Waking up the next morning to the sound of feet hurtling down the stairs, I got up and wandered down leisurely to find all the women up already, though Hermione was whimpering as she showed Molly a new bruise she had somehow acquired which was causing her eye to darken and swell. "What in Merlin's name happened?!"
"Something in Fred and George's room punched me!" She exclaimed so I immediately relaxed.
"Oh right, we'll that's not too bad then. I thought someone had given you a thump or something and was about to hex them." I settled, heading into the kitchen in order to make myself some coffee as Molly got out her book for minor injuries and started to try and work on the bruise. Fleur and Ginny were also up, though Ginny had positioned herself as far away from Fleur as possible, but smiled to me as I made myself a drink.
"Did you know Harry's here? Dumbledore brought him early this morning."
"He is? Well then, looks like the famous trio are all back together again. Let's see what chaos and plots they uncover this time?" I joked, taking a sip of my dark coffee as Hermione sat perfectly still for Molly who started to grow a little uneasy as the bruise refused to reduce or fade away.
"It just won't budge." She frowned as she looked back at the floating book she had beside her with her wand pointed at Hermione's face. "This has always worked before, I just can't understand it."
"It'll be Fred and George's idea of a funny joke, making sure it can't come off." Ginny noted as I took a long gulp of my coffee to help wake myself up.
"But it's got to come off! I can't go around looking like this forever!" Hermione worried with a fearful expression, looking to me desperately so I put my coffee down and went over in order to take a look, drawing my wand. I touched her face lightly with the tip, testing to see it's reaction and asking whether it felt sore, which it did. Moving my wand up and down like a scan, I then sighed heavily and put my wand away.
"Those devils, if they have one flaw it's that they can make these kind of things work a little too well." I muttered to myself but then smiled at Hermione. "Well, the good news is that it'll come off, but only with the right application or remedy, which most likely only Fred and George will have." Hermione whimpered again, starting to hide her face in her hands so I ruffled her hair. "We'll get it off them, unfortunately this was their method of ensuring more sales. If someone buys the first half of the prank, the victim will by the cure to make it stop."
"That's horrible!"
"It's business, and they do really out of it. They also have an excellent line of revenge pranks. You should see their shop. It's rather impressive." I mused thoughtfully then went down to my coffee, turning in time to see Harry and Ron descending the stairs and coming into the kitchen. "Harry! Heard you'd turned up early. Hope the journey was pleasant and all. Escorted by Dumbledore himself, very fancy." I said to him brightly, tossing him a grin and he returned with a still rather sleepy smile.
"Morning Mia, when did you get here?"
"Yesterday. Just keeping an eye on things is all." Sending him a wink, I then returned to my coffee before joining everyone at the breakfast table in order to eat as Hermione asked if Molly was quite certain that no owls had come this morning.
"Yes dear, I'd have noticed." She responded as she began to pass out plates with a full English breakfast, though Fleur was not one for the 'greasy' type of food, as she called it, preferring a bowl of fresh fruit and a little toast instead. Hermione then went on about how she was sure she'd messed up her Ancient Runes exam, going into a panic over how she must have failed everything and it was only then that it hit me.
"Wait, are the results coming today?"
"That's right, Dumbledore told me." Harry said before shoving some bacon into his mouth. I sat there for a moment before letting out a low whistle.
"Blimey…I'd completely forgotten about the damn results. That must mean I get my N.E. back today as well." Hermione moaned and hid her face in her hands.
"What happens if we fail?" Asking out of curiosity, I cracked a grin and was about to tell Harry that you were kicked out of Hogwarts and branded an idiot for the rest of your life but Hermione got there before me, speaking so quickly she barely had time to breathe.
"We discuss our options with our Head of House, I asked Professor McGonagall at the end of last term." A silence followed for a few moments before Fleur decided to chip in with her own contribution.
"At Beauxbatons, we 'ad a different way of doing things. I think eet was better. We sat our examinations after six years, not five, and then…" With a loud scream, Hermione suddenly rushed to her feet as she stared out of the window, making everyone quickly turn to do the same and find four shapes flying right towards the Burrow. Well, that'll be our results. The younger three had gone a deathly shade of white, practically like chalk whilst I just continued munching on my breakfast.
"They're definitely owls." Ron gulped, now frozen in place and his food completely forgotten.
"And there are four of them." Harry added, now getting up and moving from the table with Ron following after him.
"One for each of us. Oh no…oh no…how are you not panicking?" Hermione rounded on me rather sharply, as if my being completely calm was the reason for her being so distressed.
"Because I'm incredibly talented and beautiful with the brains of a genius. Of course I passed everything." My blunt sarcasm didn't seem to help as Hermione started to tremble all over. Molly opened up the window so that the four owls could fly in, three of them landed on the table and the fourth one, bearing my letter, swept up its wings and landed on my outstretched arm, landing neatly before folding up the beautiful tawny wings then stuck out it's leg for me to pull the letter free. Once that was done, I raised my arm and it took off once more, whilst the others had barely even managed to get to their owls for how slow and nervous they were.
Breaking the wax seal I then opened up the letter in order to pull the sheet free which was entitled with my N.E.W.T results, explaining the pass and fail grades before then listing off all my subjects in a line with the 'Outstanding' result beside it. Just as I expected. Showing it to Fleur, she congratulated me in French with high praise, the two of us smiling and laughing quietly together before I then let Ginny see, turning to the others. Harry and Ron, who had now opened and read their results, looked visibly calmer and alive again, which must mean that they'd done well. "Only failed Divination and History of Magic." Ron announced proudly, making Molly squeal as Harry and Ron then swapped over to take a look. "Knew you'd be top in Defence Against the Dark Arts." Punching Harry on the shoulder with a broad grin on his face, Ron looked like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. "We've done alright, haven't we?"
"Well done! Seven O. , that's more than Fred and George put together!" She praised warmly, taking Ron's results off Harry after he offered them to her and mine got passed to him as his were then given to me to read. He'd passed everything except the same two as Ron, getting 'Exceeds Expectations' in all the rest other than the 'Outstanding' in Defence. I can't wait to write to dad and Uncle Remus about all this! Though I suppose I should keep Harry's a surprise, I expect he'd like to write to them too.
"Hermione? How did you do?" Ginny asked gently and now we were all looking at Hermione, who was yet to say a word.
"I…not bad." Not believing her for one second, Ron swiftly took her results off her in order to check them before pronouncing she'd got an outstanding in everything and an 'Exceeds Expectations' in Defence. I think the 'E' had actually disappointed her, poor thing. Still, these were excellent results, most likely the best in her year. So we celebrated our results with a hearty breakfast, and even Molly was in a good enough mood to tolerate Fleur a great deal better she was so pleased with Ron's results.
I wrote my letters and sent them off, including one to Fred and George ordering them to send over something to treat Hermione's injury because they'd left one of their inventions lying around and it had left a permanent bruise on her face. My parents would no doubt be thrilled with my own results, and I intended to look forward to the rest of the summer in the Burrow peacefully, playing quidditch with Ginny and the boys, taking walks around the familiar walkways and paths, trips into the village where I had spent almost half of my life growing up every summer. It was good to reminisce, but there was no escape from the present, and as the reports began to flood the Daily Prophet, I knew our little haven wouldn't stay the same forever.