The professor applauded and called for the other students to duel. Harry half-heartedly listened to him as he analyzed their match. What happened in the duel was dangerous. Harry was almost tempted to send actually dangerous spell at McLaggen. He really needed to get a grip on this and fast.
It was a beautiful day. The birds were singing, there was no cloud in sight. It was a rare hot in Scotland, where every single student would have loved to spend outside, swimming in the lake, or just relax on the ground. And yet there was no one in sight. It was expected after all, it was time for the end of the year exams and every single Hogwarts student has been desperately trying to cram as much knowledge in their head in the hopes of passing. Harry's friends were no different.
Yes, for the first time in the year, Harry was actually joined by his friends in the library to study. They weren't really bad students. Daphne, especially, was very diligent in her studies, but Blaise and Tracy tended to procrastinate when it came to their studies. It wasn't anything drastic, but they needed to work a lot to catch up on what they missed. Still, they were going to pass anyways; from the looks of it, Hogwarts isn't that strict when it comes to passing. In the past decade, barely one student was held back and that was because he had to leave school for personal reasons in the middle of the semester, and literally didn't know a single thing about his curriculum when he tried to pass the exams at the end of the year.
It was all fearmongering from the professors, to get the students to take things seriously. Still, if it got students to actually start studying, then Harry was all for it. It seemed to work very effectively. Any confrontation between Gryffindors and the Slytherins had ceased entirely. There were no more pranks, no more hexing, nothing really. This was what a school was supposed to be like. Hell, even, Ron Weasley of all people was going to the library to try to grasp a passing grade, at Hermione's behest. Speaking of the Muggleborn, she looked like she was having a mental breakdown from most of the studies. Her hair was constantly frazzled and looked suspiciously close to an afro. She was constantly walking around with a book in her hand, mumbling about one subject or another.
Harry didn't really know how to feel about her. Ever since they spoke after Christmas, they have been cordial with one another, but rarely ever spoke. Although Harry did notice that she was fighting with Longbottom after the whole detention thing, and when they made up, the boy who lived had cleaned up his act and stopped harassing people. Still, Harry couldn't really consider her to be nothing more than a friendly acquaintance at best, and in a way, he was glad for it. He wanted nothing to do with Longbottom and his cursed adventures. The events of his detention in the forbidden forest had taught him that.
Back to the tests, they were mostly divided into written and practical exams, except for History of Magic that is, each taking half the grade. It wasn't that difficult, since they're geared towards children, really. The written portions were insultingly simple. Harry had breezed through them without any trouble. Well, there were the flying exams too, but they didn't really count. Everyone had gotten their flying license without much trouble, even Hermione who was scared of heights.
They were already finished with their potion exams, which was a relief, really. Harry was thankful that he didn't have a partner while brewing. Yeah, Hermione was a competent brewer, at least for her age, but she always kept questioning Harry during lessons whenever he chose to alter or fix a potion using his Arcane Hearing, which could get irritating after a while. Thankfully, Snape didn't really harass Harry in the exams, choosing to stay by his desk and grade papers. He was probably overworked at that time of year. Weasley creating some sort of black slimy atrocity that seemed to come to life, where he should have made a simple bruise balm didn't help his patience.
For the practical Charms exam, they had to make a pineapple tap dance across a desk. Professor McGonagall watched them in Transfiguration turn a mouse into a snuff box – points were given for how pretty the snuff box was, but taken away if it had whiskers. These were textbook spells that they had taken in class. There weren't any curveballs in any of the exams, you were just required to redo what you had done in class. Harry honestly, didn't understand what the fuss was about.
Harry watched his friends celebrate as they finally finished their History of Magic exams. Tracy had a wide smile on her face and was singing, "It's finally over. It's finally over," repeatedly. Blaise was half asleep but looked more relaxed than he had seen him for days, even Daphne had a small smile on her face.
The Potter scion shrugged, "I don't know what you were so stressed about. It wasn't that bad."
"It was hell, Harry," Tracy answered with a glare on her face, "and I'm not going to let you bring our mood down. We're finally free. No more books for months."
Daphne seemed to come to Harry's rescue, "Come on, you have to admit that it was a lot easier than we thought it would be. There were just too many facts to memorize."
"I don't care," Tracy responded without losing her grin, "we're finally done with this hellhole."
"Speak of yourself, you lucky pricks," Harry grumbled.
Yeah, Harry was one of the last students to do his practical Defense practical exam and it kinda freaked him out. Not, the exam, of course, but the fact that he'll be alone with Quirrell, without any witnesses. The other Slytherins had done their practical exams the day before and Harry couldn't help but be slightly worried.
Before they could answer, Harry grabbed his friends and pulled them down. Immediately, a spell splashed at the wall behind them. Two Ravenclaws were duelling, and a stray spell had almost hit them. The young Slytherins slowly walked to the Great Hall while docking.
Blaise loudly complained, "They're still doing this? Exams are done."
"Not for the upper years, they aren't," Tracy responded.
.....
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