Chapter Twenty-Eight: OWL Exams
For the next three weeks, the Care of Magical Creatures classes had the benefit of talking to a being that had known their founders personally. To the surprise of the Slytherins she had spoken of a descendant of Slytherin who could never claim heir ship since all those of his line were disowned due to their line beginning via line theft.
She had waved her hand and said, "some brat by the name of Gaunt had dared to commit line theft. Salazar's chosen heir was his great-granddaughter Ophelia Turk nee Slytherin. Her sons name was Harlen, I believe he married a young woman by the name of Emena Isidore. Their sons name was Donovan and he married a Blake Blackburn, their sons name was Gaius who married a Coretta Ashton, they had a son by the name of Artur who married a Kingsley Burn. Artur and Kingsley named their son Cadmus, now out of the request of the family I will not mention the last name of the woman that Cadmus married since he decided to take her name to keep her and her descendants safe."
The Slytherin's muttered wondering who the dark lord was descended of if the Gaunts weren't the heirs of Slytherins. If Voldemort was the descendant of the Gaunts then their parents were being made fools and they wondered who the other lines heir was, since Belinda had said, "oh, there are currently two descendants of Cadmus Turk. I've met both, although I have met the descendant of the Gaunt line I didn't like him much." She had snorted and said, "he had the nerve to believe just because he could speak Parseltongue I had to obey him."
Of course one fact that Belinda didn't mention was to be the descendant of Salazar, you also had to be the descendant of Gryffindor. And there was only one family who could claim a direct relationship to Lord Gryffindor.
The castle grounds had gleamed in the sunlight as though freshly painted; the cloudless sky smiled at itself in the smooth sparkling lake; the satin green lawns had rippled occasionally in a passing gentle breeze. June had arrived upon them, but to the fifth year students, this meant only one thing: their OWLs were upon them.
The Professors were no longer setting them homework; lessons were devoted to revising the topics that the Professors thought most likely to come up in the exams. Even James Potter, who was normally a relaxed person was driving them hard. The purposeful, yet feverish atmosphere drove nearly everything but the OWLs from the students minds, though Kushina had still pushed the S.A.C. students into the ground. As she had told them, "this is a voluntary class. If you don't want to be here then don't come."
Even after being told this most of the students continued to attend the classes.
Hermione was always muttering and going over her notes, she wasn't the only person acting oddly as the OWLs drew steadily nearer. Ernie Macmillan had developed an irritating habit of interrogating people about their revision practices. The first time he'd done that to Kushina, she'd answered without thinking. But having him constantly asking was beginning to annoy her and everyone knew what happened when you annoyed Kushina, she would get even.
Malfoy had tried to spread panic by saying, "of course, it's not what you know," he was overheard to tell Crabbe and Goyle loudly outside of potions a few days before the exams were to start. "It's who you know. Now, Father's been friendly with the head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority, for years - old Griselda March banks - we've had her around for dinner and everything…"
When a few people wanted to start panicking Kushina had snorted, "I highly doubt that's true, or else how would Percy Weasley had gotten twelve OWLs." She had rolled her eyes and after a small glare at Malfoy threatened him, "don't make me go get Astoria, Malfoy!" Malfoy had gulped and quickly shut up about the exams.
Meanwhile, a flourishing black-market trade in aids to concentration, mental agility and wakefulness had sprung up among the fifth and seventh years. Kushina had come across someone being tempted by a bottle of Baruffio's Brain Elixir being offered by Ravenclaw sixth year, Eddie Carmichael. Who was swearing that it was the sole thing responsible for his nine 'Outstanding' OWLs, he had gained last summer, he was offering a whole pint for a mere twelve Galleons. Several were trying to get the money to buy it when Kushina had snatched it out of his hand and assigned him detention for endangering his fellow students. She had ripped him a new one for trying to cheat younger years out of their money.
When several of the students had tried to protest about her pouring it down the drain, she snarled at them, "you might as well take Harold Dingle's powdered Dragon claw and have done with it."
One of the boys said eagerly, "Dingle's got powdered dragon claw?"
She sneered and said, "not anymore he doesn't. I confiscated that as well. None of these things actually work you know, it's like those talismans during my second year all over again!"
One of the Hufflepuffs retorted, "dragon claw does work! It's supposed to be incredible, really gives your brain a boost, you come over all cunning for a few hours… Come on Kushina, let us have a pinch, go on, what could it hurt?"
