Farewell
The Quibbler announcing that Gilderoy Lockhart was working on his biography with Harry Potter, broke all sales records. However, this should not be the only pleasing development in terms of the press, because a week before the end of the school year, Beatrix Rosier finally agreed to sell her shares in the Daily Prophet to the heir of the House of Black for an outrageously large sum. The next morning, Harry enjoyed quietly expecting the arrival of his Prophet, without worrying about any lies that were going to be spread about him. It was just so, instead, the front page featured a well-balanced report on the reform of werewolf legislation that Kingsley wanted to put to the Wizengamot this week. Harry happily took a sip of pumpkin juice as Hermione screamed loudly.
"What?!", he shouted, horrified. "What are they writing? Merlin's balls, what else do you have to do to finally-"
He broke off when he realized that Hermione was not paying attention to her newspaper, but stared at the thirty or so snowy owls, which had identical green letters on their legs and circled the tables in a proper formation.
"These are our results," she beeped hysterically. "OH GOD!"
Her announcement caused Seamus to light his scrambled eggs in a panic and Dean and Lavender to interrupt their usual permanent snugging and, along with the other seventh-years, to stare anxiously at the owls circling ever deeper. Harry took a look over to the teacher's table, where professors Flitwick and Sprout exchanged a broad grin, while McGonagall pretended she didn't notice the owls at all. Next to her, Dawlish had barricaded himself behind his newspaper.
The younger students grinned broadly, while the seventh-years shrugged each time one of the owls broke free from the formation to deliver their letter. Apparently they proceeded alphabetically, because Susan, Terry and Lavender were the first to receive their letters, followed by Milicent Bulstrode at the Slytherin table, who stared at the letter as if it were a howler. Lavender ripped open her letter so hastily that she ripped the parchment.
"Keep calm, Miss Brown," Nearly Headless Nick said with dignity.
"Shut up, Nick," Lavender growled as she held the two halves together and checked her results.
The arrival of Seamus' owl distracted the others from Lavender. Seamus took a look at his results and then slumped on the bench relieved. The rest of Gryffindor table shrugged collectively as the next owl landed in front of Hermione.
"Look at it, Ron," she whimpered. "I can't look at it, oh no, I've certainly failed everything – Ancient Runes went completely wrong, and question fourteen-"
She continued nervously as Ron took the owl's letter, opened it and looked through the results. A muscle twitched at his jaw.
"What is it?" Hermione asked, panicked.
"You failed everything," Ron said calmly.
She screamed and ripped the parchment out of his hand to look for herself, while Neville groaned loudly as one of the owls landed in front of him.
"Seven 'Outstandings'," Ron hissed at Hermione. "So stop whinging."
Harry laughed loudly with the rest of the table, but then abruptly fell silent as Parvati's and his owls landed on the table. He took the letter from the owl with trembling fingers, opened it with his wand, and pulled out the parchment.
NASTILY EXHAUSTING WIZARDING TESTS - RESULTS
Passed with: Not passed with:
Outstanding (O) Poor (P)
Exceeds Expectations (E) Dreadful (D)
Acceptable (A) Troll (T)
HARRY JAMES POTTER has obtained the following grades:
Charms... O
Defense Against the Dark Arts…... O
Herbology…... O
Potions... O
Transfiguration... E
Harry stared at the piece of parchment for half an eternity. That couldn't be, he thought, horrified, they had swapped his results with others. This had to be Hermione's results, he had certainly failed everything-
"You bloody swot," Ginny said with a laugh. "Congratulations!"
She kissed him on the cheek.
"Harry?", Hermione asked, whose cheeks were still reddened with excitement. "How did it go for you?"
Harry laughed with relief. There was his name, big and wide: Harry James Potter. It was impossible that the results had been swapped, completely unthinkable. No, he had made it - four 'Oustandings', even in Potions, and in Transfiguration he had exceeded expectations! All the learning, the countless hours in the library, seven years of being commanded around by Hermione - it had been worth it.
