Chapter 24 The First Year Ends

The last two weeks of school went by quickly, and seeing as nobody had come to drag any of them off to face an inquisition, it hopefully meant that Ron hadn't said anything about them. As it was he was giving them the cold shoulder. Hermione on the other hand was thrilled, once she had gotten over the shock that two of her friends were professional monster hunters and the other two were both powerful ancient beings that been around longer than humanity, she now had a seemingly unending stream of questions, most of which they were happy to answer. Harry seemed to be torn between treating them as he always had and staring at them like they would suddenly grow second heads.

The Final quidditch game was held, with Gryffindor soundly beating Ravenclaw and winning the quidditch cup for the first time in six years, Wood literally cried when Madam Hooch presented him with the trophy.

Soon though, everyone found themselves attending the leaving feast, the great hall looking quite festive decked out in yellow and black, in honour of Hufflepuff winning the house cup, with Ravenclaw coming in second followed by Gryffindor then Slytherin.

When the feast was over and the students were making their way off to bed, Ron came and asked them all if they could talk for a few minutes before everybody left. So they all found themselves trudging up to the seventh floor corridor. Once they had all sat themselves down comfortably Ron spoke.

"I wanted to say sorry, for how I acted the other week."

"You're apologising? You never apologise." Dean said, sounding incredulous.

Ron seemed to swell with righteous indignation at this statement before deflating "Yeah I know, but I was a right prat, so sorry." He finished lamely.

"It is alright Ron, we forgive you" said Cas with one of his small smiles.

"Thanks" Ron said with a smile of his own. "So, I wanted to show you guys something" his smile suddenly becoming a blinding grin.

With that Ron got out of his chair, one moment he was standing there, the next there was a small dog in his place.

It was a Jack-Russel Terrier, its head Weasley red with a white stripe down the middle and it looked to be in that awkward stage between being a puppy and an adult. The small dog gave a yip, and then Ron was standing there again.

"So this is why you wanted to apologise, so you could show off?" Dean asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No! He, showed me something" Ron said, sneaking a glance at Sam "I really did mean what I said."

Something in his tone must have convinced Dean "Ok there Paws, we believe you."

With that Hermione reminded them of the time and they were all grinning at each other as they made their way to bed.

The next morning the student body boarded the Hogwarts express and was on their way home, the train filled with sounds of laughter and plans being made for the summer holidays, and before they knew it they were pulling into kings cross station.

Ron was making plans with Harry, promising to see if he could come visit, while Sam Hermione and Cas were trying to see if they would be able to do their school shopping together. Illyria and Dean were just quietly walking together.

"You're worried about something" She asked Him

"Harry" Dean said in way of a reply

"How so?" she asked.

"Don't get me wrong here, I love my Dad, and he did the best he could in the circumstances, but after living with Aunt Molly and Uncle Arthur, I can tell the man really dropped the ball as far as me and Sam were concerned. Mentally Harry's old for his age, while physically he's smaller than he should be, that along with how he talks about his Aunt and Uncle..."

"You think they're abusing him?"

"Maybe not physically, but neglect is abuse too."

Illyria nodded "I'll talk to Dad, see what we can do maybe."

"Yeah, cos your Dad just looooves Harry." Dean's voice dripping with sarcasm, Illyria just nudged him with her shoulder.

"Either way, we'll figure something out Dean"

"Yeah.."

With that everyone got together for one last goodbye, before going their separate ways for the summer holidays.

Link for the art for this chapter can be found on my profile page

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