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Also, a very nice person who has been talking to me recently made a banner for the fanfiction. I was ecstatic and I'm glad someone likes my story that much, so I just want to shout out to Lenadexil))
The next few weeks became consumed by studying for O.W.L.S., Josie spending much of her time in the library slaving away over books. Even though the tests were stressful on all the students, minus Fred and George who never seemed to be anything but cheerful, Josie felt like she was the only person being consumed by the stress. Being a transfer, if she didn't do well on the O.W.L.S. she was afraid she would be sent back to Beaubatons and lose everything she had grown to cherish. Fred and George, besides being confused at her overwhelming stress, did their best to be supportive and keep her calm; they often sat with her in silence while she studied and kept their pranks involving her to a minimum.
It was late a Monday night that Josie found herself surrounded by Astronomy books, head slamming down into the parchment in frustration. This was her worst subject, and it would be her undoing. She had been staring at the same two pages, its text littered with the same word over and over, a word she did not know the translation for, for what felt like hours. "Aperture." She kept repeating over and over, hands raking through her hair. Finally she shoved the book away from her, leaning back in her chair and sighing loudly in frustration. She hung there, arms limp at her sides and her head tilted back to stare at the ceiling for longer than she could calculate before a soft noise made her jerk her head up.
Bijou stood a few feet away, hands clasped in front of her and a worried expression on her face as she gazed at Josie. "Are you okay?" her soft voice broke through the thick silence of the library. "I'm fine, just…having trouble…" Josie sighed, letting herself fall back once again as she sighed loudly. She had really hoped to finish this chapter before she went to meet the twins for Hot Chocolate in the kitchen down below, but with how things were going it didn't seem like that was going to be an option. The silence drug on, neither of them moving until Bijou eventually decided she was going to leave. In the time it took for her to take the few steps back towards the end of the bookshelf, Josie remembered the Quidditch match.
"Wait!" she didn't need to look up to know she had startled Bijou, her squeak was enough. Sitting up in her seat correctly, Josie turned on the girl so quickly she almost fell out of her chair. "You! You speak French!" She knew she was being strange, but she was so desperate to finish this chapter she lacked the anxiety to care. Bijou hesitantly came up beside her, standing next to her and looking over her shoulder and turned back to the page she had needed help with. "I'm sorry, but I can't remember the translation for this word. I learned English casually through my father, and there are a few words I don't have practice with." She said quickly, parchment flipping between her fingers as she found the spot she needed help with. "I don't remember the translation." She finished, slumping over to set her head in her hand as she pointed to the word. Bijou leaned over to read, smiling softly before pulling back and looking at Josie. "Aperture, its…it means ouverture." She said softly, and Josie was sure she jumped when her head hit the table and she sighed in agitation. "I'm such an idiot, how did I forget that?" Lifting her head again she smiled softly at the girl before looking back at the book. "Merci, I appreciate it. Maybe now I'll be able to understand this stuff."
A few minutes later, she was once again buried in the pages groaning loudly in frustration. It turned out that the word wasn't her issue, it was the subject itself. "I'm going to fail my O.W.L.S." she sighed, crumpling down into her chair. She had entirely forgotten Bijou was still standing next to her until she spoke up, Josie nearly falling out of her chair at the sudden speech. "My brother-sorry!-I mean, my brother is really good at this stuff, he's a fifth year, in Hufflepuff. He could probably help you."
Bijou's older brother was of most talkative people Josie had ever met, but his fumbling hands and raised brow made Josie suspect it was probably a nervous habit. They had gone over everything wizardingly possible on the subject of Astronomy in the last three hours, their only break coming in the form of the twins brining Josie a cup of tea and some sweets before settling next to her to fall into a conversation with the large boy that had followed her new tutor here. Her hands linked with George's wrapped around her waist as Fred discussed the finer points of why throwing your bat at other players as a beater during Quidditch should be allowed, the dark boy across from him hiding his amusement behind large hands. They boy across from her was busy with describing how to map stars, hands tracing across the dimming sky that peeked out the roof of the Astronomy tower as Josie tried to make sense of it all.
