One Week Later
Slytherins and Gryffindors all distracted by the new developments in the notorious convicted murderer Sirius Black's "tour of Europe" all piled into the dungeons, expecting to see the likes of the darkly dressed and sometimes even foul Severus Snape.
"Good morning. I'm Professor Black, I'll be Professor Snape's substitute for the next three weeks. If you'll please, turn to page 493," a shockingly familiar voice said as if there was no doubt about her place in front of the classroom.
There wasn't a single soul in the room who didn't recognize the very young woman speaking. The shockingly successful and soon to be Hogwarts graduate, Diana Black, who had just returned, and to much good news. She then turned around to face the class, and for many including Draco Malfoy, it was like stumbling right into a spectacularly unreal and odd dream.
She smiled humorously at all of their surprised expressions and gasps.
"Well? What are you waiting for? Let's get started."
"Yes, Professor Black."
Draco Malfoy could not believe his eyes, much like everyone else in the class. He was seeing Diana Black again, not merely between classes and in the common room, not in the Daily Prophet, and not in any Muggle images. She was truly there, in the flesh and blood, able to speak and to be spoken to. Not fighting some viscous and lengthy battle to save the entire school and Wizarding world, not running off and in love with someone else, and not a prisoner in her own body and mind. He realized that even after all that she had been through for the past few years, she was still exactly the same, outwardly, at least. And she could be happy now. She had everything she had ever wished for. Draco found himself not concentrating on the lesson at all, throughout nearly the entire thing. He only saw Diana; the rest was a colorless and meaningless insignificant blur of facts and words. The notes, the supplies, the equipment, the classroom, and everything else. She still wrote delicately and carefully with her left hand, flourishing the chalk or pen effortlessly as she wrote. Her writing was almost always poetic and complex. The girl could make a grocery list seem riveting and beautiful. She still turned and pivoted her body with such grace and poise. She still spoke in a smooth yet firm and projected voice. She still sat on the very edge of her chair, as if she were to be urgently called away at any moment in time. Her pale blonde hair still spilled softly over her shoulders, much like spilt milk, as she turned around time and time again, and bounced like foamy waves crashing against an ocean shore. Her eyes still shone with a consuming burden as well as determination for a better, successful life. Her hands still held everything with dominance and control, as if it were her weapon that she brandished, but even then caressed and gently handled everything as if it were a sewing needle. Diana Black was quite the spectacle. Every single thing that she did seemed to hold strength, courage, intelligence, kindness and beauty. Knowing of her and being able to see her personally were two completely different things to Draco. Seeing her was fascinating, especially for the first time. It was like getting a glimpse of a walking daydream. To see her was to be fascinated by someone who couldn't only be described in a few words. Draco abruptly shook himself out of his trance. He needed to focus on his schoolwork for just a little while more. Not much classwork was required to be done today. Today was to be a happy day of celebration at Hogwarts; it was the day of the official ceremony of Diana Black's Promotion. They tended to make a very large deal of things such as this, seeing as they were very important and very rare events. The last Promotion at Hogwarts had happened over forty years ago. This one was only the seventh in all of he school's history of existing for thousands of years. Of course, their had been promotions and advances in year, but almost never a skipping of multiple years, or even a graduation. It was made into an even bigger deal since it was the seventh one; the magical number of luck and strength, of course. Diana hadn't necessarily seen this as such as big deal, requiring an entire cleared day, but her family had of course convinced her that she deserved to celebrate everything, and that everyone else deserved a random day off from school and work. Diana had also been told the the Minister for Magic himself would also be coming down along with other Ministry employees, not only to celebrate and congratulate Diana for her Promotion, but also to award her with her Medal of Chivalry along with it. It was definitely a huge day for Diana Black. After her two shortened classes for the day, she had rushed to the Slytherin dormitory, where she was still somehow allowed to stay, in order to prepare for the elegant celebration along with everyone else. It was for some reason a huge deal. The Great Hall had been completely closed off since breakfast and would be until the Ceremony, and all families of students had been notified a week in advance that all students would need a set of dress robes. There was a ball happening afterward as well, for everyone. Diana decided to take her time getting ready, in order to relish her happiness and to make sure that everything was perfect, including her speech for the night. She looked in the mirror at herself, for once only living what she saw. She looked beautiful.
Diana could no longer contain her excitement, and luckily, her job was to complete the next part of the Promotion "ritual". By now, everyone finished getting ready had left the castle and was outside, waiting for her carriage to leave. She was to take a fairly brief ride around the castle and the villages, along with her designated family and friends and their dates if they had desired to bring one. The Headmaster went as well, and he had decided to go with Professor McGonagall, along with Hagrid and someone else. Diana's ornate carriage consisted of only her, and Luke, of course. In the next was Harry, along with who had chosen to bring, Ginny Weasley. Hermione and Ron rode with Dean Thompson and Angelina Johnson, and the behind them was Fred and George, and their dates had gone, along with finally Crabbe and Goyle and Blaise Zabini, who had actually brought Pansy Parkinson. The Slytherins weren't happy about being last, but had learned to accept it, or at least to shut up about it. The ride was starting out very nicely; they all waved as the rest of the school cheered and waved at them as they were off to Hogsmeade village.
