Avoiding The Marauders

My Future Can Be Certain

"Oh, I will miss it here, Mel," I sighed, leaning back on my hands. The grass felt slippery between my fingers and the smell of the lake invaded my nostrils. Over the water, the trees from the Forbidden Forest peered over like a they were pushing their necks down to drink from the pond, but can't quite reach. An orange and red colour fell down the sky as the sun sunk bellow the sky line.

My last night at Hogwarts.

Mel placed her hand over her eyes, blocking out the glow of the ever fading sun. "Well, maybe we'll come back at some point," she suggested. "Can you do that? Do they let old students come back?"

I shrugged. "Would they want old students back?" I asked. "I imagine the Professors will have a small celebration once we are gone, don't you?"

Mel chuckled quietly. "I'm sure they'll miss some of us more than others," she said, not needing to name any names. Her eyes focus of the glistening water. "Did you leave Slughorn that present?"

I shift slightly, my arms getting tired. "Yeah, I was rather proud of the magic I did on that fish."

I left professor Slughorn a fish bowl. Inside that bowl I placed a small lily, so that he would know it was from me. When the touches the bowl, as long as my spell work was good enough, a gold fish will be born. I'm not really sure why I left him it, to be honest. He was my favourite teacher, but it's not like we were close friends. I just think I wanted to make my mark. To have some kind of evidence that I was ever there.

Mel allows herself to flop down onto the grass, her blond hair fanning out around her, looking up at the night sky. "We had some good times here, didn't we?"

As I follow her down onto the softness of the earth, I think back to the time that I had felt so left out, like I didn't quite belong. Hogwarts told me why.

"It's like this place will always be my home," I say softly, watching the progress of the redness in the sky. "I mean, my family never quite understood me, Petunia sure as hell doesn't, but here people actually respect me for what I can do." I pause, turning to look over at her. "This probably makes no sense to you, you've grown up with magic, but it's just like..." I frown, wondering how to put it. "It's like you're the last of your species. No one knows what you need to live and no one speaks your language, but you finally find yourself a home. Somewhere with others of your kind, people that know how you work, what makes you tick, and then... suddenly... they tell you that you have to leave. That you have to live on your own." I watch Mel's silent face. "Does that make any sense?"

My best friend smiles and takes my hand in her's, letting out a small huff. "Oh, Lily," she laughs. "Silly, Lily Evans. It won't be how it was before. You're a witch. You're one of us and that knowledge cannot be taken away from you. All those things that you've learnt, all these friends you've made, they will never leave you." She lets out a small sniffle. "You won't be lonely anymore. Merlin, if you think James will ever leave you alone again, then you better run now, cause you got a shocker coming."

We both laugh and I force the tears threatening to spill to hold in place, seeing that Mel is in a similar situation. "When did you become so smart?" I ask, wiping my eyes.

She lets out a chuckle. "How do you think you got through those N.E.W.Ts?" She jokes, pulling herself up onto her feet. She offers me her hand, which I take, letting her haul me up too. "Come on," she says, "let's finish packing before we get caught out of curfew, Head Girl."

***

I could tell you that we had an awe-inspiring trip home where we made riveting discoveries for our future and discussed our plans for life, bonding our friendships forever. But that would be a total lie.