Graduation--Class of 2026

The headmaster was apparently on sabbatical, and who knew where the deputy headmaster was. Nevertheless, school business needed to move forward, so the Ministry had stepped in where it didn’t like to go. The students deserved to graduate, so preparations had been made.
The Great Hall had been decorated appropriately. Flags for all four houses displayed proudly, and the ceiling enchantment had been changed to blue skies with sunshine. Seating was increased to be sure that family and friends of the graduates could all enter and feel welcomed.
The grounds had been spruced up and meticulously groomed, with bright colored flowers planted so that it looked like a welcoming place to be. The ministry had used the grounds for a reception area for the graduates. Round tables had been set up through the garden for seating, and a catered buffet was being set up. The ministry had hired a band for live music, and it was setting up to play when the ceremony was complete.
Robert had arrived early to double check on the preparations and to go over the list of graduates. He tied the bundle of scrolls with a red sash. There was one for each graduate and one for his own use for the ceremony itself. He donned his robes, albeit a bit reluctantly. He hated robes generally and rarely wore his. He believed wizarding robes to be a bit pretentious, and his robes for formal occasions were no less pretentious than anyone else’s.
His robe was jet black, with a golden colored cord that tied at the waist. The cord had some red threads running through it to symbolize his own Gryffindor heritage. Over the robe was a black floor length sleeveless cloak that was more flowing and had a hood that he had actually never worn. He finished dressing and then made his way to the Great Hall, the bundle of scrolls under his arm.

That morning Hallie had rose early in order to eat breakfast before the mad rush. Today would be possibly her final day in the castle of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry. The Gryffindor knew she would most likely leak a tear by the end of it, after all it had been the past seven years where she'd spent most of her life. That was when she wasn't sneaking into Hogsmede at least. 

After a plate of sausages and boiled eggs she made her way to the girls bathroom on the fourth floor. There she showered and changed into her Hogwarts robes. Unlike her usual robes they were more formal and fitted, the Gryffindor emblem still ablaze on her chest. Making her way to her dormitory Hallie simply took in the sturdy suits of armour and the painted portraits. The sun flooded in through the high windows as her feet carried her along the seventh floor landing to the portrait of the fat lady. 

When Hallie arrived in her dormitory she examined herself in the wall length mirror on the back of the door. Her robes were fresh and she'd styled her hair straight and sleek and usual with sleakeazy's hair straightening potion. Placing her formal pointed witches hat atop of her blonde locks she smiled. Today wasn't an ending. It was the start. Today would be the day where her life begins. Today would be a good day. 

The Great Hall had been decorated with flags representing the four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Additional seats were placed for family members and friends. Hallie's Mum would be the only one there to support her. Her father had died before she'd even started at Hogwarts. Died at the hands of death eaters. It was because of this that Hallie wanted to become an auror. She wanted to make a difference, stop dark wizards before they had a chance to strike. Hallie wanted to prevent people feeling the pain that never left her and she could do that. As an auror she would be able to bring justice back to the country. 

Then there was Toby, her younger brother. Toby would be completing his fourth year if it wasn't for her. Well, it wasn't entirely Hallie's fault. When they were younger and playing in the woods by their house late at night a werewolf had stumbled across them, first going for Toby before advancing on Hallie. Luckily Hallie had made it back home in time for her Mum to defend her against two werewolves, the second being her brother Toby. Of course nobody knew this, everyone believed Toby to have died at the hands of a werewolf. Savaged. Hallie knew different. The next morning the girl returned to the forest, found Toby and told him to leave and never return. It wasn't that she was ashamed of him, in fact she didn't know why she'd done it herself. Part of Hallie thought it was to protect their family. It was hardly ideal to have their younger brother turn into a werewolf one night and murderer their Mother and her. No. The real reason was guilt. Hallie blamed herself for what happened to Toby, she was there and could have stopped the werewolf. Yet, realistically a thirteen year old girl couldn't have thought off a fully grown werewolf - it had been a struggle for her Mother, then again the motherly power had thought her threw that battle.

Hallie sat herself down in the hall, following other students in. The ceremony wasn't to start immediately yet it was nice to arrive early, admire the decorations and the enchanted ceiling. Absorb the atmosphere of buzzing students. Glancing around the Gryffindor noticed that her Mum hadn't yet arrived. 

((OOC: typed on iPod so I apologise if there are any typos! Predictive text an' all.))

"It's finally time..."

