STARLIT SUPERNOVA. h. potter

xii. Loyalty Tests

starlit supernova
❛ xii. loyalty tests ❜

━━━━━ GRYFFINDOR WINNING THE Quidditch match sent waves of glee for a week straight. Even the weather seemed to be celebrating; as June approached, the days became cloudless and sultry, and all anybody felt like doing was strolling onto the grounds and flopping down on the grass with several pints of iced pumpkin juice, perhaps playing a casual game of Gobstones or watching the giant squid propel itself dreamily across the surface of the lake.

As happy as Nova was about the weather (it was a blessing for sunny weather in a place like Scotland, of course), it was only painful that she couldn't truly enjoy it. Oh, the irony. Blissful summer weather, and they were stuck inside the stuffy castle walls of Hogwarts to study for upcoming exams.

Exams were nearly upon them, and instead of lazing around outside, the students were forced to remain inside the castle, trying to bully their brains into concentrating while enticing wafts of summer air drifted in through the windows. Even Fred and George Weasley had been spotted working; they were about to take their O.W.L.s (Ordinary Wizarding Levels). Percy Weasley was getting ready to take his N.E.W.T.s (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests), the highest qualification Hogwarts offered. As Percy hoped to enter the Ministry of Magic, he needed top grades. He was becoming increasingly edgy, and gave very severe punishments to anybody who disturbed the quiet of the common room in the evenings; that included kicking Nova out of the Gryffindor common room permanently until exams were over.

But the only person who seemed more anxious than Percy Weasley was Hermione Granger. Nova pitied her friend, wondering how in the world Hermione was surviving with the amount of classwork laid out in front of her. But she knew better than to ask — she'd love to keep her head on her neck, after all. And it wasn't like Nova was easily strolling through this exam season, either. In fact, Nova was having a horrible time studying.

The only thing she found herself finding slightly less than horrible was Care of Magical Creatures (and by extension, Defense Against the Dark Arts since they often talked about dangerous creatures). And with the headaches Transfiguration class caused Nova, she didn't dare to look at the textbook. She would ask Cedric Diggory for help but he was surely busy with all his exams, so Nova didn't even bother. And then there was the class Divinations.

Nova didn't even want to think of Divinations. She would surely scream so loudly everyone in the Hogwarts Castle would hear her.

She ended up spending most of her days in the library with Ernie, Justin, and Hannah, all doing their best to help where the others lacked; Justin was great at Charms, Hannah was wonderful at Herbology, and Ernie pretended to be great at Potions. What was Nova's specialty ...? Divinations. Luckily, no one asked since none of her friends had taken it with her.

Emile often found the four studying away, stopping by to help Nova with Transfiguration.

("How the hell did you mess up that badly?" he asked, snickering.

"What?! It's totally normal for the eyes to end up there the first time!" Nova flushed, waving her wand around.

"... There aren't supposed to be no eyes at all, Nova.")

When she wasn't studying (or defending her horrible skills at Transfiguration to Emile—and Cedric Diggory, too), Nova tried to spend her time outside. Of course, it felt like a losing battle, but attempts were still made.