Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(37) O.W.L.s Week

Gryffindor's victory had a lasting impact of one week on the whole school as other students were still buzzing about it amidst their study sessions. Fifth year students were rarely seen roaming about on campus grounds, as they were usually cramped up in their quarters and studying for their O.W.L.s.

The whole school was studying, actually, as those who didn't have O.W.L.s to take, had to take their N.E.W.T.s— the seventh year students. And those who had neither O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s to take had their yearly exams coming up. The library was swarmed with students during the week, that's why you had to go extra early if you want a good seat.

But despite the drastic amount of stress dropped onto Florence, she still managed a smile. This smile would usually just pop out whenever she remembered the weekend, Fred's arms circling around her.

And after that occurance, she did admit to herself that somehow she did fancy Fred, but would never admit to Nicolai or Alexander when they would tease her about the hug. Things were not awkward in any way when he would meet Fred along the corridors or during classes. She refused to let a tiny crush make such a huge difference.

But one week passed by really quick, and she could feel the anxiety gnawing at the pit of her stomach as she woke up on the very first day of the two week O.W.L.s exams. By the time she was finished showering, Nicolai was already awake, still in her pajamas as she went through her Charms notes for the nth time.

The dark circles under her eyes were an indication that she hadn't really slept well, possibly sleeping late due to her constant reviewing. Florence sighed, plucking the notes from the sleep deprived girl's hands, "Give them back!" she wailed, Florence shaking her head.

"You're going to be fine, Nic. You've gone through these more than twenty times now."

"How do you know twenty times is enough?"

"Please stop fretting. It's only the first exam and you're working yourself off too much."

Nicolai huffed, "You don't understand. Penelope almost had straight O's for her O.W.L. results. And if I don't achieve something relatively close, I will never hear the end of it. And mum would hang me if I failed Charms—"

"I'm sure she won't." she reassured her, "You're good at Charms. So stop worrying, alright?" she chucked her a towel, "Now go and freshen up."

"Fine," Nicolai grumbled, finally abandoning her note before dragging herself towards the bathroom.

Almost all of the fifth years looked like they were in a sleep deprived state  as they gathered in the Great Hall, rows and rows of chairs and tables replacing the usual four long tables. The Weasley twins, miraculously, also looked like they actually did study for the past few days.

Despite the fatigue, both Fred and George were still able to flash Florence a smile as they walked to the very back of the class where their seats were assigned. Both Nicolai and Alexander were sitting at the very front, due to the alphabetic arrangement of surnames.

Florence frowned momentarily, seeing Slytherin Adrian Pucey in a seat beside her. She huffed, cursing her unfortunate luck, however took it back as Grant Page sat beside her. "Thank Merlin," she sighed in relief.

"Are you ready for Charms now, Florence?" asked Grant, fiddling with his tie. Florence nodded, watching as Professor Flitwick hobbled over to the front, requesting complete silence before handing out the written part of the exam. She thought she had answered most of the questions correctly, and by the time she was finished answering, she was already nervous for the practical bit.

But she was confident enough, nonetheless, comforting herself as she met both Alexander and Nicolai out of the Great Hall. Nicolai looked composed enough, as if she wasn't a worrying mess the moment she woke up, Alexander meanwhile had been prattling on about how it took him quite awhile to make the egg cup do cartwheels.