Year One - Chapter 27
Well, there's only one more chapter left before finishing the first book. I intend to finish this story, but it lets me down a little that there are no comments, I would like to know if you're liking this or not. Also, I'm having a lot of problems with FF, the document always appears in code every time I save it, please let me know if you see it that way.
The exams begin tomorrow and I still had absolutely no idea what I was going to do, I've been studying for weeks but I still felt as if I knew nothing; for the exam I was most scared was History of Magic, it didn't matter how many times I read each chapter, I could barely remember what I had just read.
—All right, Neville, how many Valerian Springs you have to add to the Forgetfulness Potion?
—Uh... Three?
I was so tired of studying for History of Magic, besides I knew that it didn't matter how much I read, nothing would stay inside my head, so I decided to help Neville to study for the Potions exam in exchange that he would help me to study Herbology. So now we were in the gardens, resting our backs in the trunk of a tree, with a couple of books, opened around us.
—No, Nev, you only need two.
—I'm sorry, Leen…
—You don't have to apologize. You know, I don't understand why do we have to memorize all this if we can just check our books whenever we need this, right? Although, sure, I already know it by memory… —And most people wouldn't be able to do the potion even with instructions, but I kept that thought just for myself, I didn't want to make Neville feel bad just a day before the exams.
—Is it true that Professor Snape made you memorize all the potions books before coming to Hogwarts?
—What? —I chuckled.— No! Who told you that?
—I heard some guys talking about it… And well, you're good at potions.
—Why do I never know about all the gossips about me? And of course I'm good at potions, but it's not because he forced me to read the books… What else do people say about me?
—Several things, actually.
We stopped studying and Neville started to tell me all the things that people said about me, but the one that made my stomach hurt from laughing so much was that I could transform in a mini bat, just like my dad, do people really have nothing better to do?
When it started to get dark, we put our books in our bags and made a beeline to the Great Hall for dinner, we quizzed each other along the way about Potions, Herbology, and sometimes History of Magic.
—What's the Werewolf's Code of Conduct?
—I don't know. —I said.— To not bite people?
—Yes, that's one of them.
—Really? Perfect, I feel more confident that I'll do fine in History of Magic. —We sat almost at the end of the table and started to put some vegetables on my plate.— Another question, Nev.
—Who is Emeric the Evil?
—I thought it was Emeric the Oddball?
—No, that's Uric the Oddball.
—Well, there goes my confidence. You know what? I don't want to study anymore, if I do well, perfect, and if I don't, what's the worst that could happen?
Neville and I ended our dinners and headed to Gryffindor Tower, it was still early, but I didn't want to oversleep tomorrow and miss the exams.
I was about to walk up the stairs that led to the girls' dorms when I felt someone hugging me from behind and carried me to the sofas that were in front of the chimney (that it was off, thanks to Merlin, because it was so hot in here)
I removed the strands of hair that had fallen over my face and I saw Fred and George sitting in front of me. Oh, bugger. I tried to get up and run to the stairs, but one of them grabbed me by my arm and made me sit again.
—Guys, what do you want? If you didn't know, the exams start tomorrow, and I want to go to sleep early.
—Why are you ignoring us, Leen?
—What? No, I, uhm, I'm not ignoring you, I've just been busy studying, you can ask Nev, we haven't stopped studying.
—You're lying, every time we try to talk to you, you run away from us, just like you did right now. —Fred said; I sighed and slid down the sofa so much that it looked like I could fall to the floor at any moment.
—My dad found out that we went to Hogsmeade and he prohibits me from talking to you two. That's why I've been ignoring you.
—Well… It doesn't make sense that you ignore us here in the common room, he doesn't have a way to find out about it.
Oh, George, he does have a way to know about it, but I wasn't going to tell them about Legilimency.
—Uhh, I don't know… I mean, he did find a way to know that I went to Hogsmeade, I wouldn't be surprised if he finds a way to know about this. I'll rather not risk it.
I got up and now they did nothing to stop me, so I quickly ran up the stairs in case they decided to change their minds… Are all dads like this? Because sometimes I wished I had a normal dad.
I pulled out a fresh set of pyjamas from the dresser, I grabbed my toothbrush and locked myself in the bathroom; I didn't feel comfortable changing clothes in the room, even if I had the curtains of my bed closed.
When I finished, I got out of the bathroom and opened the top drawer in my nightstand and saw that I still had the rainbow-coloured ink that I had bought in Christmas. I inspected the room to confirm that I was alone in the room, so I grabbed a piece of parchment that I had laying around and wrote a little note.
Good luck this week. Although you don't need it.
