A/N: 2nd chapter is finally here! Sorry, but I was kinda busy last week…I was painting my bathroom! J Cool, huh? And then it was 4th of July…and then I was slightly moody and depressed about I dunno what…maybe its my lack of love life…that could be it. Hmm…I think I'm destined for the nunnery…great. Anyways, onto this story…this will be my sorry attempt at a graduation and umm…yeah…next chapter will be Harry at Hermione's house…dundundun!…I think…
Chapter TwoHermione nervously checked her appearance in the mirror, straightening her robes for the hundredth time.
"Hermione, you look fine," Lavender said in exasperation. Her friend was nervously fidgeting with her robes yet again and trying to pat down her hair while checking for zits, which she had already done at least 20 times before. "Nobody is going to be looking that closely at you. Calm down." Hermione nodded slightly, her eyes dazed and staring off at nothing.
"What if I mess up my speech, Lav? What if I say something really stupid? I…I can't do this!" Hermione cried, wringing her hands together in anguish. Lavender sighed and padded out of the room silently; Hermione didn't even notice, she was still ranting to herself, throwing her arms up in the air every now in there to emphasize whatever point she was trying to come up with. Lavender returned a moment later with a concerned Harry close behind her.
"Fix her!" Lavender pleaded. Harry watched bemused as his girlfriend paced around the room, stopping once in a while to run to the mirror and check for zits again. He stood directly in her path as she walked towards him, not even noticing him. He grabbed her arms when she was close enough, but even then she still did not acknowledge his presence, she kept trying to walk, though she was going nowhere.
"Hermione!" Harry said, shaking her gently. She snapped out of her reverie and looked at him.
"When did you get here?" she asked. Lavender rolled her eyes.
"A few minutes ago. What are you doing?"
"What do you mean?" She obviously had no clue that she had been pacing around the room for the past half hour.
"Herm, you really need to calm down. Here, come sit with me." Harry led her to her bed and sat down with her. She began to nervously fidget again, playing with the hem of her robes or nervously twiddling her fingers together. Harry placed his hands over hers to stop her inane twitching. She looked up at him, looking like a frightened two year old with her wide brown eyes pleading for an escape from the public humiliation she was sure awaited her in less than 30 minutes. "You're gonna do fine. Why are you so worried?" Lavender slapped her forehead as Hermione regained her panicked look and began to rant once again.
"What if I mess up? What if I forget my speech? What if a huge zit appears in the middle of my speech? What if-" She was cut off as Harry kissed her squarely on the mouth. He shot Lavender a look that pointedly said: "get the freak out while you can." Hermione was mumbling something incoherent to his lips and he pulled back to hear what it was. "You're not helping Harry! What if I really do forget my speech? What if everyone laughs at me?"
"Nobody's going to laugh at you. Everybody knows you're the smartest witch here at Hogwarts. Everybody knows all the great things you've done. You're going to do great. I promise."
"You promise? Really?" Harry nodded. "So if people laugh at me, I have your permission to hex you into the next millennium?" Harry grimaced slightly.
"Sure, Hermione. Do what you like," he said, laying back on her bed.
"Hmm…anything I like?" she asked devilishly as she traced a finger along his strong chest. He grinned at her before pulling her face down to his once again.
As Harry and Hermione entered the Great Hall, barely on time, they were instantly struck by the sight before them. The four house banners were fluttering proudly behind the array of students. The houses were easily distinguishable from each other as each were all wearing their house colors. Harry and Hermione made their way to the sea of crimson robes and instantly melted into it when they got there. Hermione seemed unusually calm as they made their way towards their seats. She had slipped into her normal "I don't care what you think" mode, and Harry quickly breathed a silent sigh of relief. He kissed her cheek before they separated into their alphabetical arrangement.
"Good luck," he whispered in her ear before heading down to find his place among his fellow Gryffindors. A few minutes later, the ceremony began. Dumbledore stood and sparks flew from the end of his wand as he gathered the attention of the mass of parents and students that surrounded him.
