Aftermath

Harry relaxed quietly in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. Ginny sat next to him with her head resting on his shoulder, asleep. It had been a busy week for Harry and his friends. Ron was busy working with Snape every evening. Hermione and Ginny, while taking care of their normal school work, had also been working on promotional flyers and other forms of advertisements and marketing for the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes Combo Broom Kits. Harry was struggling with trying to keep up with his studies and at the same time getting ready for the Combo Broom demonstration the following day. Harry and Ginny were now waiting for Ron, Hermione and Fred to show up so that they could finalize their plans for the big demo. Harry knew that Hermione was with Ron, in Snape's office, helping out with the research of the writings of Ashera; he didn't know where Fred was. It was nearing midnight, he hoped that everyone would show up soon or he would be joining Ginny in dreamland.

Finally, there was a commotion at the door, Ron and Fred entered the room.

"Made it. Snape sent me off early," explained Ron.

"Where's Hermione?" asked Ginny, as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Something's going on. Snape kept her in his office after I left. And Madam Pomfrey showed up just as I was leaving," said Ron.

"Probably getting another injection," said Harry.

"But they usually do that down in the infirmary," replied Ron. "I tell you, I don't like it."

"Oh Ron, calm yourself, I'm sure that no one is plotting against you," laughed Ginny.

"I just want to know what is going on, that's all," pouted Ron.

"And just where have you been, young man?" said Ginny, casting her eyes on Fred.

"Well, I, um... I was talking to someone in the hallway," replied Fred, sheepishly.

"Who were you talking to Fred?" asked Harry.

"Please don't say anything, she'll be coming in soon," said Fred, anxiously looking at the door to the common room.

At that moment, the door to the common room opened and in walked Millicent.

"Well, are we having a party?" asked Milly.

"No just a meeting of the board of directors of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes," said Ginny. "You are welcome to stay if you like Milly."

"Oh, no thanks, sounds like secret, hush-hush stuff to me, goodnight all," said Milly. "Good night Freddy," she added.

"Goo...good night Mill," stammered Fred, as Ginny gave him a knowing look.

The others all said goodnight to Milly as she went up the stairs, and then turned their attention to Fred.

"What? What are you looking at me for?" asked Fred.

"Freddy?" asked Ron, barely able to hold back the laughter.

"How long has this been going on?" chuckled Harry.

Ginny immediately gave Harry a sharp rap on the head with her knuckles.

"Ouch!" "What was that for?" yelped Harry.

"You two leave Fred alone, Milly is a very nice girl and if Fred wants to have conversations with her, or whatever, that's his business," Ginny said sharply.

"Or whatever?" mused Ron.

It was now Ron's turn to feel the wrath of Ginny as she popped him a quick one on the top of his head.

"Ouch! I didn't mean anything," whined Ron.

"Look, I just think that Milly is a very nice girl. I just like talking to her. It's hard to believe that she was ever a Slytherin," explained Fred.

"And since she's been on her diet, and started wearing a little makeup, she's also become an attractive girl," added Ginny.

"Well, yes, there is that," replied an obviously embarrassed Fred.

"You know, Fred, since Milly and I have been working together with the Braille and everything, I've formed a whole new opinion of her. I think you've made a good choice," said Harry.

"Well, it's like I said, she's nice to talk to. That's all we do, just talk," said Fred.

"No snogging yet?" asked Ron, who immediately received another sharp rap on the top of his head from Ginny.

"Ouch! Would you please stop that? My head's going to be all lumpy," complained Ron.

"Who's going to notice one more lump on that thick skull of yours?" said Ginny. "Leave Fred alone!"

"All right, all right, no offence meant. I like Milly too. Give it a go Fred," said Ron, quickly looking at Ginny to make sure he hadn't said anything else to justify another trip to knuckle-city.

Just then, the door to the common room opened and Hermione wheeled herself in.

"Mione, they didn't make you wheel yourself all the way back here did they?" asked Ron.

"No, Professor Snape levitated me back to the end of the hallway and I wheeled myself the rest of the way. It's good exercise for me," explained Hermione.

"Just make sure that you don't over do things," said Ron. "And what were you, Professor Snape and Madam Pomfrey doing by the way?"

"Oh...Madam Pomfrey had some things that she wanted to talk to Professor Snape about, concerning my injections. They both had some questions to ask me too," said Hermione.

