In perhaps what was the best timing possible, Professor Dainsie called the Gryffies to the common area. Gwen had been in the washroom, attempting to curl her lashes around the tip of her wand. The last time the tip of Gwen's wand had come near her head, she had set her hair on fire, the spot still obvious by the stripe of scarlet hair. Perhaps it was best that she stop.

Still, this was rather odd. Mightn't they be going to the end of term feast soon? Hmm.

"Hi Professor," she said, ambling down the girl's staircase and plopping down into her favorite chair.

Hearing the voice of her head of house echo up into her dorm room form the common room, Erica scrambled out of bed. She fixed her appearance and gryffindor robes and then made her way down to common room. Seeing professor Dainsie she smiled and said "Hello, Professor Dainse! Is everything all right? Has something happened?"

Anna had been reading quietly in the girl's dorm when she heard the booming voice of Professor Dainsie calling everyone to gather around. The sudden noise had caused her to jump and accidentally throw her book across the room. She scrambled over to pick it up and put it back neatly on her bed. Afterwards, she quickly dashed down to the Common Room, ready to hear what it was the Professor needed. "Professor Dainsie," Anna greeted. "What's going on?"

Zaria greeted all the girls with a nod and a smile. "Nothing has happened no. But I do have several announcements to make that I would like you all to hear. Please gather anyone you can."

Anna breathed a sigh of relief when Professor Dainsie mentioned that nothing had happened. She still got a bad impression, though. It seemed that the news she was about to her wasn't going to be exactly pleasant, nonetheless. "Professor," Anna whispered. "It might not be anything necessarily bad, but we're not going to really like this news...are we?"

Erica gathered round Dainsie along with the other girls Anna and Gwen and waited for the announcements to come. Agreeing with Anna she added "Um, Professor has it got something to do with the house cup race?"

Taylie came into the common room just as Professor Dainse was making her announcement. She decided to stay to see what was going on.

Lizzie sat down in a couch and watched Professor Dainsie. She was curious to know what it was all about, and waited patiently.

Kairi walked into the common room to find Professor Dainsie and a few students waiting patiently. She sat herself down next Lizzie, before looking at her curiously. "What do you suppose is this all about?"

Cale had heard Professor Dainsie calling for them in the middle of his nap and was still a bit groggy, not to mention his perfect curls were slightly messed up. He rubbed his eyes and stumbled down the stairs from his dormitory--quite literally, actually. He skipped the last step and fell with a small tumble to the bottom, hitting his behind rather hard on the floor. "Owww," he moaned quietly, sitting and up walking over gingerly to the sofa, sitting down next to Anna. "What's going on?" he asked her in a small whisper. Despite the fact that they were both prefects, Anna almost always knew more about the situation at hand than him.

Shaylee went and sat down next to her friends waiting for the teacher to speak.

Zaria rose from her position on the couch and stood on a square red footstool in the center of the room to raise herself slightly, the better to see everyone. Forgoing a spell this time, she decided to just talk louder than she normally would. “Thank you all for coming, I know you must all be busily getting ready to go home after another year. This won’t take long, but I thought it important to do this. I have a few things I want to say, so please bear with me.” She cleared her throat quietly and appeared to be gathering her thoughts.

“First of all, I would like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who participated in classes, homework and finals. I know how much hard work it has taken, and I, as I’m sure the rest of the house, appreciate it very much and am proud to call you true Lions.”

“Next, I would like to recognise Anna Greingoth, Cale Newell and Alexis Chosen for being exceptional leaders this year as your Prefects and Quidditch captain. Without them my job would be much harder, so I personally thank you for you efforts.”

She motioned to the points tally on the notice board. “At the moment, though with a late surge it might change… fingers crossed it doesn’t… we are in the lead for the House Cup! That is fantastic! In particular I want to mention Astrid Deschain, Anna Greingoth, Cale Newell, Jillian McGuffin and Allie Johnson.” She looked at and gestured to each student as she said their name. “These 5 student have earned over half of our points on their own, an outstanding achievement! I would like you all to congratulate them individually if you can.”