"Top," he said with a grin, handing Hermione over his results, who stared at them with big eyes. Ron wanted to read along, but then shrugged so hard that he overturned his tea, because finally the last of the owls had landed in front of him.
"Well then," he said nervously, opening the letter. From his stunned look and his open mouth, Harry concluded that things had gone as surprisingly well for Ron as they had for him. Hermione shouted a small cheer as she read over his shoulder.
"Here," Ron said with a grin, handing Harry his results, "exchange."
Harry smiled. Ron had achieved 'Outstandings' in Defense and Herbology and exceeded expectations in the other subjects.
"Congratulations, mate," he said with a grin, while Ron looked up from Harry's results with a mixture of envy and pride.
"Are you serious-"
"Congratulations, folks," Neville said with a grin. "We've all done it. That means party tonight, don't you think?"
His proposal was accepted with loud cheers.
The party, which the seventh-years celebrated in the evening and into the early hours of the morning, overshadowed every other they had experienced in the last eight years, every Quidditch Cup victory and every house cup win. Neville had come up with the ingenious idea of using the Room of Requirement for it, which obviously meant it very well with them and offered everything from the bar to the dance floor that could be desired. Seamus, who somehow managed to smuggle tons of alcohol into the school, was responsible for filling the bar - the security measures the teachers had installed proved once again insufficient when faced with the students' creativity. As Seamus admitted with a laugh late in the evening, he had persuaded Hagrid to smuggle things in for him. It was just before five when the last of them left on tiptoes, and even Peeves once seemed to have an insight and did not bother any of them on the strenuous way back to their common rooms.
Their last week at the castle began. The lands were teeming with cheerful students who had finally passed all their exams, but a touch of melancholy was added for the seventh-years, especially for Harry. Hogwarts was the home he had been missing since that terrible night at Godric's Hollow, where it all began. It was the place through which he had met everyone who was important to him: Ron and Hermione, Ginny and the other Weasleys, Neville, Luna, Lupin and Sirius and all the others. Leaving the castle would mean a cut in his life, that much was certain. The little bit of childhood he had made possible here again with this last year would definitely be over. He would grow up entirely, become an Auror, start a family. But Hogwarts would always have a place in his heart.
The others also struggled to leave the castle, but at the same time were excited to finally move into professional life. Harry was extremely proud that besides Ron and him, Susan, Neville and Ernie would also join the aurors. Seamus' grades did not allow this, he applied to general laughter at the Magic Accident Reversal Command. In view of all the accidents he had caused during his school career, he was only calmly suggesting that he had a lot of experience with the subject. Hermine received an offer from Tudgeberry to become her personal assistant just a day after she sent her application to the ministry, which she enthusiastically accepted. Lavender and Parvati had surprisingly chosen very different paths: Lavender wanted to go to Witch Weekly and promised Hermione solemnly never to write about her. Parvati, on the other hand, had applied to the International Office of Magical Law. Terry Boot, with whom she was seen more and more often, had applied to the Department of Mysteries, just like Daphne Greengrass, despite all the stories about attacking brains Ron had told him. Even Malfoy had applied to the ministry, as Daphne recounted Hermione, at the International Magic Trade Standards Committee.
"How did he come up with that?", Harry asked, confused.
"Apparently he thinks his family's connections can help him," Hermione said with a chuckle.
Malfoy had surprised Harry more positively this year than he could ever have imagined. Not only because of the extremely fair attitude he had shown around the Quidditch final, but also because he had not participated in any of the many small and large swearings and insults of the other Slytherins. Ginny blamed this on Astoria Greengrass's reassuring influence, and Harry agreed with her at least in part, because whenever he saw these two together, Malfoy looked happier than he had ever experienced him.
As for Goyle, Ron should be right: even he made a NEWT with an 'acceptable' in Herbology. Pansy Parkinson had failed Potions to Hermine's obvious joy and had to settle for three NEWTs, while she herself would leave Hogwarts as the best of the year and Head Girl.
