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It'd be better to die than give this horrendous exam".

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The sense of happiness and pride at winning the Quidditch Cup lasted for almost a whole week. Everywhere the Gryffindor team went, students shot them smiles and patted their shoulders.

As June approached, the days became cloudless and sunny. All everybody felt like doing was sitting on the grounds with some lemonade or iced pumpkin juice. But sadly, they couldn't.

Exams were nearly upon them and instead of lazing outside, the students were forced to study. It was the hardest for all of the fifth and seventh years, they couldn't even leave the library even if they wanted to.

"Oh that year was awful," sighed Dorcas, resting her cheek against her palm.

Ophelia, Fred and George were struggling to keep their eyes open during History of Magic. They were completely tired after studying a lot last night.

"At least we're not getting any homework!" Fred encouraged the other two as they walked towards the Transfiguration classroom.

"Those revisions are more horrible," George grumbled, and Ophelia nodded in agreement.

"I really hope Minnie will cut us some slack this lesson," she groaned, her shoulders slumped in exhaustion.

"Let's see it for ourselves shall we?" Fred grinned as they entered the classroom.

"Please don't kill us today Minnie," Ophelia pleaded, giving the Professor her infamous puppy-dog eyes.

"Do sit down Miss Black, I assure you there will be no killings," said McGonagall, her lips curling slightly.

There weren't any physical killings, but each and every one of the students had been mentally murdered after looking at the exam timetable that was given.

"Poor chaps," Marlene sympathized.

"As you can see," addressed McGonagall. "Your O.W.L.s are spread over two successive weeks. You will have the theory papers in the morning and practice in the afternoon. As for the Astronomy practical, it will of course take place at night".

"I must warn you that anti-cheating charms have been applied to your examination papers. Auto-answer quills, Remembralls are banned from the Hall".

"Aw man," Lee mumbled, looking sad.

McGonagall shot him a little glare and continued, "You will receive your results some time in July, an owl will be sent from the school".

"Brilliant," George whispered, with a grin. "So don't have to worry about all of that shit till the holidays".

"Like you even care about your results," Ophelia snorted, and he just winked.

The rest of the period was spent conducting tests and revisions. When the class was over, all of the students had similar tired, frustrated and dead expressions on their faces.

"It'd be better to die than give this horrendous exam," someone muttered from a distance.

"I feel you mate," another voice grumbled. "Like the only moods I have for the past few days are, 'What the fuck?!' 'Are you fucking kidding me?' And the last that is, 'Fuck this".

"Everything felt," Regulus breathed out with a sigh.

Ophelia laughed at how relatable that random person was. Even she had come to the point in life where she had to curse every single minute as though it was mandatory.

"I don't think I'm going to survive these two weeks," said Katie, as she sat down beside Ophelia and started eating dinner.

"Understandable darling," Ophelia smiled, piling food on her plate.

"We have Charms first," Angelina added, scanning the timetable.

"Filtwick is alright, he gets everyone through his exams," Lee grinned happily, between mouthfuls of food.

They all ate dinner and Ophelia bid them goodbye to attend her detention with Snape. That bastard wasn't lessening the time at all.

After that, she entered the common room, her eyes heavy and saw her friends sitting in arm-chairs and lounging on couches with the fire glowing brightly.

"Ready for revisions?" Fred asked with a smirk as he took in Ophelia's worn out and drowsy form.

"Nope," she sighed, but sat down anyways.

The seven spent a lot of time revising Charms. They quizzed each other, practiced spells and did several competitions.

"Right, see y'all later," said Lee, with a yawn, his eyes threatening to close.

"I don't even want to move," Ophelia groaned from her place in the cozy arm-chair. She was feeling really comfortable and warm.

"Nu-uh," said George, shaking his head.

"We know you'll have a sore body for the rest of the day, Lia," Fred commented.

"Then lift her up why don't you?" Lily grinned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, bridal style," Dorcas laughed.

She just sighed knowing they were both right about the pain she had in her back after sleeping in chairs.

"Fine fine, I'm going".

She got up rather unwillingly and made her way upstairs to her dorm with Katie supporting her by holding on to her arm. Ophelia purposefully stomped her feet as she climbed the stairs.

The boys, hearing her loud footsteps just rolled their eyes at their friend's behavior as they closed the door of their dormitory.

"Why is she so bloody dramatic all the time," laughed George, and the rest sniggered before flopping down on their beds and finally sleeping peacefully after a long day.

"It's in her blood," Regulus smirked, crossing his arms.

