Their revision got pretty frantic after the Healing exams, as it meant that there was only two weeks until their OWLs started. It got so desperate that the Professor's introduced Quiet Hours, which stated that students could do anything that they wanted, but they would have to be quiet from 8pm until 7am the next morning. Many of the younger students were a bit chagrined at that - they felt it an infringement on their fun, especially when the Quiet Hours extended to the common rooms, but they reluctantly agreed eventually for the sake of their older counterparts. Amazingly, even Fred, George and Lee were ones that took advantage of the Quiet Hours, as they'd been sighted over in a corner of the common room every night that week, pouring over notes for once instead of prank product ideas.
You could sense more stress in the air when there was only one week to go until exams, as the seventh years that had done the Healing course got the opportunity to have a five-day work placement at St Mungo's. Most of them had been offered the chance, and most were in fact going on it - Angelina and Alicia included. Angelina was just glad that it didn't interfere with Quidditch anymore, but she was still worried about how much time they would actually have to revise. Amelia had actually seen her off on the Monday morning, as it was working in a way that they would simply Floo to St Mungo's with express permission and access from Dumbledore. They would be back by dinner time, where they'd likely fill them in of how it all went.
When they did come back, a lot of people were interested in how their first day went. "It wasn't daunting in the slightest!" Alicia was pleased to report.
"We have to keep workbooks and fill it in like an activity log - we just summarise everything that we did that day and at what time." Angelina explained, the others that had gone nodding their heads in agreement, "today we started off in the General ward; which is basically everything that isn't life-threatening. We got shown around and then buddied with another Healer - we didn't just stand and observe, but we actually got to do stuff as well."
Amelia listened avidly, taking note of what sounded like an interesting role. She still hadn't 100% decided what career to pursue yet, but Healing did interest her. She wondered if they would get the chance to go on the children's ward; for that was where Ophelia worked. She would be sure to ask, and get them to pass on a hello from them all.
They were all so engrossed in listening to the stories of St Mungo's that they almost forgot to actually eat their sausage casseroles. With dessert due to appear on their tables in less than ten minutes, it was a rather rushed scramble to finish - with some people (Ron) eating so fast flecks of the tomato-based sauce dotted up on to his face, to the disgust of Hermione.
The rest of that week flew by, with not much to keep them occupied from revision apart from the St Mungo's work placement stories. Before they knew it, those on placement had Floo'd back from their final day on the Friday, almost sad that their week had gone by so quickly. They couldn't relax for long though - as the first exam was in less than 72 hours now. Amelia was confident for Charm's being the first exam, as she was rather good at both the theory and practical, as demonstrated by her class work and how well she did with the theory past papers. Mostly everyone felt confident about it, as it happened, but they didn't get their hopes up; the exam could still be hellishly complicated.
By Sunday, it wasn't just Harry dishing out Calming Draught's, but Madam Pomfrey as well. In fact, it got so bad that the Matron had to request Harry and a few other helpers of his choice to brew some extra batches for her. Harry had agreed, and Amelia offered to go as well. Blaise and Theo went too, and the four of them rather unceremoniously left the Charm's study session to go and aid the Matron. Seamus and Padma, the group leaders, didn't mind.
The four of them jogged to Dungeon Five, which was thankfully empty, and Harry immediately started grabbing ingredients without even getting the instructions out. Nobody barely spoke, wanting to get as much brewed as possible, as they were desperately needed or else students were going to start panicking with anxiety. By the time all four of them were done, they had enough for fifteen vials each - which meant Madam Pomfrey would be very well stocked.
"Sheesh," Blaise had said as he capped his final vial. "We have enough here to supply St Mungo's!"
They nodded. "How are we getting them to the Hospital Wing? Harry's satchel can only hold so many." Theo asked, eyes scanning the room for anything that might aid them.
"There's some vial racks in the first cupboard by the door, but we'd have to be careful transporting them." Amelia suggested, Theo going to search them out.
He poked his head up shortly after. "They won't fit in the allotted holes - these racks are more for test tubes than skinny vials.
"Then our only other option is to shrink them all down and place them carefully into our bags." Harry said. They did so, getting their wands out. Amelia half-thought of trying to shrink them via wandless magic, but quenched that idea quickly - she knew she wouldn't be able to. She had only learnt first year spells wandlessly, and trying to get time to practise lately had been scarce with Quidditch and now revision. Getting to grips on wandless magic would have to wait until exams were over, it seemed.
