All of this past

Do it again

"Harry, it's time to go!" I heard Kate's voice shouting from downstairs and put down my guitar and my pencil before I got up and fixed my tie and took my blazer from my chair. I cautiously walked down the steep steps of the stairs leading down from the attic and then all the way downstairs, where Sam, Liam and Kate were waiting for me. Both Sam and Liam dressed in a suit, just like I was, and I could hardly decide who looked better in it. Sam had taken up straightening his brown hair, putting his fringe over his right eye and now he resembled his dad even more. He would turn 12 in November but he had grown quite a lot over the past year so he was now almost up to my shoulder, seeming older than his age and his voice would break every now and then. We were glad his temper didn't go back to how it was when he was bullied last year though, but it was probably safe to say that there was quite a lot of puberty yet to come. Kate looked absolutely stunning in her red floor length dress, the same she had been wearing to her school's prom a few weeks earlier, her dark hair flowing nicely down to her waist. Liam fidgetted on the spot as he waited for me to tie my laces, so I pressed a calming kiss to his lips when I stood up straight and took the car keys out of his hands before we all walked outside. 

It took only a ten minute drive before we pulled up in front of the High School where Kate and Jude both went. There were a lot of nervous parents milling around, Liam obviously equally nervous, so I grabbed his hand and squeezed it lightly, although I couldn't help to feel a little nervous myself. Jude might not be my biological daughter, but I loved her as my own and I was therefor really proud of her graduating today. I spotted her at the other end of the school yard, blushing as she held Ethan's hand and chatting with one of her girlfriends. She looked extremely happy and beautiful in her light blue knee lenght dress that hugged her body up to her hips and fell loosely around her thighs. She spotted us when we were halfway there and came running up to us, leaving Ethan standing awkwardly with her friends. She flung her arms around Liam's neck and kissed his cheek before giving me the same kind of treatment. "Harry, will you please calm dad down, he looks like I'm going off to war soon."

"You are leaving for the summer tomorrow." he defended himself weakly by my side, earning him one of Jude's famous eye rolls.

"On a trip through Europe, dad, with my boyfriend for almost three years, who you know and trust. It's not even close to war. And I'll contact you every single day just like you requested. Now stop fretting about it and go take your seat in the gymnasium, please." she turned to hug Kate and Sam as well, but changed her mind and turned back to Liam. "And don't cry, please. Or at least not as loud as you did last year at the school play. That was down right embarrassing." I chuckled at the memory. Jude had been in the school's version of Midsummer's dream and Liam had cried his eyes out, almost making her forget her lines as she was so embarrassed with her dad's sobbing.

"I'll try and keep him in check Jude, now go back to your class, we'll go and sit down together with Ethan who looks like he needs to be freed from your classmates." I smiled and watched her run off again, sending Ethan our way so we could all go and take our seats.

The graduation ceremony was nothing special, just the name calling, a few sappy speeches and that was it. It was nice to see how Jude glowed with pride when she received her high school diploma though, and I had a pretty hard time to stop Liam from crying out loud. He only just managed to stick with silent sobs. He quickly wiped his tears away when Jude came over to find us though, not wanting to show her how hard he'd cried while watching her. 

"I take it you're going out to party with your friends?" I asked after we all congratulated her again. She nodded and grabbed Ethan's hand to pull her close to her side. I was silently relieved that the two of them were still together, because it would've made some really awkward family get togethers if they had had a nasty break up. But even through Ethan's first year of Uni in Leeds they had managed to make their relationship work.