Nope.

This was not it.

It couldn't be it.

IT WASN'T IT OKAY?

...

Aurora was pretty much a wreck, internally. At least on the outside she was just about managing to hold it together... well, she wasn't crying. Yet...

SHE DIDN'T WANT TO GO AND LEAVE EVERYONE BEHIND IT WASN'T FAIR!!!

She was totally not ready for being a grown up and everything - she didn't want to go away from her friends - away from her fiance - and have to go to university and do adult things like... live alone. Merlin... this really was the last feast she would ever have at Hogwarts... she remembered the first end of term feast - Aaron had proposed to Iris and she'd been his sidekick. She stuck a hand into her pocket and traced the outline of the mask she'd worn - she still kept it, and she had brought it with her today for some reason. Maybe she thought if she held on hard enough to her first year memories that seventh year would run off into the distance and leave her here. At Hogwarts. With Richard. And all her FRIENDS.

She walked slowly into the Great Hall, feeling almost human sized in her heels, and took a seat at the Slytherin table, her bottom lip already quivering. Shedidn'twanttoleave...

First on Bliss' list of things to do. CRY. No, no, that wasn't it. She needed to say g-g-goodbye to people that were leaving her forever graduating. This year, there were so many people that she would miss so much. And .. and .. they weren't leaving. They COULDN'T. She'd formulated a plan, that if she clung to them really tightly, they couldn't leave. Sounded about right, right? MEH. Bliss squeezed her eyes shut and told herself 'no tears'.

She could cry later. Yep.

The little-big badger headed straight for the Slytherin table, cos she spotted her. One of her absolute favourite red heads. AURORA. She scurried quickly over to her, her lip quivering ever so slightly and tugged on the older girls self. "Aurora .?" She whispered, tugging some more.

MAJOR WIBBLE.

Aurora was just staring at the Slytherin banner above the table. MAJESTIC SNAKE IS MAJESTIC. And distracting. And... and hers... WIBBLE. She was trying not to think about everything - cause keeping herself thinking of happy things was the only thing stopping her from bursting into tears about leaving. But thinking about happy things meant... well... meant thinking about Richard, and moving in with him, and holidays, and weddings... and that just sparked thoughts about living without him for so long. Andsomethoughtsabouthermumtoo...

But then she was hugged... by someone little apparently. She turned around to see Bliss... ohhhh no! Aurora was already finding it hard not to cry and now... now she had to start saying goodbye to people and she didn't want to. She didn't say anything - any opening of her mouth would risk a huge onslaught of tears - and just hugged the little Hufflepuff back tightly. Merlin... at the beginning of Hogwarts the idea of hugging anyone - especially a Hufflepuff - had been positively repellent to Aurora... but now... now she had friends and stuff... and she didn't want to let go.

Feast. Feast. Food. Feast. Hufflepuff winning. But that didnt matter because Feast.

Food was the pull of course, that was what drew him directly to the table even though he knew he'd have to sit through some speech before he could eat anything. But they were usually at least a bit alright, and Truebridge made them way more interesting than Tate had.

Well since he couldn't eat, why not find Selina, 'Rora and Sierra? He had goodbye things for them. You know, because he did care that they were leaving even if he wasn't all lame and cut up about it like some people were probably going to get. West was tougher than that.

... and casually ignoring the fact that his own sister would be graduating too.

Not crying. Not crying. Not crying. Eh, what the heck. Bliss let out a little whimper and hugged Aurora back tightly. Not toooo tightly, but there was no way the Slytherin was getting out of her grasp that quickly. After all, she had a PLAN. Cling. That was it, just cling. Couldn't go wrong, unless of course, she was forcibly removed .. with might have to happen. Cos this Hufflepuff was NOT budging at all. No chance. She simply stood and hugged the snake with all her might and pretended that she wasn't on the verge of tears.

HUG.

IT.

OUT.

NOOOOOOO NOW BLISS WAS CRYING!!!!!!! Aurora bit her lip to stop tears happening - only just - and just hugged her back for a moment. "Bliss..." She priiiiiiiiiised herself out of the little Hufflepuff's grip - gently, but it took a LOT of strength - and sat up an inch. "Hey... it's okay." NO. IT IS CERTAINLY NOT OKAY AND IT ISN'T GOING TO BE OKAY ANY TIME SOON. "It's not like I'm going to disappear or anything..." Nope. Hopefully. "Write to me whenever you want, okay?" At this rate Aurora would be writing MILES of letters to people, but she didn't really mind.

