It was hard to believe that the end of Aurora’s first year at Hogwarts had finally come to its climax. Although as the month had drawn on Aurora had been looking forward to seeing her beloved mums again as any eleven-year-old would, she would miss her newly acquired friends and the school over the summer. She was hoping that her parents would take her and her sister on holiday to Greece again like they had most years to enjoy the beach and the sun and the fact that there would be no homework and Ari had finished the OWL’s that she was so busy stressing over. She would also be celebrating her twelfth birthday as one of the youngest in the school and a July baby which was kind of sad that she wouldn’t be with her friends but at least she could see her family, cousins and all, instead.

The blonde was also absolutely starving hungry which was perhaps why she had arrived so early at the end-of-year feast that barely anyone else was around. It wasn’t like arriving early would make the food arrive quicker but still here she was, bright eyed and bushy tailed, plopping herself down on the bench in the middle of the Ravenclaw table and forcing everyone else to have to sit around her because SHE was friendly and sociable and therefore everyone else had to be too. Her hair was braided into a pair of pigtails and she was wearing a pink friendship bracelet which peeked out from underneath her sleeve which she had made for her sister wherever she might be. She glanced up at the banners of blue and gold floating above the table, still in awe of how COOL magic was, waiting for someone to come join her.

He had promised himself that he was going to just enjoy the night like any other end of term feast and forget about what it all meant. What tomorrow was bringing...his return home for the final time. But the moment he stepped into the Great Hall that was already gathering students, Rajesh couldn’t help the feelings. The seventh year swallowing and taking a deep breath as he moved further into the hall and made his way towards the Ravenclaw table. His eyes flickering around to take in all the things as much as they had as a first year excited and nervous for what was to come.

Finally, he focused back on eagle table beside him as he came down the aisle, the young man eventually taking a seat around the middle. “Good evening…” he greeted the young first year already seated nearby. “Enjoy your first year?” he inquired, figuring to turn his attention on his fellow house members instead of himself.

She'd taken a momentary detour by the Hufflepuff table to drop a graduation gift off for Jude. She was sure she'd be getting an earful from her sweet cousin when he saw what she had gifted his boyfriend, and yet Mouse knew it would have made the soon to be graduate happy. Besides, even Davet annoyed was still far too sweet of a person. She was sure he got that from Aunt Cosette, who had been probably the biggest help in her little project.

With one gift dropped off, another remained tucked in her bag currently slung over her shoulder. She was second guessing herself in giving it, but thankfully had a good amount of time to ponder that before it would be too late. For now, she'd just focus on the feast and another pleasant evening at the house table with her friends - even if this was the final night for some of them.

Reaching the long table clad in blue, she found herself a spot near Raj and took a seat next to him, giving a smile but trying to also not disrupt his conversation with Aurora, who also got a smile and wave as Mouse settled in and waited to hear her response. She certainly hoped it had been a good year for the younger girl!

Staring up at the decorations adorning the Great Hall was starting to get a little boring for the Ravenclaw who had found herself on her own having clearly been the most eager beaver at the end of term feast. Yes, it was because she was super hungry having skipped lunch to try to neatly pack all her belongings back into her suitcase ready for the train journey home tomorrow morning. That and she was truly going to miss the House Elves cooking and the amazing feasts that the school provided for their students. Aurora’s mums were a little too into their health and the children’s diets were very balanced meaning ice cream and cookies and cakes weren’t a frequent occurrence at home so she’d have to make up for it by eating as much as her tiny 4’5 self could manage.

Thankfully, the eleven year old wasn’t left to her own devices for too long before a couple of students joined her. The first was a graduating seventh year, Rajesh, who got a little wave as a greeting. “It was amazing! I’m going to miss it over the summer.” she gushed, perhaps not giving much thought to the fact that poor Raj was going to miss it.. FOREVER! That very thought made the Ravenclaw temporarily sad however it was short lived as another student joined them too. Aurora remembered meeting Mouse at the start of term feast and therefore it had all gone full circle. “HI!” she beamed in her direction.

