Looking around the Chamber of Secrets at the gathered teenagers casting spells with increasing fervour, Harry was quietly glad that this was the last time he'd have to do it. Teaching had been fun, but trying to sneak everyone in and out of the Chamber once a week was exhausting; there was so much more at stake if he got caught with that, than there had been with the Room of Requirements. But exams were almost upon them, so they were holding one last session, just to cover anything anyone was alarmed about.
Harry let it go on until about half an hour before curfew, then wound everything down, wanting to make sure everyone had plenty of time to make it back to their common rooms safely.
"Before we all go," he said, rummaging through his bag, "I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to burn the contract." He pulled it out, holding it up for them all to see. Several people gasped.
"What? Why?"
"The last thing I want is any of you getting asked about learning a spell during your exam, and accidentally triggering the contract, wiping your memories in the middle of your practical," Harry pointed out. Many faces went green at the prospect. "If I burn it, the magic is ended. I think by now I can trust all of you not to say anything." With any luck, by the summer it wouldn't matter.
Then, he smirked. "Besides," he added, "if any of you did tell someone that I was sneaking you into the Chamber of Secrets to practice spells, they'd never believe you."
Laughs rang out, which turned into a cheer as Harry lit the contract on fire, the parchment turning to ash in front of him. "No matter what happens in your exams, I'm proud of each and every one of you," he declared firmly. "And I dearly hope you never have to use what you've learned this year in the real world, but… I'm glad you know it, just in case."
Embarrassingly, Ginny started up a cheer for Harry, thanking him for teaching them in the first place. He blushed, hurrying over to open the passage that would take them back up to the library. "Let's just get out of here," he muttered bashfully.
Safely back in Gryffindor Tower, Harry made his excuses and headed up to his dorm, intending to call Sirius. He hadn't spoken to his godfather in a little while, and probably wouldn't get the chance much once exams began.
"Hey, Padfoot," he greeted, and Sirius grinned back.
"Hi pup. How are you doing? All ready for exams?"
"I think so." He had a few things he wanted to go over, but for the most part he was confident. "I'm going to go over Runes and Arithmancy with Draco at the weekend, just to check I'm up to standard." Remus and Sirius had taught him well, but it had also been twenty years since they had taken their exams, and Harry wanted to be absolutely sure he hadn't missed anything on the curriculum.
"Good lad," Sirius approved, then smirked. "Just don't get too side-tracked, yeah?" he wiggled his eyebrows, but Harry just rolled his eyes.
"As if Draco would let me. He's in study-mode now, it's all business." There was a touch of annoyance to his tone, but he couldn't help it; his boyfriend wouldn't let anything more than light kissing happen, not wanting to be distracted so close to such important exams.
Though he had promised something great to make it up to Harry, after. But Sirius didn't need to know that.
They chatted a little about inconsequential things, and Harry slowly began to notice that his godfather seemed… out of sorts. "Is everything alright, Sirius?"
Sirius blinked like a deer in headlights. "What? Yeah, yeah. I just… I need to tell you something, actually."
Cold fear gripped Harry. "Who's been hurt? Is it Voldemort?"
Sirius' eyes widened. "What? No! Nothing like that," he assured quickly, and Harry slumped in relief. "Probably should've prefaced that it's nothing life-threatening or alarming."
"Yeah, probably," Harry agreed, trying to calm his racing heart. "What's up, then?"
Sirius bit his lip, and Harry watched him, perplexed. What was happening that was so difficult to say?
"Well, see, it's like this," Sirius began haltingly. "You might hear something, from someone else, and I want to make sure you know before any… rumours might get to you. Because I'm not trying to keep secrets. I just— you've had a lot on your plate lately, and I didn't want to add to that with my drama, mundane though it may be. But things are changing and I just don't want you thinking I was trying to hide it from you."
"Padfoot, just spit it out," Harry urged, wondering what could have his godfather so tied up in knots.
"I'm dating Charlie," came the blurted response. Harry blinked. And blinked again.
"Charlie Weasley?" he echoed. Sirius nodded. "Oh. Wow. Okay, then." That was unexpected. "And that's… a new thing, then?"
