The most important matter was staying at Hogwarts over the summer.
Think about it: Hogwarts Castle has so many books that even if a wizard read for their entire life, they'd only get through a fraction of them.
Once the younger students took the Hogwarts Express home, the professors would finally be completely free — almost every day would be relaxed, one-on-one tutoring, anytime, anywhere.
Just the thought of it was enough to make your heart race.
As before, applying to stay over the holidays required three letters of recommendation, plus some special contribution.
Sean figured he'd probably qualified by now.
After that came the opening of Weasley & Green's Magical Joke Shop.
The shop was set to open in the second week of summer break, with shelves packed full of products waiting for witches and wizards to buy.
Every witch and wizard in Britain had at least heard of this suddenly famous joke shop, and many of its products were already bestsellers.
If you hadn't heard the shop's name yet — that was fine; it had only recently been revealed. Before that, everyone just called it "Number 93." But you'd definitely heard of its products:
The top wizarding game, Weird & Wily Wizard Chess; the miraculous Animal Party Biscuit series; anti-jinx helmets; rapid-escape class-dodging tools…
Each of these was a hit on its own, and now they were all concentrated in one shop.
The enthusiasm of British witches and wizards was practically about to blow poor Manager Gert out the door. She'd complained to Sean more than once, begging for more staff.
Sean had no intention of missing the grand opening of Weasley & Green's Magical Joke Shop, nor of turning down Mrs Weasley's invitation.
In fact, he was quite curious about the Burrow — a house built almost entirely by magic.
No alchemist would pass up a chance to go see it.
Lastly, he would spend half a month at the McGonagall family home.
Sean easily laid out his summer study plan: go to the Burrow to work on alchemy, go to McGonagall's cottage to practise Transfiguration, then finally return to his familiar Hogwarts.
For now, though, he needed to find Professor Snape.
The dungeons were as dark and damp as ever. Snape glanced coldly at Sean:
"Weasley… a pack of idiots…"
He still didn't finish the sentence. Instead he fixed Sean with a chilly look.
"If I said… no…"
Sean nodded, indicating he understood.
Looked like he'd be able to grind out the last ten thousand points of Transfiguration proficiency at Hogwarts after all.
"…Not… impossible…"
Snape added in a low, dangerous tone.
And so time flashed by.
The final Quidditch match arrived.
Oliver Wood stood in the freezing changing room at the edge of the pitch, where the light was just beginning to grow. His voice was tight and grim as he addressed his six teammates, steel in every word.
"To win the Quidditch Cup — this is our best chance. We must ask ourselves if this might be the only chance we'll ever get in our lives!"
He paced in front of them, striding back and forth as he spoke,
"We're only 140 points behind Ravenclaw, and just 100 behind Slytherin. If we win the Quidditch Cup, we can win back the House Cup as well!
Gryffindor hasn't won in five years… We will never have such a good chance again."
Wood swallowed, as if the memories still choked him:
"But we also know we are the best — the finest — team in the school!
Now go, lads and lasses!"
The Gryffindor team marched out with a fierce, do-or-die determination.
On the other side…
"Fight them to the end, everyone!"
Roger, acting captain, was delivering his own speech.
"Ravenclaw's lead will not be challenged. We will end Slytherin's winning streak. We will crush Gryffindor's ambitions!
With our honed skills, with our painstaking tactics!
We've prepared ten thousand ways to handle them, and ten thousand ways to win!
We are — the greatest Ravenclaw team in history!"
And so the Ravenclaws also strode out, carrying an unshakeable resolve.
The air was full of cheering, full of shouted encouragement.
The members of the Hope Nook found themselves in an awkward position — who were they supposed to support?
Out on the pitch, Harry's anxiety reached breaking point; his palms were slick with sweat. Then he saw a familiar paper aeroplane drift by:
[Giving it your all is the greatest form of respect]
Sean gave him a small nod.
The stands were already packed. Lee Jordan was commentating at the top of his lungs:
"Ravenclaw and Gryffindor enter the pitch! We can see both these newly rebuilt teams have incredible strength — and the match begins!
Harry Potter! He's gone straight for the Snitch — no, wait! Sean Green is right on his tail! The game is deadlocked — in just three minutes, both Seekers have shown they can end the match at any moment — Merlin's beard—"
In the stands, some people gaped in disbelief while others screamed with excitement.
Harry Potter trailed Sean Green by only half a body's length, but failed to seize the Snitch. Gryffindor lost, just shy of glory.
"Well done—"
Professor McGonagall's face was alight; she stood up and applauded.
"Professor — what are you saying?"
Lee Jordan blurted, staring wide-eyed, then double-checking the score. Hadn't they lost?
McGonagall froze for a second, her feelings mixed.
"Heh."
Professor Snape, by contrast, began clapping deliberately. His movements were elegant and composed, and he made sure to clap loudly enough that McGonagall turned to look at him.
Snape then quietly stopped.
Still, he suddenly found that having Green play in this kind of Quidditch match wasn't so bad.
And so, in a storm of astonished stares, the much-anticipated showdown came to an end.
Almost everyone kept replaying that breathtaking moment in their minds.
In the joyful mood that followed, the End-of-Year Feast approached.
Before the feast, the members of a certain secret society — the Castle Spirit Cat Club — all but went mad digging Hogwarts up brick by brick. Between the end of exams and the start of holidays, they poured all their boundless energy into the hunt.
No one knew which genius had suggested doing "search patrols" at night. The corridor outside the caretaker's office now regularly had four or five students standing in it at once.
Mr Filch was livid. Those blasted brats — he'd already given way so much, and they still kept provoking him!
It seemed their antics had angered the night's messenger; the black cat of good fortune hadn't been seen since.
The club president claimed it was because they started searching too late; the vice-president insisted it was exactly the opposite.
These last few days the Weasley twins were practically Sean's shadow. They'd appear from every possible angle near him.
Sometimes they popped out of flowerpots, dirt smeared in their hair; sometimes they were outside the window on flying brooms; they even knocked on Sean's window from outside the Ravenclaw Tower.
~~~
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