The days seemed to be blurring by, as most of the students thought, every minute wasted was a minute of complete and utter regret. Students, even those who never usually took academics seriously (i.e Fred and George), were also reeled in to the stress that was brought about by the end of term exams. Their sudden perseverance was mainly due to Florence, who after successfully co-brewing the concoction needed for Operation GGP, plunged into a series of hour-long studies throughout the day. It was as if she basically lived inside the library.

"We don't need to study," said George, confident in his words, "Once the Joke Shop's all set up, our careers will rocket to the skies. Bad O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s won't even matter anymore." he had told Florence, during one of her many attempts to get them to open a book.

Florence merely glanced at the boy, now too engrossed in her Arithmancy homework to further persuade the two. Fred was nodding alongside his brother's commentary, agreeing with his every word as if he had nothing else to say but that.

"Well," she began, once she was finished with an equation, "You know, your success won't rocket to the skies if you still have a roof over your head."

Fred stared at her blankly for a few seconds, "That was just a figure of speech, love."

"I know," she chuckled lightly, "And I meant a figurative roof, love. You're still in school. If you fail your exams, they won't let you go, won't they? They'll make you repeat the year until you get it right."

"So...?"

"So, another year of being tied down to Hogwarts is another year of potential success wasted..." she said, switching quills as the previous one she had used did not write as well anymore, "You don't have to get ridiculously good grades... All I'm saying is atleast pass them, you know? To prevent yourselves from having to repeat a year."

Both Fred and George looked at each other, realizing that Florence had a point. This got them to not take the exams for granted.

So there they were that afternoon, rummaging through a shitload books along with Florence, Nicolai and Alexander, both Nicolai and Alexander glancing skeptically at the twins ever so often, before their quizzical gazes shifted to Florence as if demanding answers from her.

"Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and be the blunt one here...Fred, George, did you get your identities stolen?"

"Yeah," said Xander, who was no more surprised with their actions as Nicolai was, "Why are you two so...studious...?"

"Believe us, we didn't think Florence would be able to knock some sense into us with education importance talks... But she did." Fred replied, before getting up from his seat, "Hang on, let me find another book. This one doesn't sit well with me."

Nicolai continued to gape, before turning to her best friend in utter horror, "What did you do to them?"

She rolled her eyes, "They're just studying, Nic. After the exams are over I'm sure they will go back to being their prankster selves."

"Not to mention, it's news to know that they actually got influenced for the better..." remarked Xander, "George is doing lovely on his Charms paper..."

"Yeah, but it's Fred and George!"

"You're right..." Florence said in mock realization, "I broke them."

"Pricey," George chimed in, the three of them forgetting that he was actually still there, "Would you mind tuning it down a bit? Some of us are actually here to study, you know?" he said, a slightly amused and startled look on his face, "Wow. Never thought I'd say that. Ever."

"That makes two of us, George," Florence assured, patting him on the back and urging him to focus back into his Charms review.

------

Three weeks had rolled by, and now almost all of the sixth year students were in a deep set of focus, filling their bellies up with breakfast, as it was said that you had a better exam performance if you ate until you were satisfied.

Nicolai, however, had been munching on the same piece of toast for about fifteen minutes, and what was left of it was no longer as crunchy, but her continuous chewing indicated that she really didn't seem to mind at all.

Xander's elbow was pinned firmly down ontop of a pile of notes which belonged to Florence, as the prefect has snatched her notes off of her hands to prevent the possibility of her studying during the last minute and getting scatter-brained. He stirred his tea quietly, all the while staring down at Florence who was giving him a death glare.

Exam mornings were never delightful. However hard you've prepared for it, the jitters were inevitable, and everyone (some in secret) got them.

They had sat in the Great Hall on Monday, third period for Potions, and were given atleast an hour and a half to complete the written portion of the test, before proceeding to the practical portion, where they had to successfully brew their own tiny vial of Draught of Living Death, which Florence memorized by heart.

Charms was the last exam for the day, in which everybody was confident that they had taken it rather fairly. The practical exam involved the Aguamenti spell that wasn't particularly hard to cast, although some, unfortunately, had managed to fail miserably.

First day of exams were not all too bad, they thought, but knew that they weren't nearly done.

Second day was Herbology, and the grown Snargaluffs were not that distressful as they had thought it would be. Nicolai, who was particularly nervous about the writing test beforehand, was all smiles as they exited the testing room, and was in a good mood for the whole day because of this.

Then came Defense and Transfiguration, both of which were the anticipated harder ones. Florence, Nicolai and Alexander had a throbbing headache by the end of the day. The Weasley twins claimed it was all right, although the obvious look of distress on their faces said otherwise.

And by the end of the week, all of the exams were done, leaving the students with the satisfying feelings as if a weight had just been lifted from their shoulders, and were now only looking forward to watching the Third Task. All three schools were particularly excited about it, as they could not wait any longer to find out which school would be lucky enough to receive the glory of a winning champion.

Banners were strung haphazardly in the halls, some made by the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students, while most were either rooting for Cedric, with a big white and black honey badger painted beside his name, or Harry, most of which were painted by a fourth year student, Dean Thomas.

Nonetheless, the spirit of competition remained friendly, unlike the first task wherein everyone was extremely hostile, especially those of Hogwarts, due to the double champions issue. But everyone was glad to have set aside their differences, coming together to give support as the Tournament was nearing it's end.

Fred and George, despite promising not to do it again, had set up betting tickets again, this time with the consent of Florence, who agreed on the term that they promised not to overdo it like the last time.

"The things I do for you two..." she muttered under her breath.

"Relax, love, you're not a prefect. Your consent will not get you in trouble." joked Fred.

"Yeah. Besides, we already have a backup plan incase everything goes to shite." grinned George.

Florence raised her brows at the two. "Oh yeah? And what would that be?"

"Well, we'll just wash our hands and blame all the dirt on Jordan."

"Wow, some friends you two are."

////
a.n: Hey guys! Sorry this chapter isn't as long. But we're nearly to 7k and I am extremely happy about that. To my new readers, hello and thank u for giving my story a chance, and to my loyal ones, thank u for sticking around :)) I really appreciate all of you ❤

So I would like to tell you guys that I have a George Weasley fic on it's way, it will be parallel to Scratches and I am so excited for you guys to read it!

Also, I have a Scratches prequel in draft, and I was wondering if any of you would want to read about Jane McKinnon and Gabriel Price?

Luv you all

-Denise