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the 29th of august, 2002. last day of the month long orientation.

at 9am, the apprentices have breakfast with the faculty in the great hall. professor mcgonagall has prepared a short speech, then settles down to eat with the rest of them at the ravenclaw table. ginny, sandwiched between professors devarajah and vector, listens to their silent bickering with a grin on their face. across them is blaise, in the midst of a conversation between professors sinistra and hicks, as well as luna. on the left of luna is neville, trying to defuse a friendly argument between professors flitwick and sprout. neville is unaware that they are being observed by a smug draco, seated next to professor bartholomew, who is deep in discussion with pansy and professor mcgonagall. the breakfast passes without much trouble, apart from the small cutlery duel between professors devarajah and bartholomew.

at 12pm, the apprentices meet by the great lake for a picnic while the castle is prepared for the night’s celebrations. accompanying them is professor hicks, who shows the group some impressive archival spellwork, asking luna to demonstrate with them, and leaves them to their own devices. somebody ( most likely ginny ) throws out the idea to skinny dip in the almost freezing waters of the great lake, and after a heated but short discussion where neville is the head of the opposition, the majority agrees to do so.

at 3pm, the apprentices, having recovered from their own initiation rite into the programme, gather at the smallest potions classroom, closest to professor bartholomew’s office, for their final orientation meeting. the meeting is, in paper, regarding proper usage of potions equipment, but professor bartholomew hands out some fliers, and spends the remainder of the hour brewing the students a cauldron of draught of peace while entertaining them with stories from his youth. he puts small vials of the draught in a velvet pouch, and adds one vial of felix felicis into the mix. the students draw at random, and in the palm of draco lies a bottle of pure luck.

at 5pm, ginny, luna and blaise meet up at blaise’s private chambers to get ready. ginny has brought a weird sisters vinyl, and it plays in full volume as luna enchants blaise’s tie to never crease. in neville’s room, there is a small emergency in the form of a lost cufflink, but draco saves the day with a well-timed accio. pansy has chosen to get ready alone, and is interrupted with a knock on their door by professor mcgonagall. the headmistress gifts the transfiguration apprentice a necklace of the moon, as it is customary for transfiguration scholars to wear the symbol in some form.

at 6pm, house heads, the headmistress and the apprentices meet at the faculty lounge to go over the plans of the night, which are the following: 7pm, the guests start to arrive ( people from all over the magical academia world, including instructors, practitioners, and other apprentices ). 7:15, the apprentices make their entrance. immediately after, professor mcgonagall’s speech, followed by the dinner in the great hall at 7:30. dinner until 8pm, then cocktail reception in the middle yard. the official event ends at 10pm. 8:45pm, professor mcgonagall adds to the itinerary, apprentice and faculty waltz. she has paired pansy and blaise, neville and ginny, and luna and draco.

at 7pm, the guests arrive as expected, gathering in the great hall. there are enough people to fill all house tables, divided mostly respective to their own disciplines. the apprentices make their entrance, standing as they face professor mcgonagall, who proceeds with her speech. they are given their apprenticeship robes, tailored in their instructors’ colors— silver for blaise, indigo for luna, black for ginny, maroon for draco, gold for neville and navy for pansy. after, each instructor sits with their apprentice in the circle of their discipline — as well as their old friends.

neville and luna sit with professors sprout, flitwick and hicks with a collection of herbologists, charm masters and magical creature scholars, deep in invigorating conversation, at the hufflepuff table. draco and ginny are sat between professors bartholomew and dejaravah, learning an unexpected amount of information from their colleagues, at the ravenclaw table— the loudest of all four. professor mcgonagall invites pansy to sit with her and the rest of the transfiguration scholars at the slytherin table, and blaise follows professors vector and sinistra to the gryffindor table.

at 8pm, the hosts and the guests move to the middle courtyard. cocktails are served, networking has begun. amongst the apprentices there starts a rumor that there will be an afterparty at the apprentices’ common room. at 8:45, a short waltz is performed by the faculty and their new apprentices. drinks continue being served until 10pm, and professor mcgonagall thanks the guests for coming, reminding them that they will be provided accommodation if they decide to stay the night. the older guests either collect at the faculty lounge for some tea, or leave hogwarts.

at 10:15pm, the apprentice common room is already full, music playing on multiple record players. an intense game of butterbeer pong ( spiked with knotgrass mead ) between two american apprentices against pansy and draco ends with the latter group’s victory. neville and luna run a high stakes exploding snap tournament at the other side of the room— loser takes a shot of bin juice. meanwhile, ginny and blaise are already running a quickdraw rig where mild curses and hexes are used, with ginny as current reigning champion and blaise as betting pool organizer, with the currency ranging from actual money to books, ingredients, secrets, and whatever else is accepted.

at 4:35am, there is a gentle but powerful knock on the door. the apprentices, mostly the sober ones, freeze in place as they try to make the place look as respectful as it can in the matter of thirty seconds. blaise opens the door to find professor sinistra smiling almost threateningly, their arms crossed. after a conversation, unheard by the rest of the room, that lasts for about a minute and a half, blaise closes the door as professor sinistra leaves, turning to announce that the party is over. they wear an expression of both horror and amusement, and by 5am, the common room has been emptied.