Secrets Only Trouble Knows - George Weasley

61 - Make Me

{ A/N: hmm, you might feel butterflies throughout this... }

-

The euphoria of winning the Quidditch Cup lasted for a good while. Even the weather seemed to be celebrating Gryffindor's victory; as June grew nearer, the days became cloudless, warm, and dreamy. All anyone felt like doing was strolling the grounds, flopping down on the grass with some pumpkin fizz, and enjoying the sun.

But unfortunately, none of us students could do any of those things. Exams were nearly upon us and instead of lazing around outside, we were forced to remain in the castle, bullying our brains into concentrating. However, that was incredibly difficult when enticing wafts of summer drifted in through the windows each day.

I thought my workload a month ago was hard enough, but I soon realized what I was having to deal with now was significantly worse. With O.W.L.s quite literally just around the corner, my stress level had reached an all time high.

All day everyday became devoted to studying for exams. It was common for people in my year, myself included, to stay up well into the night doing just that. As a result, everyone was running on very few hours of sleep and we all trudged from class to class each day, rubbing our eyes while feeling dead on our feet.

Some people were crumbling from the stress as well. It became a frequent sight to see students crying in the corridors in between classes. I even had to leave and go to the bathroom a few times so I could collect myself and keep my anxiety at bay.

Everyone in my year was feeling the pressure put on them by either themselves or their family members to perform well on the exams. O.W.L.s. played a huge role in determining your career in the Wizarding World, so no one took them lightly. Even Fred and George had been devoting time to preparing for them, although rather reluctantly and usually only when I forced them to do so with me.

All in all, I was quite literally counting down the days until summer break. I couldn't wait to be rid of thinking about school and exams.

—

George's POV

It was the middle of May now, and the first thing I did tonight when I stepped into my dorm was throw my stack of textbooks haphazardly onto my desk. I had no intention of touching them, or even looking at them, for the rest of the night.

I'd just gotten back from a study session in the library with Nova and I literally felt like my brain had been fried. Yeah, I know— me? Studying? Not something you hear everyday, is it? Well, rest assured I didn't want to be studying tonight. I absolutely hated it with a passion, but I was doing it because of Nova.

She'd been getting a bit frustrated with me recently for brushing off the O.W.L.s and acting like I didn't care about them around her. Truth be told, I didn't care about them, but she did and not only was she stressing out about her own results on them, but she was stressing about mine as well.

Nova was a worrier, especially about those she loved. She always thought about the "what-ifs" and the worst case scenarios. It was just in her nature. So with O.W.L.s coming up, she kept telling me I actually needed to try on them and put in the effort studying because, while she wanted to believe Fred and I will have a joke shop someday, "it's possible that won't happen" and "I need to have a back-up plan just in case."

She had a point but, Merlin, did I really hate studying. However, because I loved Nova and genuinely worried for her sanity sometimes, I decided to indulge her and agreed to do it with her a few nights a week.

But each session always drained me. I was completely exhausted tonight and I instantly collapsed onto my bed the minute I'd walked in. It was just me in the room— the other boys were still down in the common room working together or were off doing their own thing.