The End of Year Feast and Leaving Hogwarts

Rachel had her hands over her ears as she laid her forehead of the wooden Gryffindor table.

"If you don't feel good, go back to the Hospital Wing." Harry said sitting opposite his sister with Hermione while Rachel sat with Ron.

"No… I'm not missing our first end of year feast, I'm not." Rachel insisted, trying her best to block out the noise of her classmate.

Her bandage had been taken off, but her head was still killing her.

After a few minutes of eating, shouting and celebrating, Professor McGonagall stood and called, "Your attention, please!"

The Great hall went quiet and Professor Dumbledore stood up tall. "Another year has gone. And now, as I understand it, the House Cup needs awarding, and the points stand thus.

"In forth place, Gryffindor, with 312 points." The students and teachers clapped quietly for the House, Harry, Ron and Hermione cursing themselves for losing 150 points for their House.

"In third place, Hufflepuff, with 352 points." Again, the Great Hall clapped fairly for the House.

"In second place, Ravenclaw, with 426 points." A few whoops and cheers were heard from the Ravenclaw House as the students clapped a little more enthusiastically for them.

"Oh great." Rachel said as she predicted the outcome.

"And in first place, with 472 points, Slytherin House." The Slytherin table began shouting 'YES' and 'WE WON', while banging the table and kicking their feet. Malfoy even went as far to throw dirty looks over at the four on the Gryffindor table.

Snape was clapping fiercely for his House and McGonagall was clapping glumly. When the noise finally came down, Dumbledore continued.

"Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin. However, recent events must be taken into account, and I have a few last minute points to award."

Everyone in the Great hall became interested at this point. There was a chance Slytherin wouldn't win this year. I mean, a few extra points to the already winning House? Who cares, right?

"First, To Miss Hermione Granger, for the cool use of intellect while others were in grave peril… 50 points."

Hermione began blushing madly when everyone started clapping for her. She received several claps on the back. She was a little embarrassed, but incredibly happy at the same time. She had gotten her House to third place, so not all was lost.

"Second, To Mr Ronald Weasley, for the best played game of chess that Hogwarts has seen these many years… 50 points."

This time, it was Ron's turn to blush. His ears went bright red and he kept on asking himself 'Me?' while Percy was shouting 'My Brother! My Brother got passed McGonagall's Transfigured chess set!'

"Third, to Mr and Miss Potter, for pure nerve and outstanding courage… 60 points."

Both of them began to smile like the other two, mainly at the look on Malfoy's face.

"Who do you think got the 10 points?" Rachel asked over the noise.

"Maybe 30 each?"

Rachel thought about this and was about to reply, but thought best not to.

Hermione, although, wasn't clapping, she had a serious look and then smirked, leaned over the table and said, "We're tied with Slytherin!"

Their hearts went sky high when Dumbledore added, "And finally, it takes a great deal of courage and bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends. I award 10 points to Neville Longbottom."

The eruption from the Great hall was nearly deafening. From the three tables Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were many claps and cheers, knowing that they beat Slytherin for once.

After the cheering settled down, Dumbledore spoke again and said, "Assuming that my calculations are correct, I believe that a change in decoration is in order." He clapped his hands, letting and echo run through the Hall. The green drapes and curtains that represented Slytherin that hung above each of the four tables moved as if a strong wind was blowing on them. From the top, the colour began to change. Instead of the Green and Silver colours, there were Scarlet Red and Gold, representing Gryffindor.

"Gryffindor wins the House Cup." Dumbledore ended clearly.

All the tables stood up and clapped, besides the Slytherin table who were still wondering how they had gotten from first place to second place within minutes.

People from the tables were coming up and giving the five children pats on the back, ruffling their hair and shaking their hands. This celebration went on for hours into the night until Dumbledore told the Prefects to round up the younger pupils to get them to bed.

When they went to bed, Harry and Rachel stayed up the entire night, talking about how much they would miss this place, how much going back to the Dursley's was going to suck, and how much they would miss Ron and Hermione.

But still, morning came and everyone got up, dressed in their normal clothes and looked at each other glumly. None of the first years wanted to leave. They wanted to see their families, but that's the real reason the Potter Twins didn't want to leave. This was their home. The Gryffindor House was their family, heck, the whole of Hogwarts, mostly.

The group met up in the Common Room and quietly went down to the Great Hall for breakfast, where many of the other students were quiet as well, except for the seventh years, who were leaving Hogwarts. Their academic years had come and gone, and now they would leave.

