White Heather for Protection

Epilogue

Deafening applause rang throughout the Great Hall as a copper-haired young man shook hands with Headmistress McGonagall and accepted his certificate of graduation.

Heather blinked rapidly to stem a few stray tears, hands smarting from the force with which she was clapping. She watched closely as her brother shook hands with his other professors, smile widening for the brief moment when Severus was surprised with a hug.

She paid attention to the rest of the ceremony, clapping – though not as vigorously – for the other students. Well, she supposed they weren't quite students anymore.

The ceremony ended with Hermione's valedictorian speech, which was a lot shorter than she had expected.

She hung back for a while as Rian celebrated with his yearmates, taking pictures, high-fiving, roughhousing good-naturedly. She chatted with Sirius and Remus as they waited, hearing them reminisce about their own graduation. When Rian finally pulled away from his friends to come say hi, Heather pulled him into a tight hug which expanded as Remus and Sirius joined in.

"We're so proud of you, pup!" Sirius all but shouted, all smiles.

Remus was quieter, but no less enthusiastic. "Congratulations, Hadrian. You did very well."

Rian laughed, sinking into the group hug. "Thanks, you guys! I can't believe I'm finally graduating!"

"It seems like just yesterday you were boarding the Express for the first time, doesn't it?" Heather said knowingly.

"Yeah," Hadrian sighed, a tad nostalgically. "But it also feels like forever."

"I guess having a crazy snakeman messing with you would do that," Heather teased.

Hadrian rolled his eyes, just as Sirius interjected, "C'mon guys, who cares about that old has-been? It's your graduation, Hadrian. You should be letting loose, have fun, get drunk!"

Remus shoved Sirius in warning, hissing at him about good role models and appropriate behaviour. Hadrian smiled slyly and shrugged his shoulders when Remus turned to him. Heather snorted, staying out of it.

It was an open secret to the professors how the graduants always had an afterparty. So long as things didn't go too out of hand, they would turn a blind eye.

Eventually, Sirius and Remus had to leave when the family members who had attended the ceremony were politely ushered out of the school. Heather spent a little more time taking last-minute pictures with her students and giving them well wishes before she, like the other staff members, gradually vacated the hall.

She was humming contentedly as she made her way back to the dungeons, knowing Severus would already be there. She had noticed him slipping away as soon as the ceremony ended, having never been one for such events.

Though the walkways were dark, formless shadows lurking at every corner, Heather took each step with ease. She was familiar with the winding paths, the cold stone walls, the gentle swirls of magic perfusing the air. She had spent most of the past nine years at Hogwarts, her brother, seven. He would be leaving the castle soon, and so would she.

Minerva had managed to find a retired auror to be the Defence Professor, and Severus was more than happy to finally resign.

Hogwarts wasn't her home – there had been too much danger within its walls for her to feel entirely safe to call it that – but she had met some of the most important people in her life here. Her best friends, her lover. The memories she'd made here were irreplaceable. She wasn't quite sad to leave – perhaps sentimental was a better term.