Courage

-75-

Book: Courage
Chapter 75
Word Count: 4183

The castle grounds were gleaming in the sunlight as though freshly painted; the cloudless sky smiled at itself in the smoothly sparkling lake; the satin green lawns rippled occasionally in a gentle breeze. June had arrived, but to the fifth-years this meant only one thing: their OWLs were upon them at last.

Their teachers were no longer setting them homework; lessons were devoted to revising those topics the teachers thought most likely to come up in the exams.

They received their examination timetables and details of the procedure for OWLs during their next Transfiguration lesson.

"As you can see," Professor McGonagall told the class as they copied down the dates and times of their exams from the blackboard, "your OWLs are spread over two successive weeks. You will sit the theory papers in the mornings and the practice in the afternoons. Your practical Astronomy examination will, of course, take place at night. Now, I must warn you that the most stringent anti-cheating charms have been applied to your examination papers. Auto-Answer Quills are banned from the examination hall, as are Remembralls, Detachable Cribbing Cuffs and Self-Correcting Ink. Every year, I am afraid to say, seems to harbour at least one student who thinks that he or she can get around the Wizarding Examinations Authority's rules. I can only hope that it is nobody in Gryffindor. Our new — Headmistress — has asked the Heads of House to tell their students that cheating will be punished most severely — because, of course, your examination results will reflect upon the Headmistress's new regime at the school—"

Professor McGonagall gave a tiny sigh; Layla saw the nostrils of her sharp nose flare.

"—however, that is no reason not to do your very best. You have your own futures to think about."

"Please, Professor," said Hermione, her hand in the air, "when will we find out our results?"

"An owl will be sent to you some time in July," said Professcr McGonagall.

"Excellent," Dean whispered to Layla, "so we don't have to worry about it till the holidays."

Their first examination, Theory of Charms, was scheduled for Monday morning.

During Sunday after lunch, Layla had deeply wished that she had remained in the library because the second she returned to the common room, it was chaos. Enough chaos to give Layla a migraine.

Ron was reading two years' worth of Charms notes with his fingers in his ears, his lips moving soundlessly; Seamus was lying flat on his back on the floor, reciting the definition of a Substantive Charm while Dean checked it against The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5; and Parvati and Lavender, who were practising basic Locomotion Charms, were making their pencil-cases race each other around the edge of the table.

Layla skipped dinner again that night to revise more for the exams. It had reached the point that food didn't even cross Layla's mind anymore. However, that came with a price. She couldn't move too fast without the risk of fainting, her skin had gotten paler, and permanent dark circles seemed to appear below her eyes. She didn't care though. She just had to pass the exams...

It was an uncomfortable sort of an evening. Everyone was trying to do some last-minute revising but nobody seemed to be getting very far. Layla went to bed early but then lay awake for what felt like hours. She just couldn't sleep.

None of the fifth-years talked very much at breakfast next day, either: Parvati was practising incantations under her breath while the salt cellar in front of her twitched; Hermione was rereading Achievements in Charming so fast that her eyes appeared blurred; and Neville kept dropping his knife and fork and knocking over the marmalade.