𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘈𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 •°𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘴

[42]

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The castle grounds were gleaming in the sunlight as though freshly painted; the cloudless sky smiled at itself in the smoothly sparkling lake; the satin green lawns rippled occasionally in a gentle breeze. June had arrived, but to the fifth-years this meant only one thing: their OWLs were upon them at last. Their teachers were no longer setting them homework; lessons were devoted to revising those topics the teachers thought most likely to come up in the exams.

Sara and Nico found themselves in the library every night and every weekend, putting their notes in order, adding different things that thought would be of help and studying every subject again.

They even decided to use the Room of Requirement in the dead of night to practice most of the spells. The room always provided them with many of the equipment they needed and Sara made sure they wouldn't be caught.

The lack of sleep was starting to show on their faces. Sara was able to hide the dark circles that appeared under her eyes with makeup, but in Nico's case they had to find a spell to do so.

Sara felt that he was even more stressed than her. Often, when she would make him take breaks he would just say 'I didn't get your brains' and bury his head into yet another book of history of magic or herbology; the subjects he was the worst at.

Sara knew he could pull of a good grade at Herbology, but simply wouldn't understand why he would work as hