The euphoria over Gryffindor's win lasted for a week. It would have gone on longer, but June was coming and with it, the final exams. Percy was engrossed with preparing for his N.E.W.T.s, and even Fred and George were spotted studying, as they had to take their O.W.L.s. Normally the Weasley twins weren't bothered about exams, but they did want to get at least a few O.W.L.s so that they had the necessary credentials for starting their joke shop.
Hermione looked rather stressed as she reviewed for the third-year exams, which considering that she was in all the elective classes except Divination, meant she had more to review than the other third-years. When Alex said, "You could just not go over Muggle Studies that much, since you are Muggleborn," she had given him a scathing look.
"Just because I'm Muggleborn doesn't mean that I can just stop studying for a class on Muggles, Alexander Romanov," she retorted. "Furthermore, the subject is about Muggles from the wizarding point of view, which is different."
"I don't see much of a difference," said Alex. "Honestly, I could take the Muggle Studies exam and pass it without having taken the class, since I have read the textbook and know about the Muggle world from all the non-fantasy Muggle books I've read and what my family has shown me about it."
"But you still grew up mostly in the wizarding world," Hermione pointed out. "Which means that your knowledge of the Muggle World is from a wizarding point of view, which is what Muggle Studies is. So why don't you let me study however I want, unless you want me to start commenting on how you study?"
"What's wrong with the way I study?" Alex asked indignantly.
"How about the fact that you're focusing mostly on Arithmancy and Ancient Runes and not doing much in Defense and Potions?"
Alex sighed. "Hermione, I'm focusing on Arithmancy and Ancient Runes because they're not subjects that come very easily for me," he said in the same kind of voice that he would normally use when explaining things to a child. "I want to make sure that I have all the runes we learned in my mind and not mix up any translations, and I mess up on my number charts half the time. Which you should know already, since we are in the same class for all my subjects. As for Defense and Potions, those are my two best subjects at the moment and I won't have any difficulty passing those exams."
"I'm sorry," apologized Hermione. "I should have thought first before criticizing you."
"It's all right," said Alex. "And I'm sorry for suggesting you not review for Muggle Studies as much." Hermione had accepted the apology and the two then resumed their review.
Exam week arrived and an unnatural hush fell over the castle. The third-years emerged from Transfiguration at lunchtime on Monday, limp and ashen-faced, comparing results and bemoaning the difficulty of the tasks they had been set, which had included turning a teapot into a tortoise. Hermione irritated the rest by fussing how her tortoise had looked more like a turtle, which was the least of everyone's worries.
Then, after a hasty lunch, it was straight back upstairs for the Charms exams. Professor Flitwick tested them on various charms they had learned that year, one of them being the Cheering Charm. Alex slightly overdid his out of nerves and Ron, who was partnering him, ended up in fits of hysterical laughter and had to be led away to a quiet room for an hour before he was ready to perform the charm himself. After dinner, the students hurried back to their common rooms, not to relax, but to start studying for Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, and Astronomy.
On the way back to the castle from the Care of Magical Creatures exam, Theodore Nott made a disparaging about Hagrid. Pansy agreed with him, then looked over at the Gryffindor quintet. "At least he's not as bad as those five," she said, nodding at them.
"You're right, Pansy," Theodore said. "The Romanov twins are the worst out of them. They're pathetic, home-wrecking b-"
Hermione, a look of fury on her face, had gone over to him as soon as he had started agreeing with Pansy, and slapped him with all the force she could muster before he finished speaking. Nott staggered and everyone stood flabbergasted as Hermione raised her hand again. "Don't you dare insult my friends, you foul and evil little cockroach!" she hissed.
"Hermione!" said Ron weakly, and he tried to grab her hand as she swung it back.
"Get off, Ron!" Hermione snapped, pulling out her wand.
Nott stepped backward, while Seamus said, "Come on, Ron, let Hermione hex Nott. The evil little cockroach, as she put it, deserves it."
"But she will get in trouble," said Parvati hesitantly. "I agree that Nott deserves it and I would love to see him get his due, but Hermione doesn't deserve to get in trouble over him."
"All right, let's enough," said Daphne, stepping forward with Tracey and Blaise. "We'll deal with Nott." She and Blaise grabbed Nott's arms and dragged him away, the two of them quietly lecturing Nott about his behavior.
The rest of the students continued on their way, with the other third-year Gryffindors looking impressed and congratulating Hermione on doing what they had all wanted to do since Nott started acting like this by hitting him. She blushed at the praise, but looked flattered, and then they had lunch and went to the Potions exam. Nott glowered all throughout the exam and every so often would glare at the Gryffindor quintet, but didn't dare do anything else under Professor Snape's strict eye. His anger, however, appeared to affect his potion-making when they were brewing the Confusing Concoction, for Snape made a tsking noise and said, "You could have done much better, Mr. Nott," when inspecting everyone's cauldrons at the end.
Alex hid a grin, for he had produced a decent potion, even if it wasn't quite as perfect as Hermione's and Beth's. He went on to dinner in a more cheerful frame of mind, and then did some more last-minute review for Astronomy before the exam for that at midnight.
On Wednesday morning was the History of Magic and Arithmancy exams. Alex felt confident that he had done his number charts correctly, after all the studying he had done. He was less sure about History of Magic, since the class under Professor Binns was very boring and Alex no doubt forgot a few things as a result. However, he knew he would at least get a passing grade, and didn't worry too much about it as he ate lunch and headed to the greenhouses for the Herbology exam.
