If I owned Harry Potter, Salazar and Regulus would have bigger parts.
Title from the Avril Lavigne song, inspiration from the Bowling for Soup song High School Never Ends.
Written for the Happy Ending Challenge at hpff.
It was all good.
Helga took a deep breath and repeated the words once more.
It's all good.
And she knew that, and most of the time she felt like it, but every now and then the sheer enormity of being free – of being an adult – came rushing in to awe and overwhelm her.
Out of school…
Except it hadn't really been a school – just the ten of them and various tutors. An actual school… She smiled.
That was what they were doing.
She took a deep breath and smiled again, more freely. It would be perfect – just the four of them, sharing knowledge with eager young students. They would be respected and looked up to, and remembered fondly in later years.
She shivered in anticipation and hugged her arms to her chest. Everything she'd ever wanted! A peaceful but exciting existence, a chance to make a difference, good friends all around her…
She pictured it in her mind: a cozy cottage with a cheery fire in winter and sunshine steaming in the window in summer, and–
No. Not a cottage. She knew that! Her mind kept reverting to her fourteen-year-old fantasies. Thing like that got so ingrained! It was a castle. That's what Godric had written.
So, a castle. A grand, majestic structure on a hill, looking down on green fields. There would be a forest in the distance, too.
There would be beautiful, snow-capped mountains in the background, and the air in fall – now – would be fresh and cool, bracing but not chilly.
She would have her own room – she briefly envisioned a huge four-poster bed and other luxuries, but immediately laughed at herself and wrote it off as far too extravagant. A large bed, though, with goose-down pillows. And perhaps a fireplace, a small one: just enough for a cheery blaze on a winter night.
The female students would be in awe of her and Rowena, but soon they would realize that she wasn't so different form them. She could imagine the looks on their faces when they realized that they could do it too! Maybe not teach, but succeed in the world! And then, many – no, she told herself, be realistic – some would go on to make their own way in the world – all because of her!
After all some people thought women couldn't even learn Transfiguration, let along teach it!
Helga's mouth tightened as she remembered Kil's sneer. Every time she'd made even a tiny mistake, there it had been, saying silently you're no good at this. Just give up and go home, little girl. Never mind that she was better than him in everything but Astronomy!
But now – now she was striking out on her own. Well, the four of them were. And this school, this dream, would be better than anything Kil Manar had ever done!
This was her revenge on him, and everyone who thought like him. This was her vindication. This was her life, her purpose.
This was her happy ending.