Celebration

Hippolyta and Sev prepared to go down from the terrace to the Rave Room.

"I want to carry you down the stairs on my shoulders," he told her.

"Lucky, third time today. First in the locker room, then to the castle and now down the stairs. But the ceiling isn't very high, Prince, I'm going to hit my head."

"Can't you bend down?"

"A little difficult, with the Cup I can't hold on to your head, like I did with my Dad when I was little," she responded.

"You don't need to hold on to my head, I'm not going to let you fall, you've already seen how tightly I held onto you this morning."

"Okay, we'll do it like this then, because if not, if we go down separately, maybe down below they will want to lift you on their shoulders too and they would separate us."

"Of course, and I don't want them to pick me up at all, I've had enough, also with what happened at noon in the Great Hall," said Sev. "Today you are the protagonist."

"We both are. Sly's heroes. Crash that one!"

They high-fived.

Sev crouched down. "Come on, up. We've been here for almost an hour, many of them must be drunk by now."

The girl climbed onto his shoulders, he advanced to the mouth of the stairs and stopped.

"Are you fit, Hippolyta?"

"Go down the first step."

He went down.

"Yes, I fit perfectly, can I rest the Cup on your head?" she asked.

"Sure."

She did, he laughed. What a strange look I must have. He continued down.

"Don't worry, when we're about to arrive I'll put it out of your head."

"Okay, Hippolyta, better, otherwise our plan to laugh at the girls is going to fail."

"Of course, that's why I said it. Let me know when you see the Room."

He continued down. He soon saw the Common Room, it was just one floor. "Now, Hippolyta."

She lifted the Cup from his head, and some of them had seen them already, they began to cheer. Ugh… they are very excited, indeed many of them are already drunk. Soon everyone was doing it. They reached the height of the Room, which was packed to the brim. He stopped. The closest ones, which were Slys guarding the stairs, among them Deborah and Paul, opened a hallway, he advanced.

Deborah and Paul preceded him, making their way through the people, he reached the center of the Common Room, the commotion was infernal. Boof… I feel like going home. Deborah and Paul stood right before him. So that no one bothers me right now.

"Shut up!" Hippolyta shouted. The commotion subsided.

Booff… she's going to lose her voice. "Hippolyta, don't shout, you'll be left without a voice, and don't chant, just raise the Cup!" Sev shouted.

"Okay, okay."

"Shut up!" he shouted. The commotion stopped.

Take it now! Head of Sly and Rave.

"Silver-green snakes! Fast and fierce!" someone started.

Well… they have started with the game motto… Great, Hippolyta's triumph.

When they stopped, someone continued, "Combative Slys! Invincible on the field and in battle!"

How cool… relating Quidditch to the war… great.

When they subsided, before they stopped, Sirius's voice, "Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons! Fast and accurate as her arrows!" with deep admiration.

Take that! Very good! This one I shout, it was the third, lucky for Hippolyta. I'm sure Sirius has remembered what we said about multiples of three, he didn't wait for them to finish so that no one could beat him to it. Later I'll ask him, by the voice I have already located where they are. And they have already arrived and have fit in the Room, everyone is here. They have been awake for five more hours, I hope they have slept some.

Valerie approached them and whispered in Sev's ear, "It's time to crown her."

"Of course."

Sev bent down so Valerie could put on Hippolyta the diadem he had Summoned for her, made of silver and emeralds. When she finished she told him, "That's it."

He got up.

"Has she protested?" he asked Valerie.

"Not at all, I told her that you had made it for her and she was delighted," she replied.

"Great."

The motto remained much longer than the previous two. Wonderful… My girl's triumph, how lucky I told her the story and she is understanding.

When they stopped, Genevre continued, "Snakes and eagles! Rivals on the field, brothers in combat!"

Wooow… very good… Genevre is wonderful. That motto also lasted longer than usual. The people is delighted, the Gryffs must be feeling a little out of place, as soon as we finish I'll go with them.

When they subsided, before they stopped, someone continued, from the area where the Gryffs were, "Brave Gryff, brilliant Raves and combative Slys! Invincible!"

Great, someone thought the same as me and it must have been a Sly, he put them ahead and left our House for last. The motto remained at least as long as Genevre's.

Again before they stopped, Remus's voice, "Hippolyta, the falcon lady! She will not fail a prey!"

