Of course, after the events at the Department of Mysteries, Fudge couldn't continue his denials anymore. (Not to mention he was already in hot water with the whole Umbridge fiasco.) He was forced to admit that Voldemort had, indeed, returned and was planning on continuing his reign of terror. News spread quickly, bringing panic to Wizarding Britain at large. As long as they kept her brother out of it, Heather left them to it.
However, for her and her friends, life in Hogwarts for the remainder of the school year just seemed relatively boring compared to the prior events. From Umbridge's iron-fisted regime and subsequent downfall, to the DA sessions, to the Department of Mysteries ambush, the NEWTs were a walk in the park in comparison.
Heather had never had a problem with her studies, so she wasn't overly stressed by the exams that were pretty much the sole determinant of her professional success in Wizarding Britain. Fred and George mostly took it pretty easy too, though Heather made sure they studied enough to pass everything.
They were aiming for at least Os in Charms, Potions and Herbology for their business. Well, Herbology for George, anyway. Fred would be lucky to scrape by an Acceptable, black thumb that he was. It would give them higher clearance to cultivate certain plants, which was a much cheaper source of ingredients than buying them.
As a graduation surprise, Heather had already put in a down-payment for the property in Diagon Alley they were looking at. The twins' dream of a shop was just a breath shy of being reality. Now, if only they could just decide on a name already!
"Finally!" Fred shouted as they exited the room where their very last exam, Transfiguration, had been held.
"We're free at last!" George hollered.
"No more homework-"
"-no more tests-"
"-NO MORE PROFESSORS!"
Someone cleared their throat behind them. Heather stifled a laugh when she turned and saw Professor McGonagall staring at Fred and George with her mouth fixed in a stern line and an eyebrow raised.
"Not that we don't love you, Prof McG," they said immediately, smiling with their eyes wide.
After a tense moment, something happened that made Heather question everything that she knew. Professor McGonagall cackled. Cackled.
"Finally," she echoed Fred's earlier sentiment with clear relish. "Finally, I can be rid of you miscreants!"
The three of them gaped as the normally austere Professor grinned wider. "Now go, before I decide to give you all one last detention!"
They had no compunction running off at that threat.
"No running in the halls!"
"Sure thing Minnie!" the three of them called out behind them.
They heard the outraged shout even from a few corridors away.
~~~
Hogwarts did its graduation ceremony like it did everything else – grandly and eccentrically. For one thing, it was conducted in the dead of the night, so that the stars shone on the students as they began their journey outside of Hogwarts, or something like that. Only graduating students and their families were invited, though there wasn't a strict ban if other students wanted to attend and see what it was like. It was the one night of the school year where curfew wasn't enforced.
It was only when the clock struck ten that the large doors to the Great Hall were let open to admit the throngs of excited graduates-to-be. Heather hadn't attended the ceremony in previous years, so she didn't know what to expect.
When she walked in, the whole room was decked out in varying shades of the four house colours. Banners, streamers, confetti. Then there were the less common kinds of decoration, like snitches, bubbles, floating pumpkins and slime dripping down the walls. It was a tradition for each house to be able to put in any decoration request for the ceremony. There was a legend of one year when one house asked for giant bobbleheads of the Professors to line the room.
Melinda and Adrian had gone around and asked for suggestions on Slytherin's input for that year. It seemed like they had taken Heather's offhand comment of green and silver snitches seriously. She supposed that her house had settled for that instead of winning the Quidditch Cup, which had gone to Gryffindor as usual.
It was clear that the Claws had gone for the safe option of blue bubbles. However, the floating pumpkins – such a deep shade of orange they almost seemed red – were hollowed out and doubled as serving platters for finger foods. Probably not what the Gryffs had in mind when they requested that. That just left the Puffs' yellow slime oozing out of holes in the walls. The teachers had exercised their creativity and made them makeshift butterbeer taps.
