Seven years in a row Aveline had packed up her dormitory. It was an activity that she had gotten used to as the years passed by, but this time it felt different.
Nostalgia clung to the bed frame, and with the posters she tore off her wall she seemed to be tearing apart a chapter of her life.
Where had the time gone? Wasn't it just yesterday she stood in this room, fumbling eleven year old hands trying to figure out the right way to organize her socks in her dresser? Hadn't she just been 12 years old sitting at her desk trying to navigate class choices and friendships?
A knock sounded on her door, it was already open and she turned her head to see James standing there, hands in his pockets.
"James?" She asked, setting down the clpthes she was fplding on the bed. "What are you doing here?"
Her friends were rarely ever in the Hufflepuff common room. For james, seeing Aveline in here was like seeing part of her life he didn't know existed. He often forgot she wasn't a lion herself.
For how brash and headstrong she was, he always wondered why she hadn't been sorted into Gryffindor. Though seeing her here, the sunlight streaming through the windows, soft yellow colours and plants surrounding her, there was a sense of peace that bubbled around the girl that usually wasn't there.
"Can we talk?" James asked, his voice a higher pitch than usual as he walked in, sitting down on the she of her bed.
Aveline raised an eyebrow, abandoning what she was doing to sit across from the boy.
"Of course James," she said quickly. "Is everything okay?"
She couldn't quite read his expression. The boy running a hand through his hair as he took a breathe.
"James what— oh-,"
He cut her off, pulling something out of his pocket that made her gasp. Black velvet box, a shiny ring sitting in the centre. Gold with a beautiful emerald gem sitting in the centre.
"Is that—"
"I'm going to ask Lily to marry me ," James stated, his tone confident yet Aveline could sense nervousness in his voice. "Is the ring ugly? This is my first choice, but I have options."
Before Aveline could answer he reached back in to his pocket, producing another box, than another than another, till four ring boxes sat infront of her.
"Are they are all ugly? Merlin, they are ugly. I'll go and get another—"
"James, this one is beautiful," she cut him off, holding up the original emerald stone he had showed her. "She's going to love it."
James studied Aveline for a moment, nervously rubbing his hands on his jeans. "What if she doesn't? What if it's not good —"
"If you think Lily Evans is the type of woman to care about what ring you buy her clearly you don't know her well," Aveline challenged crossing her arms. "Besides, if she found out you bought her four years certainly she'd ostracize you ."
"I didn't buy them ," James scoffed. "I got them hand made by the goblins."
"YOU GOT HER FOUR RINGS HANDMADE? MERLIN—"
"Shhh!" He shushed her, eyes flicking to the door. "I'll sell the ones I don't use, you act like I bought her a castle."
If anyone else told her they were preparing to propose to their girlfriend at 18, Aveline would think they were crazy. Though she was certain that there was no other way in the world for James Potter than Lily Evans.
"I know it's sort of young for this kind of thing," James said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. "But with the war—" He paused his sentence, ending it with a sigh. "I just feel like if I don't do it now I might not ever be able too. I don't know why I'm just worried—"
Aveline cut him off with a hug, rubbing his back in a sisterly way as she brushed away her own tear.
"I think that's beautiful James."
"What if she says no?"
Aveline shrugged. "Than you have four rings to give to the next girl that catches your fancy."
"There is no next girl. It's Lily or nothing," James told her with a stern expression.
James left shortly after that, leaving Aveline in a state of shock. Things were starting to get real. Marriage, graduation— they were becoming proper adults and yet still Aveline felt like a mere child.
Truly she was happy for James. All she wanted in life was for the people she loved to find their happiness and peace. James deserved Lily just as much as Lily deserved James, and she could picture them clear as day husband and wife.
She imagined them in a cozy little home in a suburb neighborhood. Green grass, fire place always going in the winter and nature walks in the summer. Perhaps they'd have a son or a daughter or both.
Aveline could picture it so clearly in her mind it made a smile cross her face.
James deserved this. Lily deserved this. And she was certain this would be the start of a beautiful life for them.
Or so she dearly hoped.
____________
As usual, Aveline was running late. Though luckily for her she had a group of friends so intensely loyal they were willing to be late to their own graduation just so they could go with her.