I'll shout this one too. Another multiple of three, my Gryffs have teamed up to make my girl happy, because I showed Sirius and Remus Hippolyta's twin Patronus. It was Remus who told me it was a hawk. Let's see who and what shout in the ninth. It also lasted a long time.

Before they stopped, someone shouted, "Seven players in Quidditch! Seven years at school! Seven days a week working for victory!"

Wow… very good, another lucky number, I had never thought about it until now. And it is also the approximate number of days that a lunar phase lasts, whoever it was, has waited to shout it in the seventh place. I think he has been a brilliant Rave. And there were three sentences about the number seven, and seven times three twenty-one, Hippolyta's lucky number, even luckier, I'll tell her later.

It lasted as long as those who had spoken of the Houses. Boof… they're all going to end up without a voice. Better, so they will make less fuss later.

When they stopped, Valerie, next to them, raising her closed fist, "Quidditch! The only team sport in which women and men participate equally!"

Take it now! Very good and absolutely true, in Muggle sports men and women are separated to compete, she already explained it to me. And I can already tell that her voice is failing, she usually shouts louder. I'm going to let her know. "Valerie!"

She turned to him. "Reserve yourself, shout only in those that you really like, you will be left without a voice and you will not be able to sing at the party on Monday."

"You're right, it already scratches my throat. This morning I have also shouted too much."

"Of course, Valerie, you just get too excited. Is Hippolyta shouting?"

"No, she isn't."

"Great, I had already warned her, all that was left was for her to return home without a voice."

"Sure. Are you tired?" she asked.

"No, I'm well."

"When you get tired, pass her to Paul, we have already talked about it. This is going to be a long time, don't exhaust yourself, there is a lot of party ahead and today you have had a lot of wear and tear."

"Okay," he agreed.

"Do you want me to bring you a beer?"

"I don't have hands to take it."

"I'll give it to you," Valeire offered.

"Then yes, it would be fine, I'm starting to get thirsty."

"A blonde?"

"Yeah. Also ask Hippolyta if she wants and bring her some butterbeer," he suggested.

"Okay. Hippolyta, sweetheart! Do you want a beer?"

"Yes, Valerie, I'm going to take it in the Cup," Hippolyta responded.

"No way!" exclaimed Sev.

"Yes, Prince! I cleaned it well before leaving the house!"

"Okay…!"

Valerie left. The chorus subsided. Let's see, let's see, the ninth.

"Hippolyta, terror of the Death Eaters! She will hunt them like she hunts the Snitch!" in James' voice, deeply moved.

Wow… yes… He asked for the ninth because it's my birthday, he was the one who asked me about my birthday.

"Honey!" Sev called Hippolyta.

She leaned towards him and asked, "What, Prince?"

"Have you recognized the voice of the person who shouted?"

"Indeed I have and not only that, I have seen him, I see them all from here," contemptuous. "The Potter package."

"He's going to ask for your forgiveness, you'll see," he said. "I dare say that he has come precisely for that."

"I don't give a damn, fuck him, I plan to make fun of him and rub the Cup against him anyway."

"Okay, but don't go too far."

"Words are words, let's see how he behaves," she said.

"You're right."

"Come on, shout, you like this one a lot."

Hippolyta sat up and Sev chanted with the others. She's already noticed which ones I shout and which ones I don't. She looks out for me all the time, she's extraordinary. It lasted the longest of all the ones they had chanted, people around him were crying, including Deborah and Paul. This is a corporeal Patronus for sure, at least for me.

Valerie had already returned to them with the beers and she was also crying, waiting for him to finish chanting and Hippolyta to enjoy such a special moment. When they finished, the more than one hundred people erupted in cheers and applause. Wow… even better… great. They also lasted a while.

When they subsided, someone shouted, "Their fight is to separate, ours to unify!"

Wow… They ended Quidditch, they started politics and war, of course. Something about Valerie, I'm going to ask her. "Valerie!" Sev called her.

She approached him and asked, "Do you want the beer now, Prince?"

"First a question."

"Tell me."

"Is this an anarchist slogan?" Sev asked.

