It was the culmination of five years' worth of work. OWLs. Scorpius and I had been intensively studying whenever we could for six weeks, in between lessons, during rounds and throughout our free periods. Wherever we were, we were quizzing each other on one subject or another.
But despite all the hard work, I still awoke on the day of my first exam, Care of Magical Creatures, panicking like crazy and practically hyperventilating. I couldn't even eat anything at breakfast as Al, Lucy and Dom began a last minute cramming session. More than anything, I couldn't help wishing that they hadn't brought the exam forwards. I'd have rather done the new syllabus which was being implemented at the beginning of June and have another few weeks of studying than do the exam early. When the first lesson bell rang, the rest of the students filed out of the hall, leaving us Fifth Years behind. Although it was a practical exam for Care of Magical Creatures first, we weren't allowed to go outside without being escorted by the examiners.
Dom, Lucy and I stood in a loose group, trying to forget about nerves. One of the examiners had already escorted Al and Scorpius outside and they were probably in the middle of their exam considering it was being done alphabetically.
We were escorted out into the rain by one of the female examiner who looked surprisingly young in comparison to them other four, and each of us was taken to our own individual examiner. I was taken to Mr. Forster, who promptly stuck out his hand to shake mine and introduced himself.
"Hi, Rose. I'm Tertius Forster, your Care of Magical Creatures examiner today."
"Hello," I replied nervously.
"Right, let's get started shall we," he replied, pushing his glasses up his nose and turning to lead the way towards the forest, where at the edge of the tree line there was a collection of tables bearing different animals in cages. "Could you show me the correct way to handle a Bowtruckle?"
With shaking hands, I picked up the wood-like creature and held it out to Mr Forster.
"Okay, thank you, and how would you care for a Bowtruckle?"
Feeling more confident because of the easy question, I answered, finding that perhaps my panic was needless because I managed to remember everything.
Mr Forster asked a few more questions, including the differences between Knarls and Crups, how to approach a unicorn and what the uses of their hairs and horns were, to pick something to feed a young Porlock and talk about the stages of growth in Fire Crabs.
When I returned to the castle, (avoiding being escorted back by an examiner due to the fact that there was no-one waiting to have their exam that I could talk to and tell them the questions) I found Scorpius waiting for me.
"How was it?" Scor asked, taking my hand and beginning to walk up the Grand Staircase with me.
"It went well, I think," I replied. "How about you?"
Scorpius shrugged. "Nothing too difficult, so hopefully I'll have done well."
We continued speaking as we made our way to the Library to study for the written Charms paper we would have as a mock exam that afternoon.
"So Switching Spells came up last year as an essay on the theories behind the use of charms," I mumbled.
"Which means they can't ask that this year unless it's a short answer question," Scorpius added, finishing my sentence.
"Right, so we could get something about levitation, growth charms, color-change charms - you'd do well on that one, Scorpius - summoning charms, the aguamenti charm, banishing charms, severing charms, disarming charms, freezing charms and Merlin knows what else."
"But the good news is," Scorpius told me, "you can cast all of those spells perfectly and obviously know how to write about them since you've been getting O's practically all year."
Scorpius continued to try to instil some confidence in me until we went for lunch and had to go to our separate tables.
"The exam will be fine," he promised, knowing that he probably wouldn't get another chance to talk to me until after the mock exam.
I nodded, not quite believing him, and sat down at the Gryffindor table beside Fred.
"How was Care of Magical Creatures?" he asked, wolfing down some roast potatoes.
"Not too bad. I've got a mock exam for charms this afternoon though."
He nodded, "It's all Al, Dom and Lucy are talking about."
Changing the subject, I looked around for Sienna and James and asked after their whereabouts, thinking it was odd that they weren't sat beside Fred. They were always together.
"Some quidditch crisis," Fred answered.
"Quidditch crisis?"
"Yeah, Lily's caught something and can't play Chaser tomorrow. She's already spent all of break looking for someone to take her place. Sienna is helping James."
"Is she okay?" I asked anxiously.
"Merlin, Rosie, she's not been bitten by a werewolf - there's no need to screech in my ear."
"Sorry. Is she okay?"
"Yeah, she just got some allergic reaction off one of the plants in the greenhouse. Madam Pomfrey will be able to solve it once they work out which plant it was-"
"-Thank God I found you, Rose!" Sienna exclaimed, wheezing slightly and looking red in the face from overexertion. "I need you to play Chaser tomorrow for James. I can't find anyone else."
Groaning, I replied, "No, Sienna , I can't. I've got my mock exam tomorrow-"
"-Everyone's counting on you, Rose. Not just the team but your whole house. Gryffindor needs you," she said, pleading with me.
Wavering, I tried to say, "Sienna, my exams are important," but only managed to get out, "James-" before James ran in the room.
"-I promise to keep quiet in the Common Room and not play any tricks on you or the First Years if you play..."