MERLIN WHY DID SHE HAVE TO GO.
__________________

Aurora glanced up for a moment and noticed someone sit down a little way off from them. "Bliss, just give me a moment." she said, hugging the little hufflepuff once more before standing up and walking over to...

"West!" she hugged the boy tight before he could protest or anything and smiled at him - NOT CRYING TOTALLY NOT GOING TO CRY NOPE NOT ME - before letting go again. "I'm going to miss you." she said, kind of matter-of-fact. He probably knew she would miss him - he seemed to know everything...

... why was Bliss crying? Obviously that concerned West a lot, but he was suddenly getting 'Rora!hugs which were quite nice actually. He even pat-patted her back, noticing she got all smaller than him and stuff. When did that happen?

"I'll miss you as well. I even made you something." He paaaaused, "But you don't get to have it until the train." It just made more sense on the train. He smiled encouragingly and then shot a sort of anxious glance over at Bliss. He wasn't gonna rush over and crowd her though, if she needed him she knew she could come to him and besides, she was probably wanting to say lots of goodbyes.

She was nice like that.

Bliss, VERY reluctantly, released her grip on Aurora. So much for her plan; she'd have to think of something else. Like the whole, hiding in a suitcase thing, or ... hiding her in the Room of Requirement for the summer and slipping her food via secret passage ways. Aurora wouldn't mind that, right? Staying locked in a room, alone, until school started again. 'Kay, maybe not. Bliss looked the Snake in the eye, showing her sadness through her eyes. Aurora could see her WIDE, PUPPY DOG EYES, yes? "It's..." Bliss trailed off. She was probably being really silly about all of this, but whatever. "Yes, yes, yes. I will." She nodded and gave her a weak smile. That's right, 'Rora, you can expect ma-HOO-sive letters.

The 'Puff blinked as the older girl walked off. Now what was she supposed to do? Drown in her sorrows? She didn't KNOW anyone else. For a few minutes, Bliss stood there like an awkward potato, before actually paying attention to whom it was that Aurora was speaking with. WEST. Howdidshenotnotice? Now ... should she go say hello, or leave Aurora and West to have their moment? Decisions, decisions. Bliss went with the half'n'half. She slithered down towards them, close enough to be seen, but not close enough to interrupt. Now her boyfriend could talk to her if he wanted to.

And he didn't .... awkward potato time.

On one hand, Sky was really excited for the feast because it meant that she would be on her way home tomorrow (even if that meant a long train ride and an even longer plane ride) and nothing could beat that. On the other, she was going to have to say goodbye to some graduating students, which usually meant CRYING. At least she had thought to wear waterproof mascara so that she wouldn't end up looking like a mess. Though the professors and headmistress probably already thought she looked a mess, since she hadn't bothered to put on her uniform. Hey, at least she was wearing a Hogwarts shirt, right?

Anyway, as she made her way to the Slytherin table, she spotted one of the graduating snakes already starting her goodbyes. Ugh. She approached Alice and the- third year, right? she was hugging and patted her shoulder, standing back afterwards to await her turn. Even though she hadn't seen the older girl all term and she probably didn't remember that they had been Slytherin Sidekicks her first year, almost six years ago now.

....oh. "You made me something?" she repeated, a little shocked in all honesty. She hadn't exactly expected anything like that. When she was a first year she'd made Iris that hairclip that fluttered... and she made Aaron his superhero mask. And now someone had made something for HER!! Not just 'someone', one of her FAVOURITE 'someone's! FEELINGS FEELINGS FEELINGS. DON'T MIND ME, MY HEART JUST MELTED. "In that case I'll be sure to come find you before we reach London." she said with a smile. London. Home. Home for the foreseeable future, now... Home where she would be living with Richard, going to university, having a life. Eventually getting married... at some point... Merlin. University. Terrifying...



Aurora SAW those puppy dog eyes, yup. STOP MELTING MY HEART YOU SCHEMING LITTLE THIRD YEARS, YOU.

As she noticed Bliss slide towards them she fished into her pockets. Then, pulling out a little paper bag, said to both Bliss and West, "Oh, I know the speeches can last forever, but since I'm going home tomorrow I figured I could give away my stash of food." she said, putting the bag of jelly babies on the table in front of them. "I'm going to go and find other people I have to say g-... um... talk to before tomorrow." And with that, she gave a little wave and went back to her seat, standing on the bench to look for other people - even in her heels she STILL only JUST looked too tall...

