It's official. This is the last chapter in this story. Makes me sad to say that this is it. I've been spending so much of my time on this story for the past year and a half, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do without it. Oh! And there is going to be a sequel. =) Not sure exactly when, but soon. Thanks for being patient with me. I hope you enjoy the conclusion. =)

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Audrey

I awoke in the Hospital Wing. It was morning, and the sun was peeking out from behind the lacey curtains. I wasn't quite sure how I had even gotten there. I didn't remember much of anything. I remembered Voldemort, and excruciating amounts of pain; that was it. And here I was lying in an uncomfortable bed in the Hospital Wing.

I sat up as best I could. My muscles were still loose and weak from the torture they had suffered. I looked around, trying to figure out what all had happened. The only person I could see from where I was sitting was Artemis. He sat by my side, eyes shut with his head resting in his hands. I doubted he was sleeping, but he definitely looked drained. I reached over, tapping him lightly. I had never seen his eyes open so fast. He looked over at me right away, immediately hugging me tightly.

"Well good morning to you too," I said. Yuck. My voice sounded terrible. My throat had made it all scratchy and hoarse.

"Shhhh, don't speak," Artemis whispered. "You need to rest. You've been through a lot."

But I needed to talk. I needed to know what happened to me, what happened to everyone else. Had we scared Voldemort off? Was everyone else alive? Did he actually quit like he promised? I didn't have a choice- I had to talk.

"What happened?" I asked, defying Artemis' words. He probably wasn't going to be happy with me for talking, but I knew he wanted to make sure I knew what happened last night.

Artemis pulled away from me slowly and sat upright in his chair. He swallowed hard, debating how he wanted to address what occurred the night before. "Well, Dumbledore is dead; Snape killed him. McGonagall is taking over as Headmaster. Um... you were put under the Cruciatus Curse for... I'm not sure how long. Malfoy and I quit the Death Eaters. Harry, Ron, McGonagall, Malfoy and myself all dueled against Voldemort, Bellatrix, and Wormtail and we scared them off. McGonagall has decided that Draco and I will probably have detention for a good majority of the remaining year. We'll probably have it every Saturday night, that way it doesn't interfere with Quidditch. I brought you here right afterwards, been here ever since..."

That was far more boring than I thought it was. I thought it would've had more excitement. It just didn't seem like that was all that would happen. Someone had to have gotten hurt other than me, if you could call me hurt. "No one else was hurt?" I asked.

"Just Ron," Artemis muttered. "He's in the bed down there." He pointed down to an area I couldn't see. "He just had a spell backfire on him. Singed him really good, but he'll live."

I barely nodded. So this was it. Everything was going to calm down now, but things were going to be so different and awkward now. How was I going to be able to tell Nikkie? She was going to take Harry's side, and I knew she would turn against Artemis in a heartbeat now. He had betrayed Harry's trust, and I knew she was going to hate him. I didn't know how I was going to get past that. I forgave Artemis for being how he was, but I knew she wouldn't, at least not as easily.

I rested my head against the feather pillow. I didn't want to be here anymore. I wanted to go back to my bed in the dorms. I didn't like this bed at all. I didn't like this room at all. I had never had to sit in here over night. I had to come for something for headaches and a sprained ankle from Quidditch once, and that was it. I was getting antsy. I needed to get up. I tried to sit up, struggling just to get to my elbows. But even then, I was finding it difficult to stay up. I soon collapsed back onto the bed. It frustrated me I couldn't do anything.

"Do you want more pillows so you can sit up?" Artemis asked.

I nodded. I was trying to conserve my energy, and my voice for that matter. I now knew that I was weakened by the spell. I had no energy, no strength. It was making me so irritated. I had never been reliant on someone else, and I didn't want this to be a first. I watched Artemis get up and cross the room and snatch a pillow off a vacant bed. He came back and lifted me carefully before wedging the other pillow behind me.

"That better?" he asked. I nodded again. "Good. If you need anything let me know."

"Aren't you going to go to class?" I asked. I decided my voice sounded worse than I thought when Artemis handed me the glass of water that had been sitting on the bedside table. I took a small sip before setting it back down on the table.

Artemis shook his head. "No, I'm not going until you're out of here. Besides, Potions is cancelled until further notice. They have to find a new professor to teach it. Snape is fired, for killing Dumbledore." He smiled slightly. "So no. I'm staying here. I've been here since last night. I never went back to the dorms."

I was glad that he hadn't left my side. I think I realized then how much I actually meant to him. No one else had stayed up here with me; no one else had even come by. Maybe no one knew? But at any rate, I knew Artemis definitely cared, and I was glad he was there.

Even though we sat in silence for hours, I wasn't bothered by it. At least not too much. Artemis at least kept me company, even if I couldn't do much of anything. By lunch time, Madame Pomfrey had brought me something to eat, and had given me something to help with my weakness and voice. It wasn't the best tasting medicine in the world, but if it was going to make me feel better, I was going to take it.

Soon after lunch ended, I noticed Harry walk into the room. I wasn't quite sure how this was going to work out, but I had a bad feeling in my stomach. Harry walked past my bed for a moment, but then turned to look at Artemis. When I saw Artemis look back at him, I knew then this was going to get ugly really fast.

"I hope you're happy with yourself, Fowl," Harry said. "You've caused so much drama in the past twenty four hours, it's ridiculous. And all you get is a slap on the wrist." Harry shook his head. "She's letting you off so easy."

