Spoilers for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Chapter 28

CW: Bullying

During the weeks leading up to the O.W.L exams, I was almost always completely stressed over them and going crazy and studying for hours at a time, drawing the curtains of my four-poster and not coming out until I was satisfied with the amount of work I'd done.

But that was almost always, not always. Because I'd go through phases where I remembered what had happened at the Careers Advice meeting, and I'd just stop. Stop caring about the O.W.L.s, and stop studying.

One part of me thought that maybe if I tried really hard in the O.W.L.s and got good marks in everything, I'd be able to bend the law and become a teacher after all, but the other part of me had no hope, and just wanted to give up.

Normally, our end-of-year exams were in the second week of June, however, the O.W.L.s and the N.E.W.T.s were in the first week of June, so during the last week of May, all the fifth-years and seventh-years were stressing out like crazy.

During that last week before the exams, all of our teachers were explaining the marking system for the O.W.L.s, and the mark required to continue into their class in sixth and seventh years.

Most classes required at least an 'A', or an 'Acceptable' to continue with it in September, however Potions, Transfiguration, and Defence Against the Dark Arts required at least an 'E' or an 'Exceeds Expectations' to continue.

"I'm going to have to do well in Potions now," Sirius grumbled on the last Wednesday of May as we walked out of the Potions classroom, which was our last lesson of the day.

"And for us, we only have Potions Friday morning," said James, looking at his timetable, "then no more Potions ever again."

"Thank god," I said. "One more hour, then that's the end of five years of hell!"

"Well, plus the O.W.L..." said Peter.

"Ugh, you guys are so lucky," Sirius grumbled. "How's Potions even going to help me be an Auror?"

"Um, I don't know," said Peter, who didn't realise that it was a rhetorical question.

"I need Exceeds Expectations in everything," said Sirius. "Even Divination, which I'm dropping."

"Maybe you should study," I said. I hadn't seen Sirius study once since third year, aside from just holding a textbook and not taking any notes. I didn't know how he would get Exceeds Expectations in everything with the amount of study he did.

He wasn't as bad as Peter, though. I didn't think I'd seen Peter put actual effort into his schoolwork ever. He didn't even know what career he wanted after school, but if he failed every class, he wouldn't be able to do any classes next year, and I had no idea what would happen in that situation.

Oh well. That was Peter's problem, not mine. I knew I'd be able to pass every class I wanted to continue with because I'd been working hard, even if it was all for nothing.

One other thing that motivated me to study harder, was that while Lily and I were patrolling on the last Thursday night of May, she reminded me of something that I'd completely forgotten about.

"I hope you're ready to give me five galleons," she said.

"Five galleons? Why?" I said, sounding stupid.

"When I get better O.W.L marks than you," said Lily, grinning. And then I remembered the bet we'd made back in October, and I gasped because I didn't have five galleons.

"Yeah, right," I said. "I think you mean when you give me five galleons."

Shit, I really needed to do well now.

The normal end-of-year exams went over the period of a week, but the O.W.L.s went over the period of two weeks, which made it even scarier.

The worst part was we were only told what our next exam was during the afternoon of the day before. So, on the first Sunday afternoon of June, all the fifth years were called into the Great Hall to be told what our first exam would be, which would take place on the next day.

Our entire year sat squished up on the Ravenclaw table, and all of the teachers sat on the head table in front of us. It was extremely nerve-wracking, even though we had eighteen hours before we even started the exams.

"Your first O.W.L exam is Charms," said Professor Flitwick, stepping forward. "It would be wise for you to spend the remainder of this afternoon and this evening studying for that exam."

Everyone took that as their cue to go, and we all scurried out of the Great Hall to study for Charms.

"Cheering Charms... Levitation... Growth..." I started muttering to myself as the marauders and I made our way to the library.

The Charms written exam was the next morning, and it was actually a lot easier than I'd expected. Charms had always been like that, something I didn't particularly like but didn't particularly dislike, but I always found it easy.

We had two hours to complete the written exam, and I was done within an hour and a half, so I spent the last half an hour reading over my answers and then just sitting there.