They managed to get all the vials to Madam Pomfrey safely, which the Matron was thankful for. Her eyes bulged when she saw just how many they had brought. "My my, you four have really gone above and beyond!"
They shrugged. "Glad we could get extra brewing in." Blaise said nonchalantly.
"Well, thank you all for taking time out of your stressful schedule to selflessly help me out." The woman said, grabbing a few of the vials. "It appears they'll all be put to good use. Thank you again, and good luck for the exams commencing tomorrow."
They thanked her back, with Amelia saying, "Glad we could help."
They rejoined their friends at lunch, with Padma and Seamus filling them in on what they'd missed. They'd gone over the theory and practical uses of the Substantive Charm apparently, which was something Amelia felt semi-confident in anyway, so she made a mental note to skim over the notes she had on it later.
Susan Bones filled them in on some gossip regarding something her aunt, the Minister for Magic Amelia Bones, had to deal with during that week. "Aunty had a meeting with a certain someone this week."
All of the fifth year DA members tried to guess who. "Malfoy Senior?" Dorea asked.
"Fudge?" Dean guessed.
"Skeeter?" Daphne voiced.
Susan shook her head. "Even worse. Umbridge."
They gasped, or urged Susan to continue. Though Umbridge had truly been a thorn in the school's side during her time here, everyone had hated her so much that nobody spoke of her anymore - which meant she'd kind of been half-forgotten about. "What did that wench want?" Lavender said moodily. Her and Parvati still hadn't gotten over how the ex-Defence teacher tried to sack Professor Trelawney.
They all gathered closer to try and hear the gossip. "Umbridge is trying to weasel her way into the Wizarding Examinations Authority; she tried to appeal to my aunt to let her get a job as one of the exam invigilators here at Hogwarts."
They all either chuckled in disbelief or growled. "Does she think she'd be welcomed back here with open arms after what she did?" Neville exclaimed.
"I sincerely hope your aunt chucked her from her office." Megan Jones added.
Susan grinned knowingly. "Aunty was that fuming she almost did. She turned down her request immediately - apparently Umbridge genuinely looked like she was about to cry. Get this - the little toad almost begged after she was told no. Aunty Amelia was having none of it, though. She was so satisfied when Umbridge left her office defeated."
They all smirked at the idea of Umbridge simpering to the bloody Minister of all people. Amelia felt a tingle in her hand - where the scarred writing of "I must not disrespect my superiors" was. Though the hand was healing nicely - as they hadn't used a Blood Quill since December when Umbridge was sacked, the scarring was still there. It seemed to tingle with different purposes whenever Theo was feeling cute and wanted to "kiss it better" - which was just about everyday now.
The idea of Umbridge wanting to return as an exam invigilator had spread quickly throughout the day, to the point where it became almost a running joke. "Could you imagine her standing and staring at us whilst we're all sat writing?" Sue Li said at dinner, "I'd be so creeped out I wouldn't be able to write."
Their Charm's exam was upon them at last, as well as the two-week exam period.
Dorea found herself waking with a start at six the next morning. She'd had a dream that they'd all been sitting in the kitchen at Black Manor, opening their exam results with Sirius, Regulus, Remus and Theo's mum watching avidly. Only… in the dream, Dorea had failed all her subjects. Somehow an Erumpent had appeared and started tooting noises that suspiciously sounded like sounds she associated with muggle circus clowns... She really, really hoped that dream wasn't actually a vision for real life.
At half past six, she grimaced as she decided to just get up - figuring that she wasn't going to fall back asleep. Besides, it would be a disaster if she fell back asleep only to wake up and realise she'd slept in. The embarrassment of running into the great hall with everyone from fifth to seventh year watching her would be a close second to the dream she just had.
When she went down to the common room, there were only three people down there, and they were seventh years. She vaguely knew them - two of them were roommates with Fred, George and Lee, whilst the third one was a girl that Angelina was good friends with. She sent them a knowing but small smile as she sat down.
She got her Charms textbook out and did a quick mental run-through of every charm they had learned over the last five years. When she was skimming over Cheering Charms, she felt a presence sit down next to her - Fred.
"Crikey, this is way early for you," she remarked.
He grinned. "Believe it or not, I want to do okay today." The seventh years would be in the Hall doing their Charm's theory at the same time as the fifth years. The NEWT students were entitled to an extra hour for their paper.
"How are you feeling for Charm's then?" She asked.
"Decent, actually. It's by far the easiest out of the four subjects I'm doing." Fred replied with a somewhat confident tone.
