New Romantics | Hermione Granger Book IV

|06| Chapter Six

S I X 

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The OWL results and the day that Amanda had planned to speak to Ms Squire about the Quidditch world cup both occurred on the same day, that promised to be quite an eventful one for the occupants of Squires. 

Being stuck in Squires had only made Maya become gradually convinced that she had failed each and every exam. She had finished her OWLs content with how she did, however, she second-guessed, third-guessed all the way down to probably two-thousand-guessed herself by this point, and kept on telling her siblings that she had failed everything. Neither Saffron nor the twins believed her in the slightest, but they entertained her in order to not be snapped at by their waspish older sister that morning.

When it came to the Quidditch world cup, Amanda was essentially fulfilling Sirius and Sage's roles for them, as neither of them was taking the Mitchells and Harry to the World Cup. They had come because she was far more reputable, in Squires's eyes than two people who had faced criminal charges before. Additionally, Sage had a history with Squire thanks to her mother and putting it lightly, the pair never got on. Not even in the slightest, so Amanda was a far easier candidate to talk some sense into Squire. If she didn't, then Sirius promised he would personally take them out of Squires, with or without the woman's consent.

"Maya, if you keep pacing around stressed like that, the Grey will literally just take you and you might not find out about your results for a few days, so calm down," Saffron said soothingly to her older sister, who was currently strolling around the room with her hand over her forehead, wiping the sweat off of it that was continuing to grow. 

"I feel like passing out just watching you," said Rowan shakily staring across at Maya in concern. He shared Saffron's belief that Maya needed to just take some deep breaths and to at least try to ignore the results that were about to come her.  He didn't say anything though, as he had already been on the receiving end of Maya's venomous snipes for four hours that morning alone.

"It's just that I know I made a mess of Transfiguration and don't get me started on Astronomy," Maya rambled aimlessly, groaning and upping her pace now. "And I never should have chosen Ancient Runes, I'll be amazed if I even scraped a pass. As for Herbology, well it can go, it can go so---ahhhh!"

Maya's rambling was cut off by a sudden shriek that made Saffron flinch, Rachel gasp and Rowan fall off his mattress. Maya had let it out as a result of seeing an owl holding an envelope heading in their direction from outside. In fear and relief, Maya jumped up and down but stopped by throwing herself onto her bed, in order to not disrupt Amanda and Ms Squire's conversation downstairs. The envelope came and Maya opened it with trembling hands, not objecting to her siblings circling around her to see how she did.

None of them dared to cast a single breath as Maya held the scroll of results out for them all to see:

Pass Grades:

Outstanding (O)

Exceeds Expectations (E)

Acceptable (A)

Fail Grades:

Poor (P)

Dreadful (D)

Troll (T)

Maya Mitchell has achieved:

Ancient Runes A

Arithmancy E

Astronomy A

Charms O

Defense Against the Dark Arts E

Herbology A

History of Magic A

Muggle Studies O

Potions O

Transfiguration E

Saffron looked across at her sister who had to clasp her hand over her mouth in an attempt to suppress the yell that had left her mouth, as it certainly would have rung downstairs to the important adult conversation that was ongoing. She had achieved an OWL in every subject she had done, most notably of all three outstandings. She had even managed to pass in subjects that weren't her strengths. 

"Yay!" squeaked Rachel, taking Maya into a hug as the older girl dropped her exam results on the floor, tears welling up in her eyes emotionally. Rowan joined in on the hug and Saffron followed suit a few seconds later. 

It meant an awful lot to all four of them that Maya had done really well in her exams as it just proved that in spite of all their adversity that they may have faced through all these years, they could still come out the other side and perform to their capabilities.

"Thank Merlin!" The colour that had left Maya's face re-entered it and she let out a large sigh which was full of pure relief. "I was so worried!"

"See, we told you it would be fine," Rowan laughed, exchanging an amused glance with Saffron. They knew well before Maya opened the envelope that she had done great. She had put everything into those exams. "NEWTs now, huh?"

"Oh, I don't even want to think about it," Maya groaned before laughing, she stopped though when she heard their bedroom door open. On cue, the smiles faded from the four Mitchells faces as they expected Ms Squire to be there. However, the smiles soon came back onto their faces when it was Amanda, delivering more good news.

"You've got the go-ahead, so I guess that makes it your second piece of great news for the day. Congratulations, Maya," Amanda beamed at the siblings and Maya ran over to her and threw herself into the woman's arms.

"Thank you," Maya sobbed emotionally. She let go of Amanda and moved onto the matter that affected all of her siblings. "So, what's happening then?"

"I've provided Miss Squire with sufficient floo powder for the trip to the Gill residency, but only enough to get you there, not back," Amanda began, grinning at the teenagers, who were coming to the realisation of what she meant. "Pack all your things, you'll be leaving early tomorrow morning,"

With squeals and yelps of joy, grateful that they were going to be able to spend the rest of their Summer being normal teenagers, rather than Squire's personal assistants. It was the perfect mix of individual achievement and collective gift and marked what was a wonderful day for the Mitchell siblings, as the start of a brand new chapter in the life beckoning for them.