39.

Hermione:

Should I have also developed

historically question number

three of Charms?

Six scrolls is enough?

How many did you write?

Hermione was a little nervous. Well, she was pretty nervous actually...

"Why don't you study alone?" Harry suggested, his tone bordering on anger.

His eyes were a little watery because Hermione had hit him on the nose with one of the edges of her book "Latest Advances in Charms". She had asked him to help her review, but she couldn't resist snatching the book from him to review the answers the second she said them out loud. In her defense, Harry was taking too long! He didn't have the book memorized enough yet.

"Aren't you hungry Hermione?" Asked Ron. "Doesn't your brain ask you for, you know, food too, or do you now consume paper?"

Despite Ron's jocular and carefree tone, Hermione knew that he was very scared by the exams. She still remembered well how he was yesterday in the Gryffindor common room, moving his lips soundlessly as he read and reread his own notes, even covering his ears so that not the slightest sound would distract him.

She didn't answer the joke, she just grabbed her fork to look for a bite of something. Her stomach was in a strange state, she was not hungry at all, and at the same time she felt so empty and she felt so low in energy that putting food in her mouth sounded like one of the best ideas in the world. But she did not get to do it, since in surprise she dropped her fork, which fell on the plate. The sound of silverware clinking alerted Harry and Ron. She could only point down the hall, behind the open doors of the Great Hall, and say:

"Oh my God! Are they the examiners?"

A group of old people was surrounding Dumbledore, who was the only one there with a cheerful smile. He had a laid-back demeanor, as if he was leading them through his own home and told funny anecdotes as he did so. He even pointed out some corners from time to time.

The three teens shared a knowing look and came over to see them. It seemed they weren't the only ones with the idea, as Sophie and Pansy, plus other classmates, like Hannah Abbott from Hufflepuff and Padma Patil from Ravenclaw, walked there as well.

"For the tenth time, Dumbledore, we had a good trip! You know well that I came to this castle more times than you!" Shouted a short, stooped witch, her face so wrinkled that it was difficult to read her expression.

"Of course, of course, Miss Marchbanks," Dumbledore replied patiently. "I only care about the well-being of one of my favorite examiners."

"Oh you!" The old woman squealed happily, letting out an embarrassed laugh as her cheeks flushed. "And you were one of the students I most enjoyed examining!" Hermione was beginning to suspect that this woman had a deafness problem, she spoke too loudly unnecessarily. "Charms and Transfiguration, for the NEWTs," she said, looking at the other elders around her. "He did things with the wand that I had never seen done!"

"You will make me blush now," Dumbledore replied humbly. "Now let me show you the staff room. Are you sure everyone wants to join me with a cup of tea?"

"Ugh," Pansy blurted out in disgust, she had gotten close along with Sophie enough that Harry, Ron and Hermione could hear her. "Flirting between grandparents. If my nerves over the OWLs didn't make me throw up, this will."

Ron and Harry couldn't contain their laughter. Hermione noticed that Dumbledore glanced at them and gave them a smile, along with a wink.

"What were you doing over at your table, Hermione?" Asked Sophie.

She liked Sophie, even had her similarities to her. She is a passionate girl when it comes to things that matters to her, always very fair and focused, a great prefect and a good student, although sometimes she was silent and lost in her thoughts; the opposite happened to Hermione in terms of the latter, since rather, she needed to get everything she was thinking out of her mind.

"Charms, Latest Advances in Charms," she replied.

"Yes? I am reading the same book."

They both looked to their right when they heard Pansy give a loud laugh, while Ron did a terrible and exaggerated imitation of Dumbledore, pretending that Harry was Mrs. Marchbanks. Pansy was quick to add that she doubted the headmaster was very interested in that lady, if he was that good with wands...

She and Sophie rolled their eyes at the same time as Harry and Ron laughed even louder.

"I was wondering... would you help me review? We can study together," the Slytherin suggested as she ignored the other three.

"Oh! Sure, I'd love to," Hermione agreed with a smile.

. . .

Today was the day, finally, the first exam. All the fifth and seventh year students were in the lobby, waiting to perform them.

Hermione took a breath, trying to calm her nerves. She had read several chapters of her books over breakfast, trying to go over as many pages as possible in that short period of time. She hadn't slept or eaten well in days, and now she was understanding Ron and his complaints better than ever to get the exams over.

It always made her nervous to sit in front of the scroll in a quiet room to conduct an evaluation. But this? She had never felt so unstable as right now, not even in her deadly adventures with Harry and Ron. Hermione supposed that it was due to the adrenaline rush to survive, that she did not have time for her mind to think about the worst case scenarios, while with the OWLs it was not like that: for this she had all the time in the world to panic.

