Chapter Twenty-Seven

The Other Side of the Lake

It was on the Wednesday morning of that first week of the end that Sirius met me at the bottom of the staircase. He kissed me slowly, and with my eyes closed the world felt still and silent, the kind of moment I could savor forever.

After a moment of time in which the length could be debated, Sirius broke away gently, smiling. "So, I was wondering, you don't have a date for the Ball, do you?"

I wanted to roll my eyes but smiled instead. "Of course not, you dolt."

"Wanna go with me, then?"

This time I really did roll my eyes, though it was in good humor. "You're not particularly a romantic one, are you?" But I laughed, pecked him on the lips again, and answered, "I'd love to."

Sirius was odd when he was trying to be romantic, I'd decided. And a touch of awkward. But that was probably what I loved about him so much.

The week trudged on treacherously. The Transfiguration NEWT had been harder than I'd anticipated and so after I'd left the exam, I'd vowed to study every other subject relentlessly, to avoid the catastrophe that had been. Needless to say, I was up to my elbows in Defense revising.

"You know, there's a practical portion, too," Lily reminded me.

Of course I remembered that, but I still had a lot of theory to cover. I ground my teeth together. I didn't have time at the moment to practice. My offensive spells did need work, though...

"Ugh! I am sick of this!" I threw the book to the floor and scattered the blank parchment all through the air. Anger burning hot, I aimed my wand and yelled, "Reducto!" The paper fizzled in a frenzy, igniting at once and then simmering and falling to ash on the floor.

"Yeah! Burn that parchment! Go, Gracie!" Sirius egged me on as I grabbed all the parchment I could get my hands on, then threw it in the air and murdered it like it was the spawn of the devil. It felt to the ground like rain, sprinkles of defeated dust lying on the carpet. I blasted my inkwell with the spell and the air erupted with black, contaminating everything in close proximity.

"Reducto! Reducto! Reducto!"

The common room floor was soon covered in ash and ink, and I stood, breathing hard and staring at the destruction.

Lily sunk back further into her armchair and didn't raise her head from her book once. "Well," she said, "I'm not cleaning that up."

The end was near, though. Such was the way of life. All good things came to an end, but, thankfully, so did all bad things. Such as exams.

Thursday, the eighth of June, was a day that I'll never forget.

Sirius got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

Just kidding. Honestly. (What? Mental and sleep deprivation makes you think stupid things are humorous. Not my fault.)

Thursday, the eighth of June, was the day of our History of Magic NEWT. But it wasn't just the History of Magic NEWT—it was the very last of our NEWTs. (Well, except for the people that took Muggle Studies, because that was on Friday. But not many people took that class. Especially not at NEWT level. So that was irrelevant.)

It was the last exam we'd ever take at Hogwarts again. (You know, considering you weren't one of those silly Muggle Studies kids, which most people weren't.)

When the professors had called time and all of our exams had been taken up, I think the entire room of students paused to take that final breath and stare at each other in eager anticipation. As soon as we were dismissed from the Great Hall, a good eighty percent of us were cheering and screaming in victory.

The professors looked like they might want to stop us, but I guess they just hadn't had the hearts to cap our enthusiasm.

It was over.

On our supply list before first term, there had been a very clear indication that seventh years would require dress robes for the end of the year. In the third of week of June, there was an annual event known as the Leaving Ball, a prologue of sorts to the Leaving Feast.

It was mildly silly, I concluded, to end a good seven years of education with a Ball, of all things, but Lily looked excited, and I reckoned I should have been as well.

Lily, Mary and I were supposed to meet the boys sometime after the sky got dark. I'd forgotten exactly when they specified, but I figured that Lily was being rather punctual about it all, so she'd remind me when we needed to go.

I sat by the window and watched in solemn silence as the sky slowly slid to dark. Grey, dusty clouds hung in the sky, masking all sunlight and seeming to whisper rain. I almost laughed. How cheery.

Lily walked out of the bathroom, a cross look on her face. "Ugh," she said, stomping over to where I sat. "Those girls are awful. Crowding the mirror and pushing everyone out of the way. They were stepping on my feet, and they didn't even apologize! Remind me to never go to another Hogwarts ball again."

