Potter

Chapter 101

"I think I'm gonna throw up," I mumbled, staring at the large metal-framed clock floating high above the lines of examinees. The way St. Mungo's divided its trainees for their final exams was to line them up in front of three separate doors, a long parchment with names tacked to the front of it. We weren't assigned lines, though– rather, we were permitted to pick one, and our name would appear on the list as we stepped in.

Each exam would be different, tailored to the trainee taking it– and, as we'd been informed the week prior, based off of the floors of St. Mungo's itself. No one would be leaving the door they went in; a way to ensure no one had the ability to cheat.

Where he stood in the line next to me, Theo sighed. 

"You can't throw up if you haven't eaten anything," he said, though I could see the sweat that glossed over his forehead. We'd been in line for thirty minutes now, waiting as each witch or wizard went ahead of us and accomplished whatever tasks had been set out before them.

"I was too stressed to eat." It was true. I'd only managed a few bites of a biscuit the night before, and had woken up feeling entirely too stressed to muster up the will to eat for breakfast. I'd taken to reviewing my notes last-minute instead, and sipping some water to keep Theo from pestering me about it too much.

"Well, we'll go out after exams," he decided, nose crinkling up as the light atop the door in front of him turned green, and his line moved ahead. It took only a few seconds later for my own to do the same, and then there was only one person separating me from the exam. It was a good sign– it had only been a few minutes since the last couple of trainees had gone inside. 

"We can't," I said, tearing my eyes away from the hole they'd been trying to drill into the wooden door. "We've got to pick up our clothes for the anniversary tomorrow. Lavender had them specially fitted. And then we have the Weasley's tonight–"

"Don't get me started," Theo muttered, eyes widening a little as his line moved forward once more. He looked to me, arms stretching outwards in mock panic. "Brownie! Don't leave me."

"I'm not sure they'll let us take the exam at the same time, Theo," I said, cracking a smile. "You'll wait for me on the other side?"

"Well it's not as though I have anything else more exciting to do." Theo rolled his eyes, even as my line shifted forward once more. If I wanted to, I could lean against it– though that seemed like a poor idea, given the watching Healers that were keeping the lines orderly. I was half-convinced the exam had started as soon as we had arrived, and that this was some boring pre-exam to test our patience. I wasn't going to ask.

"That would be a pity," I agreed. Theo nodded in solemn agreement, jumping only as the light above his door switched from red to green. I looked at it, then at him, and the wide-eyed look he was giving me. "We studied," I reminded him. "We've got this."

"We've got this," he repeated, then once more to himself before he stepped inside, the closing after him. The light ahead turned red, and the witch behind him stepped up to take his place as first in line. I offered her an encouraging smile– after so many months in training, it was hard not to at least become acquaintances– before looking up towards my own signal as it made the switch from red to green.

"Good luck," the witch standing next to me offered, blue eyes bright with the same sort of excitement and nerves I'm sure were visible in my own face.

"You too," I returned, wiggling my fingers back at her when she waved before I stepped into the room.

It was darker than I had expected. I could see the shapes of three Healers standing near a row of four identical doors. Most notably, placed under a bright spotlight sat something that I supposed was intended to resemble the goblet of fire. However, the flames it burned were green, and the cup itself was an intense shade of black.