Cleverly

Final Days

Cleverly looked around the Great Hall. It was silent. The only sound to be heard was students' quills scratching on parchment. Desks were spread out all across the hall and students were seated in them, bent over and hunched around their paper.

Professor Flitwick was standing on a stool overlooking the seventh year students as the large hour glass behind him quickly ran out of sand. This was the NEWT written exam for Charms.

Cleverly was sitting at an old desk in the back looking around the room. She was trying to remember the name of the water-making spell and it's hand movements. Struggling to remember Cleverly thought, I know this. Then it popped into her head, Aguamenti! She had learned it last year.

Cleverly dipped her quill in ink, wrote down the answer and continued to the next question. The hour glass was almost empty.

NEWTS were almost over.

...

Cleverly sat in her dormitory. After weeks of studying and anticipating for it, NEWTS were finally over. Even with all the stress that came along with it, Cleverly wished she could go back. Just so she could have a little more time. She also wished she could get her results now but all the seventh years had to wait until later in the summer.

"Cleverly, do you want to come down to the lake with us?" asked Vivian, her dormitory friend. Most of the Gryffindor seventh years were going outside to enjoy the warm weather and Hogwarts grounds for the last time.

Cleverly looked around their dormitory. "I'll be down in a minute," she said. Even though it was Friday, and the train wouldn't leave to go back to London until Sunday, she wanted some time to herself after the stress of exams. Once Vivian shut the dormitory door, Cleverly fell back on her four-poster, the springs squeaking underneath her.

Cleverly laid there for a few minutes listening to the castle. She heard the distant chatter and laughter of students in the common room below. Cleverly wasn't in the mood to laugh. She really didn't know what she was in the mood for. She almost wanted to cry but she knew she never would.

A week from now Cleverly would be out in the world. Alone. On her own. She thought she would be okay, but the thought scared her. She layed there, closing her eyes.Opening them again a while later, Cleverly realized she had lost track of time. How long had she been here? Sitting up and looking around the room, she noticed it was darker, the sun was setting lower and lower.

Standing up, she looked in the mirror to straighten out her hair. It was a mess.

Oh, well, Cleverly thought, accepting the fact that her hair would have to stay that way. She pushed open the door and quickly skipped down the steps. All the way down to the courtyard waving hello to the portraits as she passed by them.

"Exams are over I hear! Soon all you students will be out of here!" one plump wizard said sitting in a large chair, the oils in his paint reflecting some light as Cleverly passed.

She faked a small smile and nodded.

To Cleverly's surprise, once she opened the doors outside she found lots of people were there. It was warm with a cool breeze that gently blew against her face, making her hair blow off her shoulders.

Cleverly looked around, trying to find her friends. Remembering they were going to be by the lake, she headed in that direction.

Trudging along in the green grass she reached Vivian, Athalie, Breccan and a few other stragglers.

"Hey Cleverly, where were you?" Athalie asked sitting up from her position laying on the grass.

"Yeah, what were you doing?" Breccan added in. He was leaning against a tree.