The latter, however, meant that she, like Neville, would give a speech at their degree ceremony, which sent her into an almost pre-examination-like panic, frantically scouring Hogwarts: A History from start to finish for comments on that occasion and, at the end, remained empty-handed. Ron spared himself and everyone else a lot of nerves by simply advising her to send Bill an owl and ask him for advice. Meanwhile, Neville remained completely relaxed about the prospect of speaking to all teachers, parents and the whole class, which once again reminded Harry how much the fearful boy who had been desperately looking for his toad on the Hogwarts Express had changed. Neville had surprised Harry a bit by the fact that he had applied to the Auror Office.
"I thought you wanted to do something with plants," Harry said, stunned, as Neville told him about his plans.
"I still want that," Neville said. "I'd love to take over Professor Sprout's post if she quits, but it's going to take a few more years."
Until then, he wanted to help ensure that their world remained as safe as it was again.
The graduation ceremony would take place on the eve of the penultimate day of school, the day before the festive dinner, at which the House Cup would be awarded, which Gryffindor would win again thanks to Hermione and the good Quidditch season. In the days before, Harry said farewell to Hogwarts piece by piece. To visits to Hagrid, the Quidditch Stadium, the prefects' bathroom, the owlery and even the library, to McGonagall and Flitwick and Sprout, to Horace Slughorn and his dinners (he even visited the last one), of Peeves, who made the last Days for the students particularly enthusiastic and troublesome, to Filch and Mrs Norris, who roamed the castle as always, to Madam Pomfrey and the hospital wing in which he had been more often than anyone else in the last twenty years, as she assured him. He said goodbye to Grawp, who destroyed his new hut while sleeping, to the giant octopus and the lake, to lunch in the Great Hall, to the image of the DA in the trophy room, to the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room and to their dormitory. To hours with Ron and Hermione at the lake and alone with Ginny, to all the things and places that had made him who he was, all the memories he connected with them. Harry stood in the toilet of Moaning Myrtle and thought of how he had gone here with Ron to save Ginny, he stood by the Whomping Willow and thought of the night he had learned the truth about Sirius. He stood at Dumbledore's tomb and the monument in the entrance hall and thought of those who were not allowed to experience that day. And then came, far too quickly, the evening of the graduation ceremony.
Harry went down with Seamus, Parvati, Lavender and Dean because Hermione had dragged Ron and Neville with her an hour before to go through their speeches with both of them. The celebration would take place in the Great Hall, with their families and teachers, and when the five Gryffindors came down the stairs to the entrance hall, the Slytherins appeared from the dungeons at the same time. For a moment they all stopped, then Daphne Greengrass greeted them with a short smile that considerably defused the mood. Malfoy nodded shortly to Harry.
"Potter."
"Malfoy," Harry said briefly.
"Who would have thought in first year that you both would make it here without the other being thrown out," Daphne said dryly, and everyone laughed a little nervously.
"Draco!"
Narcissa Malfoy beamed at her son from the door to the Great Hall. Next to her stood Lucius, leaning on his walking stick, the former blond hair now silver-grey. Kingsley had warned Harry that Draco's father would be allowed to be here today, albeit only in the company of two aurors who were waiting behind him and did not let him out of sight. For a moment Lucius' eyes met his and Harry answered the hateful gaze calmly; Lucius was beaten and could do nothing more to him. Draco and the other Slytherins went over to his parents.
"How can he be here?", Seamus growled.
"Special permission," Harry sighed. "Because Draco helped the ministry catch Avery."
"Charming," Seamus said. "What use is house arrest if you let him out for something like this? He doesn't deserve to be here."
Parvati nodded grimly.
"Come on," Dean said. "Don't let it spoil the evening."
Harry nodded vigorously. "Let's go."
The Great Hall was festively decorated, banners of all four houses hung on the walls. On the podium, where the teacher's table normally stood, stood a lectern. The house tables had also been removed for the ceremony, instead there were countless rows of chairs in the hall, all facing the lectern. Harry was involuntarily reminded of Dumbledore's funeral with a fluffy feeling in his stomach. Ron and Hermione had saved him a place in the front row between them and Neville.
