~Astra~

Albus hated me. That much was obvious from the way he'd sighed and told me to go ahead and help James. I mean... maybe he was angry with James, too, with every right to be, but I'd been hoping that the events of the past hour would have shifted his perspective a little bit. I shouldn't have been surprised, though. After all, I'd abandoned him and Colette. He might never forgive me.

I couldn't really worry about that right now, though, not when I was shoving my way through the crowd. Sure, there wasn't as much fighting, but it hadn't ended. I managed to trip Russey as I ran past him and Mr. MacMillan, which was a plus, but really I just wanted to get to James.

When I reached him, I stopped short to take in the scene. There was blood flowing from James's nose, though he didn't seem to notice that; he was on his feet again, facing off against Magnus Caldwell. What stopped me was who he was fighting with—I'd forgotten that Eris Prince had been near him, and to see them working together was absolutely beyond anything I could've dreamed about.

Just then, Caldwell had a shield charm up, and both James and Eris were rapidly firing spells at it. James was yelling something about Wren, I think, and Caldwell was laughing like an actual psychopath (fair enough, I guess). Suddenly, he leapt forward, through his own shield charm and the one that either James or Eris was casting. He grabbed Eris by the front of her collar and lifted her off the ground before literally throwing her to the side. I winced involuntarily as she hit the ground hard.

Instead of retreating, James let out a string of swears at him that was either impressively courageous or horribly foolish, depending on how you looked at it. Caldwell was rounding on him, and before he had a chance to do anything, I shot a silent confringo that threw him back several meters. It wasn't enough to knock him off his feet, unfortunately, but it did manage to pull his attention to me.

James was also staring at me with a look of dismay, and I could already imagine why before he told me. "What are you doing here?"

"Keeping you from getting beaten up, it looks like!" I'd run up to stand next to him, eyes still trained on Caldwell.

"You." Caldwell was glaring at me, but for once I was pretty sure the hatred in my own eyes was deeper than what I saw in his. I made a face, and he growled. "You think you can get away with something like that?"

"Defeating Stillens, you mean? I think I already have."

James shot a silent curse at him, and instead of the volley of curses I'd come to expect from followers of Stillens, Caldwell simply barreled right towards us as if he intended to knock us down. I cast two more confringos, and he only managed to block one. This time, I did send him to the ground for a moment. Before he could get up, James had rushed past me and thrown himself at the older boy.

"James!" I groaned as Caldwell easily caught his arm and held him back with one hand. He used the other to punch James in the face again, which somehow only made James kick at him harder, yelling once more. He sounded nearly unintelligible, but I could hear Wren's name several times. Well... I guess it made sense that Magnus Caldwell would be the person that made James lose all sense of reason. I wasn't going to stand by and watch him get his face bashed in, though. I cast a jelly legs jinx that brought Caldwell to the ground.

"I hope you're ready to die!" James shouted down at him. He waved his wand, and suddenly Caldwell had risen up into the air, several meters above the ground. My eyes widened as I tried to remember any spells that could do that, but I drew a blank. It didn't matter, I guess—within seconds, he'd been flung to the ground so violently that I heard the crack as his head hit the concrete.

Within seconds, James had turned to hug me fiercely. "Why are you such an idiot?"

"What?" I pulled back, staring at him in surprise.

"Running off to find Stillens on your own?" His tone was still sharp, but the relieved smile on his face let me relax a little. "I really thought you were going to die. Wren, too. It... I don't..." He shook his head. "I'm glad you're okay, that's all."

"Better than that." I smiled. "It's over. All of it."

"Yeah..." James's thoughts had already moved on, apparently, because now he was scanning the crowd with concern. "Where's Wren? Is she okay?"

"I... I don't know." I pursed my lips, suddenly remembering that last time I'd seen her, she'd been running straight at Zaria Hempsey of all people. "She ran off to help Lacy, I think..."

He stared at me for a moment, eyes wide with fear. I half expected him to dash off in search of her, though in a crowd this size I didn't know how much luck he'd have. After a moment, he deflated a little and looked down. "She's all right, don't you think? She's probably fine?"

"I'm sure she is," I said, as if I had any idea. The truth was, I didn't think she'd been fine even before she'd run off. Who knew how well she could fight in the state she was in? I wasn't going to tell James that, though. Better to have hope until it was proved wrong, right?

At least James seemed satisfied. He abruptly turned away from me and crossed the distance to where Eris Prince was still on the ground. I'd forgotten she was there, to be completely honest. I couldn't help staring as James crouched down next to her and gently shook her arm. "Eris, can you hear me?"