"Sort-of. Not really. It's complicated." Sirius ran a hand through his hair. "But for various secret reasons I'm not allowed to tell you yet, he might end up moving in with me here at Grimmauld, which means Molly will probably find out soon, and I wanted you to know before she does." He grimaced ruefully. "So that when you start to hear about how I've corrupted and defiled her precious baby boy, you know what it's about."
"God, yeah, that is not going to be pretty when she hears about it," Harry said with a wince. "But he's at the stage of moving in already?" How long had that been going on?
Harry raked back through his memories over Christmas, and suddenly certain things were making a whole lot more sense. "How— I mean, you say complicated… you're happy, right?"
The blinding force of Sirius' grin was like a punch to the chest. "So happy, pup," he assured. "Charlie… he's brilliant, really."
"Yeah, Charlie's great." Harry liked the dragon tamer a lot. He just hadn't expected the redhead to start dating his godfather. "Blimey, if only I'd known this would happen when I asked him to keep an eye on you," he muttered to himself.
Then again, thinking back to Bill's reaction to such a request, perhaps Harry should have known, even then.
"What?"
"Nothing," Harry dismissed. "You know I'm going to want the full story, right? All the complicated bits and everything." Then he paused, making a face. "But, uh, none of the corruption and defiling, please, if you don't mind." He might have had a tiny fleeting crush on Charlie once, and Sirius was attractive enough, but they were family and Harry did not need those mental images, thank you very much.
Sirius' cheeks pinked, though he was still grinning. "I'll tell you all about it after your exams," he promised.
"Deal." Then Harry smirked, every bit a Marauder. "You're in for so much teasing. After all the shit you gave me about Draco."
"But pup! I'm your godfather!" Sirius yelped indignantly, making Harry laugh.
"Exactly; godson's prerogative to be a little shit," he retorted in glee. "Especially since it's Charlie. Got yourself a handsome boy-toy, haven't you?"
The blush on Sirius' face flared brighter. "You think my boyfriend's handsome?" he returned instead. Harry raised an eyebrow.
"I have eyes," he pointed out dryly. "And it is very weird to hear you call Charlie your boyfriend. But in a good way!" he added hastily, when Sirius' face began to fall. "It's good. A surprise, but good. I… you didn't seem like you wanted to date again, for a long time." Every time Harry had brought it up, even jokingly, Sirius had changed the subject.
The animagus let out a slow breath. "I didn't, really. S'why it got complicated. And why it took so long to figure things out. But I'm glad Charlie talked me round."
Harry was so very desperate to hear that whole story, but Sirius was right; they didn't have time for that right now.
"Well I'm happy for you," he declared, grinning. "And Charlie. I'll be happier when I'm home and get to tease you both, but this'll do for now." He winked, and Sirius barked out a laugh. "Will he come home with us? To Seren Du?" Would Harry even get to go to Seren Du this summer, or would he be sent straight to Grimmauld?
Sirius ran a hand through his hair, shrugging. "Honestly, pup, fuck knows what's happening this summer. We'll get there when we get there. But considering Molly might be ready to murder me once she finds out, I'd say there's a high chance of Charlie coming to Seren Du with us."
"Fair point," Harry agreed with a smirk. "Well, the more the merrier." Having Charlie around would be great. He would finally have someone who could fly seeker against him, other than Draco's birthday visits.
Besides; anyone who could put that smile on Sirius' face was someone Harry wanted around as much as possible.
.-.-.
Finally, the time had come.
OWLs were upon them.
Harry largely kept to himself in the few days before; everyone was stressed out enormously, liable to snap at the slightest provokation, especially in Gryffindor with all those volatile tempers. Hermione was known to start hexing anyone who interrupted her revision time — when she wasn't busy confiscating every fake brain elixir and concentration booster making its way around the school.
Harry wondered why Umbridge seemed to care so much about reading mail in search of Dumbledore, but didn't seem to give a shit about people sneaking in banned substances prior to the exams. Clearly the Ministry's priorities were incredibly narrow.
On Sunday afternoon the examiners arrived. There was only a small handful of them; Harry had expected more, considering they had both OWL and NEWT students to examine. But, he supposed, students dropped quite a few subjects at NEWT level usually, so there were fewer to examine individually. The scheduling seemed a bit brutal to Harry, but who was he to judge? As long as he got to take his exams, he would be happy.
"You ready for this, then?" he asked Neville on Monday morning, as they forced themselves to eat as much breakfast as they could manage. Neville shrugged.
