Chapter 17 is here, ladies and gentlemen!

John gained consciousness after a couple of hours. He opened his eyes wide and looked at the ceiling and then at Jane who was sitting asleep on a chair beside the bed, her head lopsided to one side. He looked at her and he could see the mild bruises and cuts on her face and her arms. He sat up and immediately felt pain all over his body. Whatever that spell was, that he got hit by, had definitely left its mark. He looked over his body and could see bandages all over the place, and he could also see that his bruises were beginning to heal. He looked up at his peacefully sleeping sister. For a few moments, he got lost in a world of his own, reminiscing of how wonderful his life was and how it had been turned upside down by a seemingly harmless woman. But he broke out of his imagination when he heard his name being called.

"John, are you awake?" asked a sleepy Jane.

"Yeah... Yeah, I just woke up," replied John.

"How are you feeling? Does it still hurt?"

"Yeah, a bit. But I'm alive, thanks to you," replied John smiling.

"You would have done the same for me... You have done the same for me," replied Jane, now waking up properly. "What time is it?" she asked.

"Umm... Well past midnight," replied John.

They both sat there staring at each other. Both of them had faced multiple situations like that day. And every one of those situations had taken a heavy toll on them. As they sat and stared, there were flashes of memories that zoomed past. They thought of all the difficult times that they had faced, and in all those times, there was one thing common, them.

John noticed that there were tears welling up in Jane's eyes.

"Jane, what did you do with them?" asked John.

Jane sat there speechless. The truth was, she didn't know what to say. And the way Jane looked, John had a good idea of what might have happened. He hugged his sister tightly, in the most comforting way he could.

"I know that you hate torture, and I know that you also like it. But just remember that, without you, none of us would be alive. Plus, if people had taken extreme measures against death eaters, we may not be in the situation that we're in now," he said and patted her on the back and released the hug to look at her face.

"I haven't done something like this in a long time, I have controlled myself all this time, but I couldn't today," she replied.

"Well, they made the mistake of hurting me, hurting Daisy. They had it coming," said John.

They sat there in silence and that's when a thought came to John. He rushed out of his room and searched for his watch, which was there on the table. He looked at it and saw that all the needles were now pointing at "Safe". Jane who had followed John into the hall grabbed the watch from his hand and saw that everyone's status was "Safe".

"Does this mean that You-Know-Who isn't back?" she asked.

"This means... my dear sister... that Harry Potter is living up to his legend. He has got the stone and not Quirrell," he replied. John explained everything that happened in Hogwarts leading up to the moment he left.

"I have to go to Hogwarts," he said.

"I'm coming with you," she replied.

"What about Daisy?"

"She's sound asleep and not going to wake up anytime soon. You, on the other hand, are still hurt, and I don't know if you have any internal injuries. It's best I accompany you, make sure everything is fine there and get you to Madam Pomfrey. I'll get back home before it's morning," she replied.

"Okay!" replied John.

The twins used the floo network to get to Hogwarts. They met with Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore there, and to their relief found out that everyone was indeed safe, and that Voldemort hadn't got the stone. Harry however being in the hospital wing did raise some worries, but they got assurances from the Professors that he should be fine. John and Jane then explained what had happened to them. Upon hearing the story, McGonagall ordered John to go and see Madam Pomfrey. Pomfrey was aghast in hearing what had happened. But, she assured Jane that John did have internal bruises, but that he would be fine after a potion and a good sleep.

John woke up the next day, and the moment he opened his eyes, he saw Ron and Hermione sitting opposite him. He looked up and realised that he was in the hospital wing.

"You okay mate?" asked Ron.

"Feeling much better," replied John.

"Where did you disappear yesterday?" asked Hermione.

"Jeez! Let the guy breathe, Hermione," said Ron and chuckled as he saw John doing the same.

"It's a long story guys," replied John. "But before that, where's Harry?"

"Harry is there," replied Ron and pointed at another bed where Harry was lying.

"What happened after I left?" asked John.

Ron and Hermione recited the events of the previous night, how they had gone past various enchantments, how Ron had played a brilliant game of Chess, how Hermione had helped Harry in solving the puzzle, but they didn't know specifics of what had happened after Hermione had left Harry. All they knew was that Dumbledore had arrived late and Harry was then taken to the hospital wing.

A couple of days went by and Harry woke up. Harry recited everything that had happened between him and Quirrell, how Voldemort was there, the mirror of erised, everything.

John then told the trio about why he had left Hogwarts suddenly. He told them that someone had attacked his Aunt and that he had to go see her to make sure she was okay. Harry and Hermione suspected there was more to the story, but they chose not to ask him about it in front of Ron.

On the evening of the house cup results, final additions to points were done and Gryffindor had won the house cup after a long time. That was an evening to remember. The next day they got their results, and to no one's surprise, John and Hermione came top of the class, though Hermione had edged John by a very small margin. On that evening while Ron was away playing quidditch, Harry and Hermione joined John to have a nice little chat near the lake.

"So, are you going to tell us anything more about you?" asked Harry.

"I have lied to you both, and for good reasons. It actually feels good to live a life without lies, I mean without lies to some people. There isn't much to tell, Harry! I can tell one thing though... I don't have an Aunt," replied John.

"What?" asked Harry and Hermione together.

"Well, she isn't my Aunt. She's my twin sister. I couldn't call her my sister now, could I? What with me being 12 and not 27!" replied John.

"You have a twin sister? Wow, that's so cool!" replied Hermione.

"I can see that you're talking to me again," said John after a few seconds.

"Well, I don't know, it has been a very eventful year, hasn't it? And I just looked back at things you've done, and you haven't been all that bad," replied Hermione with a chuckle.

"We never actually thanked you for saving our life in the forbidden forest," said harry.

"And you'll never have to," replied John.

They got on the Hogwarts express the next day after the end of a wonderful year. Harry was looking forward to seeing Daisy, Dudley and Aunt Petunia. He wondered what all he should tell about the term he had. He was of course going to hear a few surprising things from his best friend Daisy about a certain classmate and guardian of his.

John reached home and after a few days, he told Jane about a holiday he was planning. It had been a rough couple of years for them.

"Jane, come here for a minute," said John, lying on the sofa lazily. Jane walked all the way from her room to the hall.

"What?" she asked.

"We should go somewhere, holiday types," he replied.

"We should... the last time we went was… well, it was a long time back," replied Jane.

"We can't go like this, can we? I'll have to get myself back to my original self," he said.

"Yes, you have to," she replied.

"Where should we go?" asked John.

"I don't know, you chose," replied Jane.

"We'll have to go somewhere, where you'll have enough gentlemen to..."

"Ugh! Shut up! Don't finish that sentence," replied a blushing Jane as she threw a pillow at John's face who burst out laughing.

These past few chapters have been very different from what you perhaps expected. The story has taken a turn that most of you might not have seen coming! What are your opinions on how the story is going?
PS - Chapters 18 & 19 are ready and will be released post a bit of editing next week.