February 1947
Sitting in the dormitory with a Minerva on each side made Ro feel slightly unsettled, as if she was having one of those dreams that seemed perfectly accurate apart from one tiny detail. But the still dripping hair of left-Minerva along with the bandage wrapped around her hand was the giveaway for which Minerva was actually Poppy, plus the fact that she'd changed into her own clothes while waiting for the effects of the Polyjuice potion to wear off.
"So we're now in last place?" Millicent asked from across their makeshift circle, and both real-Minerva and Poppy-Minerva winced a little.
Ro gave a grim nod, leaning over to wrap an arm around Poppy's shoulder. "We were last back but Svetlana and Aleksey were first by a mile, so she got enough points to take her into second. Reynaud's still in first but there's probably not a lot in it," she explained. The champions had been awarded their points by the judges on the lakeside before Madame Quinine dragged the six champions and hostages back to the castle to dry off properly. Svetlana had used the Bubble-Head Charm to rescue her brother from under the lake, and in order to find his girlfriend Reynaud had managed to Transfigure himself with some sort of plant that she made a mental note to ask Professor Dumbledore about in due course.
"Eleven points," Septima jumped in, golden sparks dissolving in the air around her from where she'd been writing calculations mid-air with her wand. "Eleven points between Reynaud and Minerva, and Svetlana's fairly even in the middle."
"Not bad," said Irma, nodding sagely.
Ro hummed in agreement. "Next task is June 27th, 10 days after our OWL exams finish. So you can forget about it while doing revision and all that lot and still have a while to prepare, though I guess exam prep's the same sort of thing. They'll tell you what the task is a fortnight beforehand."
Minerva nodded, looking a lot less ashen-faced than she had when Ro and Poppy had first come back to the dormitory after the Task with Septima, Irma, and Millicent in tow. "That's good to hear. I was worried that it might get in the way of my exams since I've got so many to prepare for."
"That's putting it lightly," Irma added dryly, exchanging a sidelong glance with Minerva.
A gasp from Poppy interrupted their light-hearted conversation, Ro's head whipping around to see the tips of her black hair turning back to blonde as her face scrunched up in pain and she hastily took off Minerva's glasses. Wary of touching her while she reverted back to her usual self, Ro let her arm drop from around Poppy's shoulders as she seemed to shrink visibly from losing the few inches of height Minerva had on her. In less than a minute she was looking more like Poppy again, with her dainty frame, blonde curls, and sky blue eyes that smiled up at Ro when their gazes met.
"Welcome back," Millicent said with a grin.
There was widespread laughter in response to that, and Ro assumed they were all grateful to no longer have their brains confused about the two Minervas. As the bandage caught her attention she reached over to take Poppy's hand in hers, unwrapping the white gauze as she said "I guess you can take this off then – oh." The smiles and laughter were replaced by frozen expressions as they all looked down at Poppy's left hand, or more specifically the ring of teethmarks that still encircled her thumb even after the Polyjuice Potion had worn off.
"Of course," Minerva broke the silence, everyone turning to look at her. "Poppy's body is still Poppy's body even while it looks like mine. So any damage made to it while under the effects of the potion won't disappear once the potion wears off."
Ro looked back at Poppy's hand before adding bluntly "Well that's a problem." Septima and Millicent both hummed in agreement.
"You'll have to use a concealment charm and hope no-one owns a secrecy sensor," Irma said to Poppy, then turned to look at Minerva's own scar-free hand. "Unless someone knows a charm that can cause blemishes I'd suggest just keeping the bandage on."
"I'll look into Human Transfigurations later," Minerva said, letting Ro wrap Poppy's bandage around her hand.
Ro nodded as she finished up, patting Minerva's wrist before giving her back her hand. "Good plan. First things first though: I haven't eaten since dinner last night and I'm starving. Can you pass me the Honeydukes bag under my bed Mill?"
As Millicent leaned back to start fumbling under Ro's bed for the paper bag she'd been saving since the Hogsmeade trip the previous weekend, the sound of Poppy nervously clearing her throat caught Ro's attention. Looking rather sheepish, she mumbled quickly "I'm so sorry Ro but I might have eaten your pumpkin pasty before the Task this morning."
