Chapter 7: Testing Times.
Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
After a week off for Easter, the students quickly got back into the swing of things as the last, and shortest, term was upon them. The first, second, third, fourth and sixth year students prepared to sit their end-of-year tests; Barty Weasley, Gordon Conroy and the other fifth years were cramming in last minute study for their OWL's (Ordinary Wizarding Levels); while Polly Clarke, Rick Jordan and the other seventh years were bracing themselves for the challenge of the NEWT's (Nastily Exhausting Wizard Tests), the highest qualification offered at Hogwarts.
But before all that could take place, Gryffindor had to face Hufflepuff on the Quidditch pitch. The winner would take the Cup.
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The atmosphere inside the Gryffindor team's changing room was tense. Conroy was showing the strain the most. "Okay people. This is Polly and Rick's last game with us, so let's send them out with a bang and win this, okay?"
The team nodded and followed their captain through the door to the tunnel and the pitch.
"For Gryffindor… Olafsen, Valquez, Jordan, Weasley, Clarke, Stoakes, aaannnd CONROY!"
They mounted their brooms and hovered facing the Hufflepuff team — who, lead by Victor Brock, a husky black-haired fifth year, walked out of their own changing room and spread out facing them.
"For Hufflepuff… Black, Branstone, Diggory, Madley, Laverne, Whitby aaannnd BROCK!"
"Lets keep it clean boys," urged Charlie Weasley as he released the Bludgers and the Snitch. "On my whistle… Go!"
Patricia Black, the youngest of the three Hufflepuff Chasers (and in fact, at only fifteen, the youngest Chaser of the field) was quickest of the mark. Her Phoenix racing broom allowed her to quickly manoeuvre in and out of the Gryffindor players to score for Hufflepuff.
"Excellent moves by Chaser Black of Hufflepuff, and she opens the scoring for Hufflepuff at ten to zero, with Hufflepuff still in possession, Diggory with the Quaffle, passes to Branstone — Beater Valquez and Chasers Clarke and Stoakes of Gryffindor on the intercept. Branstone feints with a Porskoff Play and drops it to Diggory, he shoots — it's intercepted by Jordan, who passes it to Clarke, Gryffindor now in possession. The Gryffindor chasers are moving up the pitch, they joined by the beaters and head the Hufflepuff goal in a classic Conroy Chevron. Clarke passes the Quaffle forward to team captain and chaser Gordon Conroy, he takes the shot… and Gryffindor equalise at 10-10!"
Harry grinned. "That's better."
"I think Conroy'd forgotten about Black's Phoenix." James suggested.
"Probably. But they're working around that pretty well." observed Harry, as Stoakes scored, putted Gryffindor ten points ahead. "We had a similar problem in my second year when Draco bought his way onto the Slytherin team with seven brand-new Nimbus 2001's."
"But you still beat him, right Dad?" Virgil asked him.
Harry nodded. "You betcha. Draco never beat me once in five years."
"Five years? Didn't you played your whole time at Hogwarts, I thought you did?" asked Robin.
"I did," confirmed Harry, "We didn't play the Tournament in fourth year, because of the Triwizard Tournament between us, the Beaubatons Academy and the Durmstrang Institute."
"Right, thanks."
"You're welcome."
A Hawkshead Attacking Formation by the Hufflepuff Chasers got them close enough to the goal twenty minutes later to let Black manoeuvre around for a shoot at the Gryffindor goal. "Chaser Black scores for Hufflepuff, they now lead ninety to fifty! Gryffindor are in possession, Conroy with the Quaffle, passes to Clarke, who shoots… good save by the Hufflepuff keeper, who passes it to Diggory. He heads for the Gryffindor, but he takes Bludgers from Olafsen and Valquez and goes down. Stoakes takes the Quaffle… and puts another one away for Gryffindor!"
