Saturday, a little after twelve.



In one of the several private study rooms found within Hogwarts’ library, a small gavel was smacked soundly on one corner of a table. When that garnered less attention than desired, a spare sheet of paper was balled up and tossed at the nearest offender’s face.

“I said quiet.” Gracie gave the room at large a squinty-eyed glare. Which then dissolved into a wide grin. “Someone pass me the gummy worms, will you?”

As this year’s Editor-in-Chief for the yearbook, the seventh year was in charge of making sure that this year’s issue wasn’t just up to scratch, but surpassed all expectations. Something to match the year they have had. Something that would suit what would effectively be the last chapter of this part of their lives. The past month might have been a real shitfest, but the experience of it had only hammered that home: they had survived. By god this was going to be the best yearbook Hogwarts had ever seen.

And so with the zeal good friends knew her for, Gracie had thrown herself into the endeavor full throttle, amassing pictures and jotting down stories and quotes that might make the cut. Half of the summer had been spent behind a lens. When she wasn’t the one clicking away, someone else was—on her orders. Once ideas were offered, debated upon, and ultimately discarded, a line of attack had been drawn up.  Writers were assigned topics. Photographers were given targets. Responsibilities decided and doled out, deadlines were set. And they would be met, she had threatened, lazy grin replaced by a steely stare. Or else.

The threat might have been a tad overkill, since the bunch that had assembled before her were some of the smartest, cleverest, and most creative assholes their school had ever seen, certain reputations notwithstanding, but their Editor-in-Chief didn’t just want success, she wanted the mother of all successes. The success to overshadow all future successes–!

And then someone had passed her a hard cider and a cauldron cake, so she might calm down. And because they knew her pretty well, she did, and the figurative flames behind her receded. Calm was achieved, if only for a brief while.

Temporary madness aside, it could be said things were going well. When Gracie wasn’t threatening to go off the rails with some madcap idea that was bound to get them all in trouble, she was sitting at the head of the table in the room they had been regularly meeting in since September, smiling indulgently, feet propped on the table and being chill as hell. Ideas were shot down simply and bluntly, but in such a way that it was hard to get mad at her for. Not to mention that after some scarily meticulous planning that included but was not restricted to outright bribery, every meeting was like a small party at her behest—which was to say, about 40% working and 60% dicking about. Around the table, an assortment of cushions, cushy armchairs and a loveseat or two formed a loose circle, giving it a relaxed yet cozy feel. The only thing missing was music, and that was because they were, after all, still in a library.

So eventually the bowl of gummy worms found its way to her. One of the editors handed her a heavy, bulky file, which she flipped open as she tore into a worm.

“Thanks, Esther. Okay, so—first item for today: March. Saint Patrick’s Day is in a few days, the Leaky Cauldron bake sale is in a week, and the Sex Ed panel is coming up in two. Other than that, March is looking preeeetty empty. That needs to change. I’ve got a few ideas, but I’d rather hear what you guys might have in mind.” Gracie looked up, casting them all an expectant look. Grey blue hair – cut short for the month and lazily curled, so that it framed her face even as it bounced with every glance – brushed against the flaps of her collar. “Writers, how’re those quotes coming along? No one’s been holding out, I hope?”

Click.

Virgil, chair balancing precariously on hind legs as he leaned back to tip it away from the table, put down his twin lens reflex camera - more or less satisfied by the candid shot he had taken of Gracie busily handling both work and worms. He had joined the yearbook committee largely because many of his friends were here.

But also because it gave him a reasonable excuse to walk around taking photographs of people. "It's for the yearbook," answered a multitude of indignant questions.

"Three events not busy enough for you?" he interjected in their editor's direction as some writers began shuffling parchment, getting their notes together. Virgil's lanky legs dangled listlessly as he tipped his chair further back. "Sex panel is going to provide us with enough material for a Russian tragedy."

And almost as many moments of soul crushing awkwardness. Tolstoy would rejoice in his grave.

The seventh year nimbly found his wand, flicking it towards Gracie to steal a gummy worm that hadn't quite made it out of the bowl. It sped in his direction and left a sprinkling trail of sugar across the table. "We could do a bit on the disasters of apparation week?" his red mouth closed down on the confectionary, he chewed. "See who got splinched this year."

Sophie was lazily draped over a plush armchair, like a sleepy cat, hair drawn up on her head and held in place with an unused quill wayward strands falling to flick and quiver with each bob of her head as she went over her notes. She'd amassed a good bit of quote-y information from the Gryffindor Quidditch team since the last meeting of the yearbook staff but she had a little side project she'd been working on since the start of the term. She'd been waiting to share it because she wanted to have enough information to really illustrate the whole of her idea and not just a little sliver.

