As soon as Kriss had got back to school after the trial, she met with a barrage of questions wherever she went. People were asking her about the trial, the attack or just how she was.

There were also several false rumours going around, that were likely to have been started by Caecius's friends. One of them suggested that Kriss had lied and made the whole thing up, helped by Dumbledore, to get rid of Caecius. Another going around was that she had tricked Caecius into coming into the changing room that day and seduced him in order to lead him into a trap. These rumours upset Kriss a great deal when she heard them and she hoped that no one really believed them.

Kriss knew though, that she had to ride the storm and just try and get on with things, after all her exams were coming up and she had to study hard if she wanted to pass them. Her friends had been a great comfort to her through everything, supporting her and defending her all the way. She had also started talking to Harry Potter again, secretively; he above a lot of people, understood exactly what she was going through.

Severus seemed to have changed though; he had become distant and evasive, even more so than before. She had started sneaking up to his room again, to be with him, a couple of weeks after the trial. He had just held her in his arms, lying on the bed listening to her talk. It was only on Saturday nights now and Kriss had felt very deprived of his company. But he had insisted that she needed to devote all her energies into passing her exams and their relationship would have to go on the back burner for the moment.

Kriss and her friends had thought they would go quite mad with all the study; Claudette and Kriss especially had to do well to get into their chosen professions. Xanthe was going to go into the family pest control business, clearing 'magical homes of magical creatures' as the advert read, when she left. Lucinda was going to work for the Daily Prophet and hoped to be a journalist there.

Just when they thought insanity really would set in, from all the revision, the time came to do the exams.

The examiners arrived greeted by all the teachers and Dumbledore. Everyone who was doing exams was talking about which examiner they thought was the toughest, as told by their parents or older brothers and sisters.

To Kriss's relief her potions practical exam came up first, this was obviously the one she needed most. She wasn't too worried and it showed, the potion she produced was perfect. She also found the written exam fairly easy too. Next up was Arithmancy, a difficult subject at the best of times and the exam was especially hard, but kriss felt she had done quite well. Charms was next then Transfiguration – not her best subject, but she did her utmost in it. Then everybody's worst subject – History of magic, was last.

When the examinations were over, there were great celebrations and parties kept happening all over the school. Everyone now needed to let off some steam and there was a great deal of silliness going on. It was announced that there was to be a formal leaving school party for just the seventh years after the official leaving ceremony and everyone was very excited.

It was the last week of term and Kriss and her friends had been to Hogsmead to get new outfits for the party. They were in an elated mood, laughing and joking as they walked down the corridor back to the common room. Kriss suddenly thought she wanted to go and see Severus and told her friends she would catch them up as she stopped by his office. Claudette smiled at her knowingly and ushered the others away saying she couldn't wait to try on her outfit again, to get them away.

Kriss knocked the door and entered. There was no one in and she was surprised, as he always kept his door locked if he wasn't there. Then she noticed all the usual clutter had been tidied up and all the jars and bottles were now safely behind magically locked, glass cabinets.

Kriss was confused and worried, she went over to the desk and leaned on it momentarily, wondering where he was. As soon as she did so, a scroll appeared with her name written on it in Severus's neat curly handwriting. It read:

"Dear Kriss as you may have guessed by now, the secret work I keep disappearing to do has something to do with the rise of Voldemort and his Deatheaters. The fact that I am an ex-follower means that I can go deeper in than most others can, to find out more information. It also means that I often need to be away from the school for certain periods of time. I apologise if I wasn't there as often as you needed me to be after the attack, but I felt that our relationship could not take priority over my vitally important work and your schoolwork.

I will be away the rest of this week but will make every effort to be there for your leaving ceremony.

Severus"

Kriss sighed resignedly as she folded the scroll up and put it in her jean pocket, she couldn't wait until school was over and they could be together at last. She walked up to the common room reflecting on the year that had just gone by, thinking of everything that had happened. Sadness overcame her suddenly; her time at Hogwarts was coming to an end, the place that had been her second home for seven years. She was now going to go out into the world and it was scary. When she got to the portrait door she paused, thinking how many times she had passed through it before and fingered it gently, remembering.