"Not exactly anarchist, but of great thinkers and philosophers who reflect on freedom. Andrew and I read a book of famous phrases on the subject, and of course, now we remember them all, so we have distributed them among the people, this afternoon at home and the time we have been waiting for you, among the Raves, that is why I have said before that it was going to be long. We have thought precisely about the issue of freedom and free will because that is where we have to enter the Raves."

"Magnificent, Valerie."

"I'll give you the book, it's amazing, we have only selected the short ones, of course, but there are real gems," she explained.

"As soon as we get back home."

"I'll give it to you on Thursday."

Valerie served Hippolyta her beer in the Quidditch Cup and from that moment on she gave Sev sips from the can of blonde, she was drinking another.

The next one was, "When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege of being free!"

After this is the twelfth, let's see if the Gryffs continue.

Indeed, when it subsided, before they finished, Alice, also deeply moved, "We will win! The Universe is on our side!"

Well, the phrase she always encourages Lily with. It lasted longer than the previous two and many began to raise their fists. The Gryffs are killing it with phrases invented by them, what merit they have, I plan to congratulate them.

The next one was, "I expect nothing! I fear nothing! I am free!"

It's true that Valerie's sentences are wonderful, I feel totally identified, I can't wait to read the long ones.

"The most important type of freedom is to be who you really are!"

It's the turn of fifteenth.

As soon as it began to subside, Hippolyta, "This is my turn!" authoritarian. "You have stolen my ninth!"

Everyone stopped shouting to laugh. And Potter stole it precisely, that's why she was angry, she's also counting them.

"I do not see grace!" annoyed.

More laughter.

"Honey! Do not be angry!" Sev shouted at her.

"Okay, Prince, whatever you say," calm down.

"Wait for them to stop laughing and say your motto."

"Okay, Prince."

When they stopped laughing, dead silence.

"Let you know that I also have the twenty-first and twenty-seventh!" authoritarian again. "So you can start counting, we're on the fifteenth!"

Back to laughter.

She is wonderful, she wants to handle them all and say three sentences, she must have thought of them while she has been waiting for me or while I was sleeping. And twenty-seven is because it is nine times three, our two numbers multiplied, and it is also three multiplied three times.

The laughter died down, deathly silence again.

"May fifteenth at nine fifteen! The dawn of a new world!"

Sev chanted with everyone, for a long time. She is extraordinary, always giving me the spotlight. I'll hold out until the twenty-seventh and then I'll hand her over to Paul, otherwise they'll lift me up on their shoulders too.

The next one was, "Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes!"

This fits me like a glove today. I'm going to ask Valerie if she remembers who said it. "Valerie, what thinker is this phrase from? Do you remember?"

"Of course, from Gandhi, the liberator of India from the British, achieved it through hunger strikes and peaceful acts of protest for years, until they achieved it in '48."

"Oh…"

"After that he was murdered in an attack," she explained.

"How awful…"

"He wasn't young anymore, huh? He lived many years, but it was still a great loss."

"Sure…"

The next one was, "The first duty of a person is to think for themselves!"

Wonderful, essence of Rave individualism taken in a good way. Next, the eighteenth. It's the Gryffs' turn, now it's their turn to share them with Hippolyta, let's see how they've shared them.

Before it subsided completely, Lily's voice, "Hippolyta and Prince, Sly's heroes!"

Oh… Lily… I love her, I love her… He bonded with her in mental silence, just so she felt it, she didn't talk to him either, she was chanting. It stayed there for a long time too, everyone was already raising their fists.

The next one was, "I prefer freedom with danger than peace with slavery!"

Wow… very good. Another one to my exact size. He unbonded from Lily. "Whose is this, Valerie?"

"From Rousseau, a French philosopher of the 18th century. During the Enlightenment, education only reached a privileged few and enlightened thinkers promulgated that it should be extended to the entire population. They were the first fighters for the civil rights of the oppressed, the seed of what later led to the French Revolution."

"Boof… I have no idea about the French Revolution."

"The people took up arms and overthrew the monarchy, put them through the guillotine, cut off their heads," she explained.

"Booah!"

"Then they screwed it up with fights between factions, it was all very bloody."

"Oh…"

"And twenty years later, instead of a king, they had an emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte. A disaster," Valerie continued.

"What a pity."

"A very long road for the French towards freedom. There were several more revolutions in the 19th century."

"That's why they continue to be so combative," Sev deduced.