"This stuff could," she said grimly, "I had a look at it, it's nothing more than dried Doxy droppings."
That information took the edge off the listening students desire for brain stimulants.
They received their examination timetables and details for the procedure for OWLs during their next Transfiguration lesson.
"As you can see," Professor Potter told the class as they copied down the dates and times of the exams from the blackboard, "your OWLs are spread over two successive weeks. You will sit any theoretical exams in the morning and the practical's in the afternoon. Your practical Astronomy exam will of course take place at night."
As he spoke he was pacing in front of his desk, "now I must warn you that the most stringent anti-cheating charms have been applied to your examination papers. Auto-Answer quills are banned from the examination hall, as are Remembralls, Detachable Cribbing Cuffs and Self-Correcting Ink. It would seem that every year seems to harbor at least one person who thinks she or he could get around the Wizarding Examinations Authority's rules." He looked around and said, "not even a group of jokesters had tried to cheat on these exams." He then smiled wryly and said, "and you can ask Professor McGonagall about the Marauders and their antics, she'll tell you that she would have sworn up and down that they'd be the ones of their years to try and cheat."
He sighed a little and said, "however, you will just have to do your very best. You have your own futures to think about…"
Hermione put her hand in the air, and after the Professor acknowledged her, she asked, "when do we find out about our results?"
"An owl will be sent out to you some time in July," he said.
"Excellent," Dean Thomas muttered in an audible whisper, "so we don't have to worry about it until the holidays."
Kushina ignored the mutters, she knew very well even if they thought they wouldn't fret about it they would.
The first examination was Theory of Charms, and it was scheduled for the morning of June the tenth, which was a Monday. Kushina had agreed to test Hermione after lunch on the Sunday before the exam. She regretted it almost at once; Hermione was agitated and kept snatching the book back from her to check that she had gotten the answer completely correct, finally hitting her hard on the nose with the sharp edge of the Achievements in Charming.
Kushina got so tired of it she called Kenpachi and told him to get his behind to Hogwarts and kiss Hermione senseless. That was one order that Kenpachi was happy to follow, Kenpachi had strode into the hall picked Hermione up by the waist and said, "we'll see you later," before he turned around and left the Hall.
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Meanwhile, Ron was reading two years worth of Charms notes with his fingers in his ears, his lips moving soundlessly; Seamus Finnigan was lying flat on his back on the floor of the common room, reciting the definition of a Substantive Charm while Dean checked it against the Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5. While Parvati and Lavender were practicing basic Locomotion Charms on their pencil-cases by making them race against each other around the edge of the table.
Dinner that night was a subdued affair that night, Kushina and Ron didn't talk much, but were eating with a gusto, having studied hard all day. Hermione, on the other hand, kept putting down her knife and fork to dive under the table for her bag, seizing a book to check some fact or figure. Kushina had just snapped at Hermione to put the books away or she'd call Kenpachi again when her fork had slid from her limp fingers and landed with a loud tinkle on her plate.
"Oh, my goodness," she said faintly while staring into the Entrance hall. "Is that them? Is that the Examiners?"
Kushina and Ron whipped around on their bench, through the doors to the Great Hall they could see Professor Dumbledore standing with a small group of ancient-looking wizards and witches. Professor Dumbledore looked exceedingly calm and unworried he was actually unwrapping a lemon drop as he spoke to them.
Kushina smirked at her best friends and said slyly, "shall we go and have a closer look? I need to speak with the Headmaster anyway."
Ron and Hermione nodded and the three hastened towards the double doors into the Entrance Hall, slowing down as they stepped over the threshold, where Ron and Hermione walked sedately past the examiners while Kushina stopped to speak with the Headmaster.
The examiners looked up to see a young girl standing before them, Albus looked up and said "yes, Kushina. What can I do for you?"
Kushina smiled at him and said, "I just thought I'd ask if you wanted me to have the students tested for their prowess in Shinigami Arts?"
Albus hummed, "well my dear that would be up to you. Do they need to be tested?"
Kushina cocked her head to the side and said, "not really. Most of the stuff would come with practice it'll be their choice to keep up with the studying after they graduate and the other years will have to make the choice to show up next year."
A tiny, stooped witch with a face so lined it looked as though it was draped with cobwebs looked at Albus and asked, "who is this Albus?" She spoke very loudly considering they were only a few feet apart.