She nodded, and once she concluded her last minute revision, decided to quiz Fred to his deep chagrin. She felt at ease when she learned he was pretty good at it.
At breakfast, barely any of the fifth or seventh years were talking. Though they were all sitting together, there was a serene quietness. Dean and Seamus were trying to levitate each other's goblets whilst Lavender and Parvati's pencil cases were doing laps around their plates. Dorea sent some startled looks at Hermione, as her friend kept diving under the table to retrieve her textbook out of her bag and check it for something.
The exam was to start at nine, so at half past eight everyone was ushered out of the hall so the house tables could make way for singular tables and chairs. Dorea followed her fifth year DA friends as they decided to make camp in the Entrance Hall until they were to go in. She and Amelia smirked at each other when they noticed that a few fourth years were lingering about - mainly Ginny, who was speaking to Harry. "Hopefully they actually start dating soon." Amelia said.
Dorea agreed. "It's hard to believe that they've kissed twice and still neither have asked the all important question."
At ten minutes to nine, Sirius popped by. Dorea knew immediately - he was coming to wish them luck, but most of all he was likely coming to see his daughter and godchildren.
"How're you feeling for Charm's, darling?" He asked her, pulling her away from her friends for a moment.
"As confident as I can be," she said, pausing as she wondered if she should tell him about the silly dream.
"Just do your best, that is all I can ask for." Her father said fondly, kissing her forehead. She felt a surge of affection for him. "Your uncle also wishes you and the others good luck."
She smiled as she thought of her uncle Regulus - a star student back in his day. She felt a sudden urge to emulate him. "We'll be needing it for the next fortnight."
Her dad laughed, and it was then the doors opened and the exam invigilators from the Healing exams - Professor Tofty and Professor Marchbanks, - appeared, thankfully with no Umbridge. The two teachers said a hello to the eighty or so students waiting to go in before disappearing into the Great Hall. Her dad turned to her and smiled. "I suppose that means they'll let you in soon. Remember - take your time, read the questions, and don't hesitate to go back to questions you struggle with at the end. Put in plenty of detail when required as well."
She nodded, and gave him one last hug before he had to go. "Come pop by to my office and see me whenever." Was what he said just as he went off down the corridor.
There was a sudden realisation of doom upon them when they were finally called in five minutes before nine. Virtually nobody felt shame at being seen to down a Calming Draught as they went to go in. Hannah Abbott was definitely among those, and even Hermione was tempted. They all took their assigned seats - with OWL students on one side of the hall and NEWT students on the other. She located where Fred was sitting - right up near the back, whilst she was at the front of her row. She caught his eye and mouthed good luck to him. He did likewise.
Professor Tofty turned the large hourglass at nine a.m exactly, and they were permitted to begin.
Dorea flicked through the paper, deciding to do the easiest questions first. She found one.
"Give the incantation and wand movement used to make objects fly."
With a memory of her, Harry, Amelia, Hermione and Ron facing off with a mountain troll in first year, she started writing. A few of the questions she needed to think about.
"In which scenario would you use Cistem Aperio?
A) To open a door
B) To open a window
C) To open a chest"
"There are two Charms which produce a freezing effect - Glacius and Immobulus. Explain the difference between them and a situation where you would use both."
Eventually powering her way through all the questions, Dorea didn't stop writing until a minute before Tofty quietly explained to the OWL lot that their time was up. She felt like her hand was going to fall off as she gingerly capped her inkpot. When the OWL students were instructed to quietly leave the Hall so as not to disturb the still-working NEWT students, they all looked at each other knowingly; they were definitely going to be discussing answers.
At lunch, eating took a bit of a back seat in favour of more last-minute recapping before their Charms practical. Harry wasn't as concerned about the practical - sure, he really wanted to ace it to please Flitwick, who had done so much hard work helping Harry with the DA week in week out, but he knew that so long as he kept his cool and was able to recall everything, he'd be fine.
At half past one, they were called back into the once again transformed Great Hall. The Hall was split - the side nearest to the main entrance was a holding area of sorts, but big divider panels had been put across the hall horizontally to split it from the actual testing area. They were called to the testing area alphabetically - with Hannah Abbott, Lavender Brown and Millicent Bulstrode among the first to be called in. He wished Hannah and Lavender good luck before they went in. Dorea was called in not long after with Mandy Brocklehurst, and he noticed his godsister blanched a bit. All the fifth year DA members told Dorea and Mandy good luck.