Gryffindor were clearly getting their second wind, as they extended their score by another five goals, before Black intercepted the Quaffle as Conroy was aiming for another shot. She shot towards the Gryffindor goal with the two Hufflepuff Beaters in close formation behind her. Jordan went down to a Bludger from Whitby. "Chaser Black of Hufflepuff puts one in and Hufflepuff now trail by a mere ten points! Gryffindor now in possession."
"Is that the Snitch?" Lily asked Harry, glimpsing a glint of gold out the corner of her eye, near the base of the Gryffindor goal.
Harry followed her glaze and nodded. "Anne hasn't spotted it yet and neither has Hufflepuff's Seeker."
In fact, they didn't spot it at all, and the Snitch disappeared five minutes later just before Hufflepuff levelled the score at a hundred and ten points each. Stoakes managed to snag the Quaffle after it went through the hoop and threw it in a long arc to Conroy, who, seeing a Bludger coming his way, passed it to Clarke, who slipped it neatly into the goal. "Chaser Clarke scores for Gryffindor and they now lead 120-110! And are still in possession, Conroy with the Quaffle."
Anne was scanning the pitch, looking intently for the Snitch. She grinned as Conroy scored again. Then she spotted it, flittering low down near the grass close to the Gryffindor stand. She shot upwards and then, catching the Hufflepuff Seeker's attention, she dived. She flew until her broom tip was within inches of the ground before pulling up and shooting across the ground. The Hufflepuff Seeker, second-year Lance Madley couldn't put up in time and his broom smashed into the ground, splintering it to half-a-dozen pieces and sending him flying through the air. "Nice Potter Pull-out by Weasley and Madley crashes out. Wait, Weasley has spotted the Snitch and she catches it, no trouble at all."
"GRYFFINDOR WINS!!!" declared Charlie.
"Gryffindor wins and they secure the Quidditch Cup for another year."
Conroy motioned for Clarke and Jordan, the departing players, to take the Cup from McGonagall and lead the team on their victory parade around the stadium.
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The practical exams came first — Hermione set them the usual task of turning a teapot and a turtle. Lily's was still breathing steam and Lena nearly blew up her teapot four times before she finally managing to partly-transfigure hers. James got a perfect grade for his teapot: a large, pretty, blue-and-white one; and Robin passed his exam with flying colours too. The other Gryffindor students all passed too. Colin set them the Radius and Extinguishing Charms for lighting wands. Thanks to Lena's lessons, Robin passed with flying colours along with the rest of the class. Then it was up to the third floor again for the first-year Potions exam: the Volcanis Potion, used in Zonko's stink pellets.
Next morning, they walked down to the back of the castle for their Defence Against the Dark Arts exam. This year Remus had them wade through a shallow pond filled with grindylows, a task that Donald and Gary at least undertook with enthusiasm.
A week later, the practical exams over it was time for the theory exams. Sirius took them to a large room on the second floor where they were given special anti-cheating spells. The classroom itself had a high, vaulted ceiling and was sweltering in the June sunlight, they wrote as fast as they could in order to get out of the classroom as quickly as possible, running true to form as always James wrote far more than was needed, especially in Potions and Transfiguration. Their last exam was History of Magic, where they had to write a minimum of eighteen inches on how Harry's actions during his time at Hogwarts changed the Wizarding World (James wrote three feet), then they were free, with no work to do until the exam results came out two weeks later. They all passed of course, James and Lily both passed with excellent marks in all subjects, with James coming top of the year in Transfiguration, Potions and DADA, Robin ended up with reasonable marks, especially in Transfiguration, and Lena scraped through — her good Charms mark making up for nearly flunking Transfiguration.
All too soon it was time for the Leaving Feast, and the first-year Gryffindor trudged down to the Great Hall in a group, taking seats near each other at the long Gryffindor House Table. The Hall was decorated in shades of red-and-gold as Gryffindor had, predictably, won the House Cup once again, largely due to the success of their house's Quidditch team.