The tail end of Poppy's confession coincided with Millicent holding up a very empty paper bag. Ro's eyes widened and her jaw dropped open, though when she turned on Poppy it was a struggle to restrain her laughter. "Penelope Pomfrey, I'd been looking forward to that all week!" she gasped, nudging her friend's shoulder with her elbow.
Poppy had the decency to look apologetic for a second, before everyone else's barely restrained grins caused them both to break out into giggles.
Even without the Triwizard Tournament keeping them occupied, time passed quickly as the spring term sped into the Easter holiday. The end of lessons for most of April provided no relief from school work though, since their OWL exams were looming close enough to push even Ro into spending hours on her work. Though it was nice to have a quieter castle after the hectic Christmas that the Yule Ball had brought with it; since many Hogwarts students returned home for the holiday as per usual, Ro was sure that that the foreign students in the castle would outnumber them easily.
As the last few days of the holiday came around and the rest of the students returned, Professor Dumbledore came into Gryffindor Tower with an armful of careers leaflets for the fifth years and a list of careers advice appointments for them all. Ro paid barely any attention to the leaflets, having decided her career ambition before she'd even arrived at Hogwarts for the first time, but she was more than willing to help her friends narrow down their options.
Poppy had snatched the St. Mungo's leaflet straight from the top of the pile, and Ro leaned over her shoulder to read the Mediwitch requirements while Minerva, Irma, Septima, and Millicent rummaged through the rest of the pile. "Crikey, that's a lot of NEWTs," Ro said, eyes wide as she glanced down the list of 'Exceeds Expectations' grades Poppy would need to get into Healer training.
"I think I can manage it though," Poppy said, glancing up to meet Ro's gaze before looking back down at the leaflet. "It's an extra four years of training after I leave Hogwarts, so if all goes to plan I'll be a qualified Mediwitch by the time I'm 22."
Ro gave a sigh, looking at her in admiration. "Couldn't do that myself, think NEWTs are going to take everything I've got as they are."
"You'll be fine, you're better academically than you give yourself credit for," Minerva put in, making Ro look over to where she was glancing between two leaflets, one for Magical Law Enforcement and the other for a private tutoring agency. Ro picked that one up when Minerva put it down to flick through the Ministry leaflet; it seemed to be a Hogwarts alternative for parents who wanted their child homeschooled, though Ro couldn't imagine anyone not wanting their child to go to Hogwarts. Except maybe Minerva's mother, she realised upon remembering the summer she'd spent in Caithness and how any mention of their school had been distinctly frowned upon.
Putting it down after seeing the reams of NEWTs required, Ro asked Minerva "Thinking of a Ministry career then?"
Minerva sighed, shrugging slightly as she replied "I think so, though goodness knows what my mother will think. I'd have to move to London for starters, and it'd be the complete opposite to what she did with her life."
"No harm in that," Irma pointed out a little too roughly.
"Of course not," Minerva agreed quickly, handing the leaflet to Millicent and placing a hand on Irma's shoulder. Clearly keen to change the subject she continued "Though if I'm really honest I've been thinking of trying to play Quidditch professionally before getting an office job."
Ro grinned at that, her mind suddenly conjuring up images of her and Minerva playing together long after their Hogwarts days ended. "Well Dumbledore'll be getting people in to watch me anyway so it won't be much else to organise," she said, remembering when several Quidditch team managers had attended the match she'd organised against Ravenclaw for Nancy and one of the Ravenclaw Chasers a few weeks back.
Leaving Minerva to think through her options, she rummaged through the few booklets still on the coffee table until she pulled out something interesting. "Have a look at this Irma, you're good at Charms and like this sort of thing," she said, holding out a Gringotts leaflet.
Irma gave a nod of thanks as she put down a handout on editing for the Daily Prophet. "Curse breaking, I hadn't thought of that," she said, sounding interested until her gaze fell on the requirements list and she pulled a distasteful expression. "They want an Arithmancy NEWT so that's a no."