She was afraid of failure, especially academically. Her parents were wonderful, but also quite strict when it came to her future. If it weren't for Hogwarts, she would be trying her best right now to get excellent grades for a scholarship to some prestigious university in England, perhaps Cambridge. As a child that was her dream, before discovering that she was a witch. Now, with age, she understood that her dream of entering Cambridge was as or more far-fetched than the existence of magic, although she was sure she would have tried it anyway. Even today, she sometimes wondered. Could I, being a witch, have Muggle college studies? How could the grades be transferred to be able to enroll in one? It was something she was interested in doing more in the future: after settling in a good position at the Ministry, combining her job with a university life, perhaps on English literature or linguistics. So if she was sure of something, notes from the wizarding world or not, it was that she had to get it right. For her future, and for her parents.

As a child they tried to make her not settle for an acceptable grade. As both adults with college degrees, they wanted to make sure their daughter followed in their footsteps, and if she could get a scholarship for it, even better. "Studying is important. We don't care what you want to study, just that you do," they told her many times. And she struggled to fulfill that little expectation her parents had, even more so when she entered Hogwarts; She had the feeling that she should not only prove to all the wizards that she was an excellent witch, but also to her parents, so that they would not feel things were so different.

After all, suddenly, at eleven years old, her studies turned out to be totally different from what was planned. The anxiety of her parents, her worries, were more than palpable in her home. The grades were no longer from 0 to 100, but letters: T being the worst and O the highest grade. Instead of languages or math, she had Ancient Runes or Arithmancy. She was in a world that did not exist before, in a school in a foreign country, being something that they were not. She couldn't show them what she was learning, because they were Muggles and she was underage to do magic outside of Hogwarts. She could only lend them her books and show her grades. Better than any spell or magical thing she did, it was an O in their assignments, because it was what they could see.

Studying is important, she thought, remembering her mother's voice. "No matter what you want to study" could still be applied: she was studying magic. "Do it," she told herself, "get the best possible grades."

Then they were called. Hermione again took a deep breath to stifle her nerves and entered the Great Hall with her friends. They weren't much better, after all, these tests marked what you would do once out of Hogwarts. She, Harry, and Ron shared matching looks with their nervous smiles. All the students were placed in their respective seats.

The four long tables in the Great Hall were missing, instead there were many individual desks facing the front, where the teachers were seated. McGonagall was the only one standing, who gave the entire room a stern scan with her gaze.

"You can start," she said, before turning to grab a large hourglass and spin it, placing it on a desk behind her with various spare materials for the students, such as parchment or quills.

With time running out, Hermione grabbed the sheet and turned it over, trying to ignore her racing heart and the perspiration from her hands (which made her fingers stick to the paper for a few seconds). She took her pen and read: a) Name the spell to make an object fly. b) Describe the wand movement you require.

She wrote the answer right away, which she knew more than well. Things like almost being killed by a troll in the toilets seemed like a good way to study for the OWL exams.

. . .

Thirty questions later Hermione was sitting in the Great Hall, remembering and going over the questions she answered, going through her book to see where she was wrong. Harry and Ron did not want to join her in this, they preferred to live in ignorance until they got the results.

"I think I failed the stimulating spells," complained Pansy, who had approached the Gryffindor table with an apple in her hand.

"What did you put in question number twenty-three?" Hermione asked, frustrated that the answer to that point was in a book she left in her common room.

"The one about the levicorpus and its counterspell?"

She was about to answer in the affirmative, but was interrupted by an explosion. Seamus Finnigan had managed to explode one of the glasses with which he was practicing an enchantment. Hermione winced, and mentally wished her partner good luck for the practical part of Charms, for which there was not much time left.

"Wasn't that terrible, huh?" Angelina said with a friendly smile.

She had tried to calm the nerves of the fifth-year students a bit. She was in the Great Hall with them while they did the first of their OWLs, but performing her NEWT of Charms. To "calm them down" when she passed them in the common room, she said that when it was their turn to give the NEWT, they would remember the OWL with great affection and happiness.

"It was a gift," Fred said, ignoring Angelina's annoyed face as she wasn't talking to him.

"Who would have guessed that the answers to everything were: blank!" George added.

Lee Jordan laughed and commented:

"I still can't believe they really didn't write more than their names on their exams."

"What?" Hermione gasped. "That has to be a joke."

"I hope it's not causing you nightmares, but no, it's not," George replied. "We didn't study a page about anything."

"Why?" Pansy jumped in, not looking very shocked, taking a bite of her apple.

"We don't need any NEWTs for our joke shop."

"It has to be a joke," Hermione repeated, lower than before, trying to process that what the twins were saying was real.

"We'll see if they outlive their mother because of this," Angelina said.

"It doesn't matter what she thinks. We have the money, so we will," Fred said.