Their second to last exam on Thursday morning, was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Lupin had compiled the most unusual exam any of them had ever taken; a sort of obstacle course outside in the sun, where they had to wade across a deep paddling pool containing a grindylow, cross a series of potholes full of Red Caps, squish their way across a patch of marsh while ignoring misleading directions from a hinkypunk, then climb into an old trunk and battle with a new boggart.
"Excellent, Alex," Remus muttered as Alex climbed out of the trunk, grinning. "Full marks."
Flushed with his success, Alex joined his sister, who had also gotten full marks, and they hung around to watch their friends. Neville also got full marks, but Ron got into trouble with the hinkypunk, which successfully confused him into sinking waist-high into the quagmire. Hermione did everything perfectly until she reached the trunk with the boggart in it. After about a minute inside it, she burst out again, screaming.
"Hermione!" exclaimed Remus, startled. "What's the matter?"
"P-P-Professor McGonagall!" Hermione gasped, pointing into the trunk. "Sh-she said I'd failed everything!"
It took a little while to calm her down. Ron was slightly inclined to laugh, until Neville pointed out, "What do you think happens if someone failed everything, Ron?"
"Well, you'd have to repeat the year," said Ron. "Or be expelled, if you failed really badly. Oh! I'm sorry, Hermione. I understand now why Professor McGonagall telling you that you failed everything is so upsetting. If you had to repeat a year, you'd no longer be in classes with us, and if you got expelled, you'd practically be forced back into the Muggle world, since you're Muggleborn. But you shouldn't worry about that. You're the top student of the year, and that's including the fact that Alex is slightly better than you in Defense, Neville's the top student in Herbology, and Beth in Potions."
That last part cheered up Hermione sufficiently that they were able to return to the castle for lunch. After that, they went to their last exams. Hermione, Ron, and Neville went to Muggle Studies, while Alex and Beth had Ancient Runes. The exam went well enough for Alex, though he had a nasty feeling that he had mixed up a couple of translations. When he checked his Runes dictionary after the exam, he discovered that he did mix up two words, but everything else appeared to have been correct, so he knew that he still would get a pretty good grade.
After that, the Gryffindor quintet spent their weekend relaxing. There was another Hogsmeade visit on Saturday, in which the dementors started swooping around all the students leaving, causing something of a panic until all the students that could do the Patronus Charm drove them away. Percy and the Head Girl then notified Professor Dumbledore and the Heads of House about it, which was then reported to Minister Fudge. The incident, plus the fact that on Sunday, sightings of some of the escaped Death Eaters were reported on the Continent, resulted in the dementors being removed from Hogwarts at the end of the term, with the Ministry discussing other methods of protection on the school.
Unfortunately, Remus resigned as the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher. He explained to the Gryffindor quintet that he didn't want to risk the curse that was apparently on the post to do something that would harm him in order to remove him. Also, he added that no doubt some of the students were suspicious about his absences, even if they liked it when Sirius was the substitute, and not everyone would keep it quiet if they found out he was a werewolf.
Most of the school appeared to be miserable about his resignation, but there was nothing they could do about it. Adam and Leah had figured out that Remus was a werewolf and confirmed it with their friends (as well as promising to keep it secret), so they understood his reason for resigning. There was much speculation among the students until it was pointed out that no Defense teacher had lasted more than a year for the past twenty years or so. That argued for a curse on the post, which meant Professor Lupin was resigning to avoid anything happening to him.
The exam results came out on the last day of term. The Gryffindor quintet had passed every subject, with Neville getting the top score in Herbology, Alex in Defense, and Beth in Potions. Hermione got the top scores in the other subjects, with a three hundred and twenty percent in Muggle Studies. However, she still dropped the class, turning in the Time Turner to Professor McGonagall and explaining to her friends that she didn't want to go through another year like that again. The only good thing was that she had dropped Divination at the beginning of the year, or her schedule would have been even more hectic.
Percy got his top-grade N.E.W.T.s and was now applying for jobs at the Ministry of Magic; Fred and George scraped a handful of O.W.L.s each. Gryffindor House, meanwhile, largely thanks to their spectacular performance in the Quidditch Cup, had won the House championship for the third year running. This meant that the end of term feast took place amid decorations of scarlet and gold, and that the Gryffindor table was the noisiest of the lot, as everyone celebrated.
The train ride to London was very pleasant, and the Gryffindor quintet spent some of the time talking about the Quidditch World Cup, which was taking place that year and being hosted in England. Alex said, "Sirius told me that he was going to get some really good tickets for our group, so you're invited to spend the last couple of weeks of the holidays with us, Hermione. And Neville, we'll talk your grandmother into letting you go with us. Though since she let you go to Egypt with us last summer, it probably won't take much convincing."
Neville looked happy at that, since it wasn't likely his grandmother would get tickets to the Cup, since she wasn't that into Quidditch. When the Hogwarts Express arrived at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, everyone gathered their things and disembarked. Beth and Alex hugged their parents upon seeing them, and after bidding their friends good-bye and promising to see them tomorrow (in the case of Ron and Neville) or talk via their mirrors (in the case of Hermione), followed their parents out King's Cross Station. It was looking like it would be a great summer.
Author's Note: I loved the moment where Hermione punched/slapped Malfoy so much that I couldn't resist including it. Since Draco is no longer bothering them, I instead had Theodore Nott be annoying to the point that Hermione snapped and hit him.