Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
A/N: I know the mood changes by the end of the story, but I was reading some sad stories by the end, so the mood just sort of, changed. Please review, and if you really hate it, I'll change the ending of this chapter, But don't hate it 'cuz of the ship! -Cole
Luna woke on June first to the sound of Heather falling off the bed. Luna quickly casted a levitation spell on the girl and set her slowly on the floor while she got out of bed. Luna walked over to the bathroom and washed her hands and face, taking time to brush her teeth and brush her hair. Today was Graduation!
Luna, being Head Girl, spent six hours preparing the Great Hall. By one o' clock, it looked Dazzling, and Minerva sent Luna upstairs so she, herself, could get ready. By three, when the graduation took place, Luna looked stunning. She didn't wear dress robes; she had only worn a dress twice, at the Halloween Ball and at her father's induction into the Writer's Hall of Fame. Instead, she was wearing black muggle dress pants, a white muggle camisole, and a gold muggle sweater. Her mother had been half muggle, so Luna knew much about the muggle customs, especially since she had spent so much time with her muggle grandmother, Irene. Luna's hair was tied up in a braided bun with blue and silver ribbons cascading down from it. She wore a light color on her eyes as well as her lips, and her feet were adorned with black, muggle boots.
She walked slowly into the Great Hall and up the red carpet to the stage. She was, after all, Valedictorian, and she would, of course, have to give a speech. After she made it to the podium, Minerva quieted the Hall and Luna began to speak.
"Hello, everyone. I am pleased to see so many people here. I would like to start off by saying that you should be immensely proud of your children's accomplishments. Hogwarts has not been an easy place these past four years, but somehow your children have survived, and for that you should be grateful.
"I would now like to tell you one simple thing: I do not belong here. It should not be me that is speaking in front of you, I should not be Valedictorian.
"Ginevra Weasley should. We might have been just as smart, in fact, I am probably smarter than she was, but she was more outspoken, she voiced her opinions, and in doing so, she received higher grades. I miss Ginny so much, but the time to grieve is over and I must get on with my life, as should anyone else who has suffered. I know it feels as if a part of you has been taken, as if something is missing and never will return.
"But that's just it, don't you realize? They never will return. They are gone and they're not coming back. So stop trying to dwell in the past, because the only thing the past will bring is regrets and loneliness.
"Alas, I have not stayed on topic, but if you ask any of my friends, they will tell you that I do this regularly. I tend to go off on tantrums in almost every conversation, and many people loose interest after a time. That may be one of the reasons I had no friends until fourth year. But I tend to believe it had more to do with my beliefs than my speaking methods.
"I stand in front of you today, kind people, as only one of a group of children who were forced to grow up too fast. For yes, we had to fight in that final battle, as did the graduating class of the year 2000. We had our innocence taken from us at such a young age. We will never have our innocence back, but at least now the next generation, and even the younger part of this generation, will be able to live peacefully and innocently.
"I may have been the most academically oriented student, but I am not, by far, the best. Each and every person here has their own, personal, talent, and I hope they use it to their advantage.
"I am not ready to face the world alone, nor will I ever be, but my friends will help me through it. And I want each of the graduates to know that they can call me, floo me, anything. Because I know that the world is terrifying, I know that it is cruel and evil and I know that you can't make it on your own.
"I stand before you, ladies and gentlemen, not because I deserve to, but because Fate is fickle and the good always die young. So do not clap for me when I step off this stage. Clap for the children who are wise beyond their years. Clap for the dead who are now peaceful in their graves because that vicious man, Voldemort, is gone. Clap for the heroes, but neither me nor Harry Potter, but every day heroes, who risk their lives defending yours. Clap for those who deserve to be here, not those that are."
The graduation was over and Harry, Keira, Dean, Draco, Pansy, Hermione, Ron, Neville, and Susan were sitting around Luna at the table, all eating and congratulating her. Ron was right in the middle of telling a joke when a young women, Millicent Bludstrode, came over to them.
"Bludstrode, what the hell are you doing here?" Pansy asked a harshness in her voice. It sounded as if she spat poison from her words.
"Pansy, you must be in the wrong seat. How on earth could you be sitting with a mudblood, a freak, a looser, two traitors, a Potter," she said Harry's name as if that were insult enough, "and a Weasley?"
"The same way you lied to me in sixth year, the same way you killed my mother, that way," Pansy countered, anger flaring up in her eyes.
"Don't tell me you're a traitor!" Millicent replied in mock-surprise.
"I was never a traitor, Millie dear, I've always worked for the light, I spied right under Voldie's nose and he didn't even realize it!" Pansy shouted. The whole Hall had now turned their attention on the two girls. Pansy's brown eyes flashed dangerously as Millicent's hardened to an ice-blue coloring. Both girls' hair was back, Pansy's brown and Millicent's black, and both wore silver and green. If you couldn't hear you would have thought they were best friends.
Unfortunately, no one in the Hall at the time was deaf.
"Y-y-you!" Millicent sputtered, obviously at a loss for words.
Seizing this opportunity, Draco decided to finish her off, "What I want to know," he began, a smile planted firmly on his face as if this didn't bother him in the least. He swore he heard Hermione mutter "Stupid Malfoy," under her breath do to his nonchalance on the matter, but he truly didn't care. "Is how on earth Voldemort could catch an adult in the act of spying, but he couldn't catch two amateur seventh years. Tell me, Bludstrode, why didn't your beloved Dark Lord know what we were doing behind his backs? Hmm? Why didn't he realize it and cast us aside. Why are Pansy's parents, my parents gone, Harry's, Neville's, Hermione's, Susan's, and half of Ron's parents gone? Because of Him! Bludstrode, he killed her, you know he killed her. So let it go, just...just stop doing this!"
"I can't!" Millicent replied, tears in her eyes. Then she grabbed her sister's, Sandra, hand and ran out of the room. Harry, Draco, Keira, and Pansy watched as she ran all four with knowing expressions on their faces.
Millicent didn't want to work for Flint anymore, but her soul was gone. If not gone, so deeply decayed that there was no point to continue on. Flint offered her immortality and she seized the chance. Because life was too precious to give up.
And sometimes it was too hard, too sorrowful, to stay alive.
A week later, under the 'Announcement' section of the Daily Prophet, Harry read that Millicent and Flint were married.
