I May have helped an Evil Wizard. (rewrite)

Stressing out

In the following weeks after their discussion, Harriet and Pansy would discreetly attempt to keep regular tabs on the third floor corridor. As long as the faint growling was there, they were fine. Draco had taken it upon himself to tail Quirrel and keep an eye on Snape. Unnoticed and discreetly, according to him.

There was, however, more on their minds than the philosophers stone. Harriet was often busy studying with Hermione and Theo. Exams were just around the corner. Study schedules were drawn up and packed with brightly coloured blocks indicating the whats, whens and wheres of their studying. Notes were colour coded and hallway pop quizzes became regular.

Theo didn't really care much for studying. He went along with it for his friends and so he wouldn't fail. He was the kind of person who would skip class to read up on dragon dung if that was his topic of interest for the day.

Pansy and Draco wouldn't have minded Harriet's study frenzy, but she seemed to have completely forgotten about her health. Pansy had to drag her to bed and away from the books more than once and Draco had to make sure she didn't fall asleep during class. Amina had discovered a charm that enchanted a quill to take notes for you. It was met with excitement and intrigue. Hand cramps became less common after that.

"Harriet, the exams are ages away."

"Ten weeks," Harriet snapped. "That's not ages, that's not even 3 months."

Harriet sighed. While living with Vernon, the vermin, she had never really been worried about school. She was dead if she failed. She was dead if she had better grades than Dudley. She was dead if her grades were the same. Now she would be living with her aunt and cousin, she could finally bring home good grades. The grades she deserved and wanted.

"Well these aren't the exams that dictate our future," Draco reminded her. "Anyway, what are you studying for, you already know it all."

"What am I studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me...." Harriet glared at him. 'I want to experience success for once, dammit!' she tacked on mentally.

Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Harriet. They piled so much homework on them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones.

Harriet somehow managed to finish all of it in one hour and memorize all the books. Her memory was something she had always prided herself in. She could recall details at the drop of a hat and recite long passages of text she had read only a short while ago. She was especially good at remembering systems and numbers.

Draco, seemingly for the first time in his life, had something to be envious of. A photographic memory and logical thought process wasn't something you could buy. Of course, it didn't help that he was snooping around spying on Quirrell and Snape every chance he got. How he got anything done was a miracle to Pansy, who had the misfortune of having to drag him back to the books. She also had the misfortune of having to drag Harriet away from the books.

Blaise had become the king of procrastination and not caring. Or, at least, he said he didn't care and that some grades wouldn't affect his future.

"You realise we need to pass or we might not be allowed into our second year of studies, right?" Amina nudged him with her foot. She was sprawled across the sofa in the Slytherin common room, a stack of notes in her hand.

"What?" Blaise shot up into a sitting position.

"Uh-huh," Millicent agreed, from an armchair, "it's about magical ability, not age."

Blaise cursed and snatched her book. Ignoring her protest, he rifled through it - muttering various choice expletives every other page.

Elizabeth and Harriet had brewed an entire batch of anti-headache potion and several phials of pepper up potion. They had decided they needed some, especially when Harriet had almost passed out from her scar hurting. She had stumbled down the corridor insisting she was fine while her head swam.

Crabbe and Goyle had forgotten the exams completely in favour of the amount of new and special desserts in the great hall during this stressful time. Hermione, who learned by speaking about the subject, read them the necessary passages from the books. It seemed to work, but nothing had been proven yet.

Standing before the classroom door on the day of the exams, they all shook hands for good luck. Frankly, it felt more like walking into a colosseum than a classroom.

----------------------------

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think. Who would you send to get the philosophers stone if you could send any fictional characters at all?

XOXO Drachma