When Hermione was called in, you would have thought she was going into battle with the expression she had. "If you think you're going to fail, 'Mione, then there's no hope for the rest of us." Ron remarked. Harry smirked when Hermione hit Ron on the arm. Harry knew she'd be just fine.
Harry and Amelia were called in, and with that he looked at his twin. She looked a bit nervous, but collected. Ron playfully thunked them on the shoulders and said good luck.
Just as Flitwick ushered Harry over to Professor Tofty, did Professor Marchbanks finish with Draco Malfoy. The blonde twat sent a thunderous look towards Harry, no doubt praying that Harry failed. He ignored him as he went to stand near Tofty, who remembered him from a few weeks ago.
The Charms practical went quite smoothly, he thought. He was asked to make an eggcup do some cartwheels - the thing had almost not landed upright on the last cartwheel, but Tofty hopefully didn't notice that. He also had to levitate a wine glass, enlarge a cauldron, turn a rat's fur colour to be orange, and to banish a chess piece onto its correct square. He thought he overdid the Cheering Charm slightly, as Tofty took a minute or so to recover, but overall he was glad when it was over. He was confident he'd scored himself either an E or an O.
They were done for the day, but that didn't mean relaxation. No - tomorrow was dedicated to Transfiguration, and everyone knew the consequences if they failed McGonagall's class. Not to mention, mostly everyone needed it for their future careers, so as soon as dinner was over it was back to the textbooks.
Harry focused more on revising theory than the actual spells - as he found the former to be far harder than the latter. He did want to confer with his classmates, but Quiet Hour was in effect, and that meant that everyone revising in the common room (where the Gryffindor fifth years were) had to do individual revision. By the time he went to bed, his head was swimming with complex spell models and theories.
Overall, the theory paper was mostly okay, though he forgot how many Principal Exceptions there are to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration (he'd selected his answer as 3, but to his annoyance the actual answer was 5 when he looked it up at lunch). The practical was okay as well - this time he had the aged Professor Marchbanks assessing him. His porcupine to pincushion transfiguration went smoother than he'd hoped, as had his inanimate to animate transfiguration (which consisted of turning a rock into a dog).
Wednesday was all about Herbology. Once again, it was theory in the morning and practical in the afternoon. The theory paper was only an hour, and half of the questions were multiple choice. The practical took them quite a while, though. They were brought in a few at a time to one of the greenhouses, tested on multiple plants over the course of an hour, and then taken to another greenhouse whilst another group of students got tested. Harry had been asked to demonstrate how to handle Screechsnap, Fanged Geranium, Mandrakes, Puffapods, as well as assessing the needs of a Dittany and how to extract and harvest Bubotuber pus and Shrivelfigs. He was glad when it was all done. Neville was beaming as Harry overheard him talking rather confidently to Hannah about the exam - he suspected his friend had just gotten an O.
Thursday was Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Harry smirked when those in the DA didn't even bother revising - as the club, as well as Remus's lessons, had prepared them plenty for it. Most people therefore spent that evening taking it a bit easier - only asking questions or revising some last few theory things on their own.
Harry couldn't believe how easy the questions came to him when he sat the theory paper the next morning. He fought the urge to have a giant grin on his face all the way throughout - he knew that this subject was definitely going to have an O next to it when the results letter arrived in July. The practical was the same - he took great pleasure in performing all the Disarming, Stunning, Shielding and Counter spells that Tofty asked him to perform. For a bonus question, Tofty asked him to perform something, leaning in and asking quietly. "I hear from a friend that this particular group of students are able to perform Patronus charms?"
Harry allowed this moment to be cocky. He raised his wand, and brought forth a happy memory to the front of his mind, before saying "Expecto Patronum!"
His usual silver stag erupted and cantered all around the section of the testing area he and Tofty occupied. When it disappeared, Tofty looked like he was ready to burst with enthusiasm. "Excellent! Very well, Mr Potter, you are free to go!"
Over at Marchbanks's area, Pansy Parkinson looked particularly peeved. Harry realised it was unlikely that her and her gang were able to achieve the bonus question - they didn't attend the DA.
On the Friday, Ron had a day off, but Harry, Amelia, Dorea and Hermione had Ancient Runes. Harry really wanted to do well, as he was intrigued at the idea of progressing on to NEWT as that was where they started physically carving runes. Plus, he wanted to do well for himself as well as Professor Babbling, who really was a star. He appreciated the fact she didn't give him any special treatment or publicly gloat at how good he was in class for someone who had never even done the subject before August.
