I'd like to think I'm a pretty good student--no, I'm an above average student for sure. But even my eyelids were growing heavy as the sun dipped low and the forest was alive with the noise of nocturnal creatures.
That damned fire was still roaring and taunting me with its comforting warmth. It was almost like a little imp was whispering in my ear about how comfortable that couch was. It felt like I had only blinked when my eyes opened to see my head was laying on the table, cheek firmly stuck to a page about gillyweed.
"What happened?" I asked, sitting up and rubbing my eyes to find nobody left sitting at the table. "Guys?" I turned around to find everyone in varying degrees of sleep.
Glinda had curled up in the chair, knees tucked to her chest, and the two boys had fallen asleep on the couches. Fred had fallen asleep with a runes textbook hung over his face, his chest rising and falling slowly with deep breaths. I didn't know whether to be filled with contentness at the sight of all my friends sleeping in our hidden room, or be irritated that they took up all the comfy spots to sleep and let me hunched over the table.
"Oof," I grunted as I slid off the chair, clutching my back as it ached from hunching over for so many hours.
I made sure to keep my footsteps quiet as I made my way over to Fred, before slowly straddling him and laying down. If there were no comfy spots left, I would simply make one. As far as I know, Fred stayed asleep the entire time, only grumbling softly as I shoved him this way and that as I got comfortable.
A deep sigh left me as I settled into my spot, my ear pressed against his chest. My cheeks warmed up as I listened to his heart beat rhythmically. Just as I registered the sound of someone waking up across the room, my senses were lifted from me and taken into a dream.
"Mum?" I whispered, bewildered.
"Get up, sweety," she responded hurriedly. "We've got to get to the car."
"But-It's the middle of the night?" My words came out groggily despite me feeling extremely awake.
"I'm sorry dear but we really must get moving fast."
My memories were a blur of fast moving and driving in the dark with no headlights. Mom and Dad kept mumbling in the front of the car, making me really worried. I have no idea what they meant, and I never really got to know.
"They'll be there," Dad had said in a strained voice.
"How can we know for certain?"
"We just have to trust them."
I never got to meet whoever was waiting for us.
"Soot, wake up," Glinda's snappy voice woke me up, and I found myself no longer on top of Fred, but instead by myself. "What were you dreaming about? I've never heard you mumble like that."
"He does that sometimes," Fred mumbled, putting his shoes back on. "I-I mean," he stammered, realizing what he had said.
"Oh we know what you meant, Fred," George teased.
"Breakfast is in twenty minutes," Glinda said, staring into my eyes.
"Merlin's beard," I cried out, sitting up immediately and stumbling over to the table to snatch up all my books. "Why didn't you wake me sooner?"
"Well, we didn't exactly-"
"What's the point in waking up sooner?"
Glinda and I looked at George for a moment, making sure he wasn't making some silly joke like that the morning of O.W.L.s. No, he was dead serious.
"To study!" Me and Glinda replied in unison, rushing out of the room toward breakfast, where we'd review for the herbology practical and hope everything paid off.
It did not pay off.
"How did I manage to forget literally everything about gillyweed," I groaned, burying my face in my hands as Glinda stood next to me with a pale face.
"It bit me," she tearfully said, holding up a red finger that looked sort of irritated.
"Sorry, Glinda, is it okay? I have some healing salve in my dorm."
"I think it'll be fine," she mumbled, tucking her hand away in her pocket.
"I really wanted to get N.E.W.T. level herbology..." My words came out just as sad as I was, which was horribly depressed.
"Oh, you probably did fine," Glinda comforted, patting me on the back. "I know what'll cheer you up, let's head to the great hall."
"That does sound nice," I muttered, already thinking of buttered rolls and savory meat.
"I know, I know."
We met up with two equally shaken twins at the Hufflepuff table, which was nearly empty. The great hall had been eerily quiet the closer we had gotten to O.W.L.s, and now it was deadly silent. The sound of cutlery clinking and soft mumbles of studying and memorizing was the only thing to soften the silence.
"So how did you guys do?" George whispered over a barely eaten plate of food.
"I have no idea," I answered honestly, still shaking a little from adrenaline. "I really hope I did good."
"I'm sure you did, you're practically Professor Sprout at this point."
"Inspires confidence," I mumbled, barely paying attention anymore as I pushed the food around my plate. "What's tomorrow?"
"Ancient runes," Fred hung his head in his hands, "I have no idea how I'm going to pass."
"We're all going to do fine," George stated, "Our hard work is going to pay off. I'm manifesting it."
"Manifesting?" Glinda scoffed, "You sound like Trelawny."
"I'll appreciate any confidence I can get," I spoke through a mouthful of eggs.
The exam itself felt like a fever dream. Frequently I would catch myself zoned out or wondering if I was actually taking the exam yet. Somehow I managed to pull through, and I think I may have even gotten all the written part correct.
The practical had been somewhat hard to study for, considering it changes every year and they only give you vague hints of what it will be. Sadly enough they settled on an oral and sight test this year, where a professor would hold up a detailed drawing of a rune and you had to pronounce and translate it--in short it was horrible! I had never felt so tongue tied in my life, and judging from how Glinda looked afterward, our exams went completely differently.
"I feel like I could learn Parseltongue if I wanted," she had said arrogantly.
"If you get an O.W.L. in ancient runes after complaining the entire year about it, I'm going to lose my marbles."
"Well keep those things locked up tight, I'm feeling pretty good."