Time of Your Life

* * * * *

 
They were the graduating class though it was never spoken like that. A group of young wizards and witches that had entered scared, shaking children and returned adults. They stood before Dumbledore in the Great Hall, surrounded by their peers and fellow students, bodies shaking, hands sweating and many eyes filled with tears. Tears of happiness, tears of sadness and tears of both. Memories filled their minds as they stepped forward to receive their certification of magic, the ink still wet on the parchment. Heads bowed as new hats replaced old. The tall, strait, student caps replaced with the ones that marked them as graduates.
 
Dumbledore smiled as he held out the scroll for the Gryffindors, smiling over what was, secretly of course, his favorite house. “Hermione Granger.” He called.
 
The young witch stepped nervously in front of the headmaster, blinking away the tears that clung to her lashes, giving him a small, trembling smile.
 
“Hermione Granger, you are now, a full fledged witch.” He said softly, handing her the parchment that deemed her as such. He smiled at her as she bowed her head, removing her student cap and replacing it with the new one.
 
Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time
It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life
 
~Flashback~
 
Books were piled high around Hermione, blocking even her bushy hair from sight as she bent over her homework, fingers numb from being pressed against the nib of her quill, fingers stained with ink so deep it would never come off. She let out a tired sigh and turned back to her work, blowing a strand of hair from her face as she crossed her ‘T’ and moved on to the next work, wincing as she applied pressure to her quill again, hurting her fingers more.
 
Ron and Harry watched from a corner of the common room, the last of the students downstairs save Hermione. They looked at each other before standing, striding silently to their friend. Harry gently pulled the quill from her fingers before Hermione could protest while Ron gently poured sand on her homework, before he rolled it up and set it aside.
 
“Stop, I need that. Ron! You just got sand all over me!”
 
“You need sleep Hermione.” Harry said softly, looking down at the young witch, worry creasing his forehead. “You can’t keep up this pace.”
 
“What do you know about what I can and can’t do?” Hermione snapped before putting a hand over her mouth.
 
Harry brushed off her words and grabbed one of her arms while Ron grabbed the other. They lifted Hermione from the chair then frowned as she stayed in a sitting position. Shrugging they carried her up to the girl’s dormitory, getting her in bed despite her protests.
 
The next morning Hermione rushed downstairs, still in her nightclothes, intent on finishing her work…only to find it missing. Books, quills, bottles of ink, parchment, sand; all of it was gone. Cursing in a manner that would make even Ron blush she stormed up to the girls’ dormitory, intent on fetching her robe before bashing both Harry and Ron with Harry’s firebolt. She stalked over to her bed and paused, staring at her bed stand. There, waiting for her was all of her work along with a cup of tea, plate of kippers and a note from Ron and Harry not to be downstairs until she had at least three feet of homework done.
 

* * * * *

Hermione thanked Dumbledore and went to stand with the rest of the Gryffindors when he put a hand on her shoulder. “Not finished yet.” He said softly and turned to Minerva who stood at his side with a small box. Opening it he pulled out a small medal. “For Hermione, who has forever engraved herself in the annuals of Hogwarts for receiving the highest amount of NEWTs ever recorded.” He said, pinning it to Hermione’s robes. She blushed brilliantly, mumbling a thank you. “Also we award her this for being the only student to turn in two feet more then required on every piece of homework, your teachers will bill you for all the red ink used in correcting it.”
 
Hermione blushed brighter as the others laughed and she hurried back to her place, smiling softly at the medal as she looked at it.
 
Ron squeezed her hand lightly and swallowed as his name was called. He stepped forward, clenching his fists against the urge to either run or throw up all over Dumbledore. He accepted his ‘diploma’ gracefully, smiling softly as he bent his head for the exchange of caps, reaching out and clasping Dumbledore’s hand in a firm shake. He closed his eyes, taking a breath to savor the moment.
 
So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it’s worth, it was worth all the while
 

* * * * *

 
Ron stared down at the chess pieces below him, rubbing his chin in though. His eyes flickered up and a small smile flickered across his face as he watched Seamus fidget in his chair, the young Irish man staring at Ron stair at his chess pieces.
 
Ron raised his hand, letting it hover gently over the pieces as if he were indecisive, letting the moment build, feeling the tension in the air mount as everyone in the Gryffindor common room stair at them. He let the smile bloom fully as he moved his queen. “Checkmate.” He said softly.
 
