"'M not contagious." No, it wasn't that kind of sick. And yes, he was aware of his bestie flinching away. That wasn't a surprise. Theo was a particular way about potential germs.

".......I will, right after the speech I think. I don't want to be a downer." He said quietly, looking at Theo and realising he'd followed his line of site.

West gave the barest head shake. No. No making up.

.... but at least he had cannolis. It wouldn't be so bad to curl up in bed with them and feel sorry for himself.

He gave Cat a small smile and then zoned out staring over at Alice again.

Dylan still hadn't committed to a location. He continued to look around the Great Hall, seemingly lost. It was so much....and suddenly it was nothing. He wasn't sad...but he was overwhelmed...

It was over.

Goodbye.

Merlin, his head suddenly hurt...

Then someone from the table was offering him something...The Slytherin Captain looked around and seen the small Moretti girl sitting there...and offering up a box of cannolis. In other words, pure sugar...Unfortunately, he didn't have much of an appetite.

"No, thank you." He continued to stare around the Hall like a creeperdoodle.

...And then someone else was trying to get his attention.

Dylan, still utterly lost, turned to see Ella standing there and just stared....Stared for a long while before even remotely trying to speak. The action might have came off a bit unnerving.

"Ellaphant?".......Why did his voice sound so far away?

Well Kat obviously didn't except what was coming up next. An apology when she just wanted to congratulate him. Oh... okay. Maybe because he was just the same immature dude. Hopefully now that he leaves Hogwarts, he would change.

Yeah she was listening if he didn't know it. Kat stared at him, as if trying to analyze what he was saying and making sure they weren't all lies. She was hoping to see the sincerity of it, because maybe it might've made him guilty because of the influence of the glee!Icecream this term. It was annoying, that thing. Like... it attracted dementors and now most of Hogwarts looked like it was losing its light.

Then she took a moment for it all to sink in. "Sure," Kat said. Nothing else to say because that somehow summarised it all. "And it was nice to have you as a co-prefect." Sort of.


...

Oddly quiet. But not exactly too odd because Logan always had her reasons for being that way. Deep inside, Kat just really felt bad for her. The blonde just patted her dorm mate on the shoulder. "It'll be fine." Even that was a dumb thing to say. Again. It wasn't exactly going to be fine because hello, reasons. Kat would offer a hug later at the dormitory and maybe even sneak some food for her dorm mate. The two have been really close through the years so there was no reason why Kat shouldn't act this way.

It mattered, okay?

And also a small smile for Min. Ariana!supporters unite.


And there came their Captain. He wouldn't be their captain for much longer now... because Dylan was graduating, leaving Kat alone waiting to find out who would take his and Daichi's place next term. "Hey, Captain," she greeted.

This was a sad feast. Even sadder than when Kurumi graduated.

"Congrats." On the Quidditch Cup and for graduating. This would be one of the last times she'd see him. The train ride back to London and the Slytherin Team meet up this summer counted too.


Was that a salute from Keeper!Beater!Ella? The Slytherin prefect smiled and returned her salute with one of her own as well. See? We liked this Hufflepuff. How very odd.

Well, it was a relief that she wasn't the only who still hadn't finished packing. She always thought of using the spell but she liked to arrange her stuffs though it took her lots of time she still stuck to it. "Me, too." she answered the older girl. "I let my pajamas and a couple of other stuffs to pack as well," Maybe more than a couple actually. They all were spread on top of her bed. The dorms were kinda messy those days, with the packing and all. Surely the sixth-year dorms was the same? Maybe, she might venture there to check.

"So, any plans for summer?" She asked Kat. Cassia had plans with Lex and Blue. She was pretty excited. Also, she knew that next year it'd be Kat's last therefore her NEWTs but she wasn't talking about that because it's sad to think that Kat would be leaving. Nooope. Not thinking about that now.

"I sure will," She answered quite enthusiastically. " Blue is coming over," She told him. Since last summer she had went to Blue's this summer it was Blue coming over and it was easy because it was like an hour drive in the muggles vehicles as the ravenclaw explained. Cassia didn't go there by bus though, last summer. She and her father went from there fireplace to another one near Blue's place.