"You're finally here," Hermione hissed nervously.
Harry and Ron exchanged an amused grin.
"Relax, Hermione," Harry said, briefly squeezing her hand. "You're going to do great."
"And what about me?", Neville asked with playful outrage.
"Sorry," Harry said, squeezing Neville's hand. "You too, of course,"
"Thank you," Neville laughed.
Harry looked around. They sat in the front row on the right, along with their classmates filling the first three rows. On the left were the teachers and some importantly-looking older people, presumably the school governors. Gradually, the vacant seats on both sides filled up with their families and friends. Harry felt a slight stab when he wished his parents could be here now, but then he smiled as Ginny waved at him, who was sitting with the other Weasleys. Next to him, Neville waved to Hannah Abbott, who had just arrived with his grandmother and a confused-looking wizard.
"Merlin's beard," Neville moaned. "She brought great-uncle Algie!"
"Is this the one who dropped you out of the window?", Ron asked.
"Precisely," Neville said somberly. "Terrible guy."
Hermione didn't seem to listen to them at all, but instead she frantically went through her speech. Harry was secretly glad that her parents couldn't be here - muggles couldn't see Hogwarts - because their presence would surely have made her even more nervous.
"Oh no," Hermine sighed a little later, as the doors of the Great Hall closed by themselves and Professor McGonagall walked up to the lectern. The Headmistress briefly cleared her throat and all the conversations in the Great Hall fell silent immediately. Harry grinned broadly: it was obvious that many of those present had been her students.
"A good evening to all of you and a warm welcome to Hogwarts," McGonagall said. "I apologize for my boring speech in advance - I'm doing this for the first time."
A quiet laugh blared through the hall and Harry and Ron exchanged a horrified look.
"Did McGonagall just make a joke?", Ron hissed in disbelief.
"May I ask for your attention, Mr. Weasley," McGonagall said, prompting louder laughter and turning Ron's ears bright red.
"This is the evening that I and all my colleagues are most looking forward to all year round," McGonagall said. "Because it shows us that all the stress and effort you have put upon us was not in vain, because you are sitting here today celebrating your graduation."
She looked up briefly and let her gaze wander through the hall.
"This is the evening that gives us teachers something back, but it's not our evening, it's yours. It belongs to you. It is the reward for seven years of hard work. Today you are reaping the fruits of this work, and each of you deserves to sit here today and receive his or her NEWT certificate, the highest level of education that this school has to offer."
McGonagall cleared her throat. "I've been a teacher at Hogwarts for over forty years," she said. "And in all these forty years, there has not been a single class that has gone through more than this one."
In the hall it was dead still.
"You've seen the darkest years of Hogwarts," she continued. "And not all of you survived. We do not want to forget them today. There is no class that has given back as much to this school as this one," she said louder. "There were years that were academically better, no question," she said with a slight wink. "But none who has been so committed to this school, to each other and to our society, like this one, and that already now that you are all still students. Among you are many who have fought for this school, who have not chosen the easy way, but the difficult one, and for that you all have my respect."
She cleared her throat again. "When I led you all into this hall eight years ago so that you could be sorted into your houses, I couldn't know how extraordinary you are. Now I know. Hogwarts wouldn't be what it is without you and your commitment. I hope that you will remember us as well as we do you do. On behalf of the entire staff, I extend my utmost respect to all of you, wish you all the best for the future, and I warmly congratulate you on your graduation."
McGonagall left the lectern to loud applause. If Harry wasn't wrong, she wiped away a tear after sitting between Professors Sprout and Flitwick. As the applause slowly subsided, Hermione tightened her shoulders and walked up to the lectern a little trembling.
"Hello," she said visibly nervously.
Someone clapped loudly and whistled. Harry turned around and wasn't surprised it was Ginny, George and Charlie. Molly had turned bright red, but Hermione suddenly looked liberated.
"Thank you, Professor McGonagall," she said. "For this wonderful speech."