It was something of a challenge for some years' students to put in absolutely ludicrous ideas just to see how the Professors handled them. They always managed to make even the craziest things turn out tasteful.
"Heather!" Sirius said before he engulfed her in a giant bear hug. She startled a little, so caught up in admiring the decorations that she hadn't seen them. Remus stepped up when the other man let go to grasp her in a gentler hold.
"Hey, Padfoot, Moony. You made it!"
Sirius scoffed. "Of course we did! It's only your Hogwarts graduation ceremony!"
"We wouldn't miss this for anything," Remus said earnestly.
Heather smiled, hugging them both again. "Thank you."
"None of that, you know we're happy to be here. Now, tell us, how do you feel? Eager, nervous?" Remus said.
"Dizzy, sweaty, gonna puke?" Sirius added.
"Sirius!" Remus admonished.
She laughed, shaking her head. "No, thank Merlin. Just a bit excited. I'm not really that worried about my results." The exams hadn't been all that difficult, after all her studying.
Sirius snorted at that. "Oh, I don't mean that. You're a smart cookie, I have no doubt you'll be getting straight Os. But what about when you're called onstage? You could trip, or stumble or-"
"And that's enough out of you, Sirius!" Remus sighed, clearly exasperated by his friend. He turned to her. "Don't listen to him. You'll be fine, so long as they don't put a floo between you and the stage, of course," he tacked on, smiling impishly.
Rolling her eyes, she scanned the room for the Weasleys or her brother. Before she could find them, however, they found her. She caught Fred's eye over at one of the butterbeer spouts with the rest of his family. She could see that Hadrian and Hermione had found their way over there as well. Sirius and Remus saw where her gaze was pointed and let themselves be pulled over.
A chorus of congratulations greeted her when she reached them. Mrs Weasley pulled her into a warm hug once she was close enough.
"Heather, dear, well done on graduating! I'm sure you did wonderfully in your exams! Why, if it weren't for you, Fred and George very likely wouldn't be here getting their NEWTs!" She shot exasperated looks at her twin boys, daring them to contradict her. They just shrugged unrepentantly.
"Mum, you know grades aren't everything!"
"How could you subscribe to such a narrow world-view!"
"They don't encapsulate the worth of a person!"
"What about the more important things, like kindness-"
"-and humility, and patience, and being a good person!"
They both gave their mother disappointed frowns. "We thought we'd taught you better than that, Molly Weasley née Prewitt."
Heather choked on her laughter as Mrs Weasley's twitching eye got worse with each sentence. When Fred and George spoke her name, she took a threatening step forward. They ran behind Heather's back to hide from their mother's wrath.
"Ehehe, you wouldn't want to throttle you sons, now would you, Mum?"
"Yeah, your hardworking, Hogwarts graduate sons!"
"Graduate-to-be," Heather added unhelpfully as she stepped away, leaving her two friends exposed and vulnerable. She giggled as she skipped off to talk to Hadrian while Mrs Weasley gave a them a thorough tongue-lashing on proper respect.
"Hadrian!" She pounced on his unprotected back, latching on to him from behind.
Her brother almost stumbled, but regained his balance at the last second. "Whoa, Heather! A little excited, aren't you?"
"Of course! What student isn't, at their graduation ceremony?" She finally released his hold on him and let him turn around to face her. "Oh, hi there, Ron, Hermione!" she said belatedly. The other two fifth years waved at her.
"Congratulations on graduating!" Hermione burst out, a sentiment which Ron echoed. "It must be ever so exciting! What are your plans after this? Will you be working with the Ministry? Or have you applied to a university? Oh, perhaps you'll be pursuing a Mastery?"
Hadrian snorted. "Nice try, she won't even tell me what she's doing. And I've asked like a million times. She's being all mysterious about it, for some reason."
"That's because I haven't confirmed it yet! It might not even work out! I don't want to tell you guys and then turn around and say it fell through." She patted her brother's arm at his aggrieved sigh. "You'll be the first to know." That seemed to appease him slightly.
