It had been roughly ten weeks since the return to school, people had finally stopped talking about the Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw Quidditch match, and the events of the night that followed.
Sirius Black had attempted a second break into Gryffindor tower, and this time he had succeeded. However, instead of attacking Harry Potter like everyone believed he was trying to do, he attacked Ronald Weasley, instead. Harry Potter's best friend.
"Maybe that's his intention," Derrick had suggested. After the attack, Professor Snape had called an emergency meeting in the Slytherin common room to warn his students about the trouble. He hadn't left them much time to speculate as he had sent them all to bed straight after, but the next morning the theories started.
Derrick had been sat in the Great Hall eating breakfast during the time, and the look he received from his friends was one of confusion.
"You don't think he is after Potter?" Daphne asked. "But, why go after Weasley? Weasley has no connection to the Dark Lord, does he?"
Derrick shrugged. "I don't know," he answered. "But why chose Weasley's bed if he wasn't after him?"
"Honest mistake, maybe," said Adrian. "We can guess that the Gryffindor dorms are the same as ours. Maybe he just chose Weasley's bed by mistake."
"Then why not move on when he realised that mistake?"
Teddie stared at Derrick from across the table.
"Do you have a theory?" Derrick asked her. "You look like you do. Or don't you care again?"
Teddie shrugged. "Not really my business," she said. "But, I overheard Thomas and Finnigan saying that they heard a tearing noise, and seconds later Weasley was screaming."
"Where did you hear that?" Theo asked.
"They were coming off the Marble Staircase when I was coming up from the dungeons this morning," said Teddie. "If Black did choose Weasley's bed by accident, maybe he made such a racket getting through the curtains that he didn't have time to move onto another bed."
Adrian looked considerate. "She's got a point," he agreed, going back to his cereal.
"But otherwise you don't care?" Derrick asked, his gaze still on Teddie.
"Quite frankly, no," Teddie answered. "For once in my three years of Hogwarts, I have almost made it to the end of the year where no one has possessed me or planned to abduct me. I would like to keep it that way, and by going around snooping after Black isn't going to help me."
"It isn't quite the end of the year yet," said Blaise. "Quirrell abducted you at the end of our exams, and that's in a couple of weeks.."
Teddie narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't jinx me," she warned.
"And, technically, you abducted yourself last year," Daphne teased. "Sure, you were possessed, and whatnot."
"Not helping!" Teddie cried.
The others chuckled and Teddie huffed in annoyance.
~X~
"Exams? But we've only just come back after Christmas!" Mason exclaimed one afternoon in the library. It was after school hours, and the watch on his wrist read 6:00 pm.
Teddie shared a grin with Theo as Mason collapsed back into his chair.
"You're exactly like your sister," said Blaise, shaking his head and opening another Potions book. "Why the tone of surprise, Mason? You knew these were coming."
Mason nodded. "Yes, but in like more than ten weeks," he said, pushing one book away and pulling another towards him. "I am nowhere near ready for my exams."
"Are you kidding me?" Astoria asked. "You've been studying for the last two weeks. You even ask Cassie, Jasmine, and I to quiz you in the common room."
"Let me guess, Mason, you've got flash cards, too?" Teddie asked.
Mason's eyes widened and his mouth formed an 'O'.
"Uh, Mason, you alright?" Daphne asked, waving her hand in front of his face. She turned to Teddie when Mason didn't respond. "I think you broke him."
Teddie rolled her eyes and threw a rubber at her brother. It hit him in the forehead and Mason snapped back.
"Flashcards!" Mason cried. "I forgot about flashcards!"
Teddie groaned.
"Flashcards?" Astoria asked. She looked confused between the siblings, and then around at the others. "Does someone want to explain to me what flash cards are?"
Teddie folded a spare piece of parchment in half, tore it apart, folded both pieces again, and tore it once more. She then proceeded to write basic spells on one side of the paper, before flipping it over and writing historical facts, potion ingredients and other useful information on the second side.
Once she was finished, Teddy handed them to Astoria.
"Flashcards," said Teddie. "Use to help you memorise things before a big exam or test. One side usually has a question, and the other side has the answer. Our dad taught us how to use flashcards when we were in our muggle school. It never really helped me, but Mason loved it."
Mason eyed the spare parchment he had in his bag. "I could make myself some now, or I could finish this essay for Professor McGonagall," he said.
"I'd finish the essay first," Adrian said. "Professor McGonagall isn't a woman you want to trifle with."
"I never said I wouldn't finish the essay," said Mason, looking scandalous. "I only have three-quarters of it left to write."
Astoria looked surprised. "How did you get so far ahead?" she asked. "You only started that last night!"
