Errand Farewell Class of 2024

Dear Miss Alptraum,

You and I have only met in passing a few times. Despite this, I have grown to respect you more than anyone else at this school.

You are a talented broom racer and an excellent teammate. On the one occasion we raced side by side, you led our team to victory with speed and grace. Not only your prowress but your dedication and sportsmanship are commendable and I believe will serve you well in your future years, in all of your endeavors.

You are strong to survive here and still be so full of Life. Even after one year, I'm beginning to wear down. Your strength is an inspiration.

You will be dearly missed here by myself and others. I wish you all the best in your journey and pray happiness and health for you and yours. I know you will do great things.

Sincerely,
Astra Norrick

Thoughts: Italic
Speech: Violet
Written: Green

Laurie walked down to the great Hall for breakfast. It was June, and almost time for the Hogwarts school year to end. Laurie was extremely disappointed, yet excited that she had passed her first year. The second year would be a tougher challenge, but she was absolutely determined Hogwarts really felt like a second home to her, like where she really belonged.
She wasn't really looking where she walked, her feet had gotten used to the castle and where all the rooms and corridors were.
When she was walking past the Small Hall, she felt something was... different. She looked up and gasped. There was a banner above the portraits, saying " Farewell, Class of 24!"
" Of course! The seventh-graders are graduating at Hogwarts in a few days!" Laurie said this aloud to herself while still gawking at the festive decorations around the hall.
Forgetting all about breakfast, Laurie started to explore the hall and search for more decorative things around the hall.
'I wonder how the seventh year children, or should I say, graduates, feel. I know I can always come back to Hogwarts, I still have six years to spend and enjoy at Hogwarts.'
Just then, she saw a table full of quills, ink bottles and pieces of shing parchment. After asking a few students what it was for, she got to know that it was for writing heartfelt messages to the graduating students. So Laurie picked up a quill and paper and thought about what to write to the pupils. So in the end she came up with a message and started scribbling furiously.

Dear seventh graders,
Don't Count the Days, Make the Days Count. I hope you all had good and joyful experiences at your time here at Hogwarts. I am absolutely sure that you have that you will succeed in future, as you have worked extremely hard for both your O. W. L. 's and your N. E. W. T. 's. Congratulations on all your wondrous accomplishment and achievements at Hogwarts.
You also had your hardships in your journey, but you faced them all with a confident expression. I really am inspired by all of you.
Here's to your future endeavors! Good luck, everyone!
Bye,
Laurie Holmes

Laurie carefully put a pin and tacked her letter on the board. She really hoped the seven graders would find it nice. She was one person who would always say what her heart tells her to.
" I wish I had gotten to know them better, but I really feel happy for them."
Laurie then left the table with a smile on her face.

Jun. 10th, 2024

Dear Cec,

I could say I'm going to miss you, but I don't think that would be nearly enough. How am I supposed to express how much you've come to mean to me - to all of us, on the team, in the House, at the school - in just one measly letter?

With every goal you score, you make more of Hogwarts' history, and you make each of us even prouder than we thought we could possibly ever be before. Every time you gather us in the Ravenclaw locker rooms after a tough practice or before a difficult game and give us a rousing speech, you lift our spirits and inspire us to be the best we can be - not necessarily because of your words, but because you remind us every day that we can be great, because you are. Every time we see each other outside of Quidditch, you bring light and laughter to the room, and the hallowed halls of Hogwarts just really won't be the same without you there, casting a glow on the stones, reminding us all to push our boundaries, because we can all be so much more than we think.

I remember being a first-year, watching you play, before I joined the Quidditch team. I wanted so badly to be part of that world that had you in it, because even then, you shone so brightly. Joining the team was a lot of hard work, and even today my bones still hurt whenever I think of those first few practices, but it was worth it to be one of the flying eagles I'd admired for so long. I remember thinking it was odd, at first, that a fourth-year was our captain, but you proved your worth immediately, leading us to victory and honor on and off the pitch. Really, I can't be prouder to have called you captain - oh captain, my captain - and have followed your lead for these past four years.

