"Hey Sev, can I show you something?" Harry asked me about mid morning, holding a bowl in his hand.

      "Yeah," I said enthusiastically, looking up from where I was watching ants with Alex.

      "Follow me then," said Harry with a grin.

       I got up and sat Alex down on the porch swing to keep an eye on things, as he was really good at making sure the house wasn't stepped on by big dragons. Then I followed Harry, who must have been excited to get were we were going to walk so fast. I didn't mind so much, as we were going downhill toward the stream anyway. When we were a little ways from the stream I was surprised to see Harry walk off the big path and onto a little trail. He paused a moment so that I could catch up, and with that we wound our way through the bushes. Harry stopped suddenly in a tiny little clearing.

      "Look what I found the other day!" he told me excitedly, gesturing to the bushes nearby.

      "Blackberries!" I cried excitedly.

      "Yeah," Harry said. "I thought you might like to help me pick some today"- he held up the bowl he had brought- "so we can bring some back for Minerva."

      "Can we eat some too?" I asked hopefully, eying the bushes thick with clusters of dark berries.  

      "Definitely," Harry said, putting the bowl on the ground, picking a berry and popping it in his mouth. "Mmm ... They're so good! I guess it's the weather, seeing as it's so hot."

       I picked one and stuck it in my mouth too; Harry was right to say that the hot sun had warmed the berries so that they tasted even better. I picked a few more and ate them before I put any in the bowl. The berries were very juicy and some of them were soft enough to get kind of squishy when you picked them. I noticed that the dark juice stained my hands, and Harry's as well. Neither of us minded though, for the day was too nice and the rich fruity smell of the patch relaxed us too much to care. As we picked the bumblebees and the birds flew in and out of the patch as well, not minding us in the least. The bees especially liked to buzz about the berries that had fallen and gotten squished on the ground. I let them have those. But I found a wonderful little cluster of berries under a few low hanging leaves, and so I shooed the lazy bumblebees away from them and picked them.

     "Harry look at this one!" I cried excitedly, holding up a very big berry.

    "That one looks great," Harry said, stripping a few blackberries off a spiky branch nearby. "You should definitely eat that one."

      "Okay," I said with a grin, sticking the blackberry in my mouth.

      It took us a long time to fill the bowl: much longer than we had thought actually. It probably had something to do with the fact we ate half of what we picked. Of course it took twice as long, but the berries were so good we couldn't resist. When the bowl was finally full quite a bit of time had passed. We decided to rest our feet before we went back to the house, so Harry and I lay down in the grass in the little clearing, serenaded by the bugs and the wind in the berry patch.

      "We should come pick berries again soon!" I suggested excitedly once we had gotten up and started our way back.

       "I think that is a great idea," Harry said, taking my hand as we went up the steeper part of the path.

       "Is Minerva looking forward to all the berries we picked?" I asked.

       "Oops," Harry muttered. "Probably not ... seeing as I forgot to tell her where we were going!"

      "Uh oh!" I said as we started to run up the hill, both of us with a half grin plastered on our faces. It was hard to feel worried after having so much fun together. After all, when I was with Harry things seemed funnier than usual.

       We arrived on the porch, breathing heavily but nonetheless pleased by our adventure. Minerva rushed out of the house, hands on her hips. She looked strict for a moment before the side of her mouth twitched and she started to laugh.

      "What?" Harry asked, clearly as confused as I.

      "Look at you two!" she cried.

       "What's wrong?" I asked, confused.

       "You're covered in juice," she said, amused.

       "I found a blackberry patch," Harry said sheepishly, handing the bowl to Minerva.

       "I can see that," she said before starting to chuckle again, taking the bowl. "Oh for heavens sakes, you've got juice stains on your faces and your hands ... even your trousers! Why don't you two get washed up before lunch. If you haven't filled up on blackberries that is ..."

       Harry and I rushed to the bathroom once Minerva had retreated to the kitchen. Sure enough we had stains everywhere. I took one look at my face and burst into peals of laughter, followed closely by Harry who realised he had a streak of juice down the side of his cheek, probably from when he wiped his face in the heat. Our laughs drew Draco and Hermione, who had overheard our laughter. They too took one look at us and started to snicker.

       "I even have some on the end of my nose!" exclaimed Harry, bewildered as he tried to scrub the dark spot off with a washcloth.