She stirred a little, and I could see her eyes fluttering open as I came closer. "What?"

"Can you hear me?" James tilted his head a little. "Or at least see anything?"

"I... yes..." Her eyes focused on James, and he let out a sigh of relief. I frowned, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Clearly, they'd been fighting together today, but I couldn't imagine why. I guess I didn't really know that much about what James had been doing at the Ministry. Surely she hadn't been part of it...

James was helping her sit up, but she grabbed onto his arm tightly, blinking dazedly. I made a face. "What's wrong with her?"

"Do I look like a healer?" James said, frowning at me almost indignantly. I blinked, taken aback—what was that about?

"I'm just dizzy," Eris said, glancing up at me with a frown. "Probably a concussion or something."

"Lots of blood for a concussion..."

I shook my head, staring at them both in confusion. "I'm sorry, but what's going on?"

That made James pause. He frowned for a moment as if I was the one acting weird, but then his eyes widened. "Oh, I assumed Wren would've told you at some point. Sorry. Eris cofounded the Friends with me."

I laughed without meaning to, which made James narrow his eyes and Eris sigh in exasperation. It took a second to realize they weren't joking. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"It's my middle name," James said automatically, before blinking and shaking his head. "Yes, I'm serious. Why on earth would we be anywhere near each other if I wasn't serious?"

"It's not thanks to James, if it makes you feel better," Eris said, rolling her eyes. "Wren practically forced him into it, at first."

"Of course she bloody did." I should've known, honestly. At this rate, I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd started sticking up for Zaria Hempsey. Well, when I thought about it that way, I suppose there were far worse people than Eris.

"Do you think you need to see a healer?" James asked. He was already helping her to her feet, and she seemed steadier than she had a few moments before.

"I'm fine," she said with a shrug. "I'm sure they have far too much to handle already."

"Like Colette," I said, eyes widening. Had she and Albus managed to find a healer yet?

James and Eris were staring at me, and I frowned as James slowly asked, "So... that was actually her? On the stage with you? And Albus?"

"It was them." I found myself glancing around, as if I could possibly catch a glimpse of them in the crowd. "She... she was really hurt..."

"She looked like she shouldn't have been able to stand," Eris said. "What happened?"

Maybe people hadn't noticed a girl falling from the balcony. Or maybe no one had realized who it was. I still didn't know how she'd survived the fall, to be honest. I didn't know how to explain it, either. "She fell."

"What do you mean, 'she fell?'" James asked, frowning in confusion.

Eris's eyes had widened. "You're kidding. She's not..."

"The one who fell from the balcony?" I shrugged. "I thought she died falling, honestly. I don't know how she survived, or found Albus. They just... showed up." My heart clenched with worry—surely they'd made it to a healer, right? She was going to be okay.

"What do mean, they showed up?" James demanded.

"Upstairs. They showed up. Colette was the one who defeated Stillens, actually."

They were both staring at me like I was crazy, but I didn't know much more than that. However, I had suddenly realized that if I didn't figure out how Colette was doing within the next few minutes, I was going to absolutely lose it. I glanced around the thinning crowd apprehensively. "Where would they be taking the wounded?"

"How should we know?" Eris asked.

"I... I just..." I took a deep breath, cursing the lump that was forming in my throat. Colette should've died. Why hadn't she? And how long would that last? I needed to find her right now, but I didn't know where they would've gone and there were literally thousands of people here and it would take so long to locate just two of them and—

"Whoa, Astra, breathe." James was at my side when he hadn't been a moment before, and I blinked at him for a moment. He was watching me with concern. "We can try to find her. I... I mean, I guess they wouldn't want to see me, but we can at least get you to them."

It was all I could do to nod. When Eris cleared her throat, I glanced over at her. "I, um... I'll go find the rest of the Friends, make sure everyone's okay..."

"Thanks." James smiled grimly at her, already scanning the crowd. "I think I see where they're taking people, Astra."

With his hand on my arm, he guided me through the crowd. If there was any fighting left, I couldn't see it. In fact, I could hear Mr. MacMillan's voice from the stage, trying to give directions on what to do next. It was over. Truly over. Why did I feel worse?

Thank goodness James was there—Colette could've been totally fine by now for all I knew, but I was still on the verge of tears anyway. We reached the rapidly growing makeshift hospital, though, and there was no sign of them. That was bad, right?

"I don't see any of them," James said, his mouth pressed in a thin line. "Not even Jasper."

