The Breakup Plan •James Potter• |editing|

❁Chapter 42❁

Chapter 42

The week of the exams came far too quickly in the opinion of Hogwarts students, it was a very stressful, frantic time, and fourth years and under - as well as sixth years - made sure to avoid any stressful exam takers as best as they possibly could. Nora made sure to spend as much time as she could in the library, her head in a book or in her notes as she sat with either Lily, Adria or Aubrey, and on occasion would a stressed out Milo walk into the library, his shirt untucked, his hair sticking up in many places and bags under his eyes as he plopped himself down at her table, pain in his eyes, stress engulfing him as he gripped the coffee that the house elves had made for him.

On the Monday of the first week of O.W.Ls, Nora had her charms exam, she wasn't particularly good at charms, merely average, but if she didn't get a good mark she swear she could scream, seeing as she had put in so much work, she knew she had. Firstly, was the written exam that she had to do on multiple subjects that related to charms, such as the levitating charm, cheering charm, and the counter charm for hiccoughs, something she made sure to remember. She was incredibly nervous as she tapped away at her exam, breathing a sigh to relax her nerves, her mind had gone blank for a few moments more than she wished, allowing fear to creep up her spine, but it seemed as though a light switched in her mind, allowing her to navigate back to the many study sessions, and soon did her hand ache from the amount she had written.

After the written exam for charms was the practical, and Nora couldn't help her nerves once more when she entered the room, closing her eyes, clasping her hands by her side, "take a moment, no need to worry," spoke Flitwick, sitting high on a seat, looking over her with an examiner beside her, she felt as though she was auditioning for something, or well, she was sure this would be how an audition went. She almost couldn't speak, she was so nervous, but her first charm was successful, actually successful, and so was her second, third and fourth, it came easy to her, her wand swished and flicked with ease as she spoke the words surprisingly clearly.

On the Tuesday was Nora's transfigurations exam, something she wasn't particularly good at, well, really, she was terrible, she enjoyed lessons with McGonagall solely because she liked the teacher, but she never could perfect the art of transfigurations, she just wasn't good at it, she didn't mind much, though, no matter how much she studied, she knew that no matter how she tried, it wasn't for her.

Fortunately, though, for the written exam, Nora memorised the definition of the switching spell by heart, knowing that McGonagall had gone over it so many times, it was rather obvious that it would be in the exam, and when Nora's quill glided along the pages of parchment, even she was surprised. The other questions on the paper weren't all as easy to remember, in fact, Nora was sure she was being incredibly irritating as she tapped her foot and patted her nails off of the wooden desk, and wasn't surprised when she had formed a small bruise on her head from her frantic tapping of her quill trying her best to knock the knowledge into her head, unfortunately for her, though, it really didn't help her.

She knew that she had messed up the practical for transfigurations even before she walked into the room, Adria went before her into the room, coming out looking pleased but when she passed Nora, she shook her head, her shoulders slumping and Nora knew right then that she was screwed.

She had to perform the vanishing spell, she had never perfected it before and knew that if she was ever to get a miracle, it wouldn't be right now. Whilst she finally did it - after the seventh try - she could feel her relief as she walked out of the room, not so much because she was proud of herself, rather because it was over, she really couldn't do Transfigurations to save her life.

On Wednesday, she had her Herbology exam, she was feeling confident on Wednesday, she was proud of her house stereotype to like Herbology, it was slightly inevitable for her not to, seeing as Madam Sprout occasionally brought all types of plants to the Hufflepuff common room, and each and every one of them fascinated Nora to the point that she was sure that Herbology was her favourite subject. She breezed through the exam, in fact, she could do it in her sleep if she wished too, it was fairly easy for her to perfect the practical, and she was sure a first year could do it if they tried.