I shot her a momentarily sly smile before returning my eyes to the window. Well, of course we'd never be attending another Hogwarts ball again, Lily.

"Why the long face?" she asked, sitting at my side.

"Just thinking."

"You've got a particularly depressed looking thinking face."

"Well, I do feel slightly depressed," I said in a small voice and sighed. "I'm ready, though."

"That you are," Lily said, and smiled brightly. "And might I add that you look absolutely breathtaking. So breathtaking, in fact, that I might faint from lack of oxygen."

"Oh, stop it with the flattery," I said, rolling my eyes and returning her a smile. "You look positively heart stopping. I just might die looking at you."

It wasn't a lie, either. She was wearing a golden dress, sparkles at the top that gently cascaded and faded towards the bottom. She'd just finished sorting out what she was going to do with her hair, and left it'd down and pushed it to one shoulder. The red strands curled together in a simple sweep at her collarbone. All together, there were little words to sum it up well. Lily Evans was just radiant.

She pondered that for a moment, and then said, "I feel like that could be taken badly."

"It could be," I agreed. "Maybe if you'd just stop being so beautiful then we wouldn't have this issue."

"All right, fine, now I'm flattered." She grinned goofily. "Anyways, we're just waiting for Mary now. We'll leave once she's done."

We both stood, leaning onto our bed frames, and conversed senselessly about our lack of dancing skills. I doubted she couldn't dance, honestly. Knowing Lily, she'd probably picked up a book somewhere and studied it when I wasn't looking.

As we were talking, a girl slipped out of the bathroom (with apparent struggle—it seemed to be an animal house in there). The girl was Lucy O'Daley, clad in bright, shocking purple and blond ringlets locked in place. My eyes narrowed upon the sight of her, and she went through the dorm obliviously, because Lucy O'Daley was in general an oblivious person, and left without noticing Lily's or my glare.

I realized quickly we'd both been directing similar looks towards her, and we simultaneously burst out into laughter.

"Oh, we should be nice," Lily said with forlorn. "I mean, she's awful, but we shouldn't stoop down to her level."

"Who'd she end up going with, anyway?"

"Ben Swott." She shrugged. "Peter's better off with that other girl he asked, anyhow. She's sweet, in a squeaky, little person sort of way, you know?"

Last week, Peter had made an incredible fuss over asking Lucy O'Daley to the ball. Peter had never out rightly fancied a girl like he did O'Daley, so the entire thing was pretty controversial all in itself. When he'd finally strung up the courage to ask her, though, she'd automatically said no.

Sure, the girl had the right to reject his offer, but she hadn't had to say it in such a cold manner, nor in front of the Gryffindor House, as she'd clearly made certain. The girl was a bint.

Sorry. Being nice. Right.

Peter had been a wreck for two days straight. He'd refused to eat anything, and James and Sirius had practically had to tie him down to shove some form of food down his throat. He'd shaken himself out of his trance a few days later, and then on Monday morning he'd announced he had a date. Which was so surprising of a recovery that it was almost appalling, really. He'd asked out a Hufflepuff girl that I was constantly forgetting was in our year. I mean, literally, she was tiny. But, as Lily had said, she was sweet, in a 'squeaky, little person sort of way.' So, Peter was fine now, and this Hufflepuff girl was much better suited for him.

But, still. He was my friend, and if Lucy O'Daley had the right to reject him, I had the right to resent her for it.

"Yeah, you're right," I said to Lily. "Her name's Amelia, right?"

"I think so. Amelia Bones. I like her."

I did, too. He'd brought her up to us to meet her, and she'd spent an afternoon with us by the Black Lake. She was cute.

Shortly after that, Mary came stumbling out of the bathroom, breathless and flushed in the face. "Merlin, am I glad they don't put that much effort in their hair every morning!" She stopped, pulling at her dress. "Do I look all right?"

"You are gorgeous, Mary."

"Yeah. You should send your photograph in for Charming Witch Weekly."

