Chapter 11: Revision and Rumours

It was now the last week of May and the exams would be starting on the first of June. Padma and the rest of the Ravenclaws were revising hard in the Common Room which seemed filled to bursting point. It was almost impossible to find a seat. Padma still wasn't speaking to Parvati unless it was completely necessary. In any case, her twin was always accompanied by the ever-giggling Lavender.

The night before the first exam, History of Magic, the first year Ravenclaws had managed to sit around the end of the long wooden table. Other Ravenclaws had gone to the library or retreated to their dormitories upstairs to get some peace. As Padma read, Terry was pacing back and forth with a furrowed brow, desperately trying to remember the ingredients of a Forgetfulness Potion. Suddenly he was knocked to the ground by a Rune Dictionary that a fifth year had Summoned across the Common Room.

Terry scrambled to his feet blushing furiously and rubbed the back of his head. Anthony and Michael were desperately trying to hide the fact that they were in hysterics. Padma looked up from her copy of a Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration and smiled at Terry in a sympathetic way.

"This is mad," he said bitterly, sitting down beside her.

"Everyone has to revise," Padma said matter-of-factly.

"I know that, but sending books flying about the place is a bit too much."

He rubbed his head again and retrieved a copy of Magical Theory. Padma leant back in her chair and massaged her temples, looking around the Common Room to distract her from her work. By the fireplace, Penelope was Transfiguring a goblet into an owl and back again. She was taking her O.W.L.s and had been working non-stop for weeks on revision. The fifth year looked tense, but not as much as some others. Several Ravenclaws had developed nasty rashes and Padma had heard of a girl who fainted every day.

Padma thought how grateful she was that she wasn't that stressed. She turned back to her book, hoping that everything was going to go alright with her exams.

o0o

A week later Padma had completed all of her first year exams. Most of the nervous sensation that had built up in her chest had disappeared, the remainder being about her results. She had managed to Transfigure her matchbox into a very pretty snuffbox, her Cheering Draught had worked just about perfectly and she'd remembered the names of all twenty five goblins that instigated the Lincoln Rising of 1231. She sat at breakfast with Terry and Lisa discussed how the exams had gone.

"I managed to leave matches in my snuffbox," Terry said through a mouthful of toast.

"I definitely improved in Herbology," Padma said.

"Thanks to me," Kevin interrupted across the table.

Padma smiled at him.

"That's true. But it didn't stop me from mixing up the fertilizers in the exam. My Humming Azaleas doubled in size and Professor Sprout had to move them to a larger greenhouse."

Lisa laughed and looked up from her copy of the Daily Prophet.

"That's fair enough, but would you stop discussing exams!" she said. "What's done is done. Padma, I don't want to catch you checking the answers again."

Padma tried not to smile. She spotted Parvati hurrying over to the Ravenclaw table. Her twin looked excited and squeezed in between Padma and Terry.

"Have you heard the rumours?"

Padma rolled her eyes.

"What do you want to say?" she asked her twin sniffily. "If it's not important you should go."

Parvati frowned.

"I've told you I'm sorry a thousand times!" she pouted. "Can't you forgive me?"

"Maybe," Padma said with a smile. "But you shouldn't be such a gossip, Parvati!"

"It's not gossip. It's based on reliable information, I'll have you know."

Terry poured himself a goblet of pumpkin juice.

"Who told you?" he asked.

"Even if it's reliable information, it's still gossip."

"No it's not."

"Who told you?" Terry asked again.

Parvati turned and glared at him.

"Neville Longbottom, if you really want to know!" she snapped.

"What a fantastic source of information!" Michael said sarcastically. "What did he tell you? That his toad had gone missing again?"

Terry sniggered. Parvati looked scandalous.

"No. He told me that Harry Potter, Ron and Hermione disappeared last night. And nobody has seen them since."

At the mention of Harry, Mandy looked distraught. She stood up in her seat and scanned the Gryffindor table.

"He's not there!"

Mandy looked close to tears. Terry looked as though he wanted to tease Mandy but Padma silenced him with an elbow to the ribs.

"I told you," Parvati said smugly. "I'll see you later, Padma."

She walked back over to the Gryffindor table. Padma looked over to the teachers' table and saw an empty seat. It was Professor Quirrel's.

