Et Serpens album

Part 21

Neville was feeling confident with the lessons Vivienne paid of though it was rather hard to concentrate it was rather hard with the fear that Voldermort will burst into the classroom to kill him. 

In the years to come Neville would never quite remember how he had managed to get through his exams when he half expected Voldemort to come bursting through the door at any moment. Yet the days crept by, and there could be no doubt that Fluffy was still alive and well behind the locked door.

 It was sweltering hot, especially in the large classroom where they did their written papers. They had been given special, new quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an Anticheating spell.

They had practical exams as well. Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tapdance across a desk. Professor McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuffbox, points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was but taken away if it had whiskers. Snape made them all nervous, breathing down their necks while they tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness potion.

  Maybe it was because they hadn't seen what Neville had seen in the forest, or because they didn't have scars burning on their foreheads, but Ron and Hermione didn't seem as worried about the Stone as Neville. Vivienne was being unnecessary absent on the matter frustrated by how little information there is. 

The idea of Voldemort certainly scared them, but he didn't keep visiting them in dreams, and they were so busy with their studying they didn't have much time to fret about what Snape or anyone else might be up to.

Their very last exam was History of Magic One hour of answering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented self-stirring cauldrons and they'd be free, free for a whole wonderful week until their exam results came out. When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment they were practically jumping for joy. 

"That was far easier than I thought it would be," said Hermione as they joined the crowds flocking out onto the sunny grounds. "I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager. "

"Yes it was quite boring I wanted a challenge," Vivienne said facing down in a book about the Philosopher Stone. 

 Hermione always liked to go through their exam papers afterwards, but Ron said this made him feel ill, so they wandered down to the lake and flopped under a tree. The Weasley twins and Lee Jordan were tickling the tentacles of a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows. "No more studying," Ron sighed happily, stretching out on the grass. "You could look more cheerful, Neville, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet"

Neville shrugged he was nodding of wanting to sleep he is the only person who will go to sleep early and still tried the next day.

Neville was sleeping off the paranoia he felt frightened by everything.   

They decided to go to Hagrid's to unwind and hopefully the tinfoil hat of Neville.

  "Don't you think it's a bit odd," said Neville, scrambling up the grassy slope, "that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pocket? How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard law? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think? Why didn't I see it before?"

"Because he is the only suspicious person in the wizarding world," Vivienne said sarcastically dismissing Neville. Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house; his trousers and sleeves were rolled up, and he was shelling peas into a large bowl.

"Hullo," he said, smiling. "Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?"

"Yes, please," said Ron, Neville cut him off.