"Spot on, Prince."

It stayed longer than the others. For me, of course.

The next one was, "This is the greatest wisdom I possess! Freedom and life are won by the only ones who conquer them anew every day!"

Wow… it's fantastic… "Whose is this, Valerie?"

"From Goethe, a German thinker and literary who lived between the 18th and 19th centuries."

"What is literary?"

"Writer of books, literature. Romantic," she responded.

"Oh... And do you have any interesting ones that you have read?"

"I have not read anything of his, but 'Faust' is very famous, a classic, mandatory reading for literature lovers. We'll look for it in the secondhand stalls."

"Brilliant. Maybe Lily's Dad has it," he supposed.

"Or maybe it is in the Library. I'll look at it for you tomorrow."

"Okay, but don't take it out. If it is in the Library I will leave it for next year."

"Alright."

That one stayed on for a while too. For me again, they are going to be knackered. And I'm starting to get pretty tired now. Now it's twenty-first, Hippolyta's next one, maybe I'll pass her on to Paul later.

The girl waited until there was dead silence. She's fantastic, she's gotten more than a hundred people to count.

She proclaimed, "This is not for chanting! It's good news! Twenty-one! The age at which Prince will be a Dueling Professor at Hogwarts and Sly's Head!"

Wooow…! The one she had me prepared.

Everyone burst into cheers, applauded and began to chant, "It is better to die standing than to live kneeling!"

Wow… She guessed about Sly's Head or maybe she asked Deborah.

"Paul! Paul! Put me down!" Hippolyta called him.

Paul took her off his shoulders. Immediately, those closest to Sev lifted him onto their shoulders. How the dwarf played me. Look, I told her that I didn't want to. Well, let's enjoy it, and it's the third time for me, I'm sure she did it too for that reason and because she already suspected that I was tired. He raised his closed fist, as everyone else was already doing.

If she had been able to proclaim in the ninth, this would have been the last, it was what it should have been, but I am glad that it didn't happen like that, James' thing has been fantastic. There I see the Gryffs, near the door, they have arrived the last, they all look at me proudly. He gave them a wide smile.

Shortly after, Paul lifted Hippolyta, who had given her Cup to Deborah, onto his shoulders.

She shouted at him, "Prince, Prince! Our hawks!" authoritarian, taking out her wand.

"Hippolyta, mine has changed!"

"Sure, and mine! It's this moment!"

"I don't think mine is!"

"Well, evoke whoever you think it is!" authoritarian again. "Come on!"

They conjured at the same time, Sev with the memory of proclamation number nine, Hippolyta with that of twenty-one. The two hawks emerged and flew through the Common Room, which had a fairly high ceiling. Even though we don't have the same happiest memory, that doesn't mean what we feel diminishes. I have felt it when they have hailed her, she when they hail me.

The nearly one hundred and thirty people admired them without stopping chanting. At one point, both of them found themselves in the center of the Room, right above them, and began to fight. Wooow… Take that! We have recovered our warrior spirit even though we have not fought against each other again, due to all the proclamations about fighting that we are hearing. Wonderful.

They held them for a long time, until those who were lifting Sev on their shoulders got tired and put him down.

He approached Valerie and Deborah. "You have to take care of me for a little while, until Hippolyta reaches number twenty-seven."

"Whatever it takes, Prince," Deborah told him.

"Do you have to go to the bathroom?" Valerie asked him.

"No, not yet," he responded. "Give me my beer so I can finish it."

She gave it to him, he took a good drink. "Deborah, go get a drink. I'm staying with Valerie."

"Okay, Prince."

"Has Hippolyta drunk her beer?"

"Indeed she drank it," Valerie told him, laughing. "In three gulps."

They laughed. "Wow… how she likes to party…" exclaimed Sev. "Then bring another one for her, Deborah."

"A butterbeer?"

"Yes, of course, if she drinks at that rate we are not going to give her a Muggle one."

"Let's see if there are any left," she said.

"If there are few left, hide them."

"Okay. Keep the Cup, I'll also bring something for Paul."

"Brilliant."

They had stopped proclaiming. Someone continued, "The act of disobedience as an act of freedom is the beginning of reason!"

Take that! Very good… "Whose is this, Valerie?"

"From Eric Fromm, a contemporary philosopher."

"What is contemporary?"

