Atria and Rose were extremely nervous as they waited to cross the Great Hall for graduation. They were peeking from behind the doors, watching their families chat.
"This is going to be a disaster," Rose muttered as she flipped through the pages of her speech. "I really should've made Scorpius do the talking. He's much more charming and…" she started hyperventilating.
"You? What about me? Everyone hates me and I'm about to walk across the Great Hall. A lot of parents wanted me thrown out of school, you know."
"My father doesn't know about Scorpius and me. He's going to have a heart attack!" Rose's voice cracked.
Amanda lounged on a bench with Albus and Scorpius who were watching with mild amusement. The rest of the seventh years were in clumps, waiting to be ushered through the Great Hall. "You two worry too much," Amanda said calmly.
Atria glared at her, "I'm worrying just the right amount. Why aren't you more worried?"
Rose folded her arms and looked accusingly at Amanda, "You've been to calm for the past few weeks. With N.E.W.T.s and graduation… why aren't you bugging out?" Amanda turned pink and looked down.
"I know everything's going to be alright. You four have your plans and I have mine."
"Oh, you do have a plan?" Albus raised his eyebrows. "Because you've refused to tell us, so we weren't sure. Last we heard, you were going with the Magpies."
Amanda sighed, "I actually decided to go with the Harpies."
Scorpius jerked up. "What? Why are we just hearing about this?"
"It was an in-the-moment decision."
"How long ago was this decision made?" Rose asked.
"Um… like four weeks ago."
"What?" Atria screeched. "How could you not tell us? Have you spoken with James?"
"Look, I didn't want to make a big deal of it, kind of like you are now. And yes, I've spoken with James and we've come to an agreement."
Atria looked suspiciously at Amanda, who seemed to be holding back a giddy smile. "What agreement would that be?" Amanda's lips pursed and the others were watching her every movement with scrutiny.
Her lips moved, but no sound came out as she tried to think of something to say.
Albus's eyebrows shot up in alarm, "That is not promising."
Amanda folded her arms defensively and leaned back against the wall. Atria noted the impatient look on her face and how the kept searching for McGonagall to escort them through the Great Hall. "James and I have worked everything out, actually."
"So can you explain what the initial problem was?" Scorpius challenged.
Amanda faltered, "You know, I'm not even sure what the problem was. We were just being stupid."
"Stupid about…" Rose led.
"Everything." Amanda said evasively and Atria was ready to hit her over the head.
"We need details!" Atria exclaimed.
"Ms….!" McGonagall started to berate Atria, but then stumbled over her name like so everyone had been. None of the teachers knew what to call her. Atria's cheeks burned, like they did every time this happened. Their first instinct was to say 'Ms. Williams' and then the professors would catch themselves, but they could never say 'Lestrange.' McGonagall pressed on, "Please don't shout. Now, Ms. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy, if you could help me line everyone up and then we will proceed. You'll be walking through those doors in ten minutes, whether you're ready or not."
Rose looked thrilled and excited. She began ushering students to their places based on their last names alphabetically. Scorpius stood up after McGonagall disappeared. He gave Atria a wary look. "So which last name are you going with?"
Atria curled into herself, feeling that numbness behind her eyes. "Lestrange."
Scorpius nodded mutely and then joined Rose.
Albus's hand curled around Atria and she leaned into his shoulder, pressing her nose into his robes. "You alright?" He looked sideways down on her.
"Yes…" she said absently and then focused her attention. "Yes, I need this."
"We're all with you."
Atria smiled and closed her eyes. "I'm excited to be in the real world. Sometimes Hogwarts feels like a fishbowl."
"I'm still here," Amanda's voice startled Atria. She jerked away from Albus and rolled her eyes at Amanda's reproachful look. "Honestly, I'm glad I won't be around much." Atria gave her a flamboyant pout.
"Oh, don't be like that! I still can't believe you're going to Wales… with James." Atria prodded, hoping Amanda might let a detail or two slip about her arrangement with James.
Instead, Amanda eyed Atria. "Don't you think bright green might be a bit much for a formal occasion?" She asked, referring to Atria's hair. Albus ran his hands through it affectionately, even though Atria knew this wasn't his favourite color of her hair. He had mentioned a while ago that he liked the purple or red.
"I'm showing house solidarity." Atria said proudly. "I could hardly wear blue, it would clash with the Ravenclaws. And purple is a bit too close to blue." Albus wrapped his arms around her from behind and Atria sunk back into his warmth, placing her hands on his.
Amanda stood up, stretching her arms above her head. "I think I'll get in line."
The ceremony was lovely. Quick, with soft music escorting the students as they strode through the Great Hall. Atria was grateful that they called the stood onto the platform one after the other, not really a moment to pause and think after McGonagall called "Atria Lestrange." No one else had a moment to think either before she called the next name.