“Do you two have plans for the summer? Are you going on holiday? Do you think the food will be long?” The eleven, soon to be twelve year old was SO FULL of questions today. It was probably a distraction from the loud grumbling that her stomach was making over the general chit chat across the Great Hall.

Although - as far as he was concerned - this might be his last Hogwarts feast, Angelo Milano had no afforded the occasion with any kind of note, or reverence, or shoes, or so much as a comb through his hair. He was not particularly keen on being present in the Great Hall, but there was, admittedly, safety in numbers.

Usually. Depending on the numbers. The omens. The whisperings in the corridors.

Milo had taken a place at the very end of the table, near the doors - in such a way that he could see who came and went - and far from the staff table. He knelt on the bench, sitting back on his feet, and worked intently through a stack of Daily Prophet newspapers [i]and Quibblers, alternately marking them up with red and black pen. The crossword pages were the ones which largely commanded his attention, but the articles had their fair share of... they were just interesting.

It was absorbing work, but not so absorbing that Milo entirely lost himself in it. On occasion, he would twitch, exhale suddenly, jerk his head as if shooing away a fly, or look up sharply at someone near him, only to find it was just the usual souls and shadows, before silently returning to his task.

With a crease appearing between his dark brows, Milo contributed a blood-red 'shakespeare' to the empty space in the margins.

Feeling the presence coming beside him, Rajesh turned to see Mouse moving to sit next to him on the bench. He returned the smile sent his way before looking back at Aurora as she answered. “Glad you did,” he remarked truthfully. It had in fact been a rather uneventful term, especially compared to his first and sixth in particular, something he was grateful for, especially for his sisters’ sakes. And the likes of the firstie before him. The adult years were hard enough, school shouldn’t be THAT bad.

“Probably be visiting family at some point…and getting stuff ready for university.” At least he was staying at the reserve at the moment, so he didn’t have to worry about dorms and apartments for the time being. "Shouldn't be too long." Though a glance at the staff table didn't show much in the way of staff already there.

Certainly couldn’t answer for Mouse though he did look back at the sixth year slightly curious to her response. “Hello,” he greeted Mouse properly doing his best to not have his countenance faulter. Was it weird to think of missing someone one had known for only a year?

Aurora's energy was infectious and Mouse's smile only grew at the younger girl's excitement. "Hi, Sleeping Beauty. Glad you had such a good term!" A statement as strong as missing school over summer could only be a truly strong indicator for how good the term truly had been for the younger student. The rapid fire questions were also endearing and while Mouse opened her mouth to respond, Raj already was and instead she turned her attention towards another student scribbling on some magazines not too far away from them. She had to strain for a minute to try to remember the boys name, but believing she settled upon it she sent a smile his way as well. "Hi Milo! How was your term?" She didn't particularly remember him being chatty, but worth the greeting anyways.

Hearing Raj's greeting, head swiveled back his direction. "Hey, Mr. Graduate!" Well, nearly. She was trying to keep as upbeat as possible, because this WAS a very exciting moment for him and all the other seventh years. Even if she was going to very much miss the new friends she'd made in them, him in particular. "How are you feeling?" Remembering she had yet to answer Aurora either, brown eyes turned back to the petite blond. "No major plans for me. I'll probably go back to France for at least a few weeks to spend some time with my maman. What about you? What will your family do for the break?"

As for food... well that was always a toss up. A glance towards the staff table showed there were still some faces pending. "Hopefully Headmaster Winterbottom's speech is short and sweet, and then we'll be right into the good part." Which of course was the House Elves elite cooking - as always.

Aurora was most definitely at that annoying, social and excitable age where she would insist that everyone was clearly as sociable as she was and therefore would become her friend. Which was why Milo, who had chosen to sit as far away from the group as possible and evidently would NOT want to talk to an over enthusiastic blonde still got a wave. “HI!” she beamed down the long table in his direction hoping to distract him from the crossword he was engaging in which Aurora most definitely didn’t have the patience to do, especially during such an exciting event as the end-of-term feast was.

