Eleanor Snape- Book 3

What If...

There was no way any 5th Year student in the school was more calm than I was when O.W.L.s came along, except maybe Gregory. the morning of the first day, Charms, everyone in the Common Room was freaking out. Instead of being down at breakfast, almost everyone was still there studying. I went over to our table. Draco was moving his wand in various directions, practicing spell movements. Pansy was murmuring charms to herself. Like always, Vincent's nose was stuck in a book, with his attention so focused that he couldn't notice Gregory whining.

"But I'm sooo hungry!" Goyle leaned back, sliding down in his chair and placing his hands on his stomach. "Can we please go to breakfast?" Vincent ignored him and kept on reading. 

I, on the other hand, agreed with Gregory. My stomach was growling. For some reason I had suddenly become extra hungry during the last two weeks. I felt as if I were always snacking on something.

"Ellie, do you want to go to breakfast?" Gregory quickly looked up at me. 

"Of course." I reached over the table and he grabbed my hand, using it to pull himself up and almost pull me over. I made a mental note to work on my strengthening myself over the summer. "I'm going to go ahead." I took the book out of Vincent's hand, making him notice me at last. 

"Huh?" Shocked, he looked up at me. "Oh, breakfast. Okay. I'll meet you with you later..." He took the book back from me and opened it up to where he had been.

"Is anyone else coming?" I questioned the others. Not that I wanted them to go, but I thought I would ask just to be sure.

"No..." Draco sighed, looking distracted. I shrugged and followed Gregory, who was already at the door.

"Ellie! Come on!" He beckoned.

"I am." I playfully pushed him out of my way. We stayed quiet as we hurriedly went to the Great Hall. As we ate, we discussed how useless we thought O.W.L.s were while we waited for the rest of them to get there...

They never did.

.............................................................

The first day we had Charms. The next, Herbology. Both days I felt I did pretty well. On Thursday was Defense Against the Dark Arts. I felt a bit of pressure, because I felt like I had something to prove, but  by the end of the theory exam I was completely calm, and pretty sure I did better then the first two days.

The worst was Potions. I was very sure that the only questions I had gotten correct were the ones on Cure for Boil, if that. The practice exam was even worse. My potion blew up fifteen minutes into it. The examiner assured me that I did fine, but I knew she was lying. I'd be lucky to get anything above a 'T'.

The next day was Care of Magical Creatures. Then I had two exams the day after that; Astronomy and Arithmacy. The two things I was great at. That morning I had the Astronomy Theory exam, which I went through with flying colors. I even finished at least thirty minutes before everyone else. After lunch, I had to take the Arithmacy exam, where I also finished easily.

Afterward, I went down into the Common Room with Vincent, who had also  taken the class. We didn't have to take the Practice Astronomy exam until that night, so we had some time to kill.

Instead of sitting at out table, we sat on the sofa in front of the fireplace. that is, after we ran off the two third years who were snogging on it.

We took in the warmth of the cackling fire, trying to relax. Vincent was finally calming down now that he only had a couple of exams left, and since he felt pretty good about the others he had taken. He put his arm around me.