[mp] full circle [lip]

Wini was crying. Again.

This time at least it was happy tears because one of the little firsties called Hilary who Wini had taken under her wing had given her a handmade card with a thank you note and hugged her before running away back to her group of friends. Wini had teared up as she read the card and made a mental note to snag her tomorrow before the leaving party to make sure she had her address. She'd write Hilary over the summer if she wanted. That kind of big sister mentorship was just one more thing she'd miss once she took that final ride back on the Hogwarts Express.

It had been a nice day so far, a good one even if Wini had cried over a dozen different things, not wanting this chapter to end, feeling the yawning unknown of the future sneaking up on her before she was ready. She kept trying to remember every single moment. The way Marin ducked through the entrance of the common room, the way the light streamed in through the windows of the Great Hall during breakfast and glinted off the goblets, the way Ben's eyes crinkled when he laughed and the way Belinda brought her hand to her mouth as she laughed. She knew her group of friends wouldn't disappear overnight (or at least she hoped not), but this felt like such a final ending that it hurt in some ways.

The sleepover was a nice idea though and she was happy she could relax and hang out with her group of friends in the Great Hall one last time. Their sleeping bags were all huddled together towards one end of the long room near the door, but they were all mixed together, Wini sitting beside Marin on his bag, Belinda and Harry and Ben all lounging around too as they played a game of exploding snap. It was close to curfew, but still not quite time when the doors would be locked. A thought niggled in her mind, reminding her of nights that she had spent here in distress like after the dome had went up. She tried not to think of it.

Movement in the doorway caught her attention and she glanced up and then did a double take. What was Lip doing down here? He had been stubborn enough to not give into her insistence that he come to the sleepover (Marin was not as lucky in that regard, both of her best friends could not opt out of this!) so seeing him there, hands shoved in his pockets made her curious and then worry. Was something wrong? She handed her cards to Marin with a "be right back" as she went over to him, her Hufflepuff buttery yellow lounge pants and jumper soft against her skin. "So you decided to come after all?" she asked hopefully.

@Phillip Donnelly

For nearly seven whole years, Phillip Donnelly had had absolutely no interest in participating in student activities. And even as he trudged toward the Great Hall on the night of the sleepover, that hadn't changed. While rampant nostalgia plagued most of his year mates, Phillip was immune to the sentiment. Even tonight, when they were only two days away from their last ride on the Hogwarts express, Phillip was underwhelmed. It would be difficult to miss a place he'd been desperate to forget for so long.

A small, irritated huff fell from his lips as he finally reached the bottom of the stairs to the level with the Great Hall. It wasn't long before the mandatory curfew, so students were milling about, and he'd had to switch sides on the staircases more than he appreciated to avoid the crowds. Despite all of the bad memories Hogwarts held for Phillip, it hadn't all been a disaster. He'd had some good times too, but the horrors tended to overshadow the happy stuff. Despite being an unapologetic and cynical borderline narcissist, Phillip had managed to make a few friends that he hoped he might see after graduation.

And it was one of those friends that were why he was out of the common room and headed for the sleepover. Not to sleep, of course. Phillip had no plans to stay long enough to be trapped in the Great Hall with a hoard of schoolmates. He could barely stand bunking with the four other boys in his dormitory. The idea that two days from now, he'd never have to do so again was almost a relief until Phillip remembered he didn't have a place to live after Hogwarts. Stopping short of the Great Hall, Phillip leaned against the old wooden frame and searched for Winifred in the crowds. He saw Marin first; even sitting down, the Head Boy was easily a head taller than most, and then he caught Winifred's eye.

Phillip watched as she stood up and headed toward him, and he pushed away from the wall with his hands in his pockets. "Not to the sleepover," he answered, doing his best to give her more than two words per answer, but he'd probably forget that attempt soon enough. Phillip took a step toward her, his green eyes scanning for any professors before he lowered his voice and spoke again. "Still want to get that detention?" Phillip had probably had more detentions than most of their year mates combined over the years, and he'd hated every one of them. For some reason, he couldn't understand, though, Winifred had put getting detention on her graduation bucket list, and Phillip wanted to help her check it off.