Before she could put the leaflet down, Septima interrupted with "Let me see that?" The resentful look didn't leave Irma's face as she handed it to her sister, causing a brief twinge of worry as Ro thought about the age-old rift between the twins that seemed to be making more appearances as they neared their exams.
"I'm stuck between Muggle Liaisons and International Cooperation," Millicent said, though still seemed reluctant to put down the Law Enforcement leaflet Minerva had passed her. "Muggle Liaisons is much easier to get into so'd be a good back-up option I suppose. I know I want to do something based in communications."
"You'd be good at that," Ro nodded, figuring Millicent had taken her advice from the evening of the first Slug Club meeting when they'd told her how much the other students respected her as Prefect.
One of the few booklets on the table which had remained mostly untouched was the one from the Auror Office, which Ro flicked through briefly just out of curiosity. "You know, I'm surprised not more of us are thinking of being Aurors considering we've already had a taste of fighting."
"That could also be why not more of us are," Poppy pointed out gently, though continued before Ro had a chance to speak again. "Lyall told me while prefecting last night that Hector Bones is thinking of it, and so is Helen Lambert. But with the war over I suppose Aurors won't be in nearly as high a demand compared to a few years ago."
"True," Ro said, then trailed off into silence. She tried not to think about either of the wars anymore, choosing to throw herself into the present rather than keep herself caged up thinking about her past. Thoughts of her parents didn't send her into the same tailspin that they used to but she still struggled with the odd bad day, something Poppy and Minerva had both assured her was nothing out of the ordinary.
Career-related conversations continued alongside OWL revision until the first week of term, when all the fifth year Gryffindors were called into Professor Dumbledore's office for careers advice appointments. Ro had no particular concerns about hers, compared to Irma who was understandably fretting over talking careers with Professor Slughorn after speaking to him so short-temperedly about her father in the first Slug Club meeting, so waved a cheery goodbye to her friends after Charms before making her way across the castle to Professor Dumbledore's office. Edwin Doyle was just coming out as she arrived, and she gave him a nod of greeting before knocking on the door.
"Enter," called the Professor, and Ro let herself in to see him smiling at her from behind his desk. "Miss Hooch, please have a seat and help yourself to a lemon drop while I get my paperwork ready."
Ro nodded, sitting down at the chair in front of the desk and taking a lemon drop from the bowl of sweets the Professor had pushed towards her. Resisting the urge to tap her feet as she waited, she occupied herself by reading the previous names on the Quidditch Cup which sat on the corner of the desk, noting the entry of 'Gryffindor – Captain R Hooch' under 1945-46 with a flash of pride.
Once Professor Dumbledore had put away Edwin's notes into his file and pulled out one with her name on it, he addressed her with a twinkling smile. "Well, Miss Hooch, as I'm sure you know this is a chance for us to discuss your career ambitions and which subjects you're thinking of continuing after your OWLs are completed. Though-" his tone changed from serious to much more light-hearted as he continued "-I suspect this won't be quite so much to do with your grades as for your peers?"
Ro grinned back at him, glad that her career plan needed no introduction. "I definitely want to go into professional Quidditch sir, don't really mind which team though I've had my eye on the Holyhead Harpies."
"I'm sure the Harpies would be very lucky to have you," Professor Dumbledore nodded. "Fleamont Potter was always very appraising of your skills, and Madame Douglas speaks of you very highly too. I can arrange for all the national team managers to attend your matches during your seventh year, and with luck I'm sure you'll receive plenty of offers."
"Thanks Professor," Ro said, still beaming at the praise in his voice.
Professor Dumbledore returned her smile, then turned to her file which she assumed was full of her exam results from the last five years. "While you're here we should also discuss which subjects you wish to take in your NEWT years. You are currently averaging an Exceeds Expectations in Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy, and Herbology, so you should be perfectly able to further your studies in these subjects. Professors Aurelius and Merrythought in particular have recommended you continue for NEWT level."
Ro nodded; she'd been hoping to continue with Charms and Defence especially since those were her favourite subjects, and the thought of doing Care of Magical Creatures wasn't a bad one since she liked Professor Kettleburn and she'd hopefully have Poppy, Minerva, or Irma doing it with her. She didn't have much love for Herbology just as Professor Beery didn't have much love for her, but years of having an attic bedroom at Little Wakering had given her an appreciation of the night sky. Satisfied she had four NEWT options sorted, she asked "What about the others? I wanted to keep doing Transfiguration."