She took a short break so everyone could clap again.
"And thank you for all the passion you have given for us. Thank you, Professor Sprout, for your never-ending patience. Professor Flitwick, thank you very much for your enthusiasm. In recent years, you and your colleagues have taught us much more than just what was in the curriculum. You have given us a moral compass that will guide us through life, you have been there for us in the big and small problems of everyday school life and your humor, sincerity and integrity are a shining example to all of us."
Hermione smiled. "Hogwarts has given me so much," she said. "It has given me a whole world, taught me things that I never thought possible. It has made me meet people who mean the world to me. Fantastic personalities that we should all emulate. To be as brave as Harry Potter," she said, and Harry turned bright red. "As fair as Susan Bones. As inquisitive as Terry Boot. As witty as Daphne Greengrass."
The addressees looked embarrassed to the ground.
"What about me?!", cried Seamus with a grin.
"As chaotic as Seamus Finnigan," Hermine said dryly, and the Great Hall erupted in loud laughter.
"I am incredibly proud to have been your Head Girl," Hermione said. "And even prouder to have fought alongside you. I have spent seven years of my life with you, day after day. That time is now over. We are leaving this school, which has become a second home for me. We're grown-ups - some more, some less," she said, smiling. "There's a big cut in our lives here. New challenges await us, which we will face. New responsibilities."
She looked over to the rows of her classmates. "Every single one of us has a great responsibility," she continued. "We've all seen what bad things can happen when you look away, if you don't stand up to them, if you just listen to what older people say. Many of us have fought for these things to disappear, but if we do not continue to fight now, if we are not aware of our responsibilities day after day, then we will keep the door open for the darkness. What happened must never happen again!" she said aloud. "And it's up to us to make sure it won't."
Loud applause erupted through the Great Hall.
"Eight years," Hermione continued. "Most of us spent eight years together. It has been eight years since we crossed the lake by boat. Today we are here as adults. Hogwarts has accompanied us. It was a great adventure and I am grateful that we fought it together. Thank you for your attention."
Harry and Ron clapped their hands sore with the others, while a bright red Hermione rushed back from the lectern and dropped between them in relief. Neville gave her a brief pat on the head before he went upstairs himself.
"Hello, folks," he said, and Seamus whistled loudly. "Ten points deduction for Gryffindor, Mr Finnigan," Neville said, leading to loud laughter.
"Yes," he said with a grin. "How many times have we heard that? Miss Patil," he added, pointing strictly to Parvati. "Take this ridiculous thing out of your hair!"
Parvati stuck her tongue out, while Professor McGonagall smiled melancholy.
"Yes, we had a lot of fun here, haven't we?", Neville asked, then he became serious. "But we didn't just have fun, as you all know. I would ask you to rise from your places."
Harry stood up with a fluffy feeling in his stomach.
"Justin Finch-Fletchley," Neville said aloud. "Was the most enthusiastic person I've ever known. Anthony Goldstein," he continued, "was so smart that I couldn't talk to him without feeling completely stupid. Michael Corner was unwavering in his urge to always do the right thing. Mandy Brocklehurst always had time to help others, no matter how busy she was."
Neville rattled. "These four are four of the 54 who gave their lives for all of us. They have not hesitated to stand up to the darkness, despite their youth, despite their hopes, despite their fears. They should have been sitting here with us today, but they cannot. Let us never forget them."
They stood there and remained silent, while Harry thought of Michael Corner's scarred face in the room of requirement and wished he could have saved them, them and the other fifty, behind whose names there was a cross in the entrance hall.
"Thank you," Neville finally said, and they sat down again.
"It's been eight years since I first came to Hogwarts," Neville said calmly. 'I remember it as if it was yesterday. Even the train journey was a single disaster, because my toad disappeared without a trace."
He smiled. "By the way, I haven't seen Trevor since four months, so if someone finds a toad..."
Harry laughed with the others.
"Hermione has mentioned a few of the people who have made sure that a lot of things have improved for me," Neville continued. "I would like to thank a few others on behalf of all of you."