Over the next couple of days, rumours flew around the castle. Padma was told by one of the ghosts that the Philosopher's Stone had been in Hogwarts and Professor Quirrel had tried to steal it for You-Know-Who to restore him to power. And now Quirrel was dead. Padma didn't know about the part about You-Know-Who, but it was clear that Harry was in the Hospital Wing and Quirrel was gone. Whatever had happened, the teachers refused to comment about it when asked.

o0o

At the end of year feast, the school gathered in the Great Hall. The room was decked out in banners of green and silver of Slytherin. As Padma sat down, she glanced over to the Slytherin table where they looked triumphant, shaking hands with one another and laughing.

"It's sickening," she said.

Pansy Parkinson stuck her tongue out at Padma who ignored her.

"It's their seventh year in a row," Terry said. "I heard one of the fifth years telling her friend. She'd heard from…"

"It's Harry!" Mandy said suddenly, looking joyous.

The Great Hall went silent. Harry looked embarrassed and well, considering what he'd supposedly gone through. Many of the students, Mandy included, stood up to get a better view. Lisa grabbed hold of a handful of her robes and pulled her back down. Terry shook his head and Padma stifled a laugh.

When Professor Dumbledore arrived the students fell silent. His bright blue eyes seemed to scan the faces of every student before he recited a speech, eventually coming to the house points; Gryffindor were fourth, Hufflepuff third, Ravenclaw second and Slytherin first. The noise from the Slytherin table was deafening; they clapped and cheered, stamping their feet, and Snape looked very smug at the teachers' table.

Professor Dumbledore raised his hands for silence.

"Yes, yes, well done Slytherin," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "However, recent events must be taken into account." The Slytherins muttered mutinously amongst themselves. "Ahem. I have a few last-minute points to give out. Let me see. Yes…"

He paused for a moment. The Great Hall was deathly silent.

"First – to Mr Ronald Weasley…for the best played game of chess that Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

The Gryffindors cheered loudly, breaking the silence. The Slytherins sat in stony silence.

"Second – to Miss Hermione Granger…for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

Padma looked over to the Gryffindor table where Hermione had her head in her hands, seemingly crying. Pansy was glaring at Dumbledore with an expression of pure loathing.

"Third – to Mr Harry Potter…for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points."

The Great Hall burst into excited shouts and cheers. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws joined in, joyous at the fact that the Slytherins were so annoyed. Padma couldn't stop smiling.

"Gryffindor and Slytherin are level!" Terry shouted over the cheers.

"Dumbledore should have given Harry more house points!" Mandy cried. "He deserves it after all he went through!"

Professor Dumbledore raised his hands once more and silence fell again.

"There are all kinds of courage," Dumbledore said warmly. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr Neville Longbottom."

A great explosion of sound filled the Great Hall. The cheers and clapping echoed up to the high ceiling. Padma was on her feet clapping while Mandy looked as though she was going to cry. Gryffindor had beaten Slytherin, and any Slytherin defeat was positive in the eyes of a Ravenclaw.

"Which means we need a change of decoration!" Professor Dumbledore cried over the cheering.

He clapped his hands and the Slytherin banners changed to the red and gold of Gryffindor. Padma sat back down as the feast appeared. The Ravenclaw first years ate and talked excitedly about their plans for the summer.

"I got a letter from my mum this morning," Padma said, helping herself to some soup. "She said that we're going to India this summer to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins."

"Sounds good," Lisa said. "I'm going to Cornwall to visit my gran."

Terry was, as usual, trying to eat as much as possible.

"Will you bring me a present from India?" he asked through a mouthful of food.

"Don't be so rude!" Lisa said.

Padma smiled, remembering the photograph that he'd given her.

"Of course I will. I'll get you something too, Lisa."

"Thanks," Terry said. "I'm going to try and persuade my dad to take me to at least one Puddlemere game. My mum would love it. She's fascinated by anything that's magic."

Padma laughed and soaked up the conversation, feeling totally contented just to listen as the feast drew on late into the evening.

o0o

Three days later, Padma and the rest of the first years got their exam results back. Although Hermione Granger had come top in every subject, Padma was really pleased with her mark of 105 in History of Magic. She was pleasantly surprised how well she'd done in Herbology; the sessions with Kevin had clearly paid off.

On the final day of the school year Padma was up in the dormitory packing. Morag was trying to spell her clothes into her trunk and fold them neatly, but a flick of her wand only succeeded in sending a stray sock flying across the room. It hit Padma in the face.

"Sorry!" Morag apologised.

Padma tossed the sock back and laughed.

"It's fine!" she smiled. "Good shot, by the way."

