So, here she was. After seven years, Aine was about to leave Hogwarts New Zealand one final time, return home and concoct some story about how she spent her high school years as part of a cult and didn't feel comfortable talking about it in order to try and justify her right to exist in the muggle world. For some reason, the school hadn't booted her out - indeed, they'd continually shown her faith. The badge that still felt oddly weighty on her chest and the fact that she was standing up to speak showed that, and she fully expected to completely shatter that faith in one final spectacle.
At least, that's the story she'd told herself. But in all honesty she didn't necessarily believe it. True, she didn't think she was qualified to speak. She didn't think her own experiences were ones that were relevant to the whole year level, always having felt a little different from everyone. She was here, though, and she would just have to show faith in herself like the staff had shown in her. It had taken eighteen years of her life, but maybe, just maybe, Aine could actually believe that she was actually worth it.
"Good evening Professors, staff, honoured guests, and of course the class of 2062," Aine started, looking around at the room with a nervous smile. "Wow. Who would have thought it, huh? Not me. And I mean, two muggleborn head people? Salazar Slytherin must be rolling around in his grave." Her right leg trembled a little behind the podium, and she looked down at her palm cards, shook her head, and shoved them straight in her pocket. She wasn't going to need them. Whatever she'd written sounded insincere, and now she'd just have to tick off the last thing on her list of fears to confront this year. Speak from the heart and be honest.
"When I first came to Hogwarts, I thought it was a mistake. There was no way someone like me could be a witch, right? I was just some nobody from country Australia. My life was never meant to be exciting. And I came here with a whole bunch of expectations on my shoulders about how I'd find ways to connect the muggle and magical worlds when I really didn't understand either. Or even myself." Aine gave another slight smile. "Not that I was willing to admit that."
"I've learned a lot in my time here, more than I expected to. We've all learned things we can use in our everyday life. We've all learned things we might never use ever again - frogs of the world, I expect you're safe from being turned into grasshoppers." She paused, hoping people might give her comments some laughs. Not that being a stand up comedian was in her future. "The rats are on thin ice though."
"Importantly, I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. I kept thinking I had worked it all out, that I was so smart and so much more wise and mature than everyone else with a deeper inner life and so on, and at thirteen, fourteen, I knew all the secrets of the universe." She winced. "At eighteen, I can tell you I didn't know a thing. But that brings me to the - alleged - wisdom I have to share with you all tonight. And that's that our lives are only just beginning."
"I thought I'd done something wrong with my life by not knowing what I wanted to do when I graduated, that if I didn't nail the OWLs or the NEWTs my life would be over, that if I hadn't found the love of my life by the time I was sixteen I would be an old maid and I'd be a lost cause, because that's what I thought it meant to be in this magical community." Aine pointedly didn't look at a couple of students in the crowd at that comment. "But that's really not the case. There's no one right or wrong way to live your life, and we don't have to just be constrained by tradition or doing what our forebears did. Take it from me, an outsider," she laughed.
"We're barely even considered adults at this point. We might not love the hands we've been dealt, and I don't doubt that everyone here will have their own battles to fight and learning experiences to go through over the coming years, coming decades even. But I believe everyone here will be able to face them. We were all sent here for a reason, even if we didn't always believe it. We've all got the ability to do amazing things." Aine knew she probably ought to wrap it up, in her vague moment of being aware of where she was. She was just letting the words happen, for the most part. "We can take the foundations of what we've gained here wherever the future may take us. Whether that's the spells we've learned, or the friendships we've made. Or maybe that eleven year old with the weight of the world on her shoulders finally learned she was worth something after all, and that's the knowledge she'll take with her beyond the castle walls."
Aine was getting overwhelmed, much to her embarrassment, and definitely knew she had to wrap it up. Her voice was getting a little shaky. "Anyway. My point is that I want us all to go out there and live. Travel the world, take up a new hobby, fall in and out of love. Learn another language, learn a new sport, learn how to bring magic and technology closer. Or maybe just get a good night's sleep for the first time in seven years! Find out who you are. Live your lives, because they really are only just beginning. Believe it or not, you really don't need to have everything together at the ripe old age of eighteen. I certainly don't" She let out a long breath she barely knew she was holding, realizing her legs were still shaking behind the podium. She'd just completely lost the sense of it. "Here's to the class of 2062. The world is our oyster, and we can serve it up however we want. Thank you." With that, she somehow managed to get back to her seat for Monday to add his thoughts. She had no idea what she said, but she didn't think it had been an unmitigated disaster. Not perfect, but it was done.
