An American at Hogwarts

Chapter Thirty-Six

Even though life at Hogwarts could never be considered normal, I did get back to my usual routine after Thanksgiving. I kept waiting for Quidditch to pick back up, but apparently the next match wasn't until January.

"That's ridiculous," I said to Oliver one morning over breakfast. "Each team only plays three games a year?"

"That's what I've been saying this whole time!" he shouted back, absolutely lighting up.

I shouldn't have mentioned it.

The rest of my classes kept going as usual, and as we got closer and closer to Christmas break I discovered my new favorite thing about Hogwarts: no semester finals.

In my muggle school, we always had massive tests in every class right before Christmas break. It was a week full of awful stress, especially when you had to make time to buy presents in between studying and being at school. I kept waiting for the ball to drop and for one of our teachers to mention a final, but no one said a word.

One morning, I decided to just ask Fred and George about it. It was Monday morning and we were all going home for Christmas this upcoming Sunday, and I didn't want to get hit with a surprise test that I somehow missed hearing about.

"Hey guys," I started, bringing the subject up over toast at breakfast. "Just wanted to make sure... we don't have any massive tests in our classes this week, do we?"

"What?" cried Fed.

"No!" exclaimed George.

"Why would you think that we do?" asked Fred, starting to look a little panicked.

"It's normal to have big tests before break at my muggle school," I quickly explained, trying to calm them down. "It just seemed too good to be true that I could really avoid that here."

Both boys visibly relaxed, slouching back into their seats.

"Oh, thank goodness," sighed George. "No, the only thing we have coming up before we all go home on Sunday is another Hogsmeade visit."

"Oh heck yes! I'm gonna buy so much weird magical stuff for my family..." I trailed off, already trying to plan things out in my head. I'd have to be careful; I didn't want things like that magic teacup somehow ending up in Loki's hands and literally coming back to bite me later.

"Say, Alexa," started Fred, leaning in closer and lowering his voice. George did the same. "You've already memorized the Marauder's Map, haven't you?"

"Yeah, I have. Why are we whispering?"

"Well, we were thinking about giving the Map to Harry. Ron told us he hasn't been allowed to go to Hogsmeade. The muggles he lives with are absolutely horrible, and they wouldn't sign the permission form."

"So we were thinking we'd spread some Christmas cheer a little early," George continued. "Pass on the Map and point Harry in the direction of the one-eyed witch."

"Guys, that sounds like a great idea. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No, we've got it covered," said George, leaning back to sit normally again. "We just wanted to make sure you didn't need to relearn anything."

"Thanks for double-checking guys," I smiled, going back to buttering my toast. "But don't worry, I've got a crazy good memory. I don't think I'll be forgetting that Map for a long, long time."

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The nice thing about taking all online classes was that I really didn't have a final for any of them either. I just had to have all my work done and turned in by the end of the week, and I was good to go. We had a few tests to complete on our own time included in that work, but nothing I couldn't handle.