Cassia didn't like what she saw. Not at all. She pondered whether to talk to Ariana or not. The girl didn't look in her best mood. It took the fourth-year a bit for her to realize that maybe Logan was sad because her boyfriend was leaving. She couldn't think of any other reason. Unless it was the dementors thing? The situation that happened at the "potions' assignment".

Just because she couldn't live without saying something or approaching the girl, she took one of Cat's cannolis and placed it on Ari's plastic plate.

Cassia hoped Cat wouldn't mind that she offered a cannoli to sulky Ariana. They were friends now so they could offer each other cannolis to others, right! That's what friendship is about.

Summer! That required a smile, "Very ready!" She nodded surely. "I have lots of plans," She told Cat.

"You got any plans?" Maybe she'd be inspired and all.

See? She totally hadn't thought this through. Like...the staring that was going on right now? Ella shuffled uneasily but held the Slytherin Captain's gaze in case this was like...a test or something. This wasn't a test, right?

Blink.

"Yeah." Ellaphant, that was her. "Sorry to...interrupt." But she wasn't really interrupting, right? Considering he was sort of just standing there and staring at things and stuff. "I just came over here to say..." Oh no. The lump had formed again. She couldn't say the G-word out loud. He knew what she meant though, yeah? Hopeful looks for Dylish. "That and erm...congratulations." On the Quidditch cup and everything. Yeah...maybe she shouldn't have come over.

The seventh year gave a quick look around the Slytherin table. She just had to find Cassia. When she eventually spotted her friend, Gwen waved to the Slytherin to get her attention. ‘Hi!’

Pause.

Alright. She wasn’t collapsing.

Not yet.

‘You didn’t think I was going to leave without a proper goodbye, did you?’ Attempting to sound alright with the fact that she was graduating.


Graduating was...weird.

No. It was beyond weird. She couldn’t believe that seven years had already passed. Could she be a firstie again, please?

Sigh.

As she looked around for some people at the Slytherin table, Gwen managed to spot one of the Prefects. ‘Hi Daichi’, she greeted him, walking towards the place where he was sitting. In her hand she held a nicely wrapped box. A graduation gift. But she would wait a moment before passing it to Daichi.


Aaaaand there was another familiar figure.

Should she go say hello? Yes? No? Without pondering too much on that, the seventh year walked towards Miss Pink.

‘Hey’, she greeted the younger girl.

Katrina Hudson was one awesome girl, ok? and anyone who had other opinions, well they could put those opinions else where cause Ariana didn't wanna hear it. she looked up and gave her roomie a faint smile as she patted her shoulder. maybe they could talk later as they finished packing. was Kat done packing? it'll be fine. yeah maybe next term wouldn't be so bad. nut maybe it would be.

still looking down at her plate she was just still kinda sulking, more like sulking a lot.. se was just not all here today. when suddenly there was a Cannoli! "holy." she whispered as she stared at it.. holy cannoli, get it? she looked up and saw cassia was pulling away from her plate. Of course it was cassia. she gave her a very faint smile but the girl wasn't hungry so she just picked at it a bit.


---

She was returning to her table after just a few moments with Oakey in tow, holding his hand as she was returning from the Puff table. she brought him over to where she was sitting earlier and had him sit next to her, still holding his hand she didn't want to to let go cause she just didn't ok. she still had a cannoli on her plate it was just a mess of pastry now, thanks to her picking at it a few minutes ago. "less crowded here." she said softly to him, which was true he was just bombarded with people at the puff table. too many people, we no like.

With a serious spring in his step, Ascanius hopped down to the Great Hall to wrap up his first year at this place. His head was finally clear without classes and homework and Quidditch and heights and cleaning the school like a slave. It was nice to just be...ZEN. And he felt super zen right now. At peace with himself, yeah?

Anyway, he slipped into a spare seat in the Great Hall and looked out at everyone. What was with all the faces? No need to be depressed and harshing his mellow. It was the END of the term. They all should have been looking forward to that. Okay, so what? A few ruddy seventh years were leaving. Fine.

That was life.

Get over it.