"I'm sorry I don't get it. I don't understand how star maps work or how you even know where to start mapping from." She said, sighing as she put her head in her hands. "You're stressing yourself out, you need to calm down." Henri soothed, turning the pages in her book. "Alright, look. What's constellation are you born under?" Josie raised her head to look at the boy, humming softly in confusion as she ran her fingers through her hair. "What?" The sandy haired boy smiled softly, his freckles more pronounced on his round cheeks. "You star sign, like astrology sign?" Brown eyes looked up from the pages to stare curiously into Josie's own. "Oh, you mean like Libra, Scorpio, that kind of thing?" A nod was her only answer. "Uhm, I'm not sure. I know my mother is a Virgo, she talks about It all the time while reading the paper. "When is your birthday?" Henri asked, Fred and Georges heads popping up beside her at the question. "Yeah Josie, when is your birthday?" Fred spoke, leaning over to look around George. "You know ours-" "-but you never told us yours." The two looked at her with raised brows.
"I only know yours causes its absolutely ridiculous considering who you are." She said with a smile, the corners of her lips flattening when her laughter was met only with raised brows. "It's March 14th." Josie answered quietly, confused on why it was so important. "That was weeks ago!" "You didn't tell us!" the twins cried, their voices rising over the hushed tones they'd be speaking in before. "It slipped my mind!" she hissed back, flushing in embarrassment that she'd forgotten her own birthday. "Well now we have to do something extra-" "After exams!" Josie interrupted, sending a somewhat stern look their way. "You two need to focus on them and so do I." The two quieted down after that, falling into a hushed whisper, presumably about what they were planning for her birthday. Henri laughed at the three of them, going back into talking about the stars.
"You're a Pisces." He said, setting the book between them and turning it for her to see the star map. "Alright, so that's your constellation. If you can find that one, you'll be able to find anything else. Now, find Polaris in the sky." He instructed as he began shifting slightly to let the large tan boy, who Josie remembered has been called Arya, who had come with him sit behind him with his arms around his waist. With the help of the book Josie walked her fingers across the sky until she found her way to Pisces, smiling to herself when she found you didn't have to use Polaris to find Pisces at all because it sat against the horizon. Knowing where Polaris is would help anyway she decided, and with Pisces as her base she found all the constellations she needed to know for exams over the next few weeks.
Besides tiring studying in the Astronomy tower, every moment of Josie's time was taken up by her obsessive studying. The only help was the twins who would often sit with her while she looked over rolls upon rolls of notes and study certain subjects with her. After weeks of study and many anxiety attack threats, exams finally became a reality when the schedule was posted on the board of Gryffindor common room by Percy Weasley after dinner one night. Luckily for Josie, the first exam was Charms, her sigh of relief almost enough to knock her breathless. Being her favorite and best subject, she thanked whatever witch or wizard was looking out for her that it was the first exam. Actually, her first week of exams wasn't as bad as she had imagined while lying in her bed in a state of stress. First Charms, her best subject, then Transfiguration, which she was better at from Fred's help, next Herbology, in which she was maybe slightly below average but still got by in, Defense Against the Dark Arts was easy because she had a wonderful teacher in Professor Lupin and enjoyed the subject so much, and finally Ancient Runes which she was quite good at as well. Anything practical and concrete she seemed to do well at, it was only the parts more open to interpretation that she struggled in.
