This is the end of year 7 at school. This weekend is the first of the final 20 or so chapters in the story.
The Last Goodbye
June 19-20th, 1996
Seventh Year
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After an eventful night for everyone, Dumbledore walked into the Forest and retrieved the wayward professor, to pretty much everyone's disappointment. She was sent to the Hosiptal Wing to be treated for Centaur induced injuries and found herself slumming it with the very students who had led her to her near doom.
The next morning the Daily Prophet arrived bearing the headline "UMBRIDGE SUSPENDED; INVESTIGATION PENDING" Cheers broke out across the hall, even the castle ghosts joined in. The Headless Hunt took off their heads and bobbed them around the room in celebration.
One owl swooped through the room to drop a package in front of Leilani. She tore through the purple wax seal exclusive to the ministry and pulled out her missing shoes. She leaned back to scan the Teacher's table and found Dumbledore smiling at her. He raised his goblet and she raised a shoe in return before sticking her feet back in them.
A loud, joyful, mischievous cackle filled the room as Peeves came spinning through, He nicked professor McGonagall's walking stick (she was back to work today, but only for show, she hadn't fully recovered from all the Stuns she took to the chest) and went zooming away with it as Umbridge came creeping around the corner. "Out! Out! Out!" Peeves cried, punctuating each word with POOF from a sock of powdered chalk or a THWACK with McGonagall's cane.
"Oh, Peeves, don't hit her too hard!" a teacher called feebly, making no real effort to stop the poltergeist.
"A little to the left, Peeves!" Flitwick called, making even less effort than his colleague.
"HEEEEEEELP!" Umbride squealed as the stick went WHACK and chalk went POOF.
"I so wish I could help you, Delores!" McGonagall called sweetly, "But unfortunately Peeves has taken my walking stick!" She smiled to herself, looking as happy as when Gryffindor won the Quidditch cup.
Several students stood up and applauded Peeves who paused his work to sweep his belled hat off his head and give a flourished bow before getting right back to it, chasing Umbridge from the grounds.
It was when the investigation into Umbirdge's torture came about that the plan to destroy the blood quills backfired; without evidence of said quill, Umbirdge was let off the hook and transferred to a different part of the ministry where she would later come to head the Muggle-Born Registration Commission. The girls would come to both regret and not regret the action that bore this unintended consequence.
Sitting now in a little boat rowing itself across the lake, Leilani mused to herself, "I have to admit, school was not entirely what I'd imagined it would be like…"
"Nor me. But hey, it was fun!" Jo agreed.
"I think I might miss it, a little. Not the exams or the homework, but the rest of it."
"If you mean helping Harry, we're not done yet. Just because we're leaving doesn't mean we can't still look after him, he'll need it."
"I do mean that, but I also mean the Alliance. I'll miss my little Slytherin buddy and I'll miss the rest of it, feeling like I was doing something that would help them. You know?"
"Remember when we set up the DA? We were in the Hog's head. It looked like they could use some help, it'll keep us close enough to keep an eye on Harry and in Easy reach of the Alliance, should any of the older kids need us." Jo suggested.
"That's a great idea! Besides, I'm sure the owner could use some help, with the cleaning at least!" Leili laughed.
The girls got off their boat at Hogsmeade Station and walked the long road down to the village itself. They walked past the Three Broomsticks and took the right turn across from Gladrags and Scrivenshaft's.
At the very end of the street they found and entered the Hog's Head inn. The barman looked up from cleaning a mug with the same dirty looking rag they'd seen him use in October.
"You again," he huffed, "Little miss 'find me a pensieve' and friend, what d'you want?"
"Are you never going to let me live that down?" Leili asked.
"Not likely," Jo told her before turning back to Aberforth, "We need jobs and you look like you could use someone to boss around." An unconventional application, to be sure.
Aberforth looked between the two of them, considering the offer, he didn't get very many people so he didn't really need the help, but he liked having people to boss around from time to time.
"What sort of experience 'ave you got?"
Jo replied immediately, "I am fantastic at breaking up fights,"
"And she's a good cook! She can make anything," Leilani added. "I am really good at illusion spells, once fooled a werewolf into thinking a bunch of meat pies was a deer. If you want the look of something but don't want to do with actually having it, I can probably make it happen with a little prep work."
"Alright, why do you want the job then?" Aberforth asked.
"There's… someone at the school who needs looking after," Leili confided.
"They're at the school, aren't they, how much more looking after can they need?"
"Since their first year, they've dealt with trolls, possessed teachers, escaped fugitives, dementors, death eaters, a ministry appointed corrupt teacher, possession, giant freaking spiders, and several acts of outright stupidity. Trust me, they need looking after," Jo told him.
"Fair enough." Aberforth said, blinking a little from the information overload.
"We also need a place to live…" Leili added.
"Long as you don't mind sharing, you can have a room here, as long as you're working for me."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Leili cried.
Aberforth just grunted.