There was some uproar when her name was announced, but she couldn't identify any negative comments. James's hollers were all that she heard and she bit back an embarrassed laugh. Albus was called a few minutes later and the entire Potter and Weasley family stood up and let out lots of noises. Rose and Scorpius would be walking at the end of the line, so they could get special honors and Rose could give her speech.
"Amanda Smith."
Atria observed James who stood up, along with Freddie and some other family members. Her family was there as well, beaming at their daughter. There was a look in James's eyes, something that Atria had never seen before, as he stared proudly at Amanda.
And finally Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley were called and the entire hall erupted in shouting and hooting. Scorpius moved to the side with the rest of the graduated seventh years while Rose took her place at the podium, smiling at McGonagall. She looked beautiful in her black and red robes, the gold crest clashing strikingly with her flaming hair. The sun dancing on the red strands, shining from behind her through the window.
"Hello!" She said happily, her voice booming through the Great Hall. The clapping started to die down and she waited patiently for a moment before continuing, "This has been an exciting year and a perfect end to seven years. I feel this year sums up what Hogwarts has been to me and my fellow students." She took a deep breath and then grinned. "I've watched enough of these speeches to know what people usually say."
Rose looked at her friends. "The truth is I don't need to say any inspirational words to you. We accomplished what we set out to do when we first crossed through this hall and now it's time to move on to the next great adventure. Some of us will see each other often, some of us might cross paths, and for some this will be the last time we speak." She sighed and looked down. "It's sad to think that things will never be like this again, but I know that what comes next will be even better. So I would like to thank the professors for helping us through seven years of hard work and stress and I would like to thank my friends for giving me good moments throughout the years of stress."
Atria grinned at Rose's words.
"And I would like to thank all of the parents and family of our graduating class. We are who we are because of you… or in spite of you." Atria glanced at Rose and gave her a brief smile. "Let's start our next great adventure and enjoy the rest of our lives." Rose said loudly and clapped her hands together. Everyone in the Great Hall stood up and clapped as Rose joined the rest of her class.
Atria hugged Rose. After everything settled down, students went to join their families.
Ginny pushed her way through the crowd and shouted over the noise. "Let's go outside by the lake, shall we?" Albus nodded and grabbed Atria's hand, pulling her through the throngs of people.
"Amanda!" Atria called. "We're going out to the lake."
"Alright, let me find my family."
James stepped in front of Atria. "They're with the Weasley's."
Amanda's eyes went wide. Atria watched her closely, observing her interaction with James and the idea that their two families were mingling. "Oh Merlin… come on." Amanda pushed past James and stalked out of the Great Hall. Attie followed closely, pulling Albus after her.
"I wonder what your parents are telling James's grandparents," Atria teased. "Any embarrassing baby pictures…?" Amanda shot her a dirty look over her shoulder and continued at a panicked pace.
"Amanda…" James choked out. "You're hurting my hand."
"We have to hurry… my dad's a muggle and he'll say something horribly embarrassing!"
Atria hurried to keep up and Albus laughed, "Maybe he'll ask our dad for an autograph!"
Amanda ran faster.
Not only were Amanda's parents and the Weasley's there, but Scorpius's parents as well. Draco seemed to be explaining his job to Amanda's father, who looked thoroughly confused.
"Couldn't any wizard be a healer? It seems like all you have to do is wave your wand…"
"It's a little more complicated than that," Draco said warily.
Mrs. Smith lit up when she saw Amanda, "Oh dear, you looked so grown up walking through the Great Hall." They hugged and Grandma and Grandpa Weasley gave Rose a hug. Atria wrapped an arm around Albus's waste, feeling the need to get in on the hugging.
Ginny and Harry joined them a moment later. "It's a zoo in there." Harry said breathlessly. And this was that man who lived through the Battle of Hogwarts and Lord Voldemort.
"Mum, Dad," James announced loudly, "there's something I have to tell you." He grabbed Amanda's hand, she looked just as surprised as everyone else. Atria raised her eyebrows, giving James an amusing look, thinking it was about time those two started going together.
Amanda closed her eyes, "Bloody he—" she muttered.
"We're getting married!" James said boldly.
No one said anything. No one moved. Amanda looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there. Finally, Ginny spoke, "I didn't know you two were seeing each other." She sounded slightly faint.
James grinned, still gripping a mute Amanda's hand. "We're not. See, she didn't want to date because we're going to be working together. You know, in case of a break up. So I said, 'let's get engaged so that we can date.' Then when we don't want to date anymore, we'll just get married." He said happily.
Atria looked sideways at Albus who was looking at his brother like he had a Hungarian Horntail sitting on James's shoulder.
Mr. Smith blinked. "I'm confused," he said, barely moving his lips.
Amanda shook herself out of whatever stupor she had been in. "It's a bit more complicated—"
"Of course we love each other." James tried to assure the adults.
