got crushed in the last Quidditch match without you."
"Way to be uplifting, Ron," said Elizabeth.
At that moment, Madam Pomfrey bustled over. "You've had nearly fifteen minutes, now OUT," she said firmly.
The next day for the end-of-year feast, the Great Hall was decorated in green and silver, celebrating Slytherin's winning of the house cup for the seventh year in a row. Elizabeth sat across from Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table. All around the Great Hall, students were chatting. Elizabeth could see Richard at the Ravenclaw table in a particularly sour mood. He didn't enjoy the fact Slytherin had won the house cup again, nor did he enjoy the thought of how their grandmother was going to react when she heard of all the trouble Elizabeth had caused this year. Richard was furious with her over the incident with Filch, but instead of being concerned about what would happen to her, he was more concerned about what would happen to him once their grandmother found out. She always made it clear to Richard that he had a responsibility to Elizabeth as her older brother. Richard and Elizabeth didn't see it that way, as they had felt more like strangers than siblings until this year, but as long as Margaret held that notion they could rest assured they would not be receiving a warm welcome home this year.
On the other side of the hall she could see the Slytherins rejoicing in their victory. Draco Malfoy was looking especially smug. The whole hall lowered to hushed whispers as Harry walked in. Everybody started talking loudly again as he slipped into the seat next to Elizabeth at the Gryffindor table. Students were standing up trying to look at him. Fortunately, Dumbledore arrived moments later and the chatter died away.
"Another year gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully.
As Dumbledore continued his speech, Elizabeth's mind wandered to the events of the past year. From the train ride and the sorting to exams and the events of last week. It was hard to believe that shortly she'd be returning to her home in Diagon Alley, above the bustling sounds of people shopping and conversing with one another. She wasn't so enthusiastic about the end of the school year anymore. She remembered that to some, Hogwarts was their home. Not everyone looked forward to getting off the Hogwarts Express in June. She knew that for Harry this was true, and that the summer holidays were going to be unbearable for him.
The stillness of the room caught Elizabeth's attention.
"I have a few last-minute points to dish out," said Dumbledore. "Let me see. Yes, first ─ to Mr. Ronald Weasley..."
Ron's face went purple. He looked like a radish with a bad sunburn.
"...for the best played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."
Gryffindor cheers filled the hall. Ron seemed as though he was about to faint. Finally, the room settled down again and Dumbledore continued.
"Second ─ to Miss Hermione Granger ... for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor fifty house points."
Hermione looked as though she was about to cry as Gryffindor house burst into loud, celebratory yells for they were now up a hundred points. Hermione buried her face in her arms and Elizabeth was sure she was now in tears.
"Third ─ to Mr. Harry Potter..." The hall went dead quiet. "... for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor sixty points."
The outcry was deafening. Elizabeth threw her arms around Harry's neck and pulled him into a tight embrace. When she let him go he turned slightly red. Elizabeth was grinning broadly, practically bouncing out of her seat. She tapped Hermione on the arm.
"Oh, Hermione, head up!" she squealed with anticipation. "We've just tied with Slytherin for the house cup!"
Both Gryffindor and Slytherin now had four hundred and seventy-two points. Dumbledore raised his hand. The room gradually fell silent.
"There are all kinds of courage," said Dumbledore, smiling. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom."
Gryffindor table erupted in a loud noise. Neville had just won them the house cup. The four of them stood up to yell and cheer as Neville disappeared under a pile of people hugging him. Neville had never won as much as a point for Gryffindor before, but now he had helped them win the house cup.
"I still feel just awful for petrifying him," Hermione admitted.
Elizabeth laughed and looked over to Ron and Harry, who were pointing at a stunned and horrified Malfoy.
"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, for even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin.
Elizabeth could barely see Richard cheering with his friends. She was glad he had cheered up though. She would hate to have had to listened to him complain about her inability to behave herself and Slytherin winning the house cup all summer.
"We need a little change of decoration," said Dumbledore.
He clapped his hands and in an instant the green and silver hangings in the hall had changed to scarlet and gold. The huge banner of the Slytherin serpent was replaced with a towering Gryffindor lion. The Slytherins' smug smiles had all faded into bitter scowls as the rest of the hall rejoiced.
Soon enough exam results were in. Of course, Hermione had achieved the highest marks of all the first years. No one seemed bothered by this. All were just happy they passed.
"See," said Hermione comparing marks with Harry, Ron, and Elizabeth, "all that revision paid off."
"What revision?" said Elizabeth. "I don't believe I've revised all year."
"Believe what you want, but I helped you all pass."
"Whatever you say, Hermione."
Truly, Elizabeth hadn't needed Hermione to tell her to study. She was confident in herself, but not to a point where it overshadowed logic. She knew she had to revise to pass her exams. Hermione's revision timetables and constant nagging had no effect other than to give Elizabeth several headaches. She wasn't going to tell Hermione that though. She decided to let her have her moment of self-aggrandising. After all, Elizabeth felt that Harry, Ron, and Hermione deserved it. They did save the school more than once throughout the year.
A/N: Quotes and Plot from Chapter Seventeen, The Man with Two Faces, pages 295 to 302, and 304 to 307.