Daisy Potter and You-Know-Poo's Return (Book 4, Harry Potter ff)

Epilogue

The next few days were a blur. Floppy denied everything that had happened, saying that he had no part in the Portkey and that we were all just transported to a random field in the middle of nowhere and that a hobo had murdered Amy.

Classy.

Dumbledore, of course, had no proof to the contrary, other than Amy having been obviously murdered by a wizard, and so we could do nothing about Floppy. Fudge also denied everything that Dumbledore told him after meeting in the hospital wing, saying that Voldemort couldn't possibly be back and that it was preposterous to suggest otherwise.

At this point, I had sat up from my bed and yelled, "YOU OBNOXIOUS, PRETENTIOUS FUCKING TWAT!" And Mrs Weasley and Bill had to hold me back on the bed and subdue me, Fred, George, and Terry all looking at me with impressed half-grins emerging on their pale faces.

After Dumbledore sent Fudge away in disappointment, he told Sirius to transform back into himself and introduced him to Mrs Weasley, who had to be reassured for a good while that he wasn't a serial killer who had escaped Azkaban to kill me and Harry. Dumbledore also forced Snape and Sirius to shake hands and form a truce, and the two begrudgingly did so, with no hatred lost in each other's eyes.

The meeting with the Rolfings that took place the following morning was the worst feeling I'd ever had. They did not blame me for what had happened; on the contrary, both thanked me for returning Amy's body to them. Mr Rolfing sobbed through most of the interview. Mrs Rolfing's grief seemed to be beyond tears.

"She suffered very little, then." She said, when I had told her how Amy had died. "And after all, Curtis... she died just when the whole school were celebrating. She must have been happy."

When they had got to their feet, she looked down at me and said, "You look after yourself, now, Daisy."

"You too, Mrs Rolfing." I looked down into my lap.

In that moment, I didn't feel like the legendary, popular, class clown Daisy Potter. I felt like someone meek and sad and quiet.

~~~

I returned to Gryffindor Tower the following evening. From what the twins and Terry told me, Dumbledore had spoken to the school that morning at breakfast. He had merely requested that they leave me alone, that nobody ask me questions or badger me to tell the story of what had happened at the manor.

For the most part, everyone was obeying his request. People were leaving me alone, giving me space, giving me sympathetic looks and murmurs as I passed them in the hallways. Bunches of flowers and little notes were piled up outside the door to my dormitory, I discovered, as Fred and George led me up.

"That's so nice." I sniffled as I picked some up, sniffing some tulips and examining a teddy bear.

"Do you need to be alone, Softpaw?" Fred asked softly.

I hesitated, looking between them. They didn't look judgemental or annoyed at all, not like I was an inconvenience who was forcing them out of their dorm or to perform emotional labour. For that, I was so very grateful.

"Yeah, maybe just an hour or so." I said tentatively. And, no questions asked, the twins both hugged me tightly, turned, and walked back down the spiral staircase to the common room.

I collapsed onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling. But that was boring, and my bad thoughts were starting to creep back in, so I turned to my side. I gazed at the Evermore Roses, in their empty glass vase on my bedside table. They glittered and shimmered, their scent so much stronger than the flowers outside.

I wished Kylie was here. She could put her perfect lips on mine and make me forget about all this. Her blindingly handsome smile could charm and woo me back into the girl I was before the Portkey.