"You haven't been pulling all-nighters, have you, Mason?" Teddie asked.
"No," said Mason, quickly. A little too quickly.
Teddie shot him an unimpressed look.
Mason sighed. "It was one night," he said. "I couldn't sleep, so I decided to get ahead in my work. I'm sorry."
Teddie shook her head. Mason had always been an academic, even in the muggle world. More than once she had awoken to find him doing his homework in the middle of the night, once or twice, while she had been trying to coax him back into bed their parents had heard them and come to investigate. They'd both been grounded for being awake after hours.
"Make sure it doesn't happen again," said Teddie. "You know Mum and Dad won't approve. Not that I would tell them, but you know if you get caught, someone else will."
Mason nodded and dropped his bag onto the floor. "Alright," he said, heavily. "I'll finish my essay now and work on some flashcards tonight."
"But our exams are next week," said Astoria. "Surely, it's too late for them?"
"Trust me, Tori," said Teddie, shaking her head. "It's never too late."
~X~
Exam week began and an unnatural hush fell over the castle. Theo, Teddie, Daphne, and Blaise emerged from the Transfiguration classroom on Monday morning after two hours of trying to turn a kettle into a tortoise.
"Was it supposed to still spout steam?" Blaise asked. "Because, I tried to correct it, but it didn't seem to work."
Daphne shook her head. "At least yours didn't have a tail at the end," she bemoaned. "I hope that doesn't work against me."
"Mine still looked like a teapot," said Teddie. "It wasn't spouting steam, but you could still take its shell off. I'm also pretty sure it wasn't alive, either."
"Mine still had the pattern!" Theo said. "I've never seen a tortoise with a willow-patterned shell before, have you?"
Teddie cracked her neck as she rolled her head across her shoulders. "It's the magical world," she said. "Nothing is supposedly normal here. Maybe it'll work in your favour? You know, points for creativity or something.2
"And if it doesn't?" Theo asked.
"Then we can all proudly admit that we failed Transfiguration together," said Teddie. She grinned as the others groaned and rolled their eyes.
After a hasty lunch, a quick catch up with the others - Marcus, Derrick, and Adrian was sitting their NEWTs this year, and they had just completed their Potions one.
"It was a nightmare!" Adrian groaned. "I respect Professor Snape, I really do. But when he is breathing down your neck, it just doesn't make things easier."
"Tell me about it," said Teddie. "I had to refrain myself from glaring at him in the first year. It's intimidating when he is watching over your shoulder."
"You're more likely to make a mistake, too," said Mason. He and his friends had joined the Slytherin's for lunch. "If you're focused on who is watching, you're not focused on what you're doing."
Once lunch was over, the friends dispersed in the Entrance Hall, with Teddie and her friends heading back upstairs to the Charms classroom. This was one exam that Teddie wasn't nervous for, she loved Charms and always managed to put 110% into her work - both written and practical.
After dinner, the students returned either to their common rooms or the library, to cram in more information for their exams the next day.
For Mason, Astoria, Jasmine, and Cassie it was History of Magic, Charms, and Transfiguration.
For Marcus, Derrick, and Adrian it was Arithmancy, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Care of Magical Creatures.
And for Teddie, Theo, Daphne, and Blaise, their three exams for Tuesday was Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, and, in Theo and Teddie's case, Ancient Runes.
~X~
"This has got to be the easiest exam we have ever sat," Daphne whispered as she tossed a random piece of fruit at a Flobberworm. Their task was to keep a group of flobberworms alive by the end of the one-hour exam.
Teddie made a small noise of agreement but her attention was no longer on the task at hand. Instead, she was staring over at where Harry Potter was talking with Hagrid. She could only hear snatches of their conversation, but what had spiked her attention was the words 'Buckbeak' and 'Execution'.
"Hey, you okay?" Theo asked, nudging Teddie.
"I just realised," Teddie said, turning back to her friends. "We never heard anything more about Malfoy and the attack from Buckbeak."
"Maybe nothing did come of it," said Blaise. "Malfoy just got a telling off and the situation was let go."
Teddie shook her head. "I don't think so," she said. "I think something bad may have happened."
"Why do you say that?" Daphne asked.
"Because they're talking about an execution," said Teddie, nodding at the Gryffindor trio and Hagrid. "And they just mentioned Buckbeak."
Blaise looked over at the trio and then back at Teddie. "If the Ministry believes that foul play was involved that day, then they are more than capable of sentencing Buckbeak to death," he said. "They'll get the Committee of Dangerous Creatures involved."
"But they can only do it after Buckbeak has been found guilty," said Theo. "There has to be a trial and everything."
"And if there had been a trial, Malfoy would've been boasting about it," Daphne agreed. "And he hasn't."
