Eat, drink, and be merry, O Lions, for tomorrow we go home.

Daisy walked into the great hall and frowned. She so did not want to go home. She sat down at the table and placed her head in her hands. Leaving for even the slightest break seemed so...sad. She looked around and sighed. Next term couldn't come fast enough.

Danny stepped toward the Gryffindor table and looked around to see if anybody he knew was here. Seeing that the table was still pretty empty, he took a seat toward the middle and reached toward the goblet in front of him. He took a gulp of apple juice and smiled to himself. He loved apple juice.

It was still hard to believe that his third year of Hogwarts was already over. The year went by a lot faster than the past two years. He was excited to go back and see the twins, but probably more excited to see Benny. He was actually excited to go back home this year. Not that he had a bad year at Hogwarts this year, it was just kind of...lonely. He spent a lot of time in his dorm room or outside and didn't get to hang out with his friends a lot. It wasn't that he was avoiding them, it just made him sad when some of them fought all the time. So he usually spent his days alone. Hopefully it would be different next year. He didn't think he could take another year of their group broken up like that.

The end of term. Tomorrow, they would aboard Hogwarts Express and return home. The year had been long, draining and.. pleasant? Sort of. So much had change, still most, the important things stayed the same. They were changing. Her and her friends. Katie's thoughts were often scattered lately, but not at the moment. She was happy, excited even. Tomorrow she would be going home! Well, probably to Savannah's, and then home. Didn't matter to her.

Entering the great hall, the young Hufflepuff's dark eyes landed on the house table she belonged to before walking toward the Gryffindors, scanning the table for her friends. They usually always at among the lions, considering all but her were Gryffindors. Running a hand through her curly dark hair, Katie pushed the thick locks over her shoulder as she spotted a certain third year and made her way over. "Hey Danny," she greeted, plopping down on the bench directly across from him.

Danny glanced up at the sound of his name. He saw the mass of curls before he saw her face and knew who it was right away. A smile fell onto his face as he said, "Hi." Was she at the Hufflepuff table and didn't see her? No, maybe she just walked in. Anyways, he was glad she was here. It was nice eating with someone he knew. Plus it was their last day here. Even though he was pretty sure he would be seeing her a lot during the summer at Grandma Angelina's house.

"Are you excited to be going home?" he asked, feeling talkative. He looked around to make sure none of their other friends had come in before turning back toward his cousin. As his stomach began to growl, he reached over and began to make himself a salad.

Katie wasn't a bit surprised, noticing that the other boys were no where to be seen. It was still very early and hardly anyone was in the great hall, she'd just decided to one of the first down. Lucky she had because Danny would have been sitting on his own for a while, otherwise. "Really, really excited." Katie agreed with a happy bob of her head, wrapping a curl around her finger the fourth year reached into her pocket and took out a red clip, twirling the front of her hair up and clipped it above her left ear, out of her face.

"What about you? You seem happy!" She said, settling down in her seat. It had been an eventful year, that was for sure. No matter how excited she was to return home and see their families again, Katie knew this time that she would eventually miss, and soon be looking forward to starting school again. Something she couldn't say about the past three terms.

Danny grinned again, seeing that he wasn't the only one excited to be going home. He then watched as she began to wrap a clip into her hair. How she never loses her clips in all that hair was a mystery to him. He wondered if she ever had trouble brushing it. It seemed like it would be a lot of trouble to have that much hair. Absentmindedly, he began running his fingers through his thin sandy brown hair. It was starting to get long and he knew as soon as he got home his mom was going to make him cut it. Which he didn't really mind. He never took well to long hair like Benny did.

When Katie said he seemed happy, he nodded his head. "Yeah. I am excited to go home too. I miss my brothers and Bre." He smiled imagining going back home. He can already hear the twins screaming his name and then tackling him to the floor when he got back. Over the years he had gotten close to Ethan and Breanna and enjoyed their company. Even though they were louder than a pack of dogs sometimes. He had gotten used to them and would find it strange to see them sitting quietly.

"Are you going back home or to Savannah's first?" Danny asked, wondering if she would be going to her sister's first. Even though Savannah was only her older sister, Danny tended to find Katie with her more than with her mom.

Katie smiled at the mention of Benny, Ethan and Breanna. It was amazing that their family had Benny back, back when he had been in the accident she hadn't really known or understood exactily how the whole thing had effected the young boy. Of course the whole family had been upset, some nearly hysterical. But Katie had recently come to realize it had to have really gotten to Danny the whole time no one was sure what was going to happen to his older brother.

