Shadow Claw: The Life Story - The Fifth Chapter

Ch. 7 - O.W.L.S

"No. You're not going down there. You need to take care of Snowy." Shade growled firmly, disappearing into the prisons. The two guards outside sat down, looking regal as ever.

I lashed my tail in frustration, then returned to Nova, who was waiting patiently to see if we were allowed to talk to Salem, the Claw who had sided with the Dark Lord. She looked to me with hopeful, questioning eyes, but I shook my head and she growled, pounding one of her paws into the grass. "Stupid, sexist furball." I snarled, pretty much slagging off my mate with a long string of curse words. Hawthorne, who was shadowed in his cave nearby, elicited a small chuckle, but did not involve himself. He was obviously being protective over Nova, I assumed.

Snowy wasn't listening, thankfully. She was chasing a butterfly, but it landed in a cobweb and was preyed on my a spider. She squealed and ran away from the horrible arachnid, hiding behind my back paws. "Aw, my poor baby." I licked her head and she mewled at me, "I don't like spiders, mummy. They eat my friends." She looked generally concerned. Nova laughed, and replied, "The circle of life, little one." Snowy looked confused at that point.

At once, two handsome tawny owls swooped from the cerulean sky and landed beside my daughter, each carrying a wide, flat package. She growled at them, but I hissed softly. "They're not for eating, Snowy." I scolded, but she still appeared uncertain. I shifted and Nova lay down, both of us taking the parcels and opening them. The owls made a quick getaway, and I didn't blame them - Snowy looked ravenous, despite the fact that I had only fed her two hours ago.

The front of the package said:

O.W.L.S

Shadow Claw.

Delivery by Owl, from Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.

I nodded at Nova, who smiled indefinitely. I had not mentioned yet, but I had taken my O.W.L.S examination at the very beginning of the summer holidays, though Shade had protested since I had been pregnant at the time. It had gone smoothly, and though my emotions had run high, I had assumed that I did quite well. Shade had not been pleased, and scolded me that it'd been bad for my health, but I bit him and once again, he slept outside that night.

Drawing back to reality, Nova and I breathed deeply, before sitting on the grass and ripping open our results. Nova gave a little squeal, her body trembling slightly. I peered over, smiling warmly.

ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS

Pass Grades: Outstanding (O)

                           Exceeded Expectations (E)

                           Acceptable (A)

Fail Grades: Poor (P)

                         Dreadful (D)

                         Troll (T)

ATHEA NOVA HAS ACHIEVED:

Astronomy: E

Care Of Magical Creatures: O

Charms: A

Defence Against The Dark Arts: E

Divination: O

Herbology: O

History Of Magic: E