She giggled. And she did look gorgeous in that wispy pink dress of hers. "Well, thanks. God, the two of you are lovely. Gracie, red's definitely your color."

"You're too sweet," I said, lightening up considerably. Might as well, I figured. "Shall we go now?"

"Absolutely! We've got places to be!"

"I don't think so," Sirius said, taking my hand and leading me away. "I will not allow your first dance of the night to be with anyone but me. Besides, the last time something like this was going on, Remus was your date."

"Yeah, well, he regretted that, didn't he?" I smiled at Sirius, enjoying the way he pulled me close to him as the music started somewhere far away. "I'm sorry. I'm sure the bloke just doesn't have a date and he wanted someone to dance with." In reference to the stray Ravenclaw that had asked me to dance a good five minutes before the music had even started.

"Yes, love, but I do have a date, and I don't intend on letting her get away just yet." He smiled. "By the way, did I tell you that you're beautiful?"

I was trying to keep a straight face, but I was still smiling. "No."

"Well, you are, Gracie."

"Thanks," I said softly, then started laughing. "You're beautiful, too." And he was, the kind of beautiful that made me want to stare all night.

He just winked as the music got louder and we drifted along together to the music. I wasn't entirely familiar with dancing, but I figured it out pretty quickly and soon we were moving in step through the crowd. I decided I didn't care too much for dancing, but I liked being with Sirius, so perhaps dancing wasn't that bad after all.

I spotted Peter and Amelia somewhere far off, prancing and twirling and doing whatever else the song entailed. Then I looked for Remus and Mary, and found them on the other side of the room, laughing their heads off. And then I finally spotted Lily and James, and out of everyone in the Great Hall, I think it was safe to say that they were the most stunning couple of anyone in the room. Just the way they held each other and smiled into each other's eyes, oh Merlin, I could have started gushing and squealing right there. I loved them. I hadn't meant to, but I found Kenneth somewhere off, too, dancing with Ruth. There was an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach, though not necessarily an unpleasant feeling. I smiled instead.

I turned my attention back to Sirius, who I noticed had been looking at me while I'd been momentarily distracted. The thoughts of the others slipped from my mind and I raised my brows curiously at him.

He just shook his head, grinning slightly. "Nothing."

The song changed then, tempo rapidly increasing and vibrating off the walls. We both shared a quick look before he grabbed my hand and dragged me into the mob that had formed. At first I groaned at his insistence, but the atmosphere was infectious. The air was thick and every sound was heightened as it pumped in my ears. Soon enough the two of us were dancing, along with the majority of the student body, and things elevated into insanity.

Sirius took my hand again and spun me under his arm. I twirled in my spot, only once, because the scene was dizzying enough as it was, and crashed back into him with a laugh. I'd been laughing the entire time, with every bob and wiggle and spin I did, because it was ridiculous, but next to Sirius, strangely fun.

The others appeared magically around us. I caught glimpse of Lily and Mary and pulled them to the front in a rush of excitement. We danced like lunatics, thrashing about wildly and jumping up and down. Our moves were peculiar, in a way that was purely hilarious and the farthest distance from serious we could manage. The music was still a roar in my head, and in that loud moment, everything else in the world felt so far away. Like we weren't even really at Hogwarts anymore. We were strangers, in a foreign land, paired with heavy music, children growing up and drifting away from home. It was surreal, and with the intensity of sound crowding my mind, there was absolutely no room for solemn thoughts.

Mary, Lily and I were laughing so hard that when the music calmed down, the three of us were doubled over with laughter, struggling to catch our breaths between hiccupping giggles.

Finally, after several thousand gasps, I righted myself as the music softened like a heartbeat and another slow song crept throughout the Hall. It echoed off of the walls and fell to my crazed, racing pulse like mist.

"Oh, I need to dance with somebody now," Lily moaned in annoyance. I scanned the crowd absentmindedly for James, but he seemed to have disappeared. Sirius, too. But Remus's sandy brown head of hair was bobbing somewhat of a distance away.

"Me too," I agreed quickly, deciding that the gentle tempo was too irresistible to go to waste. "You see Sirius anywhere?"

Lily shook her head. "No. James?"