"A Black family thing apparently," James grinned, thinking about Sirius and Regulus' extremely dramatic asses

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

It was Monday, the day the fifth-years had their Charms exam. During breakfast the air was unusually tensed. Many students were muttering incantations under their breaths, some reading notes and only a handful of people appeared calm.

Ophelia Black was included in those handful of students along with Fred and George Weasley. She had such a cool and unbothered expression on her face that her other friends stared at her in disbelief.

"How the hell are you not even slightly worried?" Angelina questioned, looking up from the Charms textbook that she was reading.

"Because I know I'm going to pass," she grinned, spreading an ungodly amount of chocolate on the bread.

"That's a little too much don't you think?" James asked, cringing slightly.

"You can never have too much chocolate spread, Potter," Regulus countered.

"I really, desperately need your confidence right now," muttered Katie, tapping her foot against the floor impatiently. "I'm sure I'm failing".

"Oh stop it, you aren't failing anything. No one can fail Charms, and you certainly won't," said Ophelia giving her a smile.

When the breakfast was over, the four house tables were removed and replaced instead with many tables for one, all facing the staff table.

"Well, good luck pals," mumbled Lee and they all fist-bumped each other before taking their allotted seats.

"You may start now," McGonagall instructed, and turned over an enormous hour glass.

Her heart racing slightly, Ophelia turned over the paper and read the first question that was, 'Give the incantation and describe the wand movement required to make objects fly'.

"The questions we had weren't that easy!" Marlene yelled in disbelief.

She grinned, muttering a 'You're the best Flitwick,' under her breath and started scribbling rapidly, her eyes quickly reading the questions and her hand instantly writing the answer.

After an hour and a half of non-stop writing, she put the quill down and massaged her aching wrists. Looking around, Katie shot her a thumbs-up which she returned with a grin. The twins were still scribbling furiously and so were Lee and Angelina.

Feeling bored, she began sketching on some spare parchment. Ophelia didn't even know what she was drawing and was surprised to see a perfect sketch of an eye.

"Wow, that's some Van Gogh shit right there," said Regulus, his face depicting an awed look.

'I've got some skills,' she thought with raised eyebrows, feeling really pleased and impressed with herself.

After quite a long time, the examination was over.

"Time's up! Do make sure you have written your names on the parchment," said McGonagall, and with a flick of her wand, all of the papers flew towards her desk and arranged themselves in a neat pile.

"You may go now".

There was a rush of movement along with loud screeches of the tables. Everyone went over to their friends and started discussing the answers.

"That was a piece of cake," the twins smirked in unison. Both slinging their arms around Ophelia from either side.

"Yeah, definitely the easiest," Katie grinned, her past worries about failing completely gone.

"I would be surprised if I don't get an 'Exceeds Expectations' on it at least," Angelina smiled, and the others nodded in agreement.

"Right, time for a quick nap," said Ophelia in a sing-song voice and the others snorted.

"A nap really?" Lee questioned while laughing.

"With great power comes great need to take a nap, Jordan".

"You won't revise for the practical exam?"

"No. I have full faith in my abilities. So goodbye I'm going to sleep. Oh and please wake me up for lunch!" She said before running up the stairs.

"That girl's something else," Fred laughed, shaking his head.

Sleep had overtook Ophelia as soon as her head had hit the pillow. She was now gone away somewhere, off dreaming about something random and strange.

"Psst! Lia!" Someone whispered in her ear.

"Star!" Another voice called out.

"Cinnamon roll!" A new one muttered in a hushed tone.

"OPHELIA BLACK!!"

The once peacefully resting girl groaned and unwillingly opened an eye, her silver irises seemed a lot darker than usual.

"Who yelled? What the fuck is wrong with you?" She asked looking at them angrily and saw Lee, Fred and George immediately point at a smirking Katie.

"Get your ass up Black, or you're missing lunch!" Katie yelled before leaving.

"She's probably the only person that doesn't get murdered for waking her up," James noted.

"Don't forget about Sirius," Lily added with a smile.

Ophelia huffed and slowly got up from the bed, cursing her a lot. "There was no need to shout," she mumbled, before straightening her uniform and pulling on the robes.

She walked to the Great Hall with the boys and sat down at the table, digging into the delicious food that was served.

"It's been five years and you still don't know how to properly knot a tie?" Alicia asked laughing at the messy state of Ophelia's scarlet and gold tie.

"Forget a tie, I can't even fix my shoelaces without magic," she muttered, eating her favorite roast chicken off of her fork.

