Endeavor

Chapter 11

        As the days crept by, and there could be no doubt that Fluffy was still alive and well behind the locked door.

        It was sweltering hot, especially in the large classroom where we did our written papers. We had been given special, new quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an Anticheating spell.

        We had practical exams as well. Professor Flitwick called us one by one into his class to see if we could make a pineapple tapdance across a desk. Professor McGonagall watched us turn a mouse into a snuffbox -- points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was, but taken away if it had whiskers. Snape made us all nervous, breathing down our necks while we tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness potion.

        I did the best I could, I had been distracted and worried by Harry. His scar has been bothering him since our trip into the forest. He also hadn't been sleeping well, he told me he kept being woken by his old nightmare, except that it was now worse than ever because there was a hooded figure dripping blood in it.

        Maybe it was because they hadn't seen what Harry and I had seen in the forest, or because they didn't have scars burning on their foreheads, but Ron and Hermione didn't seem as worried about the Stone as Harry and I. The idea of You-Know-Who certainly scared them, and we were so busy with our studying we didn't have much time to fret about what Snape or anyone else might be up to.

        Our very last exam was History of Magic. One hour of answering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented selfstirring cauldrons and we'd be free, free for a whole wonderful week until our exam results came out. When the ghost of Professor Binns told us to put down our quills and roll up our parchment, I couldn't help cheering with the rest.

        "That was far easier than I thought it would be," Hermione said as we joined the crowds flocking out onto the sunny grounds. "I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager."

        Hermione always liked to go through our exam papers afterward, but Ron said this made him feel ill, so we wandered down to the lake and flopped under a tree. The Weasley twins and Lee Jordan were tickling the tentacles of a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows.

        "No more studying," Ron sighed happily, stretching out on the grass. "You two could look more cheerful, Esme, Harry, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet."

        Harry was rubbing his forehead.

        "I wish I knew what this means!" he burst out angrily. "My scar keeps hurting -- it's happened before, but never as often as this."

        "Go to Madam Pomfrey," Hermione suggested.

        "I'm not ill," Harry said. "I think it's a warning... it means danger's coming..."

        Ron couldn't get worked up, it was too hot.

        "Harry, relax, Hermione's right, the Stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not going to try it again in a hurry. And Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down."

        Harry nodded, but he couldn't shake off a lurking feeling that there was something he'd forgotten to do, something important. When he tried to explain this, Hermione said, "That's just the exams. I woke up last night and was halfway through my Transfiguration notes before I remembered we'd done that one."