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Buffy was released from the Hospital Wing a little over a week later. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Draco and Tara were regular visitors. A fair amount of students had come to visit her over the course of the nine days she had spent in bed, and had apologised for how they’d treated her as well as seeing that she was alright. For the first time in months, Buffy felt that things finally might be alright in her world.

She walked into the Great Hall for her first official non breakfast in bed. Heads turned and applause broke out as she walked down do her seat. Even the Professors seemed to be applauding. By the time she sat down beside Harry, she was bright red and thoroughly embarrassed by the attention she was receiving.

But, people cheering her on was far better than people whispering horrible things about her, so she was willing to let it pass.

Ron, Harry and Hermione just grinned at her, Harry squeezing her hand supportively as she sat down in her seat beside him. A quick glance at Draco showed her that he was cheering just as much as everyone else. She also discovered that it was Draco who was behind the wolf-whistling that echoed throughout the Great Hall.

Dumbledore stood up and the Hall slowly became far quieter.

“Welcome back Miss Summers,” Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling with affection for the girl. Buffy couldn’t help but grin and nod her greeting to him. “This is a marvellous time for Wizarding folk everywhere. Celebrations in London are still going strong, and I believe that the Beaubaxton and Durmstrang Schools are still having wild parties every evening to celebrate the final defeat of an enemy that should have been vanquished long ago.”

The cheering broke out once more and took several more minutes to die down.

“Of course, this time of year is always one for celebrations,” Dumbledore continued. “Exams begin in two weeks time, and will go ahead as scheduled.”

Complaints and general grumbling went around the hall, Hermione very nearly doing a dance of joy at the prospect of having exams go ahead.

“You-Know-Who dies and they won’t even cancel exams,” Fred complained loudly.

“That’s just bloody unfair,” George summed up.

“You’d think that Dumbledore-” “Would have the decency-” “To realise how…” “Traumatised” “Yeah, that’s right, how traumatised” “We are.”

Ron rolled his eyes. “Yeah, real traumatised. You weren’t even on the Quidditch Pitch when he showed up.”

Fred and George exchanged glances and looked back at their younger brother. “So? It’s still traumatic.”

“Tell your mom to put ‘em in therapy,” Buffy suggested with a smirk planted firmly on her face. “That might shut ‘em up.”

Fred and George looked at the blonde girl in shock at her suggestion. They gave her identically affronted looks before bursting into laughter.

“You’re an American version of Percy,” Fred complained.

“Lots prettier though,” Lee Jordan added.

“A helluva lot prettier,” George agreed.

Buffy shrugged, not really knowing who Percy was. “Well, as long as I’m still pretty, it’s all the same to me.”

Two weeks later and the Hogwarts students found themselves sitting in their seats, nervously tapping the ends of their quills against the table as they sat through exam after exam. Dumbledore had offered to let Buffy sit out of the exams and just take her marks from averaged scores from her previous grades throughout the year, but Buffy had declined, saying she didn’t want to be singled out.

She was beginning to regret that decision.

She was stuck on an answer for her Potions exam, and having Snape hovering over her shoulder wasn’t doing a lot to help her concentrate. She sighed silently and rolled her eyes, giving a mental glare at the Professor. Thankfully, he moved on to another student and Buffy looked back down at the question. The answer hit her forcefully and she nearly scoffed in disgust at herself for not realising the answer earlier. Newt eyes and Salamander eyes could be used interchangeably.

The other exams went as well as could be expected. Hermione and Buffy compared notes after the end of all their exams, thankful that their answers were practically the same. Ron and Harry just listened with a sinking feeling of dread as they realised their answers were very different to the answers their respective girlfriends had put down.

A week later, exams were over and the nervous energy within the school was due to the horrendous waiting period that happens after exams. Getting the results back had never been a highlight of Buffy’s. But finding out that she’d received over one hundred and fifteen percent on every exam made her want to dance with joy. Hermione and Buffy were tied for first place in the grade.

Ron and Harry didn’t do as well as the girls, but their grades were still respectable. They passed everything with flying colours. Draco Malfoy managed to get the best grades out of the boys in the Fifth Year, much to his delight.

His rivalry against Harry had toned down considerably, but the boys still took great pleasure in their competitions. Draco had even begun socialising with the four Gryffindors on a regular basis. In fact, the friendship group that had begun with only Ron, Harry and Hermione had expanded to the original trio plus Buffy, Draco, Dean, Seamus, Neville and Tara. It was such a mixed group of people and personality’s, but the group wouldn’t have in any other way.

