Magic (5sos/l.h. Hogwarts AU)

Chapter 49

~A/N~ I'm so excited that this is the last chapter of Part III because the next bit is so much more interesting
Enjoy the chapter!
Leila xx

The last day came quickly, and for the first time that year I felt at complete bliss. Luke and I weren't fighting, there wasn't the stress of lessons, Buckbeak was alive and Sirius had escaped. Apart from Professor Trelawney's smugness at finding out she was correct about the Grim, I could find nothing to be miserable about.

"Cakey boy, eat that cake, yeah, cakey boy!" sang Michael happily, watching Luke chow down on a huge slice of chocolate cake we had obtained from the kitchen. Ashton shook his head disapprovingly.

"Please, never sing anything like that again."

"Choco girl, drink that hot chocolate, yeah, choco girl!" Michael continued, causing me to choke on said hot chocolate and dribble it all down my front, ruining the lacy white jumper I had only just bought in our final Hogsmeade trip.

"Dribble girl-"

"NO!" Ashton intervened, leaving me to carry on giggling as Michael smirked.

"You know what though, Michael, your voice isn't that bad," mused Ginny. "If you weren't singing 'dribble girl', you could really get somewhere."

"Yeah, that's likely," he snorted. "At least if I try harder at Transfiguration it might get me a job."

"Maybe you can Transfigure yourself a life," said Calum.

"OHHHHH!" I yelled in unison with Luke, jumping around like baboons on all the beds of the boys' dormitory. Neville gave me a strange look before sighing and leaving to find Dean and Seamus.

"Exploding Snap, anyone?" called Calum, rooting around under his bed for a pack of the lethal cards, a game at which I had such a rivalry with Luke.

I stared at the blond straight in the eye and grinned a shark-like grin, knowing this could only end in tears and blood. "It's on."

***
The final hurdle of the year was getting our exam results, and even then it wasn't much of a hurdle, more like a revelation of how well we passed the previous hurdle. Ashton, Hermione and I, passed all our exams with flying colours, and so, surprisingly, did Luke.

"I can't believe it!" he had squealed, after looking at all his marks. "I did so well!"

Calum was worse than usual, but he didn't care. "I'm glad I spent the year trying to help Buckbeak. I wouldn't change it, even if I could."

Even Michael managed to scrape through all his classes, to his absolute relief. It was fair to say we were all in very high spirits at the End of Term Feast later that evening, where after finding out that due to the amazing Quidditch performance against Slytherin, we had won not only the Quidditch cup but the House Championship as well, for the third year running.

As we tucked into the delicious feast, the conversation turned to Lupin.

"What's he going to do, now that he's resigned?" Ashton wondered. Word had got out (Snape had told everyone) that Lupin was a werewolf and he had instantly resigned, fearful of what the parents may say after finding out a 'ferocious beast' was teaching their children. It was unfair, but he seemed quite glad to leave.

"He'll find something," said Ginny. "It's us who should be worried. Who are we going to get next year?"

"Maybe a vampire," Dean butted in hopefully, and I shook my head.

"Chances are it won't be good."

"Hey!" Luke protested. "Optimism?!"

"Right," I sighed. "Well, here's some news I'm sure you'll love. I decided to drop a subject!"

"No!" moaned Ashton. "How am I going to survive Arithmancy without you?"

"You finally took our advice?" said Calum, surprised, but Ginny was smiling because she already knew what I was going to say.

"It wasn't Arithmancy, actually. I decided to drop Muggle Studies."

Michael spat out his drink. "What? Why? It would be so easy for you!"

"Exactly, it was useless," I reasoned. "I already know about muggles, so what's the point in wasting time doing even more?"

"Wow," said Ashton. "So you'll have a normal timetable next year, then?"

"Yeah," I smiled. "A bit cramped, but I'll manage. We all will, actually, since Hermione dropped Muggle Studies with me and Ash, you've already dropped Ancient Runes. At least next year will be normal."

"Cheers to a normal year?" suggested Calum, and we all raised our goblets of pumpkin juice.

"Cheers!"

***
"We can't go another holiday without seeing each other," Luke said to me, leaning a head on my shoulder as we watched the meadows fly by out of the window.

"Awwww," said Ginny, causing me to groan pointedly at her.

"What I mean is, I see all of you in the holidays but for some reason Leila never comes to stay," he explained hurriedly.

"That's 'cause you never invite me, idiot," I slapped him on the head.

"Oh, guys!" giggled Ashton. "We should go to the Quidditch World Cup together!"

"I think my dad's getting tickets!" squealed Ginny and I rolled my eyes at Michael as everyone else began chattering about Quidditch. There was only a certain level of enthusiasm for the sport I could reach, which was mainly Hogwarts spirit. Still, it would be nice to meet up in the holidays as a big group, which was very difficult to do as we were all busy at different times but the Quidditch World Cup would give us a nice excuse.

And when the train drew into the station and I hugged everyone goodbye, I was sure that, stocked up with Honeydukes sweets and Zonko's tricks, it would be the best summer ever.