Please Be There If I Remember

Chapter Fifty: Curses

OWLs were upon them. Classes had gone from shoving his repertoire full of essays and assignments, to stopping everything to prepare the students for the exams. Each class was a revision of some sort, but even that wasn't enough to make him feel ready.

Harry said he was acting like Hermione, and Draco wasn't sure how to feel about that comment since he had barely seen the girl eat all week as her face was stuck in a book. Actually, now that he thought about it, he took that as a compliment, and he and Hermione had actually spent nights in the library together, aggressively quizzing each other about the most mundane topics that might be on the exam.

It was kind of fun.

When he told Harry that, he grumbled something about "Why the hell did I agree to be your boyfriend?" To which Draco responded with "It was actually you who said it, so you placed this upon yourself. Come on, Harry, what's the difference between a Rutabaga root and the leaf..."

Harry shut him up with a kiss, and they didn't get much studying done that night, which was perfectly fine by Draco.

He was still nervous about it though, and his hand wouldn't stop shaking as he walked to the first examination room. But once his hand gripped his quill and he read the first question, his heart rate slowed.

Oh, I know this. Hermione and I studied this yesterday.

Draco flew through the exam, only pausing once at a question that had nothing to do with what was in the textbooks, but what was instead a practical thinking one, and once he worked it out five different ways in his mind, he finally figured out what the question was trying to ask. And then he was off to the next one.

Draco left the exam room still slightly petrified, but knowing that he did his best anyway—not that it would be enough.

Harry laughed at his panicked mutterings.

"But what if question F was actually talking about the spell's differences and not the changes since 1822? And if it wasn't, then was my answer about the slight colour shift and wand direction ri—Umph."

Harry pulled back from where he had kissed him and rolled his eyes. "Merlin, stop rambling Draco. You're making me nervous, and I don't even care about my results."

"You should," Draco retorted. "They mark your future. You know, people in the Auror Department will see your marks and—"

"Okay, that's enough." Harry strode up and placed both hands on his face. Draco's heart did a strange flipping thing in his chest. "I'm sure you did fine, and if you didn't, it literally means nothing to me. Now, stop worrying and actually have some fun. You finished your first exam!"

"Yes, and it was awful," he grumbled.

"No it wasn't," Harry grinned, "I heard you finished first out of everyone."

"That doesn't mean I did well. In fact, that makes me feel worse, because think of all the things I missed—right, okay, I get it. I'll shut up now, no need to place your hand on my mouth."

"I will if you keep talking," his boyfriend warned.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Draco said, but he felt light-hearted and not even worried about his meeting with Umbridge later. "Now, about those visions you've been having..."

"Oh my word, you're still not going on about those, are you?"

"You're not sleeping well! Bite me for being worried," Draco remarked.

"Well, if you insist..."

Yes, Draco's heart was doing a lot of weird flips today. He pushed Harry's slowly leaning head away from his face, though, to look him in the eyes. "Okay, but seriously, Harry, it's getting worse."