The Chronicles of Sasha Leone & Trials of the Curse-Breaker (Hogwarts Mystery)

Chapter Eight: Saying Bye

Sasha and Rowan sat a little away from their House mates. Everybody had somehow caught wind of their Cursed Vault mission. And due to that, many of their classmates were gazing them with gratitude and amazement. Though, Sasha thinks Chester was a little amused at the sight of Sasha's awkward embarrassment. And frankly, she's not the only one. Bill, Rowan, Charlie, Ben, Penny, Tonks, and Tulip were also receiving the same amount of attention.
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, Gryffindor has four hundred and twenty-six; third third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and forty nine; second place, Ravenclaw, with three hundred and fifty two points; 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.
"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. And to Nymphadora Tonks for helping free the teachers and students, I award Hufflepuff fifty points to each of them."
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 both Mr. Ben Copper and Mr. Charles Weasley."
Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver.
Then there was silence again.
"Fourth — to Miss Tulip Karasu... for the use of her logic and countering it, I award Ravenclaw House fifty points."
Ravenclaw up and down the table were beside themselves — they were a hundred points up.
"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 Leone..." 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. Bill, Rowan, Charlie, Ben, Penny, Tonks, and Tulip stood up to yell and cheer as Sasha and Ben, pale with shock, disappeared under a pile of people hugging them. Ben had hardly ever 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 slight smirk. 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 mom 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 crash 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, Leone!"
"See ya Curse-Breaker!"
"Still famous," said Rowan with an amused grin.
"I guess I am." Sasha smiled at her new Hogwarts family.