There were a lot of emotions running through the seventeen year old. Hogwarts had been his home for seven years and now that he was finally graduating he really wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel. Part of him was happy that he was finally leaving, that he would be able to start his life outside of the protective walls of the castle. But another part wasn't as happy, it was even a bit frightened of what was out there. A little weird for a Vampire who had fought Werewolves and had faced many other obstacles.

He stood in front of the mirror in the boys' dormitory and adjusted the tie he'd put on. He wasn't sure why he even put it on, it was going to be covered by his robes anyways. But he thought it would be a good gesture to show his Hufflepuff pride as it was black and yellow and had the Hufflepuff crest on it. Ryo glanced down at the Prefect badge in front of him and debated on whether or not he should even put it on. Finally deciding he might as well, Ryo put it on the inside left side of his robe.

He sighed softly and looked himself over in the mirror. He'd changed a lot since he had first came to Hogwarts. Now he was a confident young man who actually stood up for himself and those he loved. When he first came with Sayuri, he'd been nothing like that. He'd actually always depended on his sister to protect him. Which was weird considering he was the Vampire - the stronger one. Of course now he would never admit that to anyone.

Now he'd barely even seen his sister lately. She'd been off somewhere and for a while he thought she'd even dropped out, but that hadn't been true. He'd seen her in one of the classes they had together. He wished he could fix things with her, but it was too late. He'd done something that couldn't be reversed to her, and that was turn her into a Vampire and he knew she wouldn't forgive him. She did have it coming to her though.

Ryo shook his head and turned away from the mirror. He looked at the clock on the wall opposite of him and sighed once more. It was a little bit early but he might as well go down already. Taking a deep breath, the Hufflepuff walked down to the common room and out the entrance to the Hufflepuff Dungeon. He stopped outside and looked at the entrance for a moment before he continued on down to the Great Hall.

The boy entered the Great Hall and sat himself down at one of the tables. He rubbed his hands over his robe, dying his sweaty palms as he looked around. He didn't see Sayuri, which meant that she was probably going to be late and even if he went looking for her, it would only succeed in making both of them late. She'd just turn up at the last second, like she normally did for things. Some parents had already arrived as well, and he looked for his aunt and uncle - he wished him mum could've been there to see her two children graduate. He couldn't find either of them and assumed they would come a little bit later.

It was a sad day for Maura, not only was it about to be the summer holidays but Ryo and Hallie were graduating. The two people that were the most people in life her life, the two people who pulled her through everything sh went through these last couple of months. She didn't know what she was going to do without them net year, they were what kept her from going insane. Although Maura knew it wouldn't be long until she was out there with them, probably patching Hallie up after a battle and Ryo after doing god knows what.

Looking at the mirror one last time, Maura nodded in approval before she grabbed her small purse and headed towards the great hall where the graduation was taking place at. It didn't take her long seeing how the Hufflepuff common room wasn't that far from the Great Hall. Once inside she smiled as she seen the two people she was going to miss dearly this year. First walking over towards Hallie she gave her a soft warm smile. "Hey Hal, wow you look great!"said Maura smiling at her. Maura was going to miss all the adventures they went on, from good to bad they had it all.

Looking at the Hufflepuff table she seen Ryo deep in thought which made her frown at the sight of it. "I'll catch up with you later Hal ok?"Maura asked her softly as she walked over towards the Hufflepuff table and sat next to Ryo straightening her yellow dress. "Hey you, happy about graduating?"Maura asked him softly as she kissed him softly on the cheek. Looking around she seen that there were the only one here, but then again Ryo and Hallie were always early for everything though.

"Guess she's just going to be late..."

Ryo sighed. Why did she have to choose to be late for this? This was one of the most important things for them and she was going to be late for it. He really shouldn't care, if she didn't want to show up that was her problem. But now that he thought of it, he hadn't seen her the last couple of weeks. Was something wrong that he didn't know about? He suddenly began to worry again. What if something had happened to her and he had been oblivious to it?

He couldn't let anything happen to Sayuri. Even if she was mad at him and didn't want him anywhere near her. The Vampire nearly jumped out of his seat when Maura spoke to him. He hadn't even seen her come near him. That normally never happened, she was his girlfriend after all.

"Hey Mars... I guess I am, but I'm a little nervous too." Not to mention worried.. he thought shortly after answering her. He glanced around for Sayuri again, but didn't see her anywhere. Please... Just let her be late... Now he had to wait to see if she would actually come in. Maybe when his aunt and uncle came in he could ask them if they'd heard from her.

