Chapter 6: Graduation
The Great Hall was filled to capacity for the first times since the final battle. But this time, unlike the last, the mass of witches and wizards were there to celebrate. Another class of students had made it to their Graduation and were ready to join the wizarding community as fully grown, fully trained adults.
Every one there was decked out in their best robes. The hall was a sea of color as all the graduating seventh years were dressed in new robes of their house color. The front third of the hall was devoted entirely to the graduates. The students sat amongst their friends in their houses, the Ravenclaws, dressed in their dark blue, sat in the first few rows on the left hand side, the Slytherins dressed in emerald green in the next few behind them. The cheerfully clad Hufflepuffs in yellow were across from them and Gryffindor in their bright scarlet in the front on the right.
The great hall was an uproar of sound, all the students and their parents talking cheerfully as they waited for the ceremony to start. Only here and there amongst the crowd were small gatherings of subdued students. For some, it was all to clear that there were some missing from their ranks. Anyone who had lost a friend or a loved one was solemn and contemplative.
A group of Hufflepuffs hovered close together. They were remembering Susan Bones who had died earlier in the year when Death Eaters had attacked Hogsmead. Thankfully she was the first and only of their seventh year friends to loose their life to the war. Many of them had been severely hurt, some with ailments that would be with them for the rest of their life, but they would go on.
The Ravenclaws weren't as lucky. They had lost five of their classmates in the final confrontation including Ron's date to Yule Ball fourth year, Padma Patil, the twin sister of Parvati. The Slytherins had lost no one. And amongst the Gryffindor seventh years only one was missing.
Harry and Ron sat in the middle of the friends. Neville was to Harry's right, Seamus and Dean to Ron's left, and the two best mates next to each other. For the two friends, today had been the worst day for them since the day it happened. Hermione had looked forward to Graduation more then anyone they knew. When they weren't discussing Voldemort, spells and tactics for the war, she was talking about graduation and what she would do after. To know that she would never make it to that day was disheartening for them all.
Harry glanced over at his best mate out of the corner of his eye. He was worried about Ron. As Head Boy it was his duty to deliver one of the final addresses to the class and Harry knew for a fact that he was incredibly nervous, and was trying his hardest not to let on.
He supposed what made it worse for Ron was that Hermione was suppose to make the other address, and now that she wasn't here a other would be giving it for her. Harry couldn't help but feel thankful that Ron hadn't been told who that person was. He knew from experience that his friend had a hard time with the idea of anyone trying to take Hermione's place. He had proven that last year when she and Rane Voitekh had participated in a school exchange.
Harry watched as Ron reached into his front pocket once again and pulled out his note. He had been doing this for days now. Checking and rechecking his address to make sure it was right. Harry hadn't even heard it yet. So in a way he was just as nervous for his friend. Ron had gotten better in confidence over the past few years, but there were still times when his nerves got to him and Harry didn't want this to be one of them.
"You'll do great, Ron." Harry was surprise to hear Seamus try and assure him.
"Yeah," he heard Dean chime in. "Don't worry. You've had this memorized for weeks."
"I'm not worried." Ron said calmly. "I'm just…"
"Hermione'd be proud of you." Harry leaned back as Neville leaned forward to try and talk around him. "You know she would."
"Yeah," he nodded, casting a small smile of assurance at his friend. "I know."H
"Just remember that and you'll do fine."
Harry felt a swell of pride in his heart. He had never really been that close to his three other dormmates, but in the few months following the end of the war, they had bonded together like Harry never would have expected. No, he wouldn't consider the three of them his best friends, but he was certain now that once they left Hogwarts they would still meet at The Three Broomsticks or The Leaky Cauldron for a pint every once in a while.
Harry had just opened his mouth to offer his own assurance when the door leading of the dais in the Great Hall opened and all the professors they had had over the past seven years began to file out and take their seats across the length of the raised platform. Dumbledore in robes of the softest blue with moons and stars stitched around the hem, collar and sleeves in silver metallic thread, was the last to step out.
The crowd had fallen silent by this time and Dumbledore was able to step up to the front of the dais and speak, without any means for amplifying, and was heard with perfect clarity.
"Today, is a very special day." He began. "Today is the day that the young people we see before us," he indicated the students decked out in their house colors sitting before them, "officially join the wizarding community as fully grown, fully trained witches and wizards. These students have faced seven of the most trying years any of our students have ever had to face in the past. And I am thrilled to say that I am exceedingly proud of each and everyone of the adults I see sitting before me for the strength, integrity and moral character they have been able to preserve during these trying times. I believe that each and everyone of you have the strength, courage and mean within you to change the world for the better and I am confident that you will do so. It has truly been a pleasure to have you had you here with us these past seven years. Go my young friends, go out and make your mark on the world. You're ready."
