The Forgotten Twin

Chapter 16

Delilah showed him the Disillusionment Charm, which luckily distracted him for the rest of the day.

No one else wanted to forget the match. The Gryffindors kept celebrating for at least a week. They even claimed that the weather was celebrating. Like the weather knew what had happened.

The weather had gotten very nice though. As June approached, the skies turned cloudless and sultry, and all anybody felt like doing was strolling onto the grounds and flopping down on the grass with several pints of iced pumpkin juice, perhaps playing a casual game of Gobstones or watching the giant squid propel itself dreamily across the surface of the lake. Even Draco wanted to, though that could have been to get away from the glaring Slytherins.

But they couldn't. Exams were nearly upon them, and instead of lazing around outside, the students were forced to remain inside the castle, trying to bully their brains into concentrating while enticing wafts of summer air drifted in through the windows. Delilah had even seen Fred and George working; they were about to take their O.W.L.S after all.

Somehow they still found time to work on pranks with Delilah. Luckily she wasn't the target. In fact, there wasn't a specific target. Delilah had been helping them start their own line of pranks. It was fun, though they couldn't work as much on it with exams. The main times she could work on it was during boring classes. Sadly that included Care of Magical Creatures.

The only thing they did was take care of flobberworms, boring and pointless creatures that were only there for predators to eat. The only interesting thing was when she listened to Harry, Ron, and Hermione talk to Hagrid. Even then the only thing she learned was that the appeal happened on the same day that their finals finished.

Exam week began and an unnatural hush fell over the castle. The third years emerged from Transfiguration at lunchtime on Monday, limp and ashen-faced, comparing results and bemoaning the difficulty of the tasks they had been set, which had included turning a teapot into a tortoise. Hermione irritated the rest by fussing about how her tortoise had looked more like a turtle, which was the least of everyone else's worries.

"Mine still had a spout for a tail, what a nightmare...."

"Were the tortoises supposed to breathe steam?"

"It still had a willow-patterned shell, d'you think that'll count against me?"

Delilah did pretty good. Her tortoise's shell was the right color, but patterned the same as the teapot.

Then, after a hasty lunch, it was straight back upstairs for the Charms exam. They were tested on Cheering Charms. Delilah's partner, a Hufflepuff she didn't know, overdid it from nerves so she had to be led away to a quiet room for an hour before she was ready to perform the spell herself. After dinner, the students hurried back to their common rooms, not to relax, but to start studying for Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, and Astronomy.

Hagrid presided over the Care of Magical Creatures exam the following morning with a very preoccupied air indeed; his heart wasn't in it at all. He had provided a large tub of fresh flobberworms for the class, and told them that to pass the test, their flobberworm had to still be alive at the end of one hour. As flobberworms flourished best if left to their own devices, it was the easiest exam ever and gave Delilah time to work on pranks.

It was Potions that afternoon, which was easy. They just had to make a Confusing Concoction. Her's was just the right thickness and color.

Then it was Study of Ancient Runes. Delilah did okay, she was confident that she at least passed.

At midnight it was Astronomy at the top of the tallest tower; History of Magic on Wednesday morning, where Delilah scribbled everything she remembered.

Wednesday afternoon meant Herbology, in the greenhouses under a baking-hot sun; then back to the common room once more, with sunburnt necks, thinking longingly of this time next day, when it would all be over.