I was actually discharged the next day.
I had spent almost a week in the hospital wing without interruption.
The only exception had been the secret outing with Draco. I was quite grateful to him for that, because otherwise I would really have gone mad.
Sure, everyone had tried to distract me somehow, with their visits or with the books they had brought me. But nothing had done as much good as the time with Draco in the fresh air.
I had a pile of books that I brought back to the library after lunch, which I still had to eat in the hospital wing.
It was relatively quiet there, most of the students were in class after all.
Only occasionally did someone sit at one of the tables and was so engrossed in his book that my presence was not even noticed. But it didn't matter, I was just happy to be back.
I had missed it, the quiet and the smell of old books. This was the place where I could spend ages.
It was now afternoon, the sun had finally made its way through the clouds and was finally bringing temperatures to the Scottish Highlands that did justice to mid-March.
I sat on the bench by the loch that Neville had shown me and enjoyed the fresh wind around my nose.
The forest at my back was slowly recovering from winter and buds adorned the branches of the still bare trees.
It was spring.
Spring, that had always been my mom's favourite season. Why one had a favourite season was not clear to me until today, but I was still happy to discover the first signs of spring every year.
It reminded me of her, and sadly, the memories I had of her became fewer and fewer.
If my Animagus were an elephant instead of a cat, I would never forget anything, then the memories of my parents would be safe with me. But all my Animagus brought me was better eyesight and hearing. That was great but unfortunately didn't bring back any memories.
I would give quite a lot to bring back those memories but even magic couldn't do everything.
I could have sat there for hours just staring at the water, I didn't know in retrospect.
But it did me good and I was able to realise a few things. Like the fact that I needed to talk to Neville.
He was still mad at me for not telling him about Grandpa and I could understand that but he was my best friend and I didn't want to fight with him.
I waited outside the Great Hall to intercept him before dinner.
"Daisy!", I heard Hannah's joyful voice and that alone gave me hope that this conversation wasn't going to be as bad as I feared.
Where Hannah was, Neville was never far and as I turned to face her, he was actually walking beside her.
She let go of his hand, rushed towards me and fell around my neck.
"I have so much to tell you", she wispered into our embrace.
This, this was exactly what I had needed, a hug from a friend.
I sighed heavily.
She wasn't mad at me anymore.
Neville, on the other hand, stood in front of us with his arms crossed, watching silently.
We broke away from each other and Hannah beamed at me.
It was like the sun was coming up.
She really was an angel.
"Hey", I said shyly in the direction of my best friend and waved at him.
"Hey", was his short and cool reply.
"Can we talk please?"
Before he could answer Hannah had grabbed him by the arm and was pulling him and me, who she grabbed to go behind him, into an empty classroom.
"So, you two talk now."
Now it was she who folded her arms in front of her chest and stared at us expectantly.
I had wanted this conversation but now that we were standing here my courage had shrunk to a minimum.
Still, I somehow overcame myself because I knew he wouldn't start.
"I'm honestly sorry."
I took one deep breath.
"I created that lie because I was always in trouble on Ilvermorny because of it.
I wanted a fresh start and part of that was that no one knew who I was.
It's easy to lie to strangers but I didn't expect to make friends. But by then the damage was done, I couldn't row back.
All I wanted was to be more than my name for once. I never intended to hurt anyone with it."
A tear ran down my cheek, which I wiped away with the back of my hand.
Neville's expression had relaxed.
He took a step towards me and took me in his arms.
And that was the moment I decided to tell everything.
I couldn't do it anymore, I couldn't lie to them both.
Not after all they had done for me.
I owed it to them and I owed it to myself.
They would understand, I just had to explain. That had been the problem, they hadn't heard it from me and I hadn't had the chance to explain my reasons.
"There's something else I need to tell you." Neville broke free of the hug and looked at me incredulously.
"Please don't tell me there's something going on between you and Malfoy."
I laughed and shook my head.
"Then it can't be that bad."
If he wasn't wrong about that.
"I think you guys should sit down."
Now Hannah was looking at me in disbelief too but she and Neville took my advice and sat down on one of the tables.
Okay Daisy, you can do this, I said to myself encouragingly.
You already told Draco, you can do it a second time.
"My real name isn't actually Daisy."
I took another deep breath.
I can do this.
"Well it kind of is, Daisy is my middle name. Actually, my name is Florentine Daisy Scamander.
Harper is my mother's maiden name.
Daisy Harper, that could be anyone and that was my aim, I wanted to be like anyone.
But I'm not. I'm an Animagus.
More accurately, I was born as one."
I said it, I actually said it.
"Actually, you can only learn it but actually also means that there are exceptions.
Exceptions is an exaggeration, there is ONE exception. Me."
They both stared at me with wide eyes. Neither said a word so I decided to explain a bit more.
I told them everything I had told Draco the other day, because I wanted them to know.
"It's not dangerous or contagious but we don't know if I'll pass it on if I ever have children.
I'm not dangerous, I promise."
Now that I had started, the words just spilled out of me and it felt good to finally say it. And even though neither of them had said anything and I couldn't tell if I had made a huge mistake, my heart felt so much lighter.
"Of course you're not dangerous."
Hannah had come out of her stupor and was now standing in front of me.
"You're not afraid of me?", I sniffled and I wondered when I had started crying.
She shook her head and took me in her arms.
"No, of course not. Unless I'm facing you in a duel, then I'd be scared." She laughed and I giggled between sobs.
I felt Neville's warmth envelop me from behind as he wrapped his arms around us.
"I can understand that, but how you and Malfoy became friends I don't think I'll ever understand."
And now we were all laughing. We hugged each other and laughed. Nothing could have spoiled this for me, nothing at all.
Neville's stomach growled incredibly loudly and only now did I remember the dinner I had kept us all from.
I had no idea how long we'd been in here but dinner was certainly in full swing.
"Do you have any more secrets to tell us or can we finally go eat?", laughed Neville but I knew how serious he was. He couldn't take a joke when it came to food.
And I could understand him, now that he had said it I felt my hunger too.
Arm in arm, we walked into the great hall.
As expected, everyone was already sitting and eating.
At a normal school we wouldn't have got anything because we were late, but this wasn't a normal school and once again I was very happy about that.