"No," I said, craning my neck. "But I see Remus."

Mary and I shared a look.

"You wouldn't," she said.

I smiled innocently. "Wouldn't what?"

"Gracie—"

"If I get there first, he's mine!"

"Fine, but you won't get there first...!"

Needless to say, a minute of squeezing past couples and shouting fast apologies later, I was there first.

"Remus! Hi! Do you want to—"

"No! Remus!" Mary rushed up, cutting my words short and taking him by both of the hands, "Come on, let's go dance!"

"Hey! That's cheating! I clearly got here first!"

"What, Gracie?" Mary shot me a backwards glance and winked mischievously before sauntering off with her victory. Poor Remus. He looked hopelessly confused.

Oh well. I stood in place for a moment idly, wondering if I should go look for Sirius or not, before some unwanted adventurer found me and asked for a dance. I didn't mind dancing, it was just that... well... maybe I minded it a little...

"Gracie!" Two arms slid their way around my waist, immediately shrinking away my thoughts and leaving my head blank. Sirius planted a kiss on my cheek, then spun me around and tugged on my elbow. "Come on, what do you say we get out of here?"

"Sirius! Merlin," I sighed, and let him drag me off for possibly the hundredth time that night. "Where are we going?"

"Don't sound so afraid," he chastised lightly, smiling in a rather goofy manner. He pushed through the doors out of the Great Hall and laced his fingers through mine absentmindedly. I noticed the gesture, though. I liked the warmth.

"Are we going outside?" A valid question, considering it had been raining off and on all day.

"Maybe."

I frowned thoughtfully but didn't say anything more. That was indeed where we were headed, it seemed, and upon reaching the fresh outdoors, I discovered it wasn't raining at all. The path was still wet, of course, but the rain appeared to have stopped.

"You can still hear the music from out here," Sirius said, shaking his head. "Oh well. Wanna walk with me?"

"Sure," I said, thinking how he should be thanking his lucky stars I'd chosen comfort over stilettos for my shoe choice this evening. Unlike Lily. She'd probably long kicked her shoes off by now, though.

We walked then, but slowly, like we were two people with all the time in the world. And maybe we were.

"What do you think's going to happen?" Sirius asked after a moment, as if he'd been holding the question for a while. "After we leave. With the war."

I tilted my head ever so slightly, watching our footsteps. "I think it'll be dead scary for a long time," I answered honestly. "But I don't think it's anything we can't handle."

Sirius made a noise like a laugh, though it was dry. "What can we handle, really?"

"Plenty of things, I'm sure," I said. He was right, though, in a way. "It'll just require a little bit of invested effort, I think."

He nodded slowly, as if processing the idea, and then said, "That sounds okay."

"Yeah. I like okay."

"How long are you going to be gone to see your parents?"

"Two weeks. Maybe three." I winced. "Depending on how it goes."

"You're making me wait three weeks to see you? An entire three weeks? Gracie." He said my name like a sigh, a gentle, teasing exhale of breath that made me crave our proximity so much more.

"I'm not sure how transatlantic owling services work, either, so I don't think I'll be able to write."

"You're killing me here."

"I can assure you that I take no pleasure in the entire ordeal," I said painfully. "I'd much rather be stuck in dreary old England."

"When you get back, you can visit my flat. Maybe help me with some interior decorating or something. Merlin knows I need some help in that department."

"I will have you know that I am an avid believer in pink roses as the single most important decoration in any home, shape or size, witch or wizard."

Sirius groaned. "Fine, never mind, then. I suppose I could always just ask Remus, he's always liked that, oddly enough—hey, did you just feel a drop on your head?"

I stared at him, eyes going wide. We simultaneously glanced backwards at the path we'd travelled down, and then up to the dark, foreboding sky as more drops of water sprinkled over my face.

"I thought it was done raining!"

"I have been highly suspicious of those ruddy clouds the entire day," said Sirius, flailing his hands about in the air. "And look! They promised security and they have betrayed us!"

"I fear you are being far too melodramatic, Siri-dearest." I grinned cheekily and took both of his hands in mine. "Let's go inside, before the drizzle ruins your hair. I'm sure it took you a long time to get it like that, yeah?"