"Have to be, don't we?" he pointed out wryly. "I think I'm alright, though." Since getting his new wand, Neville's spellcasting had improved in leaps and bounds, and Harry was glad to see his friend's confidence rising. He hoped exam results would show Neville that he wasn't nearly as incapable as he thought he was.
"Good luck, boys," Ginny said, once it was time for her to go to class. She kissed Harry's cheek, then kissed Neville properly on the lips, leaving him flushed and smiling. "You'll do great."
"Thanks, Gin," Harry replied, since Neville seemed a bit too dazed to form words. The pair had been an official couple since the quidditch match, and were still firmly in the honeymoon phase, all starry-eyed at each other and holding hands whenever they could. It was adorable, and Harry wondered if half the reason they were so sappy was because the twins were no longer around to tease Ginny about it all.
Either way, he was glad to see them happy together, after so long dancing around and crossing wires so painfully.
The fifth and seventh years were booted out to wait in the Entrance Hall while the Great Hall was adjusted for exams, and then finally they were being sent into the hall to take their Charms exams, directed to single desks each marked with a name in alphabetical order. Harry gave Neville a fleeting squeeze on the shoulder, then moved to sit at his desk between Sally-Anne Perks and Oliver Rivers from Hufflepuff. All the seventh years were at the back of the hall with their NEWT papers.
As he waited, watching the examiners stroll the aisles to double check no one was trying to hide any contraband, Harry was struck with the sudden fear that he had forgotten everything he had ever learned in Charms.
Then he was given permission to turn over his paper, and skimmed his eyes over the first few questions. He grinned to himself.
Yeah, this wasn't so bad.
.-.
The Charms practical in the afternoon went as smoothly as he thought the theory had gone in the morning; they were called up in groups of four and sent to the nearest available examiner, which meant that as Harry was starting his exam, Draco was just finishing his own. Harry tried not to watch him too hard, but he still had pride welling in his chest as Draco offered a small bow to Professor Marchbanks, who congratulated him on his performance.
"I think the rest will be less scary, now we know what they're like," Neville said to Ginny that evening in the common room, while all the fifth and seventh years were gathered trying to cram as much last-minute Transfiguration knowledge into their heads as possible. It was a point of pride for Gryffindor house, being their housemistress' subject, and no one wanted to let her down by doing anything less than their best. Some of the fourth and sixth years with friends or partners taking exams, like Ginny, had volunteered themselves to be quizmasters, shooting off questions from textbooks or hand-written revision cards.
On Wednesday it was Neville's time to shine with their Herbology exams, and as they were waiting in the Entrance Hall before the written exam the Gryffindor boy was being peppered with questions from students of all houses — and even a few of the NEWT students, too. Harry imagined it was something of a relief for the blond boy when they were called in to sit at their desks.
Then he got to see exactly what it was like for Neville the next day, because it was time for Defence Against the Dark Arts.
"Harry, remind me which spells can't be blocked by Protego?"
"Help, I've forgotten all the things you need to subdue a redcap!"
"Can you go over the counter to the Jelly-Legs jinx one more time, Harry?"
He almost shouted in joy when the doors opened and they immediately went silent, filing into the hall. Harry did his best to offer a reassuring look to every member of the HA — they all knew their stuff. They would be fine.
He hoped.
He himself breezed through the paper, enjoying going into more detail on some subjects than the examiners would likely expect. When he dared glance around the hall, he saw plenty of his friends looking calm and focused as they wrote furiously — and Hermione Granger biting her fingernails, already having twice requested extra parchment, as she had in both the previous exams as well. Was she even making it to the end of the questions, over-answering like that? It would be interesting to see her results.
It was the DADA practical he was actually looking forward to; as much as a person could look forward to an exam, at least. The proud feeling returned as he watched both Parvati and Padma perform exemplary Stunning and Disarming charms in their exams, and as Harry went through each spell as instructed, he could see Professor Tofty's bushy eyebrows rise higher and higher, clearly impressed.
It was even better to see Umbridge watching with thinly-veiled anger as the students she'd kept from performing magic all year showed off all those spells with the accuracy of clear practice.
"Well done, Mr Potter!" Tofty crowed in delight. "Now, that's everything I need to see from you… however," he leaned in a little closer, "I have heard among the rumour mill that you, Mr Potter, can produce a Patronus. Perhaps, for a bonus point…?" He trailed off hopefully, and Harry grinned, raising his wand.