Dumbledore stepped back and immediately the room was filled with the thunder of applauses. His words hadn't been that complicated or great but every student knew that they had come from the heart and Dumbledore was never a man to say something he didn't mean, so his simple but heartfelt words meant the world.
When the clapping began to die down McGonagall rose to her feet and took Dumbledore's place at the front of the room. She waited a moment for the silence to be complete before she began, "It is my pleasure to introduce to you our Head Boy for this year. I have had the privilege of having this student in my own house and thus having the pleasure of watching him grow over the past seven years. And I am being honest when I say that despite the scraps I've watched him get in to time and time again, it was always a pleasure having him around." She held out her hand in Ron's direction. "Ronald Weasley."
Ron hesitated a moment when the crowd began to clap at the sound of his name and it took a nudge from Harry in his side to get him moving. He rose awkwardly to his feet and had to shimmy carefully to the side to get out into the isle so that he would not tread on anyone's feet. When he stepped up onto the dais McGonagall reached out and took his hand firmly, giving it a solid shake. She smiled affectionately at him as she stepped back and it had a calming affect on his nerves more then any of his friends assurance could.
"Thank you, Professor." He nodded politely to her before he turned to the crowd. "And thank you to all out guests for being here today. This is a very important day for all of us and it means a great deal to have you all here." Harry watched as his friends hand reached for his pocket and stopped. To those who didn't know Ron like Harry did they would have thought he had frozen in fear, but Harry saw the tell tale look on his face that Harry knew meant he was thinking. Finally he looked back up at the crowd, straightening his chin, and let his hand fall away from his pocket, the notes still tucked safely inside.
"What is he doing?" He heard Seamus hiss to his right.
"I have no idea." Dean muttered back, his own voice laced with concern.
Ron took a calming breath and when he felt that he was ready he began, "A few months ago Professor McGonagall came to me and told me that as Head Boy it was one of my duties to give a final address to our graduating class. I immediately began to put together a speech I knew my friend Hermione would be proud of. It was filled with words of inspiration out of a planner she had given me several years ago for Christmas. But as I was sitting here before the ceremony began I was thinking about her and the time I spent here, that we all spent here, and I knew what I had prepared wasn't right. So I thought instead I would try speaking from my heart.
"As many of you know I am the sixth Weasley son to pass through this school. That's a hard legacy to live up to. All my brothers before me were special, or did something great. I am not the responsible thrill seeker like Bill, the first Head Boy in our family. I'm not the great Quidditch player Charlie was, or as smart and ambitious as Percy, who knew at age six that he wanted to be Minister for Magic. Nor am I the clever, successful, pranksters that Fred and George turned out to be. I will never be as famous as my best friend Harry, or as intelligent as Hermione. I will never be great like these people. I'm nothing special. I don't excel at any one thing and I never will. But I have learned a few things that I hope I can pass on to you.
"First, don't hold onto grudges. What ever caused them might seem important when it happens, but in the end it never is. All that matters is you have lost time being angry that you can never get back. Time that could have been better spent being friends.
"Second, never be afraid to stand up for what you believe in. It might cause you a mild case of vomiting slugs." a soft ripple of laughter passed over the crowd. There weren't many who hadn't heard of Ron's accident second year. Ron chuckled himself before continuing. "Better to vomit slugs then let an unjustness pass, I always say.
"Third, always try to be the best friend that you can be. True friends are the brothers and sisters fate couldn't give us by birth. Be loyal, be true and be there whenever your friend needs you. You have a whole support system outside your family, don't be afraid to use it.
And four, love is a gift. Don't be afraid to love with your whole heart and to fight to keep the one you love. Don't let a day pass without telling that person 'I love you' because you never know when that day will be the last. Love like you'll die tomorrow and be true to your heart. At the end of a life you'll never be sorry you loved too much, only that you didn't love enough.