       "What were you two doing?" an amused Hermione asked as she scrubbed my face with a cloth.

       "Pickin' blackberries," I replied, twitching slightly when she rubbed at my nose.

       "I love blackberries!" Draco exclaimed from where he was leaning on the doorframe. "Did you bring some back?"

       "Yeah, a whole bowl," Harry said.

          And with that Draco sprinted down the stairs, looking quite delighted.

               "I'd better follow him to make sure he doesn't eat them all," Harry announced, rolling his eyes and giving up trying to get the last bit of juice off his nose.

       ***

  "Yikes!" cried the adventurer as he looked out across the big valley of lava. "How will I get across?" he muttered to himself.

      "Quick, jump across the floating rocks!" I suggested, pointing at the yellowy square rocks floating on the red lava.

      "Good idea," said the adventurer before he took a big leap to the first square rock.

      "Watch out, it's sinking!" I gasped, watching in horror as the lava oozed over the square rock. "Quick, jump!"

       The adventurer jumped from rock to rock, until he was at a dead end and was stuck on a rock that was sinking slowly into the bottomless pit of red gooey lava.

      "Help!" cried the adventurer as the hot lava grew closer. .

      "Vrooooomm!" said the adventurer's magic flying sandwich as it flew through the air. It was an awfully big sandwich so the adventurer was able to grab onto it. He cried out in relief as it landed in the middle of a thick forest with trees that had trunks as green as his skin.

      "Severus quit playing with your lunch," Minerva scolded me. Slightly surprised, I dropped my piece of adventurous celery among my broccoli.

       "Sorry," I muttered, prodding at a cracker floating in my soup. "But I just have to play lava avenchurers with tomato soup."

        "I know it's fun, but please eat your soup," Minerva said.

       Draco gave me a thumbs up and made his celery jump across crackers too while Minerva wasn't looking. I giggled a bit, but took a bite of soup after Minerva glared sternly.

       "Don't you find it weird eating lunch for breakfast all the time?" Harry asked Draco suddenly, seeing as Draco had only gotten up a little while ago.

        "Not in the least," Draco grinned, taking a sip of soup. "Mmm, breakfast!"

        Hermione shook her head, looking at Harry.

        "Vrooooomm!" said the magic sandwich as it flew into my mouth.

      ***

        "Why's the beard man here?" I whispered to Hermione as I helped her water the flowers after some time after lunch.

        "He's bringing by a potion you need to drink so you don't get sick," Hermione said, sounding a little sad for some reason as I trudged along behind her with my little watering can (Minerva had transfigured me one, which I appreciated).

        "Why?"

        "So you can go home soon," Hermione said.

        "Home?" I asked hopefully, accidentally slopping some water on my feet.

        "Yes, home."

        "When do I gotta take the potion?"

        "Pretty soon I guess," muttered Hermione, sitting down on the porch steps

        "How soon is soon?"

        "Aren't you full of questions today?" Hermione said with a little laugh. "I don't know how soon. Minerva said it was up to Dumbledore."

        "The beard man," I said.

        "Yes, the beard man," she said, glancing over to Harry and Draco, who were running back and forth trying to catch a golden snitch. Hermione had said Draco liked to use it to practice.

         I watched longingly as Draco reached up and caught the snitch in his fingers. Mummy sometimes talked about Quidditch to me, though she much preferred playing Gobstones anyway. Harry caught me watching and grinned.

        "You want to try Sev?" Harry asked.

      I hesitated, not sure I could catch it.

        "Come on Sev!" Draco encouraged me. "I bet you can do it."

        I looked to Hermione; she gave me a look that clearly said for me to give it a go.

        "Okay," I said eagerly, jumping up from my seat on the porch steps and going to join Harry and Draco.

       "Okay, I'm going to let it go," Draco said, "and then you have to try to catch it. It works best if you keep in mind that it goes fast so you have to aim a little ahead of it to get it in your hand."

       I nodded, grinning.

      "Ready?"

      "Yeah!"

      "There it goes!" Draco said, letting it flutter out of his fist.