I'm sure many have told you this recently, but you're going to go on to do wonderful things. I'm not just writing that to say it - but to remind you how much you have inspired every one of us, Eagle or not, to fight harder, to score more, to fly higher. To be better versions of ourselves, because we all wanted to be more like you.

I can't wait to come watch you play someday. I can't wait to watch you hoist the Cup one day and tell all my friends that I used to play on your team. I'm so, so proud of you, Cecily, and I still can't believe that, above all, I get to call you my friend.

Don't lose touch, okay? Keep us updated on your adventures, so we can inspire future first-years with tales of Cecily Quinn, the grandest captain of our younger years, in the future. We're going to miss you so much. I'm going to miss you so much.

So much love,
Aly

WC: 978/400

Here it was, graduation was coming soon, the seventh graders would now be adults, they had finished school. It's really great, but it's a little sad when think about it... after all, they spent so many good memories here over the course of 7 years.

Alliasta had never really been friends with any seventh graders, but to her, seventh graders were the really cool big brothers and sisters! They really know a lot of spells and are more fun than adults because they're still young too? Well Alliasta didn't really care about that. Of course she talked to some seventh graders and they were all really nice.

Alliasta has a really good face memory, so she doesn't forget the people she sees and saves them in her memory. And they only need to meet a few times for this. So she would notice the absence of some of the seventh graders leaving the school. So she wanted to at least write a letter to the few cool seventh graders she was talking to. She walked to the board and hung the envelope, which she had carefully written and covered with cute decorations, on the board.

== – ==〛‾‾∏‾‾〚== – ==

24/05/2024

Dear Seventh years
I know you will truly miss the good years you spent here and the adventures you had. You've spent seven years of your lives here, with both good and bad things. But I hope you always remember this place well. I talked to some of you and it was great! I think you guys are really cool. I hope you all find truly excellent jobs in the profession you want. I hope you achieve great things thanks to your efforts here! And all the friendships you make here will be wonderful for you. One day, I will graduate like you. and it's exciting to think this day will come! So, although I still have many years ahead of me, I still hope that I will get a really good result from this school and get the profession I really want! It's really nice to all of you

Have a Nice Day and Success!

== – ==〛‾‾∏‾‾〚== – ==

Alliasta looked at her letter one last time. Then he looked at the board and there were a lot of letters there. This made the girl very happy because it was perfect for her to know that people cared so much about each other, whether they knew each other or not. Maybe one day he would come here and take one of these letters and read it... Finally, remembering that he had to go to class, he quickly walked away.

xxx

We are called to be architects of the future; Not its victims. ⋄ June 24th, 2024 | Small Hall ⋄ ⋄ Interactions: None ⋄ ⋄ Mentions: @Serena Towers, @Pericles Dralt, @Astra Norrick, @Aly Salinger, @Cecily Quinn, and @Delilah Stewart ⋄

xxx

To say that she was avoiding the cork board outside of the Great Hall would have been an overstatement. In truth, she just didn't know many of the graduating seventh years, so the idea of writing them letters or poems, or whatever it was exactly that the organizers wanted them to do, just wasn't that appealing to her. As such, she'd mostly just ignored the board as she'd gone about her days. As the month drew to a close, though, and her imminent graduation to second year loomed over her shoulder, it become more and more impossible to ignore the noose tied firmly around her neck, by which she meant the reality of six more years at Hogwarts. Should she even manage to make it that long.

She wasn't sure what it was that she was looking for exactly, as she scanned over the various notes that had been left on the board. Guidance? Reassurance? Self-defense tips? She hoped she'd know it when she saw it, but admittedly didn't have the highest of hopes in this regard. One letter that stuck out was signed simply as "me", @Serena Towers and referred to themself as a part-goblin, which Bex could only assume was some sort of inside joke. The letter was full of hope and optimism surrounding the Hogwarts experience, but at twelve, Bex was very good at reading only what she wanted to. Confirmation bias was one hell of a drug.