"Yeah, I like making stuff." So why not? Especially since he was poor right now, because all his money had been allocated to buying presents for his friends, who mostly had birthdays clustered around the next month or two.

"Okay, 'Rora. See you on the train." For sure. And thanks for the candy? Heh. Apparently.

"Don't I get hugs too?" Not that he was leaving or anything. He scooted closer and nudged the bag of jelly babies Aurora had left toward her.

"Did you finish saying goodbye to everyone yet? And umm... congratulations on the house cup." As much as that sucked to say.

She noticed them? Yes? GOOD.

"You're giving away your food stash?" Bliss blinked. She had no objections of course, because food WAS food. Althoughshedidn'tfeellikeeating. Not even jelly beans could tempt her. Going home tomorrow; the words rung in her ears and she flinched, for more reasons than one. Home meant seeing her family and in their broken state, that wouldn't be a good thing, no matter how much they needed each other right now. "Okay, Rora. I'll see you later, maybe." She gave a small smile and wave of her own before turning to West.

"Course you do, silly," she assured him and instantly slotted herself into his arms. Nice, cosy and safe. Bliss eyed the jelly babies and bit her lip, shaking her head slightly. "You can have 'em, West." It all came out as a mumble, but Bliss tried her best to make it .. non-mumbly.

"Not everyone. I still need to find Belle, Violet and Selina." There were probably more, but Bliss' head was so messed up right now, that she couldn't remember. She blinked at his next words. "You didn't have to congratulate me." More mumbling. Why was she mumbling so much? Heh. "But thank you," she said more clearly this time and kissed his cheek quickly in return.

That was better then huh? He squished her.

He wasn't gonna force the candy on her either, it'd been hard enough to make sure that her and her family had eaten at all when he'd been there, and he'd quite expanded his repertoire of pancakes, sandwiches, and milkshakes. At least, being a feast, there weren't excuses not to chow down.

"That was me practicing being a good sport. Its kind of hard." Bitter a bit. But, he was putting a smile on about it, and it wasn't like he hadn't done his best.

FEASSSSSSSSSSSST!

which meant food and a HAPPY Ariana.

Food was good, Food was yum Food is better in her tumtumtumm!

:lame:

Ariana walked into the great hall taking in a deep breath holding the single shirt box in her hand.. what was in it you ask? well you'd have to wait and see. smirksmirk.

She wanted food and to say goodbye to those leaving and moving on and getting out of this place. but Aurora seems.. well. FULL, there were so many people around her so she just sat at the table, placing her box on it and oh hey there was odessa... eh, she'd wait till he asked, about the box. So she' was just sitting here.. maybe she'd see more 7th years she knew.. hmm.. she knew she was a bit early but come on people get down here.

She felt much better now she was with West. Much.

Bliss let her head rest against him for a bit and just sat, appreciating the fact that she could do this and stuff with him. Unlike her Dad, who she'd never get to hug again. Rather quickly it would seem, Bliss was learning life lessons and such about not taking things for granted. These things she could teach the littl'uns that would be coming up to Hogwarts next term and be good role model. Possibly.

"I think you pulled it off quite well." Honest. "Besides, you know you still did AMAZING." More honest. It had been pretty close between the two houses. Even Bliss was genuinely surprised that Hufflepuff had won.

End of term feast finally. Kat had mixed emotions, again. It's always been like that for the her since her first end of term feast. With about three or four seventh years in Slytherin leaving, how couldn't she feel a bit alone? It was a bit 'Hufflepuff' of her, but even if she hasn't too close with the seventh years graduates it felt like part of her family was... leaving. Her Hogwarts family, at least. Kat arrived at the Great Hall with a bittersweet-ish feeling. She made her way to the Slytherin Table and managed a few waves at Bliss, West, Logan, and the girl she kind of met while they were finding the 'lost' trophies (Sky).

There weren't actually a lot of people in the Table right now, Kat noticed. She took a seat and waited for announcements and those awards Truebridge would seemly broadcast to everyone in the Hall. But maybe Kat was just early tonight. Waaaay early than usual.


Then there was Rora. She obviously didn't seem to well or happy. Strange, because mostly every graduate she knew felt glad they didn't have to go to school and learn anymore. They were moving when their lives and stuff, but Rora looked like she didn't want to leave. Of course with Rich still here and Theo maybe, how CAN she be okay about leaving?