It was the truth, she had always tied the laces of her shoes with magic. If she concentrated hard and snapped her fingers, they would be knotted perfectly. Because of this, she never really learned how to tie them by hand.

And anyways she always wore sandals during holidays so there wasn't any need to learn.

Knotting a tie without using her wand was more difficult and required a lot of concentration. So she left the task for her friends as she was lazy to do it even by using her wand.

"You're hopeless," Katie sighed, and began knotting her messy tie properly.

"Thanks," Ophelia grinned, looking down at the much neater tie.

"You don't even take the efforts to learn do you? I mean tying shoelaces isn't that hard," said George looking at her.

"I don't want the trouble," answered Ophelia, making him roll his eyes.

"She just wants someone to teach her doesn't she?" Dorcas mumbled, a frown on her face.

"Yes," Lily sighed. "Someone parental".

I made myself sad now..

"Come on, time for practical," Angelina got up and the others followed.

They were all lined up outside a chamber, waiting for their names to be called. Angelina and Alicia were pacing around, clearly stressed. The boys were stood tapping their feet, they too looked worried.

Ophelia and Katie on the other hand were singing very loudly and performing to 'Macarena'. They were dancing quite ridiculously but come on, we don't need permission to dance.

"Ayyyy Macarena!!" James yelled loudly along with Marlene who was dancing.

"Bell Katie, Black Ophelia!"

The two girls suddenly stopped, their eyes comically wide at their names being called. They had apparently forgotten they were supposed to give an exam, snorting at each other they quickly went inside.

Ophelia was assigned to a bald and quite possibly the oldest Professor named 'Tofty' while Katie was really far away from her.

"Ah Miss Black!" Professor Tofty greeted and she smiled at him. "Now can you please perform the levitating charm on these wine glasses".

She nodded and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

It was a perfect demonstration, Professor Tofty had her perform the Growth Charm and the Color Changing Charm.

"Excellent Miss Black! Your exam is over".

"Thank you, sir," Ophelia smiled rather charmingly and went back to the common room. As she was one of the first students to be called, the common room was empty.

She flopped down on the couch, thinking through her exams, both theory and practical. According to her, they had gone well and she was sure she'd get an 'Exceeds Expectations' or an 'Outstanding'.

Laying down, she frowned at how long it had been since she'd last seen Sirius. She hadn't even visited him after their Quidditch victory.

Ophelia bit her lip in thought, tomorrow was Transfiguration and she excelled at that subject. She decided she'll go after dinner, it'll be late but totally worth it.

The portrait door opened and it was George calling out to her. "Lia come on! Other's are waiting for dinner!"

"Coming George!"

"So good practical?" Lee asked between bites of chicken.

"Very," Ophelia grinned, sitting down beside him.

"We've got Transfiguration tomorrow! I suck at that!" Alicia groaned loudly, banging her head on the table with a slam.

"Yeah, not worried 'bout that at all," Ophelia and Katie grinned cheekily.

"Cia!!" A boy called from behind them.

"Oh hey Kev," Alicia smiled, shifting aside to let her boyfriend sit.

The rest of the group glanced at each other and they all made similar, disgusted faces. Especially Katie who was about to stand up but Ophelia stopped her.

"How was your exam, love?" Kevin asked, feeding Alicia some potatoes.

"It was good! I'm worried about Transfiguration though".

"Aww don't be darling!" He smiled, pulling her close. "You're the most intelligent, most sweetest person that I know, you'll get through this".
Cringing so hard rn...

The two were literally glued to each other, and were getting more and more cringy by the second. They had literally started kissing at one point, and weren't stopping.

"Ugh I'm going to throw myself out of the window," Regulus whined, slapping his hand over his eyes, shielding them properly.

"Let's get outta here, I can't handle that," Katie gagged and the others immediately shot up in their seats, almost running back to the common room.

"That was absolutely disgusting," Fred groaned, drinking some water.

"How can they kiss like that when people are eating!" Exclaimed Ophelia, a distasteful expression spreading across her face.

"Right, shall we get on with Transfiguration?" Angelina sighed, sitting down on the rug.

The group groaned in unison but nevertheless they took out their books and started torturing their brains into remembering the highly complex definitions.

"That's enough," Katie declared after half an hour of pin-drop silence.

"Be good and shut up, Bell," Fred glared at her sternly, for once he was concentrating pretty well and didn't want to be interrupted.

"Alright, alright! Merlin!"

Ophelia was reading the chapters, she already knew the definitions and meanings. She had simplified them and had made it easier to remember.

"Hey Lia? Help me with the vanishing spell?" George pleaded.

