Disclaimer: Pokemon is like the coolest thing ever invented.
Chapter 11
The second term seemed to glide by to the seventh years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The N.E.W.T.s were almost upon them and they had to make up from the time they had blown off in first semester. Hermione and Draco had gotten no further in discovering the identity of the culprit, of course that could be because they hadn't been trying very hard of late for whenever they buckled down and tried to focus their minds began to wander to other, more pleasurable, matters, and so, they too spent their time preparing for the upcoming tests. Neither volunteered to help Harry study, deciding that it would be a pointless task, and figured he'd get O's on everything anyway.
One day, the trio was in the library, the two sane members buried in complex potions books (ever since the cookie dough incident Snape had given them almost twice as much homework as the rest of the class) and Harry was putting on a finger puppet alternative rock concert that would put Green Day to shame. Madame Pince had long since given up on attempting to stop Harry from performing his antics and was simply watching the show with obvious pleasure.
Suddenly, Draco sighed and surfaced from the dry text, obviously bored, and asked in an a tone that clearly stated he didn't expect an answer, "Hey Hermione, did you ever investigate within Gryffindor?"
Hermione rolled her eyes as usual at her friend's mistrust of the members of her house, but said, "As a matter of fact, yes I did, well in a way."
Her companion sat bolt upright, clearly not expecting this answer, "Well?"
Hermione nibbled on her quill thoughtfully, "Well, they're Gryffindors, right? So obviously they were all rather indignant about the whole matter and I had to convince them that I really didn't blame them, but I felt it was my duty to look into things."
Draco nodded and asked, "Any leads?"
"No, not really, I mean the Creevey brothers were fidgety as usual, Neville was a bit jumpy, but he's like that under any little bit of pressure, and Lavender Brown was kind of depressed and out of it, but she's never really been the same after Ron's death." Hermione concluded and went back to her notes.
Draco sat there for a while, running a hand through his silver-blonde hair and stared off into space, "When'd you ask them?"
"Over the Easter holidays." The witch mumbled without looking up,
Draco sighed once again; reflecting on how fast time had gone since Christmas.
Harry's concert ended to the wild applause of the librarian and Draco stood up, "I can't concentrate," he informed Hermione, "I'm going to head back to Slytherin."
"Righ'" came the vague reply.
Draco grabbed his bag and walked quickly out of the library. As he strode along the corridors, he reflected on the past year. He had become great friends with Hermione in such a short time and he rather enjoyed spending time with her. In fact, he realized, he appreciated her more than he ever had his Slytherin cronies. This epiphany triggered a new, somewhat alien thought, but before he could examine it, he connected rather painfully with a hard, stone wall. "Here already." He said to himself, still rather dazed, before proceeding inside and opening a book on Transfiguration without another thought.
In what seemed like far too short a time, N.E.W.T.s were upon the seventh years. All of them walked around in a rather tense state, reciting incantations under their breath to practice, this resulted in quite a few accidents, the least of which forcing a small second year to be rushed to the hospital wing in order to have a large running blender to be removed from his ear.
The examiners marveled at Harry's "natural" talent as he skimmed through the practical examinations with uncanny ease. He was the only one who managed to produce a perfect 17th century Gothic cabinet from midair in the Transfiguration final. (Hermione's examiner told her that hers appeared to be more French and Draco had to drag her out of the room before she started performing Unforgivables on the man.) In Defense Against the Dark Arts Harry did so well that his wizened old examiner burst into tears and shouted loudly that he had far surpassed the ability of Dumbledore and Tom Riddle combined. At the mention of "Tom Riddle" the entire room burst out into a mass panic and several bright purple fireworks had to be shot into the air before the test could continue.
Harry also passed the written exam with flying colors. At first, it appeared that getting him to sit still and take the test would be a problem, what with his need of making rather explosive noises every time something got too quiet. They had already had to evacuate the hall twice before Draco came up with the idea of bribing the crazed wizard with dog biscuits.
Draco rarely saw Hermione during the testing due to her obnoxious habit of running back to classes during breaks and getting down on her hands and knees to beg teachers to let her change "one itsy bitsy tiny microscopic little thing" on her test that, if left unchanged, could no doubt make her fail the test and therefore ruin all prospect of her and her prosperity's futures forever. "You'd think she'd learn by now." Draco said to Harry after Hermione had bolted off for the 7th time that day, "I mean, hasn't she tried that approach for the last seven years and still no effect."
In response Harry simply produced a chalice of Polish vodka and chugged it.
"Hey mate, can I have some of that?" Inquired the platinum haired wizard at his side.
"Booze for Draco!" replied Harry happily and handed over a crystal goblet.
"Hey, thanks!" replied the recipient, but when he went to take a swig, found that it was filled with only vinegar and spat it out all over Harry who giggled and stuck out his tongue.
At long last the testing ended. Since it had finished early on a Friday and the Hogwarts Express left the following Monday, they had the next few days free of classes. Like the rest of the school, Hermione and Draco were spending their freedom lounging on the grounds and watching Harry perform entertaining little charms on passing birds and flying bugs.
"Well it doesn't look like ole' Voldey will be attacking this year." Said Draco as a sparrow with antennae flew by.
"You can never be too sure, I mean-"she cut off and her tone became very stern, "Harry, disarm that creature at once!" she exclaimed pointing to a goldfinch with an AK-47 protruding from its scull. Harry changed it into a rubber-band gun and Hermione continued, "I mean, we still have the weekend."
"Yeah right, like he's going to attack in the next two days." Came the sarcastic reply.
"It's very likely since we still haven't caught Ron and Hagrid's murderer.
"Look, testing is over, we only have two days left, let's enjoy them, okay?"
A/N: WAHAHAHA! FORSHADOWING! Ahem, well yes as you can tell dear old Power of Insanity is drawing to a close. The next chapter will be the last one and then we'll have a brief epilogue and the tale shall come to a close. Sad, huh? Anyway, review and tell me who you think the culprit is, if you get it right I'll respond to you and give you a virtual pat on the head or something. Ok dokay. Ta ta for now!