Chapter 43:
The next few months progressed without much excitement. Avilas had sent Voldermort all over the place. As of the end of term, Harry hadn't felt any pain in his scar. Michelle studied for her N.E.W.T.'s and got used to controlling her magic and using her wand at full capacity. The day of the end of school banquet arrived, much to Harry's dismay. He never liked leaving Hogwart's to go back to the Dursley's. It would be even harder to leave Michelle. They had avoided talking about the future in detail. Michelle needed to get her test results back before she could make any solid plans. Harry was very quiet as they walked down to supper. Michelle, in contrast, seemed to be bouncing on her feet as they moved.
"What are you so worked up about?" There was an edge of annoyance in his voice.
Michelle heard his tone, but decided to let it slide. "I have a surprise for you."
Harry perked up, "A surprise? When do I get it?"
"At supper..."
Harry was going to ask her more questions, but they had entered the dining hall. Harry, Michelle, Ron, and Hermione found seats together. Dumbledore rose from his seat and almost instantly the hall fell silent.
A small, reassuring smile was on his lips, "It is tradition at the end of the year to announce who has won the house cup. I would like to break with tradition this year. As I told you two years ago, Voldermort has returned. While some witches and wizards have tried to deny his reappearance, there are several people in this hall who can prove otherwise."
Most of the students turned to look at Harry and his friends.
"Voldermort can only be defeated if witches and wizards work together. Each of you will be forced to make a decision soon. Will you stand and fight? It will not matter how many O.W.L.'s or N.E.W.T.'s you may have. It will not matter if you are muggle born or not. It will not matter if you are the best wizard or the least skilled. All that will matter is what is in your heart. I ask each of you to look inside yourself and make a choice." Dumbledore paused to let what he had said sink in. Scanning the faces of the students in front of him, he moved forward.
"As you all know, Prof. Trelawney left us in February. She made her choice and decided her own fate. As a result, I have selected a Seer to replace her next term. I am hoping he will be able to guide those who have questions. He understands that seeing the possible future is different from choosing your own future. I would like you to please welcome our new Divination teacher...Professor Avilas." Dumbledore motioned to Avilas and he stood up at the table to respectful applause. As Avilas returned to his seat, Dumbledore continued. "I am also pleased to announce the selection of recent graduate, Michelle Larson, to the position of teaching assistant. One can never have too many Seers around as far as I'm concerned..."
Harry almost fell out of his seat. Michelle stood up amongst stares and gaping mouths. Trying hard not to laugh, she nodded at Dumbledore before sitting down.
Dumbledore cleared his throat to quiet the murmuring students. "I wish I could tell all of you the future held only happiness and joy, but I cannot. I can tell you we have the power to survive what lies before us if we work together." He sat down and for a moment, no one moved or spoke. Then a few people started clapping. The clapping became stronger till finally almost everyone was cheering Dumbledore's name.
Michelle was assaulted with questions all during dinner. She explained that Dumbledore had approached her not long after her birthday. She would be spending part of her summer in school working towards becoming a professor. But, the fact that she was a Seer bumped her up a few notches, and allowed her to help teach before she had her certificate. Michelle had waited until after taking her tests before giving Dumbledore her final answer.
As they left the hall, Harry pulled Michelle aside. He lead her into an empty classroom.
"Why didn't you tell me about this?" He sounded hurt.
"I didn't want to get your hopes up if it wasn't going to work out. The Ministry needed to see my test results before they would approve my position. Plus, I wanted to make sure I was really smart enough and skilled enough to be teaching at all. I did want to tell you. I almost did several times."
"What would you have done if you decided not to stay?"
"Harry, just because I wouldn't have been at school, doesn't mean I would have been away from you." She smiled at him. "I would have taken any job in Hogsmeade to be near you. You can't get rid of me just because I'm graduating."
He hugged her tightly. "I wanted to ask you to stay. I wanted to beg you actually. I was scared you'd say no."
Michelle looked into his face, "Why would you think that?"
"Because I'm an idiot? Because you're older...because you almost died for me once and I don't want you to get hurt again..."
"Okay, valid reasons I suppose, but you forgot one important thing."
"What?"
"I love you, you big goof." She kissed him sweetly. "So there you have it. We've made our choice."
"Dumbledore would be proud." Harry hugged her once more. "Do I have to call you Miss Larson now?"
"Only in class...although, now that I think about it, having you call me Miss Larson when we're messing around could be very interesting..."
The next day, as they rode the train, the atmosphere was filled with a melancholy happiness. Plans had been made to meet at the Weasley's during the summer. Everyone had an open invitation to visit Michelle in London. Harry was already calculating just how many days he could be away from the Dursely's. Michelle's gaze rested on each of her friends in the compartment. Even though a dark future was looming ahead, it didn't seem so scary from here.
The End.
Well, that's it. Thanks much to Mandi and Lazy-anji. I appreciated the input and the effort it took to hang with a story this long. Thanks to FlyingPurpleCat, still momentum and Call-Sugarhigh-Police, I'm glad you found me and took the time to review even though I was almost done and wasn't able to respond much. I hope you enjoyed the story; it seems like you all did. It took a long time to write. I'm hoping it won't take as long to put up my next effort. I may have to do an "R" just for Lazy-anji since I'd already updated before she placed her vote. And, I may have to do a Harry/Hermione one for FlyingPurpleCat since that's the pairing she prefers. We'll see. If you feel like it, put me down as an author to receive update emails for, that way you won't have to keep checking if it takes me a while to come up with a new story. I will keep checking on the stories coming from Mandi, Lazy-anji, and Call-Sugarhigh-Police and look forward to the updates. I know this last chapter was sort of predictable and not too exciting, but I pretty much ran out of ideas. Please review though so I get to hear from each of you once again before my next story pops up. Thanks again!!!
