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The last task was only two weeks away, and Cedric was more nervous than ever. He sat with Elle outside shading the sun behind a large tree with their transfigurations books out in front of them.
To Elle's relief, George wasn't annoyed at all that she was continuing her friendship with Cedric. He'd admitted he was wrong about them and she'd assured him that she could never see a Cedric as anything other than a good friend.
However Elle couldn't not tell Cedric that she knew what the last task was. She knew that she shouldn't but after hearing him stress out so much about it she hoped it would calm his nerves slightly.
A maze was quite a vague description of the trail however it had been all that Elle had seen before the image drastically changed to a picture of darkness and destruction. She left that part out.
"So there'll obviously be some creatures in the maze" Cedric pondered "as long as there's no more dragons I think I'll be ok"
"I don't think they'd be able to put dragons it, they'd probably burn the maze down" Cedric chuckled as he continued to run his finger over the words in his book.
"McGonagall doesn't lay off on the work even in exams" sixth years we're currently in the midst of end of year exams. They'd been going on for a week and a half now so Elle only had two more days until she was free again.
They were set to finish before the last task so the students could see this as a celebration and a congratulatory end of term excitement. Cedric of course didn't see it that way, he wanted to focus on training for the tournament even if he didn't know exactly what he would be doing.
"At least transfigurations will be over by this time tomorrow" Elle sighed as she re read her animagi essay. It wasn't perfect but this had already been the second time she'd written it out and she couldn't face that again.
"Shame we still have to have lessons after these exams" Cedric huffed "to prepare us for next year" he mimicked the voice of McGonagall "they could give us a break at least" Elle grunted in agreement as she realised she'd spelt mandrake wrong on her parchment.
"Everyone seems to think that Krum is going to win the tournament" Cedric continued "I don't doubt him but he didn't come first in the last task" he emphasised the he proudly as a reminder to who actually won,
"I'm rooting for you Ced" Elle smiled "I have all my faith in you"
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Elle plonked herself down on the sofa between the twins. She'd hopped over the back of the sofa, startling the, slightly as they spilled a bunch of fake wands onto the floor which promptly transformed into an array of random objects.
Elle picked up one which had turned into a rubber duck and examined it in curiosity,
"How much money do you make from these?" She pondered before Fred snatched the duck off her promptly,
"Enough" he replied still huffing over the fright she'd given him.
Everything was alright between Elle and Fred now, for the first few days after Elle and George reconciled things were slightly tense. George had explained the basics of the situation to his brother as he worried Fred still assumed Elle had done something bad, turns out he hadn't thought that he just felt guilty for being so angry.
"Shouldn't you two be studying instead of working on your fake wands" Elle sighed at the two knowing nothing she said would stop them from messing around,
"Don't ruin the fun Elle" George tutted,
"Yeah who needs Newts when you have an aspiring business" Fred continued.
Elle rolled her eyes before leaving the sofa and grabbing some books. She'd probably be able to get some studying done before dinner that evening. She was focusing on transfigurations as they had their second exam for that subject tomorrow.
The library was one of Elle's favourite rooms in the whole school. Not only was it quiet enough to work in, it also had the best light which poured in through the floor length windows.
She took her seat beside one of these windows and took a moment to gaze out over the scenery outside before she opened up the books and began reading them intently.
Animagi was the current subject Elle was looking over as it hadn't come up in exams yet.
In official Newts, students usually had one practical exam and one comprehensive however this year McGonagall was giving them one practical and two comprehensive in order to cover everything they'd learnt which was far too much.
So far Elle had done two of these exams. The first comprehensive hadn't gone as well as she had hoped however she believed she'd made it up with her practical as she turned a coffee table into a perfectly good pig before promptly turning it back again.
George had come out of the exam shaking his head and claiming his table had still been pink with a curly tail when he had changed it back. Elle knew he was more stressed than Fred given the fact he was less optimistic about the whole business idea.
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Elle hadn't realised how much time had passed in the library until she heard the stream of babble outside which told her students were going down to the hall for dinner. Her stomach rumbled as though prompting her to follow the voices.
She looked down regretfully at her work wishing she'd moved past amiagi as she'd been studying them all morning now. Nonetheless she couldn't deny how hungry she was so she promptly walked off towards the hall in high spirits.
Even though she had been burdened with exams over the last week and a bit, it hadn't dampened the happiness she had come to feel after she made things right with George. She didn't believe anything could worsen her mood now. Everything was going right.
She found her friends already sitting around the table and slid in beside Alicia who was yet again ranting about potions. They'd had their second potions exam today and apparently it hadn't even been in anything they'd studied.
"I wish I could go back in time and stop myself from taking the blasted subject" she snapped as she poured way too much gravy over her dinner "oh hi Elle"
"Hi" Elle smiled as she began piling up her plate,
"You been ages the library?"
"Course I have" Elle laughed, all her friends were convinced she was addicted to that place. Really it was just the only room where she could properly concentrate.
"You'll never believe what Snape did" Alicia scowled over to the teachers table to the professor who looked as grumpy as usual. Elle did not miss having him teach her.
"You've already told me" she grimaced. Alicia had told everyone with ears at this point.
Alicia seemed to not hear Elle as she decided to burst into the story all over again. Elle pretended to listen intently while adding the occasional 'oh no' and her didn't' to keep her friend happy.
"I can't believe we have another exam on Friday, at this point I'm just going to stick my head in the cauldron and be done with it" she stated angrily as she shovelled her mashed potatoes into her mouth.
Thursday and Friday marked the last two days of exams which left Elle cheery. She wasn't a lover of exams especially not ones concerning newt. She'd believed that Owl had been bad but she was in for a surprise this year.
Despite taking less subjects, there was so much more content to try and retain and at this point Elle's brain just wasn't big enough.
The only exams she had on these last two days were transfigurations and care of magical creatures. The latter went a lot better as Elle found the exams Hagrid set a lot easier than McGonagall's mind traps.
Transfigurations went arguably better than the first one. However as she came out she immediately realised that she'd got an entire section wrong by confusing two aspects of the course. She cursed herself but remembered that there was nothing she could do about it now.
All a she could do was relax and get excited for the final task.
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