A/n: I know, I know, it's been like a billion years since the last update. In a nutshell: work, holidays, a severe flu, more work, designing a website (with limited skillz ugh), work, more work, packed weekends, etc. I shan't ramble any longer, except to say that I may have lied about how many chapters are left...

Chapter 28

The following day was the much anticipated day of the special Halloween feast and excitement filled the castle. The students couldn't wait for classes to be over so they could rush back to their dorms and get into their costumes. Fortunately, Professor Dumbledore graciously announced at breakfast that classes would be ending an hour early in honor of the festivities to take place later that evening. Professor McGonagall was livid by this statement but could do little more than sit at the staff table and turn several shades of red. Luckily, the Gryffindors didn't have Transfiguration on Fridays, so they were able to avoid McGonagall's wrath altogether.

When the post came that morning, Draco and Hermione received their daily newspapers. Same as always, Draco skimmed the front page and was about to stuff it away for later when Pansy asked if she could read it.

"Honestly Draco, after how many weeks of this term and you still can never remember she wants to read your copy?" said Greg.

"I have better things to remember." Draco said haughtily.

Pansy pretended to be offended as Greg rolled his eyes and spooned himself some more eggs. Vinny laughed, as he thought Draco was only joking. Hermione, however had just happened to glance up at Draco at that moment, and was startled to see the ghost of the old Draco Malfoy flash prominently across his features. It was there for a moment then disappeared just as fast. She shook her head. She was just seeing things.

Hermione turned her attention to spreading her own copy of The Prophet out on the table beside her cereal and began to read, forgetting about Draco. She nearly choked on her food when she was about halfway through the front page article which Draco had not found interesting enough to read right away.

The headline read, "St. Mango's Flooded with Patients"

Underneath was a picture of a harried-looking Healer with short brown hair and clear blue eyes, with the caption: "Head Healer Octavius Cuthbertson speaks candidly about the recent epidemic at Mango's."

Hermione quickly started to read the article next to the picture.

"Over the past week, a record number of people have been falling ill and heading to St. Mango's Hospital to recover. Healers have been forced to work extreme overtime hours to deal with the influx of new arrivals. People have been crowding the emergency room and filling the empty beds at all hours of the night, with no end in sight.

'We tend to get a rush of people during holidays and weekends, due to pranks, accidents and people being bored,' said Head Healer Octavius Cuthbertson in yesterday's press conference about the sicknesses. 'However, it's not any special holidays right now. We were expecting to fill up more than usual after Halloween, as we do every year, due to pranks gone wrong and the like. Not before, however, and not this full.'

According to Cuthbertson and other Healers at the hospital, the majority of the ill have all been experiencing symptoms similar to the flu. High fever, migraine headaches, stomach aches, vomiting, energy loss and weakness, to name a few. However, Cuthbertson is sure it's not the flu.

'For one, patients with flu-like symptoms are not responding to treatment. Secondly and more importantly, many of the patients have been having other symptoms too, that lead us to believe it's not in fact the flu that is causing people to be ill.' He says. 'Some people suffer from extreme dizziness or dizzy spells, become very disoriented suddenly, have trouble speaking or remembering things, become shaky, or experience acute cold-like symptoms such as plugged sinuses, sore throat, coughing and so on. In a few extreme cases, the patient has progressed to the point where they are in a coma-like state.'

The Healers at Mango's are doing their best to find a quick solution to the sudden incursion of illnesses, and have so far not had much luck. Usual remedies don't seem to be helping and more patients seem to be coming in every day, with very few leaving. When asked if the massive flood of maladies were the start of a epidemic, Cuthbertson snorted and shook his head firmly.

'No, it's not the start of an epidemic, nor a pandemic, by any means. Every few years something new comes along that sends everyone into a blind panic. We have always managed to find a solution and no disease has ever gotten out of hand. This one is no different. It's just a matter of time. I assure you, and the public, that this will pass, and everyone will turn out just fine. In the meantime, we're working as hard as we possibly can to heal these people.'

When some members of the community voiced concerns about St. Mango's having enough staff or beds to accommodate the sick, Cuthbertson replied, 'We are training new Healers and creating room. No one will be turned away because of staff shortage or no empty beds.'

According to Cuthbertson and other Healers at St. Mango's, approximately forty-six people have officially checked into the hospital citing this mystery illness as their ailment since last Friday, though they refuse to comment on how many are sick in total. Of those forty-six, twelve are underage wizards and eight are senior citizens. Among the adults are Barty Crouch Sr., whose son work at the Ministry of Magic, as well as Bertha Jorkins, another Ministry worker, distinguished author Wilma Buttonshot, and influential wizarding couple Lily and James Potter, whose son attends Hogwarts with some of the ill underage wizards and witches (though has so far shown no sign of also contracting the sickness). Lastly, and probably most notably, the star of the smash-hit band The Weird Sisters, Sirius Black, has also apparently fallen ill, though sources say he refuses to check into Mango's for fear of being mobbed by fans.