As they waited in the Entrance Hall, Anthony was on hand to answer any last minute cramming questions. Even though they were allowed a Rune Dictionary in the exam, that didn't make it any easier - they still had a section of questions to answer. For OWL Ancient Runes, they only had a theory paper, meaning they were allowed two and a half hours. Harry planned on getting the translation out of the way first, as that was where most of their marks were gained.
After the two and a half hours were over, Harry was nursing a headache. His plan had gone out of the window a bit - he decided to get the questions out of the way and then tackle the translation, as it was such a long and heavy script. He'd gotten through the questions easy enough; so much so that he had well over an hour and a half remaining to do the translation. He got into it straight away, not wanting to waste a single second. His Rune Dictionary was his best friend throughout the whole thing, it turned out. He knew it was going to be pretty tough going the second he sighted Anthony unconsciously twirling his quill as he searched for something in the dictionary. Harry powered through it, managing to finish with twenty minutes to spare. He spent the rest of the time reading the translation, making sure everything translated okay and made sense grammatically. When Tofty said their time was up, everyone sat back in their chairs with glad sighs. Since they didn't have an Ancient Runes practical, they had the rest of the day and subsequently the weekend off. Though nobody was going to be spending the weekend relaxing - there was still a second week of exams to go.
Amelia was never so glad to be let out of an exam - that Ancient Runes paper had almost killed her last brain cells. Since there were no afternoon exams for anyone except the NEWT Ancient Runes students, Blaise and Theo offered the free time to anyone wanting to revise for the next exam - Potions, which was on Monday first thing. As they led that subjects study group, they held a session in Dungeon Five for anybody needing the time. A good chunk of people turned up mostly to cement the practical stuff in their heads. Theo joined in on getting some revision nailed, but Blaise rather smugly proclaimed that he wasn't bothering; Potions was by far his best subject, after all.
The weekend went by far too quickly for everyone's liking, and before they knew it it was Monday morning. Snape appeared in the Entrance Hall, but only to remind them that he only accepted the best into his NEWT class. Neville looked a bit daunted at that prospect - although he'd improved massively in the subject, thanks to mostly Harry's help, the presence of the Potions master seemed to be dimming his confidence. Amelia nudged him. "Ignore him. You'll get into NEWT no bother."
Neville shot her a thankful smile. "Thanks, Amelia, though I'm gonna need all the luck I can get. Trying to learn all the potions and the theory stuff off by heart has been tough."
It was then they were called into the Great Hall to commence their Potions theory. "Just keep calm, Nev, and remember that Snape won't be lurking when we're actually brewing." She said. He nodded, before veering away down a different column of seats to get to his table.
Theo was sitting a few rows in front of her, and she grinned when he turned fully in his seat and made eye contact with her. He mouthed good luck to her, though he must've added a term of endearment after as he definitely said something else. She mouthed good luck back, and listened as Tofty explained they had an hour and a half for the paper. When the hourglass turned over, she got to work.
As her twin had suspected the night before, the paper heavily featured the Calming Draught, Befuddlement Draught and Deflating Draught. She confidently answered every question, though it was a tough paper. The afternoon practical was a bit easier, as they were asked to brew two potions - a Draught of Peace, and an Erumpent Potion. They were allowed an hour and thirty-five minutes for each potion. Amelia was quite surprised that something as precarious as the Erumpent Potion was featured in the practical; if it was even a hair wrong it could explode due to its flammability. She remembered back to when Goyle almost set the classroom ablaze when he added the Explosive Fluid three steps early - she hoped the other room wasn't about to combust.
When Professor Marchbanks said "Step away from your cauldrons, please, the examination is over," Amelia was relatively happy as she corked the flask. She took a few moments to assess her brews - the Draught of Peace was the right colour, though she did wonder if the consistency was thin enough. The Erumpent Potion seemed fine - if it wasn't, everyone in the room would certainly know as it would be everywhere, - but again the texture was key. She left the room with the other people who'd been brewing at the same time as her - Tracey, Ron, Hermione and Blaise.
Tuesday was dedicated to Care of Magical Creatures. She was determined to pass it for Hagrid's sake. Though the subject was really enjoyable to the extent that it was almost relaxing, she had to think practically for next year. She didn't know if she was going to continue with it at NEWT or not. She supposed she had all summer to make that decision, but right now she urged herself to focus on the present. Their theory paper was only an hour, with a hefty multiple choice section, but Amelia managed it with no issues. Their practical that afternoon had them down at Hagrid's Hut by the Forbidden Forest, where an assortment of creatures were waiting with the invigilators, ready to assess them.
