With the Christmas holidays approaching, Harry and his friends were diligently preparing for term finals. He knew he was in pretty good shape when it came to the practicals but he still worked hard on the theory aspects. Hermione had come up with a revision schedule he thought was a bit too much, but, after some discussion he and Ron were able to convince her to add more free time to prevent burnout.
Eventually, finals week arrived with the group feeling more than confident. Through each exam, Harry felt satisfied in each of his answers on the theory side of magic as well as all the mundane subjects. After the written exams ended on wednesday, they had Thursday off before all the practical exams took place on Friday.
Thursday morning saw Harry, Ron, and Neville relaxing in the common room after breakfast. Hermione had said she wanted to practice some more but they all agreed to have lunch together. The Patil twins along with Hannah joined them for a relaxing morning and they all just hung out, talking about their holiday plans.
Harry was obviously staying but was surprised to learn Ron's parents were going to visit their second oldest son, Charlie, in Romania so the Weasley brothers would be keeping him company.
Neville was originally planning to stay but after their charms instructor, Marcus, had sent him to Professor Flitwick about his magic feeling muffled, he'd learned that his wand may have been the issue. He'd decided to visit Ollivander's during the break and hopefully that would help.
The only others staying were the Patil twins and Blaise. The twins' parents were in India and Blaise said his mother was somewhere in the America's, "doing gods know what."
Lunch finally came around and they all made their way to the great hall where they met up with Hermione, Susan, Hannah, Daphne, and Tracy. While eating, Harry suggested they have some sort of celebration after the practicals the next day. The others were just agreeing when one of the Weasley twins' voices piped in from the Gryffindor table.
"Don't worry about that," he said. "We always throw an end of term party on the last night. It's in the first years' common room because it's the only one everyone can get into."
"And the only room big enough really," added the other twin.
Harry felt his group's excitement build and everyone started talking about how much they were looking forward to the party. After lunch, they all split off, each deciding to relax in their own ways before their practical exams.
Harry decided to wander the castle for a while. He chose to let his mind wander and let his feet lead the way. For several hours he walked around aimlessly. He spoke to a few ghosts here and there along with a random smattering of paintings. He had done this before so he was always somewhat aware of where he was.
Eventually, however, he found himself on a moving staircase that had deposited him on the third floor. He had walked a few steps into the corridor before he realized he was in a restricted area. He immediately turned back to the stairs only to find the staircase had moved again and trapped him on the landing.
He stood for a moment trying to figure out how to get out of his predicament. After several long minutes he concluded the staircase wasn't going to come back any time soon.
Screw it, might as well explore a little.
He turned back down the corridor and set off, his curiosity piqued. He soon realized, however, it was just a standard corridor, just a little dusty.
There were classrooms just like the ones he was used to and the layout was almost exactly the same. All except for a single door set at the end of the corridor. The corridor his classes were in didn't have a door like it and his curiosity grew even as he approached it.
He leaned his ear to the door and could hear what he thought were massive bellows like those used in an old timey blacksmith forge. He reached for the door handle and pulled.
Hmmm… Locked.
He decided to try out a spell Hermione had talked about. The wand movement was just a point and if he remembered right the incantation was-
"Alohamora!"
There was a brief flash and he heard the lock click open. Smiling he pocketed his wand again and reached for the handle. If he hadn't been so smug after his spell he would have noticed the sound beyond the door had quieted.
As he opened the door the first thing he noticed was how big the room was. It was far deeper than he'd expected and the ceiling was very high. The next thing he noticed was the massive three headed dog crouched at the far side of the room, clearly preparing to leap at him.
He froze for a moment, regret overwhelming his sense of curiosity. The dog suddenly lunged, clearing most of the room in one leap and the middle head reaching out for him. Luckily, the door opened to the inside so when Harry dove backwards, the dog hit the door, slamming it shut.
Harry rolled over on his back, breathing hard. He could hear the three heads barking and the door shaking in its frame. After a few minutes, the dog gave up and the noise finally died down.
Harry just laid there, his heart racing. Eventually he stood and made his way back to the stairs, incredibly thankful that a path had opened up back to the common room.
When he made it through the painting of Athena, there were a few other students in the room. Most didn't pay him any attention but Hermione had noticed his disheveled appearance and made her way over.
"Harry, are you alright?"
Harry just flopped into a chair in front of one of the fireplaces. Hermione, concerned, pulled another chair up to him and sat.
"Well, I figured out why the third floor corridor is forbidden."
Hermione's brow furrowed.
"And how did you find that out?" she asked, not happy that he'd gone somewhere he shouldn't.
Harry explained what happened. When he mentioned using the spell she had mentioned, she brightened a bit, happy that she had been able to help, only to immediately get angry that he'd used something she'd taught him to break the rules.
When he made it to the encounter with the dog, she gasped.
"A Cerberus? In the school? That's incredibly dangerous, Harry!"
"Believe me I know. If that door hadn't been there I think I'd be a chew toy right now."
"From now on, you need to pay more attention to where you are wandering."
"I will. But now I'm more curious than ever."
"Why?" she asked, concerned that he might do something dangerous.
"The dog was guarding a trap door on the other side of the room. When I first opened the door I was a bit distracted by the size of the dog but I saw it when it leaped."
Hermione, a little curious herself, had to keep herself from asking what he thought was in it. She knew if she asked, he'd probably go looking again. She sighed.
"Be that as it may, please don't go looking, Harry. We've only just started here and I'm sure there will be plenty of less dangerous mysteries you can jump into."
Harry smiled, finally calming down from the experience. He wasn't exactly jumping at the chance to face those three heads again.
"Don't worry about me, Hermione. I'm not that dumb."
"That is yet to be seen, mister troll hunter."
