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“Put me back under,” Halley mumbled. The hospital room swam in her vision. She dropped her head in her hands and tried to breathe.
This isn’t happening. I’m still fifteen. I’m still fifteen. I’m still —
“Mate, come on.”
“Take deep breaths.”
Halley raised her head. Her friends looked so different. Rory had chopped off her long plait for a bold pixie cut. Hector’s face wasn’t as round as it had been as a teenager. There were scars and other signs, the school uniforms replaced by clean jeans, Oxford button-ups, and, in Hector’s case — a sweater vest. Then what do I look like? She almost asked for a mirror.
“See?” Hector said. “Keep at it with your deep breaths.”
“It’s not the end of the world,” Rory added. “Well, it is for you, but adulthood is nice! You’re married to—“
“I’m married?” Halley croaked. Who would turn their life upside down…and for her? She’s a teenager who only recently had her first kiss. She looked down at her hand and blinked at the wedding ring. “But what happened to Umbridge? Where’s Sirius, Dumbledore? What about Voldemort? What’s happened to me?”
Rory and Hector shared a look, something that hadn’t changed since Hogwarts. They communicated silently, an eyebrow raised, a slight shrug of shoulders. Rory placed her hands on her hips, looking alarmingly like her mother, while Hector then studied the chart at the base of Halley’s bed.
“It has been five years,” he said carefully, not looking away from the chart. “We have all gone through so much. Some terrible, but most of it wonderful.”
Halley traced the scars on the back of her hand.
Rory bumped her hip against Hector’s. “Start with the good stuff.”
“In a moment, darling. And has anyone checked on him? I’m surprised he isn’t clawing at the door.”
Darling?
“I’ll get him.” Rory rubbed the side of her long nose. “Halley, don’t panic.”
She opened her mouth and closed it. The world spun a little slower, but she clutched at her purple hospital blanket. She was twenty years old, she and her friends were adults, and the one person foolish enough to marry her was…. Her mind blanked at the possibilities.
Rory crossed the room and opened the door.
The last time Halley had seen him, he was fourteen and all coltish limbs. He had played Exploding Snap by the fire and shared Easter chocolate with her in the library. The man before her was tall, his shoulders broad, and an athletic build that wasn’t possible for a Fourth Year. His red hair was styled differently, his chin less round, and on his hand was a matching gold ring. She struggled to hold onto the image of him as the boy she once knew.
“Hiya, sweetheart,” Gideon Weasley said.