Author's Note
Hey guys! Now that this story has reached 394k reads, as a thank you for all your amazing comments I thought I would update two chapters today. Hope you enjoy it!
***
The next week passed with everyone busy over their studies and I was still hung up over the anonymous letter I had received.
I had no idea who it was from and more so, what it meant. It couldn't have been for my examination. Because those who knew me enough to actually send me such a note, would know that I didn't really need to pass these tests and meant nothing to me.
But soon my mind was carried away as the next week arrived and we were nearing our last exam, History of Magic.
While everyone was in the library, studying for it, I had locked myself up in our dorm and hid myself under my blankets.
I had lost my full appetite and pretended to be asleep anytime someone walked inside the dorm, so I wouldn't have to talk to them.
I closed my eyes all through the night without falling asleep as my heartbeat sped up uncontrollably.
As the day arrived and the other four girls in our dorm started moving around to get ready, I would've given anything to turn back the time to a year ago, when I thought all this was a dream.
"Lexi," I heard Hermione's gentle voice call out to me as she stood close, while I had my head buried under the sheets. "You didn't eat anything yesterday... so I brought you toasts from downstairs."
Forcefully, I pulled the blanket off me slightly and sat up, giving her a sad smile. "Thank you, Hermione, but I — I'm not really hungry."
I saw her frown anxiously. "Just — just one bite. Oh, Lexi, I'm so worried for you. You have to eat something. We've got an exam coming up."
I wanted to protest, but I hated to let her down. So just to cheer her up a bit, I took the toast from her and thanked her, eating it.
She gave me a satisfied smile, leaving my bedside to go through her notes one last time before we all had to go down to the Great Hall for our final exam.
But when we sat down and received our exam papers and they told us to start on, all I could do was to watch Harry, who was sitting a few seats before me.
"Eyes down, please," said the witch who was watching over us and immediately I threw my head down.
I only managed to go through a few questions as I skimmed the paper for anything I could answer.
I even started to make up weird Goblin names myself, but my eyes darted up towards Harry again, who had his eyes close and was writhing on his seat.
I bit the inside of my cheek and not too long after, I saw Harry drop off his seat with a shriek, the whole hall turning on him.
The witch ran towards Harry and took a hold of him, helping him out of the Great Hall and into the entrance hall as Harry kept insisting that he didn't need to go to the hospital wing.
I knew he had seen Sirius being tortured.
If I'd been having a hard time concentrating on the exam up until now, then it had just become impossible from then on.
I breathed heavily as I kept glancing up at the clock. I was sweating and my head started spinning. I felt my mouth going dry and felt a sickening feeling in my stomach. And soon, before I knew what was happening, the world went dark to my eyes and I blacked out.
***
I felt my head hurting and I groaned as a smell woke me up. Opening my eyes slightly, I saw Madam Pomfrey holding a potion under my nose, its scent bringing me back to conciseness.
All I knew was that I had to get to Harry. He couldn't go through with it. I couldn't let him.
I tried to look around fully and sit up, but my heart sank painfully when I turned and saw Umbridge sitting on a chair next to my bed, smiling sweetly at me.
"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," she said, her eyes glued on me. "That would be all for now."
Madam Pomfrey glared at the back of her head, but knowing there was nothing she could do to defy her, she turned on her heels and left.
I gulped in horror as I watched Madam Pomfrey walk away and leave the hospital wing, closing the door behind her. I was sitting awfully still as I watched Umbridge warily, not moving a muscle.
"You know what I've been thinking, Miss Hooper?" Umridge started, her smile widening.
"Yes, Professor?" I said mockingly, yet in a stern voice.
"I asked around and they told me that you're a muggleborn witch and you've moved here from America, just last year. Am I correct?"
"Yes," I said quickly.
"You see, Miss Hooper," she went on sweetly, "I got a bit... er... let's say... curious, as to what had caused your parents to move so urgently back to England. Because usually, we never have exchange students here at Hogwarts. So I decided to dig a tiny bit deeper."
My stomach gave a sickening lurch at those words, but I remained quiet, staring at her without daring to even blink.
"Do you want to know what I came across?" She kept smiling at me.
"What, Professor?" I asked, gritting my teeth together. But I was scared of hearing what she had to say next.
If she found out about me... I immediately shook the thought away, feeling like I would pass out again from the anxiety.
"Well, Miss Hooper," she started, "there was no recollection of a student named Lexi Hooper who had attended Ilvermorny. And when I asked, Miss Pansy Parkinson told me that no one has ever seen you do magic in these two years. And the weird part was, I noticed that the wand you used in your practical exams was different than the one you've been carrying around all year."
My mouth fell sightly open and I started trembling as I stared at her. With that, her smile turned into a nasty grin as she finally said,
"Now why don't you tell me what you're hiding, Miss Hooper? Or else, I'll have to force it another way out of you."