Year 2: Open Your Mind

Chapter 20: June 2016

To Molly's relief, she had fully healed in a few days' time, and by the time exams came around, she was feeling much better. She had missed a couple classes though, and she was nervous – what if she'd missed too much and didn't do as well on her exams as last year?

As she prepared to go into her first exam of the session, her heart pounded, and she found herself starting to sweat. She needed a few more days to catch up on what she'd missed. She wasn't ready. This must be how normal people felt before exams, knowing that they couldn't possibly have all the answers with the minimal studying they'd done. So why did everyone around her seem so calm? Was it her imagination, or did nobody else care about their grades besides her?

Molly was a wreck through the whole exam period, and when she came out the other end, she wanted to curl up in a ball and never think about them again. But she couldn't. She had work to do.

As per the girls' agreement with Headmaster Slinkhard, now that exams were over, they had to take apart their study room.

"What do you think will happen next year?" Debbie wondered. "Will he let us have the room again do you think?"

"Well he seemed pretty sure back in September that he'd have the problem solved by next year," Molly reminded her friends.

"Yeah, but he thought that last year too," Julie pointed out. "And all we got was an inter-house lounge that nobody uses."

"Yeah," Molly nodded with a sigh. "I don't know, maybe he has a better idea this time around."

"I hope not," Sarah said. "I like our arrangement. It's better than anything he could concoct, and once he thinks he's solved the problem, that'll be it for us studying here."

"What if he comes up with something even better?" Debbie wondered.

"He couldn't," Sarah replied brazenly. "No way could he come up with a better idea than this."

Molly shrugged, deciding not to get into it with Sarah for the time being. Headmaster Slinkhard would do what he would, and that would be the end of it.

With their study room dismantled and back to the way it had been, the girls had to relegate themselves to the library to start on their summer homework. Fortunately, the library was practically empty, most students taking the week to not think about school in any capacity and to lounge around outside in the sun. So Molly and her friends weren't disturbed in the least.

"You know, if the library was like this on a normal day, I'd have no problem studying here," Julie noted.

"Yeah, this is nice. Quiet. No distractions," Debbie agreed.

Suddenly it hit Molly. "I know what we need!" she exclaimed. "Walled segregated study spaces in the library!"

Her friends all frowned at her, not sure what she meant.

"Explain," Sarah requested.

Molly obliged. "So, the problem with the library is that it's supposed to be a silent zone, but everyone is always making noise and talking and yelling when they shouldn't be. So what if a part of the library was closed off to the rest? Maybe there could be a few little rooms like that, that were closed off. Then people who wanted to do serious work could go in there, and they'd still be in the library, but wouldn't be distracted by the general populace of students working in the main library."

"That's perfect!" Sarah agreed. "We should suggest it to Headmaster Slinkhard."

"Let's go now," Julie suggested boldly.

"Now?" Molly balked. "Shouldn't we think the details through first?"

"Let Headmaster Slinkhard figure out the details," Julie shook her head. "He's the one who's going to be implementing it anyway. At least we should run the preliminary idea past him before going any further."

"I agree," Sarah nodded. "Let's go."

So Molly found herself being dragged by her friends up to the sixth floor to the Headmaster's office.

"Come in," he said when they knocked on their door. He had to have known they were coming, but he pretended to be surprised when they entered. "What can I do for you ladies this afternoon?" he wondered.

"It's about our study space on the fifth floor," Julie said.

The Headmaster narrowed his eyes. "I was under the impression that I had told you to dismantle that as soon as exams were over."

"Yes, and we did," Julie assured him. "But we were just talking about next year and wondering what sort of arrangement we might come to and – "

"Actually girls, it's good you bring that up," Headmaster Slinkhard smiled. "I've come up with the perfect solution."

"You have?" Julie asked in surprise.

"Yes," the Headmaster replied. "I've decided to expand the inter-house lounge by making six more all throughout the school. Each one will be relegated to a specific year, so all the first years will have a lounge, and the second years, and so on. As I understood, the existing lounge is so small, there wasn't enough room for everyone to use it, and it was mostly the sixth and seventh years who would go there. This way, everyone would have their place. And with more room for the students to congregate outside the library, I'm sure it'll be a much nicer place to study from now on."

