I spent a lot of the next few days in the library, which earned me critical looks from Neville in particular.
He kept saying that the exams were written and I should finally give myself a break, even though he knew perfectly well that I wasn't studying.
I had told them both about my fears for the future directly after my talk with Emilia on Tuesday.
Hannah kept coming up with new suggestions, which I read up on, only to have them dismissed as good but not for me.
Neville, on the other hand, stuck to his opinion that it would all work out and I shouldn't stress so much.
That was easy for him to say, he knew what he wanted to do.
On the weekend, the three of us went to Hogsmeade for the last time.
This trip was planned as a relaxed finale, but ended up being more of a sentimental mourning session.
I held back a lot because yes I would miss it all here too but I had only spent a year here, unlike Neville and Hannah who had spent half their lives.
I had never really felt at home in Ilvermorny, so my departure from there had been more a cause for joy rather than sadness.
Every now and then we would stop and one of them would tell an anecdote about the shop or whatever it was we had stopped in front of.
It was quite sad but I think it did them both a lot of good to say goodbye.
Monday was our last day of school.
Of course, we didn't really do any more lessons. It was more like thinking about the school days and what we would miss the most.
I would miss being Daisy Harper, a normal girl who belonged.
I would miss having friends, I would miss this castle with all its secrets and wonderful rooms.
But what I certainly wouldn't miss would be the horrible weather.
But I didn't say all that, I let others go first, people who had more right to miss this, unlike me, who was just visiting.
The more the others talked about their school days, the more envious I became.
They all sounded so happy and when I thought about my school days, except for this last year, they were not nice memories.
Tuesday, the last day of the school year came sooner than expected.
We sat at the table dressed in cloaks and pointed hats waiting for Min to start the graduation ceremony.
It had been less than a year since I had sat here, watching the new first graders being assigned to their houses, and I was sure that the next year held nothing new for me.
I had been so incredibly wrong with this statement that I almost had to laugh about it.
There had been so many new things in my life in the last few months that I almost didn't know where to start.
But only almost.
I was no longer alone, that was probably what had changed the most.
Whereas I had been sitting alone at this table in September, I was now sitting next to my best friend, while my other best friend sat at the Gryffindor table.
Hannah grinned at me and reached for my hand as Min stepped up to the podium and the students fell silent.
It was going to happen and I was ready for it.
"Another year is behind us.
A special year because it's the first in eight years that Mr Potter hasn't caused trouble for once and I thank Merlin for him now becoming someone else's problem. May he have strong nerves."
The whole hall laughed and I could vividly imagine Min's delight at this joke when she wrote it.
"Despite all that, I will miss you Potter, you know that.
But enough of that. You all like you sitting here have done great this year. Many house points have been gained and many lost. There was hard fighting on the quidditch field and sometimes more deserved and sometimes less deserved wins.
Again, my congratulations to Gryffindor on the Quiddich Cup."
The Gryffindor table erupted in cheers.
"And now for the house cup.
Fourth place with 362 points goes to Slytherin.
Third place with 387 points goes to Hufflepuff.
And with 412 points, the house cup goes to Gryffindor."
Again, the whole table erupted in cheers. The decorations turned red and then the rest of the hall joined in the cheering.
"They always win," Hannah whispered with a laugh, but just kept clapping.
"And now comes only the most important reason to rejoice.
This particular year we have two final year students who have written their exams with great effort and passed with flying colours.
And these students I now ask to come forward to me," Min declared as soon as the cheering had started.
Hannah held my trembling hand the whole time as we walked forward and stood next to our house mates.
"First, the top two students of these years.
I'd like to ask for a big round of applause for Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy."
Draco?
Draco was the best?
It had paid off, all his hard work had paid off and he was the best.
He had to find a job like that.
Draco was visibly uncomfortable as he accepted his certificate from Min but she smiled kindly at him.
If I hadn't been so incredibly nervous, I probably wouldn't have been able to wipe the grin off my face, but right now I was just so busy trying not to faint from nervousness.
And of course Hogwarts couldn't just give out the certificates in alphabetical order, but randomly.
Which meant I was getting more and more nervous with each person who was called.
"Hannah Abbott," Min called out and I had to let go of Hannah's hand for better or worse.
The students who had received their certificates were standing on the other side of Min and so it became more and more empty around me, while the other side filled up.
I would die if I was the last one.
What if something had gone wrong with my sneaky action this morning and now I didn't get a report card at all?
What if Min hadn't found the note I'd stuck on the certificate and all my nervousness was for nothing?
