Epilogue

"And the winner of the House Cup is… Hufflepuff!"

Raucous applause erupted from the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall as Dumbledore announced their victory at the end of year feast. The rest of the students clapped half-heartedly, if at all.

"Damn Hufflepuffs," Lisa muttered resentfully, glaring daggers in their direction. Hufflepuff had completely come out of nowhere and beaten Ravenclaw to the Quidditch Cup, winning that too. Lisa still hadn't cooled off about it. Pippy patted her on the back.

"There's always next year, mate," she said reassuringly. Lisa simply snorted in response and stabbed violently at a slice of eggplant on her plate. Pippy craned to look down the table.

"Hey, where's Rupert?" she asked curiously. Lindsey shrugged, then suddenly became incredibly fascinated with the lima beans on her plate. Cari looked around furtively from her seat on the other side of Lisa, remaining silent.

"I haven't seen him," Kristin said, furrowing her brow. "That's strange…"

"I think he left early," Cari piped in suddenly. They turned to look at her. "I hear he was, uh… asked to study dragons in Romania, and left before the graduation ceremony."

"Oh, like Ron's brother?" Pippy asked.

"Yeah, sure." Cari had no idea who Ron was.

"That's too bad," Pippy said sadly. "I wanted to say good-bye to him."

"To Ron?"

"No! To Rupert."

"Pippy's got a thing for redheads," Lisa said, smiling devilishly. Pippy elbowed her as she blushed a bright pink, though she was smiling.

"Hey, you know who else isn't here?" Kristin said, craning her head to get a look at the staff table. "Professor Balbossa!"

"Can't say I'm sorry to see him go," Lisa muttered.

"I heard he got offered a better job off in America or something," Pippy said in a conspiratorial tone.

"You're very quiet, Lindsey," Kristin said, trying to get her in on the conversation. Again Lindsey just shrugged and seemed intent on her food.

The other girls chattered on about their plans for the summer and the Quidditch World Cup and things such as that, a grand and light-hearted end to the year… for everyone but Cari and Lindsey.

They hadn't spoken since last night, and didn't speak to each other as they packed their things. Lindsey blinked away tears as she lay down in bed and realized this was the first night that they didn't say good-night to each other. Over in her bed Cari was thinking the same thing.

The next day they didn't sit together on the train. Cari went with Draco while Lindsey stayed with Pippy, Kristin, and Lisa, though she wasn't much for conversation. She had overslept the next morning and had to run around like a madwoman to get to the train before it pulled out of the station at Hogsmeade, not realizing until she had safely boarded that she hadn't gotten to say good-bye to Professor Snape.

She now stared glumly out at the sunny fields of green rushing past the windows in a blur, quite a different view than when she and Cari first came on the rainy day last fall; it seemed like a lifetime ago. Glumly Lindsey wondered where she would be staying for the summer; undoubtedly not with the Greens. She knew very well that she could survive living on the streets if necessary, though just barely; and it certainly wasn't her first choice. She wondered darkly if homeless people were the same here in England as in New York City. She wasn't sure.

Slowly but surely the time passed, the other girls eventually growing subdued in their own thoughts. Pippy sat stroking her new Starblaze 250 lovingly; Lindsey had presented her with it after the feast last night.

"Here," she said, handing her the broom. "I saw Rupert before he left yesterday and he said he wanted you to have this. He hasn't got much use for it in Romania after all." She forced her crooked smile. Pippy beamed and accepted the broom with such reverence it was almost comical.

As the train lurched to a stop at Platform 9 ¾ Lindsey jerked awake, surprised that she had fallen asleep. She, Pippy, Kristin, and Lisa all got off the train and were swept up in a rush of "Have a good summer!" and "I'll see you next year!" and "Be sure to write!" which went on for some time. Though eventually the mass of other fifth years left and Lindsey found herself standing next to Cari.

"So… I guess… this is good-bye?" Cari said awkwardly. Lindsey nodded. "Do you have a place to stay?" Cari asked.

"Yes," Lindsey lied. Now Cari nodded; Lindsey was a much better liar than her.

"Cari-" Lindsey started, then stopped abruptly as Draco came up behind her.

"What?" Cari prompted.

"Nothing," Lindsey muttered shaking her head. Cari looked about to say something when from somewhere down the platform Lucius Malfoy's unmistakable voice sounded.

"Cari! Draco! Down here!"

"Coming, Father!" Cari called as Draco turned. Lindsey blinked. Cari turned and looked her right in the eyes.

"Good-bye Lindsey," she said softly.

"See you," she replied half-heartedly, not even bothering to force a smile.

And with that the two parted ways.

Lindsey watched them run down the platform, watched Cari embrace Lucius warmly. She had called him father. To Lindsey, the Malfoys didn't seem to her to be a very huggy family. She knew Cari would change all that.

Sighing, Lindsey began to shuffle in a random direction, dragging her things behind her, Duffer mewing plainitively from his new, cleaner box. She had no idea where she was going.

"Lindsey!"

She stopped dead as she heard someone call her name. Slowly, hardly daring to turn lest she find out she had been imagining things, she turned towards the sound. She could only stare as she watched Professor Snape run towards her, speechless. Severus couldn't say anything right away when he caught up with her either; he took a brief moment to catch his breath, then looked at her staring poignantly back at him.

"You don't have anywhere to stay, do you?" he finally asked. She shook her head, her eyes shining with unwanted tears.

"Well… how would you like to stay with me?"

Lindsey couldn't believe her ears. Was she hallucinating? Then she looked right into his eyes which she was surprised to find staring intensely back at her anxiously.

Slowly Snape watched as that comically crooked grin that he was surprised to find he had grown to love so much spread across her face, transforming her solemn features quite dramatically.

Without further hesitation she threw her arms around him and they embraced like father and daughter; for the first time in her life she had a father, and for the first time he wouldn't be alone.

"Thank you," she finally managed, drawing back. She looked at Snape to find him smiling.

"What?" Snape asked. He had come to be able to read her as well as she could him, and knew now that she had something to say.

"Well, it's just… last night- everything's a little fuzzy. What exactly happened after I…I…" She couldn't even bring herself to say it. But Snape understood.

"Professor Balbossa," he said easily.

"What?" Lindsey looked up at him bemusedly.

"Professor Balbossa distracted Rupert, giving me the chance to free myself as well. And then I went after you and… the rest you probably know as well as I do."

Lindsey paused thoughtfully, the two beginning to walk slowly.

"Kind of makes me sorry for jinxing him," she murmured with a rueful smile. A shadow of a grin flashed over Snape's face as well.

"It does," he agreed softly. They had finally reached the end of the platform now, and were about to turn onto the street.

"So, where do you live?" Lindsey asked merrily, trying to lift the somber mood now that they both had reason to be happy.

"In a house," he answered simply.

"No, really?" she asked sarcastically. "Where is this house of yours?"

"It's on Grimmauld Place."

"I don't know where that is."

"No, you wouldn't know where that is."

"Do you live by yourself?"

"No."

"So, what? Are some of the other professors there or something?"

"Yes, sort of. Some people I'd really like you to meet…"

And so Lindsey slowly disappeared in the reverse route of the one what Cari had taken, a small representation of their own story: two girls starting out from the same place, then going in completely opposite directions.

Though in the grand conclusion, in their own separate ways, each story had a happy ending.