The Leaving Feast, in late June. Here students are served foods like clam chowder, Philly cheesesteak, brisket and, of course, apple pie. And, as usual there, an awards ceremony takes place with the individual events listed in alphabetical order.

  “And the Arithmancy Achievement Accolade for 1792-1793 goes to...” the headmaster has a band drummer roll a drum. “Horned Serpent!”

  Anne, Elias, Ishkode and Nurcan all go up front, hoisting a trophy that looks like a plaque. It seems like Ilvermorny is the magic school that places the most weight on extracurricular life. Yet winning the Arithmancy Achievement Accolade might feel a little hollow, especially when I drafted the Irad-I Cedid, about which I kept quiet abroad because no wizard wants to hear about foreign Muggle fiscal reforms, at age 13? Nurcan starts feeling a little empty. The past 6 months have been a respite from the dangers borne from the War of the First Coalition, but ever since I learned how to perform dream walks, I do it every night. Alejandra and Christine both know how to do it by now…

  “Now, this year, there are two Arithmancy MVPs. After due consideration, both ended up pulling, for the whole Arithmancy season, the same weight overall, Elias Calufrax and Nurcan Topkara! Fifty points to Horned Serpent for the Accolade, and ten points each for their co-MVPs!” the headmaster announces to the crowd.

  I guess, next year is my chance to win MVP in the Arithmancy Achievement Accolade! And yet, with neither Elias nor Nurcan, winning the Accolade is going to be a tall order, Anne ruminates on what it implies for her next year.

  Then comes the Charms Chalice, won by Thunderbird, and the Excellence in Potions Cup, won by Wampus. Then comes the turn of the Excellence in Runes Cup:

  “And the Excellence in Runes Cup for 1792-1793 goes to…” once again, a drum roll precedes the naming of the winning house. “Pukwudgie!”

  The results of the Excellence in Runes Cup’s final stun so many in the room, since so many expected either Horned Serpent or Thunderbird to win it all. And the MVP being announced is about to leave everyone speechless:

  “This year’s Runes MVP is Vaidilute Marcinkeviciute! Fifty points to Pukwudgie for the Excellence in Runes Cup, and ten points for the MVP!”

  Of course, Horned Serpent was going to win the Arithmancy Achievement Accolade this year, they tended to collect the brains! Mektaq muses while he’s reminded of the reputation of Arithmancy meets being very intellectually intense, while the Excellence in Runes Cup results are released. However, what surprised me is the Excellence in Runes Cup being won by Pukwudgie of all houses! As of January 1, Horned Serpent and Thunderbird were neck and neck in it, and Pukwudgie was dead last then! Vaidi really earned the MVP because she single-handedly led Pukwudgie to victory this year!

  “And the 1792-1793 Gobstone Goblet goes to…” the headmaster cues the drummer for the drum roll. “Thunderbird!”

  Sabrina, who once foresaw that her house would need to focus on the Gobstone Goblet comes forward, also wins MVP for the gobstone season. With Emmanuelle, Wampus turned the Quidditch Cup into the most anticlimactic event of the year, making it a foregone conclusion by early May, or maybe Nurcan turned the Arithmancy Achievement Accolade into such. Then again, when your best 2 players both go pro, Landon and Emmanuelle, the former having signed with Fitchburg, the latter with Haileybury, you know they’re for real.

  And, of course, the Quodpot Cup and the Transfiguration Tournament. With all houses having won 2 tournaments apiece, the results of the House Cup have finally arrived, and the net result is that Horned Serpent gained 10 points on everyone else, especially since all MVPs were just the best players from the winning house.

  “With the extracurricular tournament results being released, the main event, the final standings of the House Cup are now in! And the winner is…” the drum is being rolled one last time. “Thunderbird!”

  I guess, time to go to Gen’s office to get our departure paperwork in order, and then leave this place. Sure, in the context in which we were thrust in, it was a safe haven, but isolated from everything, I feel like I’m becoming a different person compared to when I left… these wizards feel way too sheltered for their own good, as it relates to global wizarding affairs, let alone Muggle ones. Don’t think I would have been the same kind of witch had I been at Durmstrang… speaking of which, Vaidi has undergone a transformation, too, but not the same as mine, Nurcan reflects on her time at Ilvermorny, and how, for as non-elitist as it might have been by wizarding standards, they seemed more preoccupied with leisurely pursuits, such as Quidditch and Quodpot, or even gobstones, over more worldly ones.

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  “I’ll go on exchange next year. I didn’t decide where to yet, but you all made me realize how sheltered Ilvermorny really is…” Anne tells Nurcan.

  “If I may, and your objective is to use an exchange to gain more worldliness, even though it doesn’t have houses, please avoid Durmstrang!” Vaidi advises Anne. “Durmstrang, while it might accept half-bloods, cuts you off from No-Maj-borns, and is so far away from No-Majs, too!”