He cleared his throat. "Thank you to Mr Seamus Finnigan for dropping a full dozen dung bombs in our dormitory, which motivated us all enough to finally learn the head bubble charm."
Seamus slapped his hands in front of his face.
"Thank you to Mr Ronald Weasley, whose snoring has given me and my fellow sufferers countless sleepless nights."
Ginny, George and Charlie whistled loudly.
"Thank you to Mr Dean Thomas, who showed me impressively why it's a bad idea to drink a whole bottle of fire whiskey."
Harry took a look over to the teachers shaking their heads.
"Let's come to the ladies," Neville proclaimed with a grin.
"Thank you to Miss Hermione Granger for showing us all how to drop out of Divination in style."
Harry and Ron looked on in amazement as Hermione laughed with the others.
"Thank you to the charming Miss Parvati Patil for coloring Professor Hagrid's beard pink."
Hagrid grinned embarrassedly and stroked his now black beard.
"Thank you to Miss Lavender Brown, who came up with this ingenious idea but couldn't remember the right spell."
Lavender sparkled at Neville.
"I think the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Slytherins have experienced similar stories," Neville said with a grin. 'But it's not up to me to tell them. I thank you all for going down this path with me. I thank our families and friends who supported us, I thank our teachers who have – almost - never lost patience with us. I thank the Outstanding Wizarding Levels Commission for not having to continue with Potions after the OWLs."
Neville waited until the laughter was muted and then collected his speech. "Ultimately, I thank the incredibly beautiful Miss Hannah Abbott for being my girlfriend. Have a nice evening."
Neville walked away from the lectern to thunderous applause, waving at Hannah, who stared at him with a bright red face. Next to her, Augusta Longbottom wiped a tear from the corners of her eyes.
They were then called to the front by their Heads of House individually to receive their diplomas. Dawlish had already left school, as the last lessons had been completed yesterday, so Professor McGonagall stepped in for him as Head of Gryffindor, which gave her obvious pleasure.
"Congratulations, Potter," she said, shaking his hand. "An excellent result."
Harry was relieved that he was not called upon to honour the best of the year; instead, Hermione, Terry and Daphne were honored, both of whom also had to live with the 'flaw' of an 'Exceeds Expectations' NEWT, but had occupied more subjects than he had. After the end of the official part, Harry, Ron and Hermione found themselves in a Weasley mass embrace.
"Congratulations, Ron," Molly said through tears as she hugged him tightly. "A great diploma!"
"Yes, Ronnie," George said disgustedly. "Great. Shame on you."
"Shame on you all," Ginny added with a grin.
"Don't listen to them," Percy said, shaking their hands eagerly. "Very good, really very good."
"I'm glad I gave you your money back, Harry," said George. "I couldn't live with using such academic capital."
"I understand that," Harry said, smiling, before joining Ron and Hermione to admire little Victoire.
It was a great evening that the seventh-years spent with their families, although a striking number of people he had never seen before wanted to shake Harry's hand. He personally thanked Sprout and Flitwick for everything they had taught him (Percy insisted on accompanying him) and endured half an hour in Professor Slughorn's presence, during which he squeezed him out about his future and his plans with Lockhart (Lucius Malfoy, on the other hand, was ignored by Slughorn). It took long before the Weasleys said goodbye and Harry and Ginny could steal away. A glance at the Marauder's Map revealed that the prefect's bathroom was already occupied (Dean and Lavender), so they opted for the Room of Requirement to celebrate Harry's graduation.
The next day passed like a movie for Harry: breakfast, then haphazard wandering around the castle with Ron, Ginny and Hermione, where they exchanged nostalgic stories about what they had experienced here, then lunch and the last visit to Hagrid as Hogwarts students.
"Can't believe you lot are leaving," Hagrid said moved. "It seems to me like yesterday that you have squeezed me out abou' the stone."
- "Have you heard anything from Norberta again?", Ron asked curiously.
"Has a baby now," Hagrid said enthusiastically, scrawling out a wizard's photo. "Charlie sent it to me. Great guy, your brother."