He checked the time on his wizard's watch and turned the glowing clock face toward her so she might understand what he meant. The professors had been very clear that no students were permitted outside of the Great Hall, the lavatories, and their dormitories after 10 pm tonight, and they were dangerously close to that curfew now.

"So. just taking an evening stroll?" she asked with a smile, knowing that wasn't likely and wondering if he really did want to come to the sleepover but didn't want to admit it. Wini wouldn't be upset about that at all, she had spent the better part of two days trying to convince him to come with her and Marin, but apparently, he was really into being broody and stubborn more than anything else. She tried to let it go, but it just seemed like the perfect thing for her and Marin and Lip to all spend one of their last nights together during the sleepover and he had kind of ruined it. Then again, he was here and--- Detention?

Her eyes lit up and she smiled at him, nodding eagerly. In her Hogwarts career, she had never gotten a detention. And normally, it was a good thing, but she felt like a detention was a rite of passage every student should have so over the summer, she had added it to her and Marin's final bucketlist of all the things they (mostly she) wanted to do before they graduated. Luckily, she had planned and pestered the boys into doing most of them, but getting a detention had been out of reach.

The fact that Lip remembered made her feel warm and his shifty behavior of glancing around the Entrance Hall made her do the same. Was he going to do some big display right here that would both get them detention? She was both excited and nervous! "What are you thinking.." she asked, looking as he glanced at his watch before turning it towards her. "Yeah, I know it's almost ten. Curfew's going to be soon so we have to-- Ohhhh." It dawned on her a second later and her grin grew even bigger.

Wini paused, glancing around. "You think they would really give us a detention though? We're leaving in two days," she added with a laugh at the idea, but still excited about potentially marking something off her to do list. What was even better about the whole thing was that Lip had come all the way down from the Ravenclaw tower just to do this for her. It almost made up for him not wanting to go to the sleepover.

While it certainly was not unlike Phillip to go looking for trouble, he had never made it a habit to drag his friends down with him. At least, not when he could avoid it. Phillip wasn’t entirely sure if they would even get into trouble, but he figured it was worth a try. The Ravenclaw had never been an excellent friend to Winifred, even though he knew she deserved it, and it was just like him to try to be better in the twelfth hour, in their final days at Hogwarts. Winifred understood his cue, and Phillip’s hand returned to his pockets as he gave her a nod.

“Perhaps,” He answered and offered her a shrug. There was a decent chance of reprimand, the faculty had been quite clear about the curfew tonight, but Phillip wondered if the professors would punish them. Two days from graduation, what purpose would detention serve for two legally aged adults? Still, Phillip was willing to try because he knew it was one of the things unchecked on Winifred’s list.

“It’s now or never, though,” He challenged her with a whisper of a smirk flickering on his face. The seventh-year shifted his weight and moved away from the wall as he waited for her to decide. Phillip did not doubt that she’d look back at Marin, worry her lip in a quintessentially Wini sort of way, and then agree.

It's now or never. She bit her lip with indecision, trying to surreptitiously glance back through the doors to check on Marin, but her gaze drifted back to the doors that lead outside, and then finally back to Lip. Her brown eyes lit as she reached out and wound her arm through his and then hurried toward the door, slipping outside before they were noticed. Or before she changed her mind.

The cool air of the June evening greeted them and Wini felt the thrill that rebels must feel when they were doing something that was almost against the rules. They weren't past curfew just yet, but they soon would be. Exciting! Wini grinned as she glanced at Lip, grateful and happy that he had changed his mind about staying all alone in the Ravenclaw tower tonight, happy that he had decided to spend time with her.

