The Healer | Part 2: The War

NEWTs

Edith

The owl arrived only two weeks after graduation, emblazoned with both the Ministry of Magic logo as well as the Hogwarts coat of arms. It was exactly like the one that had arrived the summer between my fifth- and sixth-years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The two weeks previous had been eerily quiet considering the events of the last few days of term. Death Eaters had somehow managed to get into the castle itself and one of our own teachers had murdered the Headmaster. No one seemed to know too many details about the incident. There had been rumours that it was a student who had let them in, but that couldn't have been right. If Dumbledore had managed to keep the Death Eaters out for all that time, how could an underage student have been able to let them in? No one knew for sure, we may never know exactly what had happened that night.

Nothing was certain anymore. No one seemed to know what was going to happen next. With Professor Dumbledore dead and You-Know-Who out in the open, things certainly didn't look good. I had no owl or other means of being in contact with anyone from the magical world unless they contacted me first.

I looked back at the owl. I couldn't believe I was worried about my NEWT scores at a time like this. Somehow, I didn't think the owl would deliver a personal letter for me if it belonged to the Ministry. If the rumours were true about You-Know-Who infiltrating the Ministry, I definitely didn't want this owl carrying any personal information.

Hermione Granger had pulled me aside at the end of term. Being muggleborn herself, she knew how much danger we would be in if You-Know-Who took over the Ministry, which seemed like it was only a matter of time.

'You'll have to go on the run,' she had told me. 'Persuade your family to leave the country if you can. If the Ministry can't find you, they'll go after them. You'll need to be prepared to leave at a moment's notice.'

She had recommended an Undetectable Extension Charm on a small purse or bag, something I could carry around with me in public without raising suspicion. Then pack it with anything and everything I could possibly need to hide indefinitely. She had said she would be doing something similar, no one knew when we wouldn't be safe anymore. It was better to go on the run than to end up in Azkaban, where muggleborns would no doubt be sent if we weren't killed first.

That was what I had planned for the day. I had already performed the charm on an old, leather clutch and had been inspecting just how much room I had for my things when the owl arrived and distracted me from the task at hand.

I put the clutch down and reached for the envelope on the owl's leg.

Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test Results
Edith Helen Falconer has achieved:

Alchemy: E
Ancient Runes: O
Astronomy: E
Charms: O
Defence Against the Dark Arts: O
Herbology: E
History of Magic: E
Potions: O
Transfiguration: E

Please be advised that a copy of these results has been forwarded to:
St. Mungo's Hospital of Magical Maladies and Injuries: School of Healing

Well, that was it. I had achieved the scores necessary to be admitted to Healing school, whether or not I was accepted remained to be seen. Though I didn't think I would be waiting much longer to find out.

I had worked extremely hard the last year for the scores on the parchment in my hand. Now that the world seemed to be descending into chaos, it was hard to see why Healing school was still so important to me.

Maybe I was in denial. Sure, Dumbledore was dead and You-Know-Who had people inside the Ministry, but he hadn't taken over... yet. Somewhere deep inside me, I knew it was inevitable. But I had worked so hard these past three years to get into Healing school, it was hard to accept that it may have all been for nothing. I was clinging to the tiny shred of hope that maybe we might be able to avoid all of this.