In the picture sat a small dragon female, who grimly fumed into the camera.
"Sweet," Ginny said dryly.
"Well, I guess, everything will be a bit quieter without you," Hagrid muttered.
"I don't think so," Hermione said, smiling. "In Hogwarts, there will always be enough to do, Hagrid. You won't get bored."
"That's what I'll take care of next year, promised," Ginny said.
"I'll make a toast when the last Weasley leaves the castle," Hagrid laughed. "You three will come to visit me, right?"
They promised it.
"Good," Hagrid said contentedly. "After all, I'll be seventy next year, you shouldn't miss it."
In the evening they experienced their last feast in Hogwarts, to which the house elves once again rose to the absolute highest form. Harry was sure that Kreacher had had his fingers in selecting the food, because he had never seen so many of his favourites on the table. Especially the younger Gryffindors celebrated the win of the house cup exuberantly, although their house teacher had not come back to the castle on this occasion. Harry wondered who would take over the post next year and whether he would be more lucky than his predecessor. As for Dawlish, Kingsley had convinced him to start as an instructor at the Auror Academy.
This was followed by the last evening together in the common room, where everyone was a little gloomy and shared stories about eight years of rule-breaking, teaching and coexistence, and then the last night in their dormitory and comfortable four-poster beds. Harry barely got an eye closed on the thought that he would leave Hogwarts in the morning. It wasn't forever, he knew that, but as often as he would come back here, it would never be the same as as a student. In the morning, Peeves personally said goodbye to them by giving a concert in their dormitory at five o'clock with a tuba, which dropped all of them out of their beds. The poltergeist flew out of the door laughing before anyone could retaliate, presumably on the way to the other houses.
"I'm not going to miss him!" Dean swearingly clarified, before dropping back into bed.
When it was time to get up, each of them seemed to have something to do before they could go down for breakfast. They hesitated and stretched the time to leave the dormitory forever as long as possible, collected all the little things that had accumulated over the last eight years - Neville found Ron's old, one-armed figure of Viktor Krum under his bed - and finally stood embarrassedly in the doorway and looked one last time into the room which had been their home for most of the last years. Harry thought of all the laughter that had taken place here, of Ron, who encouraged the players on Dean's football posters to move, to Dean spitting the fire whiskey across the room, to all the little squabbles and joys of the last eight years. Neville put his arms around him and Seamus.
"It's been a wild ride, mates."
"It has," Ron confirmed, smiling, turning around and walking down the stairs first, followed by the others. Harry took a long look into the room, then closed the door.
At breakfast, despite Ginny trying everything, he didn't get a bite down, and for the first time in human memory, Ron did the same, staring nostalgically at the enchanted ceiling.
"Crazy, isn't it?" he asked quietly. 'I'm still not getting used to it. To this... to everything."
Hermione leaned against him with a smile. "Thank you both for coming back."
"That was the best idea we've ever had," Harry said.
"Oh, I don't know," Ron said. "To escape from Gringotts on a dragon still surpasses that, I would say."
McGonagall said a few more words and then they walked through the entrance hall, past the monument with the names of the people Harry would never forget, and out into the bright morning sun, where the carriages were waiting for them.
As they drove the long way to the station with Neville and Luna, Harry looked out of the window back to the castle, its towers becoming smaller and smaller and then disappearing behind a bend. Hagrid. McGonagall. Dumbledore and Snape. Flitwick and Sprout. Sirius and Remus. Hogwarts would always be in his heart, along with all the memories of the people who were firmly connected to it. Hogwarts would never stop fascinating him. He sighed softly and Ginny gently kissed him on the cheek. Harry smiled at her and the others, ready for whatever was coming now, and took a deep breath.
"So," he said. "That's it."
...and that really is it - end of story! Please leave a review if you've liked it.
Also, I`ve decided to write a sequel titled "Harry Potter and the Elixir of Life", which is already online. I'll try to post updates every week, but I can't promise anything due to the current situation.