This is the final chapter. However, I have written a second book in this series.

***

31st May, 1992

“Professor, can’t you do something? She’s got to wake up before the winning house is announced!” a voice exclaimed worriedly.

It sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

Maybe it was my mother…no, that couldn’t be right, it was definitely a boy.

But why would people be talking about winning houses and Professors when they were all dead, like me?

Then the realisation hit me that in fact I wasn’t dead.

Maybe the Killing Curse had been weakened to a Knocking-Unconscious-and-Almost-Killing Curse?

I opened my eyes and tried to sit up. My vision swam, but the feeling subsided.

Instantly, Blaise ran up to the bed and attempted to give me a hug, but it was quite difficult, considering that I was sitting down.

I was vaguely aware of the fact that he was saying something.

“What?” I asked.

“I said, I thought you were dead,” he repeated. “Madam Pomfrey found your heartbeat, though.”

“Good,” I said faintly. “I didn’t really want to die.”

Blaise laughed.

I looked around. I was in a bed in what I figured was the hospital wing.

My father, Blaise, Anja, Alex, Dean, Seamus, Padma, Pavarti and Lavender were all gathered around my bad. At the other end of the hospital wing, Dumbledore was talking quietly to Harry.

My father smirked at Blaise and me, then his face turned solemn. “What happened after I, uh, left you?”

I explained what had happened, right up to when I was hit with the rebounding Killing Curse.

My friends all looked terrified.

“You – you mean to say you were dead?” Lavender gasped.

I thought for a moment. “Yeah, I think so. But not long, don’t worry. I survived because it had hit someone else.”

My father smiled. “Yes. That, at least, is a good thing. The Dark Lord may still return, but his return will be delayed. Now, I have a job to do as your teacher. For your bravery, intelligence and luck, I award you, and therefore Slytherin House, 30 points.”

Dumbledore had gone by now, luckily. Harry glared at me and at my father.

I glared back.

Blaise and Anja cheered, while the others clapped half-heartedly, looking slightly irritated.

Anja asked me, “Jade, are you going to be able to come to the Feast? It’s the last day of school, after –”

“What? I’ve been here for two days?”

Anja nodded. “Yeah. As I was saying, it’s the last day of school, after all, and you should probably be there to help us celebrate Slytherin winning the House Cup.”

I got out of the bed to test my health and nothing hurt.

Wow.

Alex immediately ran over to me and hugged me. “I’m so glad you’re better, big sis.”

I grinned. “So am I.”

“Ahem. We’d better get along to the Great Hall,” Seamus reminded us, so we all filed off to the Hall and sat at our house tables.

The Hall was decorated with green and silver banners with serpents on them – Slytherin banners.

Dumbledore then stood up and announced the house points. Gryffindor was last, Hufflepuff was 3rd, Ravenclaw was 2nd and, of course, we were first.

But, unfortunately, Dumbledore had chosen his favourite house and wanted them to win.

So he awarded 50 points each to Hermione and Ron.

I wasn’t about to say that neither of them had had important roles in helping Harry get to Quirrell…but 50 points?

Then he gave Harry 60 points.

“For essentially letting Hermione and Ron carry him to the finish line,” I said to Blaise and Anja.

I must have said it a little too loudly, though, because Draco, Pansy, Millicent, Crabbe and Goyle all applauded loudly at my words.

I turned my attention back to the points-giving. Slytherin and Gryffindor were now drawn for first place.

Glancing over at Harry, I could tell he was extremely tense.

But Dumbledore wasn’t finished giving points yet. Finally, he gave Neville 10 points for standing up to his friends.

Gryffindor table exploded with cheering and Neville was surrounded by admirers.

Gryffindor had won the House Cup – but only because of Dumbledore’s complete bias. I wasn’t about to deny his brains or skills with spells, but he didn’t exactly act fairly when it came to Gryffindor House and Harry Potter.

Dumbledore then proceeded to express his view that there should be a change of decoration, and changed the Slytherin banners to bright scarlet and gold ones with lions on them.

Ugh.

While he spoke these words, I could have sworn he was smiling – more like smirking – at us, as if to say, Ha-ha, we won.

But I wasn’t about to waste the opportunity to eat – who would? – and turned to the food that had magically appeared on the table.

“So,” Blaise began, “is anyone going away somewhere during the holidays?”

I laughed falsely. “Yeah…how about no. I don’t even know if I’m going back to the orphanage or not!”

Anja looked shocked. “Well you’d better sort it out quickly, then!”

I nodded, then a thought occurred to me and I paused. “How about you? I don’t know anything about your family!”

Shrugging, she replied, “Oh, we won’t be going anywhere. The Pansés will probably spend the whole summer celebrating the fact that even though they’re a Muggle family, all of their kids so far have turned out as witches or wizards. But that’s not saying much, since their oldest child is a second-year here and I’m adopted. Their youngest child is starting secondary school in September.”

Blaise looked at the two of us with an air of superiority. “Well, I’m not going on holiday, but I am going to the Ministry of Magic. My family has connections.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“I see,” I said, unimpressed.

After the Feast was over, I went over to my father. As happened, he was engaged in a conversation with Professor Dumbledore.

