Chapter 37

"It's been a few weeks since you made this," she whispered to the boys, squeezing the makeshift book of all of her study notes. It was nearing the end of May now, and the days had gone in so quickly that she had a very hard time believing it.

She was in the great hall with her friends. Peter had forced himself up early in order to see her off for her exam and to wish her luck. It was gossip around the school, that Bea Lupin was doing her newt in fifth instead of seventh year.

Some people asked if she was doing all her newts, to which she laughed and replied with, "I would if I wanted to fail them all."

"You're going to do great, Bea," Bertie said, patting her shoulders from behind her. He had rushed into the hall late since he, with Peter, had a hard time getting up early. She was doing it on a Saturday, and a week before the seventh years would be doing theirs.

Sprout didn't want her feeling intimidated with the many other students, and she still had to attend class when they were doing their exams, so she thought it wise to schedule her exam just before it so that she would have peace and quiet to get on with it.

"Sprout will be there-"

"Exactly! What if I mess up in front of her?!" she groaned, her head falling onto the table, only stopping when James thrusted his hand out to make sure she didn't hurt herself.

"You will mess up," Beau said, "if you think like that. Bea, fucking hell you know everything there is to know about herbology! Seriously, I know you're nervous - but you'll do great!"

"I don't...know if that was nice or not," Lily trailed off, "but...the gist of what Beau was trying to say is that yes, you're nervous and that's fine because who doesn't get nervous! But really, there's no need to be nervous because you know it all! You're incredible at it and you're going to go in and pass with your eyes closed."

"You could just walk in the door and it's an automatic pass!" Violet exclaimed, "you're going to be fine, Bea. We all have so much faith in you and regardless of passing, you're going to have a future in herbology. You will travel this world because regardless of a qualification, you could take the world by storm anyway!"

Bea took a deep breath, nodding silently and closing over the notes she had in her hand, "I think I need to go now."

James stood up when she did, he had been silent as she talked to her friends, but he moved with her and out of the door when she did and when they were finally out of the great hall did he finally take her hand, spin her around and held her waist.

"Who is it that calms me down before a game?"

"...Me."

"Who is it that cheers me on in my ear, buzzing with excitement and easing my nerves throughout it all?"

"...Me."

"Who celebrates every single victory with me? and every fail too?"

"...I do."

"Exactly," he said, holding her head in his hand and brushing the hair from her cheeks, "you. it's always you there supporting me. If I fail you tell me it was the other team cheating to make me feel better, and then you are the one to keep me company even when I want to practice for hours on end you still cheer every goal I make even if you've sat on the benches for three hours, or zoomed around the pitch.

You're always there.

There's no way I'm not going to be there for you," he whispered, brushing his thumb over her lips, eyes boring into hers, "I already asked Sprout-"

"James-"

"No, it's okay," he smiled, "I asked Sprout if I could sit in with you. She was wary - she didn't know what to say...I told her I would sit with her the full time, she could monitor me and you to make sure I wasn't helping you.

When I said that, she laughed. She laughed because she knew there was no way you would cheat on something so important to you, and she's right. If you don't know it, you wouldn't cheat, you'd admit not to knowing it because you always believe that if you can't do something then you'll try harder to get it, not fake your way to the top.

So, I'm there. I'll ease your nerves for a change. I'll sit with you when you're nervous - I'll be there, even though silently, I'll still be cheering you on.

Because I love you so much, Bumble." He leaned down to kiss her slowly, and she was speechless. She couldn't think of anything to say and so she simply kissed him back, and wrapped her arms around his neck so tightly that he had to lean down for her to reach him.

"I love you," she mumbled against his lips, and soon pulled away reluctantly, "I love you so much, James, I don't know what I would do without you."

She laughed in disbelief, shaking her head softly and he watched her with a smile, "I love you. I love you so much, too. I never thought it was ever possible to love someone as much as I love you, but you managed to prove me wrong."

She smiled widely, so widely in fact that back in her gallery did a few more flowers unravel and bloom, "what did I ever do to deserve you?"

"You know, you have asked me that so many times," he said, brushing his lips over her forehead and running his fingertips down her bare arm until he reached her hand, slowly intertwining their fingers, "and every single time I make sure to remind you that it's me who should be wondering that question. Because what did I ever do to deserve someone as seriously incredible as you?"

She shook her head, partially speechless because James was something else, he was more to her than she thought anyone could be. So instead she kissed him one last time, her nerves drastically eased and her hand tightening around his as she pulled them both down the hall.

❁

The practical test was first and as soon as she entered the classroom she could feel the nerves wave over her and James could feel her hand tighten around his. She had frozen in fear - the insecurities falling over her again because she was terrified of what would happen, of the outcome.

Her first task was to care for the Venomous Tentacula, a very deadly type of plant. She knew what to do though because there was a trick to it - and she could see the glint in Sprout's eyes when she spared a look.

Bea knew the trick, and Sprout knew that.

You see, the trick was to stay calm - fight fear with relaxation. The plant thrived on fear and that was why it was so easy for it to hurt someone because the green, spiky, toothsome appearance of the plant was able to scare anyone - especially when the moving vines wished to seize its prey.

Bea stepped up in front of it, gloves on and armoured just in case a vine managed to grab her - the spikes were deadly.

James had shifted in his seat, wondering if it was truly alright for her to be tending to that thing - but then not five minutes later the plant was shifting, almost nuzzling into her hand as she tended to it. She fed the roots and watered the vines and made sure that when she turned around, it wouldn't seize her.

And when she was done, she saw Sprout trying her very hardest - even though she was failing - to hide the smile.

Her next task was to sever a Bowtruckle which looked terrified if she was honest. Her eyes had widened when Sprout had told her, and she could hear the guilt - the wariness in the woman's voice. She knew Bea very well, and this part of her Newt was never brought up with her.