"I don't believe it unachievable," Professor Dumbledore said, glancing down her grades list for his subject. "You were a confident Exceeds Expectations in your lower years but have fallen to a high Acceptable with the newer content. I would be happy to accept you into my class if you are able to get the Exceeds Expectations grade." After glancing up to see her resolute nod he continued "Professor Slughorn has consistently graded you a low Acceptable since your first year so I would not advise you continuing with Potions, and your grades for History of Magic and Muggle Studies are both Acceptable. Professors Binns and Bishop are happy to accept Acceptable Students onto their NEWT courses so you would be able to continue at your current level if you wished.
"Alright," Ro nodded, focusing more on the thought of getting her Transfiguration grade up than worrying over the other subjects. She'd only taken Muggle Studies for the relatively easy OWL and wasn't good at dates for History of Magic so was content to pass the OWLs and leave it at that. Looking back at the Professor she asked "Is that everything?"
Professor Dumbledore nodded, standing up as Ro did the same. "If there's anything else you need before your exams start, Miss Hooch, then you're most welcome to come by my office again. Please ask Mr Lupin to knock when he's ready if you see him on your way out."
Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Ro called a "Thanks sir!" behind her as she left the office. Lyall was sitting on the nearest staircase flicking through his Herbology textbook though jumped up when he saw her; after giving him Professor Dumbledore's instructions, Ro left him to his meeting as she headed down to the greenhouses to continue her morning lessons.
As she'd expected she'd been satisfied with everything the Professor said, and other than the want to get her Transfiguration grade up enough to join the NEWT class she was happy in the knowledge that she was doing fine. She'd been anticipating an unhappy Irma when they reunited for dinner at the end of the day, but what she hadn't been expecting was the sight of an unhappy Minerva when she and Poppy came back to Gryffindor Tower after Care of Magical Creatures. She was sat on the sofa with Larry Spencer-Moon who had presumably made it back faster after the last lesson of the day since they'd been down in the castle grounds.
"What's up Min?" Ro asked, crossing the Common Room to sit down beside her with Poppy close behind.
Minerva sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Professor Dumbledore is determined to see me get a job in the Ministry, and said it would be a waste of my gifts for me to become a Quidditch Player," she said, an uncharacteristic scowl on her face as she spoke.
Ro would have blurted out exactly what was on her mind at full volume if Poppy's gentle warning look hadn't reminded her not to make a scene until they were in their dormitory. "Waste your gifts?" she echoed disbelievingly, "Who cares what your gifts are, if you're not doing what you want then you're wasting your life! You can't made your life choices based on the wants of some old wizard!"
"The Professor isn't exactly just 'some old wizard'," Larry pointed out, but held his hands up when Ro glared fiercely at him before hastily continuing. "No no, I'm completely on your side, just hear me out. The Professor knows Minerva better than most of us so it's even worse that he disagrees with her doing what she wants."
Minerva hummed in agreement, and upon reconsidering Ro realised that Larry had a good point. "It's careers advice, not careers instructions. You don't have to listen to what he said," she added, glad to see Minerva look slightly brighter at that.
"But you were thinking of taking a Ministry job, weren't you?" Poppy asked, not giving Minerva a chance to respond with anything more than a nod. "Who's to say you can't do both? Quidditch isn't a lifelong career unlike some, so you could easily play Quidditch in your twenties and thirties before getting an office job when you're a little older like you were saying the other day. You don't have to pick one or the other."
Ro nodded firmly; she could guess from Poppy's occasional hesitance that she was a little out of her depth talking Quidditch so jumped in when she paused. "That's what Madame Crickerley did, played for the Holyhead Harpies and England in a couple of World Cups before retiring to a Ministry job. And now she's a Head of Department – talk about best of both worlds. Forget what Dumbledore says if you want, you can easily do anything you want."
"And don't you forget it," Larry added, smiling fondly at Minerva when she turned to look his way and placed a hand over his.
