All a Dream
Chapter 27
And then, the week came. That ever dreaded week: exam week. Harry watched as one by one, every student began to show their signs of stress. Stew could be seen on the grounds, flying on his broomstick, reciting various key pages of the texts. Ginny was actually finding her surroundings colder, and wore a winter cloak all the time. Several people were unnecessarily snappish about trivial things, while other people were too distant to care much. Harry just felt tired all the time.
His written Charms exam was first, and while he had to wrack his brain for some of the older spells Harry felt he'd done quite well. Immediately after lunch, he then had his Charms practical exam. His examiner was a frizzy-haired lady in a nasty, green robe. Her aura of tenseness did not help Harry's concentration any, and when asked to fill with water a glass he had just recently charmed to float, the jet of water that appeared shattered the glass and soaked him and the examiner head to toe. The lady looked up at him from under the soggy, dripping mop that was her hair. "I now suggest that you Clean This Mess," she said, emphasising the last three words.
Of course, Harry complied, stunned to silence.
The rest of his exams went much the same, though he felt that he did rather better in Transfiguration and Defence. For those two exams, he practically had a smile on his face the whole time. This was truly his element, and it made him glad.
Somehow, in between his written and practical exam for Herbology, Harry met up with Erin for lunch.
"So how've your exams been going, Erin?" Harry asked his little sister as they walked along the edge of the lake, eating sandwiches.
Erin looked a bit uncomfortable. "I'm not sure at all. I mean, I think I did okay, but I didn't understand many of the questions in Transfiguration. I don't think I did too well on that one."
"Hey, at least you didn't ruin the robes of a NEWT level examiner."
Erin gasped. "What did you do?"
"She asked me to do Aguamenti, and I guess I just overdid it."
This amused Erin to no end. She didn't entirely stop laughing until Harry looked at his watch and realised he'd be late to his practical if he didn't get going.
.:. :.: .:.
Exams were finally over, and Harry was wandering the nearly empty halls. He'd already packed his trunk and was waiting for seven-o-clock, when the graduation ceremony would begin. But before that happened, he wanted to check something first.
"Third floor, past the trolls..." Harry muttered to himself. "Oh...I guess it was goblins he was trying to teach to dance. Well, here goes nothing."
Harry walked to the vase and thought. Then he walked back to the end of that corridor, and thought. He did that three more times. I want to know the truth. I want to know what I missed.
On his third time past the blank stretch of wall, he heard a kind of sucking-popping noise, and looked to his left. There was a simple, wooden door, like any other found in Hogwarts. Funny; he'd always found it to his right. Harry waited one second. Two. Three. Then, cringing his eyes in case he had done something horribly wrong, Harry turned the knob of the door and opened it slowly. The hinges made no noise, and Harry looked all around him. He didn't know why he was trying to be so secretive. It wasn't like he was going against the rules in a fit of rebellion or anything. But maybe it was just that...this was something he had to do alone.
In the dark room was an old film projector, the kind with the reels on top, looking like Mickey Mouse ears. On the wall was an unwrinkled bedsheet, and on the floor was a beanbag chair.
As soon as Harry sat down, the film began to roll. At first, everything was white, and then the movie started. They were all the family videos, like Stew wobbling around on fat toddler legs, Mae eating a chocolate birthday cake with a candle on top that changed colours, Erin laughing at her father's silly faces, Nigel being held by various relatives and friends. Harry was amazed to find that there were a few shots he was in, not only as a baby, but also during the time between the defeat of Voldemort and his awakening. Though he hadn't been awake at all, he had been at home up until he was nine or so, staying in his room with Quidditch posters and a bedspread with owls on it. He wondered what happened to make him hospital-worthy, why he couldn't have stayed home instead. Then there were videos of family gatherings, taken by people other than Lily and James. A few clips were from the Weasley family, all of them dressed nicely for a wedding. Ron, of course, looked a little uncomfortable in the few-sizes-too-small dress robes, while Ginny, quiet, complacent, was dressed in a little, frilly dress just barely too big. Then the triplets stole the camera and ran around the room, filming up peoples' noses until Percy, still the rule-abiding one, grabbed the camera and gave it back to Mr. Weasley, who promptly began holding the camera upside-down. Drake was featured in one clip, where he was visiting Harry in hospital, very quiet, probably thinking.
Not all of the clips were happy, though. There was one of Dumbledore's funeral, and a wizarding news report of the Death Eaters still at large.
