survivor | HARRY POTTER

-Chapter 12-

In years to come, Millie would never understand how she had managed to get through all of her exams with the amount of knowledge she had, which was extremely little. Add the worry that Voldemort could be resurrected any day now, and she might as well be writing an F at the top of her paper. Yet the days crept by and there could be no doubt that Fluffy was still alive and breathing behind the locked door, the Stone still safe from Voldemort's clutches.

It was swelteringly hot, especially in the large classrooms in which they had to take their exams and do their written papers. They had all been given special, new quills for exams which had anti-cheating enchantments on them, because apparently the teachers at Hogwarts didn't trust their students enough not to cheat. "That's insulting!" Alyssa had huffed, despite silently agreeing with them.

They also had to do practical exams. Professor Flitwick had called them in one by one in class to see if they could make a pineapple tap dance across a desk, (Millie had somehow blown hers up before it could dance), Professor McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuffbox, (Jess's snuffbox kept running away from her by the time she was done), and Snape made them all extremely nervous, breathing down their necks as they tried to remember how to make a forgetfulness potion.

A few weeks before this, Hermione had forced them to go over some of the revision notes, and Jess was clueless. "I'm so ready! Ask me any question!"
"Alright. What are the three most crucial ingredients in a forgetfulness potion?" Hermione asked, Jess's face contorting into confusion. "I forgot." She muttered after a moment of silence. "What are you planning to do if that comes up in the exam?" Alyssa snickered, Jess turning to glare at her. "Copy off you?" Alyssa opened her mouth to agree, but Hermione quickly interjected. "No you will not! I won't allow it! You three always get into enough trouble as it is."

When Hermione had gone as far as to threaten to rip up one of Alyssa's favourite books if she didn't revise, the Ravenclaw had snapped and said something along the lines of "I don't sit in class six hours every day for nothing to rub off on me, okay?!"

Their last exam was History of Magic, and after an hour of guessing random answers and doodling on their parchment they were finally free. When Professor Binns had them all to put down their quills at the end of the exam, Alyssa, Millie, and Jess had thrown their papers into the air and cheered, sprinting out of the classroom. The three headed down to the black lake, taking off their socks and dipping their feet in the cool water, smiling as Fred, George, and Lee Jordan tickled the tentacles of the giant squid, which was basking in the shallow water.

"No more revision!" Alyssa cheered, throwing her head back against the grass and smiling at the warm summer air bushing over her skin. "Plus, we still have a week until we hear how badly we've done!" Millie laughed, joining Alyssa on the grass. "Wanna go and see Hagrid?" Jess asked, glancing at the gamekeepers hut where Hagrid was sat with his sleeves rolled up, shelling pees into a large bowl. "Sure." Millie said, helping Alyssa to her feet as they headed over.

"Hey Hagrid!" Millie beamed, Hagrid smiling up at them. "Hullo! Got time fer a drink?" Alyssa smiled and nodded her head as Hagrid moved inside, coming back out with three, huge glasses of ice cold pumpkin juice. "Awesome." Jess said, accepting hers and taking a large gulp. "What's wrong Hagrid?" Millie asked. Hagrid had looked back up to the castle, a troubled frown on his face. "Nothin'." He smiled down at them, but Alyssa crossed arms over her chest and gave him a look which clearly said "out with it." Hagrid sighed, glancing up at the castle again. "Harry, Ron an' Hermione actin' weird, that's all." Jess looked confused, so Hagrid shook his head. "Kept on askin' what the stranger I were playin' cards with looked like when I won Norbert."

Alyssa glanced at Jess and Millie, catching on to Harry's train of thought. "And?"
"Dunno. He wouldn' take his cloak off." The three of them looked stunned, so the half giant raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head. Mighta been a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up." Alyssa sighed and ran a hand through her hair, her happy mood immediately evaporating. "I'm confused." Millie admitted, Jess rolling her eyes. "What else is new?"