Molly exchanged a look with her friends. Headmaster Slinkhard had mentioned expanding the inter-house lounge back in September, and they'd told him that it wasn't a good solution. And it still wasn't. Making more spaces for students to go wouldn't change the fact that students were always in the library, needing books and working on projects and the like.

"With all due respect, Headmaster…" Julie said slowly. "We'd like to propose an alternate idea. Perhaps one that could work in conjunction with yours."

Julie was good. She didn't tell the Headmaster his plan was terrible, and instead suggested adding their plan to his. Their plan would work just as well with the inter-house lounges. They wouldn't really affect much anyway, and objectively, Molly thought they were a nice idea. For other students.

"Let's hear it then," Headmaster Slinkhard requested.

Julie turned to Molly and she realized her friends expected her to explain the plan. She figured it had been hers in the first place, but she panicked. Usually Julie was the one who did the talking in situations like this.

"Er – right," Molly mumbled ineloquently. "So we were thinking – "

And Molly explained her idea. The Headmaster listened patiently she explained it in a bit more detail than she had with her friends before, wanting to make sure he really understood her proposal. He nodded along politely, and when she was finished, he folded his hands on the desk in front of him.

"It sounds to me like you're proposing that I allow you to continue to have a study room, only that it be moved to the second floor for easier access to books," he said.

Molly panicked at his negative reaction.

"No Sir," Julie hurried to say. "That's not our intention at all. We would hope that there would be multiple rooms, and that all students would have equal access to them. We of course would utilize them from time to time when we had work to complete. But it wouldn't be our space exclusively."

"I see," Headmaster Slinkhard nodded, leaning back in his chair. "I'll think about it. Thank you for your proposal girls."

Julie nodded. "Thank you for your time, Headmaster."

The other girls echoed her thanks and they left the Headmaster's office.

"Well that went well," Julie said once they were back in the sixth floor corridor.

"Excuse me?" Molly asked. "Were you even there? He hated the idea."

"He misunderstood the idea," Julie clarified. "But now that he sees that it could benefit all students, I'm sure he'll come to see that it's a worthy undertaking."

MmMmMmMmMmM

When the end of the week arrived and grades were available for all non- fifth and seventh years, Molly was reluctant to retrieve them.

"Come on," Debbie insisted. "I'm sure you did just fine. Besides, you have to face them eventually, so why not now?"

Molly knew Debbie had a point, so she went with her friends, stopping first at Professor Flitwick's office so that Debbie and Julie could get their scores, and then descending to the first floor so that Sarah and Molly could pick theirs up from Professor Longbottom. None of them opened their envelopes until they were all standing together in the corridor – they wanted to open them together.

"Let's go," Julie said, and then Molly found herself in the midst of friends who were frantically grabbing their sheets of parchment and reading their scores.

Molly moved slower than her friends, nervous about what she would find on her parchment. She needn't have been worried though. Her parchment was a string of straight O's, just like the previous year. Molly breathed a sigh of relief.

"So I guess you did alright then?" Sarah asked, glancing over at Molly's sheet. "Straight O's, same here."

"Me too," Julie nodded, flashing her parchment in her friends' faces. "And you Debbie?"

Debbie was quiet. She looked up from her scores timidly, her face downcast. "I – I got an E. In Astronomy."

"Oh," Molly heard herself saying in surprise. She'd expected to have E's on her own paper, but hadn't expected that any of her friends would be faced with that horror. "Well an E's not so bad," she said diplomatically.

"Easy for you to say now," Debbie said accusingly. "You didn't get any. But all we've heard for days is how terrified you were of getting one and how terrible it would be if you did."

"Well yeah but… that's only because my Dad would have killed me for getting an E," Molly defended herself.

"I have parents too," Debbie reminded her. "You don't think they'll be disappointed in me? This is a disaster!"

"How did it even happen?" Julie wondered, taking Debbie's parchment from her and looking over it.

"I have no idea," Debbie sighed. "I think I'm going to go and speak to Professor Brunwell and try and clear it up. Maybe it was a mistake."

MmMmMmMmMmM

Debbie's E wasn't a mistake. Professor Brunwell explained that she was still an exemplary student, but that she wasn't quite as advanced as some of her friends. He also gave her some extra summer work that would help her bring her grade up the following year, which Debbie took gladly. She was determined to do better in the coming year and bring her average back to a slate of straight O's.