After a few moments of them gazing at each other, Ro exchanged a grin with Poppy before clearing her throat loudly. "Alright you two, if you're going to be sappy then you can pick another sofa. Hey Pops, how'd your appointment go?"
Poppy giggled at Minerva and Larry's sheepish expressions before answering her question. "Very easy, the Professor gave me the details of Mediwitch training and we talked about which subjects to continue for my NEWTs. It was nothing I hadn't been expecting."
"It's Irma I'm worried about," Minerva put in, voicing Ro's exact fear. "Do you think it's worth trying to find her before dinner? I doubt she'll be in the dungeons so since she's not here she'll probably be in the Library."
"She looked nervous even before she left for Professor Slughorn's office," Poppy said, her expression instantly worried when the subject changed to Irma.
Ro nodded firmly. "Then that's settled. Larry, are you coming or are we meeting you at dinner?"
Exchanging a brief glance at Minerva, he seemed almost reluctant as he said "I think Irma would prefer me not to be there, I'll see you in the Great Hall."
Ro could see the grateful expression on Minerva's face as she let go of Larry's hand to follow Ro and Poppy out of the portrait hole. Briefly she thought about suggesting they went to get Septima and Millicent from Ravenclaw Tower, but the memory of Irma's bitter glance at her sister as they talked careers during the Easter holiday made her hold her tongue. Hopping neatly over the trick step without thinking about it, she set off down the first floor corridor and let Minerva take the lead after pushing open the Library doors.
Irma was relatively easy to find, sat at one of the tables with her Runes Dictionary open as she worked through translating a lengthy piece of text. She looked up when they approached, no hint of a smile on her face though her concentrating frown did soften a little when they sat down with her.
"How was your appointment?" Minerva asked, keeping her voice quiet for the sake of privacy.
Irma huffed, putting down her quill and crossing her arms. "Not bad, just entirely unhelpful. I've never seen the Professor look so nervous in a student's company."
"He was probably replaying the scene he caused back at the Slug Club dinner and desperately trying not to repeat it," Ro said, smirking.
"Well he could have accomplished that by actually asking me for suggestions and giving me advice then, rather than fidgeting the whole time and stumbling over avoiding saying the word 'arithmancy'," she replied frostily. Ro's smirk fell even though she knew it wasn't her Irma was angry at.
Minerva rubbed Irma's shoulder when she dropped her head with a rough sigh. "You know you don't want to take Arithmancy for NEWT level so you don't need to think about that. Just focus on your other subjects and you can think about careers afterwards."
"I know, it's just-" Irma broke off with a frustrated sounding groan, clenching her fists for a moment before lifting her head to look around the table. "Look, I'm sorry but can I talk to you at dinner? I just need some time by myself."
Poppy looked conflicted but Ro nodded before she could protest, giving Irma an easy smile. "Sure we can, it's no big deal. Don't work too hard alright?" she said, satisfied by Irma's shallow nod and attempt at a smile.
Knowing how much of a private person Irma was, Ro spent most of the couple of hours until dinner consoling Poppy's persistent frowns between looking over her Transfiguration notes. But they were all surprised when they were greeted at the Gryffindor table by an Irma who was looking quite pleased with herself. So shocked to see her smiling, it was a few seconds before Ro managed to ask "What?"
"Mr Pratchett came and spoke to me after you three left," Irma said, sitting next to Minerva and helping herself to pumpkin juice. "He suggested that since I like the library so much I should either consider becoming a librarian like him, or get a job in archiving for the Ministry or the Daily Prophet."
"I can really see you doing that," Millicent said, nodding and looking pleased for her friend. She and Septima had joined them at the table a few minutes before and had been filled in on the problems both Minerva and Irma had been having.
Ro hummed in agreement, grinning out of both joy and relief. "Much more helpful than Slughorn by any rate," she pointed out, laughing as Irma raised her eyebrows. Turning towards where Millicent and Septima were sat, she asked "How'd you two get on with Professor Merrythought then?"