“Hello, Jade,” Dumbledore greeted me, smiling. “I expect you’ll want to speak with your father now?”

I looked back and forth between him and my father.

“You –”

Dumbledore nodded. “Severus has just spoken to me about it. You look like your mother, but you have your father’s eyes.”

Then he strolled off, humming to himself.

My father turned to me. “I suppose this is about where you are staying over the summer?”

I nodded hesitantly. “Because I told Maria – that’s the girl –”

“I know who Maria is,” he interrupted.

“– Okay, well, I told Maria that I wasn’t going back to the orphanage. Rather stupid, in hindsight.”

“Mmmm, I suppose. But since I am your father, it is only natural for me to suggest that you stay at my place. It is your choice, obviously, but –”

“Of course I want to stay at your place! The other option would be going back to an orphanage with a bunch of Muggles that didn’t expect me back and trying to hide my magic all summer. I don’t think so,” I commented sarcastically.

“So you’d like to come, then?” He looked extremely happy.

“Yeah…but can I go back to King’s Cross on the train? And you can pick me up there?” I suggested.

“Of course.”

I walked back to my friends.

When we got to the train, the four Gryffindors told us smugly that they wanted to go and celebrate with their housemates. Padma said she wanted to go sit with her sister.

So Alex, Anja, Blaise and I shared a compartment.

I sat next to Alex and stared out the window.

I was going to a new home. I wouldn’t exactly have a family, but I would have a father.

That was something, wasn’t it?

“Jade! Jade! Jade!” Anja called me.

I snapped back to reality.

“Huh?”

“Are you going to the orphanage or staying with Professor Snape?” she asked.

“My father.”

She nodded. I turned to Alex. “Alex! Are you going back to the orphanage, or staying with Angelina and the Johnsons?”

Alex’s head snapped up. “I heard my name! What was the question again?”

I repeated the question. “Oh, Angelina said she got an owl – I’m moving to the Johnsons’. My family.”

Anja and Blaise appeared to be having an argument.

As usual.

“No, actually, 1979,” Anja told Blaise, looking frustrated.

“What?” I asked.

“Blaise was under the impression that I was born in 1980. I was simply correcting him,” Anja explained.

Blaise defended himself. “Well, I just assumed –”

“Don’t assume,” Anja interjected.

Blaise rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Pansy.”

“It’s Anja Pansé! Honestly, Beany!”

“Yeah, Beany!” I cut in. Alex laughed, smirking at ‘Beany’.

Blaise glared at us. “It’s Zabini, not Beany.”

I don’t think he realised that none of us were actually listening. We all replied in unison, “Whatever, Beany.”

A short while later, the train arrived at King’s Cross Station. We said goodbye to each other.

Although it would be 3 months, I felt as though it would go very quickly.

I met Blaise’s parents, Anja’s adoptive parents and Alex’s ‘new’ parents.

My father turned up and told me to take his arm. Suddenly, we were sped through England. It wasn’t much fun.

My father called the method of transport ‘Apparating’.

We were outside a small-looking house. My father led me to a bedroom off to the side of the entrance room.

There were two beds in the room, one on each side of the room.

They had clearly never been used.

“Sir, why do you have two beds here?” I asked. As far as I knew, I was an only child.

He averted my eyes. “You.”

“I’m not stupid. I think I know by now that I don’t need two beds. Who’s the other one for?”

“Your – your twin sister.” He looked down guiltily.

“My what?” I demanded.

“You have – had a twin sister. I sent you to an orphanage and gave her to your godmother, who then sent her to a separate orphanage. 2 ½ years later, she came back to me and told me she – she was dead. But I had hopes…I thought maybe she was wrong.”

“Oh. So, uh, where do I sleep?” I asked, changing the subject.

He shrugged. “Either is fine.”

I chose the bed to my left.

I would always choose left over right.

“What are we going to do now? Can you show me around the house, or something, Professor?” I asked.

He smiled. “Of course. But considering that we’ve been aware of our relation for a while now, I think it is appropriate for you to start calling me Father, don’t you agree?”

Grinning somewhat foolishly, I replied, “That sounds like a brilliant idea – Father.”

That night, I dreamt I was back at the orphanage and I was 10 years old again.

Alex, Mimi, Theo and I were outside, in the garden. We were just talking, as we often did, and then I got up to get something I had seen in the bush.

I leant over to the bush and suddenly, a snake leapt out of it.

“Go away,” I told it.

“What if I don’t want to?” it asked.

I told it to go away, again and again.

Finally it did. Alex walked over to me to see what was going on.

“Why are you hissing, Jade?” he asked me.

I told him I wasn’t hissing and I didn’t know what he was talking about.

“But you were speaking snake language!” he insisted.

I repeated that I wasn’t speaking snake language, I was speaking English and I didn’t know what he was on about.

Then Alex turned into my father. “Jade…Jade…are you alright?”

I woke up, gasping. My father was standing there with his wand lit up.

“You were hissing in your sleep,” he told me.

I told him what had happened in my dream.

His face turned grave. “Do you know what this means?”

“Nothing?” I guessed.

He shook his head. “This means, Jade, that you are a Parselmouth.”