The night before departure, final exam scores were finally released.
William ranked at the top of his class with perfect scores in every subject—a record-breaking achievement. No one had ever received a perfect score in Professor Snape's class before.
William knew exactly why, though. The addition of French lily root to his Draught of Living Death was something he'd picked up from Snape's own notes.
Snape probably thought William had accidentally stumbled upon a similar insight, and so—grudgingly(proudly)—had awarded him full marks.
Cho had also done well, though her Transfiguration remained her weakest subject. But with Cedric's help, she managed to pass easily.
As for Cedric himself, he secured the top spot in the second year, far surpassing the twins.
Fred and George, on the other hand, hadn't fared quite as well.
In fact, Professor McGonagall had them copy the school rules by hand all night as punishment.
Although it was Peeves who'd thrown the dung bombs, the Bloody Baron hadn't hesitated to turn in the twins as soon as the chase began.
Before they knew it, trunks were packed and lockers were emptied.
The notice had gone out to every student, warning them against using magic during the holidays.
Hagrid was there to guide them to the boats across the lake. Soon, they were on the Hogwarts Express, chatting and laughing as the countryside outside their windows grew lush and green.
The train passed through several Muggle towns, and students swapped out their robes for jackets and sweaters. Finally, the train pulled into King's Cross Station, Platform 9¾.
It took a while for everyone to exit.
A wrinkled old guard was stationed at the ticket barrier, letting only two or three students through at a time so they wouldn't all appear coming out of a solid wall at once and draw the attention of Muggles.
"If I get that Merlin's Award this summer," William said as they walked along, "I'll make sure an owl brings you all invitations to the feast."
"Count me in!" Cedric said, looking thrilled. "My dad told me they serve golden chocolate there—it's supposed to be delicious."
"We could bring loads back to sell at school!" George suggested, his eyes lighting up.
"Speaking of which, did we ever decide on a name for the shop?" Cho asked.
"We sure did," William grinned. "We'll call it—Akali's Mystery Shop."
"Akali… who's that?" Cedric looked baffled.
"A famous witch from the island of Ionia in the land of Valoran," William said with a wink.
"Never heard of it," Cedric replied, still looking confused.
"Exactly," William laughed. "I just made it up on the spot. Anyway, I heard you took up a job with Hagrid to look after magical creatures this summer?"
Everyone turned to Cedric in surprise.
Hagrid held a recruitment every summer for students to help him out, but no one had ever actually volunteered to work with those strange and occasionally terrifying creatures.
Cedric seemed to be the first.
Cedric shrugged. "It's just for a month. After that, I'll be helping Mr. Ollivander with wands."
"What's the reason, though?" Cho asked.
"Well, Hagrid has lots of unicorn hair and other magical creature materials. After I help him out, he's promised to give me some for wand-making."
"Oh, that's amazing! Could I get a second wand?" George asked eagerly.
Cedric chuckled. "The first batch probably won't be very powerful, so don't set your hopes too high."
"Do your best," Fred chimed in. "And make sure my little brother Ron gets a new wand."
"Why's that?" Cho asked, curious.
"Charlie's decided to go to Romania to study dragons. He used his paycheck in advance to buy himself a new wand. The old one's bound to go to my dear brother Ron," George explained.
"But I remember Charlie's old wand had its unicorn hair sticking out already," Cedric frowned. That kind of wand was hardly safe.
"It can't be helped. It's only a matter of time before it falls apart," Fred sighed, patting Cedric on the shoulder. "Ron's not too demanding; he'll be thrilled as long as it's new."
"Alright then, I'll see what I can do," Cedric nodded.
"There they are, Mom, George and Fred!" A clear voice suddenly called out.
"Oh no, it's Ginny!" Fred's face fell.
Sure enough, Mrs. Weasley's angry face was already storming toward them.
"You threw dung bombs onto the Slytherin table?" she exclaimed, grabbing the twins by their ears. "You should be grateful it was the last day, or I'd be sending you a Howler!"
Their younger siblings, Ron and Ginny, stood nearby, looking curiously at the group.
They paid special attention to William, who'd recently become quite famous throughout Britain, nearly becoming a household name.
But William's own moment of amusement over the twins' scolding was cut short when he caught sight of Lyanna.
The anger on her face rivalled that of Mrs. Weasley's; after all, William had gotten himself into far more dangerous situations.
Annie was hiding behind Roy, pulling faces at him while Boba Tea wriggled out of William's grasp and darted toward her.
"Is that our sister Annie?" George adjusted his hair and made a tentative attempt to introduce himself but was promptly dragged back by Mrs. Weasley.
"You drove here?" Mr. Weasley sidled over, eager to chat with Roy about cars.
William listened in for a bit and gathered that Mr. Weasley had a turquoise Ford Anglia. He was planning to make some "adjustments" to it over the summer.
"Well, see you all over the break!" they said, bidding each other farewell.
Just then, a toad hopped over from a distance, landing unexpectedly in William's hands.
"Did someone lose a pet?" Cedric asked.
"It doesn't seem like a pet," William replied, puzzled.
The toad spat out a golden letter.
"Oh, now, that's a mail delivery method from a century ago," Mr. Weasley commented, scratching his thinning hair. "Back then, people didn't use owls much; toads were far more common."
William raised an eyebrow. Who would use such an old-fashioned method to send him a letter?
He examined the envelope and saw a red seal bearing an intricate insignia with a bold "L.M." in white.
"Who sent it?" Cedric asked.
"Let me see… from Devon…" William murmured, eyes widening as he realized who it was from.
It seemed he would have some new plans for the summer.
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