Chapter Fourteen: Final Exam
Stress is always a difficult emotion to control and sometimes it affects not only the heart but also the brain. Often people can't focus and can feel anxious and panic. Some people actually fear they can't even think straight. This is how Hannah was feeling right now. Hermione and Ginny came to comfort her. "Hannah, what is it?" Hermione asked her. Hannah answered, "I'm just so messed up about everything. I don't know if I'm ever going to pass my exams. What if I fail?" Ginny then said, "Sometimes your mind can play tricks on you. You're just feeling a lot of anxiety right now. All you have to do is push away the bad thoughts and give yourself the good ones." "But what about the pain in my chest?" "Sometimes that just comes and goes," Hermione told her, "but I guarantee you you'll feel better in the next couple of hours, or maybe even days."
"Days?!"
"Okay, not that simple, I get that." Hannah winced and then said, "I understand. I don't know if I'll ever get over this, but I'll just have to feel like this for a while. Maybe I need this to get me through a bit." "There you go," Ginny said, "that's positive thinking."
Finally it was exam day. The N.E.W.T.s were underway and all the seventh years were getting ready to do their part. Hermione and Ginny were getting ready and headed down the Great Hall for breakfast. After they've eaten, they met Luna outside in the grounds waiting to walk over to the Herbology greenhouses. Some of the Mandrakes needed the mandatory cleaning and caring like in previous sessions.
In Transfiguration class, Hermione and Ginny transformed mice into tiny, little teacups. Much to their surprise, but not really, they succeeded. McGonagall was indeed glad by all their progress. Luna was definitely improving with her spell-casting, most of which not on animals.
In Potions class, Ginny was attempting a Wiggenweld Potion all on her own. She knew what ingredients to use and she definitely knew how much to stir, heat and shake. She performed flawlessly. Slughorn was most pleased with her and her progress. He chuckled and said, "Miss Weasley, you've certainly improved since the beginning of term."
"Thank you, Professor." "You are most welcome."
Meanwhile, in Charms class, the ladies were levitating so high that they almost reached the ceiling, and by the time they got there, they actually hit the ceiling. Professor Flitwick was most pleased.
In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Periwinkle gave them all a written examination. They all got our their quills and all wrote down their answers, most of which were not multiple choice. Much to Hannah's delight, she knew what most answers were. Luna had a little trouble memorizing hers, but she knew she had to put down her best guess.
Hermione was just finishing up her Arithmancy test before going over to Ancient Runes. Peeves came back again and attempted to scare her. "Boo!" he shouted. Hermione just stared at him. "Peeves, when are you ever going to learn?" It was a rhetorical question. Peeves was never gonna learn. Boy, was the Bloody Baron gonna give him a stern glare. As soon as she went into the Ancient Runes class, Nearly Headless Nick was there and greeted Hermione. "Oh, hello, Nick. Wait, why are you here?" "Oh, I just felt the need to look after some objects in case Peeves has knocked them all down." "Well, that's very considerate of you, but I just passed Peeves. He's not very intimidating like he used to be." "Please!" Nick scoffed, "Peeves is always mischievous. Why, just the other day, he was trying to scare the dickens out of two third-year boys on their way to the Astronomy Tower."
"Why is it always the Astronomy Tower? Well, better that than the Divination Tower, I bet." "Indeed," Nick nodded.
The students had gone outside to do their spell-casting part of their tests. After that, Hermione felt like she did well on all of her exams. The birds were chirping outside. The sun was shining brightly. May was definitely coming to Hogwarts. Soon it would be the end of the school year, and the seventh years were going to be nervous to see their test score results once they've all been calculated.
As soon as Ginny and Luna were also outside, they sat with Hermione near the lake. Hermione was reading the Quibbler and she was enjoying it rather well, seeing as how no one at Hogwarts this term got physically maimed or killed. However, the term was still going, and Hermione was sure that in the next few weeks, some situation would go down within that time. Professor Periwinkle could be out of a job, but she hasn't had any oddities or secrets as of late. Hmm...