"Fine!" I exclaimed. "I'll fill in for Lily."
"You're the best cousin in the world!"
"Hey!" Fred cried out through a mouthful of sausage.
"Well I don't hear you offering to play," James told him with raised eyebrows.
"'Cause I'm already on the team, Dingus," Fred replied.
"Oh yeah... Right, well I need you at training tonight," James said before turning on his heel and leaving the hall without eating any lunch. "See you later!"
"Why did I agree to that..."
"Because you secretly want to play quidditch?" Fred suggested.
"It was more of a rhetorical question to myself, Fred" I muttered.
He grunted and then stopped talking, focusing on eating his lunch. Just then Sienna walked in and grabbed his sandwich out of his hand.
"I think we can find better things to do" she said. Since they started dating Sienna has become very outgoing.
"We should probably go now so we don't get caught in the lesson scram and end up being late," Al said, leaning around a Second Year Gryffindor to talk to me.
I nodded, grabbed my bag and stood up with Al, Dom and Lucy. Across the hall, Scorpius and the some of the Fifth Years in Ravenclaw like Laura also stood up and began heading towards the Second Floor for Charms.
Professor Richards called us in individually by alphabetical order and made us sit at individual desks, meaning I was Dom, Lucy and I were all sat at the back, sharing the same surname and all.
"You have one hour, begin," Professor Richards told us.
Opening the question paper, I saw that Scorpius and I had been right about the long, essay question. Professor Richards hadn't asked us about switching spells, but had asked us to explain how to best cast color-change charms, with reference to achieving desired the desired effects. With a wry smile, I began writing, remembering how my ears had flashed through every color of the rainbow every five minutes the day Scorpius had charmed them. I would definitely be able to accurately describe the effects of the charm and the possible variations of it.
Moving on to the short answer questions, we were asked to describe how to summon an object, the wrist motion required for levitation, the incantation for banishing objects, when the aguamenti charm was first used and how to combat a freezing charm.
When the hour was up, my hand was aching from holding the quill and the tips of my fingers were both covered in ink and slightly flat from the way I had gripped the quill.
As we left the room, Lucy said to me, "I don't think I did too well on that color-change charm essay, but the rest of it was really good, wasn't it?"
"I think I mixed up when the aguamenti charm was first used with when Merlin first used Lumos," Al commented, ruffling his hair.
"I bet you got one hundred per cent again, Rose," Dom said.
"Well, she is an expert on color-change charms having been on the receiving end of one," Scorpius remarked from behind us, joining the conversation.
Turning, I glared at him and his smirk.
"So she's really going to get one hundred and fifteen per cent or something," Dom muttered, sounding slightly envious.
"You really are like Auntie Hermione!" Al exclaimed.
"Why? What did your Mum get in her charms OWL?" Scor asked, looking between Al and me.
"An outstanding..."
"What did she get in everything else?"
"Auntie Hermione got all O's except in Defence Against the Dark Arts," Al answered, as I flushed somewhat.
"That's why you're such a perfectionist!"
"I'm not a perfectionist, Scor," I replied.
"Are too."
"Am not!"
"Yes, you are," he argued.
"No, I'm not. How am I a perfectionist?"
"You just are," he asserted.
"Guys, back me up here. Tell Scorpius I'm not a perfectionist," I said to Al, Lucy and Dom.
"Rose, you're a perfectionist," Dom answered.
"Really?"
"Yep," Al agreed.
"Lucy?"
"Well...you er... can be sometimes," she said gently.
"But it's okay because I love you anyway," Scorpius said, taking my hand and giving it a squeeze.
The five of us walked up to the Gryffindor Common Room together and started studying again and then headed down to the Great Hall for dinner. The house elves served up a collection of food. By the end of the meal, I was sure I must have put on so much weight that my broomstick wouldn't be able to take my weight during training that evening.
Scorpius came over after he finished eating and played with my hair while he waited for me.
"Coming, Rosie?" James asked, the rest of the team stood behind him.
"Where are you going?" Scorpius asked me.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I'm playing in Lily's place - she's had some sort of allergic reaction and can't be chaser tomorrow-"
"-You're playing Chaser against me?" Scorpius interrupted in glee.
"Yes..."
"Finally! I've been waiting all year for you to admit to your cousin that you wanted to be on the team again. Oh, the competition's on, babe," he said.
Holding my finger in front of his face, I said, "Don't. Call. Me. Babe."
Nodding seriously, he replied, "Whatever you say. Babe."
Slapping his arm, I stood up only to have Scorpius pull me back down onto his lap and kiss me. Right in front of all of the teachers. (Talk about mortifying.)
Pulling away, I stood up and leaned out of his reach.
"I'm going to quidditch practice, Honeybun," I told him, putting on a falsely high voice that people were sure to overhear and smirking as everyone turned to look at him as he turned pink slightly.