MmMmMmMmMmM

Before Molly knew it, she was on the train with her friends, heading home. About mid-way into their journey, Julie looked up from her studying and looked pensively out the window.

"I've been thinking," she said.

"About what?" Sarah wondered.

"About how we aren't part of any extracurricular activities," Julie replied.

Molly made a face, but said nothing. What was wrong with not being a part of any extracurriculars? They were all lame anyway.

"I was thinking that maybe we should branch out next year and do something besides study all the time," Julie said.

"What, like join the wizard's chess club?" Molly frowned. Though they liked to play wizard's chess amongst themselves, Molly didn't think she'd enjoy playing with other students.

"No," Julie shook her head. "I was actually thinking we should try something a little out of our usual lane. To mix things up a bit."

"What did you have in mind?" Sarah asked.

Julie turned away from the window to look at each of her friends, enthusiasm in her eyes. "I thought it might be fun if we all tried out for Quidditch next year," she announced.

Molly was speechless. Julie had to be kidding. She wasn't serious. Quidditch was – well for one thing, Molly could barely fly. And for another thing, Quidditch was extremely time-consuming. There were practices almost every day of the week, and at all hours of the day. If they joined the Quidditch team, that would be the end of their records as straight O students. They wouldn't have the time to study the material anymore, and they'd fall behind.

"That's a great idea!" Sarah exclaimed to Molly's shock and surprise. "I was just thinking about how we're always cooped up in the castle, sitting behind desks. It's be nice to get outside and moving sometimes."

"I don't know…" Debbie said hesitantly. "Won't it take time away from our studies? After all, I have an E to pull up next year."

Molly thanked Merlin that at least one of her friends could see reason. Of course they didn't have time to play Quidditch. Not to mention, third year would mean the introduction of two new classes. Molly and her friends had all signed up to take Arithmancy and Ancient Runes – two of the hardest classes offered at Hogwarts. They'd need to really buckle down and focus if they wanted to succeed in their electives.

"Actually Debbie, I read this article in the Wizarding Journal of Education, and it said that regular physical activity actually stimulates the brain and increases students' grades. Something about how hours of studying on end with no interruption numbs the mind, but studying after being active makes the studying more fruitful," Julie replied.

Debbie hummed and nodded. "Interesting," she said. "Well in that case, I think it's worth a shot. Maybe Quidditch will improve my astronomy grade."

Molly couldn't believe it. Now all her friends were on board with this? Were they insane? Did Debbie even hear that last sentence? Maybe Quidditch will improve her astronomy grade? How did that even make sense? Studying astronomy would improve her astronomy grade!

"Molly?" Sarah asked, turning to her silent friend. "What do you think?"

"I think it's crazy," Molly replied honestly.

Julie shrugged. "Maybe a little, but isn't it worth a try?"

Molly stayed quiet. Protesting wouldn't change her friends' minds, and they were clearly all mad. Maybe they just needed some time to sit with their decision to realize that they were barking up the wrong tree.

"I propose that we all spend the summer practicing," Julie said then. "When we return to school in the fall, we'll try out for our respective teams. If we make the teams, then we know it was meant to be. If not, then we'll know it was a bad idea."

Molly shook her head. Now they were leaving things up to fate? Didn't her friends realize that this wasn't the way to do things?

Debbie and Sarah agreed though, so Molly found herself nodding along, pretending to be on board. It didn't mean she really had to spend her summer practicing Quidditch – she didn't even own a broom anyway. And in September, her friends would surely have given up their foolish quest.

When the train pulled into King's Cross station, Molly was all too eager to part from her friends and find her family. She needed a break from all the Quidditch talk. For all her family's flaws, at least they were consistent. With Julie and Sarah and Debbie, Molly never knew what crazy idea they'd come up with next. They were great and all, but she was coming to realize that they could be really unfocused at times. They got caught up in strange pursuits unrelated to their studies. It was a wonder they'd done as well as they had in their exams.

Molly knew one thing for sure. She wouldn't be swayed by their unfocused ways. She had her eye on the prize. And the prize was seven years of straight O's.