She Said What?

Chapter 67: I Make My Final Memories

A/N: Back to school now. Blegh. Updates may be a little slow, but we're almost done here and you can just savor the end of the story a bit more.

In the New Year excitement, I forgot to prep you for this chapter in the last author's note – and I'm kicking myself for it, because this is a pretty huge (and I mean gigantic), intense, cutesy, fluff-tastic chapter that I think you are going to have a ball with. For real.

I've been actually very excited to write this chapter, though. I've been waiting a long time. It is, as you may or may not have remembered, the dance. It's loads of fun and the ending features a special little fluff-nugget that you should (hopefully – fingers crossed) enjoy.

I hope you like this chapter. I really, really do. Cheers!

This chapter you should listen to: She's Got You High, Mumm-ra; Sweet Disposition, Temper Trap; You and Me, Lifehouse; New Heights, A Fine Frenzy; You Picked Me, A Fine Frenzy; Reasons to Love You, Meiko; Love Letters, Atonement movie soundtrack; Quelqu'un m'a dit, Carla Bruni (no idea what it means, but it's beautiful).

June 8

4:00 PM
Status: Cheerful

Well...it's here. Today, June 8, the day of the first Hogwarts dance in pretty much forever, is here. My word, it's been a mad ride to get to this point.

Here, I now present a not-so-brief overview of the past three days.

Freedom

You know, for the seventy-two hours (plus some if you want to be mathematically correct) preceding this evening, I've gone from stressed-out-student-with-a-million-and-five-things-to-do-and-worry-about to...free. Absolutely free.

I can't even begin to describe how strange it is to wake up whenever I want, mill around the grounds with anyone I want and talk about whatever I want. I've been so used to having a schedule, going to class and worrying about NEWTs that I feel almost lost, being able to do what I want. For the entirety of the first day, I was like a baffled little ghost, wandering around and wondering what to do.

I'm getting the hang of it now, getting in the routine of calming my poor, over-heated brain, but my word. Freedom is such a strange, strange thing. I think I'm going to go mad with the beauty of it this summer. I'd better find something to do – and fast.

Quidditch

The Quidditch final took place yesterday. I know I haven't talked much about it in this diary, but there's a perfectly good reason for it – it's a couple of inches taller than me and goes by the name of James Potter.

I swear, that boy has driven us all up the wall.

Being Quidditch captain and in the final by the skin of his teeth in that match before Easter, James has reached fanatic levels of captaining. He's insane. He keeps herding his team out to the pitch for last-second practices and flips if he finds the other team – Ravenclaw – out there practicing instead. He's been making the Gryffindor team do about a thousand different sets of exercises – running, cardio, reflex, quick-thinking, even some relaxation exercises where they must "visualize success" – and they were ready to kill him. They really were.

However, fortunately, these exercises seemed to do them well because Gryffindor played extremely well. Even I could tell without Alice screaming it in my ear. They could do no wrong – everyone was at the top of their game and although Ravenclaw put up a valiant fight, they were no match. We won by a landslide and scored the Quidditch Cup.

James was beside himself with joy as he and the players lifted that thing in the air. Professor McGonagall could be spotted showing an outrageously honest/human display of joy at the victory, telling everyone she always knew the team would be great. Livvy waited until she was off the field, away from the noise of our spontaneous victory party, to cry her eyes out and dedicate a part of the Cup to Russell, who wanted it as much as she did.