For Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Zoology task eight: write about a celebration. 389 words excluding A/N.
May the second, 1999. The first anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts and the end of the Second Wizarding War. A day for celebration. Minerva had been run off her feet for weeks by now trying to get everything set up, and it didn't help that there were so many more students than normal with half of them repeating various years.
But as she stared out across the Great Hall, decorated with multi-coloured banners made by the students themselves, people mingling together instead of divided by their Houses just as they had been a year ago, she could tell that all of the effort had been worth it.
The feast was even more spectacular than normal: the house-elves had outdone themselves with perfectly-cooked juicy meats and vegetables that had been in the giant ovens for just the right amount of time, and the desserts!
Minerva wasn't normally a fan of desserts, since cats couldn't taste sweetness, but the students certainly loved them judging by the way their eyes lit up as they appeared on the tables and the speed at which they then disappeared into hundreds of hungry stomachs.
They'd found little cherubs to fly around covering the room with rainbow confetti (not everyone was best pleased when some landed on their plates, although most laughed it off and threw it at their friends), and the light streamed down from the enchanted ceiling (fortunately the weather was beautifully sunny).
She saw Hermione Granger and Ginevra Weasley sitting beside each other, laughing at something hilarious Luna Lovegood had said (Blibbering… Humdingers? Was that it?) Not everyone was so happy, of course: Dennis Creevey, who'd lost his older brother Colin in the battle, sat at the normally-Gryffindor table, the seat beside him filled by a battered old camera, and some of the older Slytherins were still in their little group, shunned by the rest of the school.
But the overall atmosphere was one of happiness and positivity at how far they had come in the last year: Hogwarts was as strong as it used to be, if not stronger, and they hadn't had a single peculiar accident (probably because Harry Potter wasn't around to be a walking trouble magnet any more), even with the Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers.
Yes, for once it had been a good year at Hogwarts.