"Expecto Patronum!"
Everyone in the room halted in astonishment as the huge silver stag galloped around the room. Other members of the HA might be able to do a Patronus as well, but none of them were as solid and impressive as Harry's — and none of them would likely be asked to perform it in their exam.
If looks could kill, Harry would be dead from the glare Umbridge sent his way. He made sure to smile extra wide at her on his way out.
.-.
Friday's exam day was the one Harry had been quietly anticipating; the Ancient Runes exam. There was just the one written exam, with no practical; the afternoon would be taken up by the Muggle Studies exam.
All the students who had not chosen Runes as an elective eagerly left the hall at breakfast, keen to get in a day of relaxation — or of more revision for the exams to come. Harry waited with the small group of Runes students, hands in his pockets as he mentally went over his notes.
It took several minutes for Hermione to notice him. "Harry, what are you doing?" she asked, and he shrugged.
"Waiting for the exam?"
"But you don't take Ancient Runes," she said rudely. Harry nodded.
"I know. I've self-studied."
The very concept seemed to outrage the girl, and just as she was gearing up for what would no doubt be a very impressive rant, the door opened. Hermione wheeled around instantly. "Professor Marchbanks!" she called. "Harry says he's taking the exam but he's not in Ancient Runes class, he can't do that! You must tell him he's got it wrong."
Professor Marchbanks frowned faintly, then looked down at the parchment in her hand, one gnarled finger trailing down the list of names. "Potter…Potter… yes, there he is! Potter, Harry. He registered his intent with the Ministry, young lady. He's as much of a right to this exam as you do. Come on, in you go, all of you!"
"But—but— that's not fair! He isn't in the class!"
No one listened to Hermione's protests, filing past her to enter the hall. As Harry walked past, she grabbed his sleeve. "You're going to fail, Harry. You shouldn't do this. It'll look bad on your record."
"I think that's my problem, not yours, don't you?" he replied neutrally, tugging his sleeve free and carrying on to his desk.
It was incredibly satisfying watching Hermione try and look back at him without getting scolded by the examiners, as if she expected to see him staring blankly at his paper or having a breakdown over all the things he didn't know. On the contrary, Harry was fairly confident with how he did in the exam; between Remus and all his friends helping him — and Draco, of course — Harry faced no surprises in the paper.
Hermione was probably going to regret paying more attention to his progress than her own, though.
He left the exam with a smile on his face, which widened when Hermione just glared at him and stormed off. "Oh, you have upset her, haven't you?" Blaise remarked in amusement as he and Daphne appeared at Harry's side. "You'd think in all her supreme knowledge she'd have learned it's fairly common for students to self-study for elective exams."
Harry knew there were at least ten muggleborn and muggle-raised students signed up for the Muggle Studies exam just for an easy O, despite never having taken the class. He had thought about it himself, but ultimately couldn't be bothered.
"One day she'll realise that she can only control her own education, not everyone else's," Harry said. Daphne laughed.
"She hasn't even been controlling her own very well. You should've seen her in her Defence practical; some of the shakiest wandwork I've seen in ages."
Harry did feel the tiniest pang of regret, but he forced it away; it wasn't his fault Hermione wasn't trustworthy enough to invite to the HA. It wasn't his responsibility to educate all his yearmates. She was perfectly capable of practicing the spells in secret, just like everyone else in the school; not only the ones Harry was teaching. But Hermione had always been more capable with the theory than the practical. Spells — especially combat spells — were often about intuition, and she struggled with that sort of fluidity that didn't come out of a textbook.
His thoughts were interrupted by Luna skipping towards them, rocking up on her toes to press a kiss to Daphne's lips. "Your exams went well." It was a statement, not a question, and Daphne smiled — at least, the closest she got to smiling in public.
"Did they? Oh, good."
In Luna's wake came Ginny and Neville, holding hands. "Great, you're all done, I'm starving," Ginny declared, nudging Harry towards the doors as they reopened, the hall set for lunch once more.
With Umbridge's stupid Educational Decree in place they couldn't all sit together, so they bid goodbye to their Slytherin friends and found a spot where Luna could sit at Ravenclaw and still be within conversation distance of the Gryffindors at their own table.