Harry laughed, the tension finally eaking out. He yawned, realizing he was now exhausted.
Hermione noticed and stood.
"You should get some rest. I'm sure an experience like that took all your energy. You need to rest for the exams tomorrow."
Harry stood with a grunt.
"You're right. Thanks for helping me wind down, Hermione. I don't think I'd have been able to sleep after something like that."
Hermione smiled at that, clearly pleased that she'd been able to help.
"No problem. Now, go get some sleep, I'm going to read some of my notes before going to bed myself."
Harry nodded and bid her good night before trudging up the stairs to the balcony. When he made it to his room, he saw Neville's door closed and the light out. After washing his face and getting into bed, he wondered just what other craziness tomorrow would bring.
Friday morning came and Harry was already ready for it to be over. The practical exams for Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration were not expected to be too difficult and after rigorous study everyone was fairly confident in their abilities. After breakfast, the students wished each other luck and split off to their first exams.
Harry made his way to the potions lab for his first practical of the day. He knew he was going to be fine but he still felt nervous. They hadn't learned any real potions yet and the test itself was more on preparing ingredients and proper storage. He'd been able to translate his adequate cooking abilities into his potions studies which made him feel a bit more confident than the others. He knew it was only a slight advantage and that Hermione's more complete knowledge would put her ahead of him once they actually began brewing, but he felt his preparation at least leveled them out in this initial test.
He walked into the lab and prepared his work station for the coming task. Carefully laying out his potions kit and the various tools needed for the exam, he ran over each of the ingredients they'd worked with in the past few weeks. He was going over the proper way to remove the stamen of an Ephie flower when he felt someone pass him.
He looked up to see a man with greasy black hair make his way to the front of the class. He was wearing a long black cloak that billowed behind him. He turned to face the class, peering at each student individually, clearly judging each and finding them lacking.
When he made it to Harry, he paused for a moment. Harry couldn't tell but it felt like the man was about to say something before thinking better of it and continuing his stare down of the class. The minor muttering that had been heard around the room had gone silent as everyone waited for him to address the class. Eventually, he spoke.
"I am Professor Snape, the potions master of Hogwarts University. As you are aware, you will not be in my classes until your third year at the university. However, throughout the next semester and your second year, I will periodically join your instructors in teaching you the finer points of potions making and the benefits and dangers within."
The students knew most of the things he was saying but this was the first time he'd addressed them since they had started school.
"Today, however, I am not here to grade you. I am here to see how my mastery student, Jaques, has done in preparing you. Throughout the exam I will be walking among you to observe. I may ask you some questions. While your answers will not affect your grade they will affect Jaques and, if the answer is especially egregious, you will feel my disappointment."
After another quick stare down of the class he stepped aside and motioned for Jaques to take over. Looking significantly more nervous than the students had seen him before, Jaques explained the exam before passing out lists of ingredients to each student.
Over the next hour Harry and his classmates worked on preparing each ingredient and placing them in the proper storage container. Snape walked around the room, occasionally asking a student why they chose a specific preparation technique over another or whether they felt Jaques had explained it clearly enough.
By the end of the exam Snape had asked every student but Harry a question. When he finally approached Harry's table, he inspected each ingredient before pointing out a small box of cubed Colwort Tuber.
"These cubes look to be two inches on each side. Most potions require the cubes to be one inch or less on each side. Why did you choose to do it in this way?"
"I've noticed the smaller cubes seem to lose their structure when stored for longer periods of time. The bigger cube allows the ingredients to stay fresh and viable for a longer period and can always be cut down as the potion requires."
"Agreed. Did Jaques teach you this method?"
Harry hesitated, not wanting to get his teacher into trouble.
"Uh, no professor. I am somewhat familiar with muggle cooking techniques and I felt some of them translated well into potion making. Also, the exam didn't mention how big the cubes needed to be, only that they needed to be cubed and stored."
Snape nodded.
"I am aware of that, Mr. Potter. Many of the other students would not have been able to make that connection without a somewhat deeper understanding of ingredient preparation and that is not expected at this level of your education."
Harry relaxed a bit, still not sure how to act around a higher level instructor.
"Don't let your ego grow too much, Mr. Potter," Snape continued, stepping away from Harry's table. "You've got a long way to go before you reach celebrity status."
Harry was very confused as the professor stopped to whisper something to Jaques. Jaques made a note on his clipboard and nodded before Snape took one last glance around the room, his eyes resting on Harry for only a moment before he left the class.
"Well that was something," Ron said, falling into step next to Harry on the way to their Charms exam. "For every minute Snape was in there I felt my hair slowly becoming greasy."
"Yeah, he was a bit much. What did he ask you about?"
"Why I was trying to slice a rock instead of crush it…"
Harry laughed. He knew Ron struggled in potions but he wasn't expecting that.
"Go ahead, laugh it up."
"I'm sorry, Ron. You just caught me off guard a bit. Do you think you did okay on the rest of the exam?"
"I don't think I aced it but Hermione should at least find it acceptable. How about you?"
"I don't think I was perfect but I think I was able to get all but a few of the ingredients prepared right."
They continued to chat as they entered the Charms classroom and their second exam of the day.
The rest of the day moved fairly quickly from then on. Harry was able to perform every spell the examiners required with ease. Just like with Snape and Potions, the department heads of Charms and Transfiguration were present for their exams. Professor Flitwick was very excited to see Harry's performance and noted he looked forward to having him in class in the coming years. Professor McGonagall was more stoic in her observations. The most she gave a student was a nod and maybe a word on their technique.
Harry let out a sigh of relief as he exited the Transfiguration classroom and made his way to the great hall. His finals were over and he would finally be able to relax and have a good time partying with his friends.