I put the note on the nightstand that was next to Hermione's bed and put the ink on top of the note. I went back to my bed and got under the covers, closing the curtains completely.
Tomorrow will be the beginning of a very tiring week.
I woke up with the singing of the birds, at first I was scared thinking that I had overslept, but when I pulled one of the curtains, I saw that everyone was still sleeping, well, except for Hermione, her bed was already made and there was no sign of her anywhere.
When I looked outside the window, I could see that it was still a little bit dark, it must be sometime close to six, so I decided to take a shower and when I finished, everyone was still sleeping; I looked at the schedule that I had on the wooden board; today we had practical exams of Charms and Transfiguration.
I grabbed the books of those subjects and went to the common room, the clock in front of the chimney read that it was just 6:40, I still had time to study before going down to have breakfast. I grabbed a chair and sat in front of one of the study tables, I opened the Transfiguration book and started to read about the Avifors spell.
—Thanks.
Hermione was standing next to me, hugging several books against her chest. When did she get here?
—About what?
—The ink, I really liked it.
—Ah, that. How did you know it was from me?
—I recognized your handwriting. Funny enough, you and Professor Snape have similar handwriting.
—Oh, really? —I asked with an uninterested tone while looking at the book; I kept reading, but she was still standing next to me.— You do know that you can sit, right?
She took the chair in front of me and put her books on the table. I wasn't worried that she would interrupt me like last time, I was hoping that she would start studying for the exams as well.
—Can I ask you a question, Eileen?
—You already asked one. —To my surprise, instead of getting annoyed or something, she just chuckled.
—You're right… Uhm… I only want to know why you hate me so much.
I looked from the book to see her, confusion was written all over my face, I thought she was going to ask me something about potions or why I gave her that ink, but I was not expecting that.
—What are you talking about? I don't hate you.
—Well, is just that… I don't remember the last time we talked, only when we had Hagrid's problem, but still… You barely talked to me; you don't sit with me in class anymore…
—Gee, Hermione, I wonder why.
—I… I don't know what you're talking about.
—Wow, Granger, you truly are something. I have to go; I want to eat something before the exams. —I grabbed my stuff and put them inside my bag. Am I being too hard on her? I don't know.— If you really don't know, maybe you should think what does it feels like that your friends and who you thought was your best friend, start thinking that your father is some crazy murderer who wants to hurt kids.
After saying that, I got out of the common room, I heard her calling my name, but decided to ignore her.
I have absolutely no idea how yesterday I managed to do the exams of Charms and Transfiguration, Flitwick asked us to make a pineapple dance and I easily did it, I even managed to put a hat to the pineapple and got extra points for that, but with McGonagall, I wasn't so lucky; she asked us to turn a mouse into a snuff-box, mine had turned out pretty so she gave me extra points, but I lost them because my box still had whiskers.
But at least those two were already over, today I had Potions (easy peasy lemon squeeze), Defense Against the Dark Arts (easy) and History of Magic (difficult difficult lemon difficult)
We were outside of room 4F waiting for the History of Magic test to start while we were given special quills so that we couldn't cheat; we all entered the classroom and had to sit in alphabetical order, so I sat behind Draco and behind me was Ernie Macmillan.
—Good luck, Draco.
—Ha! I don't need it.
—Idiot.
—Silence. —Professor Binns said while making the exams fly from his desk to our seats.— Remember that cheating is prohibited, you don't want to know what your quills will do if you do it. You have one hour. You can start now.
I grabbed the quill and wrote my name in the paper, I started to read the questions and got excited to know that it was about the guy who invented the self-stirring cauldrons; my dad was always complaining about them, maybe what I know is not enough to get a high note, but I have no doubt that I'll get an approbatory score.
The next hours I didn't have any problem with the rest of the exams, in DADA we only had to write about Hags and for Potions we had to make the Forgetfulness Potion, obviously, I was the first one to finish it, although Hermione finished no long after me.
Neville and I walked to the library to study for Herbology and now Neville was helping me, it's nice to know that he's good at least at something.
—All right, Eileen, what do you know about the Devil's Snare?
—That it doesn't like the sun, Professor Sprout made it very clear to me.
—All right, what spell would you use to repel it?
—Let's see… —I started to bite my lip while I was thinking. I should probably stop doing that.— It doesn't like the sun, so… Lumos?
—Yes and… No. You must use Lumos Solem. Lumos is not strong enough.
—Agh, I think it's better if I just give up and fail. —I put my arms over the table and laid down my head over my arms.— You can keep studying Astronomy if you want, I'll sleep a little.
—Free, Nev! We're finally free!