      I chased after it amidst cheers and encouragement, running across the yard. The snitch flew around in a circle a few times, making me dizzy. While I shook my head to make everything stop spinning it began to return to Harry and Draco. I chased after it as fast as I could as it circled around Draco and Harry. Then I screwed up my face in concentration and took a swipe at it, but the snitch flew higher. I jumped but couldn't reach it. I frowned a little, but suddenly Harry came to my rescue. He ran over to me and lifted me up so I could reach it. My arm shot out once more, and my heart fluttered as excitedly as the snitch that I had captured at last in my hand.

      "Yeah Sev!" Draco whooped, motioning to Harry with his hand.

       Harry and Draco then hoisted me up on their shoulders and paraded around the grass. I heard clapping, and looked over to the porch. Hermione, Minerva and Mr. Dumbledore were standing by the railing congratulating me. I waved the golden snitch around in my hand, a grin plastered on my face.

       "I caught it I caught it!" I shouted gleefully.

       "Well done Sev!" Minerva congratulated me. "But right now I think it's time for you to come in."

       "All right," I said, being agreeable as Draco and Harry set me down.

       Minerva and Albus went into the house, followed by Hermione. Draco and Harry came into the house with me too, and I thanked them for letting me play with the snitch.

       Everybody followed me up to my room. I wondered why all of them wanted to be there for me to take my potion. Maybe the potion was going to do something neat like make me turn colours. Or maybe it would give me superpowers! I was disappointed when Minerva reminded me that it  would just stop me from getting sick with what my mother had had. That was a little boring, at least in my opinion. Though I didn't mind so much if it meant I wouldn't catch something icky.

       "The potion will make you really sleepy," Minerva said, lifting tge covers so I could get into my bed, and handing me Alex.

       "Why?" I asked.

       "Because that's what the potion does," stated Minerva.

       Dumbledore left the room, leaving me alone with Hermione, Draco, Harry and Minerva. Dunno where he thought he was going.

       "I'll see you soon Sev, okay?" Harry said, giving me a hug. "I've had so much fun with you."

       "Are you going somewhere?" I asked. Minerva coughed.

      "Oh, we're all going to the Burrow later so we might not see you before you go home," Hermione said quickly.

      "Alright," I said. I was happy to go home, but I would miss everybody.

      "Don't worry Sev," Draco said, giving me a hug too. "I'm sure we'll see each other again soon."

      "Really?"

      "Definitely," Draco said..

      "Bye bye Hermione," I said a little sadly. "I had fun watering flowers with you. You make a good princess too."

      "Thank you Sev," Hermione said. "I'll miss you too. You're a great superhero, and you're very brave."

      I grinned shyly and hugged Alex. It wasn't often I got compliments.

      "Have a good sleep," Minerva said. "If you ever need me, for any reason, send me a letter. Or when you've gotten a little older you can call me through the fire."

      "Okay," I said with a smile. "Even just to talk?"

      "Even just to talk," she replied.

      "Meeeooooww," Munk wailed, wanting to be let up on the bed. He was such a little kitty, so he couldn't jump too high just yet. He was better at getting down than up.

      "There you are," Hermione crooned, lifting Munk onto my bed. He purred and snuggled into my teddy bear.

      Dumbledore came back in to join us, carrying a little potion bottle in his hand. I watched him unstopper it, and hand it to Minerva, who poured almost all of it into a little cup for me. She then waved her wand at me, muttering an incantation.

      "What was that for?" I asked.

      "It helps the potion work better," she said after a moment, setting the cup aside for the present. I nodded as I watched her remove Munk's collar and scratch his neck. He seemed to like that, so I scratched his neck too. I bet that little collar of his got itchy lots.

      "Are you ready?" Minerva asked me, picking up the cup once more.

      "Yeah," I said. "Bye everyone, have fun with the Weasleys! I'll miss you!"

      A chorus of goodbyes rang through the room as I held onto the little cup Minerva gave me. I took one last look around the room; From Hermione to Draco, to Harry and Minerva. Even to Dumbledore. With an excited thought of home, I put the cup to my lips and drank the potion in a few gulps. A burning feeling snaked down my throat and into my stomach, but it was gone as soon as it came. The light in the room began to grow dim before my eyes, and the five people standing by my bedside began to waver and flicker as my vision grew blurry. A deep warmth began in my chest and spread to my fingers and toes. Then a soft, velvety blackness  was pulling me into it's comforting folds, and with a slight shiver through my body I neither saw nor felt. The last thought that ran through my mind was that of peace, and being surrounded by people who cared. The only things I had ever wanted really.