Chapter 16 – The Final Test
"You had sex IN THE SHOWER!"
"You dirty whore!"
"I can't shower there anymore, it's not clean!"
Serena smiled as she listened to her girlfriends cries of indignation. She had just told them about her latest adventure with Tom and they were, of course, freaking out but enjoying her promiscuity none the less.
"Seriously Serena, I can't be friends with a whore," Eve said.
"Says the slut who slept with our professor," Serena said. Eve smiled guiltily and laughed.
"That's right!" She laughed.
"You guys are both skanks and I'm going to go have sex with Lucius," Heather said, getting off the bed and walking out the door. She winked mischievously before slamming it shut behind her.
Serena and Eve dropped open their mouths.
"Was she serious!" Serena asked her. Eve shrugged her shoulders.
"Do you think we should go get her?" Serena asked.
"No," Eve said, laughing. "She'll be fine." Serena looked uncertainly at the closed door, but sighed and stayed on the bed with Eve.
She thought Heather would've returned sooner. Maybe she actually did go find him and have sex. The girls had finished some homework and gotten ready for bed by the time Heather returned, hair disheveled, and looking dazed.
"Heather!" They cried, jumping up to greet her.
"Are you ok?" Serena asked her. Heather looked at her and laughed.
"Holy Fuck, guys, I can't believe…" She stared.
"Did you guys have sex?" Eve asked.
"I can't believe I just did that, fucking hell," Heather said.
"Sweetheart! Are you ok?" Serena asked as Heather collapsed on her bed, snorting at herself. The girls sat down next to her.
"Fine actually," Heather said.
"How was it?" Eve asked, smiling.
"It was amazing, just like, Merlin," Heather said, laughing at herself.
"You are so stupid," Serena said shaking her head, relieved Heather was ok.
"Where'd you guys do it?" Eve asked.
"In an empty classroom near the dungeons," Heather said.
"Weren't you scared of getting caught?" Serena asked her.
"No, not really," Heather said. Serena rolled her eyes.
"Details!" Eve cried. "How big was he?"
"Oh he was good sized," Heather said smiling. "Don't worry."
They talked for another half hour before finally going to bed. They still had classes the next morning and as much as they wanted to hear about Heather's experience, it was also late and they did want to catch some sleep tonight.
Heather blushed the next morning as she walked by Lucius, who smirked and said hello. Breakfast otherwise was uneventful. Serena was happy to see Tom at the Slytherin table and not skulking in the dungeons with dark ideas circulating through his head. Although, from the look of concentration he had on his face, she couldn't be sure if being around people did anything to stop that. He could still be thinking bad thoughts.
She smiled at him when he caught her eye and he smiled, kind of. She fluttered her eyelashes and gave him obviously suggestive looks. He did smile this time and raised his eyebrows, a bit surprised that she would do anything so public. She rolled her eyes, smiling to herself at his reaction and after a while of "eye sex" they both turned back to their meals.
After breakfast, she met up with him for a minute as everyone piled out of the great hall.
"Make sure you remember to meet me in library later tonight," He told her. She rolled her eyes.
"Yes, for more practice," She said. He smirked and was about to say something, probably a dirty comment for he bent down to whisper in her ear when Professor Slughorn came over.
"Tom, my boy," He said, causing Serena to turn and greet her potions instructor. "Oh and Serena, two of my favorite students. How are you my dear?"
"I'm fine, thanks," She said. "And you?"
"Marvelous, just marvelous, " He said, his voice like syrup. "Now Thomas, I never heard back from you. You are coming tonight, aren't you?" Serena glanced inquisitively at Tom.
"Actually Professor, I was going to help Serena study for her potions exam tonight," He said. Slughorn beamed.
"Were you! Ah, two great students learning from each other. You don't see much of that, do you? Well, I wouldn't want to take away from anything productive, especially getting a head start on potions. It's going to be difficult you know, extremely difficult. But you'll come next time of course," Slughorn asked Tom.
"Of course," He said.
"And you should come as well my girl. Two great minds paired up together. You'll both do well for yourselves sticking together, if you know what I mean," Slughorn said.
"Come where?" She asked, a bit confused. Slughorn gasped.
"I thought for sure I would have invited you before!" He exclaimed. The end of breakfast bell rang. "I have these little get-togethers with some students of mine. They're really quite nice, actually. There's a little food, a little drink, and it's nice to just get to know one another. You know, I have a lot of connections in the ministry if you were ever interested. I've already told Tom this of course, but you should really come by," Slughorn said.
"I would…uh, love to," She forced herself. He beamed again.
"Good good, I'll miss you tonight. Good luck studying!" He said as he waddled away. Serena sighed and looked back at Tom.
"Well I guess I'm still seeing you tonight then," She said. He nodded.
"You'd better be getting to class, you'll be late," He said.
"I know, I'm so bad, I'll need a spanking for this," She said flirtatiously.
"Well have to take of that later then," He said, as they walked out of the great hall.
"Serena! There you are, lets go, we can't be too late," Eve cried, her and Heather running up to them with Serena's school pack in hand.
She took her bag and slid it over her shoulder.
"I'll see you later tonight then," She said. Tom nodded.
"Don't be late," He said. She laughed.
"I'll try not to be."
The girls ran off to face class. The rest of the day was pretty boring. Not much happened, not that they expected anything to. Heather was a bit nervous around Lucius, which was actually really cute to watch. Evening classes came and went and before they knew it, they had finished eating dinner and Serena was dragging herself back to the library to face another round of turning mice into books.
She sighed as she slipped into the chair beside him. He didn't even glance up as he finished scribbling something on a scroll. It was probably an essay he was doing for extra credit.
