Author's Note: Written for…
Next Gen Competition. Prompt: Lucy graduates
Bittersweet
There was something utterly nerve-wracking about knowing you would never take another test for the rest of your life.
Lucy had spent years doing the bare minimum on exams, just squeaking by compared to her sister's three Outstandings on her NEWTS. Lucy knew what she wanted to do with her life, and school hadn't helped her with that at all.
Seventh year had been a joke in a lot of ways. Her friends, Lily, Hugo, everyone was worried about exams and stressing about making a mark on the school. Lucy, on the other hand, spent the majority of the year reading muggle teen romance novels and writing for the school newspaper in preparation for the job she'd already secured at the Daily Prophet.
The whole year had been leading up to the day when she would finally board the train and leave Hogwarts for the last time. She had talked about this day – celebrated it, bragged about it – but now that it had come, she wasn't as excited as she had been.
It wasn't until she was already situated in a carriage with her cousins, heading for the train station, that it dawned on her as she watched Hogwarts fade from view. There would be no more group meals or late night study sessions in her dorm. She had a job waiting for her, but there were no more schedules or time tables. She was in charge of what she did with her life, and as exciting as that was, it was the scariest thing she ever encountered.