At the end of term, Hogwarts held its usual gathering. It was partly to see students off, and partly to announce who had won the House Cup.
It wasn't a banquet, and unless something unexpected happened, everyone already knew where the Cup was going.
The magical points counter sat right outside the Great Hall. One look told you who was ahead and who wasn't.
Unless Dumbledore decided to shamelessly dump a pile of points onto some House at the last second, the announcement itself would take no time at all.
So once the House Cup was announced that morning, students would board the Hogwarts Express at eleven on the dot.
The train would then barrel along and deliver them into the hands of parents—many of whom probably hadn't even cooled down yet—by the afternoon…
If you'd done well, it was praise and encouragement, usually followed by a proper meal and maybe even a gift.
If you'd done badly…
Well. Good luck.
And honestly, it was hard not to suspect the school did it on purpose. The same train supposedly left at the same time, yet the Hogwarts Express departing from Hogwarts ran nearly two or three hours earlier than when it left from King's Cross.
With that time difference, plus the report cards already mailed to parents ahead of time, anyone with poor marks would arrive home at the exact moment their parents' fury was peaking.
It was outrageous.
For seventh-years, this was their last night at school. Every one of them was a mess, tears and sniffles everywhere as they said goodbye to their student days.
Their grades were set in stone now. They were adults, and they had to live with what they'd done. Whether they could land a good job depended on that one sheet of paper.
You got what you worked for. Grades didn't lie, and the future didn't cheat the students who put in the effort…
Except for Snape. When it came to cheating people, he still cheated people. But the Ordinary Wizarding Level exams were already the dividing line. Anyone who could keep studying beyond that generally didn't have terrible marks to begin with.
Even if Snape was completely unhinged, he wasn't going to hand out an A (Acceptable) just to disgust someone.
Watching older students either crying quietly or wailing openly, Ernie was genuinely moved. He turned to Leonard and Justin.
"Everyone looks like they really can't bear to leave. My eyes are stinging just watching them. Do you think we'll be like this when we graduate?"
Leonard sighed. "It might not be that they're reluctant to leave. Some of them might just be sobbing because their grades are awful."
A few older students nearby who had been about to burst into loud crying froze on the spot, suddenly unsure whether they should keep going or not.
Their emotions just… broke in half.
Ernie and Justin rolled their eyes and scolded Leonard for ruining the moment.
"Look how touching the atmosphere is right now. Don't say things like that."
Leonard shrugged and stayed quiet, but privately he thought: This is nothing. When you lot graduate, that's when it really gets lively. The mood will be set perfectly for you.
For them, a normal graduation was at worst a living farewell. For us… who knew how many would end up being final goodbyes?
That thought would've sounded wrong out loud, so Leonard kept his mouth shut, maintained the faintly sorrowful mood, and followed the crowd to the Great Hall.
When the students filed in, they immediately noticed the blue banners hanging around the hall.
Ravenclaw banners.
The reason they were up early was obvious: Ravenclaw had won the House Cup.
Ravenclaw students were buzzing, chattering excitedly about how lucky they were, and their excitement washed away a lot of the sadness in the room.
And they really were lucky.
Ravenclaw winning was basically them picking up the leftovers. Because of Harry Potter, Snape had been clinging to Gryffindor like a leech, taking points at every opportunity.
Hufflepuff, meanwhile, had lost plenty of points because of Leonard.
Slytherin was even worse off. Between one problem after another, they'd bled points badly. In the end, it was Ravenclaw—who hadn't lost much and were always happy to show off in class—who quietly climbed to the top.
The result was so unexpected Snape looked like his face had turned green. Watching him sit at the staff table with a thundercloud expression, sulking in silence, made Leonard feel refreshed down to his bones.
Hufflepuff had tried hard too. They'd even won the Quidditch Cup in the last match and earned the points award that came with it. Even with Harry Potter as the protagonist, he still hadn't beaten Cedric, who was also riding a Nimbus 2000.
But Snape's point deductions had been brutal. That handful of points wasn't enough to close the gap with Ravenclaw, so Hufflepuff had to settle for second.
Even so, Hufflepuff students were satisfied. As long as it wasn't Slytherin taking the Cup, everyone was happy.
Dumbledore looked a little awkward as well. He'd originally wanted Gryffindor to win, so young Harry could feel the warmth and strength of belonging to a House.
The trouble was, Quirrell had died too early. Harry Potter never got the chance to stop him from stealing the Philosopher's Stone, which meant Dumbledore had no excuse to suddenly award Gryffindor a mountain of points.
So the House Cup ceremony passed without any last-minute chaos.
To applause from every House except Slytherin, Ravenclaw finally received the House Cup they'd been hoping for all these years.
The Cup presentation usually meant the ceremony was basically over, but Dumbledore left some extra time for the graduates to say goodbye.
Leonard sat at the Hufflepuff table, watching the seventh-years take turns saying their farewells to classmates. He offered a few appropriately sentimental remarks, but his mind was on something else.
Not that strange organization.
Claudia.
Summer break was almost two months long. Claudia couldn't be left alone in the Forbidden Forest, not even with Midgard around.
Midgard might be relatively safe, but Knockturn Alley didn't have the concept of a summer holiday. The werewolf wizards would keep doing what they always did, and Midgard had plenty of her own business. She might not be able to keep an eye on Claudia the whole time.
Leonard couldn't relax about it. If he could, he wanted to bring Claudia home with him.
That part should be manageable. Leonard's grandfather, Londo, was harsh, but he was still fond of anything tied to the wizarding world.
Leonard only needed to say Claudia was his wizard friend, and Londo probably wouldn't make a fuss.
Even if he did…
It wouldn't matter.
Once the ceremony ended, students streamed out of the Great Hall and signed a statement at the school entrance.
It was a declaration promising not to use magic off-campus. After Leonard signed his name, he felt something wrap itself around his wand.
So that was the Trace: the magic that monitored whether students used spells outside school. Use magic once and you got a warning; do it twice and you were expelled. No appeals, no second chances.
But the Trace itself wasn't especially complicated. Leonard understood the basic principle at a glance. Once he had the opportunity, he could deal with it.
After everything was set, the students climbed into the carriages pulled by Thestrals and headed for the Hogwarts platform.
It also served as a familiarization trip for first-years moving up to second year, so next time they returned, they'd know to take the Thestral carriages straight to the castle.
Amid laughter and that faint, lingering ache of parting, Leonard's first year at Hogwarts came to an end.