Thankfully, that was all over with and everything was good again, things were looking up all around it seemed. School, family, friendships.. they were running smoothly, as they should. "I'm sure they'll be excited to see you." Katie shifted, swinging her feet under the bench, she crossed her arms on the edge of the table and leaned foward a bit.

"Savannah's. She's going to come and get me from the train," Katie answered, a hint of amusement reaching her voice. No one should ever doubt Danny's knowledge, the boy actually payed attention and remembered things. "And then take me home. Tons to do there, I'm sure. Though it does feel good to know I don't have to worry about Lissy messing up our room or going through my stuff while I'm not there!" The twins and Gabriel were in school too, a relief to her. "And I'll get to hog baby Hayley for a bit before I need to unpack my stuff."

Wow. The end-of-year feast. It felt like yesterday was the start-of-term- one, and now here they were! Leaving Hogwarts in less than twenty-four hours. With a mixture of emotions, Aiden walked into the Great Hall representing Gryffindor with his house robes. He took a seat somewhere in the middle section of the table and his eyes glanced about at the plethora of yummy food.

Rhea wasn't sure how to feel about leaving Hogwarts. She had been half way through the gates only a few days before so now when it was drawing to an official close, she was just a mix of emotions. She was dominantly sad though. She wouldn't be seeing her friends for a while and she would miss them terrible, especially Aiden. Speaking of...she scanned the great hall and looked to the gryffindor table where she saw him eying the food. She grinned and walked over covering his eyes.
"You have three chances to guess you."

Danny smiled when katie said they would be excited to see him. "Yeah. When I went home for the holidays, Bre and Ethan both ran toward me and hung on tightly to my legs so I couldn't walk." he chuckled at the memory. The more he thought about the twins, the more excited he got about going home. Tomorrow couldn't come faster.

At the mention of Savannah coming to pick her up her, Danny smiled again. "Oh! So I get to see Vannah too then. Is she bringing Hayley to the train station?" He asked. When she began to talk about her set of twin siblings, Danny chuckled again. Lissy was rather hyper and liked to get into Katie's stuff. He knew they were of age to go to school now, so maybe Katie's room won't be as messed up anymore.

Danny was about to ask how Hayley was doing when he heard a hooting up ahead. He looked up but nothing was there. He stared at the ceiling for a few more minutes before a light brown owl flew in from a window and came toward him. He quickly recognized the owl as Peanut, the family owl. The small Gryffindor tilted his head in wonder as the owl landed on the table in front of him and put out his leg. Danny took the letter curiously and pushed over a plate of bread for Peanut.

Opening the letter he read it quickly, his puppy dog eyes growing bigger by the minute.

Quote:

Hey Dan-Dan,

So I was going to wait until I came to pick you up tomorrow but I can't wait. Oh by the way, I am picking you up from the train station not mom. She has to go in for work or something. I wasn't really listening when she started talking about work. Anyways, so you are going to be the second person I told. I told Sammy first and I swear I heard her scream all the way from Greece. You have to promise not to tell mom yet either because I have a plan on how we are going to tell her. I'll fill you in on the way home. Anyways, I am beginning to ramble. I just wanted to tell you that I proposed to Mona last night. And she accepted! I'm so happy you don't even know. When I told Sammy I had told her that Mona has said no. She wrote back that she was going to kill her, so I had to write back quickly that I was joking before something happened to my fiancé. When did she become so violent? Haha. Ok well I'm going to let you get back to packing or whatever you are doing. I miss you and can't wait to see you tomorrow.

P.S. If you see Katie, tell her I said hi! You can tell her the news too if you want. Just make sure to tell her not to tell Aunt Lorraine. She would totally blab to mom and take all the fun out of my plan.

See you soon,

Benny

Danny could feel his cheeks begin to hurt from smiling as he finished his letter. He then glanced up at Katie. He opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. So instead he chuckled lightly and handed the letter to Katie. Then waited for her reaction.

Katie giggled. Twins were double the trouble, for sure. She was a twin, but Juls had never been a crazy, insane, mischivious boy. He was nothing like Legend and Mat, so there really hadn't been any twin chaos from them. "I'm surprised they didn't take you down with them," She commented, knowing that if they continued that greeting as a tradition for the next few years to come, unless Danny grew up pretty quickly and got strong they were going to tackle him to the ground. They would get too big!