"Graduating students, please gather at the front of the hall. The ceremony will be commencing in an hour."
Professor McGonagall's announcement via Sonorusgot Heather's attention. "Well, looks like that's my cue. See you guys later!"
With one last hug from Hadrian she went to get Fred and George before heading to the crowd of seventh years at the front. Once there, they saw that the students were queuing up in lines, one for each house, leading up to their Heads of House. Heather split from Fred and George to line up with the Slytherins.
She assumed that they would be getting their NEWTs grades before the ceremony, so that they wouldn't be too emotional while onstage. Her suspicions were confirmed when a particularly airheaded girl in her year ran out of the Great Hall in tears after her conversation with Professor Snape. Well, what did the girl think she'd get, after wasting her school year fawning over models in Witch Weekly during class and skiving off of homework?
Ahead of her, Melinda shook hands with the Professor and walked away with a satisfied smile. She spared Heather an amiable nod as she passed by, which she returned. She had no doubt that the Prefect had gotten excellent marks.
There were a few more people before it was finally her turn. She had to suppress a beaming grin when she stepped up in front of Professor Snape, mindful of the many eyes on her.
"Miss Potter, I offer my congratulations on your graduation from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," the man said formally, not a hint of expression on his face.
She was equally solemn as she thanked him, even though all she wanted was to throw her arms around him in celebration. She watched as he plucked a scroll from the table behind him and handed it to her.
"Here are the results of your Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. You may open the scroll to check your results, but please return it after you are done. You will be given the scroll during the ceremony itself."
Unrolling the parchment carefully, she scanned the text.
~~~
Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests
Candidate: Heather Lyra Potter Year of Exam: May 1996
Examination Centre: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Pass Grades: Outstanding (O), Exceeds Expectations (E), Acceptable (A)
Fail Grades: Poor (P), Dreadful (D), Troll (T)
This is to certify that the candidate named below sat the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests, conducted by the Wizarding Examination Authority, and obtained the following results:
Arithmancy O
Charms* O
Defence Against the Dark Arts O
Herbology O
Potions* O
Study of Ancient Runes* O
Transfiguration O
* indicates that the candidate attained the highest marks in that subject for the year
~~~
Heather rolled up her certificate again and handed it back to Professor Snape. The man took it with a small – so slight she would have missed it if she had blinked – nod of approval. Her results hadn't been unexpected, but the gesture caused warmth to bubble up within her. She thanked him again and shook his hand before walking off.
She wanted to go find out what Fred and George had gotten, but Professor Sinistra was quick to slot her into the line-up for going up onstage later on. She was put between Glenda Plackett from Hufflepuff and Adrian Pucey, arranged by surname in alphabetical order.
She chatted a little with Adrian while waiting. He was planning on going into the Ministry, in preparation for taking over his father's position as head of his family. He shared with her a few tips that his father had imparted to him, which she listened to eagerly. It would be useful for her if she ever needed to exercise her position as Lady Potter.
Heather wondered if her own father would have taught her all these things if he had lived, or if he would have been more laid back about all this political malarkey. If only her parents could see her now, graduating from Hogwarts.
She shook those thoughts away before she could tear up. There was no use wondering on 'what ifs'. She just had to believe that Mama and Papa were watching her proudly from wherever they were now.
Ringing chimes that sounded like church bells sounded out throughout the Great Hall. It was this signal that indicated the start of the ceremony. All the students started to straighten out their robes and smooth their hair down as Dumbledore stood to give his opening speech.
As she looked straight ahead at the stage, she thought she could feel a soft warmth surround her as gentle hands ruffled her hair. She could almost hear her mother's tinkling laugh and see her father's broad smile.
She blinked to clear the tears from her eyes. She should never have had any doubt that they were with her, always.