They had to prove they could identify a Knarl among hedgehogs, demonstrate correct handling of a Bowtruckle, feed and clean out a Fire Crab without sustaining serious burns, and choose from a selection of feed what diet they would give a sick Unicorn. As the third invigilator finished up with her, she felt confident she'd gotten either an E or an O.
Wednesday looked to be the busiest day of the whole exam period - they had Arithmancy in the morning, Astronomy Theory in the afternoon, and then at midnight they were to ascend the Astronomy Tower and do their Astronomy Practical. Ron had Divination in place of Arithmancy. "Your heads are going to well and truly be mush by the end of today," he had said before departing with Neville, Lavender, Parvati, Dean, Seamus and a few others to the side of the Great Hall reserved for the Divination students sitting their theory.
When Harry took his seat and stared down at his Arithmancy paper, he suddenly felt a feeling of doom - like he had suddenly convinced himself he was nowhere near ready for this. He so wanted to do well for Vector, though - after all, she'd given up free periods to slot in private tutelage with him, it would be a shame if he failed today and had it be all for nought. Amelia, who was sitting at the desk in front, swivelled round. "You okay?"
He felt his throat dry. "I feel like I'm going to fail, Amelia."
"You haven't even opened the paper yet, Harry, how can you be so sure?" She said, chuckling, as if he was being silly.
"Well, for starters, I feel like everything to do with Arithmancy has just left my head completely. It doesn't help that it's the toughest subject there is." He said, a bit frantically. He looked at the clock at the front of the hall - 8:58am was what it read. Less than two minutes before he made a clown of himself.
Amelia realised he was being serious. "Hey, don't be stressed now. Just relax, take it easy."
He tried, and felt his stress make way for determination.
Just as Amelia was about to speak again, did Tofty's voice speak up. He reminded them about the usual protocol - put your hand up for extra paper or ink, no talking, don't open the paper until 9am, all that. There were now just thirty seconds before 9am, and Harry felt worried for the first time this exam period.
At nine, Tofty turned the hourglass over, and the shuffling of paper was heard all throughout both Divination and Arithmancy students as they opened their papers. He took a deep breath and flipped open to the first page.
Looking up to the ceiling, as if praying for some intellect to bless him, he got ready to write. He quickly skimmed the questions; there were two ten-marker questions in the Number Significance section, as Vector had predicted. That wasn't so bad, as the alternative was a twenty-mark essay question. He wasn't in an essay mood today at all, it would kill him off if that was the alternative question.
When they were done, Harry thought it could have gone a lot worse, but at the same time he really didn't know if he'd done enough to get him admitted to the NEWT course. Vector accepted grades of E or above to advance - and Harry honestly thought that the bare minimum he had gotten there was a low A. It's truly going to be a miracle if I can get onto NEWT. He thought.
He was feeling better for Astronomy after lunch though. It was a subject he enjoyed - both with Professor Sinistra teaching it as well as Sirius, - but at the same time he wasn't sure if he was going to continue with it at NEWT. Not very many jobs required it - except for Astronomers, obviously, and though that field of work sounded cool, it wasn't one of his serious job considerations.
Lunch hour passed by uber quickly, and it felt like a routine as he filed into the Great Hall with the OWL and NEWT Astronomy students to sit the theory paper. Nobody listened avidly to Tofty explaining the exam protocol anymore - why the old man still had to relay it to them, nobody knew, as they were unlikely to forget with most of them sitting exams everyday for the past week. He knew that almost everybody wanted to do well for Sirius - there was a plot going on to encourage Sirius to remain as the Astronomy teacher for next year, and Harry wondered if his godfather would actually consider it, - and the residents of Black Manor felt obliged to do brilliantly to show him how they appreciated him.
The paper went well enough. He wasn't totally convinced he had done enough on the star clusters question, but at least he easily rattled off each of Jupiter's moons when it came to the essay question. There was a bit of an interval after the end of the exam - as they had just under ten hours until their Astronomy practical at midnight. They all tried to figure out the optimum time to get a decent sleep before it.
"I say we just have a very quick dinner and then head up to our dorms to sleep it off. That would give us a good five hours, assuming we wake up just after eleven." Ernie Macmillan tried to suss out.