"Well I..." started Ron; but Ginny cut him off.

"We really should get started with our meeting; we never will get to bed if we don't."

"If you will levitate me upstairs then, Ginny, I'll leave you business people alone, said Hermione.

"If you aren't too tired, Hermione, I would like for you to stay," said Fred. "You've helped out a lot with this project, and I for one think of you as a part of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes."

"He's right Hermione, you've made a real contribution, you belong here with us," said Harry.

"It's official then, Hermione Granger is now officially a part of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes," said Ron.

They all applauded and gave Hermione a hug. A little tear trickled down her cheek.

"Thank you so much," she said.

They spent another two hours in the common room, planning how they would present the Combo Brooms to their fellow students and their parents. They came up with several good ideas and were quite pleased with themselves by the end of the meeting. Finally, they were all exhausted and had to get some sleep before the big presentation at ten o'clock.

Ginny took Hermione up the stairs and Fred guided Harry. They said their goodnights, (actually it was early morning) and they all collapsed into their respective beds.

It was Saturday, and it was a beautiful day. At 10 A.M., most of the Hogwart's students had gathered at the Quidditch pitch, their parents accompanied many of them. They were here to see a presentation by Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, of some sort of new type of broom.

"Freddy, this is so exciting. What are we going to see?" asked Milly.

"Just hold your horses, Milly, you'll see in a minute," laughed Fred.

Someone in the stands shouted that something was heading towards the pitch. The crowd looked up and saw a single figure, flying fast and low, directly towards them. It was Ron, waving wildly to get the crowds' attention. He circled the pitch and headed back towards the far end, away from the crowd. As everyone tried to figure out what was going on, they saw Ron circle back, slower this time, followed by a larger figure that was also moving at a slow pace. As the figures got closer, the people could see that following Ron, were Harry and Hermione on one of the Combo Brooms. Hermione was fastened to the broom by a special brace that Fred had been working on; it was impossible for her to fall off. She was guiding Harry, who was using his body to control the movement of the broom. As Ron led the way, the crowd was amazed to see two handicapped people riding this broom in comparative safety around the pitch.

Everyone cheered as Harry brought the broom down for a landing. He hovered the broom until Ron, who had landed, and Fred, unhooked Hermione from the broom and sat her in her chair.

Once Hermione was taken care of, Ginny took her place on the Combo Broom. Harry pointed the broom skyward and they blasted off like a rocket. For almost an hour, Harry and Ginny, put the broom through a series of zooms, dives, loops and rolls. It was an amazing show of flying that left the crowd totally impressed. Harry and Ginny landed to more cheers from a crowd that was now surrounding the duo.

Fred gave his prepared marketing speech to an enthusiastic audience. A dozen orders were placed and information was requested by many more. All in all, it had been a very good presentation; it meant only good things for the business.

As the pitch cleared, the company officers huddled together and congratulated one another.

"That was outstanding flying, guys, you really sold it!" said Fred, barely able to contain himself.

"That was a great talk on your part too, Fred. I never knew that you were such a smooth salesman," said Ginny.

"I say we get cleaned up and go to Hogsmeade to celebrate," suggested Harry.

They all thought that this was a great idea; they had been working hard and deserved a chance to let their hair down.

Hermione noticed a lone figure standing by the grandstand. Looking rather uncomfortable, as if she wasn't quite sure what to do, stood Milly.

"Fred, you have to invite Milly to go with us," whispered Hermione.

"I...I want to," said Fred.

"Then do it you silly git," interjected Ginny.

Fred turned slowly and walked over to Milly. They couldn't hear what he was saying, but from the smile on her face, it appeared that Fred had gotten the words out.

They all hurried back to the castle, refreshed themselves and headed out the door to Hogsmeade. It was a happy group that made its way towards the town. Ron was pushing Hermione at a rapid pace, making her scream in a half-hearted attempt to get him to slow down. Harry and Ginny held hands and strolled in a leisurely manner. Neville and Luna had joined the group, and Fred and Milly brought up the rear. Luna, not to be outdone by Ginny, took Neville's hand and squeezed it gently. Fred wasn't sure what he should do, he wanted to hold Millie's hand, but he wasn't sure how he would be received. Finally, throwing caution out the window, her took her hand and was met with a warm smile.