~~~
The proceedings had been pretty simple. The students were called onstage individually, then handed their certificates by Dumbledore. Thereafter, the old man cast a spell which turned their robes more opulent and shimmery, reflecting their new statuses as graduates instead of students. They would then walk off the stage to go sit with their friends and family. Once all the students had been announced, there were speeches by the Head Boy and Girl, Heads of Houses and one more by Headmaster Dumbledore.
At the end of it all, everyone usually stayed on to mingle or take photos. The Hogwarts Express would be leaving tomorrow, so for many of the graduates, this would be the last chance for them in a long while to spend time with their schoolmates.
The DA even managed to surprise all the seventh years with graduation gifts. They all got beautiful personalised albums filled with various moments during DA practice sessions, warded, of course, so that only their owners could open them. There were pictures of them messing up spells, hilarious mishaps, awe-inspiring mock duels, even nodding off during break times.
Heather found a particularly gorgeous photograph of her teaching a few students the Patronus Charm. The picture showed them casting their first corporeal patronuses, with cloudy white forms bursting from their wands, while Heather stood at the corner smiling proudly with her snidget fluttering excitedly above her.
No one but Colin could have captured such an amazing shot, made even better by the fact that it was a moving wizarding picture.
The impromptu party was showing no signs of winding down even though it was closely approaching early rather than late. The parents and families of the students had long since left for home already, leaving the night to their children. Most of the teachers turned a blind eye to the chaos that was the graduation after-party, but did stay behind to make sure no one got into too much trouble.
It was when Professor Snape peeled away from his silent vigil close to half past four that Heather began her move. After waiting a few minutes, she informed Fred and George she would be leaving before following after her now-former-Professor.
It was a simple task to tail after the man, since it was obvious he was headed for his quarters, where she had been before. She made her presence known to him before he could disappear through the portrait entrance.
"Professor Snape?" she called out, after making sure there was no one else around to witness the interaction.
The man turned, not a hint of surprise on his face. As expected, since she hadn't made any effort to hide her presence as she followed him. She suspected she might not have succeeded had she tried, anyway. He was a spy for a reason.
"Miss Potter, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I was hoping to speak with you. I'm sorry for the late hour, but there will be no time before the train leaves tomorrow."
Looking curious now, which Heather was taking to be a good sign, he stepped through the portrait and held it open for her to enter.
Relieved, she entered his living quarters and took a seat when he gestured her towards it. To her surprise, he disappeared and then reappeared moments later with two cups of tea, one of which he offered to her.
The soothing scent of chamomile and lavender settled her nerves as she waited for him to settle into the seat across from hers.
"My congratulations again on your graduation. You should be proud of your grades. The staff were all very impressed when they saw your certificate."
Heather lifted her cup to take a sip of tea to hide the blush that rose at the praise. "Thank you, I had very good teachers," she demurred.
Professor Snape raised a brow to show his disbelief but refrained from further comment on the matter. Instead, he said, "You had something you wished to tell me?"
And back came the nerves.
She fidgeted in her seat, setting her cup down in case she dropped it with her suddenly jittery fingers. "Yes, about that. More of a request, really."
Perhaps sensing her minor distress, he nodded encouragingly for her to continue.
"Well, I- You see- There is-" she stuttered. Frustrated at her own inability to voice her thoughts, she just reached into her pockets for a shrunken roll of parchment and resized it. "Here, I hope you'll consider it."
The man was rather bemused, she could tell, but he did as asked and took the scroll. Heart jumping madly, she stared as he carefully unwound the roll and started reading. His face gave nothing away, blanking the instant his gaze touched the words. She knew what he had seen and cursed the title of the scroll for being so telling.
To occupy herself, she picked up her cup again, hoping the tea would be able to relax her as it always did. It helped a little, but not much. She started to look around the room, anything to keep her eyes off the man.