"Actually," Sirius said, and inclined his head in a sharp, exaggerated movement as he did so, "I was born with my hair like this."

"Hm." I pondered on that thought. "Your mother must have been devastated."

"Don't be like that," Sirius said, drawing me to him in an almost absentminded manner, and his smile was alight with mischief. It was hard not to kiss him. "You know, I heard that when someone's mean to you, it means they fancy you."

I shoved him away, laughing, rain falling harder around us. "Or maybe I just don't like you."

"See, but that's what you're supposed to say. You're playing yourself right into my hands, love."

"Well, maybe that was the intention."

"You've got no idea what you're saying, Gracie. You're going off of an impulse. Leaping off a ledge of faith, hoping the ground's not too far away to catch you."

I rolled my eyes at the metaphor. "I think it's you who's got no idea what he's saying."

"Probably. Did you know it's raining?"

"No." I gasped. "Really? How come I didn't feel that?"

"Oh, shut up," he laughed. "Our nice clothes are going to get ruined."

"Along with our hair," I pointed out, noticing how mine was beginning to cling to my skin.

"Let's go, then. It's an emergency!"

I didn't really mind the rain, though, and I'd always heard that life was meant to be lived in the moment. And this seemed like a really potentially good moment. "One second," I murmured softly, bringing myself back to him and meeting my mouth against his.

He responded slowly, as if he was taken aback, but reignited gradually like a paradoxical fire in the pouring rain. I smiled into the kiss, letting it linger for a few long moments, then pushed my hands against his chest to wriggle away, because if I hadn't, we might never have been able to pull ourselves apart.

I slipped from his grasp, a glint in the dim light of the grounds. "Come on, I'll race you!"

"You know, these things never end well for you, Gracie."

"Yeah? Wanna bet?"

"Oi! You're cheating again! Get back here, Grace Hachette!"

And the hats had been thrown into the air, floating against gravity, like feathers in the wind...

"...Congratulations to the graduating seventh year...!"

The wind that blew over the Black Lake was icy and drove a strangely hollow nerve throughout my core as I watched lines of students file out from the castle and towards the assembled rows of first-year boats. It was like walking in a trance, really, one that I wasn't quite sure how to wake up from. I could hear McGonagall's voice some distance away, echoing through the dark, "Three to a boat! Three to a boat only!"

Everything about this was nostalgic of my first steps here. Sickeningly so. I made myself remember how I promised myself I wouldn't cry, and kept repeating this promise in my head like a mantra so I might keep to it. Unlikely, but I hadn't broken it yet.

The boys, Lily, and I were gathered around a single rowboat, staring with trepidation at its size. We'd tried to get Mary to come along with us, but she'd dismissed herself, saying she needed to catch up with Georgia and Eunice. So, there were six of us in total, and we were suddenly faced with a difficult decision: how we would split up the group.

We all met each other's eyes slowly, and through a sort of passing eye contact, we seemed to form a silent agreement.

I don't know who said it, only that it wasn't me, but upon the initiatory shout, "I'M GETTING THE SEAT," the race was definitely on.

All at once, we were lunging at full speed for the boat.

The situation became something of an unorganized scene, and I was crawling over Remus, who struggled back. I ended up kicking him to the bottom of the boat and wiggled myself on the seat victoriously. "Ha! Take that!"

"You stepped on my hand! Not fair at all!" Remus cried back defensively.

"Oh, sorry, Remus! Pity's not getting me off, though—"

"AHH, WORMY, DON'T EVEN, THE SEAT'S MINE—"

Sirius and Peter were squabbling madly to land themselves on the wooden panel seat of the boat, but neither seemed to be making much progress. Their toil proved unnecessary, however, as Remus took advantage of their preoccupation to grab Sirius's ankle and pull him down to the floor.

"AHHH! YOU BLEEDING GIT!"

James's animalistic yells sounded behind them as he nose-dived on top of them in some sort of tackle.

"GEROFF! I'll hex you!"

"Why don't you get off? I'm not leaving!"

"You smell like a hippogriff!"

