Turn back time - Hermione Granger in the Marauders era

Chapter 32 - N.E.W.Ts

It took a while, but Hermione got over the argument and the fear she felt as Sirius intimidated her. After a few weeks, lots of rants to her friends and a heck of a lot of homework to keep up with that distracted her considerably - she managed to get the image of Sirius's leering, shouting face out of her mind. Yet she couldn't rid herself of the memories of them curled up on the sofa, or when they walked hand in hand, or when he whispered that she was his good girl, or when he kissed her.

Nope, she definitely wasn't over Sirius.

But it was all just a matter of perspective. Studies first.

Or a matter of sorting out her priorities. Studies first.

So Hermione spent the next few months studying, studying, avoiding Sirius, studying, thinking about Sirius, studying, ignoring Sirius, studying, studying and studying.

And avoiding Sirius.

Which was considerably difficult, considering that they shared a common room and a number of classes. But they managed not to say a word to one another. Not so much as a hi or hey. Which hurt Hermione, but she just had to deal with it. And that was kind of her attitude towards everything.

Something goes wrong and you just deal with it. Sort it out or leave it. Most things she sorted out, like the crazy amount of homework and revision. She woke up earlier and went to bed later and spent every weekend writing or reading and eliminated every non study related time from her schedule. She sorted it out and dealt with it.

With Sirius she left it. It hadn't been her fault after all. It was up to Sirius to apologise to her - and he made it very clear that he wasn't going to do that. Especially when he started to excessively flirt on Marlene, who just ignored him by Hermione's advice. And then Sirius moved on even more. He got a new girlfriend.

A month after they broke up and three weeks into the new term, Sirius hooked up with some Ravenclaw girl. Who obviously wasn't as clever as her house claimed. It hit Hermione like a stab in the chest when they kissed right in front of her outside Defense Against the Dark Arts. And that wasn't the last time Sirius and the girl made a public display in front of her. But she didn't sink to his level. She left it and dealt with it.

Despite her break up with Sirius, she maintained her friendship with the other Marauders, especially James. It was hard not to when James was always beside Lily, and therefore most of the time near Hermione. They were the cutest couple. Apparently Hermione hadn't been the only one staying overnight at her boyfriends house over the Christmas holiday.

And then one morning two months later, Lily rushed into Charms class all scruffy and with wild hair. "Sorry I'm late. I was doing... stuff." She gasped.

Then James cooly and smugly walked in behind her saying "I'm stuff." Earning a number of wolf whistles and cheers, as well as an embarrassed and teasing slap from Lily and a double detention for the both of them.

But apart from that, nothing even slightly amusing happened at all in the next three months. Everyone was far to stressed out about their N.E.W.Ts, which were proving to be even more difficult and frustrating than the O.W.Ls. The students were under so much stress already in school that they could hardly process the information that Professor Dumbledore told and warned about at a number of feasts. Roughly, Hermione knew that he was repeating the same thing. Keep together, love overcomes all, the Lord Voldemort is dangerous. All of that. Failing her N.E.W.Ts would be bloody dangerous, and that was her priority at the moment.

So that was the general life of a seventh year student at a magical school. Studying. Thinking. Trying not to think. Studying. And studying some more.

For the next few months that was all there was. Studying. Talking. Sleeping. Stressing. Revising. Avoiding. Studying. Lots and lots of tests.

It was a vicious routine. But it payed off. When the week of exams came round, Hermione was the only one who was confident that she had revised enough. Of course, she was still overcome with nerves and her shaking hands and fast heartbeat showed it.

Sirius had been the opposite. You'd have thought that through his reckless and disobeying behaviour there'd have been even the slightest bit of sense. But no. In the months after the breakup and before the N.E.W.Ts he did absolutely no revision whatsoever. He spent the majority of the time thinking up pranks to play on Sev, getting frustrated at James' newfound maturity and distracting himself from Hermione with that girl who he kept forgetting the name of. Which was strange considering how many times her tongue had been down his throat.

The N.E.W.Ts were most definitely a struggle for the whole of the year. They sat through difficult sitting exams and then struggled through the practicals. It was a long, agonizing week or exams, emotions and stress for everyone. By the end everyone was exhausted and for once the majority of their teachers gave them peace and let them relax in the two weeks before the end of the year.

Two weeks until they left Hogwarts.

It had been a whirlwind. All those years that had passed so quickly. And now it was drawing to a close. As soon as the exams ended, Hermione decided to make the most of her final fortnight. She went to Hogsmead with Lily, Mary and Marlene, joked about with Remus and tried to enjoy everything as much as possible. Certainly, a new light shone as she witnessed Sirius and his new girlfriend have a loud argument on the sixth floor corridor leading to their break up. Nevertheless, Sirius and Hermione were still excessively ignoring each other.

Neither of them noticed the hopeless stolen glances flashed at each other throughout the day...