Magic (5sos/l.h. Hogwarts AU)

Chapter 46

~A/N~ hey everyone so since we're all in quarantine, what books/stories are you reading at the moment? I've just started Northanger Abbey since I'm studying Austen and it's really the sort of light story I need right now
Enjoy the chapter!
Leila xx

The prospect of exams was made a lot less daunting by the euphoria from the quidditch victory, but eventually it hit - and it hit hard.

Luke's determination to do well this year meant constant study sessions for us, usually with Ashton or Calum too, as they were both panicking. Despite the anxiety, however, Calum was still determined to win Buckbeak's appeal and it was only when Hagrid retired to his hut with all the notes and preparation that my friend finally felt he could devote his time to studying.

Even Michael, who always had his heart in the right place but never could muster up the urge to actually do any work, was stressing and running to every teacher for last minute help. Some, like Flitwick, went far out of their way to help and even offered extra study lessons, while others (Snape) sent him away with confirmations of his impeding doom.

As the ever supportive friends we tried to be, Ashton and I offered to tutor him but it was difficult as everything seemed to go in one ear and out the other. But when exams finally rolled around we were confident we had done everything in our power to help him, and ourselves.

However, a shock hit us on the morning of the first exam in the form of bad news from Hermione.

"Buckbeak's appeal is set for the sixth, the day of our final exams."

"Well, we've done everything we can possibly do," said Luke confidently. "There's absolutely no way we can lose this."

"Actually," Hermione hesitated, seeing us all falter, "they're bringing an executioner with them."

"You mean they've already decided!?" I quickly managed to decipher the message under what she was saying, and felt like bursting into tears. They wouldn't drag someone up from the Ministry if they weren't completely sure of their decision, and knowing the doddering old fools on the committee, it was quite likely they had already been intimidated by Lucius Malfoy into giving Buckbeak's death sentence.

"We can't tell Calum," said Michael quickly, searching for our raven-haired friend. "It'll break him, the thought of winning this appeal is the only thing keeping him going right now. Wait until after the exams, when we're free to feel whatever we want."

All of us agreeing to stick to Michael's advice, I went into the Transfiguration exam downhearted which highly affected my result, the tortoise I had transfigured from a teacup was still blowing steam from its mouth. It wasn't nearly as bad as Michael's, though, as his tortoise ended up with a china shell, still decorated with a floral pattern.

All my other exams went off without a hitch, however, and by Thursday, I was just about done. We only had two exams left, the first of which being Defence Against the Dark Arts with Professor Lupin.

Since the first lesson, he had grown into one of the best teachers I'd ever had, and was a class favourite, but something was off about him. And slowly but surely, I had come to the realisation that he missed a class once a month, and always came back covered in scratches. The one cover lesson set by Professor Snape where he completely diverted from the syllabus and taught us about werewolves was the hint I needed.

Hermione and I had often discussed this late into the nights, and she had the same theory as I - Professor Lupin was a werewolf. It sounded ridiculous, but to me this was a case of Occam's razor, in which the simplest explanation is usually true. And in this weird and magical world I had been thrown into, who was to say what was normal?