The Showdown

The day had finally arrived; the last day of school. All that was left between the students and life as qualified witches and wizards, was graduation. The exams had been taken, the grades awarded. All they needed now was the scroll of certification. Harry, Ron and Hermione were sat in their designated row. Hermione was still a little nervous. She had passed with the highest grades in the year, some of the highest ever recorded in Hogwarts history in fact, but was still feeling uneasy. She couldn’t shake off the image of her falling up the steps of the stage, everyone in the audience laughing at her. There were a million ways today could go wrong, and she had entertained most of them during the days leading up to graduation, though not as vividly as today. Glancing over at Harry and Ron, Hermione could see that, despite them both smiling back, they were as nervous as she was. Knowing that she wasn’t the only one eased the knot in her stomach, but only a little. Looking over the students she could see all the familiar faces; Neville Longbottom, Pavarti Patil, Lavender Brown, Seamus Finnigan, she could even see Draco Malfoy, still flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. They all looked slightly nervous. Turning her head to look across the central isle that divided parents and pupils as well as any moat she could see all the proud families. She spotted Mr and Mrs Weasley sat with Ginny, Neville’s grandmother, dressed in green as always. Her eyes settled on her own parents, who seemed both awed and thrilled to be attending the ceremony. They looked back at Hermione, smiled and waved. Hermione forced a smile and waved back. She instantly felt better. As she looked back at the stage she became aware of the names that were being called.
‘Pavarti Patil’ called Professor McGonagall.
Hermione suddenly realised that Pavarti was in the row in front. The sense of unease returned. McGonagall continued steadily through the list of names. In what seemed like a heartbeat she called ‘Harry Potter.’ Harry looked at Ron and Hermione; he smiled and stood up, walking down the centre isle to the stage. McGonagall carried on calling names.
‘Ron Weasley.’
Ron stood with a quick glance at Hermione. He looked at his parents, who were beaming brightly back at him. And then McGonagall called ‘Hermione Granger.’

Hermione felt a cold wave of fear pass through her entire body. She got slowly to her feet. Her legs felt as if someone had hit her with a Jelly-Legs curse. She looked toward her parents who were smiling and applauding. She gave them a half-hearted smile and headed down the isle toward the stage. The stage loomed closer with each stride. She wasn’t listening to the people around her now; she was concentrating hard on making it to the stage without slipping on her graduation gown. As she reached the steps she forced herself to take each one slowly and carefully, testing her footing before applying her full weight. Slowly she crossed the stage towards Dumbledore who was giving out the scrolls. She didn’t dare take her eyes off him to look at the other students below, or the other professors sat behind a long table at the back of the stage. As Hermione reached Dumbledore, Ron left. Dumbledore extended his right hand, which Hermione took; he then passed the scroll into her left hand. ‘Congratulations, Miss Granger,’ Dumbledore said quietly.
Hermione blurted her thanks in reply, before heading off the stage and back to her seat.

All three of them sat in stunned silence, just glad to have made it back without tripping up somewhere. Hermione still hadn’t relaxed, mainly because she knew she had to do that all over again. Professor McGonagall stepped to the centre of the stage after all the students had collected their certification scrolls. Hermione knew what this signalled.
‘And now, for the presentation of the Hogwarts Pupil of Excellence Award, I present Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic.’
With that, Cornelius Fudge rose from his position at the table with the various professors and walked round to a lectern on the right side of the stage. When he arrived, he quickly looked over the assembly of students and parents and then he began to speak.
‘The Pupil of Excellence Award is awarded every year to a student who has proved, over the course of their study at Hogwarts, to be of a consistently high level, achieving not only excellent results in their exams, but also in their extra curricular activities. It is my pleasure to present the award this year to a pupil who has achieved some of the best exam results ever recorded. I’m talking of course, about Hermione Granger.’
Ron and Harry exploded with applause, Ron started whooping with delight, despite both of them knowing she was being given the award. Hermione felt herself turn pink as the whole audience applauded loudly, and many people turned to look at her. She slowly got to her feet, she was more determined that ever not to trip up, and headed toward the stage where she collected the award from the Minister for Magic. Still flushed, she returned to her seat. When she looked across at her parents they looked like they were about fit to burst with pride. Ron and Harry congratulated her, as had many people who she had passed to and from the stage.

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