March seemed like a good time to finally bring it up because Gracie wanted more padding. She smirked at Virgil's suggestion. It wasn't a bad idea at all. Though she was glad no one had tried to commemorate her first apparation. She hadn't splinched herself but with the added pressure of cameras and more people watching...she didn't even want to think about it. It would have just been terrible.

"Well, I have an idea I've been working on," she rubbed the back of her neck and slid a fairly thick pile of notes down the long tale toward Grace, "I started awhile ago but I've been thinking yearbooks are kind of like time capsules right? But how much do you think we're really going to remember about how we felt about the things happening in even a year from now let alone ten or twenty," she was animated now, gesturing with her hands as she shifted in the over sized chair and flicked a curl from her face, "or like the way people groan when you show them pictures from the seventies or eighties because really what were they thinking right?"

She paused to reach for one of the brightly colored lollipops littering the table and began to carefully unwrap it, "So my idea was to take trends, in everything from fashion and music to social issues and get quotes from people about them in sort of a 'Hogwarts Reacts' kind of thing? So far I've covered Firebolt Fives' new release that dropped in September, that thing a few designers were doing with live plants as accessories, I mean arguably pretty fluffy stuff, but I was thinking for those more politically minded we've had some stuff recently I could put together reactions too? Like that bill they just shot down to restrict the use of safehouses?" She paused then, short of shrugging her shoulders and sinking back into the chair, "I mean maybe it's a bit heavy, but I keep thinking were this generation on the precipice of something massive, and maybe we should document that as well?"

Sat next to Esther, Bastian was studiously avoiding looking at their illustrious head boy. Ever since their… unfortunate encounter, Theo’s malice towards him only seemed to have escalated, and Bastian had been avoiding spending time alone, so that there would be witnesses to any murder attempts.

He stared at Gracie blankly. What did she mean, March was too empty? Virgil was quite right about how momentous the sex education event would be – honestly, he was sure that it would be able to fill all of March and some of April. Shona was going to talk to them about interspecies relationships. He really didn’t know what more people could want, and if they did insist on more, the panellists seemed to have been hired from a modelling agency, albeit a third rate one.

Bastian nodded along to Sophie’s suggestion, right up until she took a turn for the political. “It’s a yearbook, and I want to be able to look at these happy years without being dragged down into a political mire,” he objected, “and unless you’re prepared to print the things which everyone says, then you probably shouldn’t ask.”

His own opinion of politics was that it was dreary, and tended to be excessively provoking. It was the kind of material best excluded from the yearbook, all things considered. While they might all one day be united in laughing at how utterly dreadful their hair had been (though clearly he wouldn’t), politics was likely to be a point of contention for several years.

Realising that he had perhaps been a little vehement, he continued, “Fashion trends and music are very appropriate, of course.”

Legs tucked beneath her, Elysia lounged comfortably in one of the squishy armchairs seated around the table. They were a motley crew that was for sure. The badger wasn’t sure how Gracie managed to keep them on track even as much as they did. Which wasn’t much, if Elysia was being honest with herself. She took a bite of pumpkin pasty, having grabbed a couple before the rest of the group had a chance to devour them all.

The witch brushed crumbs off herself as Gracie called them to order. She carefully finished chewing before putting the treat gingerly on the table. Elysia opened the file before her, dipping her quill in the inkwell before looking up toward the writers as they brought their ideas forward. The Gryffindor at least had the enthusiasm, and her idea wasn’t a bad one. Bastian, however, brought up the one issue Elysia had been thinking before she had a chance to speak up herself.

“That’s a great idea, Sophie,” She said, shooting her fellow witch a friendly smile, “I think Bastian might be right though, we want to try and keep the yearbook light and happy. That would make a fantastic column for the school paper, though,”

She then turned toward Gracie. “We also have the Gryffindor versus Slytherin and Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw games in March. I can cover the Gryffindor/ Slytherin game if someone else can handle the other. I’ve also been working on a piece about the Tetrawizard Tournament – interviewing champions and such. I’ll have more to report on that in a few days, it’s a bit slow going, honestly,”

“I also have a few photos from the restoration of the Hospital Wing, they just need to be developed. I was also going to find a time to sit with Healer Sage to interview her on how difficult the process had been,” She beamed up to the Slytherin and then sat back in her chair, clearly finished with her own report.

Sat next to her boyfriend, Ji-Hyun listened to proceedings with interest. Gracie had agreed to let Theo come to the meeting, but she still felt a little guilty about asking in the first place. Meetings were supposed to be about the yearbook, and Theo wasn’t on the committee, but they always seemed to spend more time talking about other things. But – really – the problem was why she had asked. Of course she wanted to spend time with Theo, but more than that, she felt more secure with him around. It was stupid, because she was safe now, in Hogwarts, and he was busy, and he was already so nice to her.
But Theo had agreed to come, and Gracie had said he could, so – there was no point worrying.

