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Ramble-
Hola es te como… whatever… Hello and welcome to the fanfic I wrote called Harry Potter and the Beginning of the End. This is supposedly the "Seventh Year" of Harry Potter's time at Hogwarts and this one is scarier, funnier, romantic-er (hey… I had to find some connection between the ending sounds), and better than any of the others. The story has a slow beginning but it is starting the new mood. A tense atmosphere. Harry meets Ron again… Harry meets Hermione again… IF you read this chapter carefully, you will catch a few ahem… details (cough*love details*cough) that won't be explained until further in the story. The real action starts in the next chapter where they are all going to Hogwarts. I will NOT tell you what happens in this story. You will have to read it. I am skipping the whole Dursley's thingy shabobber because it is kinda boring… SO… Without further ado (AND THIS FREAKING CHAPTER TOOK ME THREE HOURS TO WRITE BECAUSE MY DAD WOULDN'T LEAVE ME ALONE. They usually take less than 2 hours… whatever)… may I present:
Harry Potter and the Beginning of the End
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Chapter One-
The N.E.W.T.S.
It had been a while since Harry Potter had seen the Dursley's. The last day of his 6th year was unforgettable, for who was waiting for him at Kings Cross? None other than Sirius Black, his godfather of a sort. His hair was neatly cut short. It was a bit grayish, just like himself, but he was pretty handsome, and dressed in nice clothes. The Dursley's didn't have a say in whether Harry was going home with them or Sirius, because frankly, Sirius wouldn't stand for mistreatment to his best friend's son.
Harry Potter was seventeen years old. He had jet black hair and the brightest green eyes ever imagined. He was built up, and wasn't the skinny, tall Harry he used to be back when. His voice had changed a year ago, and his deep tone was very pleasant.
In the countryside outside of London, was a town named Hodkins. The small area was very friendly and had many nice neighbors. Sirius Black lived in this town, in a small, comfy house on Maynard Court. Sirius Black's name had been cleared the year before and many people understood what had happened. Finally, Harry could enjoy his summer with Sirius, without being neglected by his crude aunt, uncle, and cousin on 4 Privet Drive.
Yes, Harry Potter was spending the summer with Sirius. He was overtook in enjoyment.
The story starts here…
A faint buzzing noise went off in the background. Harry opened his eyes slowly and yawned.
"I do not want to get up," he said sleepily.
The plaid, warm covers over him were so deeply invigorating… if covers could be invigorating. But today would be an important day. Today was the day Harry took his N.E.W.T.S. and he would see Hermione and Ron. Harry dragged himself out of bed and put an undershirt on over his chest. He pulled his jeans on over his boxers and stretched a bit.
"Harry!" called a raspy voice.
"Yeah?" he replied as he grabbed his glasses.
"We have to leave in 30 minutes. Go eat or something!"
Harry opened the oak door wide and trudged down the unlit hallway. Nervous as all hell, he meandered into the kitchen and tried to eat but his hands were so shaky that he poured cereal all over the counter!
Frustrated, he decided to eat an orange, and as he cut the outside off, his hands shook some more, and he cut himself briskly.
A couple minutes later, Sirius ran into the kitchen, trying to put on a tie.
"Oi! Were going to be late!" Sirius said hurriedly, as he grabbed some coffee. He then noticed Harry, not dressed. "Why aren't you ready?"
"I am so worried, Sirius," Harry said as he twiddled his thumbs.
"Why?" Sirius questioned.
"I just think I'm going to fail…"
"Now… you're a bright lad… don't worry," Sirius said and smiled as he put a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder.
Ten minutes later, Harry and Sirius were in his enchanted Camry, driving into downtown London. There was no sign of conversation in the air as Harry tried to study some math equations.
Number 54-
[3 -2 5]
[0 0 0] The determination of the following matrix is zero.
[7 1 4] True or False?
"Easy…' Harry muttered aloud.
"What?" Sirius asked. Harry didn't respond but quickly opened another book to study important dates about magic.
Number 82-
Repiso the Witch was famous for brewing Fargo Snow Potions. What were these potions?
"Oh no… crap… let me think… the Fargo Snow Potions… oh yes! I remember! They turned whoever drank them, into cold masses who eventually died of a low body temperature."
