Chapter 42

The week of the exams came far too quickly in the opinion of Hogwarts students, it was a very stressful, frantic time, and fourth years and under - as well as sixth years - made sure to avoid any stressful exam takers as best as they possibly could. Nora made sure to spend as much time as she could in the library, her head in a book or in her notes as she sat with either Lily, Adria or Aubrey, and on occasion would a stressed out Milo walk into the library, his shirt untucked, his hair sticking up in many places and bags under his eyes as he plopped himself down at her table, pain in his eyes, stress engulfing him as he gripped the coffee that the house elves had made for him.

On the Monday of the first week of O.W.Ls, Nora had her charms exam, she wasn't particularly good at charms, merely average, but if she didn't get a good mark she swear she could scream, seeing as she had put in so much work, she knew she had. Firstly, was the written exam that she had to do on multiple subjects that related to charms, such as the levitating charm, cheering charm, and the counter charm for hiccoughs, something she made sure to remember. She was incredibly nervous as she tapped away at her exam, breathing a sigh to relax her nerves, her mind had gone blank for a few moments more than she wished, allowing fear to creep up her spine, but it seemed as though a light switched in her mind, allowing her to navigate back to the many study sessions, and soon did her hand ache from the amount she had written.

After the written exam for charms was the practical, and Nora couldn't help her nerves once more when she entered the room, closing her eyes, clasping her hands by her side, "take a moment, no need to worry," spoke Flitwick, sitting high on a seat, looking over her with an examiner beside her, she felt as though she was auditioning for something, or well, she was sure this would be how an audition went. She almost couldn't speak, she was so nervous, but her first charm was successful, actually successful, and so was her second, third and fourth, it came easy to her, her wand swished and flicked with ease as she spoke the words surprisingly clearly.

On the Tuesday was Nora's transfigurations exam, something she wasn't particularly good at, well, really, she was terrible, she enjoyed lessons with McGonagall solely because she liked the teacher, but she never could perfect the art of transfigurations, she just wasn't good at it, she didn't mind much, though, no matter how much she studied, she knew that no matter how she tried, it wasn't for her.

Fortunately, though, for the written exam, Nora memorised the definition of the switching spell by heart, knowing that McGonagall had gone over it so many times, it was rather obvious that it would be in the exam, and when Nora's quill glided along the pages of parchment, even she was surprised. The other questions on the paper weren't all as easy to remember, in fact, Nora was sure she was being incredibly irritating as she tapped her foot and patted her nails off of the wooden desk, and wasn't surprised when she had formed a small bruise on her head from her frantic tapping of her quill trying her best to knock the knowledge into her head, unfortunately for her, though, it really didn't help her.

She knew that she had messed up the practical for transfigurations even before she walked into the room, Adria went before her into the room, coming out looking pleased but when she passed Nora, she shook her head, her shoulders slumping and Nora knew right then that she was screwed.

She had to perform the vanishing spell, she had never perfected it before and knew that if she was ever to get a miracle, it wouldn't be right now. Whilst she finally did it - after the seventh try - she could feel her relief as she walked out of the room, not so much because she was proud of herself, rather because it was over, she really couldn't do Transfigurations to save her life.

On Wednesday, she had her Herbology exam, she was feeling confident on Wednesday, she was proud of her house stereotype to like Herbology, it was slightly inevitable for her not to, seeing as Madam Sprout occasionally brought all types of plants to the Hufflepuff common room, and each and every one of them fascinated Nora to the point that she was sure that Herbology was her favourite subject. She breezed through the exam, in fact, she could do it in her sleep if she wished too, it was fairly easy for her to perfect the practical, and she was sure a first year could do it if they tried.

Defence Against the Dark Arts would have been just as bad as Transfigurations had it not been for Remus' notes that she had stolen, well, really, borrowed and written for herself. She found herself scraping through the exam, with answers she was certain of, ones she had flat out guessed, and ones she wasn't exactly sure of, but nonetheless she was just happy that it was over.

The practical exam, however, wasn't the best for her, seeing as she had only casted her Patronus a few times, she could barely do it, and well, she could barely remember the other spells she had casted, she was just thankful it was now over for her, she was sure she hadn't passed that either, but she didn't mind much, Defence Against The Dark Arts wasn't a subject she cared of, of course, knowing defence spells against the dark arts would come in handy, and she knew the basics, but she didn't think a career as an auror would be for her.

On Friday, she spent her time with Adria who had surprisingly the same exams as she had, both of them didn't take Ancient Runes, so thankfully, she had a break from it all. Both girls where more than thankful spending their time together rather than doing the exam that seemed to get everyone who took it a lot more stressed coming out of it than they looked going into it, according to Aubrey, it was one of her hardest exams she had taken.

The weekend couldn't have come at a better time for Nora, she spent her time with James, her arms around him tightly, leaning on his chest as they looked over the astronomy notes in the book that Sirius had when Adria and Sirius where done with it. she had to admit that her weekend was more than enjoyable wrapped up with James, in the dormitory with her friends, it was something good amongst the stressful week she had had, it was a better time for her to spend it with people she loved.

