**Alex’s POV**
“Pens down.”
My quill falls from my aching hand, splattering a few droplets on the bottom of my essay, but I ignore them. I have finished school.
“You may all go.”
I leap to my feet and look around for Carma and Scarlett. They’re nearby, embracing Angelina and Sophina. I run over to them and throw my arms around them all. We start jumping up and down and squealing.
“We’re done! It’s over!” Scarlett cheers.
“FREEDOM! FREEDOM!” Jace chants, running past us with Henry and Adam.
“Let’s go,” Sophina says, tugging us towards the doors.
The whole grade spills out onto the front lawn, laughing and cheering.
“Photo!” Sandy from Hufflepuff calls, “Everyone! Come on!”
She enlists a Hufflepuff sixth year to take a picture of us and we all gather on the stairs, even the Slytherins.
“I’ll send photos around,” Sandy promises Sophina, giving her a hug.
“This is awesome,” Scarlett says, flopping down on the grass, “I never have to write a stinking essay again.”
“You will if you want to be an auror,” Carma points out.
“Shut up,” Scarlett says happily, “right now, I never have to do it again.”
“Good for you,” I say, kicking off my shoes and pulling my stockings off, “I can’t wait to wear jeans every day.”
“Guys,” Lee appears and hands bottles of butterbeer to our group, “here’s to finishing school – together.”
“Cheers!”
We all drink deeply then Carma sighs.
“It’s not the same without the twins,” she says.
“No,” I agree, “but I guess we’ll see them during the holidays.”
“Not holidays for us,” Scarlett points out, “just the rest of our lives.”
“I like the sound of that,” I laugh.
“Nothing more to worry about other than packing for the train tomorrow.”
Carma groans.
“My stuff is everywhere,” she says.
“Let’s go and pack now, then we can relax this afternoon,” I say, struggling to my feet.
The boys decide to play Quidditch instead, so all the girls traipse up to our dormitory. For the last month or so we’ve all been so caught up in revision none of us have bother to clean. If it wasn’t for the House Elves none of us would have clean clothes. Even so the floor is hidden by a carpet of clothes, jewellery, make-up, notes, books and other belongings.
“I don’t know what is mine and what isn’t,” I sigh.
“Me neither,” Scarlett says, sitting on Lauretta’s bed, “I’m not even sure if I’m wearing my clothes.”
“Well, let’s start sorting it out,” I sigh, picking up a blue shirt, “who owns this?”
“That’s mine,” Carma says. We slowly begin to sift through the mess, throwing old notes and rubbish away.
“Oh, Retta, I found your necklace!” I call from under my bed. Lauretta’s head appears from over the side of the bed. I hold the necklace out to her.
“Thanks,” she says, taking it and disappearing. I crawl deeper under the bed and sneeze. There’s a lot of dust under here. I find a lot of bobby pins and a few hair ties but nothing more interesting and crawl out, coughing. The dormitory is starting to look better. The beds are covered with piles of half folded clothes and bags of toiletries from Scarlett clearing out the bathroom.
“Guys,” Sophina says, emerging from the wardrobe with her hair sticking up everywhere, “did anyone think that maybe there’s a spell for this?”
Scarlett emerges from the bathroom, her arms full of bottles.
“We’re all idiots,” she states dropping them on the floor for us to sort through, “but I have to confess, I’m enjoying this. This is the last day that we will all be living together like this.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” I say, sitting on the end of my bed, “that’s sad. We’ll all be apart.”
“We’ll still see each other,” Sophina says, throwing me a pair of jeans, “just not as much.”
I fold the jeans and put them into my trunk. It’s fuller than I remember it being last time.
As we finish packing everything I look around at the empty cupboards, the blank walls that used to hold pictures, paintings, knick-knacks. The bathroom is empty except for the school towels. Our trunks sit at the ends of our beds where we found them on our very first night here. I feel my eyes tingle and a sob sticks in my throat.
“I love you guys,” I choke out, then burst into tears. I feel seven bodies press in around me, all of them crying. I hold on to them tightly, sobbing and shaking.
“Okay, we need to stop,” Scarlett sniffs, “my head is throbbing and we’re all going to have puffy eyes tomorrow.”
We all pull away, wiping our eyes on the backs of our hands.
“No more crying, deal?” Angelina asks.
“Deal,” we agree.
“Let’s go down to dinner,” Sophina says, “we all need lots to drink and then a nice long sleep. It’s been a long, busy, stressful year and tomorrow will be emotionally draining.”
“Sophie is right,” Lauretta says, “come on, the boys will be waiting.”
We all walk down, red eyed, to the feast. We eat and drink and laugh with the boys, then listen to Dumbledore’s speech. Exhausted, we walk up to the dormitory and fall asleep in our beds for the last time. . .
The next morning we wake and dress in silence. We take our luggage down to the great hall and have breakfast, all of us trying not to cry. Even the boys are quiet. I don’t eat much, just drink lots of juice. After breakfast we all fit ourselves into the same carriage, squeezing in close, and ride together down to the train. We find a compartment and Alex and I forget our prefect duties and stay with our friends the whole way home. When the train stops we look around at each other, then begin saying our quiet goodbyes. We pass through the barrier and part our separate ways, promising to keep in touch. I see Mum and Dad waiting, but I’m distracted by a pair of arms catching me around the waist.
“I promise not to ignore you all Summer,” Fred says in my ear, “I have to go, quickly, but come and see the shop soon. I owe you a nice date.”
He kisses me on the cheek and disappears. I run over to Mum and Dad and give them both a hug.
“Congratulations,” Mum says, “My baby, finished school!”
“Don’t cry!” I beg her, “please don’t cry.”
She nods, her eyes watering.
“Come on,” I say, taking her hand, “let’s go home.”
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Sorry about the long wait, had surgery just over a week ago and needed some recovery time. Hope you like the chapter, will try to upload again this week :)
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Finally Me ~
FanfictionAlex is the youngest in a family of fifteen. To make things worse, she's the only one who isn't a twin... Or a boy. Growing up in the muggle world, Alex didn't even know that magic exsists, but she soon gets caught up in a world of Quidditch, Potion...
