Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

After what felt like a very, very long year, it was finally the last day and Lucas couldn't be happier. A year of extra stress, extra duties and extra, uh, sleep deprivation was finally coming to an end. He didn't know how he managed to survive, especially through the OWLs and the amount of anxiety the exams alone had caused.

Merlin, he was ready to go home.

With the Prefect badge pinned to his chest, the fifth year entered the Great Hall and instinctively made his way over to the Gryffindor table. The pretty empty Gryffindor table. Huh. That was weird, wasn't it? Was he really that early? He didn't bother checking his watch as he wandered down the table and took a seat close to the middle. There.

His green eyes wandered over the silverware, and then the other tables, and then over at the Staff Table. There was a heavy feeling in his chest as he looked over at the seat of a specific professor. One that he liked very much but had given him, and the rest of the Gryffindors, some very sad news just the night before. News that had definitely made him cry the night before and could make him cry again now.

Breathe, breathe, breathe......

Naya couldn’t believe that the year was over already. It seemed as if she had just been on the train to Hogwarts and now it was time to go home. She made her way to the Gryffindor table and was surprised to see it almost empty. “Hey Lucas”, she said, as she picked a spot and sat down. Noticing that the Prefect seemed a little bothered, Naya added, “You good?”

Naya had a moment to take in the sights. The Great Hall was starting to fill, but she wondered where all of her housemates were. Well, it seemed she would have time to reflect on the school year while she waited for everyone to arrive. Hopefully things would get started soon because as usual, Naya was starving.

Cole was ready to go home.

It had been a very long year and how he had survived the OWL exams he really had no idea but somehow he had and was walking tall and proud into the Great Hall. His sea blue eyes scanned off the great hall noting without wanting to that Claudine was already seated with her snake buddies. If possible he was going to avoid her on the train too.

Steering his eyes and steps over to the red and gold table his spirits lifted at the sight of Naya and Lucas already occupying two seats. Plastering on a bright smile Cole greeted them each with a wave "Hi guys! Are you two as ready as me to go home? The owl exams lived up to the stories didn't they?"

Bernie was determined to be in the thick of the action, today. She'd missed mealtimes with her friends more than she cared to admit. As much as this second-year loved house elves, they were kind of shy and difficult to befriend and not very chatty.

So, when the headmaster paroled her from her dorm-room arrest, she practically ran to the Great Hall and plunked herself down in the middle of the table, directly across from dear Prefect Lucas. Look at her, such an angel child, sitting near a prefect who would surely keep her away from trouble!

"Hi Lucas, hi Cole, hi Naya," Bernie greeted EVERYONE breathlessly. Her blue eyes were darting all around at everything, which all looked so NORMAL and NICE. She was NEVER taking this place for granted EVER again. Bernie's starry gaze eventually returned to Lucas the Prefect's face, though, and she noticed that he seemed more down than normal. Huh. And Cole was chatting about the OWL tests the older kids had just taken...all these fifth years sitting beside her were probably exhausted from them. Bernie wondered, did they get their OWL results already? Had the prefect's not been GOOD? Is that what was upsetting him?!

Bernie reached over and gave the prefect a pat-pat on his hand. "Don't worry, there there, you don't HAVE to pass the OWLs. They're not THAT big a deal." Or whatever, what did she know? She was YEARS away from worrying about those.

Finally, more Gryffindors were starting to arrive. Things were looking up. First to appear was Cole. Naya returned his greeting with an equally big smile. “Cole, how’s it going?” Then in response to his question, she added, “I am sooo ready to go home”. Yes, the term had gone by quickly. Nevertheless, Naya was ready for a break. She really wanted to see her family and friends again. The second question took her back to the dreaded OWL’s. That was one thing she really wanted to put behind her. “Don’t remind me. I will not miss that stress one bit. I am so glad that they are over and done with.” Thank goodness they didn’t have any special exams next year.



Just then, another Gryffindor made her presence known at the table. ”Hey Bernie”, Naya said, to her younger housemate. Before she had a chance to say more, the second year had moved on. Oh well, they’d have plenty of time to talk later.

Carsyn was all packed up and ready to go and honestly, she was looking forward to it. The year had been exhausting and while she had made a mental note that she wanted to speak to a certain Head Boy before she likely never saw him again, she figured that could wait until the train.

She'd survived a year of extra responsibilities and was dutifully grateful to Professor Sandhu's guidance and patience with her throughout the term. Speaking of Sandhu, after her appearance in the common room last night, Carsyn wasn't particularly sure how she was going to manage the next two years without her. Sandhu was literally the most patient and best role model that Carsyn could have asked for and she owed it to her to be at the Gryffindor Table first and foremost. Where, her dormmate and Cole and Lucas and Bernie all were seated already.