Truthfully it wasn't her fault, everything just seemed to be going wrong. From the strap of her dress breaking to the intense amount of wrinkles in her wizarding robe.
Marlene was in a similar boat, the two girls running
like maniacs in the gryffindor dormitory.
"Lils have you seen my lipgloss?" Marlene hollered from the bathroom, still dressed in her bra and underwear.
"FIVE MINUTES!" Lily yelled back. "We were supposed to leave FIVE MINUTES AGO! If you don't get your ass together in the next TWO SECONDS I swear!"
Approximately sixty seconds later the girls were running down the stairs in a rush with half applied lipgloss lips and flushed faces. The gryffindor boys had been waiting patiently on the couches, Sirius already with a beer cracked open despite the fact it was mid morning.
Aveline rushed over to Remus, using the boy to hold herself up as she finished doing up her heal.
He was studying her carefully, her usual wild hair taned to soft waves and a dash of pink makeup across her cheeks and eyelids. The scent of orange perfume filling his senses.
"You look beautiful as ever," he muttered softly, just loud enough for only her to hear.
She blushed. "Thanks, now can you fix the strap of my dress?"
Remus laughed, barely having time to fix it before they pulled away by a very stressed out Lily Evans yelling that if they didn't leave now they'd be late.
Graduation was held in the Great Hall, which had been transformed from dining tables and chairs to elegant seating and the most daunting looking stage Aveline has ever laid her eyes on .
"Potter there you are!"
It was Proffesor Mcgonagall rushing towards them with a Miley pissed off expression and much stress in her steps. She grabbed Lily and James by the arm, nearly looking like she was ready to rip out an arm socket.
"Potter, Evans you will follow me. Aveline, Lupin, take your seats in the front with the rest of the prefects. The rest of you find your seats now. You are late."
She whisked James and Lily away before anyone could say anything else. Though technically they were late, the families and guests hadn't yet arrived, the room was just full of students already sitting in their respective seats ready for ceremony.
Aveline turned to see Sirius standing with Peter.
"See you guys on the other side?" Sirius whispered, wiggling his eyebrows.
The girl reached out, pulling the boy in for a quick hug. "See you on the other side," she agreed, and with that she let Remus drag her to the front row where the prefects sat.
She couldn't quite comprehend right now that she was here. She had made it, years off work and stress all leading up to a slippery plastic chair and sweaty wizarding robes.
Graduation was something everyone thinks about ever since they are a little kid. You imagine when you finally reach the milestone you'll be mature and smart and old and ready for the world, though Aveline didn't feel anything of those things. She felt a bit confused, a bit lost and unable to comprehend that she had actually made it.
There were three empty seats in the prefects row.
"Who else isn't—" Remus was about to start when he paused, cutting himself off as he noticed the empty chair next to where Aveline was supposed to sit.
Aveline pretended it didn't bother her, even as Remus gave her hand a squeeze before moving to his own seat. She sat down, ignoring the seat beside her which was labelled Evan Rosier in large, elegant print.
She hadn't expected him to show up— she wasn't stupid. Though there was something about seeing the empty seat that made her throat feel as if it had grown a lump.
As much as she would never admit it anyone, in her perfect world Evan Rosier would be here. proudly sitting with his prefect pin on his robes and a pound of hair gel atop his head.
The ceremony began the boring way these sort of events too. Welcomes and thank you followed by subpar speeches and claps that certainly weren't all the sincere. From the corner of her eye, Aveline could see Remus trying not to fall sleep, the werewolf boy letting out a yawn as Professor Flitwick began talking about perseverance.
It wasn't until a familiar head of floppy brown hair took the stage that Aveline's attention was caught— James. Of course it made sense he was up there, though the boy hadn't mentioned to any of his friends anything about giving a speech. It was tradition for the Head boy and Head girl to sit with the Proffesor but a speech? One look at Remus confirmed he hadn't known either, the boy shrugging at Aveline before locking his eyes on James.
"Hello everybody," James began, looking around the room and sending out a soft smile. "For those of you who don't know me, my name is James Potter, I've had the honour of being head boy this year, with my wonderful partner Lily Evans."
He motioned to where Lily sat and there was a few cheers and applauses, most of which were from Sirius and Marlene who were hollering so loud Aveline was Mcgonagall was about to kick them out.