"You had done it though right?" Ophelia asked frowning. He had been able to vanish the snail the last time.

"Yeah I know but... Suddenly I can't do it".

"It's only because you don't practice," Katie answered making him glare.

So the next thirty minutes were spent with teaching George the Vanishing Spell on a snail he'd bought from somewhere.

"Thanks Lia! You're the best!" He grinned happily after managing to vanish the small creature completely.

"I know right".

"Lia...?" Fred turned towards her with an innocent smile.

"Yes?" She raised an eyebrow at that unusual face.

"Care to tutor your handsome, charming and funny best friend on the Doubling Spell?"

She snorted at Fred describing himself, "Who even told you that you were even remotely handsome? Or charming? Or funny?"

"Come on how am I not handsome?!"

"You're just not," said Regulus simply.

"I don't know how, but you're certainly not," Lee muttered while reading his textbook with a disgruntled expression.

Fred rolled his eyes and clasping his hands together, he said, "Pleaseee?"

"Your twin knows how to do that as well. Why me? Go ask him".

"No".

"Why?"

"Because he's not as good at tutoring as you are".

"Oh really, Weasley?" Dorcas smirked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Fine!" She sighed in amusement and the next forty five minutes were gone.

"You're hopeless I swear!" Ophelia groaned, leaning back against the headrest.

"Hey! I'm trying here!"

"Sure you are mate," George interrupted, a smirk on her face.

"I am! It's just.. Not happening".

"I'm demonstrating this one last time Weasley," Ophelia warned and he nodded. "Geminio! See it's that simple! Just flick at the target".

Fred sighed loudly, then rolled up his sleeves with exaggeration, and after clearing his throat dramatically he said, "Geminio!"

"Fucking finally," remarked Katie, when he managed to duplicate the small hairpin.

"You're really bad at that," Angelina commented, and with that they returned back to their studying or cough *mental torture* cough.

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Ophelia was impatiently laying down on her bed, waiting for the others to fall asleep. It was midnight and she heard Katie and Angelina snoring softly. Alicia wasn't there, probably with her boyfriend, and the other girl, Mary, whom they rarely talked to was sleeping as well.

She waited for ten more minutes and after confirming no one was going to get up suddenly to give her a heart attack, she slid off her bed and quietly made her way downstairs.

'Hope he won't be angry at me for visiting this late,' she thought, one hand holding the strap of her backpack that was stuffed with food.

It took her ten minutes to get to the Whomping Willow and another five to climb through because she was just so damn tired.

"Dad?" She softly called out. "Dad? You there?"

She looked around and saw Padfoot bundled up in the blankets she'd brought. He was sleeping really peacefully and she felt bad for waking him up.

"Hey Pads," she whispered, stroking his head gently and he stirred.

Padfoot looked up at his visitor and transformed back into his human form, eyes droopy but smiling at his daughter.

"Hello mate," said James, trying his best to smile and get rid of the sudden sadness that was washing over him.

"You're here quite late," he said yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"I know, I know! I'm really sorry but I wanted to see you and well this is the only time when I can visit without being seen," she mumbled, feeling awful for disturbing him.

"It's okay love, I don't mind. Got something to eat?"

"Oh yeah, dig in," she grinned, offering him the food.

"Congratulations on winning the Quidditch Cup," he smiled and she beamed. "I saw you flying, you're fucking fantastic," he muttered.

"I hope so," she laughed, happily taking the chocolate muffin he had offered.

"Hold up," he said suddenly, and looking at his face, Ophelia had the mental image of a dog standing still, it's ears pricked up and tail unmoving.

"It's June right now.... Your O.W.Ls have started?" He asked and she nodded while laughing at the simple question.

"Yep, had Charms today".

"How did it go?" He questioned, although he knew the answer already. Charms was one of his best subjects and Remus' too, he knew it was her top class.

"Aced it," Ophelia smirked and he let out his usual bark laugh. "Really though, it was a little too easy. I'm sure to get an 'Outstanding' on it".

"You will," he assured with a smile.

"Tomorrow's Transfiguration and to be honest I could pass that without even studying beforehand for it. Not that Minnie would have the heart to fail me," she grinned.

"Yeah but it isn't Minnie who's going to be grading your papers," Sirius smirked and she frowned a little but nodded.

"The examiners are alright so far. What were your best subjects?" She asked looking at him.

"None," Regulus grinned, his eyes twinkling.

"Defence, Charms, Transfiguration and Astronomy were my best. I didn't have any bad subject, I was a top student".