"Look at that. Finally, a nice day that we can enjoy, with everyone else," Luke
Castellan sighed contently. "Even if they all do hate me."
"Luke.... they'll learn to accept you, you just have to give them time," Diana promised.
Luke Castellan was still living in the hut with Hagrid, away from the school, which most seemed to appreciate. There had been a few incidents of vandalism, however, which were luckily dealt with quickly by Professor Dumbledore himself.
"Diana.... they've barely began to accept your friend Malfoy, and it's been three years now, and he isn't even a murderer," Luke whispered.
Diana sighed. "Luke.... I'm a murderer to them to, they just refuse to talk about it. I am just as guilty as you are; most of the things that I did with you, including some of the worst, were of my own free will. I'm in just as deep as you are. But as long as you have me, as long as we stick together.... nothing could happen to us, Luke. We're untouchable," Diana explained desperately. "And once the eyes on us settle down a bit, we can go back to getting the world that we deserve to live in. We could rule the world."
Luke nodded. "Just you and me against the world."
Diana nodded. "That's right. Now, let's just f**king enjoy the rest of today without any more problems."
The trip proceeded very nicely; the cool evening air and the candles held up for the passing carriages created a very nice and inviting scene. Even the people in town had heard about the celebration, it seemed. It made sense. The school had to have gotten permission for the carriages passing through. Luke and Diana both ended up staring at the strange and dark looking horses pulling their carriage.
"I don't ever remember seeing those here," Diana thought out loud. "Very strange looking."
Luke nodded, agreeing upon how odd the large creatures looked.
Then he realized.
"Oh.... oh my f**king mother of God."
"What is it?" Luke asked.
"They're Thestrals; only visible to people who've witnessed.... death."
"Oh, sh*t," Luke Castellan choked in surprise.
"Yeah," Diana nodded. "Oh man. You know we're going to have to pretend like we don't see them if people are ever going to completely accept either one of us again."
"True," Luke Castellan agreed. "F**king what is life?" he sighed rhetorically.
"No idea, don't want to know. Let's just try and have fun for the rest of today. It's not like there's nothing for us to celebrate," Diana Black pointed out.
"Yeah. Think happy thoughts," Luke mused.
The rest of the carriage ride was mostly quiet, aside from all of the waving and smiling and occasional speaking that Diana and Luke did as they rode through town. She doin realized, it may be a while before she experienced another day quite as nice and as pleasant as this, she could feel it deep inside. She decided to ignore the worrying premonitions, she and Luke both, and just lived within the moment. The ride continued for another half hour, and then ended. By the time they had all returned to the castle, everyone was inside, enjoying light drinks and appetizers as the Ceremony had already began. The introduction was handled by the staff, along with a few family members and friends. Dumbledore has spoken first, of course, followed by Professor McGonagall. Then, once the other carriages had arrived, Harry Potter spoke as a family member, Draco Malfoy as a best friend, and both Hermione Granger and Pansy Parkinson as good friends. It was a very nice Ceremony, and it had deeply touched the audience, specifically Diana, of course. The speeches were all about Diana's intelligence, talent, and hard work, and also about how special and kind she was, and all the other good qualities and memories. It was beautiful. Diana walked toward the front of the room as everyone else watched, receiving her certificate for graduating school, as well as a simple yet flashy polished silver medal. Everyone applauded and cheered happily, then, Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic spoke, about the importance of both people like Diana, and of Diana Black herself, which she was honored by, even if Fudge was just a politician. He spoke of the things that truly mattered; loyalty, bravery, hard work, altruism, and so on. The things that formed a true hero, someone who deserved the Medal of Altruism, such as Diana Black, who would be receiving one that very day. It was a lovely medal, a gold one with the Ministry's 'M' symbol on it. The Minister happily put it over Diana's head as she lifted her hair over it, and received her second certificate, which was even more fancy than the first. Both were proudly taken by Hagrid, to be cared for and polished. Diana Black had decided to donate copies of her two important paper certificates within the elegant frames to the school's hall of fame. Her certificate of graduation was not important to the hall, seeing as everyone received one eventually, while not everyone received a certificate of Promotion or Chivalry. It was probably even more uncommon and rare for someone around Diana's age to receive a medal of Chivalry than to graduate school. Then again, she was the youngest person in history to completely graduate school. Diana felt an overwhelming feeling of pride and joy. She hadn't felt either one in quite a while. The Ceremony concluded nicely, and soon transitioned into the ball; the last event of the night.
"And with that, let us celebrate, with a party! In my opinion, the only way that anything should ever be celebrated!"
Dumbledore announced as he waved his wand and all of the chairs disappeared.
Even more decorations were added, along with more food and drinks. The floor was cleared for dancing, just as the band for the night seemingly popped up out of nowhere. Both the Ceremony and ball were set up to match a winter theme, with lovely ice decorations because of the time of year of course, which Diana had secretly found to be somewhat uncomfortable, because of what had recently happened to her. But she did not allow it, or anything else, to bother her, or to ruin her fantastic day. As she walked the floor, shaking hands and giving hugs, she could feel everyone sending her their love and their pride. It was quite the sensation. And as she and Luke began to dance and sway to the music, Diana knew that what she thought was naïve and cliche, but for the time being, she didn't give a single f**k, about anything but her and her loved ones. Everything just felt right. Right and complete.