"Of course you will," Katie raised her eyebrows, as if that were the most obvious thing and she'd thought he would have known. She smiled once more, giving the slightest nod of her head and lifted a hand to set her chin in. "Yes, she is, Curt will probably be at practice or a game or something. She'll bring Hayley, you'll get to see her too!"

Although she was startled by the sudden sound of an owl's hoot, Katie didn't let it show but turned slowly to search for the evil winged beast. Cautiously scanning the room at eye-level, her gaze lifted until she spotted it flying gracefully toward them. Stiffening, the Hufflepuff straightened her spine and set her hands in her lap, too busy watching the owl pick at a piece of break to notice how large Danny's eyes had become. Of course she knew what owl it was, that didn't make a difference though. It was still an owl.

Finally turning her gaze from the bird, her dark eyes slowly found Danny's beaming face. An eyebrow raised as he made the motion of a guppy, opening and closing his mouth once. And then, he reached over to offer her the letter. Without moving she blinked, "Me?" Obviously, Katie. OBVIOUSLY. Eying the bird quickly, the young girl quickly reached a hand out to take the parchment and still keep a fair distance between her arm and the bird, she relaxed a teensy bit once the letter was in hand.

Gasping at just the right part and giggling at Sammy multiple times, Katie's face lit up as she finished reading. "No way! He's getting married! Danny, do you know what this means?" Folding the letter, she passed it back to him.

Danny chuckled at Katie's comment. The twins were beginning to grow quickly. They were turning six in November and they were already gaining on him height wise. Breanna went to his elbow already and Ethan went almost to his shoulder. So he wouldn't doubt that they would be tackling him to the ground soon enough. "They almost did. They team up on me." he said.

When Katie told him that he would be seeing Savannah and Hayley, the third year felt yet another smile take up his face. He had been smiling a lot today, something he been needing for long time. "I can't wait then. I haven't seen them in a while." he said. The last time he has seen them was during winter break, when all the families got together at Grandma Angelina's house to celebrate Christmas.

As he handed the letter to Katie she gave him a dumbfounded look. He gave her a smile and let her take it. He then watched as a her face lit up and she giggled at something Benny wrote. Probably the part about Sammy. Her and Legend have made it some kind of game to see who can irritate her the most, and like to laugh when she gets mad. When she finished she handed the letter back to him, which he took gratefully. He wanted to read it again when he got back to his dorm.

But when she asked him what this meant it was his turn to give her a dumbfounded look. A light blush began to tint his cheeks as he said, "Um...No?" He nervously pet Peanut as he waited for Katie to reply.

Just as Aiden was about to scoop out a heaping spoonful of mashed potatoes, everything suddenly went black. Hmm.. guessing game! He grinned, recognizing the voice right away. "Tough one. How about.. Headmaster Tate?" Heheh. "Oh wait. Scratch that," he added. "It's that lake-dwelling, shampoo-commercial-haired, Hufflepuff girl who has the coolest best bud on the entire planet. Yep, it's that girl." In other words.. Rhea!

Raven walked over to the Gryffindor table with the intention of speaking to a certain crazy Prefect, but if she could manage to cause trouble on the the way then it would be all the better. There was definitely no way she was going to leave the school without saying goodbye to her bestie, even though it was probably going to end up slightly emotional; she wasn't going to promise that she wouldn't cry because she most likely would anyways.

She smirked slightly when she spotted the certain Prefect that she was looking for then straightened out her Slytherin robes before finally walking up behind the girl and tapped her shoulder. "Guess who.." Well it was pretty obvious due to her accent that still was quite present.

Gold had had a heck of a time, at the Staff Table. She had been up there for a total of ten minutes, and she had almost, almost showed emotion, other than happiness or anger. The kind she never, ever did. But she was alright, now, as she walked back and took a seat.

Only to be tapped on the shoulder.

"The one and only," she said, a light smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "How are you?" Turning around, she grinned. Only to remember that Raven was going to leave. The grin faded, almost at once.

Oh, Lord.

Raven took a seat beside Gold then rested her hands on the table, it felt a little odd sitting at the Gryffindor table however she wanted to just distract herself from the fact that she was graduating; hopefully her bestie could keep her mind off it for now.

"How am I honestly? I'm just sad about today, even though Slytherin managed to win the House Cup; I just can't believe that I'm graduating. I just want to spend more time with my bestie and since I'm going away, I have a little present for you." she fished an silver and green box out of her pocket and handed it to Gold.