I know Hogwarts is full of danger, but I didn't know just how bad it could get. In my first year, I almost died.

A seventh year. Me was a seventh year. Which meant that the horrors that Pericles had relayed to her had been going on for seven years, at a minimum. And nothing had been done.

To the friends I leave behind - if I could stay, I would. Trust me when I say that I do not want to leave Hogwarts anymore than you likely want to stay.

Talk about Stockholm syndrome. Bex could not imagine getting out of this place and winding up with urge to walk straight back into the dragon's den, neck bared. Frustrated, she moved on, looking for other letters of interest.

Her eye caught one written by Astra, and she felt the petty urge to rip it from the wall. Temper swiftly rising - how dare she be allowed to just roam free, leaving letters and mucking about however she'd like? - she scanned the board for a letter less likely to move her towards acts certain to end in detention.

The last one of interest to her was one left by Aly, for one of their Quidditch captains, Cecily. It was bittersweet reading it; she hadn't gotten to know their captain for very long, and already she would be gone, leaving them all to somehow continue on without her. Pericles and Aly were four years older than her, and the thought of their eventual graduation in two years, leaving her to finish out her last four years without them, was a disconcerting one. Her dad, despite being a graduate of Hogwarts himself, had lived mostly in the muggle world for the majority of her life. Her understanding of where you went after Hogwarts, outside of the Ministry and Diagon Alley, was slim. Would she see Cecily again, after she'd left? Would she see Pericles and Aly again?

She'd been staring at the board for a good twenty minutes now without doing anything, and passersby were start to give her odd looks. Grabbing a quill and two small pieces of parchment - one for each seventh year whose existence she was aware of - she set out to at least contribute in some way to the board, even if she hadn't found whatever it was that she was looking for.

Cecily,

While I've only been on the Quidditch team for a year of your time as captain (Aly's letter said that you've been captain for at least four years. That's a long time!), you and Lavinia have been my captains for my entire Quidditch career. Win or lose, you've been with us every game, and it's impossible to imagine our next season without you in it; you've left a Cecily-sized hole in our hearts that I doubt will ever be filled. Detailing every good memory I have from this past season would take far more parchment than they've allotted us, so all I'll say is this: nothing I've done here at Hogwarts has made me happier than being a part of your Quidditch team. Wherever it is you plan to go and whatever it is you plan to do, now that you're out of this place, good luck. And thank you.

Bex

At the bottom of the letter, a small drawing of a snitch has been doodled in the margin.

Delilah,

I didn't know when I joined the Headliner that I'd even enjoy it at all. I applied on a whim, just looking for something to do. But the team you built and the paper we write together has become something that I not only like to do, but continuously look forward to. The whole Headliner team is passionate about the work we do together, and it's made me excited and eager to write in a way I never have before. I guess what I'm trying to say is this: though you're leaving all of us and the Headliner behind, your legacy will live on. It will live on in every article we write, in every new writer who discovers their talent for the first time, and in every story that touches someone in some way, no matter how small. Thank you for all the work you did as Editor in Chief to make all of this possible. You'll be missed more than you can know. In whatever comes next for you, good luck.

Bex

A doodle of the train that's ever-running at the top of the Headliner has been scrawled at the bottom of the note.

These had ended up... sappier than she'd intended, and frankly, it was right embarrassing. Cringing as she pinned them to the board, she did her best to hide them under other, less mortifying letters, before fleeing down the corridor and out of sight, never to be seen again.

It was an odd thing to find one’s self invested in a graduation for once. It had become so usual to watch students he hardly knew depart into the adult world and be replaced by the next batch. But this year was different. Maybe it was that there was just a year between them, or maybe they were just all a little more interesting than those above them, but whatever the reason, Galton was finally invested in those graduating. And while he might have a chance to deliver a handful of choice words to the graduates, a note was a much safer bet.