"From our time, he still lives," she answered. "His most famous book is about love, 'The Art of Loving'."

"Have you read it?"

"Of course, I have it, and Andrew has already read it. I'll give it to you too, it's not very long. Deborah has it too and she's going to pass it on to Paul."

"I'm going to indulge in reading in the summer," he said.

"Of course, you are doing well."

It was also chanted for a long time. Mixed essence of Rave and Sly, what we have in common.

Meanwhile, Deborah had already returned, they poured the butterbeer into the Cup and passed it to Hippolyta, who immediately took a very long drink.

"Ugh Luckily butterbeer doesn't get you drunk," said Sev.

All three laughing.

"It's doing her very well, butterbeer has a lot of nourishment," Deborah explained.

"Brilliant."

The next one was, "The only way for man to preserve his freedom is to always be ready to die for it!"

"Wow, Valerie… there is no bad one…"

"Of course not, it is a selection, more than two thousand years of human thought."

"I hope one day I'll be able to say things like that."

"You will be, you need to mature and reflect on these issues, live more," she encouraged him. "Good writers and thinkers improve over the years, with life experiences."

"Sure. And whose is this?"

"From Diogenes, a very ancient Greek philosopher, from more than two thousand years ago."

"How awesome…"

"The Greeks invented democracy and suffered continuous wars, both protecting themselves from invaders and invading other territories," Valerie explained.

"The Amazons are also a Greek myth."

"Well, it is unknown if they were a myth or real."

"Deborah already told you, right?" Sev asked.

"Of course, the whole family already knows it. And you told the Gryffs."

"No, the Gryffs already knew, because of Remus, he gave Sirius books on the subject, he is very interested in Greek mythology."

"Oh…"

"And Astronomy, something in common with you," he added.

"Wow... great…"

"Don't get your hopes up. He fell in love for the first time in his life and it wasn't with you."

"Well, I'll have to work on it then," said Valerie.

They also proclaimed that one for a long time. For me, everyone is going to be left without a voice. Now it's the Gryffs' turn again, the last of them, to see who and what.

Before it subsided completely, Cecile, "Sev! You make fighting into an art! The highest art!"

My little witch... I adore her... She has called me by the name they give me, and has related it to what we have in common, music, without revealing the secret. Hippolyta should call me that too. It doesn't matter, if she can't do it I'm not going to propose it to her. For her, precisely that day that I changed my name is very special, it was when we met.

The next one was, "No one is free if they are not their own master!"

Wow, this is going well for me today. It reaffirms me in everything I have decided. "Whose is this, Valerie?"

"I don't remember, I don't remember all of them, I remember the authors that were already familiar to me."

"Oh, what a shame."

"On Thursday you will know," she said.

"Sure."

They proclaimed the twenty-sixth, "Freedom is the only objective worthy of the sacrifice of men's lives!"

"And this one, Valerie?"

"From Simón Bolívar, the liberator of much of Latin America, at the beginning of the 19th century, from the hands of the Spanish."

"From the Spanish?" surprised.

"Of course, the Spanish kept Latin America oppressed for more than three centuries, they were the greatest power during the 16th century, the century after having conquered it," she explained. "They massacred the indigenous population and culture. And Cuba for four hundred years, liberated in '98 of the last century."

"How awful…"

"There is no one good, Prince. The British and French did the same with North America, perhaps even worse, because the Spanish mixed with the indigenous people, with which part of their culture has survived, but the British are much more racist and we simply annihilated them."

"How awful…"

"And the few that remain live in reserves, isolated from the rest of the population," Valerie added.

"The United States is the worst."

"Indeed it's the worst. Do you know about slavery?"

"Yes, Lily's Dad told me," Sev answered.

"Let's not talk about it, because I get in a very bad mood."

"Of course, Valerie. At another time."

They waited for the screams to die down completely. Dead silence again.

"Don't let them take me on their shoulders again, huh?"

"No, don't worry, I'll get them off your back now."

Hippolyta proclaimed, "Latest! Prince's motto! Sly's motto! The Hogwarts motto! The motto of the entire Wizarding World! Goodbye forever, vipers!"

I eat her…

Valerie covered his back, Hippolyta looked at him intently, he gave her the face that she liked. They didn't stop looking at each other until the choreos were over.