It was the end of t he school year and Chris was sad to be going back home, it felt like he just got there. He was running a bit late as his hair was a little unruly this morning and took at least an hour to prepare for the graduation and last meal in the great hall. Chris walked through the large towering doors and walked towards a table that was close to all of the professors. He liked sitting close to them or being around them as to not be over shadowed by all of the other students. Straightening his robes before he sat down Chris took a quick look around to see if he knew anybody else in the room before choosing his seat.

Maura looked at him as he r eyes turned gold with worry in them. "Are you ok Ryo, it's not like you to jump at things especially me!"said Maura softly. But she calmed down alittle when he told her he was happy but alittle nervous as well. "That's perfectly normal, your going out to a new world and you going to experience new things!"said Maura softly.

Seeing him glance around her eyes turned gold once again. "Ryo, who are you waiting for?"Maura asked him curiously. "If it's someone important like family, I'll leave you alone I don't want to get in the way of you and your family spending time together!"said Maura softly.

Maura was a very understanding girl especially when it came to Ryo and her friends. If Ryo was waiting for his family, Maura understood she'll be the same way if she haven't seen her parents in awhile and she didn't know when she'll see him again.

Arabella walked downstairs and into the Great Hall. Another class of students was graduating. In five more years that would be herself, she thought. It wasn't that Arabella didn't like Hogwarts. She loved the dances and parties, just the actual work bothered her. Once she graduated she would be expected to get a job or something though, which she didn't want at all. For now, she would just be happy, do as little work as possible and enjoy life.

Arabella glanced around the room. There was no way she was sitting by herself, so she needed to find someone she knew. Or someone cute. Not all students attended the graduation, but it was either this or listen to more bickering in the common room which Arabella was sick and tired of. Spotting Chris, she walked over to him and sat down next to him.

"Hey there, Chris." she smiled at him, "How are things going? I haven't seen you much, with exams and everything."

Arabella took another glance around the room, to appreciate the decoration. One of her many talents was making things, or people, look good. Looks mattered, no matter how much people tried to pretend otherwise, everyone judged everyone else and looking good was key. It wasn't the best decoration, some Ministry worker who had no creative eye probably just bulk bought a bunch of decorations, but it was better than nothing. The Great Hall in itself was a beautiful room, after all. Arabella turned back to Chris, not wanting to miss a word.

Chris let out a sigh of relief as he saw the gorgeous Arabella enter the great hall, finally someone he knows. She glowed in her dark school robes and made everyone else, besides himself look like scum of the school. She was the first person he actually considered to be friends with, or at least friendly with. They seemed to have a competition of control in their small little group, but that's what happens when you stick two high class people in a sea of guppies. It seemed like they chose each other right away on their first year realizing that they had similar agendas for life.


"Hello my dear, you're looking very charming as always" he scooted over to let her sit down next to him and put his arm around his friend, "I know it's been a rough school year the only time I actually saw you was when you decided to attend class" he scoffed jokingly, "how did your exams go by the way? I thought we were studying together. Mine went quite smoothly until I got to my potions exam, I was never really good at that class... It seemed a lot dirtier in the dungeons I barely wanted to be there" he looked at the potions professor and smiled at him hopefully his charm will let him pass the class.

Arabella smiled, as the first thing that came of of Chris' mouth was a compliment. It was no surprise, since the both of them prided themselves on looking good. Most of the other students in their year seemed to think that the uniform was perfectly acceptable day ware, whilst to Arabella it was something she would never wear again if she had the choice.

"Why thank you, Chris. You're not looking to shabby yourself!" she responded, before addressing his remark on her attendance.
"Well, I went to a few classes. But they are so boring, I don't know how you stand them. And I did study, a little. I think I passed most of my exams. It's not like these ones actually count, so I decided I had better things to do."

Arabella detested studying. Her attendance was never the best to classes, and her studying was virtually non existant. Luckily for her, she could just about pass all of her classes without too much work. She didn't do amazingly well, but she did well enough. All of her Professor's kept telling her 'she could do more', but she didn't want to waste her life working all the time.

"Oh don't remind me about that exam." she said, "I swear the Potions classroom is a health hazard. I always get covered in crap down there, it's why I wear my robes down there - I can't risk getting any of my nice clothes dirty." she ranted, hating the Potions dungeon. The Slytherin common room was down in the dungeons, but that was always clean and tidy. It wouldn't be so hard to clean the classroom up. Of course, she couldn't tell Chris that, since as well dressed and nice as he was, he was a Ravenclaw after all.