The Dementors have finally been shoed off school grounds. Meanwhile the Owls were fast approaching, and instead of using our new invisibility cloak no one knew about, Fred, George, and I were stuck inside the library studying our asses off. I felt rather confident about nearly every class except for the History of Magic class. Nearly everything we learned in that class over the past 5 years has completely erased itself from my memory, and the class was so boring I never really payed attention in it. Now that was coming back to bite me in the ass because I was stuck cramming information from that class every free second.
Fred and George were basically in the same boat as me, except they also completely blanked in our Arithmancy class, so on top of re-learning the full History of Magic, I was now also helping the confused twins with complex mathematical equations.
We were so preoccupied with preparations for the O.W.L.S, Fred and George nearly forgot their own birthdays. I got them quills that don't require ink and a lot of candy, and upon handing it to them, they looked really confused, and I had to remind them what day it was.
Hermione decided that it would be fun to study with us, so every other day she would join us in our misery, and help us study. On one hand I was rather confused why anyone would willingly study for the O.W.L.S, let alone study for them when you don't even take them for 2 more years, but I didn't decline the extra help, and was rather grateful for her presence.
Ron and Harry shot us sympathetic looks when passing us, clearly seeing the tired looks on our faces. Percy would occasionally sit down next to us and offer dim witted advice about success, getting sidetracked with bragging about his 12 OWLS, and how hard he worked for them. Fred and George were too engrossed in their books to care, as they weren't listening. I tried to listen to him at first, I really did, but eventually I gave up, and decided that he wasn't saying anything useful anyways, and began ignoring him, aside the slight bows of my head during his pauses to give him affirmation of my faux attention.
Even Snape, who hated nearly every student, saw how worn out we were and how hard we were studying, and went easy on us. I think I could in part thank Operation Christmas Miracle, because he now used that journal to scribble 0's for students assignments.
Whether before I used to read fiction novels before bed, now I would read the Textbook passages. By the Saturday before the start of O.W.L.S, I could safely say I memorized my Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, DADA, and History of Magic textbooks from cover to cover. The rest of the subjects textbooks I memorized most of the way.
The first day of O.W.L.S started off strong with potions class. Despite my nerves practically making me implode, I took the written test and finished rather quickly. During the practical part of potions Snape had us brew Elixir that induced Euphoria. I found myself pleasantly surprised, because I remembered all of the ingredients necessary for it.
Shrivelfig
Porcupine quills
Peppermint sprigs
Sopophorous beans
Wormwood
Upon completion my potion started to emit a rainbow. Snape looked at me approvingly and jotted down something on his paper, and let me leave class.
The second day was my charms class. The written exam was quite difficult but again, I felt I did rather well. The real challenge started during the physical part of the test. My colour change charm worked brilliantly, and so did my levitation, but when it came to my shrinking charm, the large slug I was performing it on not only shrunk, but disappeared as well.
On the third day was my Transfiguration exam. I found myself struggling on the written exam, and I spent a good portion of my time stuck on the same question, which I remembered the answer to only after 10 minutes of racking my brain for the information. However when the practical test came, I felt that I performed really well, managing to turn my rabbit into a small table lamp.
The fourth day was my herbology class. I did rather well in it. The practical centred around fanged geranium, and I knew it's properties fairly well. I noticed George sweating bullets while dealing with it, clearly struggling.
The fifth day I had our arithmancy during the day and our astronomy at night. I did well in both, finding them easier than the previous 4 OWLS.
Our sixth day was the class I was dreading most, History of Magic. I know for a fact I messed up quite a few dates.
Our seventh and final day was my favourite class, Defense Against the Dark Arts. This also happened to be the subject I was most talented at, and I breezed through all of the questions on the written exam, and the practical was no harder. I performed every counter jinx and defensive spell perfectly, earning a big thumbs up from Fred, but not from George because he was too focused on his own charms.
I finished before the twins, so I stood outside waiting for them. Fred finished first; and I gave him a big long hug as soon as he exited the classroom. George followed shortly after, and I gave him a hug as well, although it didn't last as long because he pulled away.
"It's finally over!" He exclaimed, and we all let out a huge sigh of relief.
Despite being finally free from studying, during dinner we sat mostly in silence save a few scattered questions and answers about how well we think we did. because we were too exhausted to eat and talk at the same time.
After we finished our meal we trudged up to our dorms, dragging our feet from exhaustion. As soon as I entered into my dorm, I showered and changed into pajamas, before collapsing into my bed. This was the first time in months that I went to sleep before 12 am.