Seamus weakly knocked over his king and a cheer erupted from the crowd behind Ron, Seamus’ supporter’s glaring at them as they offered their champ their condolences. Ron stood and reached across the chessboard, holding out his hand. “Nice game Seamus.”
 
Seamus nodded, shaking Ron’s hand sadly. It had started as a way to cure boredom the winter of fifth year. A small inner house chess tournament. Nothing big, Fred and George had offered up fifty galleons to the winner, only, no one won. Seamus and Ron kept meeting each other at an impasse every final; each one outsmarting the other until they finally had to call it a draw for the year. The same happened in the sixth year and would have come about this year if the predictions of Gryffindor House were correct. But in that last moment of freedom before the end, Ron finally triumphed and thus ended what would go down in Gryffindor history as the longest chess game played in front of the fire.
 

* * * * *

 
Ron moved back to his place next to Harry and Hermione and looked down at the bag around his waist, fifty galleons’s jingling merrily as he walked. He almost hadn’t accepted the winnings, wanting to leave them in George’s hand as his brother had held them out to him upon receiving an owl about the end of the game but he had taken the bag in the last moment, letting the golden coins run through his fingers as he sat on his bed, nervously waiting for the End of Year Feast. He already knew what he was going to buy with the winnings and he smiled as he thought of the scarlet and gold chess pieces waiting for him at Pawns Wish, already wrapped and ready to be delivered to the Finnigan’s farm as soon as he paid.
 
Ron looked up as Harry’s name was called and he joined the rest of the school in cheering on their hero, laughing as a blush crept over his best friend’s features.
 
Harry shook Dumbledore’s hand firmly; staring deep into the older man’s eyes, trying to stop the trembling that was taking over his body. The fatherly pride he found reflected in those blue orbs made him blush more then the cheering, feeling unworthy of the pride. He was just Harry, nothing special.
 
It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life.



* * * * *

 
 
Harry stared up at the great castle as the first years slowly approached in their boats. His eyes tried to drink it all in, every stone and window, every turret and tower. He tried to memorize the large building, to burn it into his memory forever. For most of his life he had dreamed of a way to escape the Dursley’s, but the dream had never been quite like this. But he was free, or as free as he would ever get of them.
 
Ron elbowed Harry gently, grinning at him. When he had Harry’s attention, he nodded over to Hermione, smirking as the know it all was stuck dumb as she stared. “One would think she’s never seen a castle before.” He said, laughing softly.
 
Harry grinned and glanced around at his fellow students, realizing that their reactions were pretty much the same. Even Malfoy was staring in awe at the school. It wasn’t the fact it was a huge castle, nor the fact that it was now their home. The awe was because that this was the birthplace of hundreds of generation of wizzards. Magic had been built into the castle with every student that walked its corridors, every spell that was uttered in its classrooms. It was the legacy that they now continued that awed them. The lineage that they were now a member of. His parents had studied here, met here. His first real friend, well, he hopped Ron was his friend, had been found here. And although he didn’t’ know it yet, his future lay here. Future best friends and associates, future enemies and betrayers. Future adventures lay ahead that would test him among those halls. His life would change forever as he crossed over the threshold, but in that moment, staring up at the castle, no mater what lay ahead, he knew, he had found his home.
 

* * * * *

 
Harry raised up as the new wizard cap was placed upon his head and he blinked away the tears that had come to his eyes. He took a deep breath, staring at Dumbledore a moment longer before returning to his place in line.
 
Dumbledore stared at the student’s before him, no longer his pupils but now, fellow wizards and witches, fully trained, and for better or worse, free to use their magic as they wished. He smiled at each of them as the former Gryffindors stepped back into place with the rest of their year. No longer divided by house loyalty, no longer children to bicker over childish things. He smiled at each of them as he studied them, trying to imagine what their futures held. Great things, of that he was sure. The road would not always be easy for them, but then again, it never was. They learned that, some younger then others but they had all learned that life was not always bubbles and dreams.
 
‘I have watched you all, grow, from young, scared children, holding you’re wands in shaking hands, not knowing if you could do what would be asked of you.” He said softly. “And now you are once again before me, filled to the brim with all the knowledge we can provide you. “ He paused to wipe a tear from his eye. “I would say more touching things but I fear I would end up blubbering all over the place so I leave you with the same advice my headmaster gave me as I stood where you are today, Go out there and try not to blow anything important up.”