Turning back to the other older students who were more enthusiastic about the first years presence,the eleven year old listened as they informed her of their summer plans. “What do you think you want to be?” she asked Raj. It was a very important question that hadn’t actually crossed the young girls mind yet. She loved magical creatures so maybe it would be something along those lines but she still had another 4 years to plan it out before she’d have to make a big decision over her final subjects and therefore what she would be studying at University. If she attended university that was, her Ma wouldn’t make her if she didn’t want to.

It quickly dawned on Aurora that Mouse had been a friend of Ariadne’s back in Beauxbatons and therefore knew all about her family. “We’re all going to Greece!” she enthused. “Ma, Mom, Ari and I that is. We go most years because my Mom went to Athens University when she was younger and it was where my Mum’s got married too.” That and it was warm and full of beautiful beaches and ancient architecture (which Rora was not so enthusiastic about). “Do you miss Beauxbatons?” She asked sweetly. She sometimes thought that Ari did but she was thrilled that she had chosen to accompany her younger sister to Hogwarts or else it would’ve been a fairly lonely first year.

It wasn’t long after she had asked about when the food would be ready that the Headmaster requested silence and the Ravenclaw hushed for a second (which was quite a task for an excitable girl) to listen to the speech. Her Mum’s had kept quiet the tragic events of previous years from her and therefore the fact that it had been a quiet and uneventful year was lost on her but the sudden appearance of a delightful feast received a huge grin from the Blonde.

She would make sure to indulge before she went back to her parents healthy diet.

It wasn’t that Raj hadn’t noticed the younger boy like Mouse and Aurora had, but he could relate to the fourth year having been on the quiet side himself. The seventh year wasn’t going to bug him, especially since he seemed so absorbed in what he was doing. Besides, the girls had already reached out so they would see if he reacted. “Hmm?” he questioned, not registering Aurora’s question at first before realizing what she had asked. “Oh…I’m looking to be a healer.”

The type was just still up in the air.

“That seems sooo weird…” he mused at Mouse’s title for him. Mr. Graduate. Seven years at Hogwarts come and gone. “Alright at the moment,” Rajesh answered as truthfully as he could on how he was feeling. Though he was happy when she turned her attention to Aurora about her summer plans. Right, she would be going back to France. And the younger girl to Greece. Sounded like fun plans all around even if his own made him slightly nervous. Thankfully the headmaster chose that time to do the traditional speech.

Could he be a happy little rabbit instead?

The Ackerly's family plans sounded so lovely! She had never been to Greece, but she always heard amazing things about the architecture, the weather and the clarity of the water. It was on her bucket list, to be sure, perhaps once she was able t "Oooh, Greece sounds like such a lovely summer trip! Have you, or will you, visit the Athens university campus and the place where your Mums got married?" To have such a place with such sweet family memories, Mouse could only imagine it would be part of the rounds at least some of the time. As for if she missed Beauxbatons? She had to think about it for a moment, before giving a small shake of her head. "Not really. I suppose there are some things I missed that were relevant to Beauxbatons but... as a whole, I've felt far more comfortable in my year here than my five years there." Perhaps she'd be missing it more this summer when she studied for her OWL exam at the end of the year and then immediately into NEWTs. "What about you? Was there a part of you that had wanted to go to Beauxbatons instead of Hogwarts?"

Attention turned back to Raj and she chuckled slightly, giving a small nod of awknowledgement. "I can only imagine how weird it is to hear. At least it's pretty much until end of summer until I think most really feel it, right?" Like... September 1st ish. Otherwise, she assumed it was just another summer until everyone else was off on their way and uni classes began. "Good." She replied in response to how he was feeling, before her attention was taken away then by the Headmaster standing and giving his speech.

Short, sweet, to the point. He didn't seem a man who felt the need to drawl on if there wasn't anything important to add, something which she already appreciated about him - and even more so when he was sitting again and food loaded on the table in front of them. Brown eyes drifted back towards the youngest (for now) Claw. "Not long at all until food apparently!"