June crawled up on them before they knew it, and everyone gathered in the Three Broomsticks, a week after final exam scores had been posted, for their graduation party. They had all passed, everyone excelling in their favorite subject, River's being Transfiguration. Everyone was wearing their school robes and their pointed wizard hats. River stayed close to Penny, and noticed Talbott did the same with Chiara. River grinned as he leaned over and pointed this out to Penny. Penny looked over and grinned as well. "I knew it. They make Hogwarts' best couple." River laughed and said, "I can name a better one." Penny looked to him and he said, "Us." Penny laughed. River made his way to Talbott and Chiara. "Talbott, Chiara, how's it going?" The two smiled. "Great. How about you?" River shrugged, "It's going good. Chiara, can I steal Talbott for a moment?" Chiara sighed with a smirk, "I suppose, if you really must." River and Talbott walked away, and River put his arm around Talbott's shoulders. He returned the gesture and River said, "So. It seems you've made a bit of peace for yourself." Talbott glanced back at Chiara, who was now talking vigorously with Penny. "Yeah, I have. Thank you, for that blind date. It really set things in motion. For both of us." River nodded, "Of course. You both are my friends. So…" He said with a sly smile, "You two are dating now?" Talbott blushed, but he nodded all the same. River laughed. "How are things going in that department, huh?" Talbott laughed. "You really don't want to go down the road, River," he warned. River chuckled and said, "That bad, huh?" Talbott removed his arm and said, "I warned you." He turned to the group and called out, "Oi! River's opening a tab, help yourself to butterbeer!" They all cheered and River laughed. "No. No, no wait…" Talbott grabbed two mugs and handed one to River. "In fact," he said, "He's going to give us a toast!" Everyone cheered again and River turned to Penny and she passed with two mugs. "Help me please." Penny giggled and said, "You're on your own for this one, Curse-Breaker." River groaned and everyone started to chant. "SPEECH! SPEECH! SPEECH!" River sighed and raised his hand for quite. "Alright, you guys win." They all cheered again, and River began his speech.

"When I first started Hogwarts, I was alone. The cursed vaults and everything my brother had to do with it had seen to it that I was alone. But I had one friend. Rowan. He was the only one who would talk to me. Which really helped, because I had gone through a lot already. My dad left when I was young, so my family moved from Canada to here, and we were essentially cut off from everyone we knew. But," He said with a smile, "Little by little I met you lot. One by one, I didn't feel alone anymore. And through thick and thin, every cursed vault, every competition, every Quidditch match, every valentines day and every dance, I had you fools. You never left my side, even when it was hard for yourself." He looked at Penny when he said this. "And I'm glad I was able to help every one of you through it. What I'm saying is, if I could change anything about the past seven years, I wouldn't." River could see that a few of them were starting to tear up. "And as the years pass, we're going to have losses, and they will suck, but that's okay. Because we will always have eachother. And as time goes on, we may spread around the world, but I hope we will always remember our roots. Hogwarts finest, always strong and united!" Everyone cheered, but River wasn't quite done. "Gryffindor!" He yelled and Charlie, Ben and Jae cheered. "Slytherin!" Merula, Ismelda, Barnaby and Liz cheered. "Ravenclaw!" Talbott, Tulip, Badeea and Andre cheered. "HUFFLEPUFF!" Penny, Chiara, Diego, McNully and Skye burst into cheers. They all cheered, and when it quieted down, River raised his mug. "To our time at Hogwarts, and to Rowan," River choked up at this point, "The best of us, who couldn't make it." They repeated the toast and all drank. River sighed and said, "I'm going to miss each and every one of you." Everyone murmured in agreement and went back to chatting. Penny came up to River and said, "That was really good, Riv. You came up with that on the top of your head?" River nodded. "Yeah. But half of me was focusing on not wetting myself in front of them." Penny laughed.

At around eight o'clock, they all started to make their way back to Hogwarts for the final feast. Once they were all seated, Dumbledore made his announcements. "So! Another year, come and gone again! How time does fly. No matter, I certainly hope that your heads are now nice and full, so you may come back next year with your heads empty and ready for filling! And for those of you who will not be returning next year, we thank you for your time here and your contributions to the school, for contributed you have in ways great and small. And we will miss you next year, but out to the world you go!" Dumbledore cleared his throat and said, "As for the matter of the house cup. In fourth place, Ravenclaw with two hundred and thirty-five points. In third, Hufflepuff with four hundred and fifty-five points. In second, Gryffindor with five hundred and ninety points. And finally, in first place is Slytherin; with six hundred and five points." The table with green robes cheered and banged their goblets on the table. "Well done Slytherin, for a ninth year running! But now, we must feast before we head to our warm beds." He clapped his hands and food appeared in front of them. As they ate, Chiara, who was siting across from River, said, "I want to thank you River." River looked up and asked, "Thank me for what?" Chiara smiled, "You set the blind date for me and Talbott." River did his best not to smile and said in his high pitched lying voice, "I have no idea what you're talking about." Chiara laughed and River joined her. "You're welcome." Chiara smiled at him again and the rest of the feast went without event.