What if I hadn't passed at all?
And then the certificate ceremony stopped short and I felt Min's gaze on me.
I nodded slightly while my heart was beating up to my throat.
I quickly sought Emilia's eyes, which I had already made out while waiting and whose approval I needed now more than anything else.
It was going to happen, now.
"Florentine Daisy Scamander," I heard my name and for a moment I felt as if the world had stopped except for me. Everything was silent, no one spoke a word or I just didn't hear it.
With trembling fingers and wobbly legs I walked the few steps to Min, took my certificate and shook her hand.
"I'm incredibly proud of you," she said softly, and as if a dam had broken, I now heard the sounds from the hall again.
Unintelligible murmurs drifted up to me and I received confused looks as I went to the other students.
But I didn't just get confused looks, Hannah grinned broadly at me while Neville looked shocked to the max.
I joined the group.
"That was so brave," I heard Hannah whisper behind me, who had sidled up to me and was now reaching for my hand again.
At that very moment, all the nervousness fell away from me, even though I was standing in the eye of the storm.
The decision to accept my certificate with my real name was accomplished.
I could control that and now, everything that happened now was out of my hands.
The people whose opinions mattered to me already knew who I was and as long as they stood behind me I didn't care what the rest of the world thought.
The reason I didn't want to get my certificate as Daisy Harper was simple, I wasn't Daisy Harper, I was Florentine Daisy Scamander and for the first time in my life I was really proud of it.
A grin spread across my face as the last students were called to receive their certificates.
I felt more alive than ever and I wouldn't have missed this moment for anything.
This was me and if it bothered anyone then so be it. If they shunned me for who and what I was, it didn't matter because there were people in my life who accepted me for who I was and loved me.
A big cheer went up as the last student, a Ravenclaw, held her certificate in her hands.
That was it, it was really done. Seven years of school, six of them at Ilvermorny, one here at Hogwarts and all for this moment.
For a future I didn't know yet what it would be like, but for a future.
"Congratulations to all our graduates and now let the feast begin!", Min sounded over the murmur of the students and the feast appeared on all the tables in the hall.
The group of students slowly moved back towards the tables and I too wanted to follow but Hannah held me back by the hand and pulled me into a hug.
"That was sooo brave. I feel like a proud mother right now," she laughed as she hugged me close to her.
I felt a warm hand on my shoulder and from the temperature alone it couldn't be Draco.
"Respect," I heard Neville's voice before he joined in the hug as well.
As soon as we broke away from each other, I scanned the group of students for Draco to congratulate him but I didn't find him.
Holding hands with Hannah, we walked back to the Hufflepuff table.
Well we at least tried to get to the table until we were stopped.
"Scamander?", Seamus addressed us from the side. "As in Newt Scamander? That's ultra rad, why didn't you say something?"
Hannah just pushed past him.
"Is she his granddaughter?"
"Isn't one of his grandchildren supposed to be some Animagus freak?"
"Another celebrity besides Potter."
"Must have had special treatment because of her name."
I heard the not so quiet wispers from everywhere without being able to assign it to specific people.
It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, I kept shouting in my head.
And it was true, I didn't care what the others thought but it was just too much for me.
There were too many questions I didn't want to answer now, too much confusion.
Of course I had expected it, it had been relatively clear to me what would happen as soon as the school found out about my identity, but now it was just too much for me.
I was happy with my decision because I knew it was the right one but the more I tried to understand the murmurings around me the more I would doubt this decision.
And I didn't want that, I didn't want to doubt.
I had two choices, either I stayed and would gradually regret my decision or I ran away from it.
Neither option appealed to me.
But one decision was taken away from me. "Shut up, all of you! It's none of your fucking business who she is or isn't. You leave her alone now and deal with your own fucking problems.
And if I hear one more person ask her a question, I'll curse them myself, you understand?" Draco's voice boomed behind my back and the murmuring died down instantly.
I turned to face him, only to look into his scowling face.
I didn't need to be protected, I never did and I never wanted to but for once it was exactly what I needed.
I had made myself vulnerable and he was protecting me, as was Hannah who was still holding my hand.
I hugged her, squeezed her tightly and murmured:
"Thank you for everything. I'm fine but it's just a bit much, I need to get some fresh air."
Hannah hugged me tighter. "Love you," I added and then I heard her sniffle.
"Love you too, now let's go, grab your boyfriend and get out of here. Neville and I will handle everything else."
I grinned at her as she pushed me off her.
I quickly grabbed Draco's arm, who was still standing close to us, and I pulled him out of the hall.