"Did they take the people who were hurt really badly somewhere else?"

"They could have, I guess. I don't know where..." He shook his head. "Maybe they haven't made it yet? She looked like she was having trouble standing, so it might just be taking a while..."

"I can't imagine Albus letting her walk anymore," I said, shaking my head. "He would've carried her."

Now it was James's turn to blink at me. "Albus? Carry her? Surely he's not strong enough for that."

I stared at him for a moment before it hit me that he didn't know anything. He didn't know Albus had been rescued, had run away, had been turned into a werewolf. Right now didn't seem like the time to tell him, though, and I didn't think I was the person to do it, either. I just shook my head. "He carried her down the stairs. I'm sure he could handle this."

Though James still looked confused, he didn't question me. Instead, he glanced around, brow furrowing deeper. "Where do you think Wren ended up?"

I'll be honest: I hadn't been thinking about her at all. I couldn't begrudge James for it, though. It wasn't like he'd seen Colette collapse earlier, had to practically hold her upright because she could hardly stand. Of course he wasn't as worried—he didn't know how bad it was. And now that I thought about it, I guess I was also concerned for Wren. She'd been doing so poorly, and I wasn't sure how much I believed Colette's assurance that her running off into battle proved she was fine.

But I didn't know where Wren was anymore, so I just shrugged. Though I knew where she'd been, I couldn't see her anywhere near where Lacy had been fighting Hempsey. In fact, Lacy, Rose, and Iris were gone, too, and I couldn't tell if Hempsey was still there. I just shrugged in answer to James's question. "She might be looking for you, honestly."

Though I could tell he wanted to leave and try to find her, he stayed put. It was probably the better choice—I was sure she'd make it here eventually, concerned about Colette as well. There were so many people running around, trying to find friends and family members, that it would've been nearly impossible for James to locate her in the crowd.

"Oh, I see Jasper."

I snapped back to the present and followed James's gaze to a door in the back of one of the storefronts. Apparently, Nico had just come out of it, and now he was looking around, clearly trying to find something. It wasn't me, though; his eyes slid right over where James and I were standing. I shouldn't have been that surprised when a moment later, he started off towards where Poppy and Ciara were sitting nearby. I hadn't even noticed them.

Well, if he was looking for Poppy, he'd likely been with Albus, which meant wherever they were going was where I wanted to be, too. But for some reason, I found myself hesitating as they spoke quietly. After all, it was clear no one had asked for me. Did Albus not want to see me? Or even Colette—now that the tension was waning, had her anger at me returned, too?

"Astra?" James nudged me. "Aren't you going to go with them?"

Nico and Poppy were halfway to the door by now. I bit my lip as they reached it, then disappeared through it, suddenly unsure about everything. "I... maybe I should wait a while. Just... you know, give them some space..."

For a moment, James frowned at me, but his expression turned sympathetic quickly. "I'm sure they're way more angry with me than with you."

"That's still really angry." Albus hadn't even acknowledged me last time I'd seen him, and he'd been short with me today. Who was to say that he'd be any less angry now? With the immediate threat gone, wouldn't that just leave room for moreanger? Especially if he was also worried about Colette... and who knew how she'd react to me.

"You don't have to go in," James said quietly. "It's fine if you want to wait. I'm sure if something were really wrong, Jasper would've told you."

That was true. Now that I knew where they were, that Colette was at least in good hands, even if she wasn't doing great yet, I found I could breathe a little easier. It was a better idea to wait, wasn't it? To talk to them when everything had calmed down a little.

"Maybe I should make sure Ciara's okay," I said softly.

James squeezed my shoulder. "That's a good idea. Do you want me to come with you?"

"No." I smiled gratefully at him. "Thank you. You should go and find Wren."

Though he was clearly trying to hide it, I could tell he was relieved. "Right. Well... see you soon."

"Good luck." As he hurried off, I turned around and found my cousin again. She was sitting up on one of the cots lining the floor, which was both worrying and relieving at once. Worrying, in that she'd clearly been injured somehow, but relieving, because it didn't look too bad. Now that Poppy was gone, she was sitting alone.

As I approached her cot, I smiled at her, but I guess she was lost in thought. She started when I sat down on the edge of her bed, but for some reason, when her head turned my way, the startled expression didn't leave. "Hello?"

"Ciara?" I let out a confused chuckle. Had something addled her head?

Now she visibly relaxed. "Oh, Astra. Hey."