Kushina gave her a short curtsey and said, "Kushina Ruri Potter-Lupin. I've been teaching the Fourth through Seventh years a particular brand of magic that I learned as a child." She then said sweetly, "if the examiners would like I could give a demonstration of what they've been learning."
One of the wizards answered, "if you would like to show us after the exams are through that would be fine."
Kushina smiled and said, "no problem. I usually spar with a friend on Saturdays but I think I can convince him to wait until Sunday."
Kushina gave them a short nod and walked up to Ron and Hermione where they had been waiting at the foot of the stairs. As she walked away she heard Madam Marchbanks tell Headmaster Dumbledore, "the journey was fine. We've made it plenty of times before."
The trio then heard as the Headmaster said while giving them a twinkling glance, "let's go to the staff room. I'm sure you'd like a cup of tea after such a long journey."
It was an uncomfortable sort of an evening, everyone was trying to do some last-minute revising but nobody seemed to be getting very far. Kushina on the other hand, was lying in front of the fire reading one of her Icha Icha books. After three chapters she got up and went to her rooms and got ready for bed, falling to sleep after a few hours of sleepless tossing and turning.
None of the fifth years talked very much that morning at breakfast, either; Parvati was practicing incantations under her breath while the salt shaker in front of her twitched; Hermione was reading Achievements in Charming so fast that her eyes appeared blurred while Neville kept dropping his knife and fork, as well as knocking over the marmalade. Kushina was the only one calm in the Hall, she was again reading volume four of Icha Icha Paradise, she actually giggled at one of the parts, causing the rest of the hall to look at her weirdly.
Once breakfast was over, the fifth and seventh years milled around the Entrance Hall while the rest of the students went off to their lessons; then at half past nine, they were all called forward class by class to re-enter the Great Hall. The four tables had been removed and replaced with many tables for one, all of them were facing the staff end of the Hall where Professor McGonagall stood facing them. When they were all seated and quiet, she said, "you may begin," and turned over an enormous hour-glass on the desk beside her, on which were also spare quills, ink bottles and rolls of parchment.
Kushina turned over her paper, her heart thumping hard, she had been able to project an air of being completely unworried but she was still nervous. Three rows to her left and four seats ahead, Hermione was already scribbling, so she lowered her eyes to the first question: a.) Give the incantation and b) describe the wand movement required to make objects fly.
She had a fleeting memory of a club soaring high into the air and landing loudly on the thick skull of a troll, she smiled slightly and bent over the paper, beginning to write, she knew the answer to this question like the blades of her swords.
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"Well, it wasn't too bad, was it?" Hermione asked anxiously in the Entrance Hall two hours later, still clutching the exam paper. "I'm not sure I did myself justice on the Cheering charms, I just ran out of time. Did you put the counter-charm for hiccoughs? I wasn't sure whether I ought to, it felt like too much…And on question twenty-three…"
"Hermione," Ron interrupted sternly, "we've been over this before…we're not going through every exam afterwards, it's bad enough doing them once."
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The fifth years ate lunch with the rest of the school, (the four house tables had reappeared for the lunch hour,) then they trooped off into the small side chamber of the Great Hall. Whereupon they waited to be called for their practical examination, as small groups of students were called in alphabetical order those left behind muttered incantations and practiced wand movement. Well all except for Hermione, Ron, Neville and Kushina, Kushina had once again pulled out the gaudy orange book that caused so many to glance at her oddly.
Hermione's name came first, trembling she left the chamber with Anthony Goldstein, Gregory Goyle, and Daphne Greengrass. Students who had already been tested didn't return afterwards so the three didn't know how Hermione had done
"She'll be fine, remember she got a hundred and twelve percent on our first year charms test." Ron reminded the rest of the Gryffindors waiting.
Ten minutes later, Professor Flitwick called, "Parkinson, Pansy - Patil, Padma - Patil, Parvati - Potter-Lupin, Kushina."
"Good luck," Ron said quietly, Kushina gave him a small smile and a nod before she walked into the Great Hall.
"Professor Tofty is free, Potter," squeaked out Professor Flitwick, who was standing just inside the door. He pointed Kushina towards what looked like the very oldest and baldest examiner who was sitting behind a small table in the far corner, a short distance away from Professor Marchbanks, who was halfway through testing Draco Malfoy.
"Potter, is it?" said Professor Tofty, consulting his notes and peering over his pince-nez at her as she approached. "The famous Potter?"