Septima's poorly timed mouthful of mashed potato meant that Millicent was forced to answer first, nodding enthusiastically as she spoke. "Brilliant thanks, she thought my idea of working in communications was a really good one. She said I ought to aim higher and try for International Relations first but as a Muggleborn I'd do really well in the Muggle Liaison office too."
"We talked mainly about Arithmancy to be honest," Septima started once Millicent was done, a slight hint of laughter in her tone. "She gave me some ideas about how I could continue studying it after leaving Hogwarts - it's such a dense subject that we barely scratch the surface for NEWT level. Apparently some of the other Wizarding schools offer tutoring for post-NEWT students, I've got a few options I can look into once I'm in seventh year."
"That'll be right up your street," Ro remarked, glad that both she and Millicent seemed happy with their appointments. It wasn't much of a surprise though; Professor Merrythought was one of the best teachers in the school so obviously she'd be great at careers advice.
Her smile fell a little though when she caught sight of Irma's unimpressed expression, and the atmosphere of the whole table seemed to chill significantly when she caught her sister's eye. "So you really are just going to follow in his footsteps?" she asked, the question riddled with scorn.
"Well, yes," Septima retorted, the sharpness in her tone not quite at Irma's level though her eyes flashed with indignation. "Why shouldn't I? I like the subject and think the work he does is impressive, don't take that away from him just because you don't like him!"
Ro winced at both Septima's final comment and the dangerous look that Irma shot her sister. If she was honest then she was firmly on Irma's side in that moment, since Septima's summary of Irma's relationship with her father was ignorant at best and dismissive at worst, but they were in the middle of a very busy Great Hall. "Woah, let's not do this now. It won't help anyone," she said firmly, looking between Septima and Irma until they both stopped glaring daggers at each other. She didn't want to give the rest of the Slytherins the satisfaction of seeing the 'blood-traitor Blacks' at each other's throats and was sure they'd both thank her later for stepping in.
While they seemed to have dodged a bomb at the dinner table that day, the relationship between the twins didn't waver from uncomfortably frosty as June drew ever nearer. But something similar could be said for many of the people in fifth and seventh years, since the exam stress shortened everyone's tempers and caused a number of barely provoked outbursts between friends. Even Poppy had shouted at Ro late one evening when she asked her if she was ok, though her frustration lasted no more than half a minute before she was sobbing into the crook of Ro's neck as weeks' worth of bottled-up worries boiled over into desperate tears. Ro had made both her and Minerva call it a night after that, mindful of the darkening circles beneath Minerva's eyes that her glasses did little to conceal, and as to prove her point they were both asleep within five minutes of turning the lamps off.
The fact that exams were upon them finally seemed entirely real when Ro, Minerva, and Poppy came down the Grand Staircase for dinner the Sunday before the first exam to see a group of several witches and wizards in formal robes along with Professor Dippet. Her initial confusion didn't last very long when Poppy hissed in her ear "They must be the examiners!"
"Merlin's arse," Ro breathed out, and for once there was no elbow in her ribs from Poppy for her language. Of course it had to be the examiners; they'd been told by Professor Dumbledore that their exams couldn't be watched over by the other teachers anymore since they were Ministry-set exams. There were probably about a dozen of them, which made sense since there were both OWL and NEWT exams taking place over the next couple of weeks.
Professor Dippet was doing his best to usher them towards the Grand Staircase to presumably go to his office, but an older woman was doing her best to hang at the back of the group and peer down the corridor. Her waiting was rewarded before long, when Professor Merrythought came hurrying out of the Great Hall and past where Ro was standing to tightly embrace the examiner.
"Welcome back Griselda," she said warmly, stepping back to smile brightly at the other woman. She must have caught sight of Ro, Poppy, and Minerva out the corner of her eye then, as she turned to face them with a smile that reassured Ro they hadn't done anything wrong by overhearing. "These are three of my fifth year students; Rolanda Hooch, Poppy Pomfrey, and Minerva McGonagall. Girls, this is Professor Marchbanks, one of the examiners, who also happens to be my little sister."