Atria ran her hands through her hair. "When did this happen?"
"Three weeks ago." James said proudly.
"I did not plan this," Amanda said defensively. "And when he says we're engaged… he just means we're together in a more permanent way than boyfriend-girlfriend. We're not getting married anytime soon."
"Like two years." James said thoughtfully.
Amanda scoffed. "At least three. And it has to be during the winter… some place with snow."
"If we were on a mountain… imagine the sunset and the photos." James agreed.
"Why the hell didn't you say anything?" Scorpius glared at Amanda.
Amanda sighed, "Because I told him to think on it. We hadn't even spoken since the last Hogsmeade weekend, when I told him to come back today, and then… this." She motioned to James and though she looked peeved, Atria saw something else on her face. There was adoration in her eyes, despite the hard set of her mouth and her folded arms. She looked reluctantly in love. She looked like Mrs. Weasley whenever her husband did something weird—like start a computer key collection.
Scorpius and Rose reminded Atria of Draco and Astoria. Polite and formal, but completely in love even if they didn't say two words to each other, it was obvious from the secret glances and longing looks.
And then there was Atria and Albus. Atria thought of them as Harry and Ginny—just minding their own business and along for the ride.
"You're getting married?" Mrs. Smith repeated, almost to herself.
"Mum, we're not getting married anytime soon." Amanda said.
"How do you know if you're compatible?" Harry asked. "If you haven't dated…"
James shrugged, "We're in love."
"How do you know?" Ginny challenged.
"Sometimes you just know. Why wait? Why deal with the dating bullshit and leave room for drama? I know what I want and I'm not going to wait for something to make me question it." James still looked thrilled, but his voice had a hard edge to it now.
"I thought Bill and Fleur were too young…" Grandma Weasley said hesitantly. "It didn't end so badly."
"They're still together." Ron pointed out, much to his mother's chagrin.
"Like I said… it ended alright." Grandma Weasley said tightly.
"I always thought Rose and Scor would be the first married." Albus said absently.
Ron Weasley made a disapproving face. "Let's not talk about that now."
Ginny huffed, "Honestly, you've been graduated for an hour and you're already speaking about marriage and whatnot?"
Atria held up her hands. "I'm not. I want to be settled before marriage and kids."
"Kids?" Albus swallowed.
"Not for at least seven years." Atria patted his arm. "I need to get things settled with the zoo before I start settling down with marriage."
"And Scorpius and I are only interns." Rose said. "I want to have a solid career before I get married." She looked carefully at Amanda. "You already have a set job."
"We're not getting married immediately!" Amanda repeated. "And I still have to do training at St. Mungo's before I start in the fall. There's time to think, separately, before anything serious happens."
James made a displeased face. "I forgot about your training."
"This is a good thing," Amanda reminded him. "So will everyone please calm down?"
Atria wondered when she and Albus would get married. Would they have children? She knew how fun it was to be an only child, but it was also lonely. She would have to figure out how many children they would have later. She hoped the first child was a boy and if they had more than they could have girls, but it seemed like a big task to start out trying to raise a girl. They seemed so much more complicated than boys. Of course, with the Weasley genes, she could end up with a boy like Freddie or James.
"Scor, you and I have to decide who gets which names," Atria said.
Everyone gave her a confused look.
"What are you on about?"
"Baby names. There are only so many stars left in the sky. What if we both want to use the same name for a child?"
Amanda coughed, "Way to keep things calm."
Scorpius glared at her, "That's not something we need to think about now." He folded his arms and Atria saw Draco let out a sigh of relief. "As long as I get the name Orion." Rose scrunched up her nose.
"Orion?"
"That's the best we can do with what's left over." Scorpius told her.
"We could start reusing names. I like Draco… or Andromeda for a girl," Atria smiled.
Draco blinked. "I'm still here."
"And he's my dad!" Scorpius said indignantly. "You can't have my dad's name."
"Well, I can't pull names from my family! Oohh, I like Sirius. He's the only family member who I'm not ashamed of, other than Andromeda."
James lifted a hand, "Hold on, I think I get dibs on Sirius. It's my middle name."
"Why are we talking about this now?" Albus muttered.
"Yes, why?" Ron snapped. "Merlin, you're all barely eighteen and already planning the rest of your lives. And Rosie, you're not allowed to have children until I'm dead."
"No," Hermione rolled her eyes. "I want grandchildren." She glanced at Rose and Scorpius. "But not for at least ten years."
Draco cleared his throat, "I second that."
Astoria smiled, "Take your own time, darlings."
"This has certainly been an event to remember," Harry sighed.
Atria grinned because she couldn't contain it anymore. This was perfect beyond her wildest dreams and nothing like what she had imagined perfection to be. Albus's arms around her, friends beside her, and all of her immediate family dead… it certainly wasn't the typical idea of perfection.