~*Chapter Thirteen*~
Exam Week
"DAMNIT!" Oliver roared, pounding his hand on the table. Angelina reached out hurriedly to stop her inkbottle from tipping over.
"Oliver!" she said. "What is wrong with you?"
"Damn O.W.L.s!" was his answer. He threw down his quill and looked wistfully outside. Alicia slammed her book shut.
"It's too nice outside to study," she said. The giant squid floated across the lake, causing tiny waves to break against the beach. Katie sighed and propped her chin on her hand. Across the room, Percy was screaming at a couple of second years that had laughed at a joke.
"He's getting unbelievable," Angelina said. Fred grunted.
"Just look at Hermione," he said. Piles and piles of books surrounded the third year, so she was hardly visible behind titles like Ancient Runes for Third Years and How to Ignore a Hinkypunk. Neville Longbottom sat next to her, immersed in Potions for Dummies.
"The perfect summer day, and we have to study," Katie murmured. The summer air drifted in through the open window.
"Shut that window," Percy ordered. Alicia reached over and lazily banged her hand down on the bottom of the glass, causing it to slide down half an inch. George's head dropped onto his book.
"I have to get out of here," he said.
"This room needs a Dungbomb," Fred said.
"No!" Oliver shouted. Percy glared at them from across the room as a pile of Hermione's books tipped over.
***
Exam week came and crawled by. Angelina forgot all the ingredients for the Potions exam and only remembered them at the last minute. Fred and George were even serious, carrying around armfuls of books and scowling out the window, daring the weather to turn nicer. But the sky grew bluer with each passing day. Flocks of birds sang from their perches on the trees and students angrily slammed windows shut. The giant squid sunned on the shores of the lake and students took to watching it after exams when their minds wandered from studying.
But, as all things come to an end, the last exam was finished and the students were home free. Angelina met Cedric on the front steps of the castle, and they sat on the shores of the lake watching the giant squid and lazily drinking iced pumpkin juice. The weather had grown even nicer and sultry blasts of air picked Angelina's hair off her shoulders. Cedric and her joked and walked around the grounds all day long, pausing to watch a competitive game of Gobstones between a Slytherin fifth year and a Gryffindor sixth year. The Slytherin won and the Gryffindor walked away, his robes dripping with yellow, poisonous-looking juices.
Very often the two found themselves alone. These were the best parts of the day. The bright sun would be above them and the lush grass would be underneath them and they would kiss until dinnertime. Their eyes would meet from two tables away and they would smile knowing smiles at each other, their eyes communicating words that their mouths would never dreamed of saying. Angelina would find notes slipped in her bag, or left behind the suit of armor on the second floor. She didn't tell Katie or Alicia about these; she felt that some things should be private and your best friends shouldn't have to know everything. However, the two girls felt that something was up and took to tailing Angelina, even once seeing her kiss Cedric in the Charms room after class, but Angelina never found out about that little episode. Cedric also took to calling her 'Angel', and while that had been annoying coming from Fred or George or Oliver, it sounded just right when Cedric said it.
It was in this way that Cedric became the greater part of Angelina Johnson's life.
~*END PART ONE*~