Chapter 9
Nothing much happened over the next few months, and they were soon studying hard for their end-of-year exams. Victoire was hard at work studying for her NEWTs, and became grouchy whenever someone disturbed her. James was taking a more relaxed approach to the exams, but he was normally able to breeze through the exams with reasonable enough grades.
For each of the subjects they were best in, they became the leader in charge of the study group for that subject. Exams came up on them suddenly, but everyone felt pretty confident with what they knew.
Monday was Herbology and they all felt that that had gone quite well. They felt the written part was easy, and they were able to handle the plants. As they left, Neville gave them a smile. They went back to the common room to prepare for History the next day. Rose quizzed them, and was happy when they were able to answer every question.
They finished History well before time, and were even able to add a little extra information they had found. The next day was Astronomy written in the morning, and then practical at night, so Rose went through all the charts and notes they had taken throughout the year.
The written part was late that morning, so they had time to study before the exams. When they came out of the exam, they had smiles on their faces, unlike some others who had also taken that exam. They had a short time to study after lunch, and then went for a short nap, promising to wake Shaun up in time. As they went down for their exam, they saw many people still studying, and looking extremely tired. During the exam, some even fell asleep, but the four were able to stay awake, and found the exam relatively easy. After the exam, they went straight to bed, as they had no more exams until the following Monday, which was Potions.
They studied through the free days that they had, and were able to memorise many of the potions, safety procedures, and properties of ingredients by the exam. The exam was a breeze, and they found both parts going well. They had Tuesday free, before having Charms on Wednesday. They studied hard on Tuesday, before Al gave them the evening off, looking meaningfully at Rose and Scor, who took the hint, and went off together.
"Did you hear that Scor and his mum have made up?" Al said to Shaun as they were left alone.
"Did they?" Shaun said. "So, he's going home for summer then?"
"Yeah." Al replied softly. "But I do feel sorry for him. From that he said, I wouldn't like to be anywhere near his mum. Also, Rose and Scor will not be able to see each other all summer."
The written Charms paper went as well as all the others had, and in the practical, they were all split into groups. They had to charm a teacup into dancing, and later on, they all compared what had happened. Al had even been able to make his do specific steps.
They studied hard for Transfiguration that evening, and Scor kept them up until they were able to do it perfectly. When Scor, Al and Shaun went up to bed, Alan said, "I don't know why you lot aren't in Ravenclaw. You're all smart enough for it."
Both the written and practical Transfiguration went perfectly on Thursday and they all looked forward to the next evening, when they would have finished their exams.
James annoyed them all enormously by wondering loudly what he was going to do now that he had finished all his exams. He only stopped when Victoire threatened to take away his broom.
They were all happy with how the written DADA went, and when they saw Victoire at lunch, she also had a smile on her face. The practical DADA was done in pairs, with Al and Scor paired up together. They went in and Professor Kerr smiled at them. Al was asked to put up a shield, which he did with ease. Professor Kerr then gave Scor three spells to send at Al, which he did. The spells were powerful, but they were completely absorbed by the shield, leaving no damage to it at all. The professor was open-mouthed, but quickly composed himself, and told Scor to shield. When he had done that, Al was told to do three different spells, and destroyed Scor's shied with each one.
"Please send in the next pair." Professor Kerr said, and they sent in Rose and Shaun, wishing them good luck.
They walked up to the common room in silence, and when they had reached their empty dorm, Scor turned to Al in wonder.
"How did you do that? No-one has ever done that to my shield before."
"I don't know how I do it." Al replied. "I just did what the teacher told me to do. Please don't tell anyone about this, not even Rose."
"Why not?" Scor asked. "Everyone should know how much power you have."
"That's the point!" Al exclaimed. "I get too much attention already. You saw the article about my family this morning. I hate all that stuff. I just want to live a normal life without always having to look over my shoulder to see if someone is watching me, waiting for me to make a mistake."
The conversation was ended as they heard people coming up the stairs, and Shaun and Rose came in, looking pleased.
"I think that went very well." Shaun said. "Now we have a week before results come out. Let's go outside and relax."
They went outside to the Lake, and watched the sun make it sparkle. Other people also had the same idea, and they went for a walk together, ending up back at the castle in time for dinner.
That night, they gladly went to bed, knowing that the exams were finished for another year.
