Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise, nor anything affiliated with it.
Draco's POV
Outside the castle, on my way to breakfast this morning, I could hear the birds chirping outside and the owls carrying this morning's post and papers flocking into the owlery. The sun shone throughout the hallways and seemed to illuminate even the darkest alcoves and hiding spots. A Saturday as sunny and cheerful as today should have been spent outside, enjoying the warm weather. Instead, all of the seventh and eighth year students were gathered in the Great Hall, the usual tables replaced with 250 chairs.
In light of the fact that this year's graduating class was much larger than usual, and that it was now early June, the teacher's scheduled a rehearsal to go over the ceremony structure at the end of the year. The idea was to prepare the students before we fully hit exams. Currently though, the graduation rehearsal is taking much longer than expected and everyone is getting restless. Very few of teaching staff who have experience organizing these ceremonies were actually involved in the planning of graduations at Hogwarts, it seems Dumbledore played a larger role in ensuring they ran smoothly than people expected. Currently Headmistress McGonagall is trying to locate the caps for the students to wear, but we may just receive them at the graduation itself.
Since most of us are not seated near our friends, but rather in alphabetical order by last name, many of the students have resorted to shouting across the hall to communicate properly or enchanting paper airplanes to carry messages. The planes have resulted in quite a few minor injuries, much to Hermione's irritation.
Of my own friends, Neville and Luna, and Ginny and Ron are seated next to each other while everyone else is spread out. Hermione and I are seated next to each other since we're Head Students, the prefects next to us. After getting everyone to quieten two or three times, Hermione finally gave up and is now just editing her speech.
"Hermione, surely you don't need to cross out and rewrite that much." I comment.
"Oh really now? Well surely you aren't completely satisfied with your speech considering I never see you working on it." She fired back teasingly.
"Well, it's not like you see me all of the time. Besides, I have a speech outline but I haven't written it out word for word. I want to take it where I want to take it on the day of and adjust it as needed."
"No fair," she pouts, "I don't understand how guys can just wing their presentations. I have to plan out everything, then write it out fully, and rewrite it at least four times."
Suddenly we both kind of stiffen as we realize that this is how we used to talk when we were dating, lots of teasing banter. We both look in different directions and the awkward silence seems to stretch on for miles. Thankfully she returned to her speech after what must have been a few moments and I tried to run mine in my head.
I don't want to perform my actual speech today, I'd rather wait till the actual graduation before I do so. However, for the purpose of the rehearsal, I still need to present something, so I have a filler speech prepared. Something short and cheesy, the kind of thing that appeals to teachers and parents. That's not to say my actual speech isn't cheesy, or that parents and teachers will hate it, but instead it applies more so to the students in my class.
A louder than normal, throaty cough gets our attention as Professor Flitwick takes the stage. "Students," he begins, as he adjusts his tight collar to deal with the heat in the room, "on behalf of all of the teachers, I would like to first of all thank you for your cooperation today. Secondly, unfortunately we have to apologize for wasting your Saturday morning. It appears that we were not quite ready for a rehearsal and will instead reschedule for next Saturday."
The hall erupts into a mass of groans and complaining as the, very tired, graduating class receives this news. However, as the students begin to stand up to leave, Professor Flitwick demands our attention once again.
"While we may have taken up your morning, we are going to make it up to you all with a free afternoon in Hogsmeade today!"
In a matter of seconds, those few words turn the complaints into cheers. People who were already leaving, move even faster to clear the hall and head out to the village. Soon, the only people left are my friends and Professor Flitwick.
"Alright, so what are we gonna do? Are we all gonna stick together or are we gonna split up?" Asks Blaise as we all move closer together.
"Well I know Harry is actually in the area because he's on vacation at the moment," pipes up Ginny. "I can owl him to meet us in the Hog's Head and we could all hang out for the afternoon."
"Yeah that would be nice, it's been a while since we've all chilled together," adds Pansy.
"It's settled then, meet by the front of the building to grab the carriages in 15 minutes?" confirms Hermione.
We all nod and head off to get ready, leaving poor Professor Flitwick to deal with the mess of chairs and set the hall up for dinner.
"Wow Hermione, it looks like you're publishing your first academic paper sooner than you thought you would!" Says Harry with a big grin, his glass of butter beer sloshing as he gestures.
"Yes, well Draco is helping quite a bit, and we won't know for sure if it'll be published until Tuesday, the 17th." Replies Hermione with a slight blush.
"You're selling yourself short, I just helped you with the supporting research, you have a real mastery of the spell. Besides, you were the one who took on that trip and made it possible for us to finish it." I say.
"Oh so now you're okay with it. Back then you were complaining every second of it!"
"Wait what trip?" Asks Ron, and everyone else echoes his expression of confusion.
"Did we not tell you guys about it?" Hermione asks.
"I guess we were too caught up with the essay to tell them." I reply.
"Well go on, tell us what happened!" Exclaims Ginny.
"It wasn't that big, we ended up finding a portrait on the first floor that teleported us to a different world for a day where we were almost drowned in a mysterious lake and we had to gut a fish for the for the first time in our lives, but the whole thing was only equal to a few hours here." I tell them.
Blaise nods to prompt me to continue. "It was really something else though, a little scary at times, and a little concerning when we couldn't find our wands, but it was a good, strange experience."
"I'm sure it was a magical experience." Luna says absentmindedly. If only she knew how accurate her statement was, well actually she probably does know.
"It was, the nature around us, I mean, it was so much more vibrant and energized than here."
