Tassels and gowns...long gowns that made you look like a sack of potatoes. Tassels that you would turn to signify a chapter of your life ending as you finished your schooling. That was how muggle graduations went..Wizard graduations were a little different. I was wearing a midnight black that ended at my knees and a lion crest above my left breast. I wore a special cord around my neck with all four house colors since I earned the honor of Hogwarts valedictorian, and how I got that with everything that happened to me this year I will never know. A black pointy hat sat on top of my head that with my dark hair and robes made me look like an eel of sorts. I sighed as I saw how red my eyes looked, as i am absolutely sure I have cried every last tear that was left in my body.

Fred never did send me a letter back after our break up, and I was grateful for that. I still loved him, but after him knowing what pain I was going through and he just wanted to end things so he didn't have to deal with me hurt me something awful. I still mourned the death of my cousin, but my tears for that subsided. George however was the one person that managed to get a smile on my face, with his daily letters that joked about things that happened while he was gone or reminiscing about memories we had at school. He knew about our breakup and said his brother was an idiot for letting me go, but the way he was talking it was as if he didn't know about the last bit of the letter I sent to Fred. George was coming to graduation and I couldn't wait to see him.

Umbridge got sacked thank goodness and Dumbledore resumed his place as headmaster. Flint is still in a coma, but was thankfully moved to St.Mungos and was under the custody of the auror office. The second he woke up he would be sent to azkaban for an unknown amount of time. And as long as he was out of my life I couldn't care less what happened to that pig.

"Hi Ronnie" Hermione said as she peeked her head in through the door to mine and Angelina's room. She was dressed nicely, with a simple baby blue dress and her curly hair tied in a braid. I gave her a weak smile before adjusting my robes one more time. "You look great...were all so proud of you" She said gently and placed her small hand on my shoulder as she stood behind me in the floor length mirror. "Thank you, Mione" I said and turned to give her a small hug. Angelina had already left to the seventh floor with the rest of the graduates. We were doing a sort of tour of the school before graduation in a procession, and would walk through the corridors from the seventh floor down to the great hall....A sort of farewell to Hogwarts...

"Do you know if the weasleys are here?" I asked her as I placed my wand and paper with my speech on it inside my robe pocket. All of my friends knew about my breakup with Fred, and Ron was pretty angry about the whole thing for a couple of days as well as Ginny...I think they were hoping to add me to their family of something. She just gave me a sad smile and shook her head "I haven't been outside yet, but I just wanted to wish you luck before I headed down..." She said giving me one last hug before shutting the door quietly behind her....

The seventh floor was packed full of students bustling around and flicking random spells and many girls were fussing over their robes over a mirror that was conjured in the corner. Poor professor Flitwick was trying to get everyone in a somewhat orderly fashion to make our way downstairs, but was having no luck. "Hello smarty pants" Someone said beside me, I smiled lightly up at Roger Davies who was leaning against the wall. "Hey Roger" I said dodged a seventh year slytherin that almost knocked me over. "Why would they send Flitwick to control unruly teenagers, that are at least three feet taller than him?" He asked chuckling. I fake glared and motioned to my short stature, "well except you of course" He said giving me a wink. I just shook my head and brought two fingers to my mouth and made a loud whistle that made everyone stop what they were doing.

"Ah Miss.Tonks, your here!" Flitwick exclaimed and gently pushed me to the front of the lineup. We were in lines of four, with one person from each house. I stood next to Roger for ravenclaw and Adrian Pucey for Slytherin, With Annabelle Harlow for Hufflepuff on the other side. I waved slightly to Angelina who was three rows back behind a couple of Gryffindors whos names I couldn't remember..

We travelled past the many areas of Hogwarts I had spent time in this year, and a lot I had never noticed before. This walk was probably a lot more sentimental to the other seventh years who had been here six years longer than myself. We passed the door the the ravenclaw tower on the sixth floor, and I laughed softly as Roger said goodbye to every object that we passed. I smiled at the hospital wing I would be soon working in, in a few short months. The library on the third floor was completely empty except for Peeves who was messing with a pile of books in the corner. And before I knew it the long walk was over and we were all standing in front of the closed double doors in front of the great hall...

The great hall looked so different today...the four long tables were gone but the tapestries above them representing our houses remained. There were rows of empty chairs facing the teachers table, and a mass amount of people sitting along the sides of the room. I smiled as I saw My sister and Remus sitting with Mr.& Mrs Weasley. George was sitting beside his mother and waved brightly when he saw me, I got a tear of joy to see him and wiped it away before blowing him a kiss which he pretended to catch and put in his pocket.

I waved at Hermione and Ginny who were seated in front of Neville and Dean. When we walked farther I passed Aimee and Draco sitting with the slytherin gang. Aimee yelled out at me as we passed and I laughed at her. We all slowly filed into our seats and waited patiently for our Headmaster to speak....