The group arrived at the Three Broomsticks pub. Hermione was still yelling at Ron for scaring her, but the smile on her face made her anger less than convincing. They entered and grabbed the first big, round table they found. Fred stood up to order a round of Butterbeer, but Milly interrupted him and insisted that the first round would be on her.

"Thanks, Milly," said Harry as the drinks arrived.

"It's my pleasure. You've all been so accepting of me, so nice to me, I just wanted to treat you to a round to say thanks," explained Milly.

They all thanked Milly and toasted her heartily.

"And since this is a special occasion, to celebrate our success with the Combo Brooms, I have a little something extra to add to the Butterbeer," said Fred, pulling a bottle out from his jacket pocket.

"Fire Whiskey! Where did you get it?" asked Ron.

"I had Dobby get it for me. Seems that several of the professors have a taste for the stuff and they keep a supply on hand for them," explained Fred.

The girls giggled with excitement.

"I've only had it once and didn't care for it," said Ginny. "Maybe it will be better with Butterbeer."

"We really shouldn't do this, we could get into so much trouble," said Hermione.

"Come on Mione. What's the harm?" said Ron.

Hermione didn't want to rain on everyone's parade, so she went along with the group. Milly and Luna were all for it.

Several more rounds of Butterbeer were purchased and Fire Whiskey added to it. Ron named the new concoction 'Firebeer'. Tongues began to loosen as the youngsters enjoyed each other's company. They chatted away and drank for two hours.

Ginny, absentmindedly slipped her hand up the sleeve of her robe and rubbed the scar that had been left by Crabbe's knife.

"Is it bothering you Gin?" asked Fred.

"No, not really, sometimes I'm just more aware of it than at other times."

"Do you think there are any more of them around? Death eaters I mean," said Milly.

"I would imagine there are. We know for sure that Goyle and Malfoy are still out there. We didn't account for all of them at Diagon alley," said Harry.

"Sometimes, when I visit my Dad, I'm really afraid for him, I'm afraid they will try to kill him in the hospital," said Milly. "Sometimes, I think that because I switched houses, they will try to kill me too. I trust the kids who are in Slytherin house now, but I do worry about some of the former members."

As Fred raised his hand to give Milly a comforting pat on the shoulder, Ron noticed a slight bulge under his brother's left armpit.

"Whoa... is that the pis...?" started Ron.

Fred gave his brother a harsh look, which caused Ron to immediately shut up.

"What is it, what's going on?" asked Milly.

"It's that pistol thing. Fred used it to kill Crabbe. He used it to save my life," said Ginny.

"Oh my, I didn't know," said Milly.

"I thought you were only supposed to carry that with you when you were guarding your Mum or Ginny," said Harry, accusingly.

"Yeah, well maybe you don't know everything, all of the time, Harry," said Fred, tersely.

"Besides, it's just a tool I use to protect people I love, and myself. Sometimes it can be faster than repeating a spell," said Fred.

"I didn't know you killed Crabbe. I knew he was dead, but I didn't know you killed him," said Milly.

"It was a necessary thing. He did it to save Ginny. It was no worse than what I did to Crabbe's father at Diagon Alley," said Ron, grimly.

"I know, I know, it's just that it seems different, that was war," said Milly.

"Don't you understand that we are still at war?" said Fred, his voice rising.

'Easy Fred, easy," cautioned Hermione.

"Easy my butt. I've got three dead brothers, no one is going to tell me that we aren't still at war, especially a former Slytherin," Fred blurted out.

Milly stood up quickly from the table, the hurt obvious in her eyes. As she turned to leave, Ginny rose to block her path.

"Milly, he doesn't mean it. It's the Firebeer, he's had too much to drink," said Ginny.

"My father told me once, that sometimes when people have too much to drink, that's when their true feelings really come out. I think I've seen Fred's true feelings tonight," said Milly, on the verge of tears. "Good night Ginny."

As Milly left, Ginny rounded on Fred.

"How could you? You know you care for her Fred. How could you say that to her?"

Fred just sat there, staring dumbly at his glass of Firebeer.

"Come on Gin, give him a break, it'll all work out," said Harry.

"Oh yes, give him a break, give him a break, you boys all think the same way don't you?" stormed Ginny.

"Ginny, he's just asking you to try to understand Fred's feelings too," interjected Ron.

"Understand his feelings! What would you know about understanding feelings? How many times did it take you to tell me how you felt about me before you finally did it? Ginny is right, boys are all the same!" barked Hermione, the Firebeer seeming to have hit her especially hard.

