Title: Truth behind the name and the lies pt.4
Pairings: DracoxHarry, twincest, OliverxPercy, RemusxSeverus, CharliexBlaise,ViktorxHermione, future BillxFleur. Stalker Ginny! SeamusxColin, AdrianxNeville*hides*
Fandom : HP
Notes: An abused boy finds out he's a wizard and a hero; his tormented mind rebels. One person sees through the misconceptions to the real Harry and treats him the way he deserves. How does this change them both and those around them.
Chapter 44- O.W.L.s Begin
June nearly arrived, but to the fifth-years [and for Harry, Draco, Blaise and Hermione as well] this meant only one thing: their OWLs were upon them at last.
Because of George's pregnancy, he and Fred had opted to take their N.E.W.T.S. early not that they needed them going into business and running their own shop but they wanted to be proud of themselves. George was living on potions for the last month because of his ever-present nausea.
Their teachers were no longer setting them homework; their times tables had been changed and they were joining the next year's lessons were devoted to revising those topics the teachers thought most likely to come up in the exams.
Harry, Draco and Blaise received their examination timetables and details of the procedure for OWLs during their next Potions lesson. Hermione, Fred and George were given theirs; OWLs and NEWTs respectively during their Defense Against the Dark Art's lesson from Lupin who was their Head of House.
XoooooX
Their first examination, Theory of Charms, was scheduled for Monday morning. Harry agreed to test Hermione after lunch on Sunday, but regretted it almost at once; she was very agitated and kept snatching the book back from him to check that she had got the answer completely right, finally hitting him hard on the nose with the sharp edge of Achievements in Charming.
Draco stole the book from her, "Slytherin's wand, let it rest. You're going to break Harry's nose if you keep that up. Why don't you do us a favor and go find Viktor. I forbid you to study anymore. You already know this anyway or Remus wouldn't let you sit for your OWL early.
Blaise was lying flat on his back on the floor with Perseus on his chest, reciting the definition of a Substantive Charm while Charlie checked it against The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5. Athena was asleep in her carrycot beside her dad…
Hermione left in a huff, knowing she needed a break but she was worried about her OWLs, she couldn't retest if she did poorly…
XoooooX
Dinner was a subdued affair that night. Fred and George did not talk much, but ate with gusto, having studied hard all day. Hermione, on the other hand, kept putting down her knife and fork and diving under the table for her bag, from which she would seize a book to check some fact or figure.
Draco was just telling her that she ought to eat a decent meal or she would not sleep that night, when her fork slid from her limp fingers and landed with a loud tinkle on her plate.
"Oh, my goodness," she said faintly, staring into the Entrance Hall. "Is that them? Is that the examiners?"
Harry could see McGonagall standing with a small group of ancient-looking witches and wizards.
McGonagall looked rather nervous. It was after all only her third year overseeing such exams as Headmistress…
Harry, Draco, Blaise and Hermione hastened towards the double doors into the Entrance Hall when they finished eating, slowing down as they stepped over the threshold to walk sedately past the examiners.
Harry thought Professor Marchbanks must be the tiny, stooped witch with a face so lined it looked as though it had been draped in cobwebs; McGonagall was speaking to her deferentially.
Professor Marchbanks seemed to be a little deaf; she was answering Professor McGonagall very loudly considering they were only a foot apart.
"Journey was fine, journey was fine, we've made it plenty of times before!" she said impatiently. "Now, I haven't heard from Dumbledore lately!" she added, peering around the Hall as though hopeful he might suddenly emerge from a broom cupboard. "No idea where he is, I suppose?"
McGonagall sighed, "I almost wish we would hear a peep, then we wouldn't be looking over our shoulders. He isn't the type to go quietly…"
It was an uncomfortable sort of an evening. Everyone was trying to do some last-minute revising but nobody seemed to be getting very far. Harry went to bed early but then lay awake for what felt like hours. He remembered his careers consultation and papa's smiling declaration that he would help him become a Healer he had looked so proud.
None of the fifth-years talked very much at breakfast next day, neither did Harry, Draco, Blaise or Hermione….
XoooooX
Hermione was rereading Achievements in Charming so fast that her eyes appeared blurred…
Draco sighed, obviously his friend and almost sister didn't understand that cramming was sometimes more trouble then it was worth…
Once breakfast was over, the fifth- [And Harry, Draco, Blaise and Hermione[ and seventh-years [As well as Fred and George] milled around in the Entrance Hall while the other students went off to lessons.
At half past nine, they were called forwards class-by-class to re-enter the Great Hall, the four house tables had been removed and replaced instead with many tables for one, all facing the staff-table end of the Hall where Severus stood facing them.