Out of the corner of her eye, Kushina noticed as Malfoy threw her a scathing look; the wine glass Malfoy had been levitating fell to the floor and smashed. Kushina couldn't suppress her smile; Professor Tofty smiled back at her encouragingly.
"That's it," he said in his quivering old voice, "no need to be nervous. Now if I could ask you to take this egg cup and make it do some cartwheels for me."
On the whole, Kushina thought it went rather well, her Levitation Charm was certainly much better than Malfoy's had been. Though she wished silently that she hadn't mixed up the incantations for the Color Change and Growth Charms, the rat she was supposed to turn orange ended up the size of a badger before she could correct her mistake. She was glad that Hermione wasn't in the Hall at the time and neglected to mention it to her afterwards. She told Ron though, as he had caused a dinner plate to mutate into a large mushroom and had no idea how that had even happened.
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There was no time to relax that night; they all went straight to the common room after dinner and submerged themselves in revision for Transfiguration, Kushina went to bed with her head buzzing with complex spell models and theories.
She had forgotten the definition of a Switching Spell during her written paper the next morning but felt that her practical could have been a lot worse. She had never shown the same aptitude for Transfiguration as her Dad, she more than followed her Papa in being good at Defense Against the Dark Arts. But at least she had managed to vanish the whole of her iguana, whereas poor Hannah Abbott lost her head completely at the next table and somehow managed to multiply her ferret into a flock of flamingos. Which caused the whole exam to be halted for ten minutes while the birds were captured and carried out of the Hall.
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On Wednesday they had their Herbology exam, and other than a small bite from a Fanged Geranium, Kushina felt she had done rather well; then on Thursday was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Kushina knew that she had passed this test, she had no problem with any of the written questions and took great pleasure in the practical exam, performing all of the counter-jinxes and defensive spells. Remus watching from near the doors into the Entrance Hall was suppressing his proud grin as best as he could.
"Oh, bravo!" cried Professor Tofty, who was examining Kushina again, when she demonstrated a perfect Boggart banishing spell. She had glanced up at her Papa who winked at her. "Very good indeed! Well, I think that's all, Potter…unless…"
He leaned forwards a little.
"I heard, from my dear friend Tiberius Ogden, that you can produce a Patronus? For a bonus point…?"
Kushina nodded then raised her wand, looked directly at Professor Lupin and remembered what it was like to find her Dad alive.
"Expecto Patronum!"
Her silver stag erupted from the end of her wand and cantered the length of the Hall. All of the examiners looked to watch its progress, to their surprise it actually bellowed a challenge as it stood in the center of the Hall. When it finally dissolved into mist Professor Tofty clapped his veined and knotted hands enthusiastically.
"Excellent!" he said. "Very nicely done, Potter, you may go!"
As Kushina passed Remus he leaned over and said, "well done, cub." She glanced over at him and when their eyes met, twinkling gold eyes met dancing gold eyes, he grinned at her. She grinned back, because unless she was very much mistaken, (although she didn't plan on telling anyone, in case she was,) she had just received an 'Outstanding' OWL in DADA.
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On Friday, Hermione had convinced the pair to attempt the Ancient Runes exam, even if they didn't pass. Kushina looked down at the paper and was thinking to herself, 'so all I have to do is translate these runes? Huh, this should be somewhat easy to do, I mean Hermione did make me and Ron study with her this year.'
On the paper it said, translate the following runes:
The first rune was one that looked like an arrow pointing up; Kushina recognized it as Tiwaz, or at least she thought that was it's name. She was sure that it stood for justice and balance however. The second rune looked almost like a trident or a three pronged pitchfork, she was almost certain its name was Algiz and that it stood for Defense and warding off evil.
The third rune resembled the letter p and she was absolutely certain that this was Wunjo, the rune that meant joy and wishes. While the fourth rune looked like an S, she knew very well what this rune was, it was Sowilo and it meant victory.
After the test was over, Hermione was annoyed and frustrated, Ron asked, "what's wrong?"
"I mistranslated Ehwas," she said furiously. "It means partnership not defense, I mixed it up with Eihwaz."
"Ah, well," Ron tried to comfort her, "that's only one mistake isn't it, you'll still get…"
"Oh, shut up!" Hermione cut him off angrily. "It could be the one mistake that means the difference between a pass and a fail." Hermione who seemed determined to stay in a towering temper, swept off toward the girls dormitories, slamming the door behind her.