"But, if you can leave here with nothing else I want it to be pride. Pride of what each and every one of us has accomplished. The night before the battle here on the school grounds Hermione told me something, something I'm sure she got out of that mad book of her Hogwarts: A History." He felt a soft twinge in his heart.HeHeHe "Never before had a battle been waged here on school grounds and never before have students been asked to fight. We are the first, and Merlin helps us, the last. And look what we have accomplished. Every single one of us here helped in the down fall of the darkside. The Death Eaters are defeated, the Aurors are working on rounding up the last of them. And the most evil being known in our world was defeated. We've survived. We have our whole lives ahead of us. We can grow old, fall in love, raise families without fear that Voldemort," a great shudder went through the crowd, "will rise again. And we can say his name without fear. He's not coming back. Not this time. We've fought too hard and lost too many. People who will always remain close to our hearts. Susan Bones of Hufflepuff;" he nodded in acknowledgment to the students in yellow, "Sierra Dell, Gilbert Heathcliff, John Chase, Erik Rufalow, and Padma Patill of Ravenclaw. Hermione Granger, Gryffindor." He paused a moment then said in a soft voice. "Let us never forget them.
"We've accomplished more then any other class to ever pass though these walls. We've dealt with a troll in the dungeon, a basilisk attacking the students of the school, the supposed threat of Sirius Black, the real danger of the Dementors, the Tri-Wizard Tournament, the loss of a class mate, the likes of Dolores Umbridge, attacks on our homes and an attack on our school. We faced each and every one of these incidents with courage and our heads held high. No one could have asked for more. Let the world remember this class as the bravest and the smartest to ever gradate."
Ron blinked several times as he looked out over the crowd. His eyes were not the only ones misty with tears. Parvati was leaning into Lavender's shoulder, her shoulders shaking with the force of her tears. There was not a dry eye amongst the Ravenclaws who were all remembering there lost friends.
"I'm sorry," Ron apologized. "I didn't mean to bring you all down. I just…" He stopped and took a deep breath. He opened his mouth to try again. "Ten years from now when we meet in a pub we'll have many happy things to remember." He offered. "Like how we all once watched the famous Harry Potter swallow a snitch." There were a few odd chuckles in the crowd. "Not to mention all the joy Lockhart brought us second year when he released a pack of Cornish Pixies on us." Seamus Finnegan snorted with laughter as he relived the scene in his mind. His burst of laughter seemed to break the tension as others who were there began to chuckle with him. "Or the fiasco he made of Valentines day." Harry reddened with the memory of being tackled by a cupid. "Let us never forget what kind of fools we made of ourselves trying to find partners for the Yule Ball." A slightly vindictive smile spread across his face. "I personally will never forget, for the rest of my life the image of Draco Malfoy, the great bouncing ferret, bounding through the hall." Nearly the entire assembly laughed at the memory of that one. "And just think, someday our children will come home from Hogwarts and tell us that there is a bit of roped off swamp in the fifth floor corridor and we'll be able to tell them why." Ron smiled out over his audience. "Let's not let the sadness of the past few months mar the memories we've had here. I think its time to celebrate. To live life to its fullest." He turned back to the teachers and nodded his head respectfully. "Thank you, from all of us, for helping turn us into the bright, upstanding people we've grown up to be." When he received a reciprocating nod from Dumbledore he turned on his heal and walked back to his seat. The minute he sat down Harry gave his shoulder a comforting pat and a reassuring smile.
"That was excellent, Ron."
"Thanks."
Both boys returned their focus to the front of the hall where they saw Dumbledore rising to his feet. "At this time our Head Girl would normally say her goodbye to the class. Tragically, we lost our Head Girl in January. Out of respect for her and the others who were lost this year I ask for a moment of silence." Dumbledore laced his fingers and lowered his head, leading those gathered in a moment of silence.
Ron closed his eyes and saw Hermione's smiling face in front of his eyes. Hermione should be here. He should be listening to her go on and on, sighting as many quotes and words of inspiriting she could find. His resolution rose within him as the first name was called to receive their diploma. He was going to find Hermione even if it killed him.
When his name was called, the very last one from their, Blaise Zabini no longer being with them, he moved to the front of the room and accepted his diploma from McGonagall's old hands. When he took her hand in a shake of congratulations she held tight. "I have Hermione's diploma if you would like to take it." For a moment Ron didn't know how to respond but someone he must have managed to nod because he was soon accepting the rolled paper from his head of house. "Miss Granger is not the only one who is proud of you Mr. Weasley." Ron started with surprise when he realized what the stern old teacher was saying. "And I happen to think that you've set a high standard and it will be difficult for other to live up to you now."
Ron swallowed past the lump that had formed in his throat. "Thank you Professor."
She shook his hand once more, leaning forward slightly. "I would like to speak with you later, if you can spare me a moment."
"Of course."