For more on The Weird Sisters tour and other entertainment news, go to page 7.

Full signs and symptoms that could mean you have the Mystery Illness, turn to page 4."

Hermione felt as though she had suddenly plunged deep into very icy water. It made sense now. It all made perfect, horrible sense. Everyone who was falling ill was dead in her timeline. Judging by the article in The Prophet, it seemed the symptoms were worsening as time went on. Hermione was filled with dread at the thought of many others getting sick if her potion didn't work and she was forced to stay behind longer.

She immediately thought of Cedric and his headaches and severe dizzy spells. She felt dizzy herself.

It's me, she thought numbly. It's me and my stupid wish. That's he's getting sick so fast. It's because he's not supposed to be alive.

"Hey, Hermione, what is it?" asked Draco, seeing her pale, frightened face across from him.

"It's…" She wasn't sure she could say it out loud. "Look."

Her friends leaned close as Hermione read the article for them to hear, her voice shaking nearly as much as her hands.

"So that's what happened to Ally," said Vinny. "She caught this flu thing. Gee, that's too bad." He turned back to his food, as did Greg and Draco. Pansy looked thoughtful and worried, then moved her eyes to her own newspaper.

She couldn't believe her friends were so calm and unaffected by this piece of news. What was wrong with them? Didn't they understand what was going on? How could they be so insensitive? Didn't they care at all? After all, Ally was their friend too!

She took a breath and was about to let loose on her friends when she realized: no, they didn't really understand. She took another breath, this one deeper than the last.

"It's worse than you think." She said and lowered her voice. Her friends glanced up from what they were doing at her tone and all leaned in to hear the rest of what Hermione was saying. "I did this."

"What? Hermione, you couldn't have made people sick – " Pansy started.

"No, listen to me. These people. They're… in my timeline, they're dead." The others stared at her with mixed looks of horror and confusion. She continued, "Lily and James, Bertha Jorkins, Sirius Black. All of them. They're gone."

"But what about Ally?" said Vinny quietly. "Is she...? You know…"

"I don't know who she is. In my other world, I've never seen her before in my life, and I've never heard of her family." A shocked silence followed these words. Hermione swallowed and added, "Worst of all, I think Cedric is going to be next if I don't leave tonight."

"Wow." Draco whispered. "This is awful."

Hermione nodded solemnly. "I know."

"What happens if the potion… doesn't work?" asked Pansy in a small voice.

"I'm trying really hard not to think about it." said Hermione.

Though the rest of the day seemed to pass slowly and felt (at least to Hermione) tainted by the article in The Prophet, it was eventually the end of classes and the students were let out to go get ready for the Halloween feast. Hermione managed to push the sense of foreboding, sadness and guilt about the article and her potion to the back of her mind as everyone prepared for the evening. She wished Hogwarts did this type of a costumed Halloween feast every year. She could only imagine what kinds of costumes the Weasley twins would have cooked up.

Pansy dressed in her pink Marilyn Monroe evening gown that she'd spent quite a lot of time in the evenings sewing together. She curled her short black hair like Marilyn's and donned long pink gloves and sparkling costume jewelry. Hermione helped her with her makeup and charming Pansy's hair so it would last most of the night.

Hermione put on the flowing, glittering gown that she'd been putting together, followed by shimmering silver shoes. She had to employ the help of Sleazekey's Hair Taming Gel to straighten her hair out so she could put it in an elegant up-do, like the one she'd had at the Yule Ball in her fourth year. After Pansy helped Hermione apply her makeup, Hermione pinned a small tiara atop her head and the girls were ready.

Surveying herself in the mirror, Hermione thought, If only Ron could see me now. She smiled at her reflection.

Although it didn't seem like they'd needed to do much to get ready, it took them the entire time from the early end of classes to when the students were supposed to be arriving in the Hall for the feast to do so. The girls quickly descended the stairs into the Common Room where the others were already waiting for them.

Draco was wearing a pair of dark, tight fitting jeans, a white tank top and a black leather jacket. His hair was greased with black color and styled high on his head in the signature James Dean style. Judging by his stance, he seemed to be quite "in character" already.

Pansy squealed happily and ran over to plant a kiss on Draco's cheek, leaving a bright red lipstick mark behind. Pansy's laughter that followed this moment was high and shrieky - a laugh Hermione had not heard from Pansy since she'd arrived in this new world. She shook herself as the image of "her" Pansy Parkinson flashed through her mind.

