An American at Hogwarts: Book Two

Chapter Fifty-Two

I hadn't stayed that close with anybody from high school, but I was still friendly with most people. We chatted a little in our seats, organized alphabetically and waiting for the proctor to start the exam. Another four hours or so, and I'd be free of this test, hopefully forever.

It was time.

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By the time I was completely done with the SAT, test turned in and allowed to get my stuff from the front of the room, I was exhausted. O.W.L.s and AP tests were all incredibly draining, but the SAT covered more than one subject, and it was just enough longer to be seriously more painful. I said a few exhausted goodbyes to classmates, and then I disappeared around a corner to conjure a sling portal. If I weren't so used to portals by now, I definitely wouldn't have had the concentration left to do it.

It was dinner time when I got back to Hogwarts, and if I hadn't been starving and exhausted, I would've just gone straight to bed. Instead, I popped in just outside the Great Hall and trudged over to the table, slumping down between the twins again.

"You alright Alexa?" asked Fred, looking a little worried.

"Ugh, I'm fine. I just want to lay in bed for the rest of the day though."

"Eat something first, then we'll get you up to the Common Room," said George. He and Angelina grabbed a few things and put them together on a plate for me, and I complained about long tests with my friends as I ate. As soon as I was done, I started heading out of the Great Hall, and Cedric met up with me to walk me up to my dorm.

"Well? How do you think it went?" he asked.

I sighed. "I don't know. I think it went good? It's kinda hard to tell."

"When do you find out?"

"We get them back in like a month. Ugh, I just hope I don't have to take that stupid thing again."

We got about halfway back to the Tower, but honestly, I didn't really want to go to sleep. I mostly just wanted to hang out and watch some stupid TV shows or something and just turn my brain off, and I wanted to do that with my boyfriend, which I couldn't do if we went to the Common Room. So, instead, we took a detour for the Astronomy Tower. Cedric conjured some blankets and beanbags, and I had Ana pull up some old Disney shows. Cedric didn't understand a lot of what was happening, and I was zoning in and out as we watched, but it relaxed me to curl up against his chest with Wizards or Waverly Place playing. Slowly but surely, I recovered from the test and felt my mental energy coming back.

We stayed like that for a long time.

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When I woke up on Sunday morning, I was incredibly happy Cedric and I had taken a few hours to just relax together, mostly because I had absolutely no time to relax for the rest of the weekend. I'd been so focused on the SAT that I'd completely neglected just about everything else, and I only had a day to catch up.

Once again, I wouldn't have been able to succeed without the help of my amazing friends. They'd been taking notes for me, and we had a full-friend-group study session in the Astronomy Tower to help me get caught up after lunch.

"You guys are literally the most amazing people in the world," I said, sighing as we got through all the Charms stuff I needed to catch up on. We only had a few subjects left.

"We're happy to help," said Lee with a smile.

"Yeah, but let's look at doing something fun this week to balance out all this studying, okay?" said Adrian.

Myrah scoffed, beating me to any kind of response. "Oh come on Adrian, don't act like you'd be doing anything but hanging out with Jackson anyway."