We had finally finished our last exam; I think I didn't do as bad as I thought. I put my right arm over Neville's shoulders, and we started to walk to the Great Hall, I was so hungry.
We were on the first floor when we ran into my dad.
—Ah, Eileen. I need to talk to you.
—Now? Because I wanted to eat and…
—Yes, now.
He started to walk towards the Entrance Hall, so I said goodbye to Neville, telling him that I'll see him later in the common room and started to follow my dad.
—Whatever you've been told, it wasn't me. I haven't done anything else besides studying with Nev.
I looked up to see his face, he arched a brow and then shook his head.
—That is not the reason why I want to talk to you, although I hope that what you are saying is true.
—Then, what do you want to talk about?
—I will tell you once we are in my office.
When we were walking down the stairs in the Entrance Hall, I saw that Harry, Ron and Hermione were there, discussing something, Harry and Ron had their backs to us, but when Hermione saw us, she started to cough, making those two to turn around.
—Good afternoon. —My dad said, none of them said something, just started to change looks between me and my dad.— You shouldn't be inside on a day like this.
—We… —Harry started to say, but he couldn't finish his sentence.
—You should be more careful; if you are seen around here, people will think that you are up to something, and Gryffindor can't afford to lose more points, can they?
They were about to leave, but for some reason, my dad talked to them again.
—Be careful, Potter, any more night-time wanderings and I will personally make sure that you are expelled. Good day.
I couldn't avoid doing a facepalm, I can't believe he just told them that, now I know why they suspect him so much. He started to walk towards the staff room, and I followed him.
—Why did you have to say that? And why are we going to the staff room? I thought we were going to your office.
—I need to take something from there.
We got to the staff room and walked behind him, I went straight to grab one of the cookies that were in a bowl on top of a table while my dad was distracted, I was hungry because during breakfast I was so nervous that I felt I was going to throw up at any moment.
—Ah, Severus, good day. I'm happy to find you, and with Eileen! I wanted to tell you that she did an exceptional job in her exam. Congratulations, Eileen.
—Thank you, professor!
My dad turned to see me while I was trying to grab another cookie, when I saw him, I quickly dropped the cookie and put my hands behind my back, but to my surprise, he smiled a little.
—You can grab another cookie. Thank you, Filius.
He grabbed some papers that were on top of a table and opened the door while I was choosing the cookie that had the most chocolate chips on top. I heard him talking to someone outside and then came back.
—Filius, Miss Granger is looking for you. Eileen, let's go.
I went after him, eating my cookie and Hermione stared at me, she looked a little nervous, but I'm sure that is just something related to the exams. When we finally got to my dad's office, I sat in my usual chair, finishing what was left of the cookie.
—How did you do in the rest of your exams?
—Well, you already know I did excellent in Charms; I don't think I did that bad in Transfiguration, but I lost a couple of points because my snuffbox still had whiskers… Although it was really pretty so, I shouldn't have lost them!
I crossed my arms and he chuckled.
—What else?
—Oh! I didn't do as bad as I thought in History of Magic, we only had to write about Gaspard Shingleton, and since you complain every day about his self-stirring cauldrons, I could answer most of the questions. Except for the one that asked about when he was born, why do I need to know that?
—Well, now I know that you do listen to me, those cauldrons really are a disgrace to potions and…
—I know, dad, anyway, I think I didn't do that bad in the rest of my exams, and we both know I'll get the higher scores in Potions and Defense.
—All right, I hope you actually get the grades you say
—Was that what you wanted to talk about?
—No, I wanted to talk to you about Occlumency, have you been practising?
—Just a little, from time to time, I discovered that it's useful when I need to concentrate while I'm studying.
—That's good, for the moment I won't have time to help you practice, the end of the year I always have a lot of work to do, we'll have to wait until we are back home, where we'll practise every day, I really want you to master it as soon as possible. If you are still hungry, you still have time before lunch is over.
He started to grade some papers, and I just looked at him for a while, waving my legs a little, since they couldn't completely reach the floor.
—Who was it?
—What?
—Whose friendship did you lose because you couldn't control your temper? —He didn't say something, just looked at me. I started to play with my fingers with the locket that Aunt Cissy gave me before starting Hogwarts. — Was… Was it mum? That's why she's away?
—No, it was not your mother's. You'll miss lunch if you don't go now.
Knowing I wasn't going to get more information from him, I just got up, walked around his desk and hugged him a little, he just patted my left arm.
I left his office and started walking towards the Great Hall, he was right, there are only ten minutes left before lunch ends, but I have the feeling that he asked me to leave for another reason.
Why does he keep so many secrets from me?