"Hey Rora," Kat said to her graduating friend. They weren't that close and stuff, but she was still a friend to the soon-to-be sixth year. Even getting her a cupcake during her birthday. It meant a lot already. SIGHS. "You'll be okay, right? Or at least, you'll try to be okay?" That didn't really work out well, but whatever. It happened. "I'm going to miss you and stuff," she was already getting straight to the point because she didn't want to wreck Rora even more. "But I didn't forget to get you something, so that you... well, you don't forget me." Cheesy and weird. Kat pulled out a small gift box containing something. It's up to Rora to know what she got, and hopefully she'll appreciate it. Buying her the present meant sacrificing allowances too, by the way. #Effort

Aurora was still cloooose to crying. Cause she really was finding it hard to be around all her friends and not WISH SHE WASN'T GOING. She turned away from West and Bliss to see... oh! "Sky... why aren't you wearing your uniform?" she asked, blinking in surprise. Seriously, the girl was in the upper school now, didn't she have any regard for the rules? Probably not. Hehehe. Good. But still... "You're going to lose us points..." But it was only half hearted. Because she had hardly seeeeeen the girl since she was her sidekick and LOOK HOW GROWN UP SHE WAS.

LOOK HOW GROWN UP ALL HER BABY SNAKES WERE.

Wibble.

She looked around as she heard something hit the table. A box? Hmm.......... CURIOUS. She grinned at Sky and gave a little wave, "Gotta go, don't get caught." she pointed at her... lack of uniform... and turned to talk to Ariana.



"Arianaaaaa!" she plonked herself on the seat next to her and pointed her wand into a glass to fill it with water. Yep, she was going to need lots of rehydrating today, she could tell. If she was already wibbling right now what was going to happen when Theodore walked in? Or... or Richard..... wibblewibblewibble stop thinking about it...

She tried to push those thoughts aside and took a deep breath, no. crying. yet. thank you. before looking up at Ari. "What's in the box?" Because in all honest that was what was playing on Aurora's mind right now. CURIOUSITYYYYYY.



Aurora glanced around at the sound of her name... oh! "Kat! Hi." she said with a smile, swivelling around in her seat to make talking easier. Oh... wait and.. stop iiiiiittttt! She was NOT OKAY. This was ONE HUNDRED PERCENT NOT OKAY. She just nodded at Kat, worried that if she tried to say anything all that would come out of her mouth would be sobs, but then she was being given something... why did everyone keep giving her things? WHY WAS EVERYONE BEING SO NIIIICE? She took the box in trembling fingers and looked inside.

Oh...

OH...

Uh-oh. She threw her arms around Kat's neck - because she was tall enough for that in these heels - and hugged her tight. "It's so lovely, Kat, thank you..." Aaaaaand, tears. Well she tried not to cry, but here they were, rolling quietly down her cheeks as she held back the big ones... for later maybe, when she and Richard could be alone to talk and he could make her feel better. Kat might have to prise herself out of Aurora's grip actually, 'cause she didn't want to let gooooo.

Ari and Kat each got a little wave but West was focused on Bliss.

"We worked real hard. Really hard. And its only on account of Quidditch that we didn't win." Because the way points were counted was different this term, so it was like a Quidditch Cup victory was almost a guarantee at the House Cup, as West had belatedly realised. "But we won Gobstones." And he had got some kind of most valuable player type award thing for that. Which was okay. But it wasn't Quidditch, or the House Cup.

He booped Bliss's nose with his little finger.

"I'm gonna eat these jelly babies. You should go say more goodbyes and stuff while you've got a chance." West didn't have a huge amount of those to do, so Jelly Babies were more of a priority.

End.Of.The.Term.Feast!!!

Juliet has been homesick since the start of the second half of the term. She's not normally like that but after she came back to Hogwarts after the winter vacation, she sort of had that homesick feeling most of the time. Now that this day has arrived, her bag upstairs is fully packed and well, she was ready enough to leave.

Strolling her way inside the great hall, she saw a few Slytherins were sitting down already, mingling and what not. She was familiar with most of their faces, of course. Juliet sat at a corner and stared at the blank plate and table.

Ohhh.... this was always one of those problems she has during feasts. Food will be around when the headmas---mistress had declared the housecup winner yada yada yada. "no food yet" she pouted. She's hungry that's for sure.

Kat kind of felt weird that Rora suddenly fell quiet. Did... she say something that made the older Slytherin sad? Cos you know, the blonde could stop talking right now if that meant Rora doesn't cry. But it was good to know that Rora didn't exactly tear up a gallon or whatever. It should stay way, and besides nobody wanted their friends to cry right? Especially if they were leaving so soon. It would be less than a day until it was summer, and probably the first summer that some students wouldn't have to be bothered about going back to Hogwarts. Kat was really glad and stuff until...

