Elffire: Volume One - Secrecy and Sorcery

1st Year - End of Term

"You're not going to have any parchment left if you keep drawing on it." Angelina warned

It was one of the first days in the year where the sun was hot and shining off the lake, almost everyone was out on the lawn with books open in front of them.

Exam season was approaching quicker than ever and as a first year, we had end of year tests on almost every subject. Angelina and I had found a good spot by the shore of the lake, there were some OWL students sitting near us quizzing each other for their upcoming exams. She was going over the Transfiguration revision once more, exams began at the beginning of June (in two weeks)

I was paranoid and panicking over every subject, I bagan irritably scratching my wrists with anxiety, making them sting which drove Angelina insane. I had given up with Herbology revision and began drawing in the corner of the parchment of my essay. The petals and spiralling flowers drawn in ink made the paper glow.

"Al, you need to calm down." Angelina sighed as she noticed me clawing at my wrist once more. "You are top of almost every class. Please, stop worrying."

"We have our History of Magic exam first, I'm awful at history, I'm going to mess it all up." I cried.

"Oh Alvar." Angelina sat up, she was lying on the ground with her book over her head. "You. Are. Fine. Amazing actually, I've seen you when you're concentrating. Please, calm down. Trust me."

I closed my eyes, taking a breath. "Ok, I'm sorry. I suppose I get like this when stressed."

Angelina put her hand on mine, looking me in the eye. "Do you want to take a break?" She asked.

I looked at her guiltily. "Do you mind? If you still have things to do?"

"Nope, I'll be glad for a break, we can go to the hall to get a drink, it'll be lunch soon"

I nodded, we both began cramming our dozens of books into our bags. We were carrying as much as we could, even though it's a Sunday, we wanted to get as much done as possible.

"I don't think half of the NEWTs students carry this much around with them." I laughed.

"Yeah, Probably not," Angelina grinned.

***

The final months of the school year at Hogwarts I found weren't just demanding and stressful for all years, but also could be exciting. There was the final Quidditch game of the year. This year it'll be Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw in the match. Charlie was pushing the team harder than ever, they had to share the pitch and half the practice timetable with

Ravenclaw, which everyone in Gryffindor found extremely frustrating as The Ravenclaw captain Penelope Eddison was just as much a Quidditch maniac as Charlie was.

Charlie was balancing his 6th year revision with Quidditch practices, he would be seen mostly in the Care of magical creatures classroom, and according to the Marauders map, he barely spent five minutes anywhere else.

The morning of the final Quidditch match, the whole of the Gryffindor table bounced up in applause as the team strode into the hall. Everyone was going over to the team, wishing them luck. Even Percy had gone over to give luck to his older brother.

After breakfast, the whole school made its way through the grounds. The June sun was scorching, no one was wearing their robes or hats to go out to the pitch. The banners that some of the second year Gryffindors had made were enchanted, the golden painted lion was charmed to roar as the team scored.

"Welcome to the final Quidditch match of the season, Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor!" The spectator Chrissy Eden, a 4th year Hufflepuff, yelled through the crowd.