He sat down beside Ariana, and looked around. The Slytherin Table definitely gave him more breathing space. Which was okay, but he liked to be surrounded by friends. Slytherin gave him some, but they all seemed preoccupied with each other either talking to Dylan, or Daichi who were also Graduating. His hand still in her's Oakey looked down at the Pastry. "How'd you get a pastry?" Oakey asked kind of curiously because he was hungry, and the meal hadn't appeared yet. He didn't care for the Unhealthy custard in the center of it, or that it had already been picked apart some.

Should he even ask if she was gonna eat that??

........................ was he ok?

he seemed ok, but was he? was he realllly? the girl looked over at him and saw him looking at the table, or her cannoli, she didn't know which. she looked down at their hands then up at him as he spoke "hmm?" what? .. oh.. this. she looked up at the cannoli mess on her plate. and just looked over at cassia "food makes you smile apparently." which it did, and she liked food, 'cept not right now, she wasn't really hungry. the smaller snake had given it to her in hopes it would cheer her up or make her smile no doubt but she would up just playing with it and only taking a nibble or two out of it. "want it?" she asked him, cause she didn't. she didn't want to eat right now.

Dylan was just looking at her in a discerning way...Somewhere in the distance...he had Hudson talking to him....Congratulating him...but he couldn't really be bothered to respond. His mouth didn't seem to want to form words, anyway. It was so dry....The Captain needed water.

Stare.

"Thank you." Merlin, even his own voice sounded fay away. Was he going into shock?

...Back to blankly staring out at the Hogwarts population...Gunter was there now, at the Snake table...with Logan...and a Ravenclaw whose name eluded Dylan at the moment. His chest felt heavy and weighed down. Merlin, he did not want to have an emotional episode....Or maybe it was just indigestion. He had no idea about that stuff.

Where was Beezus?

Feasts usually meant table-hopping, more or less, especially when you had people you care about from other Houses. In this case, she was headed towards the Slytherin Table....yeah, well, because one of the most important people in her life was here and this was his last year at the school and even if they were still going to be seeing each other, it just wasn't going to be the same....so yeah, she had things to say.

Before that though, she stopped by the Head Boy who was with his girlfriend...by slightly pushing him on purpose. "Hey Oak. Congrats." For graduating and stuffs, "Ariana.." His Slytherin girlfriend got a nod. "...or can I just call you Yana? Thanks." She smiled a bit at the two and waved almost immedidately before walking off.

What? She was just passing through.

In fact, she was now quickly making her way towards the Slytherin Captain who seemed to be searching for something or someone.......walk, walk, walk.....stop......Okay, she was next to him now. "Hello, Captain." Of course, he was getting a smile....though faint but still a better smile than the one she could give out to others. "Looking for me?"

Minerva sat just kind of clinging to Ariana. She wasn't sure if she was needing the comfort of her best friend being right there or if she was comforting her best friend or most likely they were just comforting each other. Sitting in silence. Neither had to say anything, they both just knew what was going on. They both had seventh year boyfriends and this was just hard. It was horrid thinking about next term without them. Even if she had her ups and downs with Oakey she never wanted to see Ari hurting. She had half a mind to get punch him or hex him just for making her sad, even though she knew darn well he didn't do anything wrong. She just didn't want to see her best friend upset.

Looking to the other side of Ari she gave Kat a small smile. Kat was good for Ari, she could be there in the dorms where Min of course couldn't be. The almost seventh year girls had to stick together. Reaching one of her hands off of Ari she gave Kat's arm a gentle squeeze before putting it back around Ariana. "Any plans this summer Kat?" They couldn't stay silent forever, right? That would just make things awkward. She then let go of Ari and sat up a bit, "Hey want to sit together on the carriages back to the train? I know Alec might find me, because I knew it was going to be hard, but I think sitting with you we can be...together." upset, sad.. fill in the blank the best you could..

Normally Penelope would head straight for the Gryffindor table upon entering the Great Hall for a feast, but she was gonna go against the norm this time. The Slytherin table was the one she approached instead, holding a small box that contained some cookies she'd made. This seemed to have sorta become her thing to give people, particularly for graduation, partly because she didn't generally have much money to just spend on anything, and partly because...well, cookies were awesome, so why NOT make them gifts? Pretty straightforward reasoning.

The first person she spotted at the table was Ascanius, so he got a bright smile and a wave. Maybe she'd sit with him during the feast. But first, she had to give away this gift.

