Reading the books- Marauders era

The Chamber of Secrets

"The Chamber of Secrets," 

"The pieces are going to fall in their places," Fleamont said mysteriously.

"All those times we were in that bathroom, and she was just three toilets away," said Ron bitterly at breakfast next day, "and we could've asked her, and now . . ."

It had been hard enough trying to look for spiders. Escaping their teachers long enough to sneak into a girls' bathroom, the girls' bathroom, moreover, right next to the scene of the first attack, was going to be almost impossible.

But something happened in their first lesson, Transfiguration, that drove the Chamber of Secrets out of their minds for the first time in weeks. Ten minutes into the class, Professor McGonagall told them that their exams would start on the first of June, one week from today.

"Exams?" Lily shrieked. "At that time?"

"That's unfair!" Sirius added.

"No one cares if it's fair or not," the Divinations Professor grumbled. "They would have exams even if You-Know-Who is going to attack in a few minutes."

"Exams?" howled Seamus Finnigan. "We're still getting exams?"

There was a loud bang behind Harry as Neville Longbottom's wand slipped, vanishing one of the legs on his desk. Professor McGonagall restored it with a wave of her own wand, and turned, frowning, to Seamus.

"The whole point of keeping the school open at this time is for you to receive your education," she said sternly.

"Oh," Barty said with wide eyes, "I thought it was for letting more people be petrified."

Offended, McGonagall narrowed her eyes at him, until they were formed into slits. She left it at that.

"The exams will therefore take place as usual, and I trust you are all studying hard."

"Who studies hard during the time of crisis?" Sirius complained. "Even the mightiest swot, Hermione, wouldn't be studying."

"Agreed," Peter added, nodding.

Studying hard! It had never occurred to Harry that there would be exams with the castle in this state. There was a great deal of mutinous muttering around the room, which made Professor McGonagall scowl even more darkly.

"Professor Dumbledore's instructions were to keep the school running as normally as possible," she said. "And that, I need hardly point out, means finding out how much you have learned this year."

"Nothing useful for exams," Hermione muttered under her breath.

"See?" Sirius pointed at the book and looked at McGonagall imploringly. "Even Mione didn't study anything for exams."

McGonagall raised her eyebrows, silently observing her student who was giving her puppy eyes (pun intended). She decided to voice out the question nagging her mind from the past, very long fifty seconds.

"Why are you so adamant about canceling their exams, Mr Black?"

Sirius rolled his eyes in a 'this should be obvious' gesture.

"Because if their exams aren't cancelled, then how can we expect our exams to cancel when we go and fight Moldy-shorts?" He said. "Imagine coming back from defeating the darkest wizards of all time, being all macho and savage, but then your headmaster and teachers hand you a parchment and quill and make you write the exam. The worse thing is, you can't even decline because the Ministry judges us on our grades, and since I want a job in Ministry of Magic, I will surely have to do the frustrating thing called exams!"