They followed the path down and away from the castle, no destination in mind other than to not get caught too early. She was still filled with a nervous sort of energy at the thought of being in trouble. Wini couldn't help a glance back over her shoulder, it almost felt as if a professor (or maybe Marin) was watching them with disapproval from the castle doors, but there was no one there.

She matched her steps with Lip's as she kept her arm around his, making her strides longer to match his, and she could see the moon disappearing behind night-darkened clouds over the lake. She had left her wand back by her sleeping bag so she couldn't cast a Lumos and her eyes were still adjusting, but she felt safe in letting the path guide them. She knew it better than she knew her own family farm back in Wales. The thought of her estranged family made her heart twist painfully so she was quick to think of something else. "Are you all packed up or waiting until the last minute?"

She, of course, had been waiting to the last minute and would probably shove all of her things into her trunk in her usual messy way. Wini just couldn't bear the thought of packing her life into a trunk for the very last time, knowing she would never return to Hogwarts or at least not in the same way. It made her teary just starting to think of it though she tried to hold it back.

Though she'd paused, in the end, Winifred did exactly what Phillip expected she would, and soon enough, they were outside of the castle walls. They headed down the path he was sure they'd been down a thousand times in the last seven years, but even Phillip couldn't deny that this time felt different. Phillip was looking forward to leaving Hogwarts forever, but there was some tiny part of him that understood that this was the end of something and that he should feel some way about that. Winifred had done enough crying for half the graduating class combined, and Phillip was unlikely to admit that there was anything he'd miss from Hogwarts, though, so Phillip waited for the feeling to pass and carried on.

"I haven't got much to pack," He answered her question with a typical non-answer and shrugged, "I'll finish later," Phillip added, knowing she'd want more information. "Are you?" It wasn't always easy to figure out what Winifred might peg as important. One minute she was ridiculously in tune with details he wished she'd drop, and the next, she was asking Marin to borrow a quill (for the third time that day).

Phillip realized his arm was still looped with Winifred's the second he tried to turn toward a path they'd traveled less frequently the last couple of years. It led toward the monument that had been put up in the aftermath of the war, and it was the first place he remembered really becoming good friends with Winifred. They'd been friends before, but it was the first time he really let her in. Even if they had ended up arguing in the end, which was sort of par for the course when it came to Phillip and friendship. Phillip wasn't sure why, and he hated to think it was that feeling he was avoiding from earlier, but something pulled him toward the monument.

"I can help if you want?" Wini offered even though she knew he probably wouldn't say yes. She was actually the one who needed the help with packing considering she had seemed to accumulate a lot of stuff this term and she hadn't even started packing at all, but she knew @Marin Clare would help. "Not yet," she told him, hearing the wistful note in her tone, biting her lip.

When he took a step down the path toward the left, her arm stretched out between them as she had still been going in the other direction. "Lip?" she asked, a glance down the path. She knew where this led and she couldn't imagine he had forgotten. The war monument had been a place they had visited together before, but it surprised her that he seemed to want to go there.

Wini took in his expression, noting the hard line of his mouth, the determination in his brows and then gave him a little nod, following him down the path. He didn't talk much so Wini had gotten better at reading his nonverbal cues. She still got half of them wrong or maybe he really just was grumpy all the time no matter how she read him, but tonight felt a little different.

She saw the glow of the monument before she saw it. The white light emanating from within made the copse of trees shine, the leaves like glitter in the wind. Her eyes were on the names of the dead or missing that faded into existence over the stone monument before fading again and being replaced by another. So many names, only a few she recognized, and she both dreaded and anticipated when three names with the Donnelly surname would appear.

They stopped before the monument, the white glow falling on them as well, as she asked softly, "Why here?"

"Not sure," Phillip answered honestly, albeit a little quieter than before. Winifred had asked Why Here, and the reason felt like something he was two seconds away from understanding. Like trying to find a switch in the dark, he felt like he knew why, but couldn't quite find it.

