I woke up, holding a hand to my head. Where am I? Who am I? Wait, I'm Gracie. Duh. Ooh! Did I loose my memory? Lets see. Full name? Gracelyn Paige Black. Dad and soon to be step mother? Sirius Black and Maxie McGonagall. Harry Potter is my boyfriend, I was raised by the Weasley's. My cousin, Natalyn, is one of my bestfriends, along with Mione and Ginny, who is also my adopted little sister. Yep. I'm good. So, where am I?

I went to sit up, but a sharp pain shot through my body. I groaned, rather loudly, and lay back down, remembering what happened. My body is all tired now. Not cool. "Your awake! Blimey! Gracie is awake!" Ron bellowed, running at me. There were a lot of voices all talking at once, people crowding around, some crying others looked absolutely thrilled. They're giving me a headache!

"Where am I?" I croaked, voice coming out weakly. I found it hard to breathe, really hard.

"The hospital wing," Nat whispered, sitting beside me. "Stupid question but uh, how do you feel?"

"Like a million bucks," I said, rolling my eyes sarcastically. "It's hard to breathe and it hurts. But I'll manage!" I say, opening my eyes wide to take in my surroundings. Dad and Maxie are standing beside me, Harry and Nat are sitting on either side, Ginny, Mione, and Ron are laying at the end of the bed, the rest of the Weasley's stand with Dad and Maxie, Professor Dumbledore was there a small smile on his face, but it was a sad smile, and everyone else keeps giving me looks of sympathy. Professor Dumbledore stepped forward, smiling at me.

"Ms. Black, on behalf of everyone here, I say, I'm proud of you. That was incredibly brave of you, and you endured quite a bit of pain," I winced at these words, still feeling the stinging radiate through out my body. "but through all of it, you showed great strength and courage. Now, may I add, before you passed out, Severus, who is very skilled in legilemancy and occulomency noticed a few things running in your mind. My dear, do not blame yourself, and do not hate yourself. That's a useless waste of time." He said, placing a hand gently on my shoulder. Everyone around started speaking loudly, making my head pound, but I was busy crying. I can't not hate myself, it's all my fault he got away! I gave up! I should have fought harder, done something!

Nat grabbed me by the shoulders, shaking me with a crazed look in her eyes, I whimpered in pain, but didn't say anything. "What the bloody hell do you hate yourself for?! You almost died Gracie! You fought a death eater by yourself, and almost won! How could you hate yourself?" She asked, eyeing me incredulously. The tears welled in my eyes as everyone went silent, watching us.

Ginny moved forward, hugging me gently. "You're a hero Gracie! You always have been!"

I scowled, letting the tears roll. "I'm not a hero! I'm a coward! I gave up too quick! I let him get away! He got away because of me. I had him, but I gave up because of pain. A true hero would have fought harder!" I whispered, hanging my head low.

"Gracelyn Paige Black you listen to me right now!" Maxie roared, glaring at me. Everyone was silent again, I quickly grew tired of this, all the sympathy and all eyes on me. I hate it. I hate myself. "I never want to hear those words come out of your mouth again! You ARE a hero! I watched you stand up through the cruciatus curse! And I hear you did it more than once! You fought back Gracie! Do you know how many wizards can do that? Almost none! It was amazing! I was worried sick the whole time, hell, we all were! But watching you fight him, push yourself farther, refusing to give up, it was amazing! It's not your fault he got away! You almost died! If you didn't give up when you did, you would have! Do you know how much that would have hurt everyone here? A lot. You did the right thing Gracie! We couldn't be more proud of you! I couldn't be more proud of you!" She cried, hugging me tight. I hugged her too, crying on her shoulder.

"Thank you Maxie. I'll always blame myself, but I can't hate myself anymore. Professor Dumbledore is right. It's a waste of time. I, I need to move on. One day, I'll get my revenge. And when I do, he'll regret it." I said, pulling back and nodding my head, because no matter what, I will be the one to stop Pettigrew.

"That a girl!" She laughed, placing a hand on my shoulder, smiling proudly at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Professor McGonagall, crying, and Hagrid wailing, even Snape had a silent tear running down his face. A lot of people were crying actually, especially me. I giggled at the thought.

"I'm a mess!" I giggled again, looking down at myself. I know my eyes are red and puffy, but I don't care about that. My hair is all over the place, ugh. I'm in desperate need of a shower. "How long was I out?"

"A week," Harry said, his voice hoarse and really deep. This was the first time he had spoke since I woke up. I turned to him in concern, his eyes were bloodshot and he looked skinnier than usual.

"Harry! What happened?" I gasped, placing my hand on his cheek. He leaned into my touch, placing his hand on top of mine. Mione spoke this time, answering for him.

"Harry hasn't slept it eaten since we found you. He's sat right beside you this whole time Gracie!"

"Harry James Potter! I can't even be mad at you, wait. I take that back. Yes I can! Look at me right now!" He looked me in the eye, smiling a little bit. Why is he smiling? "Why are you smiling?"

"Your yelling at me!"

"What?" I asked, wrinkling my nose in confusion.

"Your yelling at me. Your awake. Your back!" He said, hugging me tight. For a minute, I sat there, stunned, but I hugged him back quickly, smiling at him. When he pulled away, I continued my rant.