"How did they get the money?" Pansy inquired.

"We have a secret partner who believes with all his heart in our talents and invested in our project last year," George explained, earning an arched brow from Pansy as she bit back into her apple.

"And our joke items are a hit at Hogwarts. You must know that well, prefect," said Fred.

"I confiscated more prank items from you than from Zonko," Hermione muttered, feeling angry at the memory of that.

"We finished school, as our mother wanted," George concluded. "If it was up to us we would not have returned to Hogwarts for our senior year. We were generous, for the sake of her poor anguished heart!"

"The Burrow is going to be chaos this summer," Angelina murmured. Hermione and Pansy nodded in agreement with her.

When they finished eating they were taken to a somewhat small room where everyone had to wait to be called in alphabetical order. The students were restless and pushed each other. The constant murmur of voices reviewing incantations, along with the heat gathering there, was exasperating.

"Hermione Granger, Daphne Greengrass, Anthony Goldstein, and Gregory Goyle," they called.

She felt a chill, gripped her wand tighter, feeling it slippery in her hand, and walked into the other room where her examiners were waiting for her. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Greengrass watching her. She didn't seem nervous about the exam, but also, she looked at her strangely. There was no hatred or disgust there, as was usually the case. She seemed to just gaze at her while thinking of something. Greengrass turned her head when she noticed she was caught. She did not try to defend herself, nor did she say an insult, she just crossed her arms and entered the room where they would be put to the test.

. . .

"So we have to wait six weeks?" Asked Harry.

"Yes. We won't have to worry about the results of all the subjects until the holidays," Ron replied.

"Hopefully you got an OWL," Ginny said, sticking her tongue out at her brother.

There Hermione was with all her old friends, and a few newer ones, sitting under a tree outside the castle. Neville was looking at a flower growing under a root, worried that it wouldn't give it enough sunlight to grow. Harry and Ron were looking at a Quidditch magazine. Luna was resting her head on Ginny's legs, staring up at the sky. Ginny, took advantage of the position to braid Luna's hair.

"Don't you think that cloud is shaped like a dragon?" She asked in a dreamy voice.

"That's a dog," Ron put in, upsetting Luna.

"I'm hungry," Ginny complained. "Why did the twins take the cookies? Damned thieves."

George and Fred had stopped by to say hello (and steal food) at one point in the afternoon. As quickly as they arrived, they left, going to find Lee and Angelina.

"We also have hot gummies," Isa reminded her.

"I know, but I don't like them," Ginny grumbled.

Now she could also include members of Slytherin in her friends. Isa was playing with a couple of candies that had fallen on the grass, stacking them on top of each other and trying to keep them balanced. Rachel was strangely silent, going from glancing every so often at the sweets, to nudging Sophie whenever she whispered something in her ear (Sophie was sure to be bothering her).

Also, of course, she was with her girlfriend. She was also reading a magazine, Witch's Heart. Every now and then she chuckled at some exaggerated and false nonsense from the gossip section.

"Classes are almost over," Isa commented, in a tone loud enough for everyone to hear. "Would you like us to meet during the summer?"

"That would be fun!" Luna exclaimed, getting up from the ground to give a couple of claps that seconded her emotion.

"Do you have a plan in mind, Isa?" Asked Pansy.

"See... I'll play with my band, in a well-known magical disco on the coast. We've been talking to quite a few people this year, various contracts, mail, meetings in Hogsmeade, crazy. We'll do like... a little tour of the country, it's not a big deal…"

"Wow," Ginny snapped. "Am I talking to a rising star?"

Isa blushed and showed a huge smile. Hermione was sure she had never seen such a happy gesture from them.

"The closest place we'll play to London will be at Chalkwell Beach. Hogwarts students have free admission, and well, I... I would be happy if all of you could attend."

"Agh, I'm going to cry!" Ginny growled, rushing over to Isa for a big hug. "Of course we'll come see you, and you'll give me twenty autographs that I'll sell when you're a rock star!"

They all laughed at Ginny's effusiveness. After Pansy broke her arm (which luckily healed in one day), Hermione began inviting Isa, along with Rachel and Sophie, to join them to chat. They even chatted a few times with members of Isa's band. Ginny became obsessed with the drummer, Zuri, who was a Hufflepuff girl in her seventh year. Isa also gave everyone a lot of helpful advice, having taken the OWLs last year. They won the undying love of Harry and Ron for it, they insisted they did better in History of Magic for their help.

"When would it be?" Hermione asked, already beginning to plan a travel itinerary in her mind.

"I'll send you the details with an owl. But it will be in August," Isa reported.

"I never thought being friends with Parkinson would let me go to a free concert," Harry said, torn between disbelief and excitement.

"Am I... invited too?" Neville asked, without looking up.