But I didn't stop once we were out of reach. I kept running and dragging Draco behind me, who kept up pretty well but didn't make a sound.
Only when we reached the lake did I stop and held my side with exertion.
My condition really left a lot to be desired.
There was silence for a short while, during which all that could be heard was our heavy breathing, until at some point Draco asked a quiet question: "Couldn't you at least have warned me?"
He wrapped his arms around my stomach and pulled me to him so that I was now leaning with my back against his chest and we were both looking at the lake.
"Then it wouldn't have been a surprise at all," I replied with a laugh.
"I could have done without that surprise.
I nearly had a heart attack when McGonnagal read out your name."
"Me too," I agreed with a laugh.
"Someday you will be the death of me," he muttered against the back of my head, audibly sucking in air.
"Congratulations on the best graduation, by the way," I said after we were silent for a moment.
"Granger's was better."
Indignantly, I turned to him.
"Now stop it. You got the best degree and now whether Hermione's was better or not doesn't matter."
"It does to me."
"Why?"
"Because I always had to be the best and she's just..."
He didn't finish his sentence but I knew what he was going to say. I had repressed it and apparently he had too but there was still a lot of Malfoy in him whether he wanted it or not.
"I didn't mean to... She's just so much smarter than me and it frustrates me.
She's always beaten me at everything and this degree was my last chance to be better than her."
"I can think of a few things you're better at than her," I began, counting off on my finger.
"Playing quiddich, flying brooms in general, potions, poker, although I lack comparison there. Wearing ugly gel hair, looking at people disparagingly, dancing, driving me crazy," I enumerated and with each item his stiffened expression loosened.
"Shall I go on?", I asked laughing and looking at my fingers.
"No, I've got the point but I think there's something else I'm better at than her," he grinned conspiratorially and then kissed me.
"Malfoy stop eating her up or it'll set something," Neville's upset voice snapped us out of our kiss from which I now recoiled.
What in Merlin name was he doing here?
Hannah, who had just been behind him, now punched him in the side.
"Now don't be like that. She's had to put up with us all this time too."
"What on earth are you doing here?" Draco asked the question that was also burning under my nails.
"You have left us in a madhouse. We couldn't even eat in peace.
A heads up would have been really nice, at least then we could have made up a story," Neville explained reproachfully.
"I'm really sorry."
"Now don't worry about it. They'll calm down all right. After all, you're not the first celebrity here at school," Hannah laughed, and when I looked at Neville's face, he didn't seem nearly as angry as his words had suggested.
"So what's the plan?" Neville asked excitedly and I looked back and forth between Draco and Hannah questioningly.
"There is no plan. I just wanted to get out," I explained with a shrug.
"Fine, if there's no plan then we'll go into the lake now."
"What?!" the other three of us exclaimed simultaneously, staring at Neville in disbelief.
"I really need a refreshment after all the stress in there so let's go!"
He pulled Hannah by the hand behind him, who started shrieking as soon as her legs touched the water.
Draco and I looked at each other sceptically.
"Idiots," we laughed in sync.
Less than five minutes later, we were all in the surprisingly warm water, splashing each other.
We dunked each other, hit each other with aquamenti or scared each other by submerging and pulling each other's legs.
"I don't think I've ever heard Malfoy laugh before," Hannah noted with a gasp as we called a brief truce.
"He doesn't that often either, so feel honoured that he does."
"I do, I do," Hannah affirmed theatrically and dropped backwards into the water. Snorting, she came back up and spat a fountain in Draco's direction.
We all held our breaths for a moment, not knowing what he would do in such a direct attack, but then he lunged at Hannah and dunked her under.
She came back up laughing and snorting and Neville and I joined in the laughter.
Thanks to magic we didn't go back into the castle soaking wet, only Neville's hair stayed wet because he insisted it looked disastrous when he magically dried it.
We had all shrugged it off with a shake of the head and now crept through the corridors to the kitchen, as we still hadn't eaten anything.
A sweet house elf brought us leftovers from the feast, which we devoured with relish in gluttonous silence.
"Susan will probably stay with Justin for the night, do you want to come back to my place?" Hannah asked when we had finished eating.
I quickly answered in the affirmative and after a short persuasion Draco also came along.
We sat together on Hannah's bed like last week only this time without alcohol and strip poker.
Hannah and I leaned against Neville and Draco respectively and we just talked.
Draco was quiet as usual but just having him here was a success.
This might be my last night at Hogwarts but it was definitely one of the best.