A Broken Inheritance

Chapter 20: The Looming Shadow of Summer

"Mate, it's the O.W.L.s," Sirius said with a shrug. "Not a duel to the death. You'll be fine."

Remus, across the table, raised an eyebrow as he sipped his tea. "Easy for you to say. You're not the one who spent the last week panicking about Potions."

"Potions is stupid anyway," Sirius said, leaning back in his chair. "If you don't blow up your cauldron, they should just give you a pass."

James groaned, shoving a piece of toast into his mouth to stop himself from snapping at his friend. "I need an Outstanding, not a pass." His nerves were bad enough without Sirius's nonchalance making it worse.

Across the hall, the Slytherin table was equally subdued, though their silence carried an air of grim determination rather than panic. Anastasia sat with her usual composure, her black hair gleaming in the morning light and her hands resting calmly on the table as she sipped from a goblet of water.

Lucius, seated beside her, leaned in with a smirk. "Are you ready to show the rest of Hogwarts how it's done?" he asked, his voice low and confident.

Anastasia didn't reply immediately, her eyes flicking briefly toward the Gryffindor table. "I don't need to show anything," she said finally, her tone clipped. "I just need to finish and move on."

Lucius raised an eyebrow but didn't press further, instead turning back to Narcissa, who was reviewing a neat stack of notes.

When the students finally began to file out of the hall toward their first exam, James weaved through the crowd, his bag slung over one shoulder as he tried to tune out the muttered spells and nervous giggles.

As he rounded a corner, he almost collided with someone.

"Careful," came the cool, familiar voice of Anastasia Gaunt. She stood there, her black robes pristine and her expression calm, though her dark eyes flicked toward the crowd behind him with faint annoyance.

"Anastasia," James said, blinking in surprise. "Didn't see you there."

She arched a brow, clearly unimpressed. "Obviously."

James chuckled, running a hand through his perpetually messy hair. "Well, since we're here, good luck."

Her gaze sharpened slightly, as though she were trying to decide whether he was mocking her. "I don't need it," she said flatly.

James laughed again, the sound light and genuine. "I know you don't. It's just a polite thing to say."

Anastasia's lips twitched, though it wasn't quite a smile. "In that case, good luck to you," she said after a pause. "You might need it."

James grinned, his confidence returning in full force. "Oh, I definitely will," he said, winking as he stepped aside to let her pass. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Gaunt."

She rolled her eyes but didn't respond, walking toward the exam hall with her usual composed grace. James watched her go for a moment before Sirius clapped a hand on his shoulder, grinning. "Mate, if you don't stop looking at her like that, someone's going to think you've gone soft."

"Shut up," James muttered, though the smile lingering on his face didn't fade as they headed toward the examination hall.

The exams themselves were gruelling. The Great Hall was transformed into an examination room, the long tables spaced out to prevent cheating, with the eagle-eyed examiners pacing the aisles.

Charms was first, and James was relieved to find himself breezing through the practical portion. Transfiguration, however, was less forgiving, with Professor McGonagall's stern gaze adding an extra layer of pressure.

Anastasia, on the other hand, moved through her exams with quiet precision, her composure never wavering. Her wandwork in Charms was flawless, her Potions cauldron shimmered with textbook perfection, and even the most obscure questions in Defence Against the Dark Arts seemed to leave her unfazed.

***

James leaned against the wall outside the hall, his tie loosened and his hair sticking up in all directions. Sirius and Remus flanked him, both looking equally drained but relieved.

The relief in the castle was palpable. The sixth years spilled out of the hall in varying states of exhaustion, laughter and groans filling the air as they recounted their successes and failures.

"Done," Sirius said dramatically, throwing his arms in the air. "Finally free. No more bloody exams. Ever."

"You still have N.E.W.T.s next year," Remus pointed out, smirking.

"Don't ruin this for me, Moony," Sirius groaned.

James laughed, shaking his head, but his gaze flicked toward Anastasia again as she passed by with Lucius and Narcissa. She didn't look at him, but the faintest hint of a smirk touched her lips as she disappeared down the corridor.

"Good luck, huh?" Sirius teased, nudging James.

James shrugged, grinning despite himself. "She didn't need it."

That evening, the Gryffindor common room was filled with students celebrating the end of exams. James sat in his usual spot by the fireplace, a butterbeer in hand, as Sirius regaled the room with a wildly exaggerated account of how he had accidentally turned his pincushion into a fire-breathing hedgehog.

Across the castle, Anastasia Gaunt sat in the quieter confines of the Slytherin common room, Lucius Malfoy at her side as they reviewed their answers. Her composure hadn't faltered once during the exams, but as she looked out at the lake through the enchanted windows, she felt the weight of what came next: a summer at the Riddle estate.

And despite herself, for a fleeting moment, she thought of James Potter's grin and his earnest, foolish good luck.