71. Next.

The remaining months passed in a blur, with Ryan, Yue, Rachel, and Hermione maintaining Outstanding grades across the board. The only real nuisance was Professor Slughorn's persistent invitations to various gatherings.

Why would Ryan choose a Valentine's Party over a cozy dinner in his trunk with Yue, Serenity, Rachel, Luna, and a flustered Hermione? Obviously, he wouldn't.

Each of the girls received flowers, chocolates, and a heartfelt card from Ryan, and they spent the rest of the day inside his trunk, either enjoying dinner or watching movies. Their latest accomplishment had been setting up basic magical electricity—primarily so Ryan could play Nintendo. Runes and specially carved ward stones powered the system, though touching them delivered a nasty shock to anyone but Ryan. Achieving the correct voltage had led to several explosions, but that was all part of the magic-learning experience.

Time flew, and soon enough, the end-of-year exams loomed. Classes wound down, grades were posted—Outstanding across the board for all of them. Even Harry had managed solid grades, much to everyone's surprise.

There was also the matter of elective selections for next year.

"Harry, if I see you in Divination next year, I'm going to break your legs," Ryan said matter-of-factly. "That class is 100% nonsense. Unless you're a born Seer, it's useless. Take Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, and Arithmancy instead. That way, when you leave Hogwarts, you'll have options—Curse Breaker, Auror, Wardcrafter, even an Enchanter."

Harry gulped while Ron visibly stepped back. "G-got it."

"Perfect, then we won't be taking Divination."

Hermione frowned. "But I want to take all the electives."

Ryan sighed. "And wear yourself out? Hermione, it's physically impossible."

She crossed her arms.

Ryan held up a timetable for third-year electives. "Look—Divination conflicts with Ancient Runes, and Muggle Studies conflicts with Arithmancy. You also can't drop any of the core classes."

Hermione scanned the schedule, her shoulders slumping. "Oh."

"Besides, you're Muggle-born. You already know more about Muggles than the entire wizarding world combined. That class is outdated. As for Divination, unless you have a Seer's bloodline, all you'll do is read tea leaves, make dream diaries, and fake prophecies. The only one in our group who might have an affinity for it is Luna, and she won't have that class until her third year."

Hermione let out a sigh. "Alright, fine. I'll take Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, and Arithmancy."

"Plus, next year we get access to Hogsmeade, so we can all go on dates." I waggled my eyebrows, and the girls perked up.

Serenity was officially registered as our guardian, which was ironic, so she could sign our permission forms.

"O-okay!" Hermione blushed, twiddling her fingers. She was really looking forward to seeing the village—and maybe going on a date.

Almost overnight, it was time to pack up and head home. Trunks were loaded—well, Ryan's was, while the girls barely used theirs.

On the train ride back, Luna curled up on Ryan's lap, reading, while Hermione sat beside him, sending occasional glares Luna's way. Luna, of course, ignored them, too absorbed in her book.

Luna was heading to Sweden for the summer with her father, and Hermione would be going to France with her parents. Since there was only one set of Vanishing Cabinets, neither of them could take one, but Ryan had gotten them enchanted mirrors to communicate over any distance.

When the train pulled into King's Cross, they exchanged hugs and goodbyes. As expected, Harry would be visiting often, escaping the Dursleys whenever he could. His situation had drastically improved—he was now mostly ignored and spent his time in his trunk. Dobby had also taken it upon himself to clean up, care for Harry, and transport him wherever he needed to be. So, Harry might not even need to use the Knight Bus—he could just pop over.

He would also be spending the second half of the summer with Sirius, as he only needed to stay two weeks with the Dursleys.

With the school year behind them, summer adventures awaited.

Unlike last time, the house was clean and well-stocked. Winky had done a wonderful job maintaining everything throughout the year.

The familiar feeling of home settled over us as we stored our things and gradually sat down to unwind. Flipping on the wizard wireless radio, we enjoyed a bit of music.

"So what are we going to do this summer?" Yue asked, settling into her favorite position on my lap.

"Aside from summer homework, I don't really have much planned besides relaxing." There wasn't anything pressing on our to-do list—we had already become Animagi and fixed the Vanishing Cabinets.

We trained in our dreams, and we were far ahead in learning magic. I had turned over all the Horcruxes, exorcised the one in Harry, and rescued Sirius Black, who would once again be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor next year. It seemed the curse on the position was finally broken, which was a relief.

There really wasn't much else to do.

"Let's go shopping! I need new clothes!" Yue said suddenly.

Once again, everyone had grown over the year. I could also use a haircut—my hair was getting a bit long.

Luckily, I had infinite stamina, or even I would be exhausted shopping with so many girls.

"Sure, why not?" I could also check if any new video games had been released.

We can also go out to eat, get some pizza and maybe see another movie.