A/N: I started writing this after finishing my final exam in science because I was so annoyed with finals in general and needed to rant. As I was writing down my thoughts, I realized that I was sounding like a stressed-out Ravenclaw (yes, I realized that), and I thought I could make a bit of a fanfic out of this. So I have. Read, enjoy, and review!
Rantings of a Ravenclaw
Exams. Why do they have to ruin the end of a perfectly good school term with these horrible exams? I've been studying all this week and last; more than once, I've been the last to leave the Common Room at night. A few days ago, I even ended up falling asleep at one of the desks in the Common Room, though I'd purposefully chosen to sit in a chair that was uncomfortable so that I wouldn't be able to sleep. Despite all of this studying, I don't feel prepared at all.
Yet here I am, standing outside the door to the Transfiguration classroom along with the rest of the Ravenclaws in my year and the Hufflepuffs. A few Hufflepuffs are busy cramming—they must not have studied enough, or they have and they just don't think they have. Most of the Ravenclaws are confident, not bothering to take this extra time to look over their notes again; others are nervous, visibly fidgeting. I'm just anxious, waiting for McGonnagal to arrive so that I can go in and begin the test, which is bound to be difficult; a lot of it is supposed to be on switching spells, and I still don't have them mastered.
After that, it's off to History of Magic, where I have to know all about goblin rebellions and more. A lot of my friends are afraid they won't do well. I think I'll do fine, as long as I don't mix up the names; they all sound so much alike! Then to lunch, where I'll be eating alone and studying obsessively for Arithmancy. By that time, I'll most likely be quite tense, worrying about the exams I've taken and the ones yet to come. By then, if anyone so much as talks to me, I swear I'll be ready to hex them! Well, not quite, because then I might be late to my Arithmancy final. But I'll definitely be ready to scream.
What really bothers me is that I'll probably never use more than half of this information ever again. I don't have much of a use for knowing it now, except in order to pass my classes. It's not like it's important to my career path; I don't know too many people who make a living by changing guinea fowl in guinea pigs (except for Professor McGonnagal, of course, and even then, that's not what she does to make a living; she teaches us how to do it). Pretty much the same goes for Care of Magical Creatures. If you're not going to breed fancy hippogriffs, what's the point of even taking it? Sometimes I think that we have to take a certain number of subjects so that the professors can get a chance to see just how we handle under pressure.
The rustle of talk that previously filled the hall begins to die down as Professor McGonnagal comes striding towards the classroom, just as the final bell rings. "Go on in," she says, and I am caught up in a tide of students hurrying through the door and to their seats. McGonnagal heads to the front of the classroom, and begins passing out the exam and anti-cheating quills. "Good luck," she says as everyone starts the test.
Internally, I thank her for her well-wishing. Hopefully, I won't need it.