The second week was terror. The first exam was Potions, the exam every upper class student (including Paxton and Percy) had been sharing horror stories of with all the 5th year students. Even through nursing a broken nose from a fight he had gotten in over a Slytherin boy making fun of Lana, Paxton was able to share with Josie how he had almost fainted in the exam when he read the first question. Luckily the question was from a day the twins hadn't been distracting Josie, so she wasn't as terrible at formulating answers as she thought she would be. Even though most of the practical part of the exams had been simple enough, Care of Magical Creatures was one that scared Josie the most. Memorizing the information was easy enough, but applying it to live creatures that may or may not be able to kill you scared Josie enough to send her into an attack hours before the exam during lunch, her throat closing up till she couldn't breathe, her hands shaking so much she dropped her goblet, she had to be escorted by Fred, George and oddly Oliver Wood out of the hall through the crowd of 3rd years being released from their exams so she could collect herself enough to continue eating.
"What if I mess something up or if I hurt myself, or the creature, or someone else? It would be terrible; I could be responsible for actual damage." She was rambling as she sat with her knees to her chest against the stone, her hands clutched in Georges to keep them from shaking as he ran his thumbs over her palms. As her mind continued to run over every possible horrible outcome she became aware of her name being said, snapping out of her trance of anxiety when Fred finally spoke her full name sternly. This was odd enough that it drew her attention to him, her brows raised in confusion. "Oui?" she asked softly, watching through teary eyes as he crouched down in front of her. His eyes never left hers except to glance at Oliver who had stationed himself at the end of the hallway to keep wandering students away from her. "You'll be fine. You'll do fine. You're not going to hurt anyone; you pay too much attention for that. It will be fine." He said slowly. "But what if I do, what if I fail?" she asked softly, eyes falling to stare at her shoes. "You don't have to pass every exam. You're already probably going to pass more than half the students in our year. You're not going to get kicked out because you didn't do what is nearly impossible."
The exam went well after that, Fred and George watching from up the hill as she selected what was best to feed a sick unicorn with their words echoing through her head. She may not have done brilliantly, but at least no-one was hurt; and that's all she was hoping for. The rest of the evening was spent with the twins taking turns keeping her calm while she fought the urge to re-cram for the Astronomy exam the next night, Fred and George telling her over and over through kisses that she could study all she wanted to tomorrow after she rested. The three of them ended up falling asleep in George's bed, not moving until Josie woke up the next morning with her arms wrapped tightly around Fred's waist as he cradled her head against his chest and his brother held her from behind. The flush that crept into her cheeks almost kept her anxiety about the exam at bay for a while, but one look at how high the sun was outside the window had her sitting up fast enough wake both boys. Luckily, the three of them made it down stairs in time to grab toast and get to their exam after waking up late and rushing to put on clean clothes.
The exam was not as bad as Josie had forced herself to believe it was, the written exam only consisting of listing all of Neptune's moons and the practical portion filling out a star map of the night sky using telescopes. The rest of the week's exams went pretty well. Josie, Fred, George, Lee and Marina all agreed that every one of them had just spouted garbage to Professor Trelawny for the practical portion of their Divination exam, and that Josie was probably going to be the only person in their year to pass the History of Magic exam.
The weeks after the O.W.L.S were spent doing everything possible to not think about school work. Saturday morning before the last week of school Josie woke up to Marina and Alicia throwing their selves on her bed, both fully clothed and wide awake. "Get up!" "We're going to Hogsmead!" they yelled, waking up the blonde girl fast asleep in her bed across the room. Catherine glared at the both of them before pulling the covers over her head and groaning into her pillow. "What's wrong with her?" Josie asked with a small smile, stretching before rolling herself out of bed and shuffling over to her trunk to fetch an outfit. Finally the chill of winter had completely left the grounds so she could wear the nice spring clothes her mother had gotten her over Easter. "She didn't come in until nearly 3 am last night." "She's fighting with her boyfriend." "For the eighth time this week." The two girls on her bed said back and forth. "You two need to stop that you sound like the twins." Josie laughed, hiding behind Marina's bed to change. Soon enough the three girls were walking down the stairs and out into the afternoon sun, the pastel blue floral swinging around her thighs as she tried to keep up while running down the hill. They were halfway to the small town when a whistle behind them caused Marina and Alicia to turn their heads, Josie continuing to walk forward and ignoring the sound. It's not meant for me, that never happens to me. She thought as she watched the road beneath her boots roll by, admiring the how the white socks she scrunched down around her ankles contrasted her dark boots and the gravel beneath them.