"Yeah, well how do you know what that smells like?"

The boat swayed back and forth in its rooted spot in the ground as they wrestled like children and Lily, Peter and I slid all over in our claimed seats.

I mean, it would have made a lot more sense if we'd just split up into two boats. But when did anything anyone ever did around here make sense?

"Stop yelling!" Lily chided, leaning down to swat at their heads. "They're getting ready to push the boats onto the water."

The three muted immediately and went still, hiding under the seats. Within moments, we were being shoved out onto the lake and gliding on the surface of the water.

Peter gripped the lantern tightly as we floated, and for a moment everything was eerily peaceful. The icy chill over the lake settled the melancholy in the pit of my stomach, and I found myself glancing back over my shoulder to the dimly lit castle. It was just as majestic as it had been the first time I'd laid my eyes on it, the place that was warm on the inside every day of the year, the place that had been home. My heart was loud in my chest as I thought this, and my tears were getting harder to restrain.

The boys stirred at the front of the boat, craning their necks for a glimpse. They bounced all over the side, sending the boat rocking in violent tilts.

"Moony, stop shaking the boat!"

"Oh, that's rich, Padfoot. It was probably you!"

"Just stop moving, the both of you, and we won't have this issue."

"But I'm not moving! It's not me!"

"It's not me, either!"

"Oh, this is bollocks, why is the boat rocking so bloody much?"

"It's because the weight's unstable!" Lily shouted at them impatiently. "Nobody move! At all!"

"We're not moving!"

"WE'RE GONNA TIP!"

When Peter started shrieking beside me, it created a chain reaction of comical panic. Well, comical later, at least, because we all honestly thought then that we were about to flip into the water. And some of us knew from experience that this was not exactly the best water for swimming.

Yet somehow, through the flaying and laughing and apologizing and screaming about our certain and imminent deaths, the scene was mesmerizing, and calming of sorts. The black glaze of the water was lit with specks of fire, leading us to the train at the foot of the castle grounds. In the dark, everything was vivid and fresh and overwhelming, and I thanked Merlin that I was laughing so hard, or I would have no doubt been in tears.

When we finally made it to the other side of the lake, we returned to scrambling on top of each other for the exit, as soon as feasibly possible. Sirius and James fell to the ground in heaps, gasping and heaving, and pressed their faces to the earth, crying in unison, "Land at last!"

My last steps on the Hogwarts grounds proceeded in a blur. I was vaguely aware of numerous bodies squeezing in through the door of the train, searching desperately for compartments, people everywhere in hysterics...

We came upon our own compartment eventually, and I crawled wordlessly to the window, staring out wide-eyed at the castle for the last time. The others came and joined me, pressing their faces and hands against the glass, saying nothing, a mutual lack of coherent thought. We watched till the train roared to life, and it wasn't until we were moving and everything was gliding away that I said to Sirius, "This is it, isn't it? It's the end."

But he just shook his head, a microscopic gesture, and said gently, "Not really. Nothing ever really has an end. The end's only an illusion, Gracie."

END OF PART ONE

...

A/N: If you're wondering if this is the end, just ask Sirius. (Serrriously.)

This chapter took a bit too long to write for my liking, but it was strangely sentimental, and I didn't want to rush Gracie's final moments at Hogwarts. I feel like a lot of people do that in their stories, and I wanted to emphasize how important the place was to her. I mean, heck, it'd be pretty sad for me to leave, too! Gosh, I'd never want to leave.

But, anyways. The story will take on a completely different aspect from this point on. I've got a tentative plan for the rest, so I should be able to get the prologue out for part two shortly. Well, kind of shortly. I don't know. It will just start at chapter 28, anyway, so you don't have to worry about hunting down an entirely different sequel story. There will be a part three (in the distant future) also, which will just be tacked onto this as well. I'm not really fond of creating entirely new stories for sequels and such... I dunno. Maybe I should, but I won't. Oh well.

SO THIS IS THE END! Well, you know what I mean. Thanks to everyone so much for your support lately. It's overwhelming. Goodness, I love you all. I'll see you next time, everyone. xx