"Yeah sure," she snorted, though she knew he was actually a bright student.

"I was," he rolled his eyes and asked, "You got any weak subjects?"

"Yeah," she muttered, her smile fading instantly.

"Which one?" He inquired curiously.

"Have a guess why don't you".

"Hmm... Astronomy? No you like stars and all. Arithmancy? Oh no you don't have that as your class. Care of Magical Creatures?"

"No!" She exclaimed, it was one of her favorite classes.

"Right, right, History of Magic?"

"It's boring but not my weak subject".

"I give up," he huffed, a confused frown on his lips.

"Herbology," she groaned, her hands pressed against her face.

Sirius was really surprised at that, "Herbology? You sure?"

"Did I stutter?"

"That's not too hard..." He trailed off and remembered the moments where Remus Lupin used to curse that subject daily just because it wasn't his best.

"It is! How in Godric's eyes are you supposed to identify the difference between flowers, that by the way look exactly the same to me? I can't even remember the properties!" She sighed in exasperation.

"You've got to put in a little more hard work," Sirius suggested, biting back a smile at the sudden resemblance to Remus that was showing.

"No shit, Sherlock," she groaned, dreading all of the struggle that was to come.

He rolled his eyes at her and said, "Don't worry, just study hard and if the exam doesn't go well.... Then you're screwed".

It was her turn to roll her eyes now, "I'm going to fail," she sighed dramatically.

"No problem, I've got no objection with a bad grade".

"Thanks for that, but someone will definitely unalive me if I fail any of the subjects that are required for an Auror," she grumbled, looking down at her hands.

"Unalive?" Lily snorted loudly. "Is that even a word?"

"Oh? Who's this terrifying person that will 'unalive' you?"

"Minerva McGonagall," she deadpanned, looking straight at him and watched as his grin faded and he swallowed nervously.

"Uh-oh, you've got yourself in quite a situation there. Don't worry darling, I'll prepare the most emotional speech to say at your funeral," he nodded, giving her the best smile.

Ophelia stared at him with betrayal, "And here I was thinking that maybe you'll somehow pull me out of this tragedy".

"No, I can't do that. Minerva McGonagall is scary when she's angry," Sirius shuddered. "So yeah, you've got to face her on your own, love".

"Right, thanks for the encouragement," she grumbled, pretending to be angry.

"You're most welcome!" He grinned, bowing his head.

"You became an animagus in your fifth year?" She inquired after eating the muffin, and he nodded, grinning proudly but little did he know.

"That's a little lame isn't it? I managed to do it in my third-year".

"Yeah that's gre- WAIT WHAT?" He yelled, turning to see that shit-eating grin on her face growing by the second.

"Hehe, beaten by your own daughter," Regulus laughed, looking ridiculously proud of his niece.

"Yeah, you heard that right," she smirked, resting her arm behind her head. Her movements filled with confidence and pride.

"You're an- But you- I- How- Since when??" He asked her, still grasping the fact that his daughter is an animagus.

"Third-year, Dad," she grinned, thoroughly enjoying his baffled expression.

"Show me," he stated, arms crossed and a look of skepticism.

She laughed at him not believing her and giving him one last smirk, she transformed and in her place stood a wolf.

Sirius, who had probably thought she was messing around, screamed bloody murder at the sight. "HOLY FRICK WHAT? No way," he breathed out, stunned at what he was seeing.

The wolf slowly padded over to him, it's fur was coated with different shades of white and grey. It's eyes were just like Ophelia's, a beautiful silver.

"That's awesome," whispered Sirius, gently caressing her extremely soft fur.

The wolf bared it's teeth as if it were saying, 'I am pretty fabulous aren't I?' It ran around in circles before transforming back.

"Surprise shawty," Ophelia grinned, spreading out her fingers in a jazz position.

Sirius laughed, shaking his head, unable to wrap his mind around the incident that just happened. "You're amazing. Who else knows?"

"Just you till now, though I'm really itching to show it to Gred and Forge".

"And I take it that you are not registered?"

"Exactly, it's so much fun to do things especially when you're not supposed to do them in the first place," she grinned, and he laughed loudly.

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'Three-Thousand'

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Hello guys! How is everything going on?

Here is the 23rd chapter and yes we've started with the owls. I don't think there'll be too many more for POA to finish. We're so close to that.

I've got some interesting ideas for GOF and I hope you'll like them cuz it's going to be a little different.

If you have any specific requests then feel free to comment!

Also we hit 500 reads!! TYSM!!!!
Will be back soon with the next one I promise,
Love xx