Professor Snape's quarters felt very inviting and cosy. Though there were few personal effects like portraits and knick-knacks, it clearly screamed 'his'. From the towering bookshelves that lined most of the walls, to the jars of rare specimens and phials of all sorts of potions. The space was surprisingly cluttered, for a man that seemed to be so disciplined and controlled, but it was obviously an organised sort of clutter, where he – and only he – knew where everything was.
She was able to successfully distract herself with her inspection of Professor Snape's living space, but when the man finally looked up at her from the scroll, all her tension made itself known again. She remained quiet, waiting for him to speak first.
"Potions Apprenticeship Contract?" he quoted the first line of the scroll in a questioning tone.
The words had her straightening her spine, as if presenting herself for inspection so that she wasn't found lacking.
"Y-yes. I wish to pursue a Mastery in Potions and I was hoping you would take me on as your apprentice." She cursed the slight stutter in her words. It was a weakness she couldn't afford right now.
"Why?" he asked simply, still not giving anything away.
Heather didn't bother to act obtuse; that really wouldn't help her right now. "Because you are the best Potions Master in Britain, perhaps the world, and I want to learn from the best. And because I have worked with you and I really enjoyed our rapport. I believe that we work together well, which I know is rare for you," she managed to add teasingly, "You are one of the people I respect the most, and I would be honoured if you accepted me as your apprentice."
Her words had an obvious effect on him, as his expression thawed a little to show a hint of a smile. "And what of...otherconsiderations?"
She knew exactly what he meant, of course. "It is well-established that the official guild of any field can force an apprentice on a master who does not currently have any, as per the contract when a wizard or witch takes on the title of Master. Voldie can't blame you for being forced into taking the sister of the Boy-Who-Lived as an apprentice," she smiled wickedly, "especially if you mention the greater opportunities to spy on Hadrian via his sister. You'd be able to gain the trust of an important member of the Light faction, probably even gain new insights and details on the Boy-Who-Lived most people aren't privy to. And the poor girl, doesn't even suspect her former Head of House is a Deatheater, since she's not in the Order. Since Dumbledore trusts him, surely he's a good man?"
At that last part, Professor Snape gave a short bark of laughter. "You, blindly following Albus' words? That would be the day."
She waited impatiently as the man considered her words. It was a good sign that he hadn't shown her the door immediately.
"I am not an easy man to get along with, Miss Potter. If you thought I had demanding standards as a Hogwarts student, then that will pale in comparison to my expectations of apprentices." He gave her a challenging look.
That wasn't a no...A glint of hope took root. "It wouldn't be worth doing if it were easy or simple. I want to earn my Mastery. If I didn't, I'd apply to Writworth or Frobisher," she scoffed. Those two masters had a reputation of being lax with their standards and churning out subpar potioneers. They were something of a joke in the Potions Community.
"Yes, you never did like doing things the easy way," he hummed. "Must be genetic," he muttered just low enough that she thought she'd imagined it.
Without any warning, he produced a quill out of nowhere (a skill all Professors seemed to have) and signed on his line on the contract. Before she could even blink, he handed the completed contract – pre-signed on her part to show sincerity – back to her. There it was, his elegant signature agreeing to apprentice her. She was so shocked she gaped dumbly at the contract in her hands for a minute before snapping out of it.
It was the other man's turn to be shocked, when out of nowhere, Heather threw herself into his arms like she had wanted to back in the Great Hall.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! You won't regret it, Professor! I'll work hard to learn everything you have to teach, and I'm sure you'll be more than glad to delegate all your marking to me. I know how much you hate that. I'll even supervise your detentions for you if you want!" It was tradition that apprentices took on some of the work of their masters from their day jobs as added incentive, not including the standard fee paid to masters for their services, of course.
"Certainly not, Miss Potter," Professor Snape said, mock-offended, "I do so enjoy making the dunderheads' detentions miserable. You are welcome to all the marking, however."
"You can call me Heather if you want, I'm not a Hogwarts student anymore!" It also made her irrationally happy when he called her by her first name, but she didn't tell him that.