"I'm not letting you spend all weekend with your head buried in Potions books, Nev," Ginny insisted, happily scooting up the table to make room for Parvati and Lavender on her other side.
"Oh, Neville, don't torture yourself like that," Parvati agreed. "Your brain needs to rest."
"We'll be doing a bit of Divination revision tomorrow afternoon, though, if you both want to join us."
"That would be perfect, thanks," Harry said. It was solely down to the two girls that he thought he might actually get a decent passing grade in the subject.
Harry did do some revision over the weekend, though he wasn't hitting the books quite as hard as some. Incredibly, he managed to persuade Draco to sneak away with him to the Chamber on Sunday morning, cuddling up to the blond on their conjured sofa.
"If you don't know it now, you never will," he insisted, wandlessly banishing Draco's Arithmancy book across the room.
"Easy for you to say, Mr Powerhouse," Draco groused, watching after his book. Harry smirked, kissing him chastely.
"You're the brainbox of the two of us and we both know it. I've just got enough raw magic to get away with being sloppy." Draco raised an eyebrow.
"I'm sorry, but if you're trying to call me a nerd I will have to insist on holding up a mirror," he retorted. "You started doing Rune circles for fun the other week."
"It was more fun than memorising Potion ingredients!" Harry retorted. Then he shook his head. "Look, never mind; I don't want to spend the next hour arguing with you." As much as they both usually enjoyed arguing. "Come on, lie down with me. You haven't been sleeping," he accused knowingly. He could see the dark circles beneath Draco's eyes, no matter how many face creams and glamour charms the Slytherin used.
"I'm fine," Draco insisted, though he let Harry manhandle him to lie down on the sofa, the blond cradled between Harry's body and the back cushions. "I just… I really need to do well in these exams."
"You will," Harry assured, kissing his temple, tangling their legs together. "You'll do brilliantly. Your mum will be prouder than ever, and your father can go fuck himself regardless."
Draco snorted, arching his neck for a kiss. "No manners in you," he teased, making Harry grin.
"None at all," he agreed. "But I'm right and we both know it. So just relax, take a nap with me. I've got an alarm on my wand to wake us for lunch."
"Hmm," Draco murmured, though Harry could already feel him relaxing, inch by inch. "I suppose we can take a short break. I have all afternoon to study with Theo and the girls, after all."
"Exactly." Harry tucked his face into the warm hollow of Draco's neck, inhaling the faintly spicy scent of the boy's aftershave. Not that Draco needed to shave all that often, with such a baby-face and his pale blond hair. Not like Harry, whose chin-fuzz now needed taming at least three times a week to avoid embarrassingly patchy scruff all over his jaw.
"Do you know what you're doing for the summer yet?" Draco asked quietly. Harry hummed.
"Not a clue." They were mostly waiting to see what happened with Dumbledore and the Ministry. "You? Have you convinced your mum to move to Seren Du yet?"
"I wrote to her, but Umbridge is screening even our mail these days," Draco sighed. "I'll try again when I get home." His hand moved up to tangle in Harry's hair, stroking gently at the base of his skull. "It might be too dangerous to split so publicly from Father like that."
"No more dangerous than living with the fucking Dark Lord in your house," Harry pointed out. "Besides, with any luck I'll be at Seren Du, too. Don't you want to spend your summer with me?"
"That is a tempting prospect," Draco agreed. He turned his head ever so slightly, lips brushing Harry's head. "I'll try, that's all I can promise."
Harry made a vague noise of agreement; his mind was already on the prospect of having his boyfriend live with him all summer. Playing quidditch together, swimming in the pool together… and all those hidden little corners of the manor they could use to escape their guardians and get up to fun things. Not that he thought any of their guardians would truly mind them getting up to anything in their bedrooms, after dating for so long. No one could become pregnant by accident, after all.
Harry's belly warmed at the thought of being with Draco in that way; they hadn't gone so far yet, happy getting more familiar with just their hands and mouths — but fingers had been wandering in that direction more and more, and maybe with a whole summer ahead of them they would have the time to… explore.
"Whatever you're thinking about, stop it," Draco drawled, amused. "I can feel you getting hard — this is supposed to be nap time, you randy bastard."
