Accio Evans

Chapter 48: The Ball

Rereading his essay for the 4th time, James began to worry that he had completely misunderstood the exam completely. Charms, the very last NEWT exam of the year, had been a well, a lovely exam, the multiple choice questions were a breeze, the short essay questions had been answered with barely a thought and the main essay he'd completed in half the time allocated and all with virtually no revision, which with the Quidditch final only five days before, had been physically impossible. Sneaking a glance towards Sirius in the row behind and two seats to his left, the other Marauder too seemed to have finished the exam and was counting bricks on the far wall. Remus too, sat a seat diagonally left to Sirius, seemed to have finished, although, he was flicking through the paper and checking over his answers, a much more productive past time. Turning in the opposite direction, James noted Alice was pulling her hair out with her right hand and writing frantically with her left, biting on her tongue in concentration, Charms always was her worst subject. Jessica in the seat in front of her was still writing, but seemed much calmer than her friend. Peter, sat in front of James, was still writing too, but it looked more like checking and correcting, rather than finishing the actual essay, the rest of his friends seemed to be out of view, seated behind him and he daren't steal a glance for Professor Flitwick's gaze had already settled on him with a judgemental stare.

The final twenty minutes of the exam dragged in a slow motion cocktail of quills scratching on parchment, heavy breathing and the occasional sigh, but finally the exam was over, done, finished, and so was their Hogwarts education.

With a flick of his wand, the rolls of parchment rolled themselves neatly into a box at the front of the Great Hall and Professor Flitwick dismissed the seventh years. Congregating by the Marauders tree in the grounds, the group, as expected, began to discuss the exam, on the most part agreeing with James that the exam overall had been a pretty decent one, there was nothing too difficult and the Professors hadn't tried to trick or catch them out. Alice was the exception, who believed the exam was truly terrifying and never wanted to see a Charms textbook again in her entire life.

"But that's it, we're all done now." Peter concluded after a lapse in conversation. "There won't be any more years at Hogwarts now..." he trailed off. The reality of Peter's words seemed to dawn on the seventh years; they had no more exams, no more classes and no more years at Hogwarts.

"I don't want to leave." Alice grumbled miserably. "Hogwarts is our home." Lily laid a comforting arm across Alice's shoulders.

"That might be true, but now we have a whole week off, to do whatever we want and enjoy our last days here." She added, in an attempt to appease her friend.

"Yeah, and we have the ball tomorrow!" Hestia added. The ball, that had been months in preparation, was now nearly upon them; the final OWL exam would be held at 9AM the following day and the ball would commence at 7PM, their leaving ceremony would take place the next week, leaving the rest of their time free for spending in the sun and enjoying their last days at school, all whilst the lower years of the school commenced their exams. At the mention of the ball, Alice perked up immeasurably.

"Have you boys got new outfits?" she cooed, suddenly overcome by excitement rather than the misery that she had been not a moment ago.

"Mum sent through a new pair of dress robes." Peter replied. "So did James' mum but he didn't like them so he sent them back and got a new pair." He added, throwing a teasing look towards his friend.

"Hey!" James countered. "I did like them! I sent them back because they were an inch too short, I'd look an idiot!"

"You always look an idiot James, so who'd be able to tell the difference." Hestia chipped in. "Mum picked me out a new dress at Gladrags for me, she owled it to me last week, I can't wait to wear it." She added, capping her hands with glee. Lily shook her head with a giggle.