Number 83-
When was the first Fargo Snow Potion created?
a) 1534
b) 1634
c) 1535
d) 1533
"C… of course."
Number 84-
What was in these potions?
Harry thought for a second. "A drop of blood from the victim, fresh snow, ice, pure crystal water from an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean, and a mint leaf."
"See… your doing good Harry!" Sirius remarked. He turned the steering wheel and drove the car into a small vacancy in the parking lane.
"Thank you… uh oh… are we there?" Harry gulped.
"No, not yet," Sirius explained as he parked the car. "We have to apparate from this building.
"I can't do this. This test determines the rest of my life. What if I do badly on it?"
"You won't," Sirius said as-a-matter-of-factly.
"But what if I do?" Harry asked once again.
Sirius breathed in calmly.
"Come on… we need to go."
Harry leisurely stepped out of the automobile and could see many other teenagers walking into the marble walled building.
In the distance, Harry could see a bunch of red haired children. Could it be?
"RON!" Harry called happily. One of the heads turned around. Harry ran ahead to meet him.
"Harry! How are you doing, old chap?"
"Oh my god… I've been with Sirius all summer. The Dursley's didn't even care!"
Molly Weasley and her husband turned around and greeted Harry cheerfully. Ginny stood beside them.
"Hi Harry," she said modestly.
Ginny with sixteen. She was gorgeous in Harry's eyes. She had flowing red hair and was very smart.
"Um.. H-hi Ginny," Harry stuttered. Ginny blushed a bit.
"Are you ready for the test?" Ron asked. Harry gulped as a trickle of sweat dripped down his forehead.
"I'm so tense right now… I'm not even kidding!" Harry said.
A bell rang in the distance and a voice came over the loudspeaker.
"N.E.W.T.S. testing begins in five minutes. If you need to register with us, please do us in the front office. Have ten galleons ready to pay for information booklets and membership identities. The Apparation room is in Room 78A on the 5th floor."
A bustle of wizards and witches walked in the direction of the nearest elevator or staircase.
"We better get a move on, Harry," Sirius said.
Harry nodded and the Weasley family followed him and Sirius to the room they were directed to go to.
"So Harry, anything new?" Ron asked.
"Not really. Hermione wrote me a few times. Did she write you?"
Ron fiddled with his fingers in his pocket. "Erm… a bit."
"I'm so excited. I want to get on with my life. This is our last year! Our last adventures as a gang!"
"Last adventures?" Ron queried.
"Well… yes. We will go our separate ways."
"Oh… right," Ron said, a bit confused in a way.
"Room 78A," Mr. Weasley said joyfully.
"Dad! How can you be excited about this? What if I do bad on these tests?" Ron asked sternly.
Mr. Weasley stopped in his tracks and sighed. "Ron… son, the tests aren't as hard as you think. Just do your best. Aim for the perfect score."
"What is the perfect score?" Harry said.
"I believe it is 1300... You know, for 1300 questions. Unless they changed it. It might be more than 2000 now. Why, back in my day…"
Ron groaned and put his father out of his mind as he talked about his young years as a child.
"My dad NEVER stops talking about when he was ten years old. It's really annoying. If I said I smoked, he wouldn't hear me probably."
Harry laughed. "Then try!"
Ron cleared his throat. "Dad?" he said proudly.
"Yes son?" Mr. Weasley said.
"I smoke cigarettes," Ron said sadly.
"Don't kill yourself. Anyhow, I got a teddy bear for Christmas one year and he said evil things. Damn Muggles making stupid bears…"
They all entered a circular room with padding along the walls (In case anyone apparated into them).
"Okay everyone, position yourselves. Get your wands ready," Mr. Weasley said. "On the count of three. 1...2...3..."
"Acculos Apparato Ministry of Magic!" everyone bellowed.
There was a crack of red and blue smoke and a whizzing sound and all were gone.
In the Ministry of Magic, everyone was working. Wizards in flowing gowns were talking to television screens or ghosts who were drifting in mid air. Every computer was on and net workers were working on them to help repair certain problems. Families were wandering about trying to find specific rooms to take tests in. A crack of light appeared in a corner and the Weasley's, Sirius, and Harry all appeared.