"Sorry," Harry replied unrepentantly, kissing Draco's neck. "Saving it all for after exams, yeah?" It was getting a bit frustrating, having to masturbate every night after his stupid teenage libido got wound up just watching Draco across the Great Hall, but if Draco needed no sex to focus on his exams, then Harry would oblige.
"Hmm." Draco sounded considering. "I suppose we are halfway through… and it is supposed to be good for stress relief."
Harry tried not to get his hopes up, but the blood rapidly heading south had other ideas. Draco's hand trailed down to his backside, squeezing. "Go on, then," he relented, already shifting, and suddenly Harry could feel Draco's erection too. "Shame we've already done our Transfiguration exam," the Slytherin murmured, meeting Harry in a kiss. "This would be great practice for Vanishing spells."
Harry smirked, grabbed his wand, and with a short movement they were both entirely naked. "Let's call it early practice for NEWTs."
Draco laughed, which rapidly turned into a moan, the sound shooting straight to Harry's cock.
Yes, this was exactly what they both needed to get them through their exams.
.-.-.-.
Walking out of his Potions practical exam, Harry silently made a note to buy an enormous amount of chocolate for Remus Lupin at his next earliest convenience. If the werewolf had not been in love with Snape, then Snape would not have been so willing to tutor Harry in the summers, and Harry would not have done nearly as well as he thought he had. He could get a present for Snape, of course, but he had already given the man the remains of a sixty-foot basilisk and free access to Salazar Slytherin's private library. Those counted as a pre-emptive thanks for the O he thought he had maybe achieved.
He hoped he had. He wanted Snape to be proud of him, to see that his efforts with Harry had not gone to waste.
"And now I never have to study Potions again," Neville declared joyfully, and Harry laughed.
"Congrats!" He clapped his friend on the back. "Bet you passed, though." Neville had started improving in Potions when he learned to look at it from a Herbology perspective. And he didn't make nearly as many mistakes when Snape wasn't in the room.
"To be honest, I could've gotten a Troll and I wouldn't care at this point. I'm just glad it's over."
Tuesday's Care of Magical Creatures exam was one that just about every student was determined to do well in, if only to spite Umbridge. She would just love to see all of Hagrid's students fail, and they weren't going to give her the satisfaction.
Wednesday was the toughest exam day yet for Harry; Divination in the morning, Arithmancy in the afternoon, and then at night they had their Astronomy exam.
He added Parvati and Lavender to the 'must buy chocolate for' list; the Divination exam was much less gruelling than he'd expected, and he knew it was down to them.
"Thank you, both of you," he said emphatically at lunch, and they giggled.
"It's what friends are for," Parvati insisted. "I'm pretty sure I would've barely scraped an A in Defence without you, so we'll call it even."
Harry was still going to buy them something nice.
The crowd waiting for the Arithmancy exam after lunch was much smaller than average, with few students willing to take such a complex elective, and as such Hermione spotted Harry almost immediately.
"No," she declared flatly, staring at him. "You— you can't. This is Arithmancy!"
Hermione was the only Gryffindor fifth year taking Arithmancy classes, and all weekend she had been biting off peoples' heads for suggesting that the toughest exams were out of the way, because of course Arithmancy was going to be impossible. "Self-study," Harry explained with a shrug, hiding his smile behind a neutral facade.
"Leave it, Granger," Anthony Goldstein cut in, rolling his eyes. "If Potter wants to fail exams, it's none of your business." But then, when Hermione wasn't looking, he winked in Harry's direction. Anthony, along with Draco, had been Harry's main tutor in the subject during school time, and he had told Harry himself he was capable of getting an E at least.
Hermione glared at Harry right up until the examiners let them in, and then glared at Marchbanks when she made no move to eject him from the hall.
Harry desperately hoped he got Os in both Runes and Arithmancy, just to rub it in her self-righteous face.
After dinner, some of the Gryffindors chose to revise for their Astronomy exam, but Harry decided to take a nap instead. Sirius had quizzed him over the weekend — all Blacks did well in Astronomy, apparently, and he would make damned sure Harry did too — so after two difficult exam papers already written he'd much rather get some restful sleep before needing to write another. There were only so many constellation and moon names he could cram into his head.
The whole year group went up to the Astronomy Tower at eleven o'clock, and set up their telescopes ready to observe the cloudless sky. It was a good night for it — a full moon, bathing them in bright silver light.
Had Remus had to take exams on full moon days, he wondered? That sounded awful.