OOOMPH.

... Oh Merlin. Rora, don't cry. Kat felt all weak now for letting another seventh year cry (the first one was probably her honorary sister Cass but that was last term so that was different). The only thing the soon-to-be sixth year could do was hug Rora as well. Rich wouldn't mind because PFFT... he'd do the same if he was here. "I'm sorry if I'm making you cry..." Kat apologised. She didn't want that to happen. "But you're welcome." What was important was that Rora liked it and that thought had already made Kat happy, even just a bit. There were other seventh years to handle, but none of them would be like Rora to Kat. Nope, Kat still wasn't letting go. Who would anyway?

They had been sooooo close to winning that house cup! So close! But in the end Hufflepuff snapped it away again.

Daichi entered the Great Hall and walked to the Slytherin table. As he looked at the students already sitting there, he felt a sense of pride wash over him. True, they had not won the Quidditch or Housecup but they did win Gobstones which was something atleast.

Better than being a Claw or Lion....

And it wasn't like they were so far behind the Puffs, only a few points so yes. Daichi was proud. Sitting down , he Prefect looked around for someone to talk to and spotted Juliet.

"hey Jul! " he waved his hand and smiled "Ready to go home?"

How time flew so fast. He admit that.

Because it seemed like yesterday he agreed Luke's decision to move to England, started his Hogwarts year and now he's already graduated. Yup, it meant that he didn't need to go to Hogwarts anymore next term. Maybe he's not like the other seventh year students who didn't want to graduate. He wanted it, he wanted to start a new life because it seemed more interesting that being a student. Having a steady job, earning much money, those sounded awesome.

The (soon-to-be ex) Head Boy decided to put on his uniform for the last time with the badge pinned on his shirt. Then he walked to the house table. Too bad, Slytherin didn't win the House Cup and Quidditch, just the gobstones. Maybe they could get them all next term. He saw his co-prefect (Daichi) was already there and he smiled at him. Maybe Sierra and Dylan would join them soon. Sitting down, now he just kept silent and waited for the speech of the Headmistress.

Theo was filled with all sorts of emotions today. He was happy beyond belief that he was officially in a relationship. A real boyfriend/girlfriend relationship, but he was also a little bummed about the points situation. It didn't go unnoticed by him that if HE had tried this year at his usual standard, Slytherin would be in the lead since they were only a few points behind. Props to his team, though. As for Quidditch, Theo was pretty pleased with the second place. Slytherin were back and everyone ought to be afraid for next term.

The boy was neatly robed up, with his new short and tidy hairstyle that Dora had sorted out for him. His eyes scanned the hall for faces, and he saw West and Bliss first of all. Totally have to gatecrash those two later... he saw Kat and Logan. A smile for those two, if they'd even notice.

And then... his eye was caught by a flash of bright red hair.

.... Rora.

Theo felt a shudder because he knew what today was, he'd known it all year round, it was time for Aurora to graduate. His rock, his sister. As cheesy as it sounded, she was more of a sister to him than his own one. And sure, he knew that he'd cope without her next term, cos he wasn't a little kid anymore, but it still sucked.

The third year could feel his eyes welling up at the door, but he held it back until he was at least right beside her. Because flailing down the hall, bawling his eyes out was NOT COOL. Theo started at a quick-ish pace, and he just hugged her. Didn't matter that she was talking to someone else.

Actually scratch that. Juliet was only ready for desserts for tonight. Who doesn't want some chocolate cake or maybe some cream puffs, right? Yeah, a dinner meal was something she could just put aside for tonight--- speaking of Puffs. Juliet moved her head over to the Hufflepuff table. Yup. They won. Again. Sigh.

Oh well~

A very familiar voice mentioned her name, Juliet's eyes glanced over to Daichi "Hello prefect" she smiled, patting the empty seat beside her. "Sit down"

Ready to go home was something Juliet has been looking forward to. So without hesitation she immediately nodded as a response to Daichi's question. "You?"

Juliet's eyes wandered around, she was bored having a staring contest with the empty plate on the table. Plus, it's the end of the term feast, she might as well say good bye to a few people....

Starting with the Head Boy. Juliet saw Gary come in and smiled at him. "Head boy!" she smirked at Gary "Congratulations on officially graduating... I guess" not many people, especially the 7th years, like graduating.