A good few agreed with that logic. Some weren't as bothered. "Just so long as I get a little bit of shut-eye, I'm fine." Ron said, to the horror of Hermione, who started saying that their practical exam could go on for as long as five hours and that running on an hour's rest wasn't enough.
Though the Quiet Hours were in effect tonight, it was almost useless - when they got up to the common room after dinner, those that benefited from the quiet time were heading up to their beds anyway. The younger years seemed pleased that they were allowed to make a little bit of noise at least, though they didn't envy having to be awake during twilight hours.
When Harry woke up at twenty minutes past eleven at night, he felt refreshed but groggy. When he pulled his curtain back, Dean was running a finger over his star-chart, quietly mouthing the names of all the planets, stars and constellations. Seamus was up and about, though he wasn't revising. Neville and Ron seemed to still be asleep. "They said to wake them at half past." Seamus whispered quietly to Harry. Ron surprisingly woke up of his own accord just before half past, Neville not far behind him. They went down into the common room, where a hubbub of just about everybody was gathered.
The practical kept Harry very busy. He thought he did pretty good in it; he just needed to wait and find out how well. The exam finished at half past three in the morning, and when they were dismissed, everyone groggily but gladly made their way back to their dorms. Harry was fairly certain he crashed on his bed the second he changed into sleepwear and fell asleep instantly.
He was bleary eyed throughout breakfast. Thankfully, for most people there was only one more exam to go - History of Magic, which was at nine. The afternoon was dedicated to Muggle Studies, though nobody was worried about that one being difficult.
Harry had made his own notes on every topic throughout the year, so he had one last skim over them. Though he enjoyed the subject itself, Binns made it really hard to actually enjoy going to the classes, which was why he was considering dropping the subject next year. If only they got a better teacher for it, Harry thought. He wished the position of History of Magic teacher was cursed, not the Defence one.
With History there were a lot of dates to knuckle down as well as names. As they sat at breakfast trying to juggle eating with reading, did Remus appear.
"Morning, guys," his uncle said kindly, mostly everyone either looking up and returning the greeting or waving a hand in acknowledgement. "Good luck for History."
"Thanks, Professor," Daphne, who was sitting with them, said, "We'll need all the luck in the world."
They all chuckled at that, Remus smiling knowingly before making his way up to the staff table. Daphne then began quietly muttering how revising was pointless for her as she was bound to fail. Some agreed with her, although Anthony, her boyfriend, tried to convince her otherwise by sending quickfire questions her way.
They reentered the Hall at nine and took their seats. Professor Tofty seemed to be chipper this morning. "For quite a lot of you, this will be your last exam."
A contingent of whoops and cheers went up, making the invigilators smile.
"I'm quite sure I do not need to repeat the exam protocol now. If in doubt - just put your hand up and we'll come to you. You may fill in the front page of the exam booklet, but do not open it up until I declare it 9am."
There was a brief silence as everybody filled in their name and date on the front page. Harry was still feeling tired from being up until four in the morning, but he tried to shake it away - for him, this was his last exam. Just one more hour and a half, and I'll be free from revision.
Tofty signalled it 9am, and everyone flipped the exam open to the first page.
When History of Magic was finally concluded, he couldn't help but join the glad sighs of other students - for most of them were finally OWL free. They'd made it through without mishap.
To celebrate, most of the Senior DA students grabbed their bags and went out onto the school grounds - where a lot of them broke into a run and started jumping around as they did, celebrating.
"Really wish we could join in on the fun, but we've still got Muggle Studies after lunch." Amelia said to him, gesturing to Dorea, Daphne, Dean, Seamus and a good handful of others that took the subject.
Harry grinned. "We'll not have too much fun without you - we'll hold off until you's can join us."
When the Muggle Studies exam finally finished at quarter past three, it truly marked the end of the exam period. Some seventh years - who were likewise NEWT free - had even jumped into the lake with their clothes on… to the horror of Professor McGonagall. It was relatively easy for them to get dried off; the beauty of magic, but they had stern reminders not to be caught doing that again. It was a good laugh, though.
That Friday was a chance for the fifth and seventh years to wind down after two long weeks of exams day in, day out. Quiet Hours were no longer in effect, as the NEWT students had finished up their exams too. The roles were now reversed in a way; as on Monday there was another exam period of sorts in terms of the younger years, who were now the ones revising instead of the Seniors. Ginny and the other fourth years seemed to have it the hardest, as the grades on their fourth years tests determined which subjects they could take for OWL. Though they had it easier in a way as they didn't have to do practicals, it only meant that the test papers would have more content.