Professor Marchbanks bid them to start, and Harry reached for the blank star chart he was supposed to fill out, carefully angling his telescope.
It was surprisingly peaceful, working away up there with no noise but the rustle of parchment and scratch of quills, the occasional squeak of a telescope being adjusted. Harry thought he was doing quite well with his chart — and then he noticed the light spill onto the lawn, and several long shadows stretch onto the grass.
Ever curious, he couldn't tear himself away from the group of six figures walking across the grounds. He recognised the walk of the leader of the group; the shortest, squattest member of the group. Dread filled his stomach. They were headed to Hagrid's hut.
He tried to focus back on his star chart, which was three quarters of the way finished. He had to fill it, even if he didn't use his extra time to go back and double-check. He heard a faint knock, and the muffled barking of a dog. He pressed his face closer to his telescope, blocking the sounds from his head, ignoring the light turn on in Hagrid's window.
Suddenly, a loud roar echoed through the night air, and Harry was no longer the only one staring at Hagrid's hut instead of the starry sky.
Tofty and Marchbanks tried to keep them focused on their exams, but even they were astonished when spells began to fly.
"Look!" Parvati squealed, pointing to another dark shadow approaching the chaos from the castle doors.
"How dare you!" the figure yelled, in a familiar Scottish brogue. "How dare you!"
McGonagall scolded the aurors, brandishing her wand — and was cut off mid-sentence by four bright red Stunners hitting her all at once. It blasted her back, illuminating her body for a moment, and then she hit the ground hard and did not move again.
"Galloping gargoyles!" Tofty exclaimed, giving up on the exam entirely. He sounded outraged, and Harry was right there with them, his heart in his throat as he watched Hagrid snap, his huge fists flying. Umbridge kept screaming at the aurors, but they weren't stupid enough to pick a physical fight with an angry half-giant, and with the unconscious Fang slung over his shoulders, Hagrid sprinted for the gates, and disappeared.
A tense silence fell. No one moved. Then, Tofty coughed. "Um, five minutes left, everyone."
Harry gave his mostly-full star chart a cursory look over, but his attention was mainly focused on McGonagall's unconscious form on the grass below. Umbridge walked straight past her, and Harry's chest burned with hatred for the woman, magic rising in his palms. Oh, the spells he wished to cast on that foul toad.
At least the aurors seemed to have a scrap of decency left — or shame, more likely, as they huddled around McGonagall and carried her back up to the castle.
Marchbanks called time, and Harry handed his star chart over, hurrying down the tower steps.
"Harry, where are you going?" Neville called, hurrying after him. Harry glanced back.
"Hospital Wing," he replied shortly, not slowing down. He wanted to check Professor McGonagall was alright.
He wanted to check the aurors had actually taken her to get help.
Some other Gryffindors clearly thought he had the right idea; Harry heard several sets of footsteps trailing him. He burst through the Hospital Wing doors, making Madam Pomfrey jump.
"Potter! And— good heavens!" she exclaimed at the small crowd of students in his wake. "It's half past one in the morning, what are you all doing out of bed?"
"Is Professor McGonagall alright?" Harry asked urgently. "We saw the whole thing. Astronomy exam," he explained. Pomfrey's mouth thinned severely.
"She's stable for now, but I'm calling a transfer to St Mungo's first thing in the morning if she can handle the move," she explained. Harry looked past her, seeing one bed with curtains up around it. "Four Stunning spells right to the chest, at her age? She's lucky it didn't kill her."
Harry heard two gasps behind him that sounded like Lavender and Parvati.
"Will she be okay?" he asked, hating how his voice cracked ever so slightly around the lump in his throat. Pomfrey's expression softened.
"The healers will do everything they can," she promised. "And Minerva is nothing if not stubborn. There's plenty of life in her yet, I'd wager."
It wasn't as reassuring as Harry would have liked.
"What about the aurors?" Ron asked loudly, and Pomfrey's eyes hardened once more.
"Claimed it was self defence, and will not be facing charges," she said tersely.
"But that's codswallop!" Neville blurted.
"You'd best not say such things where our headmistress can hear you, Mr Longbottom," Pomfrey reprimanded. But the look on her face said she agreed with him. "Now, off to bed with you. You've an exam tomorrow, all of you."