After the written exam, we had a two-hour break to have lunch and prepare for the practical exam, which was a little harder than the written exam, but again I thought I did alright.

After the practical exam, we were all brought together again to be told that tomorrow we would have our Potions exam.

The written exam for Potions was a lot harder than the one for Charms, simply because I sucked at Potions.

On Wednesday, we had our Herbology exam, which I'd barely studied for at all before being told the previous afternoon that it was our next exam.

Honestly, Herbology was the sort of subject that I just forgot existed, and I was most likely going to drop it anyway, so I didn't really care what I got.

After the practical exam for Herbology, we were brought together to be told that our next exam would be Defence Against the Dark Arts, which made my stomach squirm.

Defence Against the Dark Arts was the class I'd studied the hardest for, and I was determined to get an 'Outstanding'. Not that it could take me anywhere by doing well in the class with my situation, but it was my favourite class, and if I got an outstanding result, maybe, just maybe, that could prove to everyone that I was more than a werewolf.

Talking about werewolves and the Defence Against the Dark Arts exam, I knew that some of the questions in the written exam would be about werewolves, and I felt like it would be kind of weird for me to get all those questions right, because would the examiners find it suspicious?

Don't be ridiculous, they'll just think you've studied werewolves well, I thought to myself.

I didn't study werewolves at all, but of course, when the time of the written exam came, I confidently answered question ten, which was 'Name five signs that identify the werewolf'.

I finished early as I had with the first three written exams, but this time I made sure to read my answers thoroughly, and was still reading them over when Professor Flitwick announced that only five minutes were remaining.

After the exam, the marauders and I went outside to prepare ourselves for the practical exam in the sun, but Sirius and James were overly confident and insisted they didn't need to practice, and Sirius complained about being bored.

I wanted to tell him to practice Defence Against the Dark Arts or study for another class to entertain himself, but James had other ideas because as he pocketed the snitch that he'd been throwing up and down, he spotted Snape walking past us.

He was soon disarmed and on the floor after being hit by the Impediment Jinx. He was soon choking on soap that appeared in his mouth after James hit him with the scouring charm, and I was just about to intervene when Lily appeared and I just looked back down at my Transfiguration book because I didn't want her thinking her prefect partner thought this was funny.

Lily was telling James and Sirius to leave Snape alone, and James was telling Lily that he would if she went out with him, and I felt my stomach flip. He couldn't just go around guilt-tripping Lily into dating him. I wanted to tell him that, but Lily spoke before I could.

"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid," she said coolly.

"Bad luck, Prongs," Sirius said to James, and I did look up at that. I'd never heard anyone call James that before. Was it a nickname only Sirius called him?

I didn't have long to dwell on thoughts of James's new nickname, because soon Snape had gotten his wand and hit James with a spell that caused him to bleed. A spell that he'd used on Peter and Regulus before.

James didn't seem too fazed, as the spell only hit him on his cheek, and not his whole body, and he was soon hitting Snape back with another of the spells that we'd never heard of before we'd seen Snape use it. It was the spell that hoisted him upside down by his ankle.

As soon as Lily told him off, James dropped Snape to the floor but quickly hit him with the full body-binding curse. Lily was shouting now, and I felt like I should have been helping her stop James and Sirius, but I couldn't bring myself to betray my friends like that.

James took the curse off Snape when Lily told him to, and then was saying something to Snape, and then Snape was standing up again and I heard him say something, but I only caught the last few words.

"... Mudbloods like her!"

At that, the world seemed to go in slow motion. The crowd of students that had just been laughing their heads off at Snape being humiliated all stopped laughing. Many of their facial expressions changed from complete joy to pure rage.

I slammed my book shut because Snape using that word at all was bad enough, but for him to use it against Lily? Who was supposedly his best friend!? That was another story.

I was about to stand when I saw the look on James's face. He was angrier than everyone else here combined.

Just the sight of him that angry made me grip my wand like it was life support because I wasn't sure what was about to go down.