James was looking down at the parchment his speech was written on, biting his lip slightly in an act that could only be interpreted as nerves. It was so unlike James who was usually so confident and collected it made Aveline's heart jump.
She watched as the boy took a deep breathe, before looking up to the crowd and pushing his paper aside.
"I can imagine if we went back to first year, many of you would never imagine me of all people standing up here. I mean, I think I set the record for most detentions in a year my first month, and put more grey hairs on Proffesor Mcgonagall's head then she had to begin with."
There was a bit of laughter, James grinning at the sound at his nerves faded.
"If you told me back then I'd be standing up here, I'd tell you, you were crazier than any of our defence against the dark arts Proffesor combined. And though certainly my ego would like to contribute this success, to my own doing, logically I know this is the farthest thing from the truth—
— I was sitting down to write this speech and I realized I couldn't think of a singular thing to write. I'm not inspirational. I'm not interesting and introspective enough to be standing up here catching peoples attention. And heck, I don't know the first thing about speeches besides the fact they usually put me to sleep— sorry Minnie—
— in my worry I rushed into Professor Mcgonagall's office, slammed my hand on her desk and told her I couldn't do it, I couldn't give the speech. At first she laughed at me— I mean who would've thought the kid who never shuts up would pass up on an opportunity to talk? As usual, she provided the type of advice that snapped me out of whatever funk I'm in— she told me it should be simple , I should focus my speech on what I've learnt the most in my time at this school—
— if you know me, you would also know that my least favourite thing was actually going to class, so the thought of trying to write a speech about what I've learnt made my head throb. Then, I thought about it some more, I mean I really thought about— in my seven years of school here what have I learned? And I realized, despite the fact we are lucky enough to be taught by some of the most talented witches and wizards in England, what I've taken the most out of my time here is not in books and tests, but in my peers, in my friends, in the people who started as stranger and quickly became my family—
—Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Aveline Rosier, Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon, are just a few of the people I have met over the years that have turned my educational experience into a type of spiritual and personal growth I wish for everyone. I learned to laugh till my stomach cramped, and love till my heart wanted to give out. I learned what it meant to be vulnerable, and to let myself lean on other people when I need to. I learned how to open my heart and my mind, and what it means to be loyal, passionate, driven and kind. I learned the value of surrounding yourself with people that lift you up when you need confidence and hold you when you need support—
—My experience , my story isn't unique. My experience is the experience of countless generations of Hogwarts students who have walked into this hall as strangers and left as family. It is the experience I hope that one day my future children will have in this very room. It is the experience that every child deserves if they so desire," James paused, the entire hall locked on his words as he took a breathe, surveying the room.
"That's why I will be on the right side of history. That's why I will be fighting to protect this place, to protect my friends, my family— the lives and well being our future children deserve. War takes children and turns them into currency," James spat, his voice full of anger backed by a power that demanded attention. "A currency that the wealthy and powerful use to manipulate and dictate people till they have no choice but to live life out of fear. Children are not currency, we are not currency. The future generations— whether they be Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw— deserve a chance to actuallly grow up. To find love, to find friendship, to find family, to find themselves in these halls. I refuse to live in a world where kill or be killed are our only options. That's why I will fight against Lord Voldemort and his tryant ways of death and manipulation. I will fight and I will fight, till every ounce of blood I have in me is cold. We are the Hope, we are the future and we owe it to ourselves and our future children to wrong the rights of previous generations. History is watching, history is waiting and we have the power to make the world a better place then we found it. Thank you."
James stepped off the stage, the room in a dead silent as he did. The severity of what James just did registered in Aveline's mind as she looked back to see a crowd of death eater parents sitting with clenched jaws.
It was reckless, it was stupid and it was brave— perhaps the most reckless brave thing James Potter had ever done.
Before Aveline knew what she was doing, she was standing up clapping her hands in support of James. Slowly, people joined in, standing up like a wave till the majority of the room was on their feet clapping and cheering for James, all except a few chosen Slytherin and parents who sat glued to chairs with eyes down.
The applause went on till Mcgonagall stepped on the stage, the witch clapping along well looking at James with a prideful expression.
"Thank you for that James, and now it is my pleasure to introduce you to the graduating class of 1978....."