Ji-Hyun smiled at Sophie reassuringly. Sophie cared so much about werewolf reforms, she understood why she had suggested it could go in the yearbook. But Elysia had offered a good compromise, so hopefully Sophie wouldn’t be too disheartened.

“I can photograph Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw,” she volunteered. She’d never tried to photograph a Quidditch game, and it would definitely be more challenging than most of the things they were doing, but she thought it would be okay. She had a new lens that she could use – it would be fine. “And I’ve got the photos for the section on Professor Donovan – um, Shona,” it felt strange referring to a Professor by their first name, even though she’d had to do it all year. Those photos were overdue, but Gracie should be understanding about why she’d missed the deadline.

“Is anyone photographing the sex ed panel?” she asked, the last few words rushing together as her cheeks heated up. It was so embarrassing to talk about, and some of the people present were way too fond of teasing. “Because I can help with that. If someone needs.”

Virgil had begun fiddling with his camera again as the exchange at the table touched on how they would rather not focus on political subjects for the yearbook, concentrating instead on the good memories they wanted to bring forward into the future. He was careful not to crack open the back of the device, as there was still film to be used that they couldn't risk exposing to regular light.

Hughes was giving her report when he finally put it down in his lap, looking up with frowning lips still sticky from the gummy worms. "The tournament was last year, do we really need another piece on it?" he wasn't nearly competitive enough to have cared at the time much less a year on from those events.

Leave it to the Hufflepuff to hold on to things long gone. Virgil levelled his tilted chair back on to all fours and leaned forward against the table, lazily picking at a wrapped sugar quill he'd left on his notebook. His gaze lifted at Ji-Hyeun's scramble of words.

"I'll do it with you," he referred to the sex panel photographs and regretted the phrasing immediately, though he pushed on with admirable lack of concern. "We'll see who can better capture the moment Professor Donovan introspectively realises what has become of his life."

The prefect noisily unwrapped his sweet, popping the quill into the side of his mouth while adding - in the voice of someone who has carefully been paying attention to the elephant in the room: "Are we doing an in memoriam page for the students who died?"

For the students who were killed, he meant. The yearbook was going to be light-hearted but he did not foresee a future in which they all looked through it and forgot that this was the year the kidnappings had happened.

It’s still March, soooo...

---

“Three events not busy enough for you?”

Gracie stuck out her tongue at Virgil—a look that immediately gave way to an unholy gleam. Sadly, with Sophie’s suggestion, it did not last very long; fortunately, Bastian was all too happy to do the dirty work of turning down the idea for her, with the others quick to smooth down any ruffled feathers.

As her fellow students volunteered ideas and themselves, the Editor-in-Chief looked on in contentment. Yes, they slacked off a lot, and yes, she did more than her fair share to enable that. But she liked to think that it encouraged inspiration, rather than stunt it; after all, many of her own best ideas had been born under near identical circumstances.

She wondered, idly, if this was what it felt like for Fig, at Howler meetings.

Gracie smirked at Virgil’s unfortunate turn of phrase, especially when it garnered a double brow-raise from Whitman, and outright laughed at the very idea of what their infamously grumpy professor’s face might look like. He made so many throughout the year, and every once in a while there was a real gem that topped the last; with the bar already set so high, this one would have to be something really special.

Nonetheless their names were added to a growing list.  “It just has to be a line or two, Elysia,” she cut in, reassuring.  “They’ll be captions more than anything. But photos on the new Hospital Wing would be brilliant.”

Smiles faltered with Virgil’s question. But it was an important one, and unavoidable. Frankly Gracie had been expecting it—and if nothing else, they were resilient. She let out a breath.  “Yes,” she said, “we are.”  She glanced at Bastian, Juni and Connor. Crazy antics aside, she felt that they were the best writers for the job – but bit her lip; she’d catch them later and ask if they were interested, once the meeting was over.

Scratching her cheek, she looked back down at the file, quickly skimming for something, anything–

And suddenly twisted in her seat, grabbed her bag, and pulled a stack of paper.

“I’ve got the okay for the final draft of this year’s survey,” she announced, parting it in two. She held them out and watched as they were passed around and read. A pen was drummed against the edge of the table, though her expression gave nothing away other than calm satisfaction. “Thoughts?”

Hogwarts Staff


   The Cinnamon Roll Meme
   Name as many as you want!

