Disclaimer; same as previous

Chapter 10; Exams and bigger tests

History of magic was the last exam for the first years. Amy finished in record time, laying down her quill before reading over her answers one final time. She had always loved history, especially old customs of the earliest of civilisations. Even professor Binns boring monologue throughout the year had not been enough to dampen her enthusiasm for the subject. Amy looked around at the other students covertly; Hermione was writing furiously still (it was surprising there were no sparks flying from her quill.) on her other side, Ron sat looking lost, his eyes roving up and down the question parchment as though he were searching for one word of English in a sea of Gobbledygook. Harry didn't look much more confidant as he held his hand up for his answer parchment to be taken. It wasn't until he left that she noticed Draco, sitting a few seats away, looking supremely sure of himself as he laid down his quill. His eyes met hers as though he had felt her staring and she looked down quickly before raising her own hand to indicate she was finished.

Amy looked for harry when she got outside. He was walking towards the lake, his hair making him unmistakable. She followed him and when he sat on the dry grass under the hot sun she followed suit. "What did you think?" she asked. "It was really hard I thought. Made up a good bit as I went along." They laughed at his description of what he had wrote for the questions on the goblin wars and then relaxed for the last twenty minutes under the blazing sun (neither of them would tan, she knew) waiting for Ron and Hermione to join them.

When they did, Ron didn't wait long before asking what Malfoy had wanted the other day. Amy sighed knowing it had been bothering the other red head ever since. They hadn't really had the chance to chat since then because of the crazy revision schedule Hermione had had them all on. "He wanted to know why I had fainted. He was actually quite civil." She said. It wasn't a lie. Malfoy had indeed been civil to her lately. He had even asked her to quiz him the night before, and had done the same for her. She wasn't about to tell Ron that of course. He might faint himself. As it was he snorted. "Malfoy, civil. Anyway why did you faint? Hermione said she heard you scream. Did you really just fall?" Hermione looked abashed. So they had been discussing it behind her back? Amy felt defensive. "Yes I fell. I tripped over a tree root and hit my head on a rock hard enough to have to stay in the hospital wing for the night. Are you accusing me of lying? Don't you all trust me?" she searched their faces. Hermione looked panicked "no, amy of course we trust you!" Ron was going pink, muttering an apology and harry looked abashed as well. She glared out at the lake for a few moments. The group lapping into an uncomfortable silence.

Her head was still throbbing, every now and then the pain would spike up a notch. Obviously Harry was feeling the same. He mentioned that his scar was hurting; he reached up to rub it as a particularly harsh wave of pain crashed over them both. Unconsciously she did as well, wincing. Harry's eyes widened as he looked at her. "You were at the zoo!" he exclaimed. Hermione jumped. Ron barked out a laugh. "What the bloody hell is a zoo?" harry ignored him "you were, weren't you?" she admitted she was. "Were you on an outing with your orphanage or something?" "No, I snuck in. had to scrub toilets after for leaving."

A long discussion followed about zoos and animals and Amy's various wanderings around London. Ron seemed to ease up after she explained how zoos worked. He came to the conclusion that they sounded barbaric, a term Hermione heartily agreed with. Discussion soon wound back to the stone and fluffy and suddenly harry was up walking swiftly towards Hagrid's cabin. After questioning hagrid they ran back to the school. They ran into McGonagall in the entrance hall while they were trying to figure out where Dumbledore's office was. She informed them that he was gone.
Shit, shit, shit! Harry was sure it was going to happen that night. Just as he said it, Snape appeared. He threatened Harry about night time wanderings, which seemed a bit uncanny, and left in the direction of the staff room. Before he turned to leave, though, he looked at her with his dark eyes and a voice whispered not in her ear but in her mind;
Be careful. Amy said nothing of this to the others. They went to dinner, splitting up and promising to meet up outside fluffy's door that night. Amy waited in the common room. Watching as it slowly emptied. She thought of how difficult it would be to sneak through the halls without Harry's invisibility cloak. When the common room was finally empty she got up and went over to the door. She took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

This was her lucky night. She didn't run into any obstacles. There was no sign of Filch or Mrs. Norris. She found the others standing outside the door, which was open. Harry took out Hagrid's flute and they went in.

Draco's point of view

He watched her leave the common room. He had come back for his quill and there she was, going out the door. He followed as she snuck up the steps of the Entrance Hall. He was intrigued. Where could she be going? He stopped and waited in the shadows. She was going to the third floor corridor, the forbidden part of the castle. He had wondered why they weren't allowed there. His eyes followed her long flame of dark red hair. She fascinated him, she wasn't like other girls; there was something about her, something she was hiding. She was a puzzle to him. No, there was more to it than that, but he did want to figure her out. He was brought crashing back to earth as he looked beyond her and saw him, Potter. The anger surged in him but he squashed it. He wasn't going to give up. If Potter wanted to play, he was game.
I will win. The Potter squad went through a door. He faintly heard music. He crept over to the door and after a few moments looked in. They were gone, and towering just inside the door was a huge three-headed dog.
Fuck!

He decided to wait outside.

Amy's point of view

"I'm telling you Harry, I just don't think it's Snape."
"I just know it is, Amy," he said. They had gotten through the devils snare and had come out of the room with the flying keys. The chess game was over and Ron was unconscious. Hermione wanted to run to him but Amy insisted they go on. She knew it was the right thing to do. Remembering why they were there, a new sense of purpose enveloping her. They stepped over the unconscious troll and Hermione excelled in the potion room. Harry asked the two of them to go back. They refused but then he reminded them of Ron. This got Hermione's attention and she left, but Amy didn't budge.
"Amy, go back."
"I'm not going, Harry."
"I'm serious Amy; I have to stop him before it's too late."
"I'm coming, too"
"No you're not it's too dangerous-," she cut him off;
"He killed my parents, too!" she almost screamed. It felt so good to say it out loud. Harry was shocked.
"Let's go" was all he could say.

They took the potion which was like ice and walked through the black flames. She felt nothing walking through the flames and felt no triumph that it wasn't Snape in the last chamber.

Enough suspense? Yes or no, let me know!