She paused momentarily and looked up briefly at Arienh sitting on top of a bookcase at the back of the room, before looking back at the students. “Winning the cup this year would be particularly special to me. I am very sad to announce that I shall be leaving Hogwarts this year. I have been teaching here for 16 years, and I have been Gryffindor Head of House now for 12 years, so it was a particularly difficult decision for me to make. I will miss you and the school terribly, but I wish you all the best for your futures, whatever you chose to do." A smile appeared on her face, but it had a hint of sadness to it despite her efforts. "So how about a big cheer for all of your House mates!" She stood down and slumped back down on the couch waiting to join in the cheering.

Allie walked into the common room when she hear Professor Dainsie. She fount a seat on the couch, and listened as she went on. She was leaving?
"But why are you going to leave?"

Hooting loudly Alexis grinned as Professor Dainsie announced the five students who basically earned all the points that were not up on the board. Calming down she looked back at the Professor seriously. That couldn't be all she wanted to tell them. Could it?

As the real news came out Alexis's smile faded. Professor Dainsie was leaving. This was unheard of! Insane! Dainsie had been one of the first Professors she had ever met. The woman had been here for 16 years!! Didn't that mean that she had to stay until she was like....dead? "Miss...do you mind me asking? Why are you leaving?" Alexis asked trying to keep an upbeat tone in her voice.

Tobi bounded down the stairs like a loyal puppy. He heard the announcement from the top, and he was, quite frankly appalled. "But you can't leave!" He said without thinking how selfish he must have sounded. "What would we do without you?"

Hearing a rather loud noise near the staircase, Anna looked over to see Cale sprawled out on the floor, obviously the results of yet another fall. Poor Cale. Had it been anyone else, Anna would have jumped up and ran to their side, but Cale...Cale was a professional clutz. He'd be okay as soon as he managed to push himself up off the floor. "Hey," Anna whispered. "I'm not sure, although, I do think it's bad news. She's never called us in here like this before." Anna shrugged and then looked back up at Professor Dainsie, anxious to hear the news.

Anna sat quietly and stared at the professor, knowing something was up but just not having a clue as to what it could be. When the professor began her speech by giving appreciation towards those who had helped with classes, homework, and finals, Anna smiled and let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in. At least this part of the speech seemed to be positive news. The professor was right with what she said, too. A true Lion i sone who will stand by their housemates no matter what---and that includes having enough house pride to try and help win the house cup!

Anna blinked when she heard her name mentioned. It was so very nice of the professor to recognize her prefects and captain. "Thank you, Professor Dainsie. We're honored to assist you and all of Gryffindor house," she said. Next, Anna and four others were honored by being amongst the top five Gryffindors this term. Anna felt proud to once again be amongst the top students. It made her happy to have that much pride in her house. Anna felt herself crossing her fingers, hoping with everything she had in her that Gryffindor ended up winning the house cup.

Then the bad news came. Professor Dainsie was leaving. Anna's heart suddenly felt as if it weighed a ton, and she had to blink once again---this time to hold back tears. When the professor was done speaking, Anna heard several students around her asking questions, eager to find out why the professor had chosen to leave Hogwarts. Anna slammed her hands down on the couch she was sitting on, and then pushed herself up. In one swift motion, she made her way over to Professor Dainsie and threw her arms around her now-former Head of House. "Oh, Professor Dainsie! We're going to miss you so much!!! Where will you be going...if you don't mind saying so?"

Demetria sat down next to her besties, Lizzie, Kairi, and Shaylee. She turned to them when she heard that Gryffindor was in the lead for house cup. "Isn't this great?!" she smiled.

Chris joined all his friends and joined in the ecietment "Hey guys you have to promise we will be best friends like this next term okay!"

