Graduation

by Madd Spammer
 
 
 

      Hermione looked at her reflection in the mirror and told herself, “You can do this.  Look at yourself –
you’re a confident and beautiful girl.  Those are two things that all guys like.  What’s the worst that could
happen?”

      She took one final glimpse of the girl in the mirror and left her dormitory.  This was one of the last times
she’d be doing so.  It saddened her that she’d be leaving Hogwarts very soon, because it was where she had spent
so much of her time in the past seven years.  She’d miss all of her friends, but she hoped that she’d be able to
keep in touch with them all – especially one.

      Hermione walked into the Great Hall, where graduation would be taking place.  She took a seat next to
Katalia Fromp, her best friend.  Katalia had transferred to Hogwarts in her fourth year, and she and Hermione had
been friends since then.  There couldn’t have been a better time for Katalia to come, because Hermione was
finding it harder and harder to talk to Harry.  Even if she could still confide her secrets in him, this was one she
needed to tell to a girl – not Harry.

      “Are you going to do it today?”  Katalia eagerly inquired.

      “Yes.  At least I hope I am,”  Hermione answered.  “I’m so nervous.  I just hope that I don’t forget how to
speak.”

      “It’ll go fine, Herm,”  Katalia assured her.  Soon after those words were spoken, Dumbledore appeared at
the front of the room and immediately everyone silenced.

      “Sadly, the year has come to an end, and we at Hogwarts have to say goodbye to our seventh year students.
This is not to be a dismal time, but a happy one, because you will all go on to great things, I’m sure,”  Every eye
in the Hall was on Dumbledore.  “At this time, I’m honored to introduce our head boy and head girl – Draco
Malfoy and Hermione Granger!”

      Hermione made her way up to the front and took her place next to Draco.  She resented the fact that he
got to give his speech first.  Everyone would listen carefully to Draco, but not to her, because they would have
wasted their attention on him.

      She stood silently and motionlessly as he gave his speech.  She wasn’t even paying attention to the words
coming out of his mouth  She was going over her speech in her mind and reviewing every part of it, making sure
that it was just perfect.  It had to be perfect.

      When Draco finished his speech, the Hall had erupted into wild applause.  The smirk on his face that only
Hermione could see said “Beat that.”

      Hermione took a deep breath and stepped up to the podium.  She looked out at all the rest of the seventh
years and when her gaze stopped on one of them, she almost forgot about her speech.  She then quickly regained
composure without anyone noticing that she had lost it and began talking.

      “We’ve all got dreams, goals and ambitions.  Everyone does.  Dreams are what life is about.  The Muggle
Langston Hughes said that ‘Without dreams, life is like a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.’…

      “So then, if dreams are so important, how should we go about achieving them?  Some say it’s best to take
small steps towards the dream, because if it were to be accomplished quickly, it wouldn’t be fully appreciated.  I
say, take the biggest steps you can.  Go for your dreams.  If you don’t achieve them now, you may not ever…

      “You’ve got to take risks.  If you take the risk, you might or might not get what you want, but if you don’t
take that risk, you definitely won’t get what you want…

      “Finally, my last bit of advice is to live so that you have nothing to regret.  If you want to do something, go
ahead and do it.  No one’s stopping you.”

      Hermione felt a relieved smile spread across her face.  An applause rivaling Draco’s was bursting from
the Hall.  Katalia gave her a pat on the back when she came to her seat, and Hermione was able to pay attention to
Dumbledore’s closing address.  Getting the speech over with was a big weight off of Hermione’s shoulders, but
she still knew that later she’d have to do what she had been working up to for a long time.

      After the graduation ceremony was over, Hermione looked for the person she wanted to talk to.  Ah, there
he is, at the food table, of course.  Katalia, who was still with her, gave her an assuring nudge in his general
direction.

      She slowly approached him.  “Ron,”  She said, her heart beating a million times a minute and her stomach
doing somersaults as if it were in the Olympics, “Can I talk to you?  Alone?”

      She half expected him to drop the ladle into the punch bowl, resulting in a large and unpleasant splash, but
he didn’t.  He just shrugged his shoulders and replied “Okay,” without really wondering what she could want to
talk to him alone about.

      Hermione led the unsuspecting Ron to a corridor outside the Great Hall, and then was silent.  Ron, now
showing a bit of curiosity said, “Well, you said you wanted to talk to me?”

      She looked at her feet for a second, and then forced herself to look at Ron.  “Yes.  I have something to tell
you.”  His quizzical brown eyes urged her to go on.  She swallowed at looked him straight in the face.

      “I love you.”
 
 
 

      Moral of the story (Sorry, I REALLY had to put this in… for personal reasons):  Don’t go through life
loving someone without telling them!