"That we know of," said Teddie. "He's not allowed anywhere near me, remember? Besides, I'm not close friends with Hagrid. Boasting to me about Buckbeak isn't going to get the type of reaction he might get from Harry and his friends."
Daphne glanced over at the group of four when the bell rang across the grounds.
The exam was over.
Their flobberworms had survived, which meant they had passed.
That afternoon, Teddie found herself in the Potions classroom with Theo opposite her. There were only enough tables for a recommended number of students, and each one had to stand opposite the other on the other side of the table, in order to prevent cheating and copying.
An arrange of potion ingredients littered the table between the two students, and a sheet of paper containing the potion they should have been creating, along with a list of instructions resided beside them.
Before the exam began, Teddie chanced a glance around the room. The only people who seemed to be paired with someone they either knew, were friends with, or usually partnered up within Potions were the Slytherins, the Gryffindors were jumbled around the room.
Teddie caught Harry's eye as he looked up, they both smiled and then got straight to work when Professor Snape told them to start.
Just like he had done the years before, Professor Snape walked around the room, peering into students' cauldrons to check on their progress. He stopped behind Theo and Teddie glanced up momentarily, and caught his gaze. She frowned at him and then went back to her own potion.
The interaction may have seemed for nothing, but when he had finished with Theo, Professor Snape rounded the table and stood behind Teddie. He stooped down, as if to inspect her potion at a close angle, and then whispered: "Eyes on your own work, Miss Green."
Teddie shivered as the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. As then he was gone, wandering away to intimidate someone else. Teddie let out the breaths he had been holding and looked back at her potion.
~X~
Finally, Thursday came around, bringing with it the end of the exams. Wednesday had seen Teddie sitting her History of Magic and Herbology.
Today, however, she was sitting her Muggle Studies, and Defence Against the Dark Arts.
Professor Lupin had compiled together a sort of obstacle course outside in the sunshine. It covered every creature they had learned about in his class.
Upon entering the course, Teddie found herself face-to-face with a paddling pool containing Grindylows. It was almost waist deep, and she found it rather difficult to wade through as every now and again a Grindylow would wrap its tentacles around her ankle and attempt to pull her under.
But, Teddie managed to climb out of the other side of the pool and venture on to her next task. The second task consisted of several potholes lingering around the place and they were full of Red Caps, remembering her lessons, and revision with Marcus the previous evening, Teddie managed to get out with only a few scratches.
The third task was a patch of marsh that was being haunted by a Hinkypunk. Teddie tried her hardest to ignore the lure of the Hinkypunk as it shouted either false or wrong directions at her.
The fourth, and final task, Teddie found was an old trunk that contained a Boggart. Fear struck Teddie to the core as she reached the edge of the trunk and looked down. Her fear was simple - Professor Quirrell. His stalking of her in the first year, and then his final abduction, still caused her terror even now.
It was like her friends had said back then - "You're supposed to feel safe with a Professor, and you don't with Quirrell" - and they were right. She hadn't felt safe with Quirrell, he had stalked her, kidnapped her, and forced her, against her will, to take the Philosopher's Stone from a mirror in order for him to give to his Master. Lord Voldemort.
The nightmares of that day still lingered in her mind and seeped into her dreams during the nights. Over the summer between first and second year, she had awoken from nightmares where she had failed to destroy the Stone in time, and Voldemort had returned. She had been forced to watch him murder Harry, before going on to cause destruction in both the Magical and Muggle worlds.
It terrified her.
"Teddie, are you alright?" Professor Lupin asked. It had been a full five minutes since she was supposed to have finished her exam, and the person behind her couldn't conclude his final task until she had finished. With the other students complaining about the holdup, Lupin had decided to check out what was going on.
Teddie shook her head. "I don't know if I can do it, Professor," she said, quietly.
"That's okay," Professor Lupin said, gently. "But don't you at least want to try?"
"Yes, but…"
The hand on Teddie's shoulder clenched and Teddie looked up at Lupin. "Remember," he said. "You have nothing to fear, but fear itself. What happens here cannot hurt you. What your Boggart is, is not real. Alright?"
Teddie nodded and, taking a deep breath, climbed into the trunk.
Lupin smiled and left the course. Seconds ticked by and turned into minutes, and then finally, after a long five-minute wait, Teddie burst out of the trunk, her face white with terror and her breathing hard.
"Teddie!" said Theo, running over. He had finished ahead of his friend and had faced his Boggart with little to no effort. His fear had still been his father, but Theo had just envisioned Teddie there with him, just like she had been at Spinner's End the summer before, and he had felt stronger than ever.
"Teddie, are you alright?" Lupin asked.