When they were all seated and quiet, he said, "You may begin," and turned over an enormous hour-glass on the desk beside her, on which there were also spare quills, ink bottles and rolls of parchment.
Harry turned over his paper, his heart thumping hard - three rows to his right and four seats ahead Draco was already scribbling - and lowered his eyes to the first question: a) Give the incantation and b) describe the wand movement required to make objects fly.
Harry had a fleeting memory of a club soaring high into the air and landing loudly on the thick skull of a troll… smiling slightly, he bent over the paper and began to write.
"Well, it wasn't too bad, was it?" asked Hermione anxiously in the Entrance Hall two hours later, still clutching the exam paper. "I'm not sure I did myself justice on Cheering Charms, I just ran out of time. Did you put in the counter-charm for hiccoughs? I wasn't, sure whether I ought to, it felt like too much - and on question twenty-three -"
Blaise said sternly, "Hermione, we've been through this before… we're not going through every exam afterwards, it's bad enough doing them once. I'm going to check on my babies." He needed to clear his head and relax for a bit…
The OWLs students ate lunch with the rest of the school (the four house tables had reappeared for the lunch hour), then they trooped off into the small chamber beside the Great Hall, where they were to wait until called for their practical examination. As small groups of students were called forwards in alphabetical order, those left behind muttered incantations and practiced wand movements, occasionally poking each other in the back or eye by mistake.
Hermione's name was called. Trembling, she left the chamber with other students whose names began with a 'G'.
Students who had already been tested did not return afterwards, so Harry, Draco and Blaise had no idea how Hermione had done. Knowing their friend, they were sure she did well…
"She'll be fine, remember she got a hundred and twelve percent on one of our Charms tests?" Draco smirked, "Same as me."
Ten minutes later, Professor Flitwick called a handful of 'M' names and Draco left with the group leaving Harry and Blaise alone.
'Good luck,' Harry thought at his lover quietly.
Draco walked into the Great Hall, his wand in its holder so he wouldn't grip it with slightly sweaty hands and leave it covered it greasy fingerprints.
Soon it was Harry's turn.
"Professor Tofty is free, Potter," squeaked Professor Flitwick, who was standing just inside the door. He pointed Harry towards what looked like the very oldest and baldest examiner who was sitting behind a small table in a far corner, a short distance from Professor Marchbanks, who was halfway through testing Draco. .
Harry smiled, Draco was still here, he felt better…
"Potter, is it?" said Professor Tofty, consulting his notes and peering over his pince-nez at Harry as he approached. "The famous Potter?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry distinctly saw Draco throw a smirk over at him.
Harry could not suppress a grin; Professor Tofty smiled back at him encouragingly.
"That's it," he said in his quavery old voice, "no need to be nervous. Now, if I could ask you to take this egg cup and make it do some cartwheels for me."
On the whole, Harry thought it went rather well. His Levitation Charm was certainly just as good as Draco's had been, he almost mixed up the incantations for Color Change and Growth Charms which would have made the rat he was supposed to be turning orange swelled shockingly but he'd spoken the correct charm just in time.
XoooooX
There was no time to relax that night; they went straight to papa and Remus' rooms after dinner and submerged themselves in revision for Transfiguration next day; Harry went to bed with his head buzzing with complex spell models and theories.
He forgot the entire definition of a Switching Spell during his written paper next morning but thought his practical could have been a lot worse. At least he managed to Vanish the whole of his iguana, whereas some poor Hufflepuff girl lost her head completely at the next table and somehow managed to multiply her ferret into a flock of flamingos, causing the examination to be halted for ten minutes while the birds were captured and carried out of the Hall.
XoooooX
They had their Herbology exam on Wednesday (other than a small bite from a Fanged Geranium, Harry felt he had done exceptionally well); and then, on Thursday, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Here, Harry felt sure he had passed after all hadn't he dueled a disguised death eater? He had no problem with any of the written questions and took particular pleasure, during the practical examination, in performing all the counter-jinxes and defensive spells right in front of dad, who was watching proudly from near the doors into the Entrance Hall.
"Oh, bravo!" cried Professor Tofty, who was examining Harry again, when Harry demonstrated a perfect Boggart banishing spell. "Very good indeed! Well, I think that's all, Potter… unless…" He leaned forwards a little. "I heard, from my dear friend Lucius Malfoy, that you can produce a Patronus? For a bonus point…?"
Harry raised his wand, thought about Draco and the picnic date he'd been promised after exams, "Expecto Patronum!" Out of his wand came a very large silvery lion Patronus that seemed to flicker as if with flames.
All of the examiners looked around to watch its progress and when it dissolved into silver mist Professor Tofty clapped his veined and knotted hands enthusiastically. "Excellent!" he said. "Very well, Potter, you may go!"