"Now Hermione..." started Harry.

"Don't you, 'now Hermione' her," shrilled Ginny. "She's got a right to speak her mind if she wants too."

"Ginny, I want to leave, please escort me back to school," pouted Hermione.

"Gladly," she replied.

"Luna, Luna, are you coming with us?" asked Ginny.

"Why would I want to do that? Harry and Ron hate you and Hermione, not me," said Luna, gazing dreamily into Neville's eyes. "Besides, I think Neville is getting ready to ask me to dance."

Neville stood up, almost on command, and led Luna to a small, open space near the fireplace. There was no music of course, but those two didn't need it. The just held each other and swayed back and forth.

"Too bad you two gits haven't learned a thing or two from Neville, he knows how to get along with a girl," said Hermione.

"Hermione, we've all had too much Firebeer, let's just sit down and talk it out," said Harry.

"We are leaving, see you back at the castle, maybe!" said Ginny, as she grabbed Hermione's chair and wheeled her out the door.

Harry and Ron sat down at the table with Fred and ordered more Butterbeer. They sat and watched Neville and Luna dance for the longest time before Ron finally spoke up.

"What went wrong? One minute we are all having a great time and the next thing you know it's a war between the sexes. What happened?"

"It's all my fault," said Fred, now barely able to sit up straight in his chair. "I shouldn't have said what I did to Milly. She didn't deserve that."

Fred and Ron both looked at Harry to see if he had any wisdom to pass along to them.

"What do you think, Harry?" asked Ron.

"I think, that if I don't pee; very, very soon, I'll shall soil my knickers," said an obviously impaired Harry.

At these words, Ron and Fred burst out laughing. Harry wasn't one to have a reputation for being funny, but this struck them as being hilarious. Ron led Harry to the men's room.

Harry, Ron and Fred stayed until closing time, drinking to their sorrows and watching Luna and Neville. When they were finally asked to leave, the three boys led the way, followed by Luna and Neville, who accepted the unenviable task of seeing to it that the boys got back to the castle in one piece.

After the third chorus of 'Show Me the Way to go Home', Neville's nerves were about to be undone by his boisterous companions. They were approaching the castle now and Neville was afraid that they were all going to get into serious trouble.

"Quiet you lot. Filch will hear you. We'll be expelled!" warned Neville.

The intoxicated threesome started to argue with Neville, causing even more of a disturbance, when Luna stepped forward.

"Okay boys, we'll do it the hard way then, since you don't want to cooperate, I will just petrify the three of you and leave you here for Filch to find in the morning. Is that what you want me to do?"

The three, eye-balled Luna, and decided that she wasn't kidding. So they shut up and they all quietly made their way in to the castle and safely to their beds. Needless to say, none of them had any trouble going to sleep that night.

Harry was again the first one to wake next morning. He had an awful headache, but the good news was this headache wasn't caused by the close proximity of Lord Voldemort.

He knew that he would have to talk to Ginny first thing; he had to get things straightened out with her. They all had been foolish to drink as much as they had; Harry swore to himself that he would never do it again. He knew that Ginny wasn't really mad at him, but it would be fun making up with her anyway.

Harry decided that a nice hot shower would be the best thing for himself right at the moment. He knew that his roommates kept things pretty well picked up in the dorm, so that he had little danger of tripping over anything; he decided to he would try walking to the shower instead of crawling like he had before. Going very slowly, visualizing his surroundings in his mind, he made it safely to the shower. The hot water running over his body was just what he needed. He let it pour over him for ten minutes, until he was all nice and pink. He grabbed a towel from the rack (the house elves supplied fresh ones every morning) and dried himself off. Making his way back to the dorm room, he decided to slip into a comfortable set of sweats. He thought for a moment, and decided he wasn't very hungry, so he would just skip breakfast. Since no one else was awake, Harry wasn't sure what he was going to do to kill time. Then a thought hit him. He had to start doing more things for himself. He needed to get away from people having to lead him by the hand, everywhere he went, especially around Gryffindor house. So, he went to his locker, found his Braille, 'Defence Against the Dark Arts' book and headed for the stairs down to the common room; he planned to get in some early morning studying.

He slowly made his way to the door and safely out to the stairs. He knew he had to be really careful now, there weren't many steps, but they could be tricky. With his left hand feeling the wall, he made his way down to the common room with relative ease, a few more steps and he was at his favorite spot, the couch in front of the fireplace. Feeling quite pleased with himself, Harry gave a little hop and plopped himself down on the couch.