"Welcome! To another glorious ending to another wonderful school year." Dumbledore started and his voice boomed against the walls. "We pay tribute to the students who are graduating today, who will then leave us into the real world around us.....we can only hope we prepared them enough"

I missed some of Dumbledores speech as Roger started doing an impression of Umbridge and made me silently cover my face in laughter. Pucey roughly elbowed me in the ribs and I coughed out in pain, he glared at me and nodded to Dumbledore who was smiling at me with that certain twinkle in his eye.

"I want to announce to you our valedictorian Veronica Tonks"He said and soon was followed by an eruption of applause. I heard my sister along with George and Aimee yell out 'Go Ronnie' causing me to blush. "Ronnie, is a very talented young woman...she has overcome troubles that most people in this room could never imagine.....She is a young lady who achieved perfect grades despite the odds....She fought against a dictator that took over our school, and I am proud to say she helped to prepare many students for a fight that is most certainly upon us....She is an amazingly intelligent girl, who invented a potion that repels a form of dark magic...I am also proud to tell you she will be joining our Hogwarts staff as of next year, at the tender age of sixteen!....we are giving Ronnie the intellect award today, that she earned for her keen mind, intelligence and outstanding bravery....please welcome Ronnie Tonks!" He said and motioned at me as the entire room burst into applause that made me suddenly very nervous. I hated  being in front of people, and I now wished I was still homes schooled to avoid things like this....

"Thank you professor" I said into the magical microphone at the stand as the applause died down. "I...I....I" I started to say but was overtaken by nerves. I looked out and saw George give me a huge smile and made a motion for me to take a deep breath. I smiled at him and did as he said. "I never thought I would be standing here today. I used to be a girl that was content with staying in the shadows...being home schooled by my mother probably made that easy for me. I was happy being a typical witch that stayed home and learned everything there was to know. I think I did learn everything and that is why I never got a question wrong" I said and earned a laugh from the audience that made me feel better.

"I came to Hogwarts with low expectations and a healing heart, I had just suffered the loss of both of my parents. I knew it was going to be a great year when I met some wonderful people and reconnected with my darling cousin" I said and winked to Draco who just smiled. "It is easy to read a book and memorize information, as umbridge made us do countless times" i said chuckling.

"But none of that can prepare you for what is out there in the real world. I have seen first hand what death eaters can do...I have seen the pain that they cause. I come from a family full of dark wizards and witches and I just witnessed one of them kill their own. You can give me an award for intelligence but that is not what will make a difference in this war. You are what makes the difference" I said motioning to the people sitting in front of me.

"Stand up for what is right and don't be afraid of whatever comes your way. I will do my part in this war and will avenge the name of my parents that were so abruptly taken from me. But nothing I do will matter without all of you at my side. We are the future.  We are the hope. Thank you" I said and took my seat beside Roger who patted my hand with  smile. He said something to me but was lost over the applause that was roaring around us.

The ceremony was finished with all of us receiving our scrolls and we threw our black pointy hats into the air. I squealed and ducked as a mound of hats came flying down on top of me.

"You did great smarty pants" Roger said giving me a hug as all of the graduates dispersed to see their family. "Thanks Roger" I said laughing and hugging him back. Roger had earned a spot of the chudley cannons quiditch team and he was way too excited to leave school to start training. "You'll come to all my games right?" He asked as we walked around looking for our families. "I think you forgot I will be back here when quiditch season rolls around" i said craning my neck to look around the tall students that were overpowering my small frame. "Ok shorty, need a hand?" Roger asked and swiftly lifted me up onto his shoulders so I was suddenly taller than everyone else, maybe even Hagrid and that was saying something. Roger himself was six feet tall.

"Put me down Davies!" I squealed and smacked the top of his head. "No way Missy" He said laughing and skipping off towards the back of the room with a firm grip on my legs so I didn't fall. "Ok horsey head to George Weasley please" I said tapping his head. He made a galloping sound and took off running towards the only other person that was at eye level with him. Roger reminded me of the twins in the fact that he was a total goofball, and having him as a potions partner all year made us pretty good friends.

"Georgie!" I yelled and attempted to jump off of Rogers shoulders but ended up slipping and having my face slap against him bum. Suddenly I couldn't help myself and burst into a fit of laughter that sounded almost unnatural. I fell onto my side and clutched my stomach as my laughter was beginning to hurt. It must have been contagious because George and Roger ended up in fits on the floor. "Georgie!" I squealed again and threw my arms around George who picked me up and threw me around. "I missed you love" George said in my ear and kissed my forehead. I smiled and pulled away before turning to Roger who looked out of place.

"Where are your parents Roger?" I asked as he took his graduation robe off. He furrowed his brow and looked around behind him before he smiled. "Oh i see them, write to me this summer kid" He said smiling and kissing my cheek before giving me a tight hug. "I will I promise" I said and ruffled his slicked back dark brown hair. He winked before running off.

"I missed you so much George" I said with a sad smile "Hey none of that! Summer is here and we are going to have the time of our lives! before you become an adult and come back here to work" He said laughing as he wrapped an arm around my waist. "Sounds good" I said and looked at the grinning red head beside me who seemed elated to be in my presence. The school year was over, and I was officially done with school. And I made a silent vow to myself to have all the fun I could this summer, because I knew deep down just like everyone else that something terrible was upon us....