Teddie didn't speak as she tried to calm herself. She was trembling from head to toe but she still managed to look up at Theo. "I did it…" she whispered. "I faced him…"
Theo smiled and wrapped her in a hug. "I knew you could do it," he replied. "You're Teddie Green, there's nothing you can't do."
Professor Lupin smiled at the pair and then stood back, allowing them to join the other students that had already completed their exam.
When the last student had finished their boggart, Lupin dismissed the class and they each made their way back to the castle. They had one more exam that afternoon and then it would all be over.
~X~
Teddie and Daphne's last exam was Muggle Studies; while Blaise and Theo had Arithmancy. The four friends walked up the marble staircase together after lunch and parted ways on the first-floor corridor.
"One more and it's over," said Daphne, sitting beside Teddie in the hallway outside the Muggle Studies classroom. Across from them, trying to cram in some more revision was Hermione Granger.
Teddie nodded and pulled her revision notes from her bag. She may have been a Muggle herself, but it never hurt to be prepared. Especially when one considered the inaccuracies she had found between actual Muggle lifestyle and what witches and wizards believed were true.
"Do you want me to test you?" Daphne asked.
"How about we test each other?" Teddie suggested.
"Alright.".
Teddie smiled and scanned her notes. "What year was the computer invented, and who invented it?" she asked.
Daphne screwed up her face in thought. Teddie watched her, noting how her forehead creased when she was concentrating, and her eyes brightened as she got closer to an answer. She smiled. "British mathematician Charles Babbage between 1833 and 1871," he said.
"Nice," Teddie grinned. She passed over her notes and waited for her question.
"Name four activities that Muggles do outside?" Daphne said, flipping over the parchment.
"Football, Hopscotch, Gardening, and Swimming," Teddie listed.
Daphne nodded. "You could've also chosen - play with a hose, tag, jump rope, and climbing trees," she said.
"There is a lot of things you can do outside," said Teddie. "If that question is on the test then you can't go wrong."
"What else you got?" Daphne asked.
"Mhm," said Teddie, looking thoughtfully at her notes. "Okay, well, let's flip the last question on its head and say 'What indoor activities can Muggles do?'"
Daphne bit her thumbnail. She had seen Teddie and Mason play lots of games indoors, she just couldn't remember what they were called. "Oh, wait, you said you play gobstones, but it's not called that…" she said. "What's it called?"
"Marbles?"
Teddie and Daphne looked up and across at Hermione, she was staring at them from over the top of her book.
Daphne blinked and then smiled. "That's it! Marbles," she said. "Thanks, Granger."
"How are you feeling, Hermione?" Teddie asked, setting down her notes. "Nervous?"
"A little, maybe," Hermione shrugged. "I mean, I know I should ace this test, but all exams make me nervous."
"I know the feeling," Teddie agreed. "But some of the things we've learnt in this class have been wrong. Some dates and names are incorrect, so we need to be sure that we use their version of events and not ours."
Hermione nodded in agreement.
Daphne looked between the two Muggleborns. "So, what other indoor activities can you do?" she asked. "I know Mason likes to read, but he does that outside sometimes, too," she added to Teddie.
"Indoors we can watch TV," said Teddie. "We do puzzles, play card games. We can also play Marbles inside the house, and even play hide-and-go-seek. Mason and I also like to make a tent with chairs and a bed sheet."
Daphne looked back at the notes. "So, basically you can do a lot of outdoor activities indoors?" she asked.
Teddie nodded. "Except kick a ball, and climb trees, or even go swimming," she said.
"Obviously," said Daphne, rolling her eyes. "Unless you have an indoor swimming pool."
"Hey, that is possible," said Teddie. "We just have to plug the holes in the sink and bath and leave the water running. But it costs a bomb in insurance claims and ruins everything else, so we won't do that."
Daphne shook her head and looked back at the notes. She was about to ask another question when the Muggle Studies door opened, and Professor Burbage called them in.
The room was split into separate one person desks, and each desk had a name on it.
"Find your seats," Professor Burbage said, closing the door once everyone was inside, and making her way to the front. She tapped her wand on top of a stack of papers, and the floated out into the class, dropping onto the desk in front of each participant.
Daphne sat on Teddie's left, while Hermione sat on her right. The Gryffindor looked positively ill.
"You will have one hour," said Professor Burbage. She tapped an hourglass with her wand and the sand inside it started to pour. "Start now!" she said.
There was a flutter of paper as everyone turned over their booklets, a clatter of inkwells as everyone removed the lids, and then a scratching of quills as students all over the room started to write.
Teddie took a deep breath as she read the questions and smiled. She had this exam in the bag.
No problem.