I blinked at her for a moments, trying to figure out what was going on, and it was only then that I noticed that not only was she still not looking directly at me, but her eyes were a milky white instead of their normal gray. My own eyes widened at I realized what that meant. "Can you... can you see me?"

I thought I saw her lip trembling a little as she shook her head. "I can't see anything."

"A curse?"

She nodded. "It was nonverbal, so I don't know what it was. I'm supposed to wait and see if the effect wears off before the healers can help me."

"That's horrible." I reached out for her hand, and she clasped it tightly. "What happens if it doesn't go away on its own?"

"I don't know," she whispered. "They said they're not sure what they can do without knowing what it is."

I stared at her for a moment. Did that mean it could be permanent? She'd never see again? How horrible... Without thinking about it, I scooted closer to her and pulled her into a hug. She froze for a moment, startled once again, but then she wilted. I only realized she was crying when she started shaking.

"I'm sorry," I whispered into her hair. "I'm so sorry."

"No, it's not..." Ciara pushed back, wiping at her eyes with her sleeve. "People have died, Astra. This is... it's silly, in comparison."

I pursed my lips. "It's not about that. You've been hurt. You're allowed to be upset."

"It doesn't actually hurt that much anymore..."

"It hurt? Physically?" I blinked.

"It felt like... I don't know. Like someone threw acid in my eyes. It's mostly gone away."

"What do you mean, 'mostly'?"

She shrugged, dropping her head. "I don't know. I can focus on other things, now, at least. Scorpius practically had to carry me here, apparently."

I found myself smiling. "Oh, he found you?"

Even though she couldn't actually see me, it felt like she was staring directly into me. "You knew he was here?"

"I... well, we came here together. But I swear, I didn't know where he was until last night." I don't know why I felt the need to defend myself, honestly. It's not like anyone had told me he'd been rescued, so I couldn't have told her he was safe even if I'd had a way to. "Where'd he go?"

"To find Mum and Dad, I think. That's what Poppy said, at least. He was gone by the time the pain started going away."

"Oh." I glanced over my shoulder—the crowd was still so large, even if it was more organized now. I could see Mrs. Potter up on the stage now with Mr. MacMillan, though they must have broken the amplification charm because I could only vaguely hear her voice. Who knew how long it would take Scorpius to find their parents? "Are they even here?"

"I think so. I saw Aunt Daphne when I got here and I'm pretty sure my mum was with her."

"I would've thought they'd have stayed in hiding," I said thoughtfully. Their home had been attacked less than forty-eight hours ago, after all. Had it really only been two days? Thinking back to then felt like looking at a whole different world. So much had changed since then.

Ciara actually laughed. "Do you really think Dad would do that? He's too proud to let them know that they got to him. He was probably strutting around all over the place, letting them see that they hadn't rattled him."

Actually, that sounded exactly like Uncle Draco. I guess it would've been more surprising if they weren't here.

"Do you realize what an idiot you are?"

My head snapped up, and I stared at her for a moment in shock. "Excuse me?"

"Why are you here at all? Let alone trying to face Stillens alone."

I pursed my lips. Did everyone know about that? I guess Wren must've found out somehow. Looking back, it didn't make as much sense, but I could still feel the guilt that had led me there. It had seemed like the only option at the time. No one wanted to hear that, though. "I didn't know what else to do."

"What?"

"Stillens threatened to kill someone if I didn't turn myself in, you know. And then... and then he did. Mr. Longbottom was killed."

Thankfully, Ciara's expression had turned more sympathetic than angry. She still shook her head. "Astra, that's not your fault. He would've done it anyway."

I sighed. Intellectually, I knew that made sense, that killing Mr. Longbottom had been a strategic move more than anything, but it didn't change the fact that I felt responsible. I probably always would. "It's... it's complicated."

She just nodded. I was grateful when she changed the subject. "What happened? Did Wren find you? Is she okay?"

"She found me." I sighed. "She tried to convince me to stop, but I wouldn't, so she came with me. I wish she hadn't."

"Why?"

I could hear the fear in her voice and winced. "No, she's okay. At least, last time I saw her she was. She was on stage with me a while ago, when I was talking. But she ran off to fight Zaria Hempsey, and I haven't seen her since..."

Ciara swore softly. "Why would she do that?"

"I don't know. Defending Lacy, I think."

"Oh. That sounds like her."

I laughed in spite of myself. "It does, doesn't it? But no, I wish she hadn't come with me because it was horrible. Her mum was there, and Stillens was somehow worse than I've seen him... It was terrible to watch, so I can't imagine how she's feeling..."