"Welcome all! Welcome," he began, smiling warmly at his audience. "You are all here to bear witness to the graduation of your friends, children, or distant relations…or you are in the wrong place and I advise you to leave." There was hearty chuckling at this among the parents. He continued his spiel for a few more minutes, though it seemed like hours and hours to most of the students, impatient to finally get out of school for good. Finally he called up a very pale looking Hermione who slowly trudged up to the podium. She cleared her throat nervously. (a/n: please excuse the cheesiness and utter crappiness of the following speech).
"When I first came to Hogwarts, all I wanted to do was prove to everyone that I could do something with my life, be somebody that actually mattered. But when I met my two best friends later that year, I learned that I didn't have to be somebody else, I could be myself. Ever since then, I've stayed true to myself and my goals, and today, I am proud to stand before you as the class valedictorian. We've all been through so much together; through dangerous adventures to taking our O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s and even through Blast-ended Skrewts," she shot a warm glance at Hagrid who blushed merrily. "But through it all, we've managed to pull through and grow from our troubles. Hogwarts has been a home away from home for many of us here, but today, we are forced to leave it. But as long as we keep all the memories we have gained here in our hearts, we will never truly be leaving home. Thank you." Hermione smiled and stepped down from the podium, returning to her seat. Harry flashed a smile at her which she returned gratefully. The audience applauded merrily and Dumbledore stood to begin handing out awards and certificates that declared them able to use magic whenever desired. As the ceremony ended, the parents filed out of the room and the students headed towards the Hogwarts Express for one last journey home.
Harry quickly caught up to Hermione and captured her in his embrace. She squealed as he twirled her around before planting a firm kiss upon her lips. "I told you that you could do it," he whispered to her. She smiled.
"And I was so looking forward to hexing you, Mr. Potter," she replied in a sultry voice.
"No such luck today, love," he replied, dropping her back down to the ground. He took her hand in his as they boarded the scarlet train. They finally found Ron and Lavender, and managed to escape the flood of students trampling down the hallway of the train. They plopped down onto the comfortable seats that they had grown so accustomed to.
"Just think, in two weeks, we'll be able to move into our new flat!" Lavender said cheerfully.
"Then we'll be taking our next steps into life," Hermione said softly.
"Oh, you sound like an old greeting card, be happy, Hermione!," Lavender commanded. "We're leaving Hogwarts, but we're going to stay close to all our friends, I hear some other people are getting places to stay in Diagon Alley too! It'll be just like school except no homework."
"Just real work," Ron interjected. Lavender frowned at him and said, "Not helping!" Hermione smiled a little as the couple began to argue a bit before slobbering over each other once again.
"Didn't I mention something about not worrying?" Harry asked as he pulled her into his embrace.
"I vaguely recall something like that…" she replied.
"Well then stop worrying!" he reprimanded. "We're gonna move into Diagon Alley, get great jobs," he peered at Ron and Lavender, "kick them two out," the couple turned to glare at him before returning their attention back to each other, "and start a big happy family." Hermione laughed at that.
"I don't know…I think I'd like to keep you to myself for a while," she whispered, kissing up his neck.
"Hmm, so why do we have 4 bedrooms? We could be saving money here," he replied. She poked him with another hearty laugh.
"Honestly Harry! You males are all just pigs." This earned an enraged squawk from Ron. Harry pretended to pout and Hermione kissed him softly. "But you're a very cute pig, Harry." He grinned, cupping her cheek in his hand before kissing her thoroughly. Her nerves calmed slightly as she melted into Harry's arms. This could be fun, she thought to herself. Nobody to tell us what to do, a flat with no chaperones, she grinned slightly at that, and Harry all to myself…well except for Ron and Lavender…She smiled as their kiss continued on, maybe leaving Hogwarts wasn't a bad thing after all.
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A/N: Yes, yes I know…it sucked. *cries* O well, I'm still feeling a little down because I don't know why, but w/e. Anyways, I hope this chapter was at least mildly entertaining for you, sorry if it wasn't…if you were mentally scarred from it, I'm even sorrier. Anyways, review, don't flame, I'll just slip lower into my wallowing. Be back later.
