Golden Dreams

GD: Chapter 5

The next week and a half flew by and soon, I was saying goodbye to Molly, Arthur, Ginny, and Charlie. Molly hugged me for a solid minute and Arthur simply gave me a handshake that was so dad-ish that I laughed. Ginny shyly gave me a hug when I offered her one and Charlie pulled me into a hug. He briefly patted my back, then pulled back, holding me at arm's length by the shoulders.

"I'll see you in about five months!" Charlie said cheerfully before letting go of me.

I stood with Ali as he said bye to all of his brothers, Ginny, and his parents, and then he apparated to presumably the train station.

"Alright kids," Arthur said. "Get in the car."

We all climbed into the car after putting our luggage into the trunk. Ali again sat with her cat and I set my owl next to me and got ready for the long drive to the train station.

After we arrived back, the Yule Ball quickly came, which Ali and I were prepared for as we'd had it our third year. Surprisingly, Percy had asked me to go with him, as friends, and I'd worn the light purple gown I'd specifically bought for the occasion. Ali went with a boy named Kaden in the year below us. I didn't really know him well but he was apparently in her Divination class.

Fourth months later, I was studiously preparing for the N.E.W.T.s while Ali passionately continued to train her skills in Quidditch. She'd been approached by the captain of the Holyhead Harpies who apparently claimed she'd caught their eye and if she continued to do well, they would offer her a position on the team. Not even as a backup- a full position into the team. The Harpies were her favourite team, the one she'd been aiming for. So I was super excited for her, though I was making sure she was being careful and not being careless with her training. She couldn't make the team if she practised too hard and fell off her broom and broke a bone.

The N.E.W.T. level advanced classes I had been taking were: Charms, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Alchemy, and Apparition. I'd taken many more than most students, and Ali had only taken two advanced classes. All of my exhausting studying had eventually paid off and I scored an O in Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, Charms, and Transfiguration, then an E in the rest. Which is incredible and I was so beyond excitement and relief I had sobbed for a solid hour before laughing hysterically. All the while Ali, Juliette, and Bea watched on in morbid fascination. And then the next day the whole school sat in the Great Hall as Dumbledore went on in a speech. He congratulated the Gryffindor Quidditch team for winning overall, along with the whole Gryffindor house winning the House Cup. Cheers blew through the Hall, mainly from our table, and I screamed enthusiastically with everyone else.

Ali had ended up receiving a position in the Holyhead Harpies, though I wasn't surprised because she's that amazing. She cried from happiness and then I had started crying with her.

While the school was eating the last meal I would ever have there, I started thinking morosely about how quickly these seven years have passed. I would've started crying if I hadn't been distracted by a prank playing out, courtesy of Fred and George.

On the nine hour train ride home, I finally started crying, thinking about how I would likely never return to Hogwarts. Percy patted me awkwardly while Fred and George tried to tell me jokes and Ron offered me sweets he'd just bought. Ali was buzzing with excitement, obviously glad she would never return. Surprisingly, she'd passed both advanced N.E.W.T.s with an A- Apparition and Divination, the rest of her core classes were a mix of passes and fails. That was still pretty good, though, considering the lack of homework she'd done through the year.

A while later, we arrived home. Unsurprisingly, it was devoid of either of our parents but there was a letter left congratulating both of us on our accomplishments. I had continued to correspond with our mother and father through letters, but Ali held a sour grudge against them for their lack of parenting. Which I cannot blame her for. I just don't have it in me to hate them for pursuing their dreams, though I dislike the fact they were hardly there for us through the years. And now they're not even here while we're leaving to go off into the world.