She even survived her owls. The fifth year did also want to make a point of speaking with Orion again before they arrived at King's Cross, but that too needed to wait.

And why was Bernie and Cole talking about them? "Uh, can we NOT talk about those exams, please. Like, what's everyone got planned for the summer?"

Cecelia was NOT her cheery, bouncy, bursting to the brim with energy-self as she made her way to the Gryffindor table and took a seat. Professor Sandhu was leaving them, leaving HER, and she felt quite sad about it. WHO was going to confuse her and make her wonder about ALL the stars and planets and bits of the great big universe now? And WHO was going to look after them and truly understand them and care about them like she had? The second year had a LOT of questions and no answers and while this wouldn't normally bother her, this time it DID.

Propping her chin on her hand, Cece glanced at the staff table and wondered if Professor Sandhu missed them already because SHE was already missing her head of house.

This was it. Her final feast at Hogwarts.

Rylee was beyond ready to go home. This term had been a really rough one on her but as always she was coming out on top. Nothing was going to get her down. Sure she would miss all her friends that weren't graduating with her and the professors and headmaster but there was plenty of ways to keep in touch. She was moving on to bigger and better things, there was a whole world out there calling her name.

Settling down at the center of the long table she flashed everyone a warm smile. "Hey, who's ready for summer?" They all should be. So where were the smiles and laughter? Really they all needed to perk up a bit.

And then, his thoughts were interrupted.

Blinking rapidly, Lucas tore his eyes away from Sandhu at the Staff Table and looked over to see that someone had joined him. "Hey, Naya." Was he good? ........ Well. "Uh, yeah, all good," he lied, "Just, uh, lost in post-OWLs thoughts." Pause. "So, do you have any plans for the holidays?"

Merlin, this was going to be a long feast if he continued like this.

Luckily, Cole arrived to start asking questions of his own. Questions about home and the exams that they had done not long ago. "Absolutely. It's going to be nice to get some sleep for once." And he didn't mean falling asleep on his textbooks, either. "What about you? Have any plans for the holidays?" Please distract him, ple-

...............

Uhhhhhhh??????

Lucas STARED at Bernie as she? patted his head?? Uh?? And even worse, she was giving him some advice about the OWLs? Yeaaaaah........ it was safe to say that Lucas was very confused right now. This wasn't the same Bernadette, right? Because the Bernadette he knew would try to do something crazy and get herself into detention but this was..... new.

"Uh, hi, Bernie. Thanks for the advice." How was he supposed to tell her that these exams were important? And could change his entire future? "I guess I can't change them so there's no point worrying, right? And you don't have to worry about them for a very long time, which is lucky." There was even a small smile on his face as he said that. Huh. Maybe distractions were really wor-

SNORT.

Was the Gryffindor surprised that Carsyn didn't want to talk about the exams? Not really. In fact, he would probably be the same if he had that much courage to react like that and not overthink. "Hey, Carsyn. Not much, really," he said, shrugging, "I'll be happy if nothing happened. What about you?"

But something else was happening and he only remembered when he heard Rylee asking them a question about summer as well. And there, right there, was that familiar sad feeling. "Hey, Rylee. Congrats on graduating." Pause. "Are you excited?" It was a big world out there. A big world with a lot to explore and roam around and-

It sounded scary.

It was then that his eyes landed on a certain little Gryffindor and he felt his heart drop even more. It wasn't like Cece to be anything but cheery, from what he knew. So to see her upset was completely new to him. New and weird and probably the biggest distraction of them all.

Before he knew it, Lucas found himself scooting a little closer to her on the bench. He knew what Emma would do: give the best cuddles in the world. But that wasn't like him so he tried a different approach. "Hey, Cece! Are you ready for a summer of sunshine and Quidditch?" Distractions always worked, right?

Phoebe was dragging, which meant that she was only half-skipping instead of flat out galloping as she squished into the seat next to Cece. She made a production of spreading into her friend's personal space, dropping a head on her shoulder, putting an arm around her. Full contact best friendship.

"Ready to go home? Will you come visit with me every day?" Phoebe perked up a little and gave Cece a nudge with her forehead. "You look less than absolutely happy."

As far as being squished went, Phoebe had probably the NICEST way of doing it while still making it feel friendly. Yes, friendly squishes were Phoebe's forte and Cecelia leaned against her, grateful for her company. She felt a LITTLE less heavy now that her bestie was here.

"As many days as I can manage. Already asked mum about having a sleepover at my house. I think that could be fun." Lots of, even. She just hoped all her friends could attend. As for her face, Cecelia did her best to fix it, managing a faint smile for her friend. "I've been thinking that Professor Sandhu is making this huge mistake leaving us..and I'm thinking she's going to miss us a bunch when she's away." And she was feeling very droopy over the whole thing because it was rare to find adults who seemed to GET you, you know? It was like a super power and what if their next head of house didn't have it? WHAT THEN?

