A/N: Essentially, what you recognize belongs to the goddess that is J.K. Rowling, and what you don't belongs to lil' ol' me.
It was the last day of the school year. Girls all around Genevieve were weeping and hugging the living daylights out of each other, while others made plans to meet over the summer. If Genevieve was thinking any one thing at that point, it would go along the lines of: Thank Merlin the Weasleys aren't that sentimental.
The last few days of the term had been marked by the comparison of exam results ("I can't believe you got 357% in Charms!"), lamenting over another lost Quidditch Cup ("Those dirty, rotten cheats!"), and the gradual winding down of education (though Snape and McGonagall pushed on ruthlessly).
Using a bit of magic she'd found in a housecleaning book, Genevieve had already packed her belongings and was planning on performing a Feather-Light Charm on her trunk before leaving Hogwarts. The twins, however, true to form, had opted to procrastinate until the last possible second, and were currently having to miss breakfast as a result.
As much fun as she'd had this year, Genevieve was looking forward to her long summer of tranquility and catching up on some long neglected reading. Charlie and Genevieve had also resolved to keep in touch over the summer through owl post, so as to get into the habit before he set off for Romania.
She had, bregrudgingly, admitted to Charlie that he'd made some headway in his quest to find her deep-rooted love of animals. She sometimes even went out to Hagrid's for a quiet afternoon of tea, reading, and hanging out with Buckbeak. Despite the hippocgriff's stubborn and prideful nature, he could be extraordinarily gentle.
Almost as if he'd heard her thoughts, Charlie plopped down next to her, grinning. "So, how was your first year at Hogwarts?"
"Definitely not what I'd planned, but it did turn out to be quite a productive year," she admitted.
"Prank-wise or school-wise?"
She smirked. "Who said I had to choose?"
•~0~•
Arriving back at King's Cross, Genevieve paused to chat with the Weasleys for a while (Mrs. Weasley, along with Ron and Ginny had been waiting for them) before finding her own father amidst the crowd. With one last wave towards the sea of red hair, the Snows departed for home.
On the way back, Genevieve reflected over the past year. She'd arrived with ambition, caused a Hatstall, made a few friends, pulled some impressive pranks, aced her exams, and somewhat overcome her fear of animals. She thought back to the shaking first year who'd entered the gates of Hogwarts and decided that she'd changed. She now recognized the value of friendship and had grown exponentially as a person. But she came to one definite conclusion. This was the conclusion of her beginning, but it wasn't the end. Not at all.