She walked towards Dylan, though it seemed Ella and Beezus were already there too. Well, that was okay. She wouldn't take long so hopefully she wasn't interrupting anything. And even if she was...well, she was here anyway and it wouldn't be too long of an interruption. "Um. Hey." She smiled at them.

Looking up as the headmistress began her speech, Zoe sat there quietly and lowered her eyes at the mention of the groundskeeper. That had been really scary! And he was now gone! It wasn't fair... Her eyes lifted at the news though of the turnstiles being gone next term and she wanted to cheer but her heart still felt funny after all that had happened during the term. She only had a few knuts left from auntie's envelope she'd sent her but she'd tuck those away, happy not to need them next term! Unless she went to Hogsmeade anyway!

She was watching the headmistress as she congratulated the houses and even gave a grin when Slytherin's Quidditch cup was announced. But then ended up staring as she basically shouted the last bit and then started skipping around the hall. Wait...what? Was she... Had she eaten the ice cream...

Quote:

Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl

"IT'S FINALLY SUMMER, NO MORE DIRT! NO MORE OF THIS PLACE!"

Then she proceeded to hop down and begin skipping around the Great Hall, humming a made-up tune about summer and sunshine and flowers. WHO WAS WITH HER, EH? She was going to personally make it her mission to end the year on a better-than-dismal note.

Skip skip, skip a skip skip... Bunz continued humming and skipping, her long black gown hiked up in one hand, all the way over to the Slytherin House Table. Despite winning the Quidditch Cup by like a HUGE margin, or what felt like one anyway, this table seemed in desperate need of some summer cheer.

"IT'S FINALLY SUMMER! NO MORE DIRT!" the redhead chanted as she circled the Snakes on the side closest to the wall. "WHO'S WITH MEEEE!" Maybe they could get a conga line going? Yeah? Yeah?

Their headmistress was nuts! Zoe was not going to skip around the hall. Nope, not doing it. Their groundskeeper was worse than dead! How could she be so cheerful? Folding her arms she shook her head and just watched her as she skipped and chanted.

Is there a way to not go home? She wondered while she stared down at her hands. She hasn't been a very good student this year, not to her fellow students. She had done her best with her study but she had done a lot things wrong this year, and now she wasn't so sure if it had been smart to do all those things, she had thought that she would make herself happy by making somebody else miserable but it hasn't worked... And now, when the term was over, she needed to go back and to leave the school, she didn't wanted to do that...

"Hey" spoke a familiar voice and when the second- and almost third year old looked up she saw a girl she recognized from the library. She was the Ravenclaw student who had helped her to make her school robes pink! Her lips curled up in a small smile when she thought about her pink school robes, they were REALLY BEAUTIFUL en she loved them! She had been so sad that she wasn't allowed to wear them today but she always could wear them the next term... Her expression darkened again when she thought about the letter and that it would take some time before she could go back to Hogwarts to wear her beautiful pink robes....

"Oh, hey...." said Sonea not too enthusiastic but smiled at the older girl. "How are you? This was you last term, are you sad to leave the school?" While Sonea asked this she knew that she would be sad if she would leave the school when she would be older...

She was still busy with thinking about EVERYTHING besides leaving the school when she heard a voice she recognized as the Headmistress, a woman who was really AWESOME and she wanted to be like her when she would be older! Yes, the headmistress was really her hero, simply because she liked pink!

But she didn't said anything to the headmistress, she suspected that a lot students wanted to talk to her and that she would be busy, so she stayed out of their way and stared back at her hands, deep in thought, thinking about the speech she had given and she hoped that the next term would be different, as promised.

She's been in denial all the time. Nope, Gwen wasn't leaving. When the two brewed a potion a couple of weeks ago she made sure not to think about it. And so when the feast came she wasn't going to accept it either. But then....Gwen showed up.

Proper goodbye.

Now she was sad and depressed,too.

She wanted a hug, okay?

Cassia smiled brightly at the almost grad, though her smile had a hint of sadness. "Of course not," She said to the older girl and motioned for her to test next to her.

"I'm gonna miss you," She whispered enough for Gwen to hear her. You don't see the snake getting that emotional that often. Except probably when Emmanuelle graduated as well. She had hugged her. And Gwen was going to receive a big mighty hug. In a bit. "We'll write, right?" It wasn't like they weren't going to see each other again. "And there's Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley." They were going to see each other!