They had been here once before, and Phillip remembered the conversation they'd had that afternoon, and maybe that memory pulled him here. More likely though, Phillip realized it was because they were nearing the end of their time at Hogwarts. "Back to the beginning, I suppose," it felt right to return here.

"Do you remember the last time we were here?" Phillip hadn't stopped moving yet, not until he'd walked halfway around the monument, eyes scanning the names lazily. His father's name was on the monument, and was since the day it was built, but his mother and sister were still missing. As they stood in front of Lorcan Ardan Donnelly etched into stone, Phillip took a deep breath.

Wini was surprised he had answered at all, and even more surprised that it felt like the honest truth, not sarcasm or grumpiness. But she tried not to let that show. She only nodded, accepting that answer for what it was, not judging, and trying not to fill the silence like she usually did. It didn't feel like the time for that even though the urge was strong.

She watched as more names floating up, the magic of the monument making the names glow in the darkness before morphing into another name and paying tribute to the next fallen wizard or witch. Wini followed his path as he curved around and she knew where he was headed. Back to the beginning was right. That had been their first year at Hogwarts, an already life-changing year was made all the more tragic and devastating. And for what? Wini still didn't know, but she knew that Lip had been touched by the war than she had. In a way, it was almost unimaginable for her to wonder how that kind of loss would have affected her. She understood his moods and his reticence and his walls. She wasn't great at allowing him that leeway sometimes, but tonight, in moments like this, she tried to be.

They finally stopped moving, Wini still holding his arm, feeling the warmth from his body, and a light spring breeze through her hair as she gave him a nod. "Yes, of course," she told him and then glanced up at him. She remembered that he had cried, though she wasn't sure he wanted her to repeat that part. She remembered that they had had a fight, that she had said something stupid in the moment, and she was lucky that he didn't hold it against her until the end of eternity like he did with others. She kind of hoped he didn't remember the promise that niggled in her mind. The one where she had said she would find out what had happened to his family because they hadn't.. not yet.. and she hadn't done much this year to help.

But she wasn't going to bring that up unless he did because she already felt bad about it. "We came here after you yelled at a bunch of first years, I think," she said lightly, nudging him with her elbow as she glanced up at him.

Phillip remembered the fight they'd had the first time they came here, and he remembered thinking he might not ever talk to Winifred again. He was glad he hadn't done that. Sometimes she was pushy, but Phillip understood now that that was just her way of being a good friend. She was the opposite of him, where Phillip never showed interest; Winifred dove in headfirst.

"That is not how I remember it," he told her, but that tiny crinkle in his lips proved otherwise. Some terrible professor had thought it would be a good idea to nominate him for a Prefect badge that year and had undoubtedly come to regret it. Phillip was unsure how often the administration revoked such privileges, but by the time he was a sixth year, Phillip was no longer a prefect, and honestly, Hogwarts was better off for it. "Pretty sure they deserved it." He shrugged, half-heartily, and turned back to the monument.

Staring at his father's name as it floated and then faded, Phillip chewed on the inside of his lip. "Sometimes..." Phillip took a breath, it was unlike him to offer anything, especially without Winifred badgering him first, but he felt strangely motivated to share. "I don't know; I suppose sometimes I worry all these names are being forgotten." Phillip was good at history and remembering facts, but he couldn't name anyone who'd died in wars before Voldemort rose to power. It wasn't as if the first and second wizarding wars were the only ones the community had ever fought.

He couldn't name the heroes, or the villains, or the random wrong-place-wrong-time victims. He wondered if that would happen to all these names. "With us gone, who will remember?" It was impossible to believe Hogwarts would forget Harry Potter and the war so soon, but Winifred and Phillip were among the last students here when it happened.

Even tonight, on their final nights in the castle for the rest of their lives, Winifred and Phillip were the only ones at the monument. And it seemed like a torch they were letting burn out.