Artemis stared at him, debating what to say back to that. "I am happy with myself. I'm getting my life back on track where it belongs. I've realized my mistakes, and I'm fixing them one at a time. I'm not perfect, and I don't pretend to be. Other people need to realize they aren't perfect either, instead of parading themselves around here like a hero."

"I am a hero," Harry said. I rolled my eyes. He was always sort of a pompous jerk, and I knew he was going to prove that here. "If it wasn't for me and Ron, she'd probably be dead, and Voldemort wouldn't have stopped with Dumbledore."

"Audrey wouldn't be dead," Artemis hissed. "I had taken care of her long before you had shown up."

"Yea right. You don't care about her one bit. She's nothing but a trophy to you. She deserves to be with someone better than you," Harry went on. He looked at me, shaking his head. "I don't know what you see in him. He's not a good person, and I don't know how you could be with someone who betrayed your friends."

I wasn't going to take that lying down. "You can't help who you fall in love with, Harry."

Artemis glared up at him. "And as a matter of fact, I do care about her. I stayed here all night. I didn't see you here staying with Ron. And you say I don't care?"

Harry said nothing to that, only continued with his pressing argument. "You think you've won Fowl. But this isn't over. I will have revenge for what you did to me. I'm not going to take it easy on you like McGonagall did."

"Take your revenge, it won't be the first time I've had someone seek revenge on me," Artemis shrugged. "See if I care. After June you'll never see me again anyways."

Harry walked away without another word. He went and sat at the edge of Ron's bed on the other side of the room. Artemis shook his head, but said nothing more about what had happened. Silence settled between us, and I was again okay with that. It was better than arguing with Harry.

I spent only a few more hours in the Hospital Wing. I had finally gathered enough strength to return to the common room with Artemis' help. I stayed there for a little while, avoiding all people I could. All the younger students kept asking me questions about what had happened, how it felt to be tortured. Artemis kept shooing them away from me, and I was very grateful for that. I didn't need to deal with them.

Things picked up again around dinner time. I had gone alone, as Artemis and Malfoy had to serve their first Saturday night of detention. I barely ate anything. I wasn't hungry again. My mind was still trying to comprehend everything that happened; it didn't really care about food. I ate just enough to calm my growling stomach.

When I was about to head back to the dorms, I saw Nikkie approaching me. My stomach flipped as I knew a confrontation was about to happen. I braced myself for the worst when she stopped in front of me. I didn't know what she was going to tell me, and I was super nervous. I wonder if she had been told about what happened to me.

"Hey," she greeted, quietly.

"Hey," I muttered back.

"I... uh... heard about what happened," Nikkie replied. "So the Cruciatus Curse, huh?"

I nodded. "Yea... I was in the Hospital Wing until a few hours ago."

"You feeling okay?" Nikkie asked. "I know that spell can really do some damage..."

I nodded again. "I feel alright."

Nikkie sat down across from me. She sighed deeply. I knew she wasn't mad at me. But I knew she was troubled by this just as much as I was. "And the boys are being... boys again," she frowned.

"Yea, I don't get it. I mean... its stupid," I went on. "Neither one of them is right, or wrong. And I don't want to pick sides in this, but Harry drug me into it by basically calling me stupid."

"You aren't stupid for sticking by Artemis' side," Nikkie shook her head. "Yea, I don't agree with all of his choices and decisions in life, but... I know you love him, and I know he's trying to change. I just want you to know that if you stay with him, I'm not going to hate you for it. I'm just going to put the past in the past and focus on the future. He's not a Death Eater anymore, and that's what important now."

I was glad to hear that. "Thank you, Nikkie. It means a lot to me that you think that. I'm holding him to his promises, so I think the only way to go from here is up."

"Just means no double dating for us," Nikkie smiled, trying to make light of our situation. "It would probably end in a fist fight."

I smiled. "Probably."

My mind drifted into its own little world. I began to wonder what the last few months of school were going to be like. We only had five months left and we would be released as fully-fledged witches and wizards. It was hard to believe our journey was finally coming to an end. It seemed like only yesterday that I was sorted into Slytherin. But I think I was ready to be let into the world. I had so much I wanted to do. I wondered who I would keep in touch with after school ended, and who would just disappear. I smiled at the thought of graduation and being able to experience life after Hogwarts. I was hoping it was just as exciting as my time here, only without the near-death experiences.

"Audrey," Nikkie shook me from my thoughts. "Artemis is coming this way."

I looked over and saw him walking towards me, a smile on his face. And suddenly I hoped that he would be a part of my future. And when he sat down next to me and gave me a hug, I knew he would be, regardless of what anyone thought. The adventures of a Death Eater might be over, but I knew a whole new chapter in his life was just beginning. After everything that happened in the past day, I didn't think he would be going anywhere.

"You ready to go sleep in your own bed?" he asked.

"You know it," I smiled back.

As I said bye to Nikkie and we made our way back to the common room, I knew that whatever the future brought, I was going to be ready for it. Nothing was going to stop me from finishing my seventh year on a high note. I was going to pass my N.E.W.T.S. and I was going to have a huge party when school ended. And at some point, my parents would have to meet Artemis.

But I decided that was the future. And right now, I needed to focus on my present. And that was going to go get some real sleep in my bed. As I put on my pajamas and crawled into bed that night, I had a smile on my face. Everything had turned out okay, and that was all I could ever hope for.

The End... For Now...