There was nothing any of them could do, so the group of morose Gryffindors headed back to their common room.
It turned out the whole fight had been visible from the Tower, too, so the common room was full of people in pyjamas all desperate to know what had happened. They explained the story, finishing with the news that their head of house was in dire condition and being moved to hospital shortly. That sent tempers rising, and it was four in the morning before the common room cleared out.
If Harry were Umbridge, he would be fearing for his life right about now, because a tower full of furious Gryffindors was not a good enemy to have. Just because two year groups had not yet finished their exams did not mean retribution would not come. Ginny certainly had plenty of ideas.
Harry slept through breakfast, taking advantage of Dobby's kindness to have bacon and eggs in his dorm at around ten. He had no desire to face the rest of the school and look at Umbridge's smug face as she explained away Professor McGonagall's absence, like the whole school wasn't aware what really happened. He went down for lunch, though, and at two o'clock he and the other exam candidates filed in to the Great Hall for the final OWL exam; History of Magic.
Harry could tell which students had chosen revision over sleep, just by looking around. Indeed, it seemed cruel to have exams the day after the late night Astronomy exam; shouldn't that have waited until the end?
If Harry had been writing the schedule, he also wouldn't have put the most boring subject at the very end, when all the students were too strung-out to properly care. Or perhaps that was the point; they knew no one really gave a damn about their History of Magic result, so they saved the exam until last so students could blame low grades on burn-out rather than lack of study or interest.
He was definitely one of the students who couldn't give two shits, but he tried his best nonetheless. He wrote everything he could remember, everything he'd tried to pour into his head in study sessions because Binns was utterly useless, but clearly he did not get enough sleep because a drowsy headache began to brew at his temples, blurring his vision.
Gritting his teeth, Harry pushed past it. He just had to get through this one exam, and then he was done. Then he could pass out for a week if he wanted to.
His words came slower, like writing through treacle. All around him the constant scratch of quills began to grate on his sensitive ears, turning into one long discordant hum that made his brain itch. He squeezed his eyes shut, putting his face in his hands for just a moment. Concentrate, Potter, he thought to himself, trying to visualise the timeline he and Susan had written out together.
His head ached harder. His vision swam, so he closed his eyes again.
And suddenly he was in a long, dark, familiar corridor.
Harry's heart sank. Oh. Of course.
It was about that time of year, after all.
He was a passenger in his own mind as he hurried down the corridor, heading through the door and into the circular room, then through a second door to a room dancing with bright lights. Onwards he went, a destination in mind — rows and rows of glass orbs, but he only needed one. At the end of the row was a black mass; a figure slumped on the floor. Harry's own arm raising a wand, casting magic that made the man on the floor scream in pain.
A scream Harry knew.
Sirius Black raised his head defiantly, spitting on the ground at Harry's — Voldemort's — feet. Daring the Dark Lord to do his worst. Harry felt the pleasure that drew in Voldemort's chest; he did so enjoy making people scream.
And scream Sirius did, his voice ringing in Harry's ears. But then someone else screamed, too — Harry was screaming, back in his own body, and he returned abruptly as he fell out of his seat and onto the cold stone floor, still screaming, his scar burning.
He gasped in a sharp breath, and realised there was someone stood over him; Professor Tofty, eyeing him in concern.
"I'm fine," Harry rasped, his throat sore from screaming.
"Really, my boy, I must insist you go to the Hospital Wing," the examiner pressed, helping Harry to his feet with surprising strength for such a frail frame. Harry looked around; the exam was ongoing, but everyone was staring at him. How long had he been screaming for? How hard had they tried to snap him out of it?
There had been enough rumours about him floating around the school in the past two years that Harry bet most of them could guess what had just happened, whether they believed it or not. He met Neville's worried gaze, and looked away.
Tofty gently corralled him out to the Entrance Hall, assuring him that exam pressure could happen to anyone, and if he perhaps had a drink of water and a quiet sit down he might be able to go back in just to round off his last answer.
"No, I've done all I can, thanks," Harry assured; his History grade was the last thing on his mind, now. "I think — I'm just going to go back to bed, if that's alright?"
"Of course, of course! I'll go collect your examination paper. I do hope you feel better, Mr Potter." With a pat on the arm, Tofty left him to it, and as soon as the old man was gone Harry was sprinting for the stairs. He had a mirror to check.