Closed Righting the Ship

[Solomon Tofilau]

With the ceremony all but ended and Sully officially graduated, he couldn't help but bounce between the various guests as they milled about the hall. Ostensibly, nothing had changed and yet everything had and Sully was reveling in the chaos. All the old rules didn't quite fit any more and he was tempted to go chat with a professor, maybe see if he could get away with calling Professor Kingsley 'Cyndi' or something. They were equals now after all, Sully had a piece of paper and everything.

His levity was halted somewhat though when he nearly bounced straight into Chloë, feeling himself sober even as he gave her a wary smile. Things between them had been tense since Valentine's; they'd talked about some stuff, but Sully still hadn't been ready to truly face the reality now plainly staring them in the face today and it had strained them. Annoying considering it had been exactly what he'd wanted to avoid in his last year with her and all. "Hey, uh-" Sully leant forward, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "-My parents are here and stuff," he said by way of explanation for her more chaste greeting as he stepped back, rocking on his heels. "So we'll hang out over the break and stuff right? It's not really that much different, aye," he offered, resisting the urge to hide his diploma behind his back. It was stupid, how off everything felt now. Nothing had changed, he reminded himself, they had the whole break to work stuff out, and yet Sully couldn't help but wonder what was next for them now.

 

[Chloe Thompson]

Chloë hadn't cared much for attending graduation last year, even if it had been one of the privileges of being a prefect. With her friends graduating this year thought she was thankful she would get to be there. Even if it made her a little nervous. She had smiled fondly at Adorah and Noel's speeches, trying to blink away a few tears when the latter made her realize that this really was it. Her best friends were leaving. Her boyfriend was leaving. And even if it wasn't their choice to do so she couldn't help but to feel a little bit left behind. Dealing with people leaving had never been her strong suit.

Wandering around the hall when the ceremony was over Chloë glanced around for any sign of her friends. A difficult task considering the hall was packed and most people in there were taller than she was. Luckily, her wandering came to a quick stop when Sully suddenly appeared in front of her. "Hi." She greeted, before giving a small shake of her head. "No worries. Congratulations Mr. Graduate." She smiled as she nodded towards his diploma, genuinely happy he made it. A little less so about everything that came with the paper he was holding, but today wasn't about her and she was trying her best to keep that in mind. "Yeah, no, for sure." Chloë nodded as confidently as she could even if she didn't believe that was true. Things were going to be different. A lot different, probably. And she wasn't too keen on finding out what that would mean. "So, uh, have you gone around to annoy René with your diploma yet? I'm sure he'll miss having you around." She said in an attempt to steer the conversation away from talking about how things would be for them.

 

[Solomon Tofilau]

Sully felt his chest warm when Chloë smiled, unable to stop from smiling back at her despite the new uncertainty that had settled over him around her. "Thank you, thank you, I even did all my homework and everything for it," he said, unable to resist showing off a little as Chloë congratulated him. The promise of time over the holiday's helped soothe unease about where they stood and it felt good to joke with her despite how fragile it all seemed and he laughed when she mentioned bugging René. "Not the only one who'll miss me, aye," he said, giving her a nudge and trying not to grimace at himself for bringing it up. "But yeah, nah, he'll probably glad to have the space, aye. He survived me being away at Hogwarts for a few years, he'll be fine," Sully said, slipping his free hand in his pocket before he could do something embarrassing like stroke Chloë hair while his parents were around, even as the unspoken awareness that Chloë might not be so fine once he was gone lurked in the forefront of his mind. "Oh, I'll staying on Gambols until I sort something else out, so Brightstone's still on the table too," he added, trying to ignore the distinct feeling like he was trying to fix something that he technically hadn't broken yet.

 

[Chloe Thompson]

Chloë's smile turned into a grin at Sully's response, giving him an approving nod of her head when he mentioned doing his homework. Besides joking about it she couldn't help but to be proud of him though. She had already found OWLs to be a lot of work and was sure NEWTs would be even worse. And then there was the added pressure of having to graduate and everything that came with that. "I'm just hoping he'll survive without his trusted advisor around." Chloë responded with a soft chuckle. "Although most of your advice was pretty terrible anyways." She added jokingly, knowing Sully had joked around by giving his brother bad advice at least once or twice. In all honesty, she was thankful for having such a casual conversation. Especially considering they were actually at graduation right now, which had been the exact thing she had been struggling with the entire year. "But yeah, he definitely won't be the only one to miss you." She responded softly, trying to keep up the idea that she'd be fine once he was gone. Admitting she'd miss him wasn't going to crack that. Even if she was already dreading what it would be like to head back to school and not have to search the entire train for him. And Noel, for that matter. To be playing quidditch with kids she wasn't completely in tune with. To not be able to walk into the common room or student lounge and just hangout on one of the sofa's. Yeah, that would all take some getting used to and she wasn't quite sure whether she even would get used to it. But those were next year's worries. "Do you think that'll be weird?" Chloë asked carefully when he mentioned Gambols. "Y'know, being so close to school yet not actually a student anymore..?"