The Adventures of a Death Eater

Chapter 19: The Best Is Yet To Come

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.