Isa raised their eyebrows in surprise before answering.

"Of course! Did you really think not? You are friends with Pansy and Hermione. We don't talk much yet, but I like you. Everyone at Hogwarts is invited, it's not a big deal. I just wanted to personally notify everyone I chat with, hang out... you know. My friend Chris even invited like fifteen different girls that he likes… I'm afraid that will end badly, to tell the truth," they spluttered.

Neville smiled sheepishly, no longer feeling like he was getting in the way.

"Well," said Ron, shrugging. "I guess I can accept spending a little more time with snakes. I can put up with Slytherins here, and as long as I can go to a concert for free…"

"Ha! What do you say? It's worse for us, the arrogance of lions gives me hives," Rachel interjected, grabbing a couple of sweets to throw them at their heads.

"Exactly! Don't brag so much, just winning that silly Quidditch cup didn't make you great!" Sophie added. She and Ron never missed an opportunity to fight over the sport.

Again, there was joint laughter. This was a very good way to end her exam week.

Hermione considered that she had done well on them. In Transfiguration she managed to do everything, she did not believe she had failed at anything during the practical part, although she ran out of time to continue expanding on the written exam. She could also see how Pansy did in the practical part, since although they called her after her, along with Harry. Hermione was just beginning to be evaluated, and for a moment she was distracted, anxious to see the result of her friend and her girlfriend, so the professor had to clear her throat to get her to focus. When she left the room where they were being examined, she could see how Pansy perfectly vanished an iguana. Before Harry could do the same, Hannah Abbot accidentally turned a ferret into a flock of flamingos and they had to interrupt the test and evict all the students to solve the problem. Anyway, according to Harry later, he did well. Even Ron had a good face coming out of his test.

For Herbology in general terms she did well. Pansy, Rachel said, was fighting vines for five minutes during the test (although that was after she finished being tested, so she wasn't sure whether or not it counted as a mistake).

Defense Against the Dark Arts was the one that gave Hermione the most doubts. In the practical test she had failed with one of the defensive spells despite having practiced a lot, although she had faith in the written part, since she knew how to answer everything. Pansy hadn't talked much about this subject, and knowing her so well, she knew that if she wasn't showing off, there was something...

When she gave Ancient Runes she was furious. She mistranslated "ehwaz", which means "association", not "defense" as she wrote, since she confused it with "eihwaz". She was still upset, actually, though at least she wasn't in a bad mood anymore, partly thanks to Pansy and her antics. She noticed the effort she made to cheer her up and was grateful for it. She imagined that she would ignore her as she complained, as most of her friends did, but it was not like that: she gave her her space, so as not to stress her, but at the same time she began to say more compliments, such as "Did you know how to translate 'Ansuz' "Damn genius, if the professor doesn't give you an Outstanding just for that, I'll do it." Pansy also took Ancient Runes, so with that, along with her ingenuity, she managed to come up with good compliments, and even compliments related to the subject. Hermione bet Pansy did well on the test, her memory was impressive, and she excelled at subjects like this.

For Potions Snape was not present, and the change was noticeable, especially in Neville, she had never seen a better result on his part in the subject. Generally speaking, she felt it did well for her, forced herself to relax to be precise on the practical side, and managed to write a whole scroll explaining the process, ingredients, and effects of Polyjuice Potion.

The Arithmancy test got on her nerves, as it was a very complex subject, and according to an observation by Luna, she took out her stress by scolding younger students for making a ruckus in the days before. In her defense, she clarified that she was only doing her duties as a prefect, but none of her friends seemed to think it was entirely true. In the end, she felt more confident in Arithmancy than in her Ancient Runes exam. Maybe because of fear she studied a lot for that OWL. That same day Pansy took her Muggle Studies exam. When she finished it, she left the room with a huge smile. "I adore you so much for telling me about your life outside of the wizarding world!" she had said after giving her a swift and effusive kiss, "The teachers were impressed because I knew not only everything they asked me, but more. A computer, something that was not in the books because it was very new technology? I knew it! Or even Muggle history, all that mess about the Black Death, and the Muggle writers you made me read... Just. Merlin! You're the best. I may regret it tomorrow, but: please never shut up."

Other OWLs, such as Care for Magical Creatures, she managed to do without problems (Pansy... had more difficulties, getting angry with one of the animals that had stained her shoe with dirt). But in Astronomy they had both done well, without a doubt! Pansy managed to fill several scrolls in the written part, almost as many as she herself did.

"Hey," Pansy whispered, just as she reached out to grab some spicy gummies. "We'll get together over the summer, right? In addition to the day of the concert."

"Of course," Hermione said with a smile, using the same low tone of voice to maintain privacy. "In fact, I would like you to come to my house one day