She flipped through the book he had given her, which sat on the table next to him. After a few minutes, Tom was still finishing, she hoped, an essay and she was getting very bored. She sighed loudly and drilled her nails on the table. Tom looked up at her, an eyebrow raised in annoyance.
"Do you mind?" He asked her.
"Did you want to practice more tonight, or can I just go back up to my dorm?" She asked.
"You can't wait a few minutes?" He asked her.
"Well…" She said.
"I'll be done in five minutes," He said, deciding for her that she would wait.
She sighed again, and got up to peruse through the library. She found a book and sat down with it while Tom finished his essay. Finally he put it away and looked up.
"Ready?" He asked her, a bit irritated that she wasn't ready and waiting for him.
"I'm doing something right now," She said, fully aware of how much she was annoying him. He glared at her and she ignored him, flipping another page. He removed her hand from the book and pulled it away from her.
"Tom!" She cried. "I was reading tha-"
"Well, you're not anymore. "He said. "Let's go."
0-0-0-0-0
She smiled at she changed the 8th mouse into a book. She had changed 5 out of the 8 mice into books, and that was a lot better than what she was doing before.
"I did great!" She cried.
"You did ok," Tom corrected her. She looked at him.
"That was a lot better than I did last time," She said.
"But you didn't get all of them," He said. She dropped her jaw.
"They're moving Tom, it's hard," She said.
"If you want to win, you need to get all of them," He said. "We'll do it again." She clenched her teeth.
They winded up doing two more times, but by the last time she had gotten them all. She was a little pissed off he wasn't more excited for her, but he did acknowledge it, which was something. Satisfied, she stood up and grabbed her bag.
"So I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow again," She said.
"Unless you want to lose," He said. She rolled her eyes.
"No, don't worry. I'll be here," She said, reaching up to kiss him goodnight, pulling away a lot faster than she knew he wanted.
The next day was the same, Serena met Tom in the evening to go over it and again, each of the three times they did it, she got all of them. She was very excited then, to do it the next day in the competition, although she did think it would be something different than what she had been doing with Tom.
Friday came, and it was obvious at breakfast that the other partners were nervous about the competition. She herself was nervous, although she knew she had more of an advantage than anyone else. In the afternoon, the class stumbled into Dumbledore's classroom, eager to finish the contest.
"As you all know," Dumbledore began. "Today is the day we will complete the competition. Now, I know none of you knew what this task was going to be today," He said his eyes grazing over Serena and the rest of the class. She was the only one to feel a little bad, but noticed some other students blush as he said this, making her feel a little reassured that other people may have 'cheated' as well. "Now, will all the partners form a line in the back of the classroom?"
Serena, Tom, Elizabeth, Jennifer, George, Harry, Winston, Noel, Brittney, Eve, Sophia, and Phillip all got up and made their way to the back of the classroom, some rushing to get in front, others to get behind.
The rest of the class moved to the front of the classroom where they could watch the contestants.
"I will release a bunch of mice around the room. Whoever transfigures them into goblets, the fastest, will win the competition and be excused from taking the exam. Tom and Serena, you two are first," Dumbledore said. Serena's hand was shaking as she stepped up with Tom to the center of the room. His quiet, calm confidence reassured her and she forced herself to remain calm and to concentrate.
Dumbledore stepped up to a wooden box that lay on the center of the floor and opened it, sending out several mice scurrying across the floor. There were a few shrieks and Dumbledore screamed, "Begin".
Immediately Tom waved his wand, turning five into goblets at once. If Serena wasn't trying to hard to concentrate she would have been insanely impressed. She closed her eyes and concentrated, slowly waving her wand. One at a time, she turned them into goblets, so that with her slowly but efficiently doing it and Toms quickness, they had it finished in under,
"One minute, 39 seconds!" Dumbledore cried. She gasped, shocked. There was clapping and cheers from the "audience" and groans from the partners next in line.
"Congratulations," Dumbledore said. "Elizabeth and Jennifer, you two are next,"
They stepped hesitantly up to the floor as Tom and Serena moved to the back of the audience, Serena sighing with relief.
"Good job," Tom whispered in her ear. She could tell he was proud, though probably proud of his ability to teach her than the fact that she did it, but hell, who cared?
"Two minutes 10 seconds," Dumbledore cried. "Nice job, George and Harry, it's your turn now."
"Five minutes 18 seconds," He cried awhile later.
One by one, each partner pair went up for their turn, but at the end, Tom and Serena were still in the lead.
"The last pair will be Sophia and Philip," Dumbledore cried. They walked towards the floor, obviously confident. It seemed so fast, Serena knew they had beaten them. When they were finished, Dumbledore called out the time. Everyone waited nervously. If they beat Tom and Serena's score, they won, if they didn't, Tom and Serena won.
"One minute," Dumbledore said, taking his time as the audience held their breath. "And forty three seconds." There was an eruption of commotion.
"Tom and Serena win!" He cried. She almost fainted from relief and happiness. She literally jumped on Tom, she was so happy, although, he did look a little uncomfortable with this happening in front of people. She could hear Heather and Eve's screams from the back of the room and it didn't take long for them to come running up and hug her. It took awhile for things to calm down, but they finally did. Most were happy for her, a lot were jealous.
They walked out of the classroom, Serena still accepting the fact that she wouldn't have to take the Transfiguration exam.
"Wow, I still can't believe you won!" Heather said.
"Me neither!" Serena said. She turned to Tom and hugged him again, before linking arms with her girlfriends. They walked back to their common room, giggling and happy.
"I think this requires another drinking party," Eve declared. Serena couldn't have agreed more.