"Such a lovely, sweet-tempered girl, she is," said Ron very quietly. As he prodded his queen forward to beat up one of Kushina's knights, he asked, "can you get Kenpachi to come by soon to calm her down?"
Kushina looked of toward the girls dorm and said, "I don't know but I'll certainly try."
Hermione's bad mood persisted until Kenpachi had been able to come by and whisk her away for three hours, returning her very much mellow and relaxed. For which the entire tower breathed a sigh of relief as before he came to get her, Hermione had gotten so bad she had already gotten on to the first years for giggling too loud in the common room.
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Kushina and Ron spent most of Saturday and Sunday revising for Potions on Monday, it had been an exam that most of the school dreaded, wondering if Professor Lily Potter's teachings would be enough to give them a passing grade.
The written paper was a bit difficult, though she did think that she might get full marks on the question concerning Polyjuice Potion; as her and Ron could describe it's effects very well. Having taken it illegally in their second year, they could describe its effects to an alarming degree.
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The afternoon practical was not at all dreadful as they had been expecting it to be. With not having Snape breathing down their necks most of the students were able to concentrate on their potions. Each student was given a different potion to make and the ingredients were already at their stations, shielding charms were cast on each area so that no one could mess up another persons potion on purpose.
Kushina stared down at her potion, she recognized it right off the bat, as it was already slightly prepared for her. She noticed that the cauldron had stewed lacewing flies in it, she had by some odd coincidence gotten the Polyjuice Potion. She added two leeches to the stewed lacewing flies before adding a handful of knotgrass. She let it simmer for three hours, after the three hours were up, Kushina had read her book while waiting for the potion to finish simmering. She then added the fluxweed to the potion before she added the powdered bicorn horn. Next came the boomslang skin, she then signaled the examiner that she was finished.
Professor Marchbanks said, "alright dear, we'll test it out in a minute, just keep it simmering for now." She then stepped away from Kushina and announced, "step away from your cauldron's please, the examination is over." After the students had poured the potions into their sample flasks, Professor Marchbanks poured an amount of Kushina's potion into a glass and asked the class for a volunteer.
Hermione stepped forward, Madam Marchbanks plucked a strand of hair from Kushina's head, Kushina didn't even flinch. She'd been cut, stabbed and strangled, having her hair pulled wasn't going to kill her. Madam Marshbanks dropped the strand of hair into the potion sample and the sample turned into the same color gold as her eyes.
The examiner then handed the glass to Hermione and said, "drink this dear."
Hermione looked down at it and quipped, "well at least you look appetizing Kushina."
Kushina rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, "yay, my greatest wish in life has been fulfilled, I'm appetizing."
Hermione gulped down the potion and after it was all gone she doubled over and grabbed her stomach. To the shock of the students watching they saw Hermione's brown bushy hair become blood red with golden streaks while her brown eyes changed to gold. Hermione blinked slightly while looking around before she remarked, "wow, Kushina you're really blind without your glasses." Thankfully there wasn't much differences in their heights so Hermione wasn't tripping over her own robes, though her shoes were just a hair too loose. Hermione didn't bother changing clothes, as she said, "what would be the point? I'd just have to change back in an hour anyway."
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"Only four exams left," Parvati Patil said wearily while they all walked back to Gryffindor tower after dinner. Hermione had changed back half way through dinner.
"Only!" Hermione said snappishly. "I've got Arithmancy and it's probably the toughest subject there is!"
As nobody was foolish enough to snap back at her, she was unable to vent her spleen on any of them and was reduced to yelling at the twins when they were entertaining the first years. Hermione had again convinced Kushina and Ron to take an exam for a class they didn't even attend so when the Arithmancy exam came around all three took it. Ron said as they exited the classroom, "if I pass that test it'll be a miracle."
The same afternoon was the Care of Magical Creatures exam, the trio were determined to do well so as to not let Hagrid down. The practical exam was held right on the lawn at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where students were required to correctly identify the Knarl hidden among a dozen hedgehogs, (the trick was to offer them all milk in turn: Knarls go berserk at what they see as an attempt to poison them;) then demonstrate correct handling of a Bowtruckle; feed and clean out a Fire Crab without sustaining serious burns; and finally choose, from a wide selection of food, the diet they would give a sick Unicorn.