The portrait woke up suddenly and grumbled "Hands off the paintwork, you'll wear it off!" She laughed, uttered the password and went inside to join her friends.

The day of the leaving ceremony had arrived and all the seventh years, their parents and brothers and sisters were assembled in the great hall. The seventh years were seated at the front, waiting for their names to be called out. Everyone was dressed in special witch or wizarding robes and hats and looked very smart. Dumbledore arrived in his usual midnight blue ones and stood up to address the assembled crowd.

"Good afternoon everyone. I would just like to say what a pleasure having your children here at Hogwarts has been - but I can't! Just joking! They have all been wonderful!" he said smiling, then his face became more serious as he said,

"I have watched these young people grow from nervous first years into confident and capable adults and I am sure you are all very proud of them, I know I certainly am and will be sorry to see them go. It does not seem so long ago that I was watching them at the Sorting Hat ceromony" he said looking over at the parents "how time flies! Well without further ado, I will present them with their scrolls." McGonagall got up then and started to read off a list. Everyone got up after hearing their name called out and collected their scroll from Dumbledore, cheered and clapped on and off by friends and family.

Kriss had seen Severus at the back of the room when she had stood up to collect her scroll, watching her intently. After the ceremony, when everyone was stood around talking, Kriss had managed to slip away from her parents for a while to look for him. She was disappointed when she couldn't find him and thought he must have slipped out while she wasn't looking.

Evening time soon arrived and everyone was getting ready for the party. Kriss hoped against hope that Severus was going to be around this time at least. She wanted to talk about their future together after Hogwarts, when at last they would be free to see each other, without the fear of him losing his job. She and her friends did their hair and makeup and put on their new outfits; Kriss's was a light-blue, floor length, taffeta dress, with a net underskirt and a boned bodice. Her long blonde hair had been piled up on top of her head, with soft curls hanging around her face and topped with a small, jeweled tiara

They went down to the party in the Great Hall, full of excitement. Everyone was also feeling a little sad, reminiscing about their time at the school and looking back, mostly through rose tinted glasses, at all the things that had happened to them here.

The Weird Sisters were there playing again and had been joined this time by The Sirens, an all girl vocal group, who were currently very popular.

Kriss had declined invitations of dates; she didn't want anything to get in the way of her seeing Severus. She just danced along side her friends and their dates, feeling a bit left out. After constantly scanning the room for a couple of hours, she spotted him coming in. When he saw her, he beckoned her over looking serious

"Kriss you mustn't stay talking to me for long, but I just want to ask you if you will meet me tomorrow in Hogsmead, bring your friends, I don't want you going anywhere alone. But don't of course tell them you're meeting me just make an excuse to leave them for a while. I will be at the back of The Three Broomsticks at 2 O'clock. We need to talk about the future. Now I must go and talk to Dumbledore, so go back to your friends and enjoy the rest of the party" With these words he turned and walked away

Kriss felt sad that she could not spend more time with him, but also relieved that at last she would be able to talk to him properly about the future. She went back to re-join her friends and their dates and began dancing with them again. Suddenly a slow song came on and everyone partnered up, Kriss was just about to walk away from the dance floor when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned round and saw a boy she knew to be in Hufflepuff, standing there.

"Erm would you like to dance" he said a little awkwardly Kriss considered for a moment, thinking it wouldn't hurt to just have one slow dance. He wasn't bad looking and had a nice smile but Kriss felt awkward and nervous in this stranger's arms and longed for the song to be over. As soon as it was, she went and sat down, making an excuse that she was tired and didn't want to dance anymore. She managed to stop him coming to join her, by pairing him up with another girl, she had said had been looking at him all night.

Soon the party was over and everyone went back to their common rooms in high spirits. Many people wanted to carry on partying, but the teachers reminded them that there were younger ones trying to sleep and made them go to bed. Kriss lay awake for ages that night, thinking about what severus wanted to talk about and hoping that he wasn't going to tell her he was going away again.