Aurora’s thoughts on the end of her fifth year were really quite convoluted. On the one hand there was relief that her OWLs were done and dusted and that she wouldn’t have to think about exams for at least a year and a half. They hadn’t been that bad either and by that she meant that she had answered everything that she could in some roundabout way, whether those answers were correct remained to be seen but she was pleased with herself regardless. There was also the excitement of going home, of seeing family, of volunteering at Creatures and Cwtches again, of her sixteenth birthday. The summer months were so full of exuberant joy that it felt wrong to not be pleased about them. But every year that she got older, she was reminded that being at Hogwarts was not a permanent fixture and this year she’d be saying goodbye to another close friend.

She’d make sure to give Captain Vera a huge hug and a small departing gift later via the Hufflepuff table for the annual exchange of Merryweather with Anna but for now she had found herself at her usual spot in the centre of the Ravenclaw table eagerly awaiting the company of her housemates. Or lack thereof, her eagerness for that last feast before Ma’s healthier cooking was obviously too strong a pull for the fifth year to resist being early again.