"How did you defeat him? You said he couldn't do magic anymore?"

I frowned, wondering if Ciara knew that Colette had fallen, or if she also had no idea. Briefly, I told her all of it, that Stillens had wanted her to use her spell on Wren, and she'd tried to kill herself, practically, but somehow she and Albus had appeared from nowhere later. That we'd cast the spell together, and it was nothing like I'd ever seen before. And that now I knew they were here, but I didn't think they'd want to see me, no matter how desperately I wanted to see them.

Ciara's expression had grown hard by the time I'd finished. She shook her head. "I'm going to kill him."

"Stillens?" I frowned. I mean, I understood the sentiment, but it seemed a little weird now that he was captured.

"Albus!" She groaned and leaned back against the wall behind her. "He's so stupid. Why would he give in to her like that? And why would Poppy let him?"

It sounded like she'd been there. Did she know what had happened? I grabbed her hand. "You knew they were here?"

"I mean, I didn't know about Colette until she fell, but no one else did either. I was with Albus when it happened, though."

"You were?" I wondered how he'd gotten here, if he'd told Ciara where he'd been.

"Poppy and Nico found him, I guess. Nico was really upset, because he'd promised not to come, but—"

"What?" I took a deep breath. "Ciara, do you know where he's been for the past month?"

She hesitated, suddenly seeming to realize what she was telling me. "I... I hadn't seen him. But, I mean... yes."

When I took another breath, it was shaky. She knew. Who else knew? Nico, apparently. That meant Wren, too. And they hadn't told me. "Where?"

"He was with those Prophet reporters in Hogsmeade. He swore them to secrecy, I guess. Nico and Wren, too. I wasn't supposed to know."

He'd... how had he... I couldn't handle this. If he'd talked to Nico and Wren, he had to know that Nico was restoring memories, and he'd been doing it with me. And he hadn't wanted to tell me he was safe, even. That, or he hadn't thought about it. I didn't know which was worse.

"Astra?"

I blinked myself back to the present. "I... Why would he..."

"I don't know." She reached out, and I took her hand. "There's been so much going on. He didn't tell Poppy, either."

"Why?"

"He was afraid, I think."

I made a face even though I knew she couldn't see it. "Of what?"

"Do you... do you know what they did to him?"

"What, that he's a werewolf?" I pursed my lips. "He was afraid of what she'd say?"

"That's how Nico made it sound. I don't know. Like I said, I hadn't seen him until this morning."

There were so many more things I wanted to ask her, so many things that didn't make sense, or my mind wouldn't accept. He hadn't even had someone reach out to his mum, had he? Had Nico told him what a wreck I'd been? Had he not cared? One thing was clear: he definitely hated me.

But Ciara couldn't answer most of my questions. I sighed and shook my head, determined to find Wren and talk through all of this with her as soon as possible. Even Nico would work, honestly. I just needed someone I could be upset with for not telling me anything.

Ciara squeezed my hand, and I pursed my lips, trying to remember what she could tell me. "You... you were with Albus?"

She nodded. "Not for very long, but we all saw Colette falling. He took off, of course. I've never seen someone run so quickly. But I guess he was close enough to cushion her fall just a bit before she hit the ground. Poppy and Albus moved her somewhere out of the way, and I went to find Adalyn Lostry..."

I sat back, making another face. "Why her?"

"We needed a healer, and she was the best I could find on short notice. She's been hanging around Nico a lot the past week or two. We convinced her to not join Stillens, actually. And I think she did the best she could on Colette..."

So that explained how she survived. As much as I hated to admit it, I had to be impressed by what Adalyn had done. Colette must've been about to die when she got to her.

"We wanted to get her away, somewhere safe where Stillens wouldn't be able to get to her again, but she kept insisting that she needed to go back upstairs. I thought Albus wasn't going to give in, or I never would've left. I was trying to find Fred so we might be able to get them to his flat."

"And they left while you were gone," I guessed. "Why would he do that?"

"I don't know. Poppy and Adalyn came to find me, and the fighting had already started, so I didn't get to ask a lot of questions." She frowned. "We got separated pretty quickly, anyway. Poppy didn't find me again until she saw Scorpius trying to get me here."

I could imagine exactly what had happened to get Albus and Colette upstairs, but I didn't bother to tell her that. The fact that Colette's spell had been what saved us didn't change the fact that Albus should never have brought her back in the first place. I pursed my lips. "I saw Nico come over to get Poppy earlier. Had he been with Colette? Did he say how she's doing?"