"Ooooooch! What are you doing? Get off me?" yelled a startled voice.

Harry had plopped down on Ginny.

"Ginny, what are you doing on the couch," asked a startled Harry.

Ginny was laughing by now and jumped on Harry, hugging him tightly with both arms.

"I slept for a little while last night, and then I woke up early," she explained.

"Ginny, I'm sorry about last night, I didn't mean to make you mad," said a very contrite Harry.

"No, Harry, it was my fault. My temper and that Firebeer stuff. It made me say things that I shouldn't have. You didn't deserve that Harry," she said.

Harry now held her close and they kissed a long, warm, loving kiss. Harry was his happiest at this moment. He loved holding Ginny like this. She always smelled so nice and her hair was like silk.

"Is this how it's going to be when we fight, Harry? Are we always going to make up like this? If this is how it's going to be, I hope we fight a lot," she said teasingly.

"I don't know about fighting a lot, Gin, but if we do fight, I hope it always ends up like this," said Harry, tenderly.

"Say, wait a minute, how did you get down here?" asked Ginny.

Harry explained how he had decided to do more things on his own, and this had been his first attempt.

Ginny held him close, she didn't know whether to yell at him for taking the risk in coming down the stairs, or congratulate him for his boldness. She decide not to say anything, she just held him and hoped that he wouldn't get too independent, to the point that he wouldn't need her around as much.

Just then, their tender moment was interrupted by laughing and giggling coming from the stairwell. It was Ron, carrying Hermione down the stairs.

"What is it?" Asked Harry.

Ginny explained to Harry what was going on.

"What's up with you two?" asked an amused Ginny.

"You won't believe it, you're brother is mad! He came into the girls' dorm room and snatched me from my bed," giggled Hermione.

"Oh really. Invading the girl's bedroom were you?" said Ginny, rolling her eyes at her brother.

"Yes I was," said Ron, with a wink. "I told her that she was right, I am an unfeeling git. I told her that the only hope for me was constant exposure to a girl like her so that I could learn how to behave properly. I told her that I wasn't going to let her go until she had succeeded in straightening me out."

"And then he grabbed me up and brought me down here," said Hermione, hugging Ron's neck tightly.

"Well, I'm glad everyone has made up now," said Harry.

"We don't know if everyone will make up," said Ginny. "Fred and Milly weren't really in a relationship of course, but I felt that they were going in that direction. I would just hate it if they let a few loose words come between them.

"If Fred just hadn't mixed up that Firebeer stuff," said Ron.

"We were all to blame for that. We shouldn't have drunk any of it. No one forced us to," said Hermione.

"I'm afraid we all made some bad decisions last night. We were all in a good mood because the presentation went so well, we just let it go to our heads," said Harry.

At that moment, Fred came dragging down the stairs. "Glad you are all here. I need to apologize to the lot of you. I was really stupid last night. No more Firebeer for me," he said, his head hanging down.

"We've already addressed that, Fred," said Hermione. "We are all at fault. You should not have brought the Fire Whiskey and we shouldn't have drunk it.

"What are you going to do about Milly?" asked Ginny.

"Apologize of course; I really do like her, in spite of what was said last night. Don't know if she will have any of it though," said Fred.

"Well, we should know shortly, Ron woke everybody in the girl's dorm up with his early morning raid. She should be coming down soon," said Hermione.

They all decided to sit down and wait for Milly to come down to breakfast. When she did arrive, they would give her and Fred a lot of room so that they could hopefully work things out.

They waited for some time while all of the rest of the girls came down for breakfast. By now, all of the boys had come down too, so Milly should have been the only student left upstairs.

They waited ten more minutes before Ginny finally spoke up. "I'm going to go up and check on her, I'm getting a little worried about her.

"Do you think she's okay," asked Fred.

"Oh, I'm sure she is; she's probably just a little embarrassed about what happened last night. I'm sure she'll come around," said Ginny, as she went up the stairs.

"I hope Ginny is right," said Fred. "I really do like Milly.

Ginny entered the girl's dorm room and headed towards the back, where Milly's bed was located. The curtains were still drawn, so Milly just might be sleeping late. Ginny approached quietly, knocking on the bedpost and calling Milly's name. When she got no response, Ginny pulled back the curtain.