Harry stammered, "I'm not the only one who can cast a Patronus; Draco, Blaise and Hermione can too."
Unless he was very much mistaken (and he was not planning on telling anybody, in case he was), he had just achieved an 'Outstanding' OWL.
XoooooX
On Friday, Harry, Draco, Hermione and Blaise sat their Ancient Runes exam, after which they had the whole weekend in front of them they were permitting themselves a break from revision.
"How do you think you did?" Blaise asked, yawning and stretching.
"I mistranslated ehwaz," said Hermione furiously. "It means partnership, not Defense; I mixed it up with eihwaz."
"Ah well," Blaise lazily, "that's only one mistake, isn't it, you'll still get -"
"Oh, shut up!" said Hermione angrily. "It could be the one mistake that makes the difference between a pass and a fail."
"I told you not to study so much, you'd work yourself up and make mistakes because you were nervous." Draco raised an eyebrow, "you need to got take a break, go snog Viktor. That's an order lion."
"Oh hush. I'm not the lion, I'm the maiden so you go snog the lion." Hermione retorted but still went off to check the library for Viktor.
XoooooX
They spent most of Sunday revising for Potions on Monday, the exam which Harry had been looking forward to most - and which he was sure would be the exam that made his papa the most proud. Sure enough, he found the written paper difficult but nothing he wasn't expecting and couldn't handle, he was sure got full marks on the question about Polyjuice Potion. He'd thought it was interesting but now something he'd consider using himself.
The afternoon practical was not as difficult as he had expected it to be. With papa there, Harry found that he was much more relaxed than he usually was while making potions. Hermione, who was sitting very near Harry, also looked happier than Harry had ever seen her despite this being an exam. They'd all practically have private potions lessons for years….
When Professor Marchbanks said, "Step away from your cauldrons, please, the examination is over,"
Harry corked his sample flask feeling that he had achieved at least an Exceeds Expectations if not an Outstanding…
"Only four exams left," A Ravenclaw said wearily as they left the Great Hall.
"Only!" said Hermione snappishly. "Some of us have got Arithmancy and it's probably the toughest subject there is!"
That Draco supposed he could agree with, it was one of the subjects he and Blaise took with Hermione but Harry did not…
Nobody was foolish enough to snap back, so she was unable to vent her spleen on any of them and was reduced to telling off some first-years for giggling too loudly in the common room.
XoooooX
Blaise was determined to perform well in Tuesdays Care of Magical Creatures exam so despite not being an enrolled student The practical examination took place in the afternoon on the lawn on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where students were required to correctly identify the Knarl hidden among a dozen hedgehogs (the trick was to offer them all milk in turn: Knarls, highly suspicious creatures whose quills had many magical properties, generally went berserk at what they saw as an attempt to poison them); then demonstrate correct handling of a Bowtruckle; feed and clean out a Fire Crab without sustaining serious burns; and choose, from a wide selection of food, the diet they would give a sick unicorn.
When Blaisé's examiner, a plump little witch this time, smiled at him and told him he could leave, the Half Veela whistled his way back to his rooms to check on his babies. He was away from them too much; they were only a few months old. He was afraid of missing something…
XoooooX
The Astronomy theory paper on Wednesday morning went well enough. Harry was convinced he had got the names of all Jupiter's moons right- after all it was something Miss Cissy loved, she and Draco had nurtured a bit of a love for the subject. They had to wait until evening for their practical Astronomy.
Blaisé's afternoon was devoted instead to Divination; to no one's surprise he spent his time in the Forbidden Forest with his centaur instructors. They taught him more then Trelawney ever had, she taught basics the old fraud wasn't a good instructor for someone with actual talent.
XoooooX
Blaisé's Divination exam went well despite Trelawney's terrible teaching. He had seen a dark maze filled with a sphinx, a lion and an Acromantula in the crystal ball which seemed to surprise Professor Marchbanks; he sighed during tea-leaf reading, saying that he'd never been good at it, and rounded off the whole fiasco by mixing up the life and head lines on her palm and informing her despite the inaccuracy of palmistry that she had had a long eventful life that helped shape many lives and it was clear that she would continue to do so.
Which made the elderly witch flush and stammer…
Blaise was forced to use his time-turner to go back and take his Arithmancy exam.
Harry just about to head back to his rooms as Hermione, Draco and Blaise came running up behind them. Slipping his hand into Draco's larger one.
"Well, I think I've done all right in Arithmancy" she said, Draco and Blaise both sighed with relief. "Just time for a quick look over our star-charts before dinner, then…"
QUESTION: Two boys for George or one of each? Highest vote wins!
b/g- 9
b/b- 2
Exceeds Expectations? Acceptable? Outstanding? Troll? What do you think?