           •   Looks like a cinnamon roll… but could actually kill you: 
           •   Looks like could actually kill you… but is actually a cinnamon roll: 
           •   Looks like a cinnamon roll, and is actually a cinnamon roll: 
           •   Looks like could actually kill you, and actually kill you: 
           •   Sinnamon roll: 


   Most likely to…

           •   Give good advice: 
           •   Assign too much homework: 
           •   Catch you in the act: 
           •   Let you off the hook: 
           •   Hex you: 
           •   Go on vacation this summer and choose to stay there: 
           •   Assign too much homework: 
           •   Think of something horrible for detention: 
           •   Spare your feelings: 
           •   Laugh at your misery: 
           •   Harbor an embarrassing secret: 
           •   Cry at graduation: 


   Most…

           •   Intimidating: 
           •   Fashionable: 
           •   Patient: 
           •   Strict: 
           •   Approachable: 
           •   BADASS: 


   Best…

           •   Eyes: 
           •   Smile: 
           •   Look of Utter Disdain: 


   •   I have had a wet dream about:  (name as many as you want) 

---

Hogwarts Students


   The Cinnamon Roll Meme
   Name as many as you want!

           •   Looks like a cinnamon roll… but could actually kill you: 
           •   Looks like could actually kill you… but is actually a cinnamon roll: 
           •   Looks like a cinnamon roll, and is actually a cinnamon roll: 
           •   Looks like could actually kill you, and actually kill you: 
           •   Sinnamon roll: 


   Understanding the Present! Most likely to…

           •   Spend the most days in the infirmary: 
           •   Send someone to the infirmary: 
           •   Come up with really terrible, awesome, possibly fatal ideas: 
           •   Make you laugh: 
           •   Enable you: 
           •   Drop Muggle references like they're about to go out of style: 
           •   Streak across the Quidditch field during a game:
           •   Chat up a group of Veelas: 
                •   …only to crash and burn! 
           •   Be the one everyone runs to in a crisis: 
           •   Be the one to cause said crisis, intentionally or otherwise: 
           •   Be found in detention: 
           •   Pull a crazy stunt in the middle of a Quidditch game: 
           •   Make you laugh: 
           •   Have a ton of admirers and never know: 
           •   Keep their chill: 
           •   Lose their chill: 
           •   Steal your boyfriend/girlfriend: 
           •   Pay bail for you: 
           •   Get fantastically drunk and…
                •   Hook up with a stranger: 
                •   Do a bunch of stupid things, intentionally or otherwise: 
                •   Get into a fight and win! 
                •   Get into a fight and lose! 
                •   Still appear sober: 
                •   Wax poetic about a crush or significant other: 
                •   Get wasted: 
                •   Wind up in jail: 
           •   Get rich by…
                •   Coming up with a sex toy and making tons of money off of it: 
                •   Marrying someone loaded and old: 
           •   Help you hide the body: 
           •   Refuse to help you hide the body, but will at least help you come up with an alibi: 
           •   Send you home and take care of everything themselves: 
           •   Be the dead body: 
           •   Think the best of you: 
           •   Surprise you: 


   Most…

           •   Like a Gryffindor: 
           •   Like a Hufflepuff: 
           •   Like a Ravenclaw: 
           •   Like a Slytherin: 
           •   Loyal friend: 
           •   Fearsome foe: 
           •   Pure of heart: 
           •   Mean-spirited: 
           •   Unlikely couple: 
           •   Likely couple: 
           •   Cynical: 
           •   Dramatic: 
           •   Funny: 
           •   Artistic: 
           •   Competitive: 
           •   Disruptive: 
           •   Lazy: 


   Best…

           •   Couple: 
           •   Friendship: 
           •   Dressed: 
           •   Looking: 
           •   Eyes: 
           •   Hair: 
           •   Smile: 
           •   Look of Utter Disdain: 


   Predicting the Future! Most likely to…

           •   Become the Minister of Magic: 
           •   Become the Next Head Boy: 
           •   Become the Next Head Girl: 
           •   Become an Auror: 
           •   Become a pro-Quidditch player: 
           •   Become a fashion icon: 
           •   Work with magical creatures: 
           •   Work for werewolf rights: 
           •   Help people for a living: 
           •   Earn an Order of Merlin: 
           •   Start their own business: 
           •   Have their own radio show: 
           •   Write for Witch Weekly: 
           •   Become a hermit: 
           •   Become a bum: 
           •   Adopt 10 cats: 
           •   Have seven kids: 
           •   Form a cult: 
           •   Get eaten by…
                •   Something awesome and dangerous: 
                •   Something previously vegetarian… like a flobberworm: 
                •   Their own pet: 
           •   Wind up in St. Mungo's for a sex injury: 
           •   Die from embarrassment: 
           •   Throw wild parties: 
           •   Be remembered for their pranks: 
           •   First meet the parents… naked: 
           •   Steal a dragon: 
           •   Lurk in Knockturn: 
           •   Kill someone by accident: 
           •   Kill someone on purpose: 
           •   Be on the cover of Witch Weekly: 
           •   Be on the cover of Runwitch: 
           •   Be on the cover of The Daily Prophet: 
                •   …for becoming the Ministry's Most Wanted: 
           •   Change the world: