A/N: This takes place after the trio have left Hogwarts. It does not follow DH or HBP because I'm still in denial. Fred is not dead (obivously).Lupin and Toks are not dead. Dumbledore is not dead. Yup yup. All alive and well.
This is the first longer story I'm putting up for people to read so tell me what you think. I'm only here to please you all.
Also, many thanks to my beta Pinky Green.
Disclaimer: I own nothing or I wouldn't be publishing this here for free!! And Fred, Tonk, Lupin and Dumbledore would still live. (It's a bit like "Elvis lives", isn't it?)
The ceiling of the Great Hall shimmered with the stars in the evening sky. The long tables had been set aside in favour of many smaller tables decorated in the house colours. It was graduation night. Everyone had arrived, the parents, the siblings and all the other very important persons. Dumbledore was standing in front of the staff table, his purple gown glittering with stars in all the colours of the rainbow. Next to him sat Snape who was scowling as usual but McGonagall couldn't help beaming at the students below. This year's graduates were particularly dear to her.
This year's graduates were Harry, Ron and Hermione, along with Neville, Draco and all the others. Minerva McGonagall sighed. A few months earlier Harry Potter, the boy who lived an astonishingly large number of times, had defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The whole wizarding world had celebrated and Harry, Ron, Hermione and of course Neville, Luna, Ginny and the rest of Dumbledore's Army were now famous.
Ron, of course, basked in the fame, Hermione tried to hide behind her books – for which there was no need as the NEWTs were already past – and Harry, who, as always, received the largest share, had thrown himself into Quidditch training with a renewed vigour. He was invited to tryouts to play for England now that this was all over and there was no need to become an Auror anymore.
Hermione smiled to herself. This was wonderful, all she had ever dreamt of. She sat at a group of tables with the Weasleys, who were like a family to her, her parents, who beamed proudly at her but were still bewildered at all that passed around them. Harry who was holding hands with Ginny under the table as Ron gaped at Hermione just like he had at the Yule Ball. It was rather crowded, considering that many of the Weasley boys had significant others by now too – Charlie and a Romanian dragon tamer (who was probably just a fling), Bill and his fiancée Fleur and Percy and Penelope.
"Mrs Weasley, where are the twins?" Harry asked, turning slightly to face the matron of the Weasley clan.
"I don't know," replied Mrs Weasley, sounding slightly annoyed. "They were supposed to have been here hours ago, they had to go on some urgent business somewhere for the shop", she continued, progressing to look ready to hex them around the moon should they show up now.
Luckily for them, they did not turn up but instead –
HOOT! HOOT! Everyone looked up upon hearing the most unlikely of sounds in such a place. It sounded like a large owl. Upon looking up, the trio realised that it was not an owl. It was many owls. All but one were large tawny owls carrying parcels which they dropped at various points over the crowds. Promptly the parcels exploded with loud BANGs. A shower of glitter and lights exploded over the crowd which, after the initial shock, exploded into claps and shouts of appreciation, it truly was an amazing show.
As the show came to an end, only one owl remained, Hedwig. Harry sunk down in his seat.
"Now they'll all blame me again," he whispered to Ron and Hermione who promptly burst out laughing earning their table even more stares.
"But Harry, nothing bad has happened," Hermione tried to reason, not sounding entirely convinced herself. She doubted this was part of the official ceremony.
"Aye mate, they will," Ron snickered. "Bet Snape will try to put you in detention. Luckily we aren't his students anymore." Harry had to agree wholeheartedly.
Everyone who was not staring at the trio, was staring at the owl, waiting what it would do. Finally, it let go of the letter it was holding. As the envelope fluttered down, the crowed let out a gasp. It was a howler. It dropped to the floor in front of Dumbledore. The crowed stared at him expectantly, the trio being forgotten.
"Well, what have we here? Better open it before it explodes," Dumbledore said conversationally and bent to pick up the envelope. Slowly, he opened it, the tension in the room growing almost unbearably.
"HOWDY! WELL, IF IT ISN'T RONNYKIN'S GRADUATION," boomed one of the twins voice over the hall. Ron blushed furiously, looking for the entire world as if he wanted the earth to open up and swallow him. Harry snickered only to be elbowed by Hermione.
"AND OF COURSE THE GOLDEN BOY'S GRADUATION," a slightly different voice continued. Obviously the twins had taken turns speaking. Harry too, had adopted a shade of red and joined Ron in sinking down as far as possible in their seat.
"DON'T FORGET THEIR BRAINS, HERMIONE," continued the first twin. A frown spread over Hermione's face. She really didn't like this. Trust the twins to embarrass everyone.
"AND OF COURSE, ALL THEIR WONDERFUL CLASSMATES," the second twin added. By now, everyone had realised that this was the (in)famous Weasley twins speaking and roared with laughter. Everyone, but the trio and Mrs Weasley.