The more Rachel thought about it, the more she thought that it was difficult for them, but also nice. Going to Hogwarts was an adventure for her and Harry, a new chapter had opened in their lives, it was the same for leaving Hogwarts. Going out into the real wizarding world was an adventure too, an adventure she couldn't wait to have.

Soon, the Headmaster wished the students a Happy Summer and sent them all off. All the students were put into carriages, which began to travel to Hogsmeade, where the Hogwarts Express was.

They all got out of their carriages, grabbed their trunks and put them aboard on the train. Just before the group was about to jump into the train, Rachel said, "Harry, Hagrid."

He looked back at her and then she motioned towards the Hogsmeade entrance. Hagrid stood there with a small smile as he watched them about to get on the train.

"You coming?" Hermione asked.

"One minute." Harry said. He and Rachel began weaving in and out of pupils and headed towards the entrance. They stopped in front of Hagrid, but Harry seemed lost for words. He honestly didn't know what to say. This brilliant man had come from literally out of nowhere and given them their Hogwarts letters. He'd saved them from the Dursley's and let them into this wonderful world full of witches and wizards, magic, mythical creatures. He'd let them know that they were actually loved and respected by nearly everyone in the wizarding community. How are you supposed to simple say 'thank you' and 'goodbye' after that?

Thankfully, Hagrid did it for them. "Thought you were leavin' without sayin' goo'bye, did yer?"

Hagrid slipped his giant hands into his giant pocket and took out a leather book and handed it to Harry. "This is fer the pair of yer."

Harry flipped the first page open, revealing a photograph. The photo showed a man and a woman, both holding children with pitch black hair.

Rachel immediately went in and gave Hagrid a hug, and Harry soon followed.

Before he could get teary, Hagrid said, "Go on, im with yer now." He shooed them off, but pulled them back for a second. "An' if that cousin of yers gives yer any trouble, you could always threaten him with a nice pair of ears ter go with tha' tail of his."

Forgetting that they didn't tell Hagrid about Dudley having the tail removed, Harry said, "But were not allowed to use magic away from Hogwarts, you know that."

"Yea', I do, but yer cousin don' do 'e?"

Earning and wicked smile from Rachel, they both had a final hug and went back to the train where Ron and Hermione were waiting for them.

"Seems a bit strange goin' home, dun it?" Ron said.

"Nah. We're not going home." Harry said as he looked at Rachel, who shook her head. "Not really."

The train gave a whistle and they all got on board, hands waving to the gamekeeper as the train took off and out of the station. The four sat down in a compartment with Fred and George and their friend, Lee Jordan, where they played exploding snap the rest of the way to Kings Cross.

They got their trunks and as soon as they passed through the gate from Platform 9 and ¾ to the Kings cross station, they heard a girls voice squeal, "I knew it! I knew I saw them!"

The voice belonged to Ron's younger sister, Ginny. She tugged on her mothers coat as she pointed at the Twins, to with her mother told her to stop pointing, as it wasn't polite.

"Thank you very much for the jumpers Mrs. Weasley, and the sweets."

"Oh, not a problem, dears. I do hope you enjoy your sum-"

"Ready to leave?"

"And so hell begins as of now." Rachel said as she turned to see their Uncle Vernon looking down on them.

"Just a minute." Harry said. He walked over to Ron and Hermione and hugged Hermione first while Rachel hugged Ron.

"You will write, wont you?" Hermione said as she looked suspiciously at Vernon.

"'Course we will." Harry said as he let go and switched with Rachel. "Every week."

"See you later, then. Oh! And you have to come and stay with us at some point!" Ron said.

"We will." Harry replied. They watched the Weasley and Granger family walk off and then sighed, walking slowly back to the Muggle world, towards Uncle Vernon's car. They put their trunks in the boot and Rachel got in first besides Dudley and he shifted for to the window so they weren't touching. Harry then got in next to her and shut the door. The car then took off and left the station, Harry and Rachel staring hungrily after it.

"It's not all bad I guess. I mean, think how good it's gunna feel when it hits September first again. Coming back is probably gunna be one of the best things about Hogwarts." Rachel said.

"Yeah. And this summer's gunna be excellent as well." Harry started. Rachel gave him a confused look and he added, "They don't know were not meant to use magic."

A.N: Well, this was fun What made it even better was that I was listening to 'Leaving Hogwarts' while writing this, makes it soooo much better. Anyways, within the next two weeks, I will be posting the first chapter of 'Chamber of Secrets'. I'll do an update on this story so you don't have to keep your eyes peeled. Till next time