Disclaimer: the world is J.K. Rowling's, some of the characters are whydoyouneedtoknow's, and others are real. I only lay claim to this plot.
A/N: Bear with me, this is my first fic. Please, please, please review! Thanks to my beta MercuryBlue, and to the livingwithdanger Yahoo Group.
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Third Year N.E.W.T.s
Catie White fell asleep, fretting anxiously about next week. The week when she took N.E.W.T.s in 3rd year. An instant later, she found herself in an open courtyard, with many trees and low walls scattered around. She was surrounded by friends, family, and many other people belonging to the Yahoo Group strictly for Pack, Pride, and those related to them or friends of theirs. She simply sighed, walked over to one of the walls, and jumped onto it, taking a seat and putting her head in her hands.
"Why did I ever agree to this?" she asked rhetorically. "I'm never going to be able to do it right; I'm just a 3rd year! A lot of 7th years take it and don't do well, so how am I going to?"
"Relax," James Jago said. "I've taken it in 4th and 5th year and gotten a good score on it—and if you're anything like your sister, you'll have no problem with it!"
Said sister said, "I took it in 2nd year, remember? And I did pretty good on it, too."
"No, Celi, I don't remember. That was 5 years ago, for heaven's sake!"
"So?" piped in Cassi, Catie's other older sister. "She still did great—not quite as good as she did last year, but very good anyway."
"Personally, I don't think she'd do as well as I would if I took it now," Cathleen's 10-year-old, highly annoying brother said.
Catie whipped her head around to fix him with a glare, her brown hair flying. "Can whoever's in charge of this dream kick Chris out? He's stressing me even more!"
"Good; I like—." He was suddenly cut off as Esther Weasley flicked her fingers and he disappeared.
"Thanks," Catie said gratefully.
The boy (though he prefers to be called a man, he's fourteen years old) sitting at her feet stood up and said, "I know a really good way to relax and stop worrying."
"How so?" Catie asked, wondering what he had in mind.
Brian offered her his hand, helped her down, and said, "You'll see," leading her away towards a nearby tree.
Cassi winked at her sister while Andrew Weasley and Alexander Lupin hooted, for they all suspected exactly what Brian had in mind. That suspicion was confirmed as the couple walked back a few minutes later, Brian's arm around Catie's waist, each with a big grin on their face.
After around half an hour (time was screwy in dreams) of reassurances, everyone collectively decided to end the dream, so one by one they said good-night and disappeared, until only Esther, Brian, and Catie were left. Esther waved a hand, giving control of the dream to her younger brother, and popped away, leaving the pair alone.
"You're right," Catie remarked as they plopped down onto the grass. "That method of yours really works."
"Still stressed?" he asked.
"Only a little," she replied, and the pair leaned together...
A little while later, they broke apart just long enough for the red-head to say, "You know what's great about dreams? You don't have to stop kissing to breathe."
--
Late in July, Catie's best friend Hayley was visiting Catie's house, along with Catie's boyfriend, when Catie spotted a brown school owl flying towards the house. As the owl got closer, she saw that the wording on the envelope read 'N.E.W.T. scores' beside her name written in emerald green ink. Cathleen gripped the table tightly, saying as she did so, "Oh Merlin! They're here! Oh, no, oh, no!"
Brian put his arm around her, gently kissed her, and said, "Calm down. You did great!" as Hayley opened the window for the owl. The owl flew in, landed on the table in front of Catie, and held up his leg. She numbly took the envelope off, her hands shaking as she opened it.
Catie dropped the letter to the floor, said, "Great mother of Pearl," (making Brian immediately think of his grandma Letha) and fainted. Luckily, Brian was still holding her, for otherwise she would have dropped to the ground.
Hayley looked on, confused. "What? Did she fail?" the girl asked, now very worried.
Brian replied, "I didn't see. I don't know," and gestured for her to pick up the scores, for he couldn't reach down to the floor without dropping his girlfriend onto it.
As Hayley looked at the scores, she said, "Great mother of pearl is right," and turned the paper around.
Brian's eyes opened wide in disbelief. "O's in all nine subjects?" he asked with incredulity. "Even History of Magic?"
"I think she just paid enough attention to the lesson to learn what the subject was, and then looked everything up in the library, as well as reading everything else in each book she used, which would explain how she knew all that...but I'm amazed she was able to pay even that much attention; nobody else can sustain attention for more than a second."
--
Catie awoke soon afterwards, thanks to Brian's well-placed lips, and immediately opened up her magically-altered laptop, logging onto the Yahoo Group. She posted a message stating that there would be a den night at her house that night starting at 8:00, and that she had big news to share. Everybody tried to wheedle the information out of her, but she remained silent on the issue, refusing even to tell her siblings.
By 8:15, everyone had come. The alphas and betas of the Pack started the den night, and then everyone looked to Catie expectantly.
"Well?" piped up her aunt Krystal. "What's the news?"
"She wouldn't even tell us," Cassi said, indicating her family.
"Just tell us!" Arianna Lupin pleaded, everybody else nodding their heads.
Catie began, "I got my N.E.W.T. scores today." She paused as everybody except herself, Brian, and Hayley tensed. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad."
"In fact, it's downright good!" Brian said.
"OK, my scores are: Arithmancy—O."
"Good job!" James called out.
"Ancient Runes—O. Herbology—O. Potions—." She stopped and looked at Cassi, who had gotten her O.W.L. scores a day earlier. "O."
"What? I took the potions O.W.L. and got an A! How could you take the N.E.W.T. and get an O?"
"Charms—O. Transfiguration—O. Astronomy—O." By now, James looked like he was waiting for something, possibly because that was the number of O's he got and was wondering if she would get more than him or not. "Defense—O."
Now it was Celi who looked like that, for she got eight O's out of nine subjects. "And finally, History of Magic—." Catie looked around the room, stopping for a second to look at everyone who had taken the N.E.W.T. in the past half a dozen years. "O!"
By this point, everybody in the room was staring in shock. Celi said, "I didn't even get an O in History of Magic on the O.W.L.s, and that was with two more years of lessons than you!"
Catie said under her breath, "Finally something that I can beat her at!"
As one, everyone in the room who did not already know her scores fainted, prompting Cathleen to say, "Thank goodness, I'm not the only one."