Chapter 10: OWLs
The moment we have been preparing for the entire term has come upon us. In most classes, we have had no homework and have been reviewing things that our teachers think will be on the exam. I don't really know what I'm expecting them to be like myself, but I think I've prepared for them all I can. Giving up Andrew has given me the motive and free time to study as much as I want. It keeps me busy.
"Theory examinations will be taken during the morning and practical exams will be during the afternoon," Professor McGonagall tells us about the OWLs.
"Our new Headmistress has told me to relay that cheaters will be punished most severely."
Hermione immediately asks when we will receive our results.
"An owl will be sent sometime in July."
I can hear the murmur of approval in the boys.
The first exam is over Charms, which I have no trouble in.
When the day for the exam arrives, everything seems serene and calm, like any kind of disturbance will result in a failed grade of Dreadful or Troll.
"That wasn't so bad," Hermione comments us as we exit the room where we all just suffered brain exhaustion.
"I didn't think so," I reply confidently.
"Hermione, we've gone through this. We are not going through each exam afterward, we've been through them once," Ron announces.
We all wait for our names to be called for the practical exam. When Hermione's is called, she leaves the group with her entire body trembling.
Finally, Professor Flitwick calls the P's.
With a deep breath, I walk towards the Great Hall, trying to slow my heart rate down. I know this material. I can do this.
"Professor Tofty is free, Ms. Potter," Professor Flitwick tells me in his squeaky little voice.
"Potter is it?" the examiner asks me with quite the display of eagerness in his eyes. He looks quite enthralled that he gets to be examining me.
"The one and only, sir," I tell him with a shy smile.
He gives me a slight smile back.
"Good attitude, there's no need to be nervous," the slightly eccentric-looking man tells me. "Now if I could ask you to take this egg cup and make it do cartwheels for me?"
I do as I'm told and send the cup head-over-tail on the table.
I also display a perfect levitation charm.
After correctly casting the growth and color-change charm, I am sent out of the room with quite the satisfied Professor Tofty.
Unfortunately, there is no rest for the Fifth Years. We have transfiguration tomorrow, a subject that has taken a bit of improving on my part, but I have brought my grades up in the class.
I smile as I manage to vanish the iguana that used to sit in front of me on the table. Poor Hannah Abbott has somehow become so nervous that she multiplies her ferret and sends a dozen flamingos running amuck.
Herbology goes by uneventfully as well.
When Defense against the Dark Arts comes, I know this is my time to really shine. I won't let myself fail Remus who gave us the best education we've had here. I just won't let myself fail him period.
For this exam, we are asked to know counter jinxes and other useful defensive spells.
After I repel the boggart, I suddenly jump when I hear jovial laughter come from Professor Tofty. I look around to see him clapping.
"Oh, bravo!" he cries to me. "Very good, indeed. Though there is one more thing…" he says, leaning in towards me. "Is it true that you can produce a patronus?"
Without a word more, I bring my wand up and think of my mother and see her smiling face look at me. I imagine her telling me that she's proud of me, and I smile when the doe comes cantering out of my wand.
All of the examiners paused to watch her as she gallops around the room, but I remain focused on her to keep her here as long as I need to.
Tofty claps once more and smiles. "Very good, Potter! Very good. You may go."
As I exit the room Umbridge gives me a cat-like smile and I just nod at her, not bothering to be affected by what she does.
Ron and I have Friday off, while Hermione sits through her Runes exams.
Monday, today, is our potions exams. With Snape and any hope at sabotage gone, the exam goes by flawlessly.
"Only four exams left," Parvati says happily as we exit the room.
Hermione snaps back, but none us say anything after her, it just might cause her head to explode.
Divination is a rather wobbly subject if you ask me, but we have to take the exam. The only thing fascinating in that class was that Professor Trelawney told me I was going to die. The exam could have gone better but it could have gone worse, I suppose. I wouldn't want to be Ron while taking that exam.
"At least we can give it up now," Ron comments as we leave.
We have the Astronomy tonight and I don't look forward to being kept up again. I haven't been sleeping well these past few weeks.
We all study our star charts before dinner. I'm not in the mood to eat. As we are dismissed from dinner, and while everyone else is exiting the Great Hall, I feel a hand tug me back and out of the sea of students.
"We need to talk," I suddenly hear Andrew's voice come form the person who grabbed me. I turn around to see my former best friend in front of me. I immediately retract my hand from his.
"I have nothing to say to you, snake," I tell him as I continue to walk towards the grand staircase.
"Shannon, talk to me."
"I'm not interested."
"Tell me," he starts again.
I scoff. "Tell you what? How I feel? I feel betrayed, hurt, deceived, violated, angry— stop me anytime," I rattle off until I finally am bodily thrown against the cold, hard stone of the wall.
"Get off me," I yell at him and squirm under his hold.
"Not until we talk," Andrew tells me.
"There's nothing to talk about. You betrayed me and I seemed to have reacted rationally in my opinion. Why hang around with someone who's going Dark? Despite not being raised by her, I am my mother's child."
"Anne," Andrew breathes, it makes me think back to where I thought I knew him, but it was nothing but lies.
While he's distracted, I push him off me and give him a good slap across the face. He just looks at me stunned.