Cale opened his mouth to talk to Anna, but Professor Dainsie started talking, so he shut his mouth. He listened to what she said and nodded at the appropriate times. He grinned when she mentioned Alexis--after all, she HAD been an awesome captain this year--and gave her a little clap, then blushed when she mentioned him and Anna. He always felt embarrassed when he got congratulated.

He then clapped when she mentioned each of the students on the leader board. Astrid and Anna had gone above and beyond, and Jillian and Allie had done an excellent job as well.

At her last bit, his mouth fell open in shock and he felt his clapping freeze in mid-air. "Wha--what? But Professor...who's gonna be our head of house?" he asked. Obviously it would be another professor, but he couldn't imagine being in a house that was NOT run by Professor Dainsie.

Sarah was bouncing from behind, with so much crowd round where Proffessor Dansie stood. The girl hooted with others as the Proffessor started her announcements.

She was right, Anna and Cale had been brilliant. And her fingers were soo crosssed for the cup, seeing as everyone else of her House had been so Hyper about it that now she was excited for it too.

And Sarah double cheeered when Alexis name came up. everyone had been great. And then came in the moment of shock .. and Sarah's mouth fell open. "WHAT?" she gasped.

But Proffessor Dansie was the best.

WHAT WHAT WHAAATT???!!?

Jillian was coming down from the girl's dormitories for she heard Professor Dainsie's voice all the way from the Common Room. When Jillian arrived, there was already a crowd forming around their Head of House, so she decided to see what all the commotion was about.

She was grinning slightly as Professor Dainsie mentioned her teammates and her friends. She waved to Anna and Cale across the room Power couple. She thought to herself. Jillian blushed as her name was mentioned for earning points. Who would've thought that the McGuffin Menace can actually be good for a change. Hilarious. Mum and Susie would have loved to have heard that.

The last announcement, however, shocked her. In fact, it surprised everyone. The Professor was retiring?! It was difficult to imagine Gryffindor not run by Professor Dainsie. The Lion's Pride was to lose their head Lioness. Jillian's mouth dropped open. No! She's only known their Head of House for two years...and didn't even actually get to know her that well and she was leaving? Who was going to be their new Head next year? Is the new Head going to be nice. Will the evil Nurse Assistant Lady Trel take over?! Oh, the horror!

Jillian ran over to Cale and Anna. Surely the Prefects could answer some of her questions. "Cale! Anna!" she called, sounding somewhat alarmed. "What's...Who...What about..." she could barely form a question, but one question basically asked it all "Why?"

Torie walked into the common room, feeling a little sad. This had been her last year at Hogwarts, and she would be sorry to say goodbye to the school that had been her home for some many years. Tears glistened in her eyes, threatening to spill over at any moment, but she plastered a smile on her face and tried to hide how she was feeling inside.

She walked over to where the final celebrations were occurring just to hear Professor Dainsie's announcements. She cheered at the mention of the hard work of her classmates and friends, and was disappointed along with everyone else at the mention of the Professor's departure. "Well Professor," she said, going over to shake her hand, "I guess there will be big changes for us both next year. I want to thank you for all of your hard work and support over the years, and I truly do wish you the best in your future endeavours. Any plans?"

Erica couldn't believe her ears. Was Professor Dainsie really going to leave Hogwarts? But she couldn't, she was such a good head of house. Not really knowing what to say Erica said feeling sad "Why are you leaving Professor? Don't you like Hogwarts and us anymore?" Realizing that if Professor Dainsie left they would get a new head of house she asked "Who is going to be our new head of house? Is it going to be Professor Clark? You know nobody will be as good as you have been." Erica had only gone to Hogwarts for a year so she hadn't developed much of a relationship to Professor Dainsie, but from what she had heard she had been the best head of House Gryffindor had had ina long time.

Kairi gave all her friends a small smile, "Yup, forever and ever," she said in reply to Chris. "I'm just a little nervous about who the new head of house is going to be, I mean with Proffessor Dainsie leaving and all..." She'd lied one big whopper just in that first sentence, and now the guilt was beginning to sink in.