Clad in a summer robe and wizard crocs, young Lansdale would find himself in the small hall taking a quill and papers to prepare his wisdom and thanks for those leaving the school. As he prepared his quill with adequate ink, and picked a perfectly sized note he would begin with the most astounding student he knew.

Alan the Astounding, @Alan Vanes

Three years as partners has gone too quick. Though our dueling partnership is ending, you will forever hold the title of partner and friend to me. Casting without you will never feel the quite same, I fear for my nerves my next match.

Though your magical prowess will be missed, I hope you find happiness in your new profession. If you ever start to doubt yourself, remember the confringo you pulled off last duel. You’re full of surprises.

With your track record, new found adulthood and our final victory, I believe a title change is in order. Good luck, Alan the Amazing.

All the best,
Galton the Glorious

Continuing in a dueling train of thought, Galton would start another note for those he’d had the pleasure of facing.

@Dmitri Jones, @Phaedra Stavrou, and those duelists I didn’t get to beat,

Your departure will make duel pairings a small bit less intimidating. My only hope is that you’ve not been able to teach your juniors too much, else I’ve got quite the year ahead of me.

Best of luck in the year to come, but if any of your dueling talent transfers to what’s to come, I’m sure you have it under control.

I can only hope we’ll meet again, maybe this time with our wands pointed at the same side.

Best,
Galton Lansdale

Dueling mates now done, his thoughts turned towards the rest of the class. How close did one need to be to give a note? It was always nice to know you’re remembered, so Galton was sure it would always be nice.

As he put quill to paper once again, he had a moment of fear. When he tried to remember specifics from years and years back, only clouds emerged. Vague thoughts of old floated to the surface - nothing crystal clear. As if the memories were stuck on the tip of his tongue. The past year or so was fine enough, but the further back he thought the less concrete details he had to place down. Fighting through the mental fog he would start his next note.

@Xailah Alptraum-Leveret,

Thank you for watching over Hugh during his broom racing career. The guy may not seem like he needs it, but he does.

And not only for Hugh, but thank you for watching out for all of us Lions. Your replacement has large shoes to fill. Is it odd to thank the person that gave out detention? Thanks, it’s only a small part of the job anyway.

Best of luck, I hope to run into you!

Best regards,
Galton Lansdale

One final student of note came to mind for him to write. If there was anyone that gave Galton a run for his money when it came to being Hugh’s friend, it was his next recipient. They may even have had him beat.

@Serena Towers,

With your skill and personality I am sure it’s not long until you’re towering over all of us. I’ll be sure to drag Hugh to see you wherever you end up.

Best,
Galton Lansdale

Satisfied with his small pile of wisdom and thanks Galton made his way to pin up each of the lovingly crafted notes. He was sure he’d missed some, but any was better for none.

Graduation sounded like scary. To complete N.E.W.T.s, leave Hogwarts, step into a career - gosh, she couldn’t really imagine it. But Lindsey could grasp some of the feelings, those mixed with anticipation and anxiety, as her own fifth year drawing to an end and O.W.L.s finally making their appearances after a long year of hard work. She was rather at a loss herself, which subject to pick and which to drop for N.E.W.T.s, whether she should settle down on a certain aspiration and start to work towards it now. She had dreams, lots of them - the possibilities were endless - but she was no superwoman. People mustn’t be avaricious, yeah?

And so being in a state of utter confusion, and perhaps a little dread towards the unpredictable future, Lindsey kept procrastinating when an event was held in the Small Hall, organised for students willing to write a few heartfelt notes to their seniors. When she finally made up her mind (or, when the deadline was drawing nearer), Lindsey dragged her steps into the room. She spent a few minutes idly looking at the notes written by previous students, before finding a comfortable spot and situated herself in a writing mode.

