The Half-Blood Princess

The Potion Master

Despite the dark cloud hanging over everyone, the next week was the seventh years' graduation ceremony after the Leaving Feast. Severus Snape woke up and went to assist the other professors in setting up the Great Hall with a feeling in his chest he had never had in all his years as a professor, because he had never been close to any of the students who would now be leaving the school forever.

He had heard people talking about how hard it was to watch their children graduating from school, but he had thought it was just hyperbole. Now he knew it was not. He had met Harley when she was an uncertain fourteen year old girl, and now she was leaving grown up, a woman, a powerful witch. And she was also the Wizarding equivalent of the valedictorian, the student with the highest scores in every class.

Usually the younger students did not stay for the ceremony, but this year nearly all of them did, out of a sense of unity he had never seen the school have. He stood at the front of the room with the others, listening to Dumbledore congratulate the students, and he saw the small seventh year class sitting near the front of the Hall, Harley the only one looking wholly unruffled. At the back of the room, he spied the Weasley twins, who had obviously come back to see Harley leave school. It was a good thing for her to have someone that loved her like Fred did. He hoped she wouldn't muck it all up like he had with Lily.

"And now, I would like to present you with our Outstanding Student of this year's graduating class, Miss Harley Torrance!" Dumbledore stepped aside and Severus watched his daughter stride up to the front, a rehearsed speech before her. Fred gave a wolf whistle from the back of the room, and that caused her stoic face to change, smiling as brightly as her mother had.

"Thank you, Headmaster," Harley said. "And settle down, Fred-I'm still Head Girl for another hour!" The students laughed. "I came to Hogwarts late, as many of you know, having had my magical past accidentally hidden from me. Upon discovering my heritage, I discovered so many things, not just about this world, but about myself.

"I am an outcast. In the Muggle world and in the Wizarding one as well. As an outcast, I have been able to observe quietly, see things many other people miss. And I have seen this world divided. Now, more than ever, the Dark Lord is trying to split us into two. And as a true member now of the Wizarding community, I want to plead with all my fellow students to stop this pettishness. It is time to stand together, use our extraordinary gifts to make a better world for our kind.

"We have all come so far. There was a time I considered leaving Hogwarts because of bullying and feeling very out of place, but I stuck through it. I watched my classmates grow and mature. I learned more in my four years here than I ever will in the rest of my life. I had the most amazing professors guiding me, and some wonderful people-friends and enemies-pushing me to do better.

"As we leave for the holiday, some of us forever, I want to remind you all that we can make a difference in our world. If I, a strange, half-blood orphan girl who was raised by Muggles, can come so far, I can only imagine what all of you can do. Thank you."

The Hall erupted in applause, and Severus had to fight to keep his expression neutral. He felt a tap on his shoulder and saw Minerva standing by his side.

"You raised a great girl, Severus," she whispered.

"I did not raise her," he said.

"Yes, you did. These past years, it was you who guided her, taught her. She has changed so much because of you, you should be very proud of the job you did," she told him warmly.

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak as he watched the procession of students receiving their Wizarding certificates from Albus, and then shaking the hands of their Head of House.