𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 ;𝐑.𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐲

"That git Malfoy."

The euphoria of winning the Quidditch cup lasted at least a week, and it seemed even the weather was celebrating. The days had become less cloudy as June approached, and most students only wanted to flop onto the grass with several pints of iced pumpkin juice, but they never got the chance to. Exams were nearly upon them, and the students were forced to remain inside studying while the gentle breeze that drifted in from the windows caressed their bodies, begging them to go outside and play.

It was so stressful, even Fred and George had been spotted studying.

Harry and Ron had given up on asking Hermione how she managed to attend every single lesson, but couldn't restrain themselves when they saw her exam timetable.
The first column read:

MONDAY
9 o'clock, Arithmancy
9 o'clock, Transfiguration
Lunch
1 o'clock, Charms
1 o'clock, Ancient Runes

Rachelle's was similar, with the exception of Ancient Runes.

Hermione had snapped once again that she had "fixed it with Mcgonagall" and that stopped the tirade of questions. The two were about to resort to interrogating Rachelle until they saw the sheer amount of broken quills around her as she studied for Arithmancy, and were about to leave the two when Hedwig flew in through the window.

"It's from Hagrid,' said Harry, ripping the note open. 'Buckbeak's appeal – it's set for the sixth.'
'That's the day we finish our exams,' said Hermione, searching everywhere for her Arithmancy book.
'And they're coming up here to do it,' said Harry, still reading from the letter. 'Someone from the Ministry of Magic and – and an executioner.'
Hermione looked up, startled.

'They're bringing the executioner to the appeal! But that sounds as though they've already decided!'
'Yeah, it does,' said Harry slowly.
'They can't!' Ron howled. 'I've spent ages reading up stuff for him, they can't just ignore it all!'

'Its definitely that git Malfoy. He's not going to let this slip.' Rachelle said sadly.

Rachelle had a horrible feeling that the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures had had its mind made up for it by Mr Malfoy. Draco, who had been noticeably subdued since Gryffindor's triumph in the Quidditch final, seemed to regain some of his old swagger over the next few days.

From sneering comments Harry and Rachelle overheard, Malfoy was certain Buckbeak was going to be killed, and seemed thoroughly pleased with himself for bringing it about. Harry was ready to pull a Hermione and sock him in the face, and Rachelle had to be forcibly restrained on a few occasions.

The worst part was that they couldn't go see Hagrid, because the new security measures that had been put in place hadn't been lifted and Harry didn't dare going back to the one-eyed witch to retrieve his invisibility cloak.

The exams began with the third-years emerging from their Transfiguration exam complaining about the difficulty of the task set, which included turning a teapot into a tortoise. Hermione and Rachelle had to use the time turner to get to their Athrimancy exam at the same time, and it was stressful, but Rachelle thought she had done rather well. It was hard to not blow up when her friend started moaning about how her tortoise looked more like a turtle, but she managed.

After a hasty lunch, it was straight back upstairs to study for their Charms exam.

"Its been a day, and I already want this to be over." Rachelle sighed. "Don't we all." Ron said flatly. Rachelle chose to ignore his comment.

Hermione had been right, they were indeed tested on Cheering Charms. She, of course, had cast hers perfectly and impressed the examiner beyond words, which made it stressful and very difficult for Rachelle to follow up and she silently cursed her best friends smarts. "Next time," she mumbled to Hermione after the test, "I'm going first. You get to wow the examiner after me."