Odessa {S.B}

CHAPTER XIII

CHAPTER XIII | Stupid, Stupid Boys!

Summer came all too quickly for the students that had important exams to anticipate. The end of the quidditch season saw Gryffindor win the cup, much to the disappointment of Ravenclaw, who came in second by fifty points. It provided Sirius and James with many gloating opportunities and tension between the Prewetts and the Marauders reached breaking point at breakfast one day. As always, Kingsley was stuck in the middle of it with yoghurt stains all over his robes.

The morning of June the fifteenth 1976 came with mixed relief and anxiousness for the fifth year's at Hogwarts. It was the day of their final OWL exam.

Odessa woke up at seven am, feeling that funny emotion that was a mix of complete and utter calm, and sheer terror. There was no other information that she could possibly cram into her brain, but the question was whether or not what she knew would be enough. Having higher expectations for herself than most students, Odessa had felt the stress of these exams more than others like James or Sirius, who somehow always seemed to breeze through schoolwork with little trace of any effort.

Countless times during the last few weeks of exams Sirius had followed Odessa around begging her to stargaze with him or to paint his nails, and she couldn't understand how exam stress hadn't dragged him under. The pressure seemed to even be getting to Pandora and Xeno, who had more than once gone to study together under the guise of going somewhere private to snog. James and Sirius sauntered through the castle with a 'don't care' attitude and an aura of calm that no one got. Everyone secretly hoped they would flop all their exams and it would serve them right, but everyone equally knew that they wouldn't.

After getting herself ready and changing into her black school robes, Odessa sat on her bed reviewing her notes on werewolves rather than going down to breakfast with the other girls.

The time soon came. Elena went back up to the dorm to get Odessa and the two girls walked to the Great Hall together, butterflies in their stomach. Elena couldn't wait to go home and see her large family. If Odessa didn't get at an O in this exam, then home would be the last place she would want to be.

In Odessa's mind, the exam hadn't gone well. It wasn't a new feeling; every exam that year had felt like a complete failure, even Potions and Herbology. The only comfort was that Odessa tended to find she did better when she thought she had failed, but worse when she thought she did well.

Once the exam was over, the students flooded out to the grounds. Odessa and her large group of Ravenclaw friends sat by the side of the Black Lake to enjoy the sun. She rested her head in Fabian's lap.

Lily was sitting with Marlene, Mary, Dorcas and Emmeline a little ways away. The Marauders had taken up a patch of grass closer to the castle but further from the rest of the students. For a while, Odessa watched James catch and release the snitch, finding it quite relaxing to watch.

"I have to be ask, based on how these exams have gone, what do you think my chances are of making it as a male prostitute?" Benjy asked sombrely.

"You're not going to have to sell your body for a living," said Victoria. "I, on the other hand, am thinking I'm going to have to enter some muggle pyramid schemes."

"I'd say the chances are pretty good," said Odessa. "You can count on my business."

They lazed around idly for a while, soaking up the warm early summer sun. Odessa allowed herself to doze off to the pleasant feeling of Fabian running his fingers through her silky, brown hair and the tranquil melodies of the bird song.