Winter Break and Tests

As Harry had predicted, they spent the month leading up to the test in the library, trying to learn everything covered in the practice tests. The only good thing about this was that the test was scheduled for the day before the holidays so they wouldn't have to study during the break. Though Harry knew Emily would want to study a bit before entering 8th grade. For no matter how much Harry protested, Emily made it clear she was going to 8th grade, with or without him. So sighing, Harry took to his books.

"What is the square root of 456?" Emily asked five days before the test.

"What? That wouldn't be on it," Harry protested. Emily was starting to crack under the pressure.

"It might. What is the capital of Russia?"

"Moscow. What was the name of the 13th president?"

"I don't know. Oh God, what am I going to do if that comes up?"

"Don't worry," Harry said, "you'll do fine. Here, look it up."

"Now we have to learn how to diagram sentences," Emily said, "I can't believe I forgot to learn about them. We only have a week left!"

"Calm down. Hey, did I tell you, my Grandma is going to take a job up at the middle school as an English teacher," Harry said. McGonagall had told him the night before at dinner. She was so proud of Harry for skipping so many grades, but she had also been worried that maybe middle school might not be a very safe place for him. So she had asked around for a subbing job and found one.

"No, you didn't. This is great, now we can have her help us cram. What grade is she going to teach?"

"8th" Harry replied. It would be the first time McGonagall taught his grade. He might get her!

A week later Harry thought Emily was having a nervous break down. In five minutes the test would start. Their lives would change forever depending on how they did. Harry was nervous, but he knew if he didn't pass it wouldn't be the end of the world, as Emily seemed to think.

"Please take out a number 2 pencil," Miss. White was saying, "I will pass out the test now."

"Oh, no; it's starting. I'm going to fail. What do I do?" Emily moaned.

"Don't worry," Harry, said, "look; do what I do when I'm nervous, think of something you really want to do, like climb Mount Everest. Don't worry about the test, worry about falling or something. You'll be fine."

Emily gave him a strange look and started chewing her lip. Well, it works for me, Harry thought. He turned his mind to the time McGonagall had let him ride an old broomstick she had for emergencies. It had just felt right, like he was born to be soaring amongst the clouds.

"Open your tests and begin," the teacher said.

Two hours later it was over. Harry thought he had done really well; he knew everything on it, thanks to Emily.

The two were about to leave when Miss. White called out to them.

"Harry, Emily, can you wait a moment, I want to ask you something."

So they stayed near their desk comparing notes on the test. Once all the other students had left, Miss. White closed the door and turned towards them.

"Well, we all know you two wouldn't get any sleep till you find out the results, so I'm going to grade them right now."

Emily and Harry's faces lit up. This was great; they wouldn't have to wait till the end of break to know.

After about twenty minutes she was done. They had both got 98, which Miss. White told them was a new record. They would be starting the 8th grade at the end of break. Harry and Emily said goodbye to their teacher, knowing they would probably never see her again, then went to find McGonagall, who was grading tests. Once she heard the news, McGonagall announced they would all be going to McDonalds for dinner to celebrate.

The holidays only got better from there. It turned out that Emily was an agnostic, so she didn't celebrate any holidays. Though Harry privately thought this was because her family couldn't afford the spend money on presents. So they invited her to spend Christmas with them. It was one of the happiest holidays Harry could remember; he didn't even have time to feel sad for being with out parents for another year. On Christmas Eve, it snowed, great mountains of white wonder. It was beautiful. They spent the day building snow forts so big you could sit in them, having a snowball fight and just goofing off like regular kids. When they came back in, wet and exhausted, McGonagall had a fire going and two huge cups of hot chocolate.

But like all good things, it didn't last. Two days later Harry woke up to his first day of middle school.