The Carnival ⌁ Draco Malfoy [1/4] ✔

39

June had finally arrived, which only meant it was time for the fifth-years to do their O.W.L's, and a whole lot of studying. This was the only excuse Emma could use to dodge Draco's attempts to talk with her. Other than this, she'd tried many times to encourage Sabrina to study more, as she had not shown up in class for the past few weeks, but was only brushed away by Sabrina letting her know that she, Sabrina, was confident in the examinations.

On the contrary, all the Slytherins appeared to be confident in landing good results in the upcoming exams. Monday was their first exam for Charms, and Emma managed to half-convince herself that she'd do fine, that it was just Charms and it was her best subject yet.

But studying for hours in the evening did not help when she felt eyes on her wherever she was, and she was certain who it was every time she'd caught onto the grey eyes looking at her before they quickly averted. Being distracted by this was as frustrated as she could get.

Emma quickly read through the Charms exam questions the following Monday morning, and was surprised by how easy the first few questions were, that she was sure the rest would be rather difficult. But they weren't; it was almost as if a curse was put on her hand and began pouring words onto the paper in front of her.

Two hours passed - the last half hour spent looking over her sheet of paper to make sure she'd crammed in every bit of detail she could - and Emma, shaking her hand, exited the Great Hall rather quickly - skipping lunch - as to not stare at those big, grey walls any longer.

But as Emma sat on the staircase outside the Great Hall to wait for her friends to finish eating lunch, Daphne appeared with an apple and demanded that Emma eat it before the practical examinations, where the two along with Sabrina wandered into the chamber beside the Great Hall with the rest of the fifth-years.

Emma barely got time to cram in quick practised incantations before her name was called along with Lavender Brown, Terry Boot and Susan Bones. Draco gave her a quivering smile as she passed, but she stared ahead and pretended to have missed it.

"But that was so easy!" Emma was saying when their practical Charms examination to the girls next to her on the way back to their common room. "It was a little too easy, if you ask me. That's not normal, though, is it? Easy exams? No!" she gave a loud exhale. "I'm knackered."

"All we did was sit and levitate, how are you knackered?" said Daphne, amused.

Daphne, as it seemed, was at ease during her examination and was not at all worried for her results on Charms in July. Sabrina frowned and nodded slightly, her eyes distant as she gave thought to Daphne's words.

"I - I just am," huffed Emma, gazing around. "And I'm sure other people are, too."

"Doesn't look like it," Sabrina responded, referring to all the relieved fifth-years exiting the Great Hall with great big smiles on their faces.

"Besides, you said it was easy, didn't you?" Daphne continued. "I'm still wondering why it was easy to you, but you're knackered...?"

"Oh, shut up."

Sabrina and Daphne both laughed at the look on Emma's face.

Emma was slightly relieved to see that Snape was not present next Monday for her Potions examination, but in his place was one of the examiners named Professor Marchbanks, a small old witch. This particular exam was the only one that had Emma worrying. She appeared to be the only one concerned that she'd failed entirely, with or without Snape examining what she'd done.

The fifth-years continued their examinations over the next few days, and on Wednesday evening during their Astronomy exam, Professor McGonagall was injured trying to protect Hagrid. Emma didn't understand what was going on there, but was quite worried nonetheless.

During the History of Magic exam, Emma was confident that she was going to fail. It was difficult for her to remember the dates of specific events and she was certain that if she did remember a date, she'd mix it up with the wrong event. But, she didn't care. History of Magic didn't really interfere with her future, now, did it?

Emma suddenly jumped ten feet from her seat and her pen fell from her fingers as a loud scream echoed in the Great Hall, interrupting all of the students with their faces pressed against their desks, focused entirely on their exams. But everyone, including Emma, was now fixed on Harry who was lying on the floor, yelling, clutching his forehead.

Murmur broke through the curious students when Harry calmed down, Professor Tofty kneeling beside him and insisting that he visit the Hospital Wing.

When the exam was over, Emma set off to a search for Harry but was distracted by all the Slytherin girls pulling her back into the Great Hall for lunch, conversing hastily about Harry's dramatic scene.

"He just wanted to flunk it," leered Daphne. "He just wanted to get out of it the easy way!"

"And why would he want to do that?" said Sabrina. "Why would he want to just get out of one of the exams for no particular reason - these exams are important, Daphne."

Emma, listening, flicked her eyes lazily between the two girls talking about Harry, while Pansy - who did not look at Emma - and Millicent joined them.

She eventually just stopped listening once and for all and didn't really eat anything; she just wanted to go and see if Harry was OK but she was sure he was with his friends for now.