Luckily for both of the second years, Lucas interrupted Cecelia's very serious, very head-hurty thoughts. He had good timing, did he know?

"Hi Lucas." Hi. "I can't wait to play. I miss quidditch so much." Almost as much as she missed her family and her dogs. "You can come over and fly sometime if you want," She added a moment later, thinking it'd be nice to spend some time with the older boy outside of the castle.

Oh please, Carsyn Rose. Bernie rolled her eyes at the older girl's tone. She always had to be bossy and come in and change the subject, didn't she? Bernie was doing SUCH a good job of pat-patting Lucas' hand and distracting him and whatnot, and Carsyn had to bluster in and RUIN IN.

"That's right," she replied first to the male prefect, and then looked to the female prefect. "I think I'm going to buy three crups this summer," Bernie announced, looking around the table in general. Oh look! Phoebe and Cece were here! Bernie beamed at them.

Before she could say much else, however, the Headmaster was making his speech, and once again she felt as though she were being admonished in public by one of her parents. If she had a school dad, it was for sure the Headmaster. Bernie was reminded of his threat to expel her in the Hospital Wing, and slouched down in her seat some, the Headmaster Professor's words ringing in her ears: "To those on the other side of that compliment, I'm gonna need you to do better."

Better. Better. How could Bernie do better? What could she do differently next term? She needed help understanding this. She needed... a NEW MENTOR. Someone who was a goody-goody bossy britches... someone exactly like...

"CARSYN," Bernie called out, scooting down the bench until she was opposite the prefect (it wasn't that far). Bernie reached across to the girl and shook a basket of rolls to get her attention, then grabbed one and ripped it apart to stuff some mashed potatoes in it. "Carsyn, dear Prefect Rose, ma'am..." How did she put this.... "Can you help me?" Er, that was a start.

"Hi Bernie!" Cole greeted the second year lioness with a grin "It's nice to see you outside the dorms. Have you got any summer plans?" He saw the starry gaze Bernie gave Lucas but couldn't decipher what it meant. He just wrote it off as girl stuff, having no idea that Lucas had a crusher on his hands.



Turning his attention to Naya he responded with a shrug trying to explain his mixed emotions. ”I feel so and so. I'm super happy that this stressy OWL'year is over for us and we're going home but also sad that Professor Sandhu is leaving us. I counted on her to be here for our final two years, you know?” The astronomy professor had unofficially become Cole's mother figure away from home and it was going to be hard to replace her. Reassuring her Cole said ”I'm sure you did good on all the OWL's Naya. I'm most worried about my potions exam grade. At least i didn't blow up any cauldrons..” He finished with a laugh. It was no secret that his least favourite subject of all was potions. He had gotten better at it though.



Carsyn?? Hearing his friend's distinctive voice Cole's looked up to see Carsyn suddenly sitting there among them at the table. When she had gotten there, he didn't know. She was there now and wishing to not talk OWL's. Deciding to humour her Cole said "I'm going to a quidditch camp in Leeds and my dad has also promised that we're going to see dragons at the dragon reservation in Sweden. What are you going to do? Anything fun?"Carsyn usually had fun plans for the summer.

"Hi Rylee! Congrats to graduating!" Cole said in greeting to the seventh year girl that just joined them at the Gryffindor table with a bright smile. "I'm totally ready for summer and playing some qudditch. Are you going to do something fun this summer?" Like what did you do when you had just graduated? Did you immediatly start applying for summer jobs and university courses?



The usually cheery and bouncy Cece joined them shorty after Rylee but she was anything but bouncy at the moment. If anything she looked sad. Looking across the table at her Cole asked worriedly "Hi Cece, are you okay? Are you as sad as i am that professor Sandhu is leaving us?"



"I couldn't agree more. I haven't slept a full night since we started prepping for those OWL's. I'm so glad we survived them. It's been exhausting." Cole responded heartfelt with a look over at Lucas. Speaking of summer he said "I'm going to look at dragons in Sweden and I'm going to a quidditch camp too. What are you going to do?" He almost offered Lucas if he wanted to come along to see the dragons but maybe that was just because Cole was desperate to have a close guy friend to talk to about things like girls that was his age and could relate to his problems and insecureties. Hopefully Lucas could be that someone eventually.

Carsyn frowned slightly upon seeing Cece because the younger girl always had a smile and zest for life. She (and her other dormmates actually), seemed so carefree, lovely, without the stresses of adolescence to bother them yet. So why was Cece suddenly looking so sad? That practically broke the fifth year to pieces because she could handle being sad and disappointed, but she didn't want that among her younger housemates. Not until at least fourth year. "Hey Cece, smile! Sunshine and quidditch is right around the corner!" She wondered if the girl was playing for the under 14 team yet.