"Not much. He said it didn't look good, and she might be one of the first ones they take to St. Mungo's."

I glanced around, wondering who was even here as a healer. To my relief, I saw Inessa rushing around, which meant Charlotte had to be here somewhere. Maybe she was the one who was taking care of Colette? That would be good.

"Astra?" Ciara was whispering, and I turned back to her with a frown. She was looking down at her lap, though obviously she wasn't really looking at anything. "Who's here? What can you see?"

To be totally honest, I'd paid no attention to anyone around until now, which was probably a bad idea, since there were plenty of other people I should've been worried about. Teddy and Toire, Aunt Andromeda, even just Artemis and Marcus. I pursed my lips as I scanned the wounded, suddenly wondering if everyone I could see was just wounded.

"I, um... I see Rose and Lacy," I said. "They're sitting by Iris. She looks like she might be unconscious, but the others seem fine." I shot a glance at Ciara, but she was just nodding thoughtfully, a worried frown on her face. I decided to keep going. "Elmer and Eviana and Pip are all sitting together, but I don't see Lily. Pip has a sling and Eviana has a bandage around her head, but otherwise they seem fine. And... well, I don't see them now, but I was with Eris Prince and James a few minutes ago, and they were fine." There were dozens of people here, and though I might've known a third of them, I wasn't sure if Ciara would. "Is there anyone in particular?"

"Um... Brigitte?"

I stared at her. "Myers? Really?"

"She's one of the Friends."

"Oh." I frowned and glanced around the crowd. "She's on a cot. Covered in blood, actually, but she's sitting up and ranting about something, it looks like."

"Who's she with?"

They were kids from our year, though I was having trouble remembering their names. "Um... Thyme, I think? From Slytherin? And a Ravenclaw boy."

"Jackson?"

"That's it!" I nodded, as if she could see that. "Are they Friends, too?"

"Yes. Do they look like they're all right?"

"Perfectly fine. Who else do you want to see?"

"Adalyn?"

It didn't take long to find her, scurrying between the cots and helping the healers, which felt so out of character that I just stared at her for a moment. "Um... she's here. Helping, it looks like."

"Oh, good. What about Trevor and Reya?"

Two other kids from our year. Did I remember who they were? I bit my lip and started scanning the crowd. They'd just started to carry some of the cots to one side, away from the others, and it took me a second to realize they were separating the dead from the living. My eyes followed one of the cots, afraid of what I'd see. "Oh. Shit. I think Trevor... um, I don't think he made it."

Ciara let out something close to a whimper, and I put my arms around her again. "I don't see Reya anywhere," I said, as if that was comforting.

"I don't want to hear anymore."

Fair enough. I didn't want to look around much anymore, either. I lay my head on her shoulder, closing my eyes tightly and feeling hot tears welling up in them.

"How... how are we supposed to go back to life after this?" Ciara asked softly, putting voice to something I'd been about to wonder myself. Unfortunately, all I could do was shake my head.

"I don't know."

~~~~

Question of the Day: As we draw near to the end, I want us to reflect back on our time together. Our highs and our lows, our struggles and our triumphs, the times you collectively banded together to kill me and the times you told me I was a wonderful human being. In other words, do you have a favorite part from this series? What is it?

Answer: I should know better than to ask questions like this!

There are so many little things. Astra's first ride on the Hogwarts Express. Elmer Poe and his ridiculous scavenger hunt that made Albus realize he kind of sort of had a crush. Mackenzie slapping James in the face when he tried to hit on her while he and Wren were broken up. Fred's relentless dedication to Quidditch, then somehow even more relentless dedication to his girlfriend. Ciara and Wren's friendship. Albus punching Stillens in the face. Poppy and Nico being friends. Literally every scene with Cassie. Lacy's "I can disagree with you without hating you."

There are so many big things. Colette lying to the Predatels to save Astra, a girl she's never had a real conversation with. James asking Wren out for the first time. The evolution of Albus and Colette's friendship. Astra facing Stillens time and again and always choosing her love for others over anything he could offer. Wren choosing to come back, even though she didn't know if she had anything to come back to. Astra standing before the wizarding world and announcing the war is done.

I have to admit, though, the part that I always come back to was a throwaway line that's become one of the deepest themes of this series. I know from your comments that this part struck a chord with many of you as well.

Colette frowned. 'If you ever deserved forgiveness, it would be necessary, would it? Isn't the point that you don't deserve it?'

Vote and comment!

~Elli

Word count: 5435