𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝

- 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗿 -

In years to come, Lucia would never quite remember how she had managed to get through her exams when she half expected Voldemort to come bursting through the door at any moment. Yet the days crept by and there could be no doubt that Fluffy was still alive and well behind the locked door.

It was swelteringly hot, especially in the large classroom where they did their written papers. They had been given special, new quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an Anti Cheating spell.

They had practical exams as well. Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tap dance across a desk. Professor McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuff box — points were given for how pretty the snuff box was, but taken away if it had whiskers. Snape made them all nervous, breathing down their necks while they tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness Potion.

Lucia did the best she could, trying to ignore the stabbing pains in her forehead which had been bothering her ever since her trip into the Forest. Hermione thought Lucia had a bad case of exam nerves because Lucia couldn't sleep, but the truth was that she kept being woken up by her old nightmare, except that it was now worse than ever because there was a hooded figure dripping blood in it.

Maybe it was because they hadn't seen what Lucia had seen in the Forest, or because they didn't have scars burning on their foreheads, but Ron and Hermione didn't seem as worried about the Stone as Lucia. The idea of Voldemort certainly scared them, but he didn't keep visiting them in dreams, and they were so busy with their revision that they didn't have much time to fret about what Snape or anyone else might be up to.

Their very last exam was History of Magic. One hour of answering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented self stirring cauldrons and they'd be free, free for a whole wonderful week until their exam results came out. When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, Lucia couldn't help cheering with the rest.

"That was far easier than I thought it would be", said Hermione, as they joined the crowds flocking out into the sunny grounds. "I needn't have learnt about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager".

Hermione always liked to go through their exam papers afterwards, but Ron said this made him feel ill, so they wandered down to the lake and flopped under a tree. The Weasley twins and Lee Jordan were tickling the tentacles of a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows.

"No more revision", Ron sighed happily, stretching out on the grass. "You could look more cheerful, Lucia, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet".

Lucia was rubbing her forehead.

"I wish I knew what this means!" she burst out angrily. "My scar keeps hurting — it's happened before, but never as often as this".

"Go to Madam Pomfrey", Hermione suggested.

"I'm not ill", said Lucia. "I think it's a warning... it means danger's coming..."

Ron couldn't get worked up, it was too hot.

"Lucia, relax, Hermione's right, the Stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof that Snape's found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not going to try it again in a hurry. And Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down".

Lucia nodded, but she couldn't shake off a lurking feeling that there was something she'd forgotten to do, something important. When she tried to explain this, Hermione said, "That's just the exams. I woke up last night and was halfway through my Transfiguration notes before I remembered we'd already done that one".