Rylee was lucky. She wouldn't have to know a Hogwarts without Sandhu. Well, technically she did before Sandhu came to teach; technically Carsyn did too, but it was strange to recall those times because since Sandhu had become their head of house, the woman was perhaps the most diplomatic and selfless professor of all. It was hard to recall what their head of house was like before. Who it was? Sandhu was a natural, honestly, and Carsyn didn't particularly want to think of next term because what if the person to replace her didn't fit as well into those shoe? She knew she had to be strong, if nothing more than for Cece and Phoebe and Bernie and all the other younger kids. She tossed a smile at the seventh year though, "Summer will definitely be much well received. Looking forward to getting back out there on the pitch. What about YOU though, Rylee? What's next? Congratulations on graduating," Cause not everyone made it.

The thing that Carsyn liked most about Lucas being her co-prefect was how well they complimented each other. Like was it noticed how he was the introvert to her extrovert? She had the gall to change topics. To be outgoing. To be athletic. Not that Lucas wasn't fit, but she did know he wasn't into sports, whereas she wanted and liked to keep busy. "Aww, you should at least do something, even if it's take a solitary stroll on the beach or something. Me? For certain I'll be playing seeker for the Wales Under 17 team again, but other than that...." She shrugged, her light eyes in search of certain faces. What she wanted to do and what would happen were probably two different things, to be honest.

"Uh what. When were you going to tell me about quidditch camp??" She turned suddenly at Cole, frowning, but also delighted by this news. "Oh you know, just the usual for me. Quidditch. I'll be playing for the Wales Under 17 team again. And trying to soak up as much of summer as I can. You should come watch me though, if you have a free weekend."

And the Headmaster was talking, congratulating Gryffindor on their winning the house cup to which Carsyn was obviously delighted by but wait, what?? Why did he also seem to be reprimanding some students too in a Headmaster Trent sort of way? Also was that an eye roll Bernie? Honestly, she would see in three short years how after taking these blasted examinations that one simply didn't want to talk about it. It wasn't being rude or bossy, it was just, she'd had ENOUGH of OWL talk for the last 10 months - it was literally on every fifth year's mind since September (or earlier). And that was when she heard her name.

Ummmmmmm .... When Bernie was right opposite her, she blinked.

This was oddly suspicious. "You help... help you... me help..." gosh why couldn't she form words? "I .... suppose... what help I you with?" Wait what? That didn't make sense. Taking a roll she shoved a piece into her mouth to chew rapidly before swallowing. "Sorry, Um what was that. What did you need help with?"

Hah, nice to see her outside of the dorms. Bernie saw what Cole did there, and smirked back at him somewhat. "I'm buying some dogs," she announced again, in case anyone Professor Fuller-Thompson?!?! cared. She felt it was her and Claudine's duty to replace the ones lost to the acromantulas. So far that was her only plan...

But anywho, besides this responsibility, the thirteen-year-old was also going to shape up with the help of the prefect. She grinned a little at Carsyn and plopped some peas onto her own plate. "I need you to teach me the rules here," she informed the older girl. "How to get on the GOOD side of professors, how to br--- I mean, follow curfew, how to be a leader, what's ACTUALLY out of bounds and what's just frowned upon, all that stuff that prefects know." Yes yes, all that. Not that Bernie was by any stretch of the imagination Prefect material, but she thought that at least ACTING like one would be a step in the right direction.

So she wouldn't get expelled, right right.

Rylee smiled. "Thanks, Lucas. I am. It's been a long road." In many more ways than one. This year had been something else entirely and she couldn't even put into words how ready she was to go home. It was weird really. All those months she had been at home recovering, all she wanted was to return to Hogwarts. And now... now nothing was more important than going home.

Finally! Someone who seemed happy about going home. The ginger turned bright blue-gray eyes onto Cole with a grin that dimmed a bit at the mention of Quidditch. "Planning on trying out for the team next term?" If Quidditch was back by then. "Gryffindor is going to need a new Beater." Since she was graduation and all. Sigh. "I have some plans to do a little bit of traveling before I start university. Spend lots of time with my family." Her nephews were growing up way too fast for her liking.

She really needed to get a handle on this flying issue she had been having since spring break. The meer mention of Quidditch or flying was crushing her soul but she refused to let it show. Rylee tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, giving Carsyn a smile. "I'll have to come see you play." Just because she had been failing at getting back on a broom didn't mean she wouldn't support her friends. "Well the first step is spending as much time as possible with my nephews when I get home. Traveling some, preparing for university, working on a few other things." Plants, creatures, getting a job. The usual Rylee stuff. "And a whooooooole lot of training."