Harry James Potter woke to his roommate hammering on his door.
"Oi! Wake up, or you'll be late for training!" the familiar voice roared through the door. Harry groaned and buried his face into his pillow, itching for a few more moments of sleep. He heard the door open, and felt hands shaking him. "C'mon, mate, I don't want Williamson chewing out your ass." Harry hit his friend's hands off his shoulders, and pulled on his glasses, stifling a yawn.
"Alright, I'm up," he said, running a hand through his hair. "Are you gonna take a shower, or can I go in?" he asked Abel, his roommate of nearly eight months.
"Yeah, you can go ahead. Don't complain if the coffee is cold," he said, lingering by the door, "I'm leaving early though… I left something at Bridget's house."
"Weren't you just with Elora last week?" Harry inquired, a slight smile playing on his lips as he stepped into the bathroom.
"No, no, Elora wanted a bit of help training, that's all." Luke dismissed, waving his beefy hand airily.
"Right. Highly likely."
"Take a shower, mijo rosto." Abel said, using his native tongue, portugese. Harry shook his head as he closed the door. He showered quickly and brushed his teeth, feeling sore from the training exercises he had endured the weeks before.
The last year was hard for everyone. He and Ginny tried to maintain a friendship, but ended up ending it a few months back, as she was still attending school, and the training was both mentally and physically tasking. Ron stayed at the new shop in Hogsmeade with George, and was hoping to begin Auror Training at the end of summer. Hermione was maintaining a relationship with Ron, and kept in touch with Harry through letters, and Ginny was currently choosing between several British Quidditch teams, and occasionally sending letters to Harry.
Harry met his flat mate the first day of training. There were fourty of them in all, from across the world, but they had started off as nearly one hundred and twenty. Some trainees left because of how tasking training was, and others were 'let go', as they lacked whatever talent or skill that they needed to become an Auror. As their combat trainer, Alicia Williamson had said on the first day, the first year of training was to condition the students, and to separate the ones that would make it through the four years, to the ones that weren't skillful enough to make it past the work out sessions.
Harry pulled on jeans and a t-shirt, and wiped some of the humidity from the mirror. He looked much different than he had, say, a year ago. He was now full grown, looking nearly identical to his father. He wore more modest glasses, as his old ones had broken when he fell from climbing rope on the second week of training. He had grown four more inches in a matter of three months before stopping at six foot three, and he was no longer skinny, but fit from the training he endured. His messy hair covered the scar on his forehead, and a large bruise stretched across the side of his jaw from being hit by a dumbbell a few days earlier (long story).
"Are you taking of the last few hours of training today, then?" Abel asked, once Harry had come into the small kitchen. Abel was a year older than Harry, but nearly a foot shorter. He was all muscle, and had dark skin, and even darker hair. His English was flawless, but he spoke with a thick accent.
"What d'you mean?" Harry asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"What I mean," he said, "Is that it's June twenty-seventh." Harry choked on his coffee. He hadn't seen his friends in nearly six months?
"The graduation," he shook his head, draining his cup of black coffee quickly. "Think Williamson will let me out?"
"You'd better hope so, amigo."
"Hermione, you really need to calm down," Ginny said, watching her best friend pace back and forth in the Gryffindor Common Room.
"How am I supposed to calm down?" Hermione nearly shrieked. "This is it, this is the moment we've been working for!"
"Technically, that's in about four hours," Ginny said, feeling nervous herself. Any minute now her family was going to show up, and possibly Harry, whom she had not seen in nearly a year. Hermione had visited him during the holidays, but only out for lunch. She and Harry exchanged letters every few weeks, very short, and never really personal. The last one that she had received had come nearly a month ago, and she hadn't written back as she was studying in a hectic manner for exams.
"Not funny," Hermione said, biting her lip and finally collapsing into a chair. The Common Room was only inhabited by the graduates, who were either looking nervous, or laughing over old memories, or panicking like Hermione was. She took a few deep breaths and managed a smile. "Well… are you excited to see Harry?" she teased gently. Ginny sighed, closing her eyes and leaning against the couch cushion.
"I haven't even seen him in a year!" she exclaimed. Hermione frowned.
"I thought you two were writing, though,"
"Well, we were… but he didn't really have much to say. He said that he was training, and had an apartment in London. Other than that, I don't know much. He left so quickly last summer," Ginny whispered.
"You know why he had to do that, Ginny." Hermione said softly, "He needed to get away from everything." Ginny shook her head, and smiled.
"Only four more hours, and we still don't have our hair done!" she exclaimed, changing the subject, although in some way she was excited yet nervous to see Harry again.
"Auror Williamson?" Harry asked around eleven, fifteen minutes before he was supposed to meet the Weasley family at Hogwarts. They were in the combat room, firing guns at targets and firing spells at opponents. Alicia Williams, a woman with short grey hair and a stocky build considered him with crossed arms.
"Yes, Mr. Potter?"
"I know that I should have asked earlier, but…"
"Potter, no excuses, just spit it out." The Auror said, staring at him with fierce black eyes.
"I have friends that are graduating from Hogwarts today, ma'am." He explained. "And I was wondering whether or not you would be generous enough to excuse me from my afternoon classes today."
The Auror seemed thoughtful for a moment, but nodded.
"I suppose that you've been doing well in your classes and turning in your work on time… alright, Potter. But you'll have to drop by early tomorrow morning to get your assignment."
"Thank you, Auror Williamson." He smiled, and waved airily to Abel, who was treating a bleeding lip, before Apparating back to his apartment to get dressed in more suitable attire.
Ginny stood in front of a tall, wide mirror. She was wearing the traditional robes for graduation, only they were red and gold for Gryffindor house. Her hair was pinned back and falling half way down her back in ringlets. She had on a bit of makeup- glittery eye shadow and lip gloss, but she still felt terribly self-conscious.
Hermione looked gorgeous too. She used potion to make her hair sleek, and it was pulled back into an elegant bun that rested at the nape of her neck. She was also wearing a bit of makeup, but is suited her more than it suited Ginny.
"Wait until Ron sees you," Ginny joked. "He'll start to drool," she smiled, leaving the girls bathroom with Hermione. Parents and family were swarming the place. They walked down the small hall and into the Great Hall, Hermione looking for her parents or Ron, while Ginny looked for her family. It was beautifully decorated for the occasion, although they were graduating outside. House banners stretched across the walls, and the hall was no longer taken up by four long large tables, but by lots of small ones with sweets on silver platters.
"Oh, I see them!" Hermione cried, rushing toward her parents. Ginny, deciding to let her friend have some time alone with her parents, continued to look for her family. But just as she turned, she was face to face with a very old friend.
A/N: Well, this chapter was basically just to fill everyone in on what was going on. Please review, and I hope you all liked it!