Before they could begin breakfast, they had to sit waiting, somewhat impatiently in many cases, for McGonagall to announce the winners of the Founders Awards, including the Slytherin award introduced two years earlier at the suggestion of Professor Hawke their Head of House. This year's recipients were: Howard Starn of Ravenclaw (Godric Gryffindor Award for Outstanding Bravery); Hasseem Sharma of Ravenclaw (Rowena Ravenclaw Award for Academic Excellence); Brian Davis of Gryffindor (Helga Hufflepuff Award for Unfailing Endurance); and Garrett Higgs of Slytherin (Salazar Slytherin Award for Unceasing Ambition).
Then finally they could eat. Once they were finished, the prefects and the outgoing Head Boy and Head Girl, Polly Clarke and Rick Jordan of Gryffindor ushered them doing to the coaches. "Why are you leaving?" Robin asked James and Lena curiously, as he joined Lily and his two friends in one of the horseless carriages. "Don't you live here during the summer?"
James nodded.
"We're going to stay with Lily for a while at the Sanctuary," explained Lena, seeing his look of confusion. "We always do. It's a tradition."
"You're welcome to come to if you want," offered Lily. "There's plenty of room."
"Maybe later, I think my mum and dad would kill me if I didn't visit first, and I know Aunt Victoria would."
"Aunt Victoria, I thought your dad's sister was Emily?"
"It is. She's not really my aunt, more of a family friend, she used to teach my parents in primary school."
"Why don't you come over on the 30th?" suggested Lily, "It's Virgil's birthday on the 29th and my dad's on the 31st, so we usually have a big party to celebrate on the 30th. Then you can stay for a while."
"Good idea. I'll do that." agreed Robin.
At Lily's suggestion they started a game of Exploding Snap, pausing only when the wizened old witch came round with the snack trolley. Lily bought her friends a selection of treats including pumpkin juice, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, and Chocolate Frogs, and then returned to the game. It was nearly dusk by the time the train slid to a stop at King's Cross Station, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. They quickly unloaded their trunks and with the help of the Weasley twins, who had joined them just after the trolley had come past, they put them onto trolleys and out through the barrier. Harry, Ginny and Virgil were waiting for them, Lily ran up to her father and embraced him fiercely, he returned the hug and then dropped a kiss on her forehead. "How were the exams petal?" he asked, "Did you do okay?"
"Awful most of them, especially the written papers. But I managed okay, they'll let me come back in September." she told him, and turned for another hug from her mother.
"It is good to have you back, Lily." Virgil told her, and in a rare of emotion, he grinned broadly.
"It's good to be back, 'Gill." Lily told and gave him a quick one-armed hug around the shoulders, "Hogwarts is great, but there's no place like home."
Harry nodded in agreement, "Let's get home then, I think we can all fit into the car, Megan and Neville'll see to the other kids."
"Lead the way Dad." said Lily, waving goodbye to Robin, who was being ushered away by a mid-aged couple she assumed were his parents, he waved back. Then she remembered something. "How did the League and European Cup Finals go? I've been so by I've not had a chance to look at the Prophet."
Harry sighed, "We won the League Cup, we beat the Appleby Arrows 210-40 on the 28th. But we lost the European Cup to the Grodzick Goblins —Ludkhazov, one of their Beaters, got me with a Bludger just as I was about to catch the Snitch — we lost 290-90."
"Don't worry Dad, you can't win them all." Lily told him, squeezing his arm reassuringly.
"That's what I've been telling him," Ginny added, she had taken over Lily's trolley. "He wouldn't listen to me."
"Oh, I listened to you alright darling," Harry told her. "I just can't help feeling responsible."
"I know you can't Harry. It's part of your charm."
When they reached the car, Harry heaved the four trucks into the magically-expanded boot and they got in, Harry and Ginny in the front, with Virgil between them, and Lily and the Weasleys in the back. Harry started the car and drove off. Twenty minutes later, they swept through the gates and up to the main door. Harry walked up to the huge twenty-foot high oak doors "Grandis Gryphons." he said, and the doors creaked open.
Lily followed close behind him, stopping for a breath to admire the massive Entrance Hall, a familiar sight she'd missed over the last few months. "It's good to be home." she declared.
Please R/R.