"I never – when I next see them – they'll regret this" she muttered angrily.
"WE WISH TO WISH YOU ALL CONGRATULATIONS TO SCRAPING A FEW NEWTS,"
"EXEPT HERMIONE," – cheers erupted – "WHO GOT MORE THAN A FEW"
"AND WE ALSO WISH YOU A WONDERFUL LIFE,"
"DON'T GET INTO TOO MUCH TROUBLE PARTYING,"
"LIFE'S HARDSHIPS ARE ONLY ABOUT TO BEGINN,"
"ADULT LIFE ISN'T ALL THAT IT'S MADE OUT TO BE,"
The graduates groaned. To them, life seemed wonderful, rosy and pink, and they looked forward to their newfound freedom.
"IT'S FAR BETTER."
The students cheered. The Weasley twins were surely the best example that life could be fun.
"BUT LET'S NOT KEEP YOU FROM YOUR LOVELY CEREMONY"
"PROFESSOR DUMBLEDORE, PLEASE ACCEPT OUR APOLOGIES"
"WE WISH YOU ALL THE BEST," and suddenly it was finished. Laughter filled the great hall, even the trio had recovered from the shock of being singled out and joined in. Only Mrs Weasley was still muttering to herself.
"Just wait till I get my hands on them, oh they'll regret this. Such a shame." But despite herself, she couldn't quite hide that she was proud – her posture was a little straighter, her eyes gleamed. It was her sons that had caused everyone to laugh and cheer, no matter how displeased she was with them.
"Well, now, what a pleasant diversion. Give my well wishes to the Weasley twins, will you? Thanks. Now, let's get on with the ceremony." Dumbledore said, looking for all the world as if nothing extraordinary had happened.
Waiting for the guests to quieten, he continued with the standard graduation procedure. Everyone in their year had graduate, even Neville, thanks to his excellent performance in Herbology. Hermione of course, was top of the year. Ron and Harry had both been good enough to become Aurors and although neither of them wanted to anymore, they were proud of themselves.
Mrs Weasley, Mr Weasley and even Percy were beaming and cheering as the youngest Weasley boy entered the real world. Neither of the trio had any idea of what would come now, all was uncertain.
Later, when the formal parts were over and they had, for the last time, stuffed themselves on a delicious Hogwarts feast, they sat back and watched all those happy couples dance.
"I'm so nervous. What if they don't take me? What if I'm not good enough?" fretted Harry. He'd been like that ever since he'd received the letter that he was invited for try-outs.
"Mate, if they don't take you, blimey," muttered Ron, clearly a bit jealous that Harry had received an offer from England.
"Harry," tried Hermione more reasonably, "you're the youngest Quidditch player in Hogwarts for a hundred years! Why shouldn't they take you?"
Harry shrugged, lost in thoughts for a while.
"Well, what are you gonna do Mione? Surely you must have decided by now?" asked Ron instead, glancing at Hermione and edging a little closer to her.
"Ron! Surely I'd have told you if I had decided! I don't know! There are so many options and I just don't know which would be the best of me. I mean, an apprenticeship ... " and Hermione launched into a long rant about all the possible wizarding professions anyone could possible think of. Soon Ron zoned out, not caring to listen to this again.
"RON! Are you even listening to me?" Hermione scoffed. "Why do you even ask if you don't care?"
Harry listened up. This sounded like a new fight exploding between his best friends. He really didn't want them to ignore each other once again.
"Hermione, why don't we dance?" he interrupted, having learned at least that much about women, that they like to dance. Hermione scowled but got up as graciously as she could, shot on more glare at Ron and whisked Harry off to the dance floor.
It wasn't a very pleasant experience for Harry but he hadn't expected that. Hermione was far to dominating and wouldn't let him lead. Not being the best dance either, he frequently stepped into the wrong direction, causing them to stumble and Hermione to scowl even more.
"Look Harry, why don't you dance with Ginny instead? I'll go get myself some punch," she said after one song. Harry tried his best to hide a relieved smile and hurried over to the bar which was conveniently located as far away from Ron as possible.
She stood there, chatting with several of her classmates for a while.
"Mione, uh, would you, uh, dance with me," came a familiar voice from behind her. She silently cursed.
"Ron, can't you see I'm talking? Perhaps later," she replied, trying not to sound annoyed. Ron was getting too close for comfort. She knew he had a huge crush on her but she didn't see him as anything but a (little) brother.
Ron scowled, remembering that she had left their conversation to dance with Harry. He shot a glare towards Harry who was still dancing with Ginny.
Soon, Lavender had found him and got him to dance, or rather stumble, across the dance floor with her.
Despite all small squabbles, throughout the evening, each of the trio had the feeling that this was all larger than life - as if they owned the world.