Her life fell into a routine. Shane came over almost every day after school and spent the night when there was a full moon. Remus found some dog chew toys, but Gwen discovered that they left an awful aftertaste in her mouth. It wasn't unusual for her to brush her teeth five times the morning after a transformation. The end of the school was approaching quickly. Gwen and Shane planned a wonderful prank for the graduation ceremony, with a little help from Sirius. Graduation that year was fantastic.
At St. Andrews, the teachers all sat in the front two rows of the auditorium. The graduating class sat behind them and the youngest sat in the back. As the principal stood up to give his end of the year speech, Gwen nodded to Shane, who was sitting far away so they wouldn't get blamed for the prank. He nodded to Sirius who charmed a few Dungbombs to be invisible to all except Gwen and chucked them to her. She tossed them onto the stage so that they burst when they hit the stage. The teachers all smelled the horrible stench, but they were too 'well bred' to acknowledge the smell. The younger kids weren't as silent. They all giggled and pointed at the principal because they thought he had made the stench.
Gwen looked at Shane and mouthed 'Phase two' at him. He grinned and dug a few Filibuster fireworks out of his pockets. Sirius had charmed them so that Shane could start them with a simple password. 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.' They had planted several around the auditorium the day before. He threw the fireworks in his hand up in the air and yelled the key phrase. Girls started screaming and stood up on their chairs and boys were laughing at the girls. As the teachers settled everyone down and sat back down themselves, Gwen triggered Phase Three. The front of the podium broke open and a small canon rolled out onto the stage. Everyone stared mutely at it for a moment, until it began showering the teachers with red slime. Gwen and Shane dodged the slime and ran around to stand behind their creation. They bowed and kissed their hands to the crowd as the children applauded and the teachers glared. The machine finally ran out of slime and the teachers surged forward to destroy it and probably its creators. Shane held out a hand. Gwen placed the forgotten microphone in it.
"Ahem. Testing testing one two three. Can you hear me? Microphone check this is a microphone check microphone check." He sang. The kids cheered and Gwen smacked him upside the head and grabbed the mic. He tackled her and they wrestled for a few seconds until Gwen pinned Shane and stood up, microphone in hand.
"Now I'm sure all you teachers would just love to punish us for this, but as of a few minutes ago, we are no longer students here. We have moved on and graduated. Can't touch this!" Gwen shouted, jumping around. After ten minutes of bad jokes on Shane's part and good ones from Gwen, a few snatches of appropriate songs, and musical parodies, the duo decided it was over and turned the stage back over to the teachers. But not before Shane leapt from the stage in a stage dive.
"I've always wanted to do this!" He shouted, just before he hit the floor. The crowd burst out laughing as he landed with an audible thud. They laughed even harder when Gwen managed a stage dive without hitting the floor. She had many guy admirers who were more than willing to catch her. After the principal had finished his speech and dismissed the students, Gwen and Shane approached him.
"We'll clean up the mess." Gwen offered. Mr. Dambozi gaped at her. He nodded and left the room. Harry and Sirius chuckled as they pulled off Harry's Invisibility Cloak.
"That was extremely good. I don't think Fred and George could have pulled that off." Harry was saying to Sirius, who was boasting about them.
"And they planned it all without me. They figured out what they wanted to do and asked me for supplies. They're prank geniuses." He stopped when he realized that Gwen was glaring at him.
"A little help please." She said, motioning to the room. Harry pulled out his wand a waved it, and the room was clean. Gwen gave him a big smile and Sirius a glare at the same time. It was Shane's turn to boast.
"Most people can't pull that off, but my Gwen can."
"Your Gwen?" She asked, turning a questioning look on him.
"Oh yes. Mine. All mine. Mwaahaahaahaahaa!"
"You are horrible at those evil laugh things." She pointed out.
