Dexter Lesley sat nervously, awaiting his time to give his speech. It was... well, it was rather long. He didn't have it all written out, rather, he had little dot-points to elaborate on - but he knew what he was like. He was going to be talking for a while, he could feel it. The Slytherin smiled nervously at the Head Girl, Rhiannon, and mouthed a quick 'good luck!' at her as she stood to give her speech. It was considerably shorter, when compared to his own. He grinned at her brightly, feeling a nervous tingle in his toes that he tried to wiggle out. He could see Demeter and Mandalyn in the crowd, and it brought a larger smile still, to his lips. As Rhiannon mentioned his name, the Slytherin looked up, and nodded to her firmly. It was time.
He approached the podium, and held his few palm cards securely. His friend Rebecca had suggested them, to keep his speech short. He was glad, because his speech, was already substantial, and if it were to all be written out on paper, it would have only been longer still. He smiled at the crowd. "Thank you, Rhiannon. Here we are; graduation. As mentioned by our head girl, its been a long trek, but were finally at the end of it, and I hope youre all as excited to start your new life as I am. Its scary, and Ive spent many nights worrying about it, but now, I feel really excited to be doing this speech, and to see everyones families and friends here to support them. I hope that, by the end of this day, you all leave holding absolutely no regrets, and all are looking into the future. We have all worked very hard to come to where we are now, some of us even travelling over entire countries and leaving our families behind, some of us being the first to make our marks here even some of us who are walking in the footsteps of siblings, cousins, parents, aunts and uncles. We have all had an impact on the school, and I hope you all think that your impact was great." He paused, and took a sobering breath to help steady his nerves, before continuing. "I hope you all feel you made the right choices during your time here, because this is it. This is the end, and now were starting on something completely new and exciting, and a little scary all at the same time; adulthood, and with that comes all of its many responsibilities. But we have good professors here, and they have always been there to provide assistance if weve ever needed it. I hope everyone before me has had as good a time here and I have."
He took a sip from his glass of water, his throat beginning to parch, as he wasn't used to giving speeches in public (even though talking was something he never shied from, being rather the chatterbox). "Its good to see everyone here, together as a united group, before we all separate and go our own ways. Most of us have been attending Hogwarts New Zealand for seven years, ever since we were eleven years old. Back then, I was barely thinking about my electives for third year let alone graduating and writing a speech to present. Its times like this that I begin remembering the little things I worried about when I was younger, and now they just dont seem all that important now they were all finally here, saying our goodbyes to the school to start our own lives, doing whatever it is we want to do. We wont be able to call ourselves students of Hogwarts New Zealand, and we wont have the familiarity of the castle anymore. We wont have the professors there to nag us to do our work, and we wont have them there to help us if were lost." He took this time to smile at the professors and headmistress and deputy headmaster. "We wont have other students there to guide us, we wont have gossip magazines to spread rumours, we wont have the good stuff, and the bad stuff that comes around with being in school. Well have ourselves, and the life we build around us. We will have scary bosses that will breathe down our necks to get our work finished, and we will be earning money and looking into buying houses. We wont have exams to study for no more NEWTs and OWLs which is, quite frankly, something Im really looking forward to. But we also wont have each other. Were a little community in of ourselves, and we might not talk to everyone, you might not like everyone here, but we went through everything together, so I do hope that you call all manage to suck up your differences tonight and give each other a pat on the back and a good job. Theres no more house rivalry, theres no more hunt for house points, and theres no more arguments over who is the best Quidditch team around, either. Were all playing on the same team, now, and we should all be trying to build each other up for what lies ahead of us." He looked at the group once more, hoping that they were feeling what he was saying. It had been a long road for everyone.
"A lot of stuff happened during these past seven years especially the last couple, really, and this year thats just past. The school has never been uneventful, and that certainly hasnt changed, from expulsions to hose-wide detentions, Pride parades and food fights and explosions Hogwarts is a place where things happen. Sometimes, its not particularly great stuff, and we all find ourselves complaining at the end of the day about people doing silly things, or doing those silly things ourselves, but one thing I came to realise during my time here is that people are different, and whilst different isnt always complimentary, its not always bad, either." He paused for another sip of his water, and gave another gentle smile to the group. "We gained valuable skills during those times where we almost chopped our fingers off in potions, or turned our ears into goat ears in Transfiguration, or even stupifyed a friend or foe in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Whether you liked your time here, or hated every moment of it, you have to admit, if you found yourself bored, it really was your own doing. Something was always happening here, and life was really a rush at times. Quidditch was hectic, gossip magazines and vicious rumours throwing themselves around the school, not to mention all the trouble makers causing mischief. It wasnt always great, but for seven, eventful years, this was home to most of us."
He was nearing towards the end now, and he cleared his throat to continue once more. "Dont sweat the small stuff. One of the hardest things to learn here wasnt found in any classroom even if Arithmancy is a mathematical nightmare and History of Magic was filled with two point five trillion essays it was learning to just deal with life and what it throws at you. There was never any room for temper tantrums, or being haughty here, we were all in the same boat and that was final. I know some have had a rough year, whilst others have had a very good year, but now we are all in the same situation, and I think were a little bit better for it. We all went through our own paths to get to where we are today, and we will all continue to do so. From this point on, were proper adults, looking for jobs out in the real world, or maybe even taking a year to figure ourselves out." He himself was thinking of doing just that - taking some time to himself and figure out what he wanted to do in life. His eyes lingered on Mandalyn in the crowd, before continuing. "Whatever happens, I hope that everyone here is excited for what lays ahead. It was the job of our professors to educate us, and ourselves to learn their lessons. It was up to us to take what we needed and grow from that, just as it is still us here now taking that final step of student life and graduating. After that, who knows, maybe among us are some future aurors, and healers, and professors. Maybe the next minister, or the next famous musician, or inventor of something great. The opportunities for us are endless, and I think it speaks volumes for the kind of education weve received. There are many doors in the world, and we all have the keys to open them."
He grinned sheepishly. "I think that we can all say that, during our time here we grew and we changed hopefully for the better. We have been taught skills that will help us when we leave Hogwarts, and hopefully prepare us for what there is to come. We have everyone to thank our professors, our parents and caregivers, our friends, enemies, and even ourselves. Were all here now, and weve all made it to the end. I just want to say good luck to everyone, and may you all have a happy life. Once more, I hope you all look back on what you have achieved and smile, because we have all worked hard. Good luck for the future, and sorry for holding you all up. We have done it!" He took a sobering breath, after several breaks and a couple drinks of water between his speech. It was finished. He gave a nod to the group before him, before leaving off to return to Rhiannon.
Out of Character: 
