Bad Reputation - Harry Potter Fanfic

Chapter Nineteen

Unlike usual, it seemed I was waiting a while for Millie. Usually, we would eat breakfast at our own tables, then she would leave and head down to the kitchens for a meal for our dog. She had invited me to go down, but I wasn't really ready to see Dobby - I felt too guilty to do it and she didn't persist beyond saying, only once, "Dobby does want to see you, you know."

Then I saw why she had taken a little longer than usual, she was with a dark haired Gryffindor, Elwood, talking and laughing.

"Sorry for making you wait, Cae," she apologised, "Hey, you don't mind if Marcel joins us? We met yesterday, after you left. What was wrong with your brother, anyway?"

"No problems," I said, giving what I hoped was a welcoming smile to Marcel. "Anyway, Draco saw Potter's head in Hogsmeade when he's not supposed to be there."

"His head?" Millie asked, looking very confused. "Anything else?"

"Just his floating head."

"Weird."

"It's not really that weird," Elwood inputted, "I'm fairly sure he got an invisibility cloak in his first year."

An invisibility cloak wouldn't have lasted that long. But I didn't say anything - that could have been a joke - I mean, Millie laughed. So I smiled and made a laughing sound that probably sounded a bit confused.

The two started to chat about something they started to talk about the day before, something of which I couldn't be bothered catching up with, but I think it was about studying for OWLs. My mind had wandered off back to the Minister not believing Peter Pettigrew was dead. Anyway, it became obvious that they were flirting with each other and I wanted no part in that.

"Oh my God," Millie muttered, looking at her watch, flipping her bag closed, then looked up at the pair of us. "I've forgotten a book and if I don't get it now, I'll be late to class. See you guys later." And with that, she was off.

Elwood and I fell into silence, our Hufflepuff connector gone. I saw a pretty big, thick stick and summoned it to my hands so I could play with Grim.

"So, you're kind of a shit guy," Elwood told me.

I felt like Grim and I shared a look of utter disbelief, then I looked at Elwood. "You what?"

"Abandoning Camille in Hogsmeade for your prat of a brother, ignoring the fact that she doesn't like your stupid pet name, not even caring that she and I have been chatting, and never helping her look after your dog-"

Grim started to growl at him by then, causing Elwood to break off in his speech. Apparently, he wasn't going to be dragged into his problem.

"Cool," I said, "you can go now."

Grim's growling intensified, he took a step forward and Elwood obviously decided that it wasn't worth it. I looked down at the big, threatening dog beside me and  I threw the stick as far as I could and Grim went chasing after it.

~

"Yo, Millie," I greeted, lightly jabbing her upper arm, her already waiting outside the dungeon door for Potions. She looked back at me. "So, I've discovered that I don't like Elwood."

She looked surprised. "Really? Why?"

"Well, first he started off by insulting me. Then he went on about me leaving you in Hogsmeade to go find out what was wrong with Draco."

"If you say you're sorry about that, I will kick you in the face," she threatened, her eyebrows raising, a small smile on her face. "But continue as to why I will be kicking Marcel in the face."

"Hopefully not with the foot you'll kick my face with."

"You'll get my dominant foot, shows you how much I care," she joked. "Seriously, though."

"Well, the next one is true. I don't care that you don't like my pet name for you, Millie," I told her seriously. "Apparently, I should be mad that you two are flirting."

"Oh my God he thinks we're dating," she said, both of us realising this now.

I leaned against the stone wall and said, "Well, that explains it."

"Certainly doesn't justify it," she replied, then the door opened to class. "Okay, no more talking for me. The old Snapple would probably tell on me again. I'll talk to Marcel about it."

~

OWLs. Ordinary Wizarding Levels. A great and fantastic time, with all the sarcasm.

Just a couple days of exams.

Our first exam, on Monday was for Charms. First, we completed a written exam in the Great Hall. When reading through the exam, I felt like I knew at least a decent amount of information on the paper. I always felt like it was best to go through and read all the questions before writing out my answers, as if to give my mind a small catch up. But I certainly felt the lack of studying for the subject. When I first went through, I answered questions I felt sure I knew the answers for. Then I went back and answered the other questions, taking my time with them and writing down as much information as I could remember on the subject on a spare bit of blank parchment paper they gave us at the start of the lesson before writing down the actual relevant information, or, what I thought was relevant.

In the next hour, Professor Flitwick had us all perform a series of charms. We had to make an egg cup do cartwheels, perform a levitating charm, colour change charm and use a counter charm for hiccoughs. 

The following day was Transfiguration. And if I didn't kill Transfiguration, if I didn't get an Outstanding, I'd die. I'd be so mad. I felt like I had truly breezed through it, even the spell she had us perform, making an animal vanish.

On Wednesday, we did Herbology, a practical exam dealing with plants like fanged geraniums.

Thursday was Defence Against the Dark Arts, another exam I felt I killed it in. The written portion, I felt like I breezed through it, and the same with the practical where we ran a small course where we needed to use counter-jinxes, some defensive spells from Professor Lupin who attacked us randomly sometimes and we had a boggart, so we needed to Ridikkulus it.

That Friday, we had off. So, I spent it studying for Potions on Monday.

So when that Monday came, I was ready for the written test. Which was actually quite difficult, but I did the same as I did in Charms. Read every question before, answered questions I knew, then, on a different piece of parchment, I wrote down bits of information and pulled relevant information out of it and wrote it down into the answers. It was just really good for helping clear the mind.

Muggle Studies was the Tuesday, and I probably failed that, but I answered all the questions.

Wednesday came along for Arithmancy, which I definitely failed and I didn't know what was happening. Also, Astronomy, and I don't think I did as badly as I thought I would on that, especially since I had actually studied for that class.

And lastly, on Thursday, History of Magic was a chore of an exam like the actual lessons themselves. Some stuff I already knew, other stuff I felt like I had learned in the past two hours. Other stuff may as well have been another language to me. But, even though I was fairly sure some of the answers were wrong, I made sure to answer every single question.  

~

Sorry about the exams being concentrated into such a small section. They weren't really that important, and Cae would 100% be the type of person who just gets absorbed in whatever it is he's doing.