Ginny's scream carried down the stairwell to her waiting friends. Ron and Fred immediately took off up the stairs to come to their sister's aid. They couldn't believe the sight that met their eyes. The curtains were pulled back on Milly's bed; her sheets were covered with blood.

"Ron, Fred, go get help, I think she's still alive," screamed Ginny.

"What..." Ron started to say but Ginny cut him off.

"GO, get help!" she screamed again.

The boys quickly regained their wits and ran down the stairs and out the common room door, not wasting time to explain things to Harry and Hermione. Ron found Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape at breakfast, along with Madam Nesbitt who was at the school for a conference with Professor Dumbledore. Yelling wildly, Ron grabbed the three and explained what was going on as best he could while he hurried them back to Gryffindor house. Fred had gone to fetch Professor McGonagall, who was, of course, head of Gryffindor house.

In the meantime, Harry had levitated Hermione back up to the girls' dorm room, she being his eyes. When they entered the dorm room, Hermione was met with a most gruesome sight. There seemed to be blood everywhere around Milly's bed. Ginny was now herself covered with blood as she tried valiantly to stop Milly from loosing any more. Ron and the others soon arrived and the youngsters were shooed away as the adults took over.

More professors now arrived and an emergency communication was sent to Saint Mungos. Medical Wizards aparated just outside the boundaries of the school and were quickly whisked up to the castle doors. It was decided that Milly shouldn't be moved, she had lost so much blood that they needed to be very careful with her.

Professor Dumbledore called for Harry, Ron, Fred, Ginny and Hermione to come to his office. Ginny, who had been allowed to clean herself up before going to Professor Dumbledore's office, was the last to arrive. Also in attendance were Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall.

"First, I want to commend you Miss Weasley, and you Misters Weasley for your quick actions in aiding Miss Bullstrode," you have at least given her a fighting chance.

"But, what happened? What happened to Milly, Professor Dumbledore?" asked Fred.

"The medical wizards say that she has been stabbed. The wound was not immediately fatal, but the loss of blood has been severe," explained Dumbledore.

"Stabbed!" "How can that be?" asked Hermione. "How could anyone have gotten into the dorm room? Who would want to do that to Milly?"

Ron put his arm around Hermione to comfort her. Ginny squeezed closer to Harry.

"Right now, we have no answers. We don't even have any clues," said Dumbledore. "We knew of course that there were still remnants of the Death Eaters on the loose, I suppose it could have been one of them."

"But how could they get into the castle? It doesn't seem possible," said Harry.

"It could be possible, for a Death Eater who was once a student here at Hogwarts," said Dumbledore.

Harry's mind reeled at the thought of what Dumbledore had said. He could only think of one name, Malfoy.

A medical wizard entered Dumbledore's office and spoke privately to the professor. Dumbledore looked very grave as he finished his conversation with the medical wizard and turned to face the people gathered before him.

"Mr. Weasley," said the professor, looking at Fred. "Miss Bullstrode has regained consciousness and is asking for you. You may go now."

Fred hurried down the hallway, back to Gryffindor house. He ran up the stairs to the girl's dorm, to Milly's bed. The medical wizards saw him and moved away from the bed to give the couple privacy, somber looks on their faces.

"Lo Freddy," said Milly, barely above a whisper. "Sorry about last night," she said with a tiny little smile on her face.

"Don't you say anything about that Milly. I was a stupid, drunken git. I had no right to speak that way to a wonderful girl like you."

"Do you really think I'm wonderful?" asked Milly.

"I sure do. I've really enjoyed our talks, and I was enjoying your company last night."

Milly gave out a soft sigh. "Will you hold me Freddy? It's so cold in here."

Freddy put his arms around her as he stared at the roaring fireplace.

"Mmmmm... that feels nice Freddy, feels so nice for you to hold me."

Fred held her close and looked past her shoulder at the medical wizard, who gave him a forced smile and nodded his head.

"I'll tell you a secret if you promise not to laugh," whispered Milly.

"I won't laugh at you Mill, go ahead," said Fred.

"I've never even kissed a boy," she said softly. "Would you give me my first kiss Freddy?"

"I would be honored to Milly, I've been wanting to for quite some time."

She gave out a small laugh and smiled that little smile again.

Fred held her close and kissed her lips, lovingly.

Milly gave out one more soft sigh, and died in his arms.