Kushina could see Hagrid watching anxiously out of his cabin window. When Kushina's examiner, a plump little witch this time, smiled at her and told her that she could leave, she gave him a thumbs up before heading back to the castle.
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The Astronomy theory paper on Wednesday morning went well enough, Kushina was not all that convinced that she got the names of all of Jupiter's moons right, but she was fairly confident that none of them was inhabited by mice. They had to wait until evening for their practical Astronomy exam so the afternoon was devoted to Divination instead.
Even by Kushina's low standards in Divination, the exam went very badly. She might as well have tried to see moving pictures on the desktop as in the stubbornly blank crystal ball; she lost her head completely during the tea-leaf reading, saying to her that it looked like Madam Marshbanks would be meeting a short, soggy, round dark stranger and rounded off the whole fiasco by mixing up the life and head lines on her palm and informing her that she ought to have died the previous Tuesday.
"Well, we always knew we were going to fail that one anyway," Ron commented as they ascended the marble staircase. He had just made Kushina feel better by telling him how he had told the examiner in detail about the ugly man with a wart on his nose in his crystal ball only to look up and realize that he was describing his examiner's reflection.
"We really shouldn't have taken the stupid subject in the first place," Kushina muttered.
"Still, at least we can give it up now," Ron said cheerfully.
"Yeah," she said. "No more pretending we care what happens when Jupiter and Uranus get too friendly."
"And from now on, I don't care if my tea-leaves spell, 'die, Ron, die' I'm just chucking them in the bin, where they belong." Ron said viciously. Kushina laughed at his antics just as they walked in the common room to find Hermione going over her star charts.
She looked up and asked, "so how did it go?"
Kushina and Ron looked at each other and chorused, "don't ask."
Hermione laughed, she was finally starting to relax as the end of the exams was upon them, they only had two more days to go before they were finished with them. She shook her head and said, "come on we got just enough time to have a quick look over of our star charts before dinner."
When they reached the top of the Astronomy tower at eleven o'clock, the students found a perfect night for stargazing, cloudless and still. The grounds were bathed in silvery moonlight, there was a slight chill in the air. Each of them set up their telescopes and when Professor Marchbanks gave the word began filling in the blank star chart they had been given.
Professor Marchbanks and Tofty strolled among them, watching as they entered the precise positions of the stars and planets they were observing. All was quiet except for the rustle of parchment, the occasional creak of a telescope as it was adjusted on its stand, and the scribbling of may quills. Half an hour passed then an hour; little squares of reflected gold light that flickered on the ground below started to vanish as the lights in the castle windows were extinguished.
An hour afterward the Astronomy Practical was over with and the students trudged down to their common rooms.
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The next day was History of Magic, it was only a written and was to be taken in the afternoon due to how late the Astronomy Exam was held.
Kushina answered the questions as best as she could but much like the rest of the class, however almost all of them were sure none of them had gotten an 'Outstanding' on the test. Well that is except for the Ravenclaws, the history fanatics and Hermione.
The day after the History of Magic exam was the Muggle Studies exam, again Hermione convinced Ron and Kushina to take a test to a class they didn't even attend. Kushina stared down at the exam and thought to herself, 'this is the test? This is what some people have a hard time passing? Are they idiots!' She noticed Ron had much the same expression on his face, then again he did spend part of the summer in a muggle house, so he did learn most of this stuff on his own.
She sighed but gamely began to answer the questions.
Muggle Studies Exam
Kushina Ruri Potter-Lupin, Gryffindor Fifth Year
1.) What is a Telephone? A muggle device that enables you to use the buttons to call a specific person. It is similar to Floo Calling but without being able to see the other person.
2.) What is a toaster? A device Muggles use to toast bread.
3.) What is a fridge? Similar to a cooling cabinet, muggles invented a device to keep food cool so it will not spoil.
4.) What is a freezer? A muggle invention that allows food to be frozen, thus allowing muggles to store food longer.
5.) What is a VCR? A device to play Video Cassettes, which is like a cross between a pensive and a magical photo.
6.) Television? A device you use in conjunction with the VCR to watch Video cassettes if you do not have one then the VCR is useless.
7.) Cable? Similar to Video Cassettes but you only need a Television to watch it.
8.) how do Muggles send mail? Other muggles deliver the mail to your home, or wherever you have addressed the mail. Only one stamp is necessary to send a single letter.
