Sasha Liliana Jackson & The Secrets of Hogwarts

Chapter Ten: Gaining Some Points

Sasha and Rowan sat a little away from their House mates. Everybody had somehow caught wind of their Cursed Vault mission. Sasha was looking away from Chester's gaze, she didn't want to his disappointment being aimed directly at her. Sasha was keeping a slight distance from her House mates, while both Rowan and Tulip were immediately by her side. Sasha was playing with the dragon pendant around her neck.
Fortunately, Dumbledore arrived moments later. The chattering died away.
"Another year gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were... you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts... Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Ravenclaw, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Gryffindor has four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two."
A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table. Sasha could see Merula Snyde banging her goblet on the table. It was a sickening sight.
"Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore. "However, recent events must be taken into account."
The room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little.
"Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes...
"First — to Mr. William Weasley..."
Sasha could see that Bill had started blushing and looked up at Professor Dumbledore in amazement.
"...for the determination on the mission, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."
Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver.
At last, there was silence again.
"Second — to Miss Penny Haywood for her knowledge of making the right potion for the mission, I award Hufflepuff fifty points."
Hufflepuff cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver.
Then there was silence again.
"There are all kinds of courage," said Dumbledore, smiling. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Ben Copper."
Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver.
Then there was silence again.
"Fourth — to Miss Rowan Khanna... for the use of cool logic in the face of danger, I award Ravenclaw House fifty points."
Rowan covered her cheeks with her hands; Sasha strongly suspected she had started blushing fiercely. Ravenclaw up and down the table were beside themselves — they were a hundred points up.
"Lastly — to Miss Sasha Jackson..." said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet. "For pure wit and outstanding courage, I award Ravenclaw House seventy points."
Someone standing outside the Great Hall might well have thought some sort of explosion had taken place, so loud was the noise that erupted from the Ravenclaw table. Rowan, Penny, and Bill stood up to yell and cheer as Sasha and Ben, pale with shock, disappeared under a pile of people hugging them. Ben had never won so much as a point for Gryffindor before, while Sasha was stunned to see that she had won a huge amount of points for Ravenclaw. Sasha, still cheering, nudged Rowan on the side and nodded at Merula, who couldn't have looked more stunned and horrified if she'd just had the Body-Bind Curse put on her.
"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, for even Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin. "We need a little change of decoration."
He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became blue and the silver became bronze; the huge Slytherin serpent vanished and a great Ravenclaw eagle took its place. Snape was shaking Professor Flitwick's hand, with a forced smile. He caught Sasha's eye and she knew at once that Snape's feelings towards her haven't changed.
It was the best evening in Sasha's life, better than Christmas, or taking on the Cursed Vault... she would never, ever forget tonight.
Sasha had almost forgotten that the exam results were still to come, but come they did. To her great surprise, Sasha passed with good marks; Rowan, of course, had the best grades of the first years. Even Ben scraped through, his good Charm mark making up for his abysmal Potions one.
But suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed, Ben's ferret was found lurking in a corner of the room; notes were handed out to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays ("I hoped they'll forget to give us these," Tulip stated sadly); Hagrid was there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating some snacks as they sped past Muggle towns; pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station.
"I'm going to tell my parents about what happened," Sasha had told her four friends back on the train. "They had been rehired as Aurors to find any leads of my brother."
"Maybe we should stay in touch over the summer to find any information about the Cursed Vaults and finding Jacob," advised Rowan.
The five of them all agreed to stay in touch over the summer (or try to, since Bill's family owl is pretty old and had crashed landed a lot).
It took quite a while for them all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier, letting them go through the gate in twos and threes so they didn't attract attention by all bursting out of a solid wall at once and alarming the Muggles.
"We must come and visit each other," Penny said as she looked at everyone. "Both of you — I'll send you an owl."
"Same here," agreed Sasha. "I could use the company."
People jostled them as they moved forward towards the gateway back to the Muggle world. Some of them:
"Bye, Sasha!"
"See you, Jackson!"
"See ya Musketeers!"
"Still famous," said Rowan with an amused grin.
"And this time in a good way!" Sasha laughed as she felt a barrier of loneliness had finally been lifted.
"Sasha!" They turned to look to see Sasha's mum, dad, and dog waiting for them. Instead of angry, they all seemed pretty proud and overjoyed of seeing Sasha being surrounded by friends.
"Mum! Dad!" Sasha hugged her parents and dog before turning to her friends. "Mum, Dad. These are my friends from school. You already know Rowan and Bill. This is Penny and Ben."
"It's nice to meet you all." Mum smiled at them and some of her sadness had lifted from her hazel eyes.
"You too," said Penny as she shook hands with Sasha's parents.
"Sasha's been very brave and kind to everyone at school," Ben said with a smile. "Something tells me she's going to be the greatest witch of all of Hogwarts since Morgana."
Sasha blushed and looked away quickly. Both of her parents' eyes shone with pride and joy. After they had to depart, Sasha felt so much of the weight of loneliness and mournfulness had been replaced with her love and joy.