"What a rush," Ron cracked. Mrs. Weasley slapped him over the head.
"What did I do?" Ron said angrily.
"It seems as if the smoking has gotten to your head. We will need to have a talk, son…"
Ron rolled his eyes.
"Hmm… it says on your pamphlet, Harry, that you need to go to Room 124. Are you in the same Ron?"
"Nope! I'm in the one next door. Oh darn… we have two minutes. I'll see you at the end of testing Harry! Bye!" Ron waved and vanished into a room.
"I'll see you later Sirius," Harry said and slowly walked into a room next to Ron's.
All the walls were white and there were no windows. There were four other kids in the room… including Hermione Granger. They were all sitting at wooden desks, approximately 5 feet from each other.
"Mr. Harry Potter?" a woman said in the front. She sounded strict and had her up in a tight bun. She almost looked like Professor McGonagall. "Here is your booklet. You may begin when I say so."
Harry took a seat next to Hermione who smiled sweetly at him.
"Hi," Harry whispered.
"Remember, no talking and this test is timed. You have five hours to complete 1600 questions. If you cannot complete one, skip it and go back to it later. You will begin with Math Computations. You may begin."
Harry opened his packet and got his pencil ready.
Math Computations
Part One of Six
1) Use the Gauss-Jordan method to write the following system of equations in reduced row echelon form.
2x + 5y = -19
3x - y = -3
Oh… My… God… Harry thought to himself Okay… erm- you do this and then you put that there and you get this and you switch it around and you get the high equation and you reduce it… Oh… okay… I got it.
2) Find the area of the triangle with the following vertices using a 3x3 determinant.
(1,5), (-2,6), (3,7)
Erm yeah… skip… Harry pondered. Hermione was penciling away next to him.
Forty-five minutes later, Harry was finished with Math Computations and he opened up to the next part.
Reasonable Thinking
Part Two of Six
1) You are flying on a broomstick in Muggle territory. You have an invisibility booster but it dies out as you fly over a major shopping complex. Trying to fix it, you lose sight of what you are doing and crash into a water fountain. Muggles looks at you and scream horrifically at the sight of a wizard. Not only this, a Muggle steps on your leg and breaks it. What do you do?
a) You get up and walk away
b) You use a Memory Charm on a few people
c) You say, "How did this broom stick get here?"
d) You heal your leg and use a quick Death Curse and kill everyone in sight
e) You heal your leg and pretend you're a Muggle
Riiight… A is wrong. B? I dunno. D is a definite NO… E is good. Okay I choose E.
This test was easier and took Harry about twenty minutes. The next one was a stinker. Harry didn't know a lot about this:
Chronological Dates
Part Three of Six
1) The Memory Charm was tested in what year on Sir Taylor Frederickson?
a- 1456
b- 1455
c- 1444
d- 1443
Oh for gods sake… why do they put dates in intervals of one!?
Potions/Curses/Charms
Part Four of Six
1) The charm, Lumos, was originally created for what purpose?
a) To blind people
b) To give people a look into their future
c) To give people who cheated on papers a punishment
Harry finished Parts Four and Five easily and went to Part Six. Oh no… oh no oh no oh no
History of the Wizard World
History of the Wizard World
Part Six of Six
"5 Minutes…" the teacher called.
Okay, what does it say Harry?
1) How did we come to be?
-Question worth 125 Points
I have it… Harry thought
The test ended swiftly. Harry finished right on time with a great answer for Number Six. We wizards and witches were always here… that's just how it is. Maybe it's right? Maybe it is wrong? Many of the kids in the room were breathing hard and trying to calm themselves down. Hermione had gotten done way before the time limit. The teacher collected the tests and said everyone could talk to each other. She would need a few minutes to verify the release of the students. Hermione started up a conversation.
"That was very easy. You would think they put good questions on these tests. And the last section… my lord. Of course! Betty Refried started the magic world. She was the only person born with a different blood type. Type MA. It stands for Magic. She created a separate world. It started in 347A.D. and took over 1200 years to create a striving population."
Harry gulped. "Hermione… your too smart. I put, "We were always here."
"Half credit, I would say. So… what have you been up to."
"I have so much to tell you…"
Hermione grinned and settled into her chair.