  “And Hogwarts, too!” Jace adds. “While you might be a half-blood, Hogwarts is more exclusionary than Ilvermorny, because houses hold more social weight at Hogwarts!”

  “While not knowing much about the No-Maj world would be easier to forgive for certain career choices, if you don’t know ahead of time that you won’t work with No-Maj, learning more about the No-Maj world would be beneficial. So maybe Karakalem or, to a lesser extent, Beauxbatons, might be a good fit. However, of the two, Karakalem would be best if you want to go on a full-year exchange, and Beauxbatons, for six months!” Nurcan adds.

  “Remember: while school life might feel all-consuming to so many wizards at this point in your lives, and certainly a few like you all, just don’t consider your education as the peak of your life!” Atateken harangues the four.

  “What kind of wizards could peak in school?” Vaidi asks, worried it might happen to her.

  “Wizards who peak in school tend to fall into four categories: those who coast on their popularity from their school days, those whose most significant achievements occurred when in school, those who get good grades but can’t use the material, and those who had a difficult time at home!”

  “The first three I understand, but wouldn’t the final one often come with one of the other three? Like someone who had a difficult time at home would be more motivated to get the most out of their time in school, socially, academically or in the extracurricular arena…” Vaidi asks.

  “They also tend to have an eye on how to fit their future into an escape, such as marriage or a job requiring them to leave their home, but the ones who fit that description, and only it, often tend to be unremarkable!”

  Before Nurcan goes to Gen’s office, she gets to the owl room one last time to collect a letter from another Revolutionary witch in France but whom she only heard about in passing, maybe because she passed by her shop when she last went to Place Cachée.

  The exchange students wait in line outside Gen’s office to get their exit paperwork done, and then get to Washington (or York for Emmanuelle) to take a Portkey to return home.

  Meanwhile, Anne waits on them so that she can return to the de Batiscans’ family home in Batiscan, on the shores of the St. Lawrence River, along with her mother.

  “Farewell, Ilvermorny… trying to glean information from others using dream walks is nice, but there’s nothing like being in the Muggle world!” Nurcan exclaims, on her way to Adams’ Floo Network station.

  “Nurcan, I never met anyone like you before. And not just because you seem to use divinatory predictions for something grander than what people usually do divination for. Most diviners tend to stick to more personal stuff!” Anne starts crying after Nurcan collects her departure paperwork.

  The question is: which destinations are served by Washington’s Portkeys? I knew only Paris was served, because we took the Portkey to Paris to get here, but no more than that, she ruminates while she checks on her supplies of Floo powder, on her way to Adams, knowing she needs two scoops to see herself safely home: one to get from Adams to Washington, and another one from Constantinople to home. Plus two more for her final year at Karakalem, so she can go back to Sihirli Mahalle, buy the supplies for the final year of her education and then go there for her final year.

  So when she returns to Washington, she wonders what the destinations served by the city’s Portkey hub, for which she crosses the entirety of Foggy Bottom from I Street and 23rd to get to the Portkey hub on the shores of the Potomac River. Which is at the terminus of Virginia Avenue.

  Jace is first to get to a Portkey, which is bound for London, along with the other Hogwarts exchange student. Meanwhile, the other Beauxbatons student remaining leaves for Paris, and from there, return home.

  The two Durmstrang exchange students, along with Nurcan, are the ones who examine the list of destinations posted outside the Portkey hub to see if their destination is serviced.

  “Oh boy, the closest to my home would be St. Petersburg…” Vaidi comments on which Portkey she could take to return to the continent, and, from St. Petersburg, to Gorodok, her hometown, now much closer to Poland-Lithuania’s border with Russia after the Second Partition earlier this year.

  “Constantinople for me!” Nurcan then looks at the Portkey price to Constantinople.

  Twenty dragots. The last item billed to the Bab-I Humayun for the year, and, hopefully, she could go write the report on the year on exchange. About why she would deem dream walking to be of Imperial interest.

  And, of course, upon arrival in Sihirli Mahalle, she rushes straight to Gringotts’ serraf office to exchange her remaining dragots into tryrinats.

  She then finalizes the year-end report for the Nizam-I Cedid exchange, at one of the wizarding kahvehane (coffee shops) of the city, before she enters the Bab-I Humayun to file it, along with her expenses.

  Once at the Bab-I Humayun, she goes straight for the international education office to hand over the report in person as normal business hours are about to end.

  “I know it’s a little late, but maybe you should apply to become an intern at the Bab-I Humayun for the summer!” the IEO staffer informs her before whispering to her, and handing out an application for a summer internship. “All you have to do is to fill out this form!”

  I guess, my parents will finally think I’m a full-fledged spy by now… for years, they were led to believe Karakalem students were spy trainees! Nurcan starts thinking while she fills out the internship application.