The nine friends were seated outside under the sun, Buffy in Harry’s arms, Hermione in Ron’s and Tara in Neville’s.

“So, when’s the rematch?” Buffy asked curiously, looking between Harry and Draco.

Draco sighed deeply. Half of the Slytherin Quidditch team had been expelled for collaborating with the Death-Eaters to ensure that Voldemort could have got his clutches on Buffy again. It left the Slytherins with only three players and without a captain.

“We’ve still gotta train four new players,” Draco said. “It’s not fun.”

“Well no offence to your team and all, but those assholes deserved everything they got,” Buffy said forcefully.

“Not arguing with you there love,” Draco said. “Warrington, Flint, Montague and Bole are all goners, so we need two new Chasers, a Keeper and Beater.”

“What about Crabbe and Goyle?” Buffy asked, a sly grin on her face. “I’m pretty sure those two could be Beaters if they wanted. They wouldn’t even need clubs. You could just use their heads.”

They group laughed, while Draco just gave her an unimpressed smirk.

“Y’know, if you hadda just been in Slytherin you coulda made my life so much easier. You’d make a good Chaser.”

“Ah, but I’m a Gryffindor through and through,” Buffy said happily. “And I’m gonna try out for the team next year when Fred, George, Angelina and Katie all leave.”

Harry looked at his girlfriend with interest. He hadn’t know that.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were gonna try out?”

“Cos you’re gonna be the new captain. That would give me an unfair advantage,” Buffy said.

Ron rolled his eyes, knowing that the couple would begin kissing at any given moment unless the group was given a new topic.

“So,” Ron said, clapping his hands together to get Buffy and Harry to pay attention. “What are everyone’s plans for the holidays?”

“Home,” came the simultaneous replies from Seamus, Neville and Dean.

“Me too,” Tara said quietly, her innate shyness still not having being broken through, though her stuttering decreased daily.

“As for me, I’m staying with Sirius,” Harry announced happily, Dumbledore conceding that there was no longer the threat of Voldemort or his followers trying to kill him. Sirius had been cleared of all charges once Voldemort had been defeated and Peter Pettigrew had been caught in human form. Harry was never going back to the Dursley’s, he was in love with a beautiful girl, and the holidays were near. Life couldn’t have been more perfect.

“Anywhere but home,” Draco admitted. With the downfall of Voldemort, the Death-Eaters had stood trial and had been thrown into Azkaban, his father included. Cornelius Fudge had finally grown a backbone and had been incredibly strict on Voldemort’s supporters. With his father in prison and his mother having very little money, the two remaining Malfoy’s were going back to their roots.

Buffy reached over and patted his knee comfortingly. “You’re staying with your Aunt for a while at least,” Buffy said. “That’s a good thing. Besides, you’ll make that awkward ‘hey mom, I’m the daughter that you’ve never really met’ thing go a little smoother for me.”

Hermione looked at her friend with interest. “You’ve decided to go and visit your mum?”

Buffy nodded happily. “Yep. Giles talked me into it. I’m gonna go stay with her for a month or so.”

“What about after that?” Neville asked curiously.

“I’m coming back to Hogwarts. Giles reckons I can skip Sixth Year cos of all tho hours I spent studying a couple of months ago.”

The group looked at her in disbelief. “But…what about us?” was the general question that escaped everyone’s lips.

“Oh come on, it’s not like I’m dying or anything. I’m older than you guys by a year anyway. I was meant to have been in Sixth all along,” Buffy said, trying to justify it. Truthfully she wanted to stay in her friends grade so she could still be with them, but she knew the truth. The work wasn’t hard enough for her. She needed more of a challenge and the Sixth Grade work wasn’t going to cut it.

“We’ll just miss you is all,” Seamus summed up.

“I’ll still be at Hogwarts. And besides which, I might just end up doing both years at the same time,” Buffy said. “Take some of the Seventh Year subjects as well as the sixth. That way I can still do Seventh Year when you guys do it.”

The group seemed far happier with that arrangement than they did with the first. Harry dropped a kiss on Buffy’s shoulder and Buffy practically melted under his gentle touch. Buffy turned her head to touch her lips to Harry’s, eliciting groans and moans of disgust from the rest of the group. Tara blushed prettily and looked away as the others in the group watched with interest.

“You two should really get a room,” Seamus commented.

Harry and Buffy broke apart and exchanged a look. Buffy grinned and stood up.

“You’re right Shae,” Buffy said. “We should get a room.”

Harry and Buffy ran off, hand-in-hand before the group could really work out what had just happened.

Ron was the first to slap Seamus upside the head.

“You just had to say it didn’t you?”

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