"A fellow's got to try." The four laughed as they made their way to Sirius' bug. He was dropping them off at Shane's for a graduation party. She was spending the night there, much to Shania's chagrin. She and Shane planned to spend the night in a tree house they had built several years earlier. It used to be their prank headquarters until Shania discovered it and turned it into her playhouse. That night, they pushed all the miniature furniture to the side and spread out two sleeping bags side by side.
Instead of planning pranks or talking about the time when they would open their own joke shop, they just sat in silence. They knew that this was it. Gwen was going to Hogwarts. Shane was staying there and attending the local secondary school. They would only see each other in the summers and not much event then. Gwen would spend most of her time with the Potters, halfway across the country, only coming home for the full moon. She would stay with Remus at Hogwarts for Christmas and Easter. They would never pass notes to each other in class, talk back to teachers, or get detentions together. They would no longer come up with crazy ways to serve their detentions. Once, they had to wax the floor in the gym, so they strapped cloths to their knees and slid across the floor, seeing who could go the farthest. Another time, they had to polish the handrails in the stairways, so they strapped cloths to their butts and slid down the rails. That was how Shane broke his ankle and had to stop playing football. Gwen quit playing, too. They reminisced until the sky in the east turned pink.
"We've never done anything apart, Gwen."
"I know. There hasn't been a day I haven't seen you since I can't remember."
"I'm going to miss you."
"Me too."
"You're going to miss you?" He said, arching his eyebrows. Gwen rolled her eyes.
"You know what I meant."
"Yeah."
"Shane?"
"Yeah?"
"You reckon we're ever gonna do that stuff we always talked about?"
"I don't know Gwen. I mean, you're a witch and I'm a muggle. Maybe we could open a magical joke shop, but I couldn't use many of the pranks. I know that whatever happens, though, we're gonna be together. Friends forever." He made a fist as Gwen lifted her hand to form a W with her three middle fingers. Their hands touched and they grinned at each other. It was their secret handshake/promise symbol. Gwen suddenly threw her arms around her best friend. He held her awkwardly. Gwen just did not break down into tears. Even when her body was torn apart after her transformations, she didn't cry. When she was a wolf, she howled her pain, but when she was human, she never said a word. Shane was unused to comforting her. She was the one who held his hand when he got shots. She was the one who offered a shoulder to cry on when his twin had hurt him. She was the one who came up with great revenge plots. He had only seen her cry once, and that was not for herself. It was because she thought she had hurt her father, the only man to ever show her kindness and unconditional love. Her sobs quieted and Shane realized she was asleep.
He thought about the last thing she said and knew that they wouldn't be together forever. She was a witch and he was a muggle. They lived in two different worlds. He just wanted to make the best of this summer, probably the last they would spend together. His thoughts wandered and he drifted off to sleep. That was how Remus found them the next morning. Tears shining on both their faces, the two best friends wrapped up in each other's arms. He remembered the first time Lily and James did that. James' father had died, and Lily was the only one who could comfort him. They fell asleep in the common room together and woke up in love. Remus was tempted to leave them for a while longer, but Sirius put his hand on Remus' shoulder. He was quite pissed.
"What the hell does he think he's doing with our little girl?" Remus restrained his friend.
"She's not ours anymore, Padfoot. She's his now. He's a lucky fellow and he doesn't even know it."
"How long until they realize they love each other?" Sirius inquired.
"Maybe they won't realize it until it's too late."
"What do you mean?"
"She's entering the magical world. She'll be very different by the time she graduates from Hogwarts. She might not even remember him until she's at the alter, marrying some lucky bloke who managed to convince her that she's in love with him. And then it'll be too late. Or they could realize it the instant they wake up, like Lily and James did." Sirius frowned and made a move to wake her up. Remus placed a hand on his elbow. "Let them sleep. She'll call when she's ready to go." Padfoot hesitated, then nodded his consent.
He changed into a dog, a sign that he was sulking and ran off in the general direction of the Moon Hut. Remus sighed and drove home.