Curiousity Killed the Cat

Harry and I got out of the hospital wing the next day, even after we assumed the Nurse that we were both perfectly fine. Today was the last day of school at Hogwarts, usually a happy time but Cedric’s death kind of killed it…wow, really bad joke. Anyways, I was currently in the girl’s dormitory packing up my stuff into my truck. I packed away all of my uniform robes, my Ravenclaw scarf that I adored deeply, Ashlyn’s make-up kit, and everything else I wasn’t wearing.

“Oh! I’m going to miss you, Elyse!” Ashlyn said, giving me a tearful hug. I hugged her back as un-awkwardly as I could, which wasn’t easy.

“Well, I’ll be here next year! Have a great summer!” I said, patting her back.

She grinned. “If you happen to get a boyfriend--wizard or not--I want to be the first that finds out!”

I grinned back. “Fine. Now go find Terry before you make me blush!”

She ran off to find Terry, her somewhat boyfriend, allowing me to pack in peace. I grabbed Hermione’s Christmas present and put it on my head, seeing as my hair was a complete mess. I slipped on Sirius’ necklace, Dumbledore’s ring, and Luna’s bracelets before finding my flip-flops and sliding them on. Ashlyn had picked out my outfit, she told me it would, and I quote “give the guys something to think about over the holidays”, which consisted of jeans, flip-flops, a red tank-top under a grey sweatshirt and my hat. Personally, I didn’t think I looked half bad.

“Elyse, come on. We have to go to the ceremony,” Luna said, coming up from behind me. I sighed and nodded my head, following her down the stairs and out of the common room. I truly didn’t want to go to this, and I’m pretty sure it was the only thing Harry and I saw eye to eye. I shoved my hands into my pockets, taking a deep breath as we sat down in one of the many chairs. Cho was towards the front, already crying. I didn’t like her very much, but I did feel somewhat sorry for her. I know it must be hard to date a guy you really loved, only to have him lost.

Luna, on the other hand, was sitting there, humming under her breath a tune I wasn’t familiar with. I knew that she had witnessed her mother’s death when she was nine (she had told me). She told me though that she feels sad only sometimes, most of the time she thinks that she will see her mother again soon. I wish I had Luna’s kind of mind: one filled with things that could make any situation seem better.

I sighed and looked back up towards the front, where Professor Dumbledore was beginning to speak.

“Are you gonna sit with us?” Ron asked as Hermione went to say “goodbye” to Viktor. I knew he needed something to distract himself. After the ceremony (which Dumbledore informed all of us that the Dark Lord had risen and we should all be careful… followed by a few kind words about Cedric) we were all getting ready to leave. Most were saying goodbye to those students from the other schools while we waited for the train.

“Depends, are you going to ask me questions like ‘will my mum kill me for failing potion’?” I teased, a slight smile forming on my face.

Ron groaned. “Will she?”

I smirked. “Dunno.”

We got onto the train after Hermione came back (looking slightly breathless) and grabbed a compartment. I still wasn’t on speaking terms with Harry after the whole ‘blasting me into a wall’ thing. I wasn’t quite sure if he was honestly sorry about it but I stopped caring. After all, they all knew I was an escaped prisoner, which might explain why Ron hasn’t annoyed me yet.

“How’d you do on your exams, Hermione?” I asked, absentmindedly braiding my hair.

“Alright, what about you?” she said, blushing a bit. I knew that she had scored top of her class; I wasn’t going to inform her that I had scored best in the year.

“Not bad, considering all that happened,” I said, shrugging with a slight grin on my face. “What about you Harry?”

“Fine,” he said, looking out the window. I sighed; my attempts at a civilized convocation were shot down by the rest of the world. Wonderful. Hermione was going on about how Ron needed to stop complaining because he didn’t study as Harry and me just sat there, doing nothing.

“Lys!” Fred said, coming to a stop at our compartment. “We need your help!”

“With what?” I asked, jumping out of my seat.

“A prank…” George said, innocently.

“Why are we doing this?” I asked, keeping my focus on the bucket hovering above the compartment.

“Because he was the little kid who kept telling on us,” George said, as Fred called out to the young second-year.

“Good enough for me,” I said and waited for him to come out of the compartment before…

Splat!

A bucket filled with the residue of Exploding Snap fell on the un-expecting second-year, covering him in a pus like coat. Fred, George, and I burst out laughing as the kid stormed away. It was our ‘end of the year’ prank and it was a hell of one too. Before we could get busted, we went our separate ways: them going to find their friend Lee and leaving me to go back to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

“What did you do?” Ron asked the moment I arrived.

I grinned. “End of the year prank. Had to be there.”