He should be honored, he deserves to far worse than to be humiliated in front of whoever I hear making their way out of the Great Hall.
I start to walk away, but I turn back to cut him one last time. It tears me to pieces, but I've got to let myself let him go. I've got to.
"You've chosen your path and I have mine," I say before I walk back towards the dorms.
Some part of me will always love Andrew, but I can't love him like this. When we boarded the train for Hogwarts, we told each that it wouldn't matter what houses we ended up in, that we could still be friends. But as it turned out, we were just lying to each other. Had that been what our friendship and whatever else we were was built on? Lies?
At eleven, we make our way to the Astronomy tower.
The exam progresses quite smoothly but then I hear a shout coming from Hagrid's cabin.
I could hear the sound of a spell being cast from Hagrid's as I bend down and try to remain somewhat focused on the exam. I can see Hagrid finally emerge from his cabin only to have people try to stun him.
"No!" Hermione cries.
"My dear, this is an examination!" Tofty says.
After this, no one, even me, is concerned with his or her star charts. Somehow the spells seem to be bouncing off Hagrid.
"How dare you!" I can hear McGonagall screech. "Leave him alone," she continues.
Professor Tofty now seems to have forgotten the exam as well, just as four stunners fly towards McGonagall. It seems we've all forgotten about our exams.
While this is going on, the exam is near completion. Hagrid then proceeds to knock out his attackers and then disappears into the night.
I can hear Umbridge's cries of desperation.
"That evil woman," Hermione starts as we find ourselves back in the common room.
"I just hope Professor McGonagall is going to be all right," I tell the group that has formed around us.
"That, too," Hermione says.
It's nearing four when the room finally clears. History of Magic, our final exam is set for tomorrow afternoon and I'm going to savor the idea of freedom, but then again, it'll give me more time to think about things that I shouldn't.
The exam goes by rather dreadfully, but thankfully I studied all the appropriate things and knew the test well.
When we reach the Gryffindor Tower, I sit with Ron and Hermione. But I found myself walking through the Department of Mysteries once again, but this time the door opened. I find myself in a dark room, full of shelves with spherical glass objects. My heart starts to beat rapidly in my chest.
"Crucio!" I hear Voldemort say.
The man on the ground screams in pain. I know how it feels.
"Take it down, collect it for me," Voldemort says.
The man on the floor looks up... It's Sirius. "You'll have to kill me," he says.
"What was it?" Hermione asks me.
"Sirius," I tell her.
"What about him?" Ron asks me.
"Voldemort's got him," I say.
"How do you know that he didn't want you to see it? What if he sent you that vision on purpose?" Hermione asks me.
"That's why I'm going to go to Snape and ask him about it. It's far less dangerous to go to him than to try to sneak into Umbridge's office. And we can't exactly talk to McGonagall right now, can we?" I ask.
I run up to the dorms and collect the Marauder's Map. Thankfully, Snape's label is alone in his office.
I start to run out of the tower and hear Hermione and Ron's pursuit behind me. While I run down the steps I manage to put my hair into a ponytail to keep it from annoying me. I'm panting when I reach the dungeons, but I don't care. Hermione and Ron are out of breath as well.
I bang furiously on his door.
"Enter," I hear him say and the three of us enter his office. "Potter?"
"Voldemort…" I say and Snape flinches, "he's got Padfoot, or he wants me to think he's got him. I figured coming to you was best."
"Wait here," he says and swiftly gets up from his chair. He exits the room.
As instructed, we wait here. I hope I'm making the right choice. It's a few minutes before Snape comes back.
"You were correct to come to me first, Potter. Black is alive in Grimmauld Place," Snape reports as he comes back into the room.
"How do we know he's not fooling us?" Ron asks Hermione and I.
"You don't have to like someone to trust them, Ron," I retort. "So what do we do now? He obviously wants to lure me out. If he thinks he succeeds in doing that, we might be able to lure him out. This is our chance to expose his return. I say we don't waste it," I say like I'm leading a convoy.
"Are you suggesting that we allow you to go the Ministry? The very thing we've been trying to avoid?" Snape asks me.
"It's the only solution, isn't it? I mean, without Dumbledore here, there's not much else we can do. It's either this or let the world continue to live in denial."
"This is serious, Anne. It's not the time for your hero complex!" Ron tells me.
"If it weren't for my hero complex, Ronald, your only sister would be dead!" I snap and he turns red and shuts up. "What do we do, Professor?" I ask him.
"Might I suggest that we first dismiss Umbridge?" Hermione asks us, finally breaking her silence.
I round on Hermione. "How do you suppose we do that? She's here under orders from the Minister himself. They're the reason we're in this mess! And as much as I'd love to, we can't exactly go in there and attack her!"
"What if we get Neville, Ginny and Luna to distract her, and we get caught trying to use her floo? She'd think we're trying to contact Dumbledore or someone."
"That might actually work," Ron admits. "But there's no telling what she'd do to us…you especially," Ron says, looking at me.
"There's not much she can do to me that I haven't gone through. I've been subjected to all three Unforgivable Curses, almost had my —"
"All right, we get it," Ron says.
We all just look expectantly at Snape.