Harry had unknowingly kickstarted something - as on the Sunday in the common room he noticed that a lot of the Senior students could be seen going round and helping out the Junior students with their subjects and revision. According to Parvati, they'd taken inspiration from him. "Since you help us all with the DA, we took your initiative and decided to shoulder some of that helpfulness by doing it ourselves."
He was quite touched by that - all his friends wanting to help others and wanting to share some of his workload. The Juniors seemed very grateful for the help of their older counterparts.
That final week of term seemed to go by a bit slower when it wasn't them sitting tests, but nonetheless Harry and the others cherished it. For the seventh years it was their final week at Hogwarts ever. Some had been seen already getting a bit teary eyed at the thought (Angelina). Fred and George seemed sad at the prospect of leaving everything behind, but were eager to get out into the world and start their shop. They'd secured a premises in Diagon Alley, they were delighted to report. Harry couldn't wait to get in it.
Though the final week provided downtime, Harry still tried to juggle spending time with everyone. He caught up with Ginny on Wednesday. She had done her Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology and Defence tests so far, and felt good about them. "Next up is Transfiguration tomorrow morning, Charms tomorrow afternoon, and then I only have Astronomy, History and Potions left." She told him as he helped her with flashcards.
It was painfully obvious that both of them wanted to address that… situation from a few weeks ago, when they'd kissed. For some reason, neither wanted to bring it up, or ask "The Question" as Blaise and Theo had dubbed it. They urged him to just do it and ask first, as they figured that Ginny didn't want to ask him the question because it was normally the boy that did the asking out.
Just before Harry was about to speak again, did Ginny get summoned away by Astoria, Tulip and Penny. She gathered her books up and said bye to him, although she looked like she wanted to say more. Before he forgot, he told her good luck for her remaining tests in case he didn't get the chance to speak to her before tomorrow morning. She thanked him for that.
When Friday rolled around, it meant that everyone from years one to seven had finally, finally completed all of their tests and exams. It had been a long year, but Harry felt it had actually flown by. He remembered starting up the DA like it was just yesterday. There was one final Hogsmeade weekend remaining, starting tomorrow, and then on Sunday it was the seventh year's graduation ceremony and the End of Year assembly. As Harry sat at breakfast on Saturday morning, raring to go to Hogsmeade one final time, he couldn't help but have an uneasy feeling. For the past four years, something always happened during this time. He had an awful realisation that it must be getting pretty close to one year since Cedric Diggory's passing - that had been right at the end of fourth year. Harry had no clue what this year's big disaster was going to be. Maybe this year nothing will happen, he thought, but then found that unlikely, considering how his luck usually worked out.
They arrived at Hogsmeade just before ten, soon splitting up depending on where they wanted to go. Amelia and Theo decided to mill around together by themselves, and some other couples did likewise. Mostly everyone else stuck to their friends groups - after all, it would only be a day before the school broke up for summer, which meant they'd be weeks apart.
Harry, Hermione and Ron decided to visit Zonko's, Honeydukes, Dervish and Banges, and even paid a visit to the bookshop at Hermione's insistence. At half past eleven, they decided to finally start heading to the Three Broomsticks for lunch. The pub wasn't too busy, but he supposed they'd come at the right time - it normally filled up at 12 onwards. They grabbed one of the larger tables as they had an inkling some of their other friends were bound to join them, and had a skim over the menu to decide what food they wanted.
One of Madam Rosemerta's weekend waitresses came over and took their order before they were left to their own devices for a few minutes. When the butterbeer arrived, they happily dug in. Anthony and Daphne were seen entering, and grabbed a table near them. Dorea and Fred came in just before twelve, and also sat near them. Strangely, nobody talked about exams, as they just wanted to forget about their grades and spend summer relaxing.
The pub steadily filled up with more and more patrons as well as students. When they were done eating, Harry got them all another round of butterbeer, and they jokingly toasted to the end of the year. Fred began fake-crying when it suddenly dawned on him that this would be his last ever time visiting the place as a student, which they chuckled at.
Just as some third years opened the door to the pub did the world suddenly come to a grinding halt. They heard a large banging sound first, then a few moments of silence, and then the dreaded screams.
Outside was suddenly a zone of stampeding people, truly frantic and confused. The Three Broomsticks was still silent - it felt like they were watching it all play out in a cinema. Then the tension became fear as they realised just what was going on.
A/N: ... Oh yeah, now we get into the nitty gritty.
Next Chapter: Chaos.