"Heather," he said. His voice, typically harsh to students and colleagues alike, sounded so gentle when wrapped around her name. "You may address me as Severus, then, seeing as I am no longer your Professor as well."
Her eyes widened at the offer, having not expected it. Severus, she tested out in her mind. She had never dared think of him that way, worried she would accidentally slip up and call him that without permission, or worse, in front of others.
"Thank you, Severus." The word tasted foreign on her tongue, but she felt like it would soon become as familiar as Rian, or Fred, or George. A burst of delight followed the thought.
"Well, I shan't bother you any further tonight, or this morning, rather, Severus," she couldn't seem to stop saying it, "I'll see you in August to officially begin the apprenticeship?"
"Indeed, farewell until next time."
As she was halfway out the door, Severus abruptly handed her a wrapped package that had been on the coffee table.
"What is this?" She held it carefully, inspecting the vaguely round package from all angles.
To her amazement, Pro- Severus looked just a smidge to the side and muttered, "A graduation present," before softly closing the portrait-hole behind her.
A present. Just for her. None of the other Slytherins had gotten anything, or he would have given them out back at the ceremony. And if she wasn't mistaken, Severus had even looked a little shy at the gesture, something most people would scoff at, saying Severus didn't have such feelings. But she knew better.
She stood there hugging the package to her for who-knew-how-long before coming back to herself. She immediately hurried back to her dorm. She barely resisted opening the present in favour of readying herself for bed.
Once clean and in her nightclothes, she eagerly grabbed the package and tore off the plain brown wrapping. What she found had her lost for words.
It was an exquisite tinted glass phial, sculpted into a lifelike rendering of a snidget in flight. It was rather large compared to a real snidget, about the size of her outstretched palm. She was almost afraid to touch it, worried about breaking it. Which was absurd, as she knew Prof- Severus only worked with glassware that was charmed unbreakable.
Another thing about it was that it was already filled with a potion. She swirled the phial, observing the molten gold liquid. The tell-tale appearance could point to only one potion; Felix Felicis, or better known as Liquid Luck.
It also happened to be the potion she had chosen for her final year potions project. Students had to decide on a potion to brew over the course of the year and make a personal modification to improve it. To prevent them from cheating, they had to brew during lessons, of course, and leave the unfinished potions under stasis in the locked classroom.
Most of her classmates had chosen potions that took a month or two to brew so that they could try again if they failed, but not Heather. Oh no. She'd chosen Felix Felicis, which took a whooping six months to brew. It had been insanely difficult, especially with the pressure of half her NEWT grade depending on it, but she had done it.
She was rather proud of her finished product, if she could say so herself. It was a pity that she hadn't been able to keep a sample for herself due to exam regulations.
But she was, holding an absolutely lovely glass phial filled with the Felix Felicis she had brewed. She could tell it was hers because of the tiny silver flecks that were suspended in the liquid.
She immediately went to store the phial in the most secure compartment of her trunk, where she kept all her most prized possessions. It was so heavily warded, she doubted even Voldemort could break into it.
Heather was touched beyond words at the thought that had to have gone behind this gesture. She could hardly believe Severus had given her such a precious gift. Her heart swelled with the strength of her emotions, something that the man seemed to evoke with startling frequency and ease.
She felt the urge to kiss him senseless.
Wait.
She banished the thought and sunk into her warm bed. This would be the last time she'd be sleeping in this room, after seven years of schooling, and she was going to cherish it.
Turning her face into her soft down pillow, she cleared her mind and slept deeply.
~~~
Heather gave a last sweeping glance across the room to make sure she hadn't left anything important behind. All clear. Just the few potted plants she was going to leave for the next occupant. She had left a note for the next firstie with instructions on either how to care for them or to donate them to the greenhouses. In the meantime, the house elves would take care of them over the summer.
Well, this was it. The last time she would ever see this room.
She picked up her shrunken trunk and put it in her pocket. Then, she turned and left this chapter of her life behind.