Miss Quinn

180 ~ Summertime

If there was one thing Emma needed after the events of her sixth year, it was a week of rest and recuperation. So she spent the first week back at the Quinn-Tyler house doing just that: sleeping in, reading books, going on runs through the woods, and hacking away at the wooden dummies James had put together for her. Her step father had taken the news of her godly parentage surprisingly well, for someone with no prior belief in any sort of old world mythology. And he'd been awed, to say the least, the first time he saw Emma practice in the yard.

Beatrice's face had shone with pride all through dinner that night, though Emma wasn't sure if it was due to James's reaction or Emma's skill. After all, it had been the first time in years that Beatrice herself had seen Emma fight. And she'd come a long way from that first arrow at Christmas when she was eleven.

Venus spent most of her time at Fred and George's shop in Diagon Alley, where George had given her a part-time job for the summer. Was it an excuse for the two of them to spend more time together? Absolutely. But did either of their parents care? Not in the slightest. After all, Venus and George hadn't spent any great deal of time together since last summer, and at least she was doing something productive. Emma thought her sister rather needed a change of scenery. Plus, being with George always made her happier, and maybe he'd be able to help her through this depressive state she'd sunk into.

The second weekend home, Emma took a trip to the Ministry of Magic, where the postponed NEWT exams were being held. She hadn't studied much in her week home, nor had she and the Trespiers revised in the last week of school. But as a Potions prodigy, how difficult could the NEWT Potions exam be, really?

She'd been sent instructions to enter the Ministry through the visitor's entrance, a phone booth she thankfully had experience with. As she closed its door behind her, still feeling the effects of her apparition into London, she recalled her last adventure into the Ministry, when she and her friends had gone to save Sirius from Voldemort, or so they all thought. She shivered involuntarily, and moved to dial the numbers corresponding to the word MAGIC.

A voice echoed through the phone booth, asking her to say her name and business at the Ministry.

"Emma Quinn, NEWT exam."

A click, and a badge slid out of the coin return. She clipped it to her shirt as the phone booth sank into the ground.

The Ministry was a lot more crowded than it had been the last time she'd set foot inside. And by that she meant there were actually people in the Atrium. She imagined it was much more crowded on a weekday when witches and wizards arrived for work.

She got her wand weighed and examined, and was directed to where her test would be: first, the written portion in a large room on level 6, then the brewing portion after an hour break in the same room. Level 6 was where the Department of Magical Transportation was held, but Emma supposed it was the only available location for the NEWT exams, seeing as most of the Ministry held offices and not testing centers.

Since Emma had arrived thirty minutes early, she took her time finding the testing room. It felt a bit strange, wandering around the Ministry without the rush of adrenaline and fear for others that had accompanied her last June. She wondered where Beatrice and James's offices were, if they met up for lunch, who they talked to. How had she never asked those sorts of questions? She felt like she barely knew anything about her mum and step-dad at all. At least not the public parts of them.

Eventually, she found a group of students waiting in the corridor outside the testing room. According to the Trespier twins, there were only fourteen students taking the NEWT Potions Exam, so along with Emma, that made fifteen. Cadmus and Orion weren't there yet, so Emma found a spot against the wall and pulled her copy of Advanced Potions out of her bag to review a couple of the more complicated Potions.