Come Monday, Nora was ready for her Potions exam, it was the exam she had studied most for, countless hours over many potions books, her eyes scanning each page until they burned, she knew that she should study for herself, and to pass her exams on her own accord, but she had set a task to prove to Slughorn that she was a worthy student - and she wondered if any student had ever turned down an invitation, and well, she'd like to be the first - so as she entered the exam on the first day of the second week, she already knew that the exam was hard.

But maybe this was the time for her miracle, because with luck, and maybe a little magic on her side, Nora got through the exam with ease.

Her practical wasn't bad too, thankfully, they got instructions that they had to follow perfectly, but Nora, with James' invisibility cloak had snuck into the restricted section, and had found a few tips to help her with the potions, and soon, with ease, did she finish the potion at hand.

The Tuesday came quickly, and with a smile on her lips did Nora make her way to the Care of Magical Creatures exam, the questions on the written exam went by quicker than she thought it would. She found herself sitting almost half an hour before she was allowed to leave seeing as she had finished already.

For her practical, she had to identify a Knarl hidden amongst a dozen Hedgehogs, Nora knew it was almost near impossible, but she had remembered from a book she read a while ago in class that Knarls weren't so fond of getting food or anything of the sort, seeing as they thought they were being lured into a trap, so simply, Nora gave each of the dozen some milk, and then, she was able to identify the Knarl almost immediately after.

After that, she had to demonstrate the correct handling of a bowtruckle, you see, in her Care of Magical Creatures class, which she had with Adria, the two girls where always seen fawning over the Bowtruckles seeing as they were, in Adria's words 'so blooming cute' and both girls had to resist from treating them as pets. Then after she had to feed and clean out a fire crab without getting burnt too severely, and then, lastly, she had to identify the correct diet to give to an ill unicorn, which was fairly easy, thankful.

On Wednesday, she had the astronomy exam, and the practical, which she knew instantly she had failed. Her written exam made her want to stand up and leave instantly, she could see Adria not too far from where she sat in the hall, the girl looked as though she wanted to rip her hair out, and well, she didn't feel all that better.

She had remembered Adria going on about Jupiter's moons countlessly, but with the girls complaining, Nora didn't seem to think to write them down, in fact, she was completely stuck as she stared at her parchment, her hands in her with frustration.

She wrote as much down as she possibly could, but it was easy to realise that Nora really didn't get a good mark in the exam, even if she hadn't had her results back yet.

Thankfully for her, she didn't have Divination, and when her and Adria met Remus and Aubrey outside of the exam, anger pulsing through them, hair messed from their hands running through it frustratedly, it was clear that Nora made the right decision not to take the subject, she was thankful that she didn't.

Also on the Wednesday did Nora have her history of magic exam, and whilst she didn't mind the subject much, she did study for it, wanting to get the best mark she could, and whilst it was incredibly boring, it was also incredibly easy for her to get through, Nora saw herself getting through the exam with plenty of time to spare.

It seemed that having the same classes - of course, at different times - was an advantage for Adria and Nora, it was clear that Adria was the smarter one of the two, even though Adria countlessly told Nora that she was the best at Herbology that she had ever seen, and she fled through the Potions exam with ease, something Adria didn't see herself doing.

The two had a break on firstly, spending it in the tree house, loosely going over their notes for muggle studies, but they didn't exactly need to, the exam was terribly easy, with questions that Nora didn't even need to study, she was sure any muggle would be able to answer it, and whilst her and Adria, and only two others where the only muggleborn's in their class, she was sure that if anyone thought, they would be able to do it.

It was hilarious to Nora how fascinated the teacher was with muggles, so shocked to find things out, but Nora found it fascinating that they reacted the way they did.

Come the weekend, Nora lay on James, head on his chest, tracing her hands over his bare chest as he wrapped his arms around her, tracing his fingertips across her bare back, allowing the Goosebumps to litter her skin as he kissed her face, trailing down to her neck, and her shoulder.

"You alright?" he asked, neither of them had talked, just lay there wrapped up in each other's arms, a smile falling onto his lips as she nuzzled closer to him, a hum leaving her lips. she didn't even know what her touch did to him, she was too comfortable to realise that James was staring at her intently, lip between his teeth, and soon did he nudge her head softly, allowing her to look up, and soon did he steal a kiss, lingering for a few moments longer.

He went to pull away but she cupped his face, pushing herself closer, pulling the blanket up her skin, nibbling at his bottom lip as he smirked, guiding her legs around his hips, "I'm amazing."

"Oh, I know," James teased, gripping her closer as the giggles tumbled from her lips.

"I'm glad those weeks are over," she mumbled into his skin, sighing as she done so.

"Oh yes, me too," he nodded, "I have my favourite girl back."

She scoffed as she pushed herself down, softly pressing her lips to his, a smirk on her lips as he leaned into her, and soon did she pull away as he tried to deepen it, a winking as she spoke, "I better be your only girl."