Hogwarts: The Secret Society - BOOK 5 (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

10: O.W.Ls

It was time. Harry and I entered the office slowly and carefully. We headed straight for the fire place and stuck our heads into the fire, after using Floo Powder so we could be transported to Grimmauld Place.

The look of shock on Remus and Sirius' faces was priceless. Well, they must have been shocked at the sight of our heads appearing in the fireplace.

'Wha... Wait... Wha... WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?!?!' yelled Sirius and I raised my eyebrows.

'Sorry, were we interrupting something?' I asked smugly.

'No! Calm down, Padfoot!' said Remus.

'But Moony!' whined Sirius.

'What?' asked Remus.

'She is going to get herself murdered if Umbridge catches her!' he whined.

Both men gave me a hard stare. It was such a piercing look that I winced.

'We'll be fine! Fred and George are distracting Umbridge and the others will warn us well in advance if she's coming!' said Harry, coming to my rescue.

Sirius grumbled and Remus gave me a thoughtful look.

'You know, you're worse than Sirius was with taking risks,' he said, 'We're all extremely worried about you. If you're still worse than Sirius when you grow up and you get caught... Well, they don't exactly take kindly to werewolves who take risks.'

I was about to reply when another face appeared next to us.

'You'd better get going!' said Ron, grabbing us both and pulling us back into the office, 'We should run!'

We ran to the Gryffindor common room and sighed in relief. Everyone had managed to get back safely.

'Well, we know it works if we ever have to contact anyone!' I said.

Over the next few days, we met Hagrid's half brother Grawp (a giant), and our O.W.Ls began. We hadn't had one since Astronomy, as they had been postponed due to certain events.

For once, I didn't cause any trouble that could make Umbridge give me hell for. I kept my head down, focusing on my exams. I wanted to prove Umbridge wrong, I wanted to become an Auror. I wanted to make my dad proud, Remus proud. I wanted to make McGonagall proud, the last she had seen I was basically giving up! I wanted to show her Umbridge had not gotten to me, she had only made me more determined.

The first exam was Theory of Charms. I managed to get an answer for every question and had checked it over a million times. I couldn't think of any I'd got wrong, but there was a fair chance I had. I enjoyed the theoretical part of Charms, unlike most. The technicalities of it interested me a lot, it was fun to learn how things worked.

Then it was time for the practical examination. I was one of the first people called up and I was almost sick with nervousness. I had talked myself into panicking, but relaxed a bit when I got into the actual exam situation.

I was taken to the examiner Professor Tofty.

'Molly Black, is it?' he asked, consulting his notes and I nodded, 'Would you please make this egg cup do a few cartwheels for me?'

I managed that and all of the other spells I was meant to show him. He told me 'very well done' and said I could leave. I breathed a sigh of relief as I walked out of the hall, giving Nico a thumbs up when I saw he was pale as a ghost. I knew he would ace it, he had worked ridiculously hard for it.

I studied all night for Transfiguration and managed both the written and practical fine. Of course, the practical went better but I didn't think I made any serious mistakes. I was determined to get an O in it, or McGonagall would probably end me. I was one of her best students so she wouldn't stand for anything less.

Then it was Herbology. It didn't go fantastic, but I also didn't get eaten by a plant and that was always a bonus. I had DADA after that, and that was the real test. We had been taught the theory of it thoroughly, but all of our practical work was down to student teaching and own knowledge. But I just had a determination to prove Umbridge wrong, she wouldn't make us fail just because she didn't want us to be able to fight.

I was sure I had passed the written and hoped for the same results with the practical.

'Bravo!' cried Tofty, as I performed a perfect Boggart banishing spell. I had done it so quickly that he didn't even know my fear. I didn't need such questions, I didn't need everyone knowing my past. 'I hear that you and someone else can do a Patronus... For a few bonus points?'

I raised my wand and imagined Sirius' name being cleared, 'EXPECTO PATRONUM!'

Much to my relief, the silver dog erupted from my wand and bounded around the room. Everyone stopped to watch it, their eyes wide in shock. When it dissolved, Tofty clapped his hands.

'Absolutely brilliant! You may go!'

As I passed Umbridge, I noticed a weird look on her face. I ignored it and made my way out the room, grinning brightly. I had certainly shown her, and I was sure every other member of the DA would as well. She would certainly have a queer look on her face afterwards.

The next day I had a day off and me and Nico spent it by the lake.

'Beautiful isn't it!' he said, smiling.

'Yeah!' I replied, 'Especially when we don't have old toad face breathing down our neck and sending us flying to opposite ends of the room.'

We laughed at that, and I realised it was the first time we had been able to spend time together in ages. I enjoyed spending time with Nico, he always understood me. I never felt pressured to act a certain way, he accepted me for who I was. Sure, I complained a lot and had a lot of baggage, but he accepted it. I could tell him everything and I knew he would never judge me.

We just sat there for a while, studying for our Arithmancy test. When it came the next day, I wasn't sure how well I had done. It was a hard subject. Ancient Runes was hard too, but I did OK. Hard work and perseverance certainly paid off for both subjects.

Care of Magical Creatures went well. I knew how to look after all the creatures as it was a subject I enjoyed a lot. I was determined to do well in it though, as I wanted to prove to Umbridge that Hagrid was a good teacher. She hated him because he was half-giant, and was adamant his teaching capabilities were not very good.

Divination was fine. I made up a load of nonsense in the Crystal Ball then managed to read the examiner's palm. Since my moment of seer-ness in third year where I predicted Remus attacking me, I had been pretty crap at the subject.

The final exam was History of Magic. I had just finished the paper as Harry hit the floor.

The whole hall erupted when they noticed.