Chapter 60: Exam Time

"...and...you may begin," Professor Vector announced. After a crazy weekend of revision and detention it was finally here: the moment of truth. My first exam was arithmancy, which I was confident I would do well in because it was one of my favorite subjects.

I flipped the exam over and plunged into the first number chart enthusiastically and before I knew it, I was finished and the exams were flying off of our desks and into Professor Vector's outstretched arms.

I didn't have time to feel nervous as I slipped into an empty broom cupboard to go back in time for my transfiguration exam, but when it was over and Professor McGonagall ushered us all out of the classroom, I began to panic for ancient runes and charms that afternoon. I was already getting a headache from my morning exams and I had to get through two more. I was pretty sure Professor McGonagall was trying to torture me by putting four exams on the first day. Especially since this was the only day when I had overlapping exams.

I was too nervous to eat so I re-read the last five chapters of The Standard Book of Spells Grade 3 over lunch, much to Harry and Ron's annoyance since I read it out loud under my breath to better remember the words.

I went to charms first, and when that was over I returned to the past to go to my ancient runes exam. I hadn't studied as much of ancient runes as I would have liked, and I panicked half-way through when I couldn't remember if the rune I was meant to translate meant bumblebee or river. When the exam was over, I couldn't dwell on it because I had to get started revising for care of magical creatures, potions and astronomy.

Despite the hectic demands of my revision and exam schedule, it wasn't until Thursday I ran into a major problem. It was our defence against the dark arts exam and Professor Lupin had decided to create some sort of obstacle course that we had to pass through that contained many of the creatures we had learned about this year. Harry did excellently and then Ron went but got stuck in the marsh, which I guessed had contained a hinkypunk.

When my turn finally came, I entered the obstacle course to find myself faced with a pool with a grindylow. I paused and recalled the lesson on grindylows before reciting the spell needed to stop them from attacking. I moved on then to a path with a bunch of potholes in it containing red caps. I waited by each pothole for the red caps to emerge and then shot them with a hex before moving on.

Next was the marsh where Ron got stuck and sure enough there was a hinkypunk trying to misdirect me. I did a quick spell to show me the correct path and ignored the creature that was trying to point me in the other direction. When I emerged from the marsh, I could see I was almost at the end. All I had to do was battle with whatever was in the trunk ahead and I would be done.

I carefully climbed into the trunk and said "lumos," a ball of light appearing on the tip of my wand. I peered around, looking for whatever I had to fight, when suddenly instead of a dark creature, Professor McGonagall emerged from the shadows.

"Professor McGonagall?" I asked, confused.

"Ms. Granger, I am very disappointed in you," Professor McGonagall said, looking down at me.

"W-why?" I asked, biting my lip.

"You failed each and every one of your exams. What do you have to say for yourself? I gave you that time turner so that you could attend more classes because you were a star student! What have you been doing all year? What a waste. Do you realized how much I personally invested in you this year? Not only did I put my reputation on the line to get you that time turner, I personally saw to your wellbeing all year at the expense of my own. And then you disappointed me by lying to me over and over again, abusing the privileges given to you, and all for nothing! You're a disgrace Ms. Granger, a disappointment to me, to Professor Dumbledore, and the entirety of Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said.

"I f-f-f-f-f-failed?" I finally managed to get out, tears burning behind my eyes. How was this possible? I thought I'd done alright on my exams. Maybe I could have done better, but I hadn't thought I'd done so bad that I'd failed!

"You did indeed," Professor McGonagall said, pulling out a sheet of paper and shoving it in my face

Ancient Runes: Troll

Astronomy: Troll

Arithmancy: Troll

Care of Magical Creatures: Troll

Charms: Troll

Defence Against the Dark Arts: Troll

Herbology: Troll

History of Magic: Troll

Muggle Studies: Troll

Potions: Troll

Transfiguration: Troll

"What do you call this? Failure! You're a disappointment Ms. Granger! A disappointment and a waste of my energy!" Professor McGonagall continued to yell at me as I burst into tears and ran out of the trunk. I intended to bypass my class and find an empty bathroom where I could cry for hours, but Professor Lupin stopped me, concern etched across his face as if he didn't already know.

Then he insisted it had only been a boggart, and it occurred to me that the middle of an exam was an awfully strange time for Professor McGonagall to declare that I'd failed all my exams. And how could I have already failed Muggle Studies? I wasn't meant to write it until that afternoon.

I continued to cry for a while longer though, now terrified that I really had failed everything and that Professor McGonagall would tell me so tonight when I went to return the time turner. My stomach twisted into knots. I had already failed defence against the dark arts, obviously, because I hadn't even realized Professor McGonagall was a boggart. I only had one chance left to prove I wasn't a disappointment and it was my muggle studies exam this afternoon.

I pulled out my textbook and buried myself in it, refusing to eat anything more than a slice of bread that Ron had to butter for me. When it was time for my exam, I made my way to Professor Burbage's classroom with wobbly legs and sat down at my desk, staring at the exam sitting upside down on the desk.

"You may begin," Professor Burbage said all too soon, and I flipped the exam over and stared at the first page, none of the words sinking in. I knew it. I was going to fail. I had no idea what to write, I had no idea even how to read.

Then, a little voice perked up in the back of my mind. "You can do this," it said. "You grew up as a muggle, this should be easy!"

I realized the voice was right and took a deep breath before re-reading the first question again.

Explain the term 'electricity' and why it is important to muggles.

I could do this. This was easy. I answered the question quickly and flew through the rest of the exam, handing it in with a smile on my face and then running off to join Harry and Ron in the common room.

"Where's Harry?" I asked when I entered the common room to find Ron playing chess with himself.

"Still with Trelawney," Ron replied. "She saw us individually."

"See anything?" I snickered, the thought of trying to see something through the ridiculous fog in the crystal balls making me laugh.

"Nah, just made some stuff up," Ron replied as he re-set the board so we could play properly.

Suddenly, there was a rapping at the window next to us, so I opened it and an owl flew onto the table, holding its leg out to me. There was a scroll tied to it, so I removed it and unrolled it, wondering what it could be.

"What is it?" Ron asked as I stared down at the note incomprehensibly. It was from Hagrid. The appeal Ron and Harry had worked on had been lost. The execution had been set for tonight.

Wordlessly, I handed the note over and waited for Ron to read it through.

"I can't believe – after all that work – " Ron said in disbelief.

"I know," I muttered. This felt worse than when we'd lost the original case, somehow. This time there would be no second chances.

All the worries that had been floating around in my head disappeared and Ron and I just sat there in the shock and the sadness as we tried to figure out how we could lend our support. It was late, too late to be wandering around outside, Harry especially.

When Harry returned from his final exam, we showed him the letter and he lamented that the invisibility cloak would have been perfect for this situation, if not for the fact that he'd left it in the Hogsmeade passageway the last time he'd visited the village.

I decided to forgo my lecture about the dangers of sneaking into Hogsmeade when a cold-blooded murderer is out looking for you and instead decided we needed to get the cloak back. It would be less suspicious for me to retrieve it, so I got the directions from Harry and then set out, with plans to meet up with the boys again after. We would set out after dinner, closer to the time of the execution when Hagrid would need us the most.