She reached out her hand softly, and the Bowtruckle jumped into it, nestled its small head into her palm whilst the leaves on its head moved with her, "I can't do it."

"Bea," James whispered, eyes wide, and she shook her head, taking a step back with the Bowtruckle scurrying to her shoulder.

"This is a life, Professor. This is a body, a species who can move on it's on, who can feel. It's classed as a beast regardless of it being a plant. I've learned about them in Care for Magical Creatures, too. They're harmless...sort of, to me it's harmless. I'm not hurting an innocent life."

"Phoebe," Sprout said, "we can tend to it, we can make it grow back but if you don't do this then a mark has to be taken off. It could affect your perfect score."

"A perfect score is one thing, Professor," she said, gesturing to the Bowtruckle that was contently sorting a nest with her hair, "but if you have failed to remember, we grew these together. A whole family of Bowtruckles all the way back in my third year, and I am not betraying the trust of a life just for a mark.

I'm keeping it. I'm not hurting it."

"You can't - Phoebe you can't keep the plant!"

"Professor," she frowned, and James couldn't say the feeling in his heart was anything but pride for her sticking up for a creature who couldn't stick up for itself, "I'm sorry if the perfect score meant a lot to you. But If a helpless creature is in trouble, and I can help it then I will - I am not going to hurt something who doesn't know it's about to be hurt, no matter if it can grow again.

I'm not going to betray the trust of a species that clearly trusts me!" she gestured to the Bowtruckle in her hair, a Bowtruckle she had cared for, for years, "just for a grade!"

"Then we have to move on to the written," Sprout trailed off, and Bea nodded silently.

"I'm sorry, Professor," she whispered.

Sprout's shoulders slumped, and she shook her head, "I cannot be mad at you, Phoebe. You're doing the right thing to you-you're sticking to what you believe, I respect that. I respect you."

She nodded, lifting the Bowtruckle from her hair and placing it on her shoulder, "are you really keeping that?"

Her eyes fell to James and she nodded, "of course I am. It's mine now, no take backs."

He shook his head, gesturing for her to move and she did but she couldn't help her small smile when she heard behind her, "only you, Bea."

She took a deep breath when she fell into the seat and sighed. She hated the fact that there would be marks taken off her score, that she was going to get less than she could have but she knew it was for something right.

She would never hurt a living creature, a sentient creature who could feel such pain and the Bowtruckle trusted her, she wouldn't let it go. She needed a name for it, but she knew that in the middle of the very important exam was not the time.

For the written exam, she had to write a three-foot-long essay on Snargaluff, a two-foot-long essay on Chinese Chomping Cabbage, Fanged Geranium and Flutterby Bush in which she had to find the similarities of the three and compare them. She also had to write an indefinitely long essay on Screechsnaps, as well as very complex questions section on everything she had learned from first year to what should have been her seventh year.

She was having a hard time on the two-foot essay on the three plants, as there wasn't at all many similarities between them. She wondered how it possible to write a two-foot essay on such plants because there was little to it - and then she realised that she had to say why there were little similarities between them.

She had written down all the definitions of the three, shown everything they did and the similarities between that and then she moved on to tending them. She wrote the tiniest similarities between how to tend each plant and how to feed them - if it was just getting watered or a lot more complex and she could feel her hand getting sore from the amount of writing she did.

When she was finally done, and her hand could hardly curl from how sore it was, she allowed Sprout to take her paper, taking a deep breath, she stood with the Bowtruckle. She wasn't sure if she really did have the Bowtruckle, it was a protector of Its own tree, but it seemed to really enjoy her company.

She ignored James' soft call of her name as she made her way over to the tree just in the corner, lifting the Bowtruckle and setting it onto the palm of her hand so it could make its own way over to the tree, but she couldn't help her widened eyes when it backed away, scurrying from the tree and hurrying to her hair to continue making its nest it was in the process of.

She turned to James wide-eyed, almost laughing had it not been for the fact that she was completely and utterly exhausted and said, "it looks like I...really do have a new pet."

"It looks like it," James laughed softly, pushing himself forward and slipping his hand around her waist whilst brushing his lips over the apple of her cheek, "have you thought of a name for the little thing?"

"No," she shook her head, "I should re-study the proper living arrangements, maybe I could set up a tree in my dorm for it. I think it would much prefer that so that it was closer. If it really likes me then it'll think that...I'm it's tree."

James almost barked with laughter had it not been for her nudging to Sprout at the desk, which resulted in him biting his fist with his mouth, "Oh Merlin, Bea, what a sight. So, what if I kissed you, and you're the Bowtruckles tree - wouldn't the little thing get violent?"

"You remember?" she brightened, and he nodded, "Bowtruckles do get protective of their tree...so I think maybe I should really get him his own tree so that it doesn't get violent with you."

"If you helped tend to him when he was a seedling then he's obviously going to trust you," he said, "I'm really proud of you Bumble."

"Why?" she asked, head tilted but making sure she didn't disrupt the nest her hair was.

"Because you stood up for what you believe in. You couldn't bring yourself to hurt an innocent creature and because of that you lose something, but it's still important to you," he quickly kissed her, "I'm so proud. I'm so in love with you."

She smiled widely, eyes bright and her hand finding his, "I love you too...so, so much."

"How do you think you did?"

"Good." She nodded softly, tightening her grip on her hand and both teenagers bidding a quick goodbye to Sprout, "I think I did well."

[a/n what's crackalakin,,,,this chapter is a train wreck but anyway the ~facts~ on the plants tended like bowtruckles and stuff for the practical are from the harry potter wiki but i also made some stuff up to fit in with the book]