The Silent Specter of Hogwarts

Epilogue – Business as Usual

Two weeks had passed since Abigail’s return. Professor Trelawney took over some of Professor Wright’s classes, a fact Hermione bemoaned when it happened. Abigail had been moved to a private room in the Infirmary, where she was quickly gaining her strength and her memories. Professor Wright worked tirelessly with Madame Pompreyto assure Abigail’s quick return to good health. Harry had been consciously avoiding the couple, realizing they needed each other’s company, not his. But as Christmas grew closer, he took a moment to visit her.

Abigail smiled as he peeked his head around the door. “Harry! I am so glad you came to see me. I’ve been wondering if you would.”

“I didn’t wish to intrude.” Harry returned her smile, noting the color on her cheeks and the happy shine in her eyes.

Professor Wright was sitting in an armchair beside the hospital bed where Abigail was propped up, a book open on his lap. “Nonsense. It’s because of you we’re here at all.”

Abigail patted the space next to her on the bed which Harry awkwardly took. “You have questions I imagine.”

“Are you all better?” Harry asked. “Have your memories come back?”

“Most of them,” Abigail said. “There is a great deal of time I can’t account for, but Dumbledore and Malcomb have theories. When I first set out to find Voldemort, I could still sense him but not see him. The Deatheatershad scattered in fear, they were no longer a threat. But I had expected to feel nothing of Voldemort. Nothing at all. To still sense him, feel his presence…well, I had to keep searching.”

She reached out a hand to her husband, who immediately grasped it. “I never realized how much time was passing. I was always conscious of being one step behind, always just out of reach. And then suddenly nothing, not a single trace of him, and I found myself being pulled backward. I don’t know how long it was before you found me.”

Harry’s brows drew together in a frown, “But how is it possible that you stopped sensing Voldemort? He’s come back.”

“That’s where the theory comes in,” Professor Wright replied. “There’s no way to pin down how long ago or how much time elapsed. But if Abigail could sense Voldemort, it was probably his spirit.”

“She stopped sensing him the moment he took a body,” Harry grimly finished. Memories of last year’s fiasco came flooding back. Memories of that ghastly, tiny, deformed creature Voldemort had become before taking his father’s bones, Harry’s blood, and Pettigrew’s flesh.

“Yes,” Abigail laid a hand on Harry’s arm, bringing his eyes back to hers. “I never actually knew your parents, Harry. I always wish I had. But having met you, knowing you… Well, they would have been very proud of the man you are growing up to be.”

Harry flushed to the roots of his hair as she leaned forward and pulled him into a tight embrace. Only Mrs. Weasleyand Hermione had ever attempted to hug him and feeling Abigail’s arms around him made him ache for his parents, the very people he would never have a chance to embrace. It made him stiffen and pull away.

Her eyes told him she understood. With a soft caress on his cheek, she said, “Malcomb and I will be leaving Hogwarts soon.”

“All the girls at Hogwarts will be heartbroken,” Harry quipped. Then he sent a penetrating glance at Abigail. “You’re not going back out there to look for Voldemort, are you?”

Abigail laughed sadly, “No. I’ve learned the hard way that life, with all its aches and pains, is still more precious that than anything in the world.”

“Good, I’m glad,” Harry said and meant it. “You’ve done your part. You’ve got to take the chances at happiness that you get.”

“That is a very old sentiment for someone your age,” Professor Wright said.

Harry could only smile half-heartedly. “Let’s just say it’s something I learned a long time ago.”

He left them soon after, satisfied that he had played his part in solving one mystery. Every life salvaged from Voldemort’smisery was worth the sacrifice, he told himself. As he made his way down to the Great Hall for dinner, Hedwig swooped onto his arm and delivered a very strange request from Sirius.

Harry smiled and slipped the letter into his pocket to show Hermione and Ron. Life was back to normal.

The End