Harry tried hard to take it all in, to soak up as many of the years he missed as he could, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to, unless he had a pensieve and stored these memories in a bottle.
.:. :.: .:.
"What's the graduation ceremony like?" Harry asked Ginny as they were being handed proper, black robes and pointed hats with a black tassel on top.
"Well," Ginny answered, "you just walk up the aisle, and there'll be an arch. Just before you go under the arch, you have to shoot spark out of your wand, just to prove you can do magic at all and the last seven years haven't been a waste. Then you go shake the hands of the professors and sit down."
"That's it? It's that simple?" Harry said. "I was expecting something, I don't know, a bit grander."
"Oh...you'll see," Ginny said, pulling on her robe over her uniform. "Just because it's simple doesn't mean it isn't grand."
"Alphabetical order, now!" Professor McGonagall called out "Alphabetical order!"
"Oh, and one last thing," Ginny said quickly. "You have to wear the Sorting Hat again."
"I have to what?" Harry almost shouted before he was shooed by McGonagall to the middle of the line in front of Stew. Hadn't the Sorting Hat confirmed three times already that he was a Gryffindor?
As all the seventh years filed into the Great Hall, the crowd in the seats erupted into cheers. Fairies flew low overhead, as did owls and ravens. Cameras clicked and flashed, making Harry feel kind of like a movie star. A stage was erected at the front of the room, and the teachers were lined up on the left side. In the middle of the stage, set perpendicular to the audience was a beautifully woven and plaited, glass arch. As the first person was called up onto the stage, the audience quieted down, and white confetti was shot into the air from the bottom of the steps. Her name was called out by Professor McGonagall as she walked to the glasswork arch. She waved her wand, blue sparks came out, and she walked under the arch. As she did so, the tassel on her hat turned from black to white. She then sat on a stool, and put the Sorting Hat on her head, over her other hat. It was a second and a half before the hat yelled out, "Congratulations!" Smiling, the girl took off the hat, shook the professor's hands and sat in the first row of six reserved for the graduates. For the next sixteen letters, Harry concentrated very little. He did notice, though, that whether or not it was intentional, the sparks that shot out the end of people's wands corresponded with their house colours.
At last, Harry's name was called. He stepped onto the stage, and walked the long walk to the arch. He raised his hand and shot sparks into the air. But he was surprised when they turned out to be white instead of the red he'd intended. What was going on? Confused, Harry walked to the stool, not seeing the looks on everyone's faces, but hearing the excited whispers radiating throughout the hall.
As he sat on the stool he placed the hat on his head. With the hat he had the following conversation:
"My, my, my, you have changed since I saw you last, Mr. Potter."
"Really?"
"Why, yes. There is no doubting I sorted you correctly, but now...I'm not sure where I'd place you..."
"What do you mean? I'm still a Gryffindor, right?"
"Yes...and no. You see, you appear to have developed other characteristics. You've shown great loyalty to your little sister this year, Erin, loyalty as only a Hufflepuff would know. And you also studied, persevered, and have become as intelligent as any of the excellent Ravenclaws. Also, you were quite ambitious this year, and clever, too, determined to find the truth and accept it. But it took a lot of bravery to face those truths. Yes. Much bravery. And then much loyalty, intelligence, ambition, as I have already said. You are a changed man, Mr. Potter. And not quite like anything I have seen yet. An amazing specimen, you are."
"Um...thank you...I think. Will this change the ceremony at all? Can I just go and sit down with everyone else?"
"It will change the ceremony a bit, seeing as how I've talked with you longer than I have ever talked with one graduate before, but other than that, no. You may keep our conversation secret, or tell the whole world if you wish. I see no problem with either. I think you're ready, now, to face the world as a proud wizard. Congratulations!"
Harry removed the hat, went along the line of professors, smiling at each of their wondering faces, and sat down beside a short Slytherin who was gawking at him with bewilderment in his eyes. "No-one's ever had the hat on for that long," he said.
"Yeah. The hat told me," Harry replied.
A/N: So, I'm pretty much done now. If you ask me, I think it needs an epilogue. I'm going to write an epilogue.
I would have updated sooner, but my computer got a nasty, nasty virus. I'm just happy that my saved work wasn't annihilated.
Thanks for everyone who has stayed with me for so long! Thanks to everyone who read, alerted, favourited and reviewed! *hug*