McGonagall released his hand and stepped back allowing Ron to step past her and take Dumbledore's hand in a congratulating shake.
"Mr. Weasley." The old wizard nodded.
"Professor."
"That was a fine speech."
Ron nodded his thanks and quickly stepped away when Dumbledore released his hand to rejoin his friends in their seats. And with a final word that sounded oddly like 'Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! And Tweak!' the ceremony was over.
"Well, mate." Harry turned to him and shook his hand. "It's over. We're finished."
Ron wanted to tear his hand away, to yell at Harry, to tell him it wasn't over, that they weren't finished. It would never be over. Not until they had answers. But he was able to stop himself because he knew that's not what Harry meant. "Right." He managed to croak. "We're done."
"Should we go find your parents?" Harry suggested.
"No, you go ahead." Ron spotted his former head of house over his friends shoulder walking toward them. "I have to stop and speak to McGonagall for a moment."
Harry followed Ron's gaze over his shoulder and nodded when he saw that she was almost upon them. "All right then. I'll see you when you're done."
Ron nodded and Harry stepped into the milling crowd and Ron watched just long enough to see him get stopped by Professor Dumbledore, before McGonagall had reached him. "Hello Professor." He greeted warmly.
"Mr. Weasley. Would you mind going on a short walk with me?"
Ron looked down at her in surprise. "All right." He agreed and the two made their way toward the exit.
Ron walked silently along waiting for McGonagall to break the silence. It wasn't until they were outside the castle and walking in the bright light of the sun, headed toward the lake that she finally spoke. "I tried reaching Miss Grangers parents." Professor said as an opening. "As far as I know they are still unaware of what has happened to their daughter. No one has been able to locate them. They are not at their normal address and we have been unable to reach them by owl."
"No." He agreed you wouldn't. "The Grangers stopped accepting owls last year when Hermione refused to go into hiding with them."
McGonagall stopped short in surprise. "I was unaware that Hermione was estranged from her parents."
Ron shrugged sadly. "It wasn't something she liked to talk about."
"I see. Well in any case, I know this is hard for you to talk about, I know how close you and Miss Granger were…are…" She turned and looked him straight in the eye. "Hermione's belongings have remained untouched since her disappearance. Her belongings need to be gone through and packed away. I thought perhaps you and Mr. Potter would be willing to do that."
"I'll take care of it."
Minerva nodded. "There is also the issue of Miss Granger's cat."
"Crookshanks? I've been taking care of him since January. He'll come and live with me and Harry in our flat."
"I see you've already thought about this."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good." She nodded. "Now, have you given any thought to your future?"
"My future?"
"Yes, Mr. Weasley, your future. You said once that you had hopes of being an Auror."
"No." he shook his head vehemently "I've had enough. I don't want to spend the rest of my life fighting."
"I understand. What will you do then?"
"I'm going to find Hermione." He said simply.
"Mr. Weasley…Ronald…"
"Professor, please." He held up a hand to stop her lecture. "No offense, but I've heard it all before. From my mum and dad, Ginny, Neville, Dean, Seamus…it doesn't make any difference. I can't find peace until I know what happened."
"You do realize that that is exactly why Mr. Malfoy did this. He wants to torment you as long as possible."
"I know." He agreed. "I understand that, but I can't not try. I don't know how to explain it, but it feels like a part of me is missing. I don't know if I'll ever make peace with this and let it go, but I do know it will never happen as long as I don't have answers."
McGonagall reached out and put her hand on his shoulder and gave it an affectionate squeeze. "I understand Mr. Weasley. Perhaps a lot better then you think I do." She gave his shoulder a final pat before removing her hand and letting it fall lightly to her side. "I did have another reason for asking you out here, Ronald. Something I would like you to think about." Ron arched his eyebrow with intrigue. He turned and gave his formal teacher is full attention. "I've watched your interaction with the younger students all year. You're a natural. Madam Houche has plans to retire in two or three years time. I think you should apply for her job when the time comes around. I think you would make a fine flight instructor, and perhaps later, if the right opening arises, we can find you a more substantial position in the school."
"Professor…" Ron gapped, "I don't know what to say."
"There is no need to say anything." Her lips turned up in a smile that looked as if it were reserved for only those McGonagall felt close to and it lightened his heart. "What ever you decide, fell free to use my name as a reference."
Ron's mouth gapped wide in surprise. "Thank you, Professor. That means a lot."
"Think nothing of it. Now, please run along and greet your parents. If I keep you much longer your mother will have my head."