9.) what purpose does a Rubber Duck serve? Muggles give them to their children to play with while in the bath. Most muggles stop playing with Rubber Ducks after turning eight or before then.
10.) What is a bicycle? It is a device built by muggles to transport a single person, a bicycle has two wheels, of which the back one is connected by chain to a pair of pedals that you use to move the bike forward or backward. The front wheel is connected to bar leading up to a set of handles thus allowing you to control where the bike goes.
11.) List Five Muggle Sports: Baseball, Rugby, Football, Basketball, and Hockey.
12.) describe the proper way to dress in the muggle world: Men wear pants and a shirt, depending upon their job is how well they dress. If they have a business job, then they usually dress in a suit. Women can wear a dress or a skirt and blouse, or even wear pants and a shirt. Children dress much like an adult does, however they tend to wear jeans and a tee shirt. But some girls prefer to wear dresses, blouses and skirts to jeans and a shirt.
13.) Describe in your own words what a movie is. See question number five.
14.) List Five common buildings in Muggle towns. Library, Police Station, Fire station, Court house and Jail.
15.) List Five Wizards or Witches known to muggles: Merlin, Morgana, Circe, Claudius Ptolemy, and Nicolas Flamel.
She turned the paper over and sat back to wait for the examiner to declare the test over, which they did ten minutes later. As the trio walked out of the classroom, Ron said, "that wasn't very hard at all."
Hermione nodded and commented, "that's one reason I dropped the class. I mean I already knew the stuff they were teaching, a muggleborn or muggle raised child grows up knowing all of this."
The Exam had been held early in the morning so the trio was free for the rest of the day, Hermione decided to head to the library to look up something. Ron went to go read his book series and Kushina wandered around for a while before she decided to go see Sirius. He had been cooped up inside his and Severus quarters while the exams were taking place, the excuse the teachers had given the students was due to the age of the examiners they didn't want to frighten them to death by seeing a dog that greatly resembled a grim. As she walked down the hallway to the dungeon she remembered a conversation the trio had with Sirius.
Sirius was eight months pregnant and although he was showing throughout the months of the pregnancy, he had only truly started showing in the last month. Hermione had asked him why, he told her that, "all male pregnancies stay at a certain point of the body until about four to five weeks before the child is ready to come out of the mother. In other words Hermione, the kids merely announcing that it'll be wanting out soon."
Ron had blanched at that and said, "I'm grateful that I'm interested in a girl. No offense Sirius but I just couldn't see how I would be able to cope with being pregnant."
Sirius had laughed and said, "none taken, I think Severus is more panicked then I am. But you can tell he's excited as well, I think he'd completely given up on being a father. Most of the people who are in Azkaban for a long time, they end up infertile. At least that what the medical scans show anyway." He had shrugged but showed them the nursery which was decorated with a savannah theme, it didn't have paintings of animals but just the grassy plain and the fathomless sky.
Sirius had shrugged and said, "after spending twelve years in a gray cell. I figured freedom would be the best theme to have."
Since neither of the men had wanted to know the sex of the child until it was born, everyone had gifted them with neutral colored baby clothing and other items. All of the stuffed animals were boy and girl friendly. All of the animagus had gotten or made stuffed animals of their animal forms, James's stag was next to Remus' wolf. While Sirius's dog was next to Severus's lion. While the trio's animagus' forms were sitting on a shelf above the crib. The crib had all of the animals carved in it, but there was a blank spot on the center of the headboard of it, when asked about it Severus had said, "that's where the baby's name will go after it's born."
When questioned on it Severus had just muttered, "we'll just carve another when we have the next baby."
Sirius had been surprised that Severus wanted another after this one, Kushina on the other hand just smiled knowingly, she didn't bother to tell them that the next one would be carried by Severus and not until their first was five years old. She decided against telling them that their first would be rather mischievous and have a rather strange partner in pranks. Let her godfathers figure it out on their own, after all surprises are what make life fun.
She shook herself out of her reverie and knocked on the guardian portraits frame, when the guardian appeared she gave it the password. She knew that Severus was busy teaching the sixth years so Sirius would be alone in their quarter. Sirius came out of the nursery, and said, "hey kiddo. What brings you down here?"
She smiled impishly, "what? Can't a godchild come visit her godfather without having an outside motive?" She asked teasingly.
Sirius hummed and said, "let me think… Nope!" With that he let her in, and the pair shut the door behind them.
