'Now we've had the cliche speech, I think we can go on with the usual procedure,' Lupin sniggered and the crowd laughed as he stepped down and Dumbledore returned to the stage. He was charming. No one could deny that. He had had the crowd wrapped around his finger while speaking and that was a talent not a lot of people had. It seemed to come easily to him and he probably didn't even notice.
'Thank you for those kind and inspirational words,' Dumbledore spoke. He then conjured a pile of parchment out of thin air and caught hold of them. 'And now, lets proceed to the more formal step. If I call your name, please step forward so I can hand you your diploma that you will sign and we will congratulate you,' he said with a gentle smile. When he said "we", he gestured to the four heads of houses and the ministry officials who had now taken the stage as well. I was still rather unnerved by Lupin's words, but I managed to direct my attention to the stage. Dumbledore started naming students one by one. I knew I would be named fairly quickly, since B came second in the alphabet. 'Avery, Allan,' he spoke and the boy next to me stirred. He stepped onto the stage, took his diploma — which he signed — and his congratulations and walked over to the other side of the stage where we were to gather for a picture. Next up was Archer, Nova, a Hufflepuff I had only once talked to in my entire school career, but I supposed she was okay. I mostly remembered her name because my name always came after hers. 'Black, Sirius,' Dumbledore spoke as expected and I got up. He handed me the bit of parchment and smiled at me when he congratulated me and wished me the best in the world. I quickly signed the parchment with my curly signature, thanked him and stepped towards the heads of houses. They all shook my hand and gave me the standard "congratulations, Black", except for Horace Slughorn. He thanked me for the past seven years and wished me the best in the world. He told me to write to him, because he was sure I was going to make it far in the wizarding world. I only thanked him halfheartedly. I took my place next to Allan and watched the others being called forward. 'Carrow, Cedric… Catchlove, Greta… Clermont, Jonathan.' I had once flown against him in a Quidditch match and broken his wrist with my beater's bat. 'Evans, Lily.' She got praised into the skies by all the heads of houses and by Dumbledore, which was to be suspected, since she was exceptionally bright. I hadn't quite figured out yet if I liked her. 'Hughes, Caleb.' He was another Slytherin and also a friend of Allan and Isak. 'Lajila, Lancaster… Remus Lupin.'
My gaze locked on him as he strolled over to the front, got his diploma and walked over to this side of the stage. Unconsciously, I hoped he would come and stand beside me, but since Allan and Caleb had taken the places on my left and right sight, he wouldn't even be able to. He took place besides Nova Archer and Lajila Lancaster — who was a Ravenclaw girl. I supposed he wasn't really fond of standing next to those evil Slytherins. I sighed and looked away from him to where the ceremony was still continuing. Mary Macdonald, Gwendolyn March and Dorcas Meadows had now been called forward. All three of them were Lily's friends and Gwendolyn March had been my girlfriend in the fourth year. We hadn't spoken since she had caught me kissing Axel Sutherland, a Ravenclaw boy. That hadn't been one of my finest moments. 'Mulciber, Isak… O'Donnell, Jason… Pettigrew, Peter.' I kind of tuned out after that. I heard Potter, James and the Prewetts being called forward. After Romanova, Adalae, the list of names came soon to an end and there we stood, packed together. There was only one last part to the ceremony: picture time. It took fifteen long and sweaty minutes before we had finally gotten it, but after that the crowd cheered and applauded and everyone scattered off to their families. I walked over to my parents rather reluctantly. Regulus congratulated me first and after that I got a stiff hand from both my father and my mother. They were such warm and lovely people. I thanked them. My father didn't mention the motorbike, but I knew that that meant I had earned it. Otherwise he would have rubbed it in my face that I had not been a "good boy".
'I'm going over to my friends,' I said. 'There will be a party tonight in the Great Hall so I will go there and then return to London by train tomorrow.' My mother nodded stiffly.
'Behave yourself then,' my father said. I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes and decided not to respond to his comment.
'See you later, Regs,' I said. I spun around and walked away to where my friends were huddled together. A few yards away from them were Lupin and his clan. The difference between the two groups was almost painful to watch. Lupin's group was laughing and hugging. Some of them even seemed emotional about the fact that they had to leave each other and Lily Evans and Mary Macdonald were laughing and crying at the same time while they hugged. My friends didn't smile or hug. They just stood in a close group, whispering in low voices. They looked rather serious and I felt reluctant to join them. I knew however, that I had no choice, because I could still feel my parents' eyes burn holes into my back. As I joined them, I didn't bother to say hi. I just leaned against the castle wall and tried to listen in on their conversation that was most likely about something boring. As I stood there, I suddenly saw someone else gazing at me. Lupin had looked over his shoulder and our eyes met for the second time today. This time, he smiled. In a few seconds I had made my decision. My parents seemed to be too busy with the Averys so I took my chance. I strolled over to Lupin without a backwards glance at my friends and stopped right in front of him.
'Congratulations,' I spoke and a lazy grin spread across my face.