Marina nudged her in the side, snapping Josie out of her thoughts as she looked up abruptly to look at the girl. "They're whistling at you too." she said with a smile, bumping her hip into Josie's playfully. "They are not." Josie replied quickly, turning a bit red in the face at the idea of someone whistling at her. "They better be. They're your boyfriends." Josie turned around so quickly she slipped on the uneven rocks, catching herself before she could lose her balance and fall to the ground. Fred, George and Lee were all walking behind them, quickly gaining on the three girls with their longer legs. "Don't do that!" Josie said through blushing cheeks, gently elbowing George in the side as he wrapped an arm around her waist. "Why not? You look cute." He said back, smiling down at her as the now growing group walked down the main street of Hogsmead. "And we like the dress." Fred added. "You three bugger off, we're going to have tea before I don't see my roommates for an entire summer. You can flirt later." Alicia exclaimed in frustration, grabbing Josie and Marina by the hands and pulling them towards overly girly tea shop. "Meet you in front of Zonkos later!" Fred called, Alicia sticking her tongue out at George as he made a face at her.
"Why are we here?" Marina questioned as they looked around the pink tea shop owned by Madame Puddifoot. "Because it's the only place those three aren't going to try and bother you two in." Alicia joked, pulling them to the back table and sitting herself down. Josie pulled a chair from another table to make the table for two fit their party of three, sitting down and listening as the two girls on either side of her began to banter. "You need a date. Why not tell Wood you've liked him since your 3rd year already?" Marina teased, placing her order to the wideset woman owner of the shop. "Because he has a girlfriend, and that ship sank months ago." Alicia replied. "Wood has a girlfriend? Since when!?" Marina exclaimed, leaning over the table. Alicia only shoot her head, laughing at the wild haired girls thirst for gossip. "Well there's always Angelina." Marina said with a waggle of her brows, sending all of them into a fit of giggles. "You're ridiculous." Alicia teased back through her laughter. The three girls soon drank their fill of tea and gorged themselves on small pastries and finger sandwiches, talking about all that had happened over the school year and what was to come in the next. Josie's stomach hurt from laughing too much and she realized how much she was going to miss the three of them, and how selfish she felt. The dread of not having Fred and George around for the next few months was weighing hard on her heart, but her life was going to be majorly lacking in friendship without Lee, Marina and Alicia around to joke with her. The thought put a damper on her good time, and she could feel Alicia watching as her smiled turned downward slowly. "All right, I've had enough of you two for a year. Go find your idiots." She said with a smile, handing each of them a small paper with her address for letters written on it. "See you next year!" Marina said as she paid for her tea and bolted out the door. "Thank you Alicia." Josie said softly, eyes widening when the Quidditch player took her into a hug and patted her back. "Don't worry about it. I'll see you next year." She said with a smile, nudging Josie towards the door.
Fred and George were leaning against the front window, shuffling through a bag and joking back and forth. The quickly stopped when she walked up, smiling at her and grabbing her hands to pull her into the Three Broomsticks and into a booth. "Here." Fred said, pushing a small red bag towards her as a grin split his face. The twins stared at her, smiling as she opened the bag and pulled out the small bottle inside. "What's this?" she asked, looking at the colorful mix of powder at the bottom of the bottle. "It's your birthday present." "Now put it back in the bag and don't open it until you miss us." Josie laughed at their antics, placing the bottle back in the bag and laughing as she lay against Fred shoulder. The three of them laughed about the years and flirted in the back of the pub until they were kicked out, Josie drinking enough Hot Chocolate to fill her grandmother's bathtub. She was going to miss them, but she had come to accept the fact that they weren't going anywhere when they were apart.