The House Cup! Oh, yes. To be honest, Gold was pleased at how well Gryffindor had done. Those last-minute house points. Rubies had rained down like mad, these past few weeks.

"Congrats," she said, sincerely. "You guys really put your act together, this year. It's a well-deserved victory." It was.

Oh, a present? Gold carefully lifted the lid of the box, and peeked inside. Lion. In shades of gold. For a moment, she was speechless. Then she put the box down, and wrapped her arms around Raven. "Thank you so much," she said, quietly. "You have no idea what this means to me."

It wasn't like she hadn't noticed the Slytherin shades of the box, or the Gryffindor-y present inside.

"I don't want you to go," she said, finally letting go.

Raven was extremely proud of her house, it might have taken two terms but finally everyone worked together to achieve one common goal and it all worked out in the end. Even when they had a bad start to the term with going negative fifty, they managed to give all the houses a brilliant race.

"Well thank you, I must say though; you Gryffindors definitely surprised us, going from last to 2nd. The Lions are definitely determined to earn that House Cup and there is next term." She was being honest, it was a valiant effort that deserved recognition.

She frowned slightly when Gold had not said anything after looking at the present, Raven just hoped that she liked it but once her bestie had wrapped her arms around her; the Slytherin knew she had done well. "Well I just wanted to give you something to have as a memory of me, I saw the golden lion and was just like perfect."

"I don't want to go either, but as the Rolling Stones famously said in the song by the same name; you can't always get what you want. But you know, you can write to me whenever you want and I'll write back; even when I'm going to university." she would definitely take the time to write back to her friend, it would just be wrong if she didn't.

'"Why so saD " Lasy Gryffindor?" Rex asked Daisy bowing. " May I sit here with mi lady?" Rex asked Daisy but not that she is her girl because Kay is Rex's girl but just the old fashioned way of the lower end of royalty or royal worker adressing the upper royalty." Jason told me if you are not busy at your house, you are wekdome for the break" Rex said to Daisy. " There is a lot of food here and I am ready to eat right now" Rex laughed.

Daisy smiled. "Well Knight of Gryffindor this Lady is sad for the fact that this term is ending." Daisy smiled at their own little nicnames but thought of Carson. Hopefully he was her shining Knight in armor. She nodded at Rex. "Yeah you can sit." She smile. "Coming over to Jason's place sounds like fun. I shouldn't be too busy." she smiled. She picked up the cup in front of her and filled it with tea. Then she took a scoop of mashed patatoes and added two drumsticks of chicken to it. "Yeah it does look good." She took a sip of tea. "So what's Jason's house like?"

Rhea laughed when Aiden said Headmaster Tate, just that comment let her know he already knew who it was, so she went along with it for the little while, changing her voice to try and mimic that of their Headmaster.
"yes thats right! 150 points from gryffindor house for being errrmmm... for not being awesome enough to your bestfriend Rhea." She grinned. When he finally got it right after a very creative description of her, she removed her hands from his eyes and slid in to the seat next to him.
"You've got it all twisted you know. It's you who has the coolest best friend ever." She smirked and pulled his plate towards her.

"One hundred and fifty! Headmaster, I believe that's rather unreasonable," Aiden joked, his eyes finally letting in all the surroundings when she removed her hands. In fact his proper vision was back just in time for him to roll his eyes at her next comment. "No. No. Definitely not." Heh. Because their argument over who was 'cooler' could probably last ages. "So, what've you been up to? Oh! I got you a da-ate." He grinned and slid his plate back over in front of himself.

Rhea pulled Aiden's plate back towards her and started piling fruits unto the plate then pulled a fruity yogurt towards her as well. She wasn't in the mood for cooked food just yet. When Aiden asked her what she had been up to she paused to think for a moment.
"I haven't really been up to much actually. Just making plans for the summer break. I might be going to visit aunts in the caribbean but I'm not quite sure yet."

"Oh you have, have you? What's his name? What does he look like? Is he nice? Does he have a snake???"

Pfft. So, she just took his plate for herself, huh? Well, then. Aiden scooped up a big spoonful of mashed potatoes and plopped them right on top of her fruit before simply taking a new plate for himself and piling them on his own. "Sounds like fun. Lucky you, going to the Caribbean." Then again, she was from there, so..

He smirked when she darted question after question. "Yes, I have. Drew Sparks. Really blonde hair, blue eyes - I think. Quite nice. And no." Hah. A snake. That'd be Art. "No snake."