"Would you all like another round of butterbeer? On the house!" Cuts in Aberforth, interrupting our conversation with a grin. He nears our table to clear the many empty glasses sitting in the middle. He rushes off with them and comes back with them all refilled and with a basket of pumpkin pasties too.
"Thank you Aberforth, you really didn't have too." Says Harry, slightly embarrassed.
"Oh I know, but I'm still very grateful for what you all did last year so I thought I'd give you all a little treat. Maria, our cook made a special batch just for you guys." He replied with the Dumblerdore family's world famous twinkle of the eye.
We all thank him as he walks away again.
"So what's going on with you guys? What jobs are you all looking into?" Asks Harry.
"Oh! I've got this, I've got this, it's pretty much the only thing I can actually remember." Replies Neville, standing up suddenly and splashing a few of the fuller butterbeers. "Let's see, Ginny is planning to join the Harpies since tryouts are in month, Ron is planning to join George in the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes business, Luna applying to apprentice under Newt Scammander for Magizoology, Pansy is going to school for interior decorating, Blaise is going to school for business, Draco is applying to school for potioneering and business but is undecided, Hermione is joining the Ministry for Curse Breaking and hoping to get tapped to be an Unspeakable, and I'm going to be studying Herbology privately for about two years and apprenticing under Professor Sprout before becoming the new Herbology professor. Did I get everything right?"
"Wow, Neville, how'd you remember all of that so easily?" Asks Ginny, wide-eyed.
"Well, I've never really had a proper group of friends until a few years ago with you guys so I make sure I know what's happening to all my friends, especially when it comes to how everything will change in the future. I want to make sure I can still get in contact with you guys once we've graduated.
"Aw Neville, that's so sweet, but we'll definitely try to all meet up once we've graduated." Says Hermione while wiping the butterbeer that he spilt.
"Definitely mate, we just became friends so I don't think we'll be letting each other go for a while." Adds Ron.
"Thanks guys," Neville says with a faint blush, "that really means a lot to me."
Harry picks up his glass and raises it. "To friends!"
As we toast, Maria comes out with yet another batch of goodies for us, including treacle tarts and bread and butter pudding. Harry immediately reaches for a serving of the tart and before we know it, everyone's had a bite.
Even as it gets later and the bar turns on it's lamps to combat the growing darkness, we continue chatting amongst each other and enjoying each other's company. Our laughter appears to annoy some of the other patrons in the Hog's Head but that's alright to us. Sometimes a little laughter is both fun and necessary, especially for a group like us.
Around 9 o'clock Hermione taps her glass to get everyone's attention. "Guys we do still have exams to study for tomorrow so I think we should start heading back to the castle. And, Harry needs to go spend some time relaxing on his own too!" A few groans from Ginny and Ron make me smile.
"Come on you lot, we should be heading back now, it's late."
"Not that late Hermione, and since when did you become our mother?" Points out Harry with a wink.
"Since I met all of you, thank you very much. Now start moving!" She moves all of the dishes together as everyone collects their stuff. As we move to leave, Aberforth waves at us and we wave back to him.
Harry walks a little closer and calls out across the bar. "Thank you Aberforth, for everything!" He merely twinkles his eye in response.
Once we all get out we say our goodbyes and head up. Just before Harry leaves for his place I catch him near an alley, I had been meaning to tell him something today but it completely slipped my mind.
"Harry, I don't think McGonagall has officially extended her invitation yet, but she wanted me to let you know that you're invited to attend the graduation in a few weeks. It's all still a bit of a mess at the moment, but since you know practically everyone there, she'd love to have you."
Harry looks a little surprised but he smiles warmly, "Thanks Draco, tell her I'll definitely be there. No way I'm missing my friends graduate." We continue walking down the lane as everyone begins leaving in carriages.
"Excellent, I'll pass the message." I reply.
"Oh Draco, one more thing, what do you think you'll be doing next year?" His question surprises me. I'm still not entirely sure at this point. "Well I really want to research potions, but I would like to take McGonagall up on her professorship offer here at some point. My only concern is that I won't be able to see you guys as much because potioneering is a worldwide study and will require a lot of travel."
"Makes sense, but the real question is are you worried about not seeing us, or not seeing Hermione? Because that makes a big difference."
And just like always, Scar-Head has the nail right on the head. "Well it's not justified since we aren't even dating anymore, we're on a sort of break for now, but I don't want to leave her behind either."
"Listen to your gut. Go where it feels right to go. You'll know. If you do ever need a job though, we'd love to have you on our consultancy team like your father. The departement thinks you'd fit in really well and you've got lots of good skills. So if you're ever interested, just send me an owl."
"Thanks, I'll let you know if that ever happens but I don't think so. Now get back safely, Hermione will kill me if one of her best friends dies on my watch."
"Draco that goes for you too, she also wants you back in one piece." He says while turning to leave. "Night!"
And he disapparates away.
I walk back to the village and see Hermione waiting for me in a carriage, the door open slightly.
"There you are! I was beginning to think you were never coming back." She says disapprovingly. I climb up into the carriage to join her.
"Well I'm here now, so it's fine."
"Sure." She replies as she closes the door behind me.
We ride back in silence but when I turn back to discuss today I see she's already asleep, leaning against the window.
"Perhaps I'll just ask her tomorrow." I whisper with a smile.
Author's Note: Thank you, all of you who have read this far. It's quite a feat considering how irregularly I post nowadays! I really appreciate you guys taking time for this. Please review, a little piece of feedback. Let me know what your favourite chapter of this has been so far, especially if you've just read all of this in one go recently! Have a great week guys, till next time!