Greg was dressed in colored robes that somehow looked too big for him (a curious feat, considering Greg was quite tall and stocky). He had managed to color his hair somewhat blonde, though in truth it was more brown-blonde than the "Ludo Bagman blonde" he'd been trying to achieve. While his outfit didn't seem to specifically indicate who he was, his mannerisms – according to the others – were spot on. He didn't act at all like Hermione would have thought someone impersonating Ludo Bagman might, though she had to remind herself she did not know the Ludo in this world. So she took the others' word for it that Greg was hilariously perfect at pretending to be the Minister.

Vinny was going to the feast as a "fairytale vampire", as he called it, since vampires apparently did not look like the one Vinny was portraying. He had bought a set of fake, bloody teeth on their last trip to Hogsmeade and was wearing them now. They oozed what looked like real blood but what Vinny said was actually a very tasty raspberry syrup. He'd used typical costume makeup to make his face ghostly white with deep, dark circles under his eyes. Far from looking frightening, however, he looked rather comical, especially when he stumbled constantly over his long black cape.

Millicent had chosen to go as her favorite Quidditch player, Regina Corkscrew of the Tutshill Tornadoes. She was dressed in their signature blue robes and had her Cleansweep attached to a wide leather strap so she could carry it across her back like a bow and arrow, leaving her arms free. She'd also used several bottles of hair products and a more than a few charms so make her hair an explosion of spirally black curls, just like Chaser Regina Corkscrew's. Seeing the Tornadoes' logo emblazoned on Millicent's chest once again made Hermione think of Ron, and the time he'd basically told Cho Chang off for wearing a Tornadoes badge.

If all went well, she would be seeing Ron tomorrow morning.

The thought simultaneously cheered and saddened her. Before she thought of Ron any longer, Hermione firmly decided to push all thoughts of him and home out of her mind for now. Tonight, it was about these friends and this feast, and her last night in this world.

The group made their way down to the Hall, joining up with other students in costume along the way. As they came down the great marble staircase leading to the Entrance Hall, Hermione couldn't help smiling widely.

Everywhere she looked, there was someone in costume. There were Halloween decorations of all descriptions hanging in mid air above them and adorning the walls all around. Chatter and laughter could be heard above all other noises as the students filed into the Great Hall for the feast.

"This is so exciting!" said Hermione, gazing around at the others, as the sight around her filled her with high spirits.

"I know." Pansy grinned, then added a little sadly, "I wish Ally was here to see this."

Hermione's heart guiltily sunk a little. She reached over and gave her friend's hand a quick squeeze. "Me too."

She fleetingly thought of the moment not too long ago when Ally had been trying to convince Hermione to stop cutting herself off from everyone.

"Hermione, if you leave with things the way they are now, you'll always wonder what you could have done differently. You'll always wonder why you didn't do this or say that and make things better. Believe me when I say it, because I have those thoughts often about… things."

Hermione felt more saddened by this. There were so many things she didn't know about Ally and never would. She wished her friend had had time to write her own 'things I never got to say' letter before she'd gotten sick.

A second later, however, Hermione forcefully left those sad thoughts behind. Ally wouldn't want anything to spoil what was sure to be a wonderful night. Besides, she spotted her prince waiting patiently off to the side of the doors to the Great Hall, and nearly all other thoughts were washed instantly from her mind. Hermione swiftly wove though the throng of wildly attired students filing into the Hall for the feast to reach him.

He smiled and looked her over intensely. She avoided feeling self-conscious by taking a second to do the same to him and his outfit.

Cedric was dressed in dark pants and a royal blue waistcoat trimmed with silver. The buttons shone in the bright candlelight above them and his knee-high black boots looked highly polished. He'd even attached some fake medals to his breast pocket to show his "royal rank". All in all, he looked very handsome, like a prince that had stepped off the pages of the perfect fairytale story – just as Prince Charming ought to look like.

"Good evening, m'lady." He said and bowed low and proper before her.

She giggled then straightened her features as she replied, "And you as well, Prince Cedric."

He grinned widely and offered her his velvet covered arm. "Shall we?"

She grinned back as she took it. "We shall."

A/n: So I just wanted to say, I have currently lent out my copies of Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix, which annoyed me greatly when I wrote this chapter, as I was unable to double check a few things (details about St. Mungo's which I had wanted to include, and especially the name of the stuff Hermione said she used in her hair at the Yule Ball because I'm sure I've got it wrong). Anyways, any, all and every review is absolutely appreciated. Reviews to me are like oxygen. :D