Chapter 52

The actual NEWTs passed in a flurry of frantic studying, stressed pacing, and ungodly hours. Aidan doubted he would remember much else of the month as everything blurred together in one great mass within his memories. Occasionally, he wondered if it would have been the same if it were Hermione and Ron beside him instead of the Court. If it would be different with Hermione nagging him instead of a combination of Tom, Dorea, and occasionally Theo, with Ron always complaining about them needing a break from all the studying instead of Abraxas and Charlus.

Aidan didn't know if, somehow, it would simply feel different writing the most important examinations of his life with people he had known since first year, among a bunch of Gryffindors instead of the Court and many other Slytherins, among people whose views of him could have changed with whatever light the Prophet had decided to paint him with for that year.

It didn't matter though. However different it would have been, that didn't change the fact that Aidan was here, with the Court. Wishing and wondering wouldn't change that, and he doubted he would ever write his NEWTs again.

Not that he would want to. The stress in the air was nearly palpable, and threatened to drown him as Hermione surely would have with her study timetables, for her and for him and Ron, and glares when he took a moment to absently stare out a window. Not that Tom didn't glare at him whenever he was caught staring out a window anyway.

Or Dorea.

Or Theo.

Or an irate Ravenclaw with too many books in their hands. Then again, most of the Ravenclaws in his year looked like they were on the verge of mental breakdown. Their eyes were lined with red from the lack of sleep, and their hands shook from the exhaustion of studying as hard as they were. The Hufflepuffs had taken to leaving food in the library for the Ravenclaws because the Ravenclaw table was nearly empty during meal times. Aidan was sure the house elves would have been delighted with the extra work, possibly leaving food in the Ravenclaw common room.

Finally, the day of their last NEWT had arrived. Every face Aidan saw was covered in a mix of relief, dread, and utter exhaustion, and Aidan doubted he looked much better. Tom was one of the few, perhaps the only one to be brutally honest, who looked as calm as he had in the beginning of the year. Clearly the NEWTs hadn't gobbled him, chewed him, then spat him back out like poison as it had the rest of them.

They had a week left to wander the corridors and walls of Hogwarts, and somehow that just made everything they did different. Every meal was eaten slowly, and they simply sat there long after the food on the tables had disappeared. Everything they did, every corridor, was something they may never see again. The trip stair became something every Gryffindor made sure they got stuck in at least once during that week, to the amusement of everyone.

The Professors just watched them in amusement, knowing nothing they did would stop any of the madness that seemed to have taken hold of the Seventh Years. Aidan certainly didn't remember any of this happening in his memory, neither the previous year, nor in his own time, but he supposed Grindelwald's defeat had added to the atmosphere. Unfortunately, NEWTs hadn't been something Dumbledore could give them a break on here, as he had done when he was Headmaster in the future.

Everyone had made their plans for the future years ago, but all of it was only hitting them now. They were officially adults, and soon they would have to rely only on themselves. Soon they would have jobs and be getting married, on the journey to watching their own children experience everything they had, and finally repeat the process they had as they parents had done before them. The muggleborns had to make their decision on whether or not their seven years at Hogwarts was enough to convince them to stay within the wizarding world, or if they were going to disappear back into the muggle one. They were all facing the decisions they had thought they had already made, but realised that they had never been ready for it. The pride they knew they would see on their parents' faces as they were picked up for the last time, mostly picked up because their parents had been nostalgic at the thought and they wouldn't admit it but that nostalgia was beginning to hit them as well, even though they could all easily apparate back to their respective homes.

At this point, Aidan doubted he was ever going back. He had been in this time for too long, and he hadn't made any effort to return to his own time. He had grown too comfortable here, and that was somewhat dangerous to be honest, and leaving this time would be like leaving Hogwarts. It almost felt like Aidan had been born in this time, and his past memories felt more like vague dreams he had long ago. He knew they weren't just dreams, but that no longer changed the fact that it felt differently. It felt like Aidan belonged here.

Here, where he was Dumbledore's godson, and strangely good at Defence Against the Dark Arts, where everything he had done had been a mixture of luck and his own ability, and not some chance that was more likely the magic of his mother and father than Aidan.

"Aidan, I want to start looking for a place. For us," Tom said suddenly.

"Well, you certainly aren't going back to that orphanage," Aidan teased. "I think I'd stuff you in the Come-and-Go room if you tried, and make sure there's no door."

Tom snorted. "Of course you will."

"It would work. Trust me," Aidan said with a grin, before sobering, "I do know what you mean, though, even Dumbledore has mentioned it. He even offered to give us the money from his vaults, but I think it would feel better, more like our home, if we managed to pay for it ourselves."

Tom drew Aidan closer to him, and Aidan's arms moved automatically to wrap around the other boy, his head on Tom's chest and ear over his heart. The rest of the Court were lying on the grass near them with Rachel and Minerva splashing around in the lake. Aidan was sure Dan and Theo would have been delighted to join them if they were given half an opportunity, but the two had their wands in their hands within seconds of either Dan or Theo standing.

"My thoughts exactly."

"Anywhere that you were thinking of in particular?"

"Not really. I haven't exactly been to a lot of the wizarding villages," Tom admitted. "I don't really know if I'd like it there. So we'll just have to look around, and find a house we like. Both of us."

Suddenly, Aidan was glad. Glad that he had arrived in this time, glad that he had met Tom, under different circumstances and had been able to meet the real Tom, and not Voldemort.