B.Q. Book Two: Black Princess Ascendant

Chapter 41: The OWLs

Disclaimer: Was Hermione given "the only Time-Turner ever to enter Hogwarts" (as per Pottermore) so she could take every class, even though both Barty Crouch and Percy Weasley proved that one could take and pass all 12 OWL exams without it and, in fact, Percy was actually taking 12 NEWTs that same year as well?

If so, I don't own the Harry Potter franchise; it belongs to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Press, Warner Bros., and whomever else she sold the rights to.

(And this should also show why I don't consider Pottermore to be canon. When the author makes up "new information" that contradicts the source material, we have a problem.)

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Monday morning dawned bright and cheerful, the exact wrong weather in the eyes of the fifth- and seventh-years as they milled aimlessly around the Entrance Hall and tried not to drown in their dread. The entire weekend had been spent rereading notes and quizzing one another, and the inhabitants of Ravenclaw Tower had enforced a strict ban on all forms of excessive noise, merry-making, pointless chattering, and walking through the common room except when the clocktower summoned them to meals or bed. For all Jen could see, the extra study time had done little but ratchet their stress levels even higher.

Not that she could blame any of her housemates for their behavior. She had practically eloped with her Potions textbook, and not a few times had she considered seeking out the examiners and attempting to seduce them for a guaranteed grade.

Breakfast had been a silent affair with everyone keeping their noses in their notes, and now that they could do nothing but wait for the examiners to finish setting the stage for their first exam, Theory of Charms, she was positively itching for something to distract herself with.

Letting her attention drift around the room, she cocked her head when she found Su Li flipping fitfully through her notes and double-checking them against a textbook. That by itself was not terribly surprising – Luna and Morag were doing the exact same thing – and while it was by no means as strange as Padma and her sister sitting in lotus position and meditating together in the corner, what surprised Jen was that she could see that the book Li was perusing was for Divination.

A class she knew the Chinese witch wasn't taking.

Unable to smother her curiosity, Jen quietly walked over to the witch and whispered, "I think someone may have played a trick on you." Her eyes drifted to where Granger was pacing fitfully; Granger was number two in their class, and while sabotaging the likely valedictorian to take her place was an extremely underhanded move, if it worked it would be worth any criticism she received should her actions come to light.

"It's not a trick," Li snapped back. "I need to study this for my exam this evening."

Jen quirked an eyebrow. "Really? I've seen you in all our Arithmancy classes for the last two years, and Divination is at the same time. Unless you have some way of being in two places at once?"

"Of course I haven't! I'm fully capable of doing independent study, and Professor Trelawney was gracious enough to supervise my practical exercises on Saturday mornings." The haughty, but admittedly brilliant, witch sniffed disparagingly. "I took both Divination and Muggle Studies that way, in fact. Granger talks big, but she tried to do the same and ended up dropping both those classes in third year. If I pass all these exams, I can quit worrying about her trying to knock me out as first in the year, and I also won't have to listen to my parents constantly telling me to study harder."