She thought she would have nothing to say, or so much to say that she wouldn’t know which was worth to write down, but when she picked a quill up she found her head surprisingly clear. Hopefully, she was in time to submit a note. For the soon-to-graduate seventh years. For herself.

Dear seventh years,

Congratulations on surviving through this long seven years! During these years, you laughed, you cried, you loved, you loathed, you studied, you played, and most importantly, you lived. Hope that everything will work out well after graduation like when it did during Hogwarts, and every dream, be it simple or complex, can be somehow fulfilled.

Keep your heads high, and I - we, will always cheer for you.

Regards,
Lindsey Springhall

She put the quill down, rested her chin on her palm, before dipping the quill in the inkwell and starting to write another note - this time a far more personal and detailed one.

Dear @Amadea Campbell,

It’s been quite a while since we last talked or duelled together, but I just want to say that you are absolutely my favourite seventh year. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done, and wish you a happy, happy graduation.

Approximately a year ago you pulled me out of doom and gloom with your heartwarming smile, offering clear guidance and motivating advice. It would have taken me a few extra months to pull through if it weren’t you. You taught me that only me - myself - could be the master of my own life. Not any random person.

And duels. I could still remember when you performed your masterly spell-splitting trick, eliminating an opponent within seconds after the duel started. Your presence alone boosted my confidence of victory, and your smiles and encouragements certainly made my duel days. I am pretty sure that the Blazing Badgers will always remember your excellent skills and dedicated captaincy, and your legendary tales will be related repeatedly, for younger duellists to admire.

Whichever career path you choose, I am in full confidence that you will continue to shine bright. I will always, always miss you. And so will every badger. And so will every Hogwartian.

Best wishes,
Lindsey

When she signed her name, a mixture of feelings suddenly overwhelmed her. Sentiment, anticipation, excitement, anxiety…she would be joining these graduates in two years time, her very self. What exactly would she be doing, when the time had come?

Lindsey shook her head as if to chase away the thoughts, then tiptoed and leaned forward to stick the two notes on the board, carefully lining them in parallel. She stepped back, examined her work for one last time, and quietly made her way back to the Hufflepuff Common Room.

To all those graduating seventh years,

First and foremost, congratulations! You've finally finished here and when someone out there asks where you went to school, you can say, perhaps proudly, that you went to Hogwarts.

However, there are those who will miss you even if they only saw you in passing, prepping for exams, studying for homework, anything at all.

You'll leave behind memories for future kids like you, you'll leave your footsteps to be followed in, you'll become famous if you were in the Duelling Club, on the Quidditch Team, on a Broom Racing Team, or even simply on the Headliner staff.

If anyone deserves to be free from studying, go abroad before settling down and worrying again, it's you. You who have studied all the time, you who have worried about being held back, you who have worried about failing. You all deserve to be free whereas we remaining behind, we still have yet to deserve that sweet joy of being free from school.

So before you go, take a look at all those who will miss you and whom you will miss. Take a last look at what some of you have called a second home, say goodbye. You're going out into the world and we'll all miss you very much as we say goodbye.

Good luck to you all,
A budding Ravenclaw,
Elizabeth

To Delilah Stewart,

I know you'll be great wherever you land but I wish you luck in finding a newspaper like the Headliner to work for. All the articles I've seen and read are all amazing and sometimes, people might envy your success.

Even though I'm not quite ready still to join the Headliner like you, I still look to maybe one day soon, follow in your footsteps and become a writer like you.

You will be missed and so will your fellow seventh years.

Good luck to you from a budding Ravenclaw and perhaps a future writer,
Elizabeth

Mentions: @Serena Towers & @Xailah Alptraum

"Dear Serena,

I often wondered why you stuck around with me.
Maybe you felt sorry.
We met when boys were still your biggest concern.
You were the angry one back then.

I know I'm not easy to get along with.
I'm sorry if I was often too harsh...

But I know you're strong.
You're gonna make it out there.

Change the world.
Thank you for changing mine."