At least the cannoli kept her company? Yup. Cassia was totally okay with that. Cassia watched when Ariana left then came back with the head boy. HA! She knew this was the reason. And was he interested in the cannoli. It'd make her and Cat happy if someone eventually ate it.

--
Then the speech finally came. It was morbid and sad and siiiiiigh. The man HAD to die and turn the atmosphere devastating. Not that the people around needed a reason to be sad anyway. Boyfriends and girlfriends were causing that just fine. A dead professor really wasn't needed, no really. Cassia wasn't that close to the groundskeeper but she knew him! Just like everyone else. She pushed the idea of never seeing him again to the back of her mind. Then when the headmistress announced that there wasn't going to be any turnstiles, Cassia's lips tugged at the side in a hint of a smile. You can't be happy about money after announcing that someone had died defending another person. Even a slytherin and a previously broke one. Yeah and the ministry bit, whooooo cares.

The snake had lost interest by the end of the speech until.....

O.O

What was the woman doing? The snake's eyes were glued on the red-headed as she skipped all the way to their table. You see, Cassia didn't blame her. It was pretty hard having all that responsibility on your shoulders and then a professor died on your watch and it wasn't the first time. Surely, everyone remembered. Cassia would gladly remind anyone!

It was just sad seeing someone losing it. Tsk...tsk...tsk.

She turned around in her seat and kept watching.

Mind her she was too shocked to really join. She would've, had the atmosphere not been devastating and all. So she shrank in her seat and looked away. No one was going to pull her to join, right!

Oh. So Kat wasn't alone then, about being one of the "save it for later" people. She had started though but she'd rather attend the feast now because of food (hopefully no more of than happy ice cream) and say her farewells to a few people who would be leaving Hogwarts. "Glad I'm not alone, then?" Two was better than one, she supposed, so it was a bit of a relief knowing that she wasn't the only one who still had other stuff to pack.

Summer plans. "Not muuuuch actually. I don't have a lot of plans for summer." Because she didn't like planned stuff. Did that make sense? Sometimes, things are better when they are spontaneous and unplanned. Maybe a few planned ones with the Slytherin Team and her bestie... maybe. It was still in progress. Not well thought-out. "Do you have plans?" Slytherin sisters always tell each other the stuff happening. Kat wanted to know too.

...

Sighs. Kat actually wanted to make Logan feel better but... maybe now wasn't the time to let that happen yet. Maybe after the feast in the dormitory, the prefect would be able to find a way to cheer her up. With so many people leaving and an insane Headmistress skipping around, Kat herself didn't even know what to feel. But then, maybe Logan needed her time with Oakey. Kat returned the smile and sort of left. Because... Ariana and Oakey.

Yeah. #Gungan

People were just really excited about summer and they might've already made plans... but Kat was different. Probably a lot of people already knew that. The Slytherin didn't really mind the squeeze on her arm. Just not anywhere else because... it was annoying. It would probably remind her of those annoying aunts and grandmas would liked to pinch cheeks. Anyway... back to the summer plans topic. "Nothing special exactly," Kat replied. Maybe she'd just bump into someone in Diagon Alley and then that'd be cool. "How about you?" Just to keep the conversation alive.

...

Insane Headmistress, Kat just knew it.

Yeah, summer. And... dirt? What dirt? Even more staring. But, hey... staring was rude. The Slytherin shook her head a bit and blinked a few times. She was prefect, a student leader. She couldn't DO that, especially in front of the Headmistress. So... she'll just have to do something that wasn't stupid.

"Good evening, Headmistress Truebridge." Kat was silently hoping the redhead wasn't mental.

...

So this was horribly awkward.

Ella didn't know what to do or say to the Slytherin Captain who seemed to be terribly distracted or something and instead she just found herself biting her lip nervously, willing herself to say anything useful. Only she couldn't think of a thing to say and so she just stared right back at the guy.

Stare.

And then Beezus was coming over and Penelope too and Ella really felt out of place so she simply reached out for Dylan's hand and shook it gently. "Well, see you." On the train or...sometime. Yeah.

She then gave smiles to the Gyffindor and Ravenclaw and wandered back to her seat.