"How dare you! Why on earth would you do that to yourself? Do you realize how sick you could have made yourself? Harry! Don't ever do that again! If I'm ever hurt again,"

"But you won't get hurt anymore! I won't let it happen!" There was a chorus of me either's around the room. Rolling my eyes, I continued.

"If I'm ever hurt again, I want you to promise me you won't do that to yourself! That goes for all of you!" No one said anything. "Promise me!" I glared, turning my gaze on each of them. They all mumbled their promise, not looking at me. Good enough. Sighing, I laid back, resting my head and rubbing my temples. I still have a throbbing headache.

"Move out of the way!" Madam Pomfrey scolded, pushing through the crowd. "Here you are deary, drink this!" I took the potion, not arguing because I want to feel better. "Now, all of you out! One at a time! The girl needs space!"

Everyone but Dad shuffled out. His eyes were red, but he was smiling. He sat beside me on the bed, wrapping an arm over my shoulders. "You scared me kiddo," he whispered, smiling down at me. "You were so brave! And there I was, scared half to death and crying my eyes out. When we found you in the woods I thought you were dead. I sat there staring at you for ten minutes before I did anything. The others saved Buckbeak. He's staying with us now!" He smiled, rubbing soothing circles on my arm.

I hugged his waist as right as I could, though it wasn't much. "I'm okay Daddy. Really, I am. I'm a fighter!" I said, snuggling my head into his chest. He chuckled, squeezing me as well, then kissed the top of my head.

"I'd better go. Everyone will want to see you."

"Bye Dad!"

"Bye sweetheart!" He said, walking out the door. Maxie came in next, skipping to my bed.

"Oh Gracie! I have something really important to tell you!" She whispered, looking around the room. Squealing, I sat up, getting excited all of a sudden. "Okay. I haven't told your dad yet, so it's a secret, kay?" I nodded eagerly. "I'm pregnant!"

I let out a high pitched squeal, smiling and hugging her tightly. She laughed and hugged me back. "Oh Maxie! That's great!" I cheered, smiling more. She nodded, wiping away a tear.

"W, well I have to go. See you soon?" I nodded, smiling at her. We waved goodbye, hugged one more time, and then she left. In came Professor McGonagall, she hugged me tight, crying. And then we talked about the wedding and school and my exams, she says I did well, and then she left. Hagrid came next, still wailing.

He went on and on about how Harry and I were the perfect couple, and I blushed furiously the whole time. Fred and George attempted to cheer me up, and succeeded greatly. Molly and Arthur hugged me, they didn't say anything, just cried. And I let them, telling them I was okay.

Bill and Charlie both had me tell them exactly what happened, from the time we left Hagrid's to the time I passed out. I have to admit, after telling them, I felt a lot better. Ginny and I talked boys, well she did. I listened to her tell me about Dean and Fred and Nat.

Nat and I laughed and joked, singing loudly. It was so fun! And them Mione and Ron came in together, watching for Pomfrey. They told me that I got two hundred points for Gryffindor! We won the house cup! And lastly, Harry came in.

He looked better. "I went an ate. Better?" He asked, teasing me. Giggling, I nodded, patting the seat beside me. He came and sat down, pulling me onto his lap. I curled up, burying my head in his chest.

"Harry?"

"Yes love?"

"It is bad that I want to cry?" I sniffled, hiding my face.

"No Gracie. That's perfectly normal. You went through a lot. But please," he took his finger, lifting my chin so that I was looking at him. "please don't ever do that to me again!"

"I'm sorry Harry!" I cried, letting the tears till again. I'm going to be completely honest right now. I'm scared. I know what's going to happen. Wormtails going to Voldemort, and then everything is downhill from there.

"Shhh. It's okay love. I won't let them hurt you!"

"It's not me I'm worried about!" I said, getting hysterical. I clung to Harry's shirt like my life depended on it, holding him as close to me as possible. He rocked me back and forth, and even though I don't think he knew it, I heard him crying too.

"Gracie. Lets make a promise. Neither of us are going to let this get to us. We can't. We have to keep doing what we love. We have to stay happy and positive. I think we both know things aren't going to be easy from here on out, but it'll be okay." He said softly, still rocking me back and forth.

Out of nowhere, he laughed. "I almost forgot. We're in trouble!"

"For what?" I yawned, pulling myself into a tighter ball, and clinging harder to Harry as I felt myself fall asleep.

"You sort of blew our cover with the whole animagus thing." He laughed, rubbing my arms like Dad did earlier.

"Did the minister see?"

"No!" Harry scoffed, rolling his eyes. "He passed out when you dropped to your knees. But everyone else did. Most were impressed, but Ron Hermione and Ginny, not so happy!"

I rolled my eyes when I heard about Fudge, but winced when I heard bout the rest of the gang. Maybe we can teach them and that will be better? Hm. We'll see. I sighed, letting sleep take over. They would have found out anyway.

******************************************

We got off the train, me limping a bit, but I tried to hide it. Summers finally here! Everyone knows about the wedding and Dad, Harry, and Nat know about the pregnancy. I get to meet Dad's cousin Tonks soon, and I can't wait.

We're going to continue shifting over the summer to practice, since Harry hasn't done it in a while. Uncle Lupin was sacked, which really sucks! But, I can't say I didn't see it coming. Stupid prejudiced gits.

We apparated to Grimmauld Place and I sighed, smiling to myself.

"I'm home!"