Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

The Tests

The following morning the sun rose giving an orange tint to the tense atmosphere in the Gryffindor common room. It was so thick you could have sliced it with a long blunt knife. Today was the day that the first of the Marriage Law tests would commence.

Going down to the Great Hall everybody was silent; no one spoke, laughed or joked; not even the twins. Everyone was still on edge, and after last night's shocking discovery many students had a restless and sleepless night. The trio sat at the Gryffindor table and even with the portions of food that normally would have mouths watering, none of them reached out to collect their breakfast. The usual morning owls bolstered by many of the plain brown ministry type, swooped down in to the Hall screeching. All heads turned towards the ceiling as the 5th, 6th and 7th years had a letter drop at their knees. First to recover was Hermione and nervously she opened the envelope that was thin and yellow. Inside there was a single piece of yellow parchment that said:

Dear Miss Granger

This is the timetable of your tests. These allow us to see the amount of money we will be supplying you, this is similar to a job interview- the more demanding your job is dependent on how outstanding your qualifications are. The better qualifications, and harder job, the higher paycheck you will receive. Please note that blood statues, age, sex, racial background and religion does not affect income. Remember, you only get one chance at the exam and if you fail this then you fail. You are tested on every subject taught at Hogwarts. We understand that you have not selected all classes as an option in your academic track but we advise you try your best.

Your times are:

Potions- Monday 10am to 12pm

Charms –Monday 4pm to 6pm

Divination - Monday 8pm to 10pm

Care Of Magical Ceatures- Tuesday 9am to 11am

Defence Against The Dark Arts- Tuesday 3pm to 5pm

Transfiguration- Wednesday 2pm to 4pm

Astronomy- Wednesday 10pm to 12am

Herbology- Thursday 8am to 10pm

Muggle Studies- Thursday 2pm to 4pm

Arithmacy- Friday 10am to 12pm

Ancient Runes- Friday 6pm to 8pm

You should take each and every test seriously. Again, this is your wealth while you are at Hogwarts.

Thomas Earn

Ruler of Marriage Law

High member of ministry of magic.

The letter drifted out of her hands as she packed up her things, grabbed a chocolate chip muffin and raced out of the hall to the library. She was followed by many of her peers who had the same idea. She rushed out so quickly she never even noticed two pairs of eyes following her every move. One was deep blue while the other was stormy grey.

Two hours later all 6th year students stood in the largest potion room in the dungeons and were slaving away under the watchful eye of one of the examiners.

They had been in the dungeons for approximately 25 minutes and everyone was struggling. Neville's potion was a bubbling green color but the cauldron hadn't melted, so it was a step in the right direction for him. Harry's had to start again ten minutes into it as he had accidently added too many slug eyes in. He was far behind. Hermione was the opposite; she was on track and her potion was the right colour. She was feeling pretty confident about her potion and the way it was going.

Whereas her potion was the correct colour, the same couldn't be said for the heir of the Malfoys. Draco's potion was supposed to be Lavender however at the moment his was a bright zingy pink. Racking his pale and sweaty hand through his damp locks he sighed. However he had a perfect reason to be behind. He was distracted by the girl in front of him. He acknowledged to himself again that he had slowly developed unexpected feelings for the bushy Gryffindor. For a whole year he had attempted to tell himself he was mad and they were nothing. But he soon realised that no matter what, they were there and he, Draco Lucius Malfoy, had fallen for her and fallen hard. His eyes roved to the opposite side of the room to his partner of two years. Blaise was what you could call perfection in his eyes. With wavy shoulder length black hair, rich tanned skin that glistened in the sun, and eyes always reminded Draco of the ocean. Turning his attention back on to the potion he forced himself to focus and he didn't lift his head till the bell rung informing them their time was up.

"How did you do Neville?" asked Harry as they walked out of the room.

"It could have been worse but it wasn't good either," he said a feeling a bit down.

"Well look on the bright side- you didn't melt yours or anyone's cauldron. It's a start isn't it?" explained Hermione trying to get Neville to cheer up.

"You're right Hermione, as usual" he laughed making him seem a lot happier and was soon joined by Harry, Hermione and Ron as they walked to the great hall for lunch.

Over the next 4 days they had test after test and were exhausted mentally and physically.

Saturday morning, Ron was sprawled out on the couch in the common room with his head near Lavender Brown's. She sat on the floor leaning again the couch. For about a year and a half he had developed a crush on the giggling blonde. They were joking with one another and Ron saw something in those hazel eyes that he loved so much; only Hermione and Harry new his crush on Lavender Brown and they promised to keep it a secret until he finally told her the truth and his love. As he turned his head she also turned hers, then from out of the blue she smiled and he couldn't stop himself and looking like a fool he just smiled right back. Looking into each other's eyes, Ron leaned forward on his elbow inch by inch until they were centimetres away from the others lips, just when they were about to touch the common room door opened and all the students walked in. Shocked at what had nearly happened they both blushed and turned away averting each other's eyes. Harry was the first to realise something had happened between his best friend and the girl he'd liked for ages and taking one guess that they had interrupted something. He elbowed Hermione who had also noticed this they silently left the common room.

On Sunday morning another flock of owls arrived; these were the results of the tests they had worked so hard on. Hermione like last time was the first to read the letter; however instead of feeling only nervousness, she was excited about what the results would be.

Dear Miss Granger

We have calculated your results of your tests that you have completed from this last wee. Below you will notice they are not in Wizarding grade boundries, they are in fact the Muggle grading method. The highest is classifed as an A* and then the lowest is a U, also known as unclassified. The grades are from highest to lowest: A*, A, B, C, D, E, F, G and U. The grades which are the best and most Muggles aim to achieve are A* to C.

Your results as followed are:

Ancient Runes-A*

Arithmancy-A*

Astronomy-A*

Care Of Magical Creatures-A*

Charms-A*

Defence Against The Dark Arts- A*

Divination - A*

Herbology- A*

Muggle Studies- A*

Potions – A*

Transfiguration- A*

With these grades you will earn one of the highest payments you can receive every week: 160 galleons 18 sickles and 31 Knuts.

Well done and congratulations on your results.

Thomas Earn

Ruler of Marriage Law

High member of ministry of magic.

A smile on Hermione's face showed everyone that she had done well, which wasn't a surprise because it's Hermione.

"Neville how did you do?" Ginny asked. The redhead had received good results: all A and Bs except in Ancient Runes and Arithmacy in which she got a C.

"I did alright, I think. I got A, B and Cs. You think that is OK?" he asked looking towards Hermione and received a nod meaning he did well making a smile appear on his face.

"I got an A* in Herbology," he said happily, " but only a C in potions."

"That's great Neville if you got that in the muggle world you would have passed all your classes, even potions."

"Great" he said with the smile on his face becoming larger by the second.

"What did you guys get?" Neville asked, turning to the rest of the group at the table.

"A and Bs," said Harry happily

"Same" replied Ron, Fred, George and Lee

"Hermione what about you?" asked Fred and George together.

"All A*" she responded happily. Everyone rolled their eyes and shook their heads.

"I wonder what's going to happen next now that we have our results," said Fred.

"Who knows, who knows?" Answered Hermione wondering that herself.

Just to clear it all up, I chose to do Muggle grade boundries as these tests were not to be confused with NEWTS or OWLS. Once again a big thank you to J. for the editing :)