"Oh." Theo raised his eyebrow and scooted back to his original position. Maybe he wasn't sick, just grumpy. It happened... Theo knew that. He nodded back but decided not to press West any further. It was obviously bout Alice.

Well, he wasn't surprised.



Finally, the speech. Theo listened for a bit about poor Mr Firth. He really never liked Firth since he unrightfully took points from him earlier in the year, but he would never wish THAT kinda fate on a person. Dementors made him shuuuuudderrrrrr. Moving on, though, he let out a big "WOOP," when the Headmistress mentioned Slytherin winning the Quidditch cup... Speaking of which, where was Dylan?!

Oh, THERE he was... looking rather absent minded.

Theo smiled at him, even if he wasn't looking, then looked back towards the staff table when the Headmistress started shrieking at them. NO MORE DIRT..... OUT OF THIS PLACE...... THANK MERLIN.

Did he want to jump around and dance with her? No. Theo was outta here.

Could he go right now?

Everyone needed to calm down, man. He could just FEEL the tension in the air and it was seriously harshing his mellow. Scowl. They had all survived the term 'sides that one Groundskeeper, which wasn't much of a loss to be honest, so it was cause to celebrate. And they were all bringing him DOWN.

Relax, people.

Time for summer and stuff, yeah? Smirk.

Speaking of which, he started to look out across the table and the people that he INTENDED to see this summer. And he was shocked to see that he was actually looking forward to seeing some of this people. Attachments. Ew.

Although, the one person that he knew without a doubt he'd be seeing was the brunette waving at him across the table. Sup, Pen? Yeah, he saw her.

Food didn't make him smile, it made him hungry, the curved lips were there to just prevent himself from salivating all over her Canoli. That was totally it, yup. "I'm Just Hungry, what's this stuff even made of? Is it healthy?" That weird custard did not look healthy. Oakey dipped his index finger into the custard to take small bit and eye it. "Oof!" Someone had bumped into him, rather purposefully he felt, and his entire hand smooshed the canoli underneath it. Well, umm... "Thanks Beatrice." Yeah, of course it was Beatrice, for the graduation compliment, and for making him ruin the only food source that could have held him, and Ariana over until the speech. Taking his hand off the Canoli, Oakey waved his hand to removed any remaing bits still clinging to it. "Yana?" Oakey asked Ariana, after Beatrice moved her way over to Dylan. "When did you ever go by Yana?"

“Alright Snakes, Listen up.” Hecate said as she approached the table. “Congratulations on winning the Quidditch Cup.” She winked at Montmorency and then she continued. “The house cup race could have gone better. But second place isn’t something to spit at. Next year you WILL do better.”

“I would first like to wish the seventh years at this table, Caelyn Hallow, Daichi Katharos, Mordred Alexander Mordaunt, Dylan Corvi Montmorency, Gavina Parker, Nora Penelope Reed, Richard Theodore Turner and anyone else I missed, goodbye and good luck in all their future endeavors as I'm sure all of you younger students do too.” Yes. She knew her students… “That being said, as I do every year, there are a few people I would like to acknowledge. ”

“Captain Dylan Montmorency, with 891 is the Top earning Slytherin Student, and he is the second top point earner in the school.” She clapped her hands as she usually did, knowing the others would join her. “Master West Odessa is the second top scoring Slytherin student with 542 points.” She clapped again. “Miss Cassia Somerlad is the third top Slytherin student with 386 points. ” She smiled at the girl, and clapped for her too. “ Prefect Katrina Hudson is fourth top Slytherin point earner with 376 points,” again she clapped. “And finally with 364 points, Master Theodore Kinsley is the fifth top point earner in the Slytherin.” And even though he was still on her list... she clapped again.

“I’m not finished, ” she said quieting everyone down. “I would like to also acknowledge your Slytherin house leaders, Prefect Daichi Katharos, Prefect Katrina Hudson and Captain Dylan Montmorency who has been named top seeker of the year.” She clapped one last time. “Thank you for your leadership this past year. ”

She was about to leave, when she turned to the table again and said “Oh, and to those of you returning here next term, beware my wrath if you do not tow the line and annihilate the other houses.”

And with that, she returned to the Staff Table.