Morag giggled. Padma took the photograph of Terry and her down from her desk; the figures were now throwing snow at each other and laughing. She put it carefully on top of her robes and closed her trunk with a snap. Lisa and Mandy were trying to coax Mandy's cat from underneath her bed. Downstairs in the Common Room, Padma could hear Professor Flitwick shouting squeakily for them to make their way downstairs.

"We'd better get going," Mandy said, holding her cat in her arms.

Padma grabbed her trunk and looked sadly around the dormitory. It had been her home for a year and she was going to miss it.

The Ravenclaws headed downstairs and out of Hogwarts, going down to Hogsmede Station in the horseless carriages. Somehow they managed to cram all ten of them into one compartment, but halfway through the journey only Padma, Terry and Lisa remained, the others having disappeared to see other friends or family members.

Some fifth years, in post O.W.L celebrations, set of some Dr Filibuster's No-Heat-Wet-Start Fireworks in the corridors and somehow a lone Catherine wheel managed to get into the compartment Padma was in. She and Lisa spent ten minutes attempting to shoo it out of the window while Terry sat in hysterics, tears in his eyes.

"Thanks for helping," Padma said sarcastically, putting out a fire on her sleeve.

"No problem!" Terry chortled.

Lisa frowned at him. Terry wiped his eyes and took a bag of sweets from his trunk, popping a black one in his mouth. Suddenly flames and smoke sprang from between his lips as he coughed and spluttered.

"Pepper Imp!" he yelled. "My mouth's on fire! Get out of the way!"

He scrambled to his feet and struggled with the door, fleeing down the corridor with smoke pouring from his mouth. Padma and Lisa giggled hysterically.

"He really deserved that!" Padma managed to gasp eventually.

Lisa nodded. When he returned, Terry's face and shirt were dripping with water and he sat down opposite the girls looking fed up.

"What did you do, stick your head under a tap?" Padma teased.

By his silence and stony face, Padma took this assumption to be true. By the time the Hogwarts Express pulled into Platform 9¾ Terry had both dried off and cheered up. The three Ravenclaws headed out onto the crowded platform with their trunks and owls. Padma spotted Parvati over by the gateway; her twin was bidding goodbye to Lavender. When her fellow Gryffindor walked through to Kings Cross, Parvati saw Padma and waved her over.

"You have to write to me over the summer," Lisa said as they walked. "Tell me all about India."

"I promise," Padma said.

"And you have to bring me back a souvenir," Terry said with a grin.

"I promise that too," Padma said.

Across the platform, Michael was shouting for Terry to hurry up. Terry hugged Lisa and Padma tightly.

"I'll write," he said. "Have a nice summer and I'll see you in September."

He hurried off after Michael and they passed through the barrier together. Parvati hurried over to Padma, hugging her tightly.

"Are you excited about going to India?" Parvati asked. "Cousin Hina was asking about you at Christmas. She'll be so happy to see you!"

"I know she was asking about me," Padma said. "Remember the letter?"

"Oh yes…" Parvati said.

They passed through the gateway together, pushing their trolleys and emerging from behind a crowd of Muggles. Padma was glad to see her sister seemed embarrassed.

"So are you looking forward to it?" Lisa asked.

"I am," Padma said, surprised at the answer. "There's mum!"

She spotted her mother standing beneath the sign for Platform 9. Surya Patil was wearing one of her best saris and was talking to a slight woman with blonde hair. She hugged the twins in turn.

"Did you enjoy your first year at Hogwarts?" she asked.

"Yes mum," the twins chorused, grinning at each other.

Lisa was hugging the blonde woman who was clearly her mother. The two wizarding families headed outside to the taxi rank, chatting about the summer holidays. Padma hugged Lisa one last time.

"Don't forget to write," Padma said.

"Same goes for you!" Lisa said with a grin.

"I'll see you at work tomorrow, Cassandra," Padma's mother said to Lisa's. "Come on girls. We'd best get going home."

The three witches got into a black taxi. The driver looked confused about the twins' owls but said nothing as he put the trunks in the boot and handed them Rama and Shiva. Padma looked back towards the station as they pulled out into the road and waved to Lisa before settling in her seat. She was looking forward to her holiday in India, but she was even more excited about starting her second year at Hogwarts.

Padma's first year at Hogwarts is over – but there's more to come. Read on to see how her summer trip to India goes and what the second year is like at Hogwarts for her. Keep reviewing!