Ro couldn't stop her mouth falling open in a surprised grin. It was only then did she notice the few similarities they shared – the same bright blue eyes, near identical shades of steel-grey hair, and while the laughter lines were more firmly set into Professor Merrythought's face there was a similar warmth in Professor Marchbanks' smile as she regarded the three of them.
"Being three years younger hardly makes me a little sister, Galatea, we've been seeing eye to eye since I came of age," Professor Marchbanks chuckled, before turning to look back at Ro and the others. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, girls. I look forward to see how you perform over these next two weeks."
Sensing that they were being dismissed, they replied their thanks to Professor Marchbanks before leaving her and Professor Merrythought to themselves. "I think it seems less scary now," Ro pointed out as she lead the way through the Great Hall, "knowing that our examiners are humans and not terrifying non-beings."
Poppy laughed and Minerva smiled in response, but the rest of the meal passed in relative quiet even once Septima, Millicent, and Irma joined them. Even Gryffindor Tower felt unusually subdued that evening as everyone did their best to cram last minute facts into their heads and go back over the simplest wand movements. When Ro got into bed that night, she spent an age simply staring at the ceiling and drilling herself on incantations for the Charms exam the next day before exhaustion finally claimed her.
Breakfast was a tense affair. Minerva didn't eat at all which didn't surprise Ro much, using her plate as a place to rest her textbook and quiz everyone in earshot. While the sixth years had already done their end of year exams back in May, Larry, Ernest and Cleatus were all on hand to offer tidbits of information to the fifth years as they ran through their Charms work one last time. Once the meal was over it was back up to their dormitories to leave behind their textbooks and wands, returning to the Entrance Hall with only quills in hand. Professor Dumbledore was there waiting for them, wearing a solemn expression as he asked them to stand in alphabetical order; Ro slid in between Wilhelmina Grubbly and Duane Inglebee after mentally running through the class register in the head to work out where she was meant to be.
It was odd seeing the house tables replaced by thirty single desks as they filed into the Great Hall, everyone in silence as they found their desks and sat down. Professor Marchbanks and two other examiners were in the Hall where the staff table usually was, one of them writing on a chalkboard how long they would have as another walked down the aisles to place several sheets of parchment and an inkwell on each desk. Once everyone was seated and they had been re-briefed about the exam etiquette their Heads of House had gone through with them a few days before, Professor Marchbanks placed the question papers face down in front of them with strict instructions not to turn them over until the exam began.
"Are there any last questions?" Professor Marchbanks asked, looking sternly around the silent Hall before continuing with "You may begin."
The ninety minutes they had seemed to fly by, but Ro was happily content with everything she'd written by the time she walked out of the Hall. Poppy was instantly asking her and Minerva what they'd written for certain questions the moment they were allowed to speak again, and even though Ro was in no hurry to think about the paper now it was over she rattled off the few answers she could remember in order to soothe Poppy's nerves. The theory paper they'd completed didn't mean that they were done with Charms though; they had only a few hours of revision time before they were back lining up, this time along the third floor corridor for the practical test since the seventh years were in the Great Hall. Professor Aurelius was stood at the doorway to her classroom holding the register, then gave a sharp knock on the door when everyone had arrived.
Rather than all entering at once, the first five students on the register – Millicent among them – were called into the classroom first by while everyone else continued to wait outside. Ro was among the third set of five called in, directed by Professor Aurelius to the furthest away desk where her examiner introduced himself as Professor Bayard. The test didn't take any longer than ten minutes, after which they were ushered into what Ro recognised as a Vanishing Cabinet to reappear in the Entrance Hall. Grinning with triumph that she'd survived the first day of OWLs, Ro made her way back up to Gryffindor Tower to get cramming for Herbology which was the next day.
The rest of that week continued in much the same fashion, with their theory tests all beginning at 9 o'clock sharp each day and the practical section of that subject taking place in the afternoon. Potions on the Thursday was almost painfully difficult though Poppy, Minerva, and Irma all came out looking grimly satisfied – Ro was sure the only thing she'd undoubtedly got right was the question on Polyjuice Potion since she'd watched Poppy and Irma make in in their dormitory only a few months ago. But she'd put far more focus into revising Transfiguration for the next day than she had on doing anything better than passing the Potions exam, since this was the subject that she'd been warned she needed to improve if she wanted to continue it for NEWT level. On the contrary, the morning before the Transfiguration exam was probably the most at ease Ro had seen Minerva look all week.
It was hard not to grin too much during the exam itself when she realised her hard work had paid off, the formula calculations coming easier to her than they had ever done in her school life. With the theory paper over she was about to head straight back up to Gryffindor Tower to get in some last minute practise before the practical as had become customary that week, until a shouted "Everybody stop!" from Professor Marchbanks had them all hovering uncertainly. Most of the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws were on the first few steps of the Grand Staircase while the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins were heading towards the ground floor corridor to the Basement and Dungeons, and it was their group that Professor Marchbanks stormed towards.
"We have taken in the exam papers, and one of them shows undeniable signs of self-correcting ink having been used," she said, her voice resounding around the Entrance Hall. In the silence that followed she unrolled a completed sheet of parchment – Ro found it odd seeing someone who looked so much like Professor Merrythought still having both of her hands – then brandished it in front of her like a weapon. "Apollyon Pringle, this is a direct breach of exam conditions!"
The rest of the Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs all backed away to leave Apollyon standing alone under Professor Marchbanks' furious glare. Professors Dippet and Slughorn hurried up behind her, the latter looking somewhere between ashamed and disappointed as he said "You'd better come up to the Headmaster's office, boy."
The thick silence held on as the Professors led Apollyon up the Grand Staircase to where Professor Dippet's office was, with Professor Marchbanks shouting a dismissal to the rest of the fifth years before following them with a stony expression. Even then it was a long moment before anyone else dared to speak, everyone clearly shocked by what they'd just witnessed.
"Someone was desperate to pass Transfiguration then," Irma eventually commented dryly, having followed the Gryffindors rather than head down to her own common room.
Ro scoffed, shaking her head as she pointed out "So was I, didn't mean I resorted to cheating though!"
Author's Note:
Oh I so wanted to get this done in July. I had everything bar the last 1500 words or so written up on the 29th and had every intention to finish it before August to say that I'd got two chapters out in a month, but then I got kicked out of my mum's home that evening. Since then I've been living out of a suitcase mostly, hopping between living at my dad's and a few friends' houses who's families knew the situation. As you can probably imagine it's been impossible to get much writing done at all what with being on the move all the time, plus yesterday was results day for the exams I took back in June. I'm so excited to announce that I'm moving to London next month to start the journey towards becoming a veterinary surgeon!
Onto chapter notes, and once again we have essentially 6000 words of filler chapter. But it's essentially bridged the gap between the second and third tasks of the Triwizard task so we'll be back on track with plot things next chapter, plus I enjoyed writing about the exams and careers issues. I really had to cast my mind back to my GCSEs three years ago since they're the equivalent of OWL exams, and I remember so vividly how terrifying the official exams seemed before we started and how excited we all were to have survived the first day. The idea of having someone cheating came from the series where it was mentioned that someone attempted to cheat every year, and I thought it would be a good parallel against the level of proper effort Ro put into passing her Transfiguration exam. Griselda Marchbanks being Professor Merrythought's sister was something I decided on back in third year when writing Professor Merrythought's backstory, just thought it would be an interesting connection to make since their names are so similar. I also thought this would be an interesting opportunity to explore Dumbledore's more manipulative which isn't seen so much in the books. There will be no outright Dumbledore hating or anything of the sort but it's another side to him that I wanted to showcase with Minerva's careers appointment.
This chapter also puts more attention onto Irma and Septima's relationship, and how it's been steadily getting more problematic as fifth year has gone on. Without wanting to give too much away it will certainly come to a head in a few chapters' time - I remember someone commenting many many chapters ago that it would be interesting to see things come to blows between the twins, and when that time comes around I hope I don't disappoint. I'm certainly looking forward to writing it.
I'm still really hoping to get the next chapter out before I go to university - I think by the end of this month would be too much to ask since this is going to be a very big chapter. I'm only going to say two things: firstly that it'll include the third task, and secondly to bring tissues. I'm now going to very cruelly leave you hanging...
Until next time! :)