Miranda Black and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Sirius Black's Daughter SEQUEL!)

Chapter 20 - Exam Week With Added Horrors

The whole of Gryffindor was in a state of euphoria for a week, before we all slowly got over it. The main reason for this was because of exams that were rapidly approaching. Everyone was studying hard, even the first and second years, who usually seemed to have less exams than the rest of the school. 

Daniel, Ginny, and I were helping each other study Potions, on a table next to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Ron was looking at Hermione's exam timetable. He showed it to Harry, and then to us. 

"Are you sure you've written this out right, Hermione?" he asked, for she had written 3 of her exams that were scheduled for 9 o'clock. 

"Of course it is!" she said, snatching the paper away from him. She then started bustling around looking for a book, so we all went back to study. We were interrupted five minutes later by Hedwig, tapping on the window with her beak. 

Harry jumped up and let her in, and she landed on his shoulder, dropping the letter. Harry gave her a stroke on the head, and she flew back out the open window. Harry close the window, and came over to us.

"Who's that from?" Hermione asked as Harry read through it.

"Hagrid," Harry replied with a grim face. "Buckbeak's appeal...it's set for the sixth. And they're coming to school to do it...Someone from the Ministry of Magic, and the executioner." Ron's head snapped up from his work.

"They're bringing the executioner to the appeal! But that makes it sound like they've already decided!" he said. Harry only nodded sadly. Ron grabbed a stray pencil off the floor and snapped it right in half, before chucking it in the fire. We all watched it crackle and burn, feeling horrible. 

-

 Exam week rolled around quicker than I'd expected. There was barely any jokes going around as everyone studied hard and complained about failing. The first exam for the Gryffindor second years was Charms, where we did Summoning spells and then Cheering charms.

"I summoned my pillow and it whacked Professor Flitwick in the face!" One of Colin Creevey's friends said. Everyone laughed. It was nice to hear laughter, even if some of it was manic and hysterical from slightly over done Cheering charms. We made our way to lunch, and had a quick feed before rushing off to Potions. 

Snape scowled at everyone as he explained our task. We had to make a Swelling Solution in a certain amount of time, and then answer questions about it. We'd made the potion before, and as I recalled, it wasn't too difficult, but some aspects were hard. 

After an hour or so, we were released. When I stepped outside the classroom, I realized that I was sweating. My potion hadn't gone so well. 

"How'd you guys do?" Ginny asked as we walked back to the Common Room. 

"Okay, I guess. Enough to scrape by to next year," Daniel answered. "What about you, Miranda?" 

"Eh, I did pretty bad." I admitted. "Oh well, I'm sure it'll be good enough to get through," Ginny and Daniel both smiled reassuringly. We then reached the Common room. The trolls guarding the door grunted as we passed. 

Once inside, we studied. Then we had dinner. Then we studied again. Then we went to bed. I was exhausted, after only 1 days of exams. I couldn't even explain how bad I felt for Hermione, who seemed to be almost cracking under the pressure of her many exams. 

The next few days were torture. I had Transfiguration,History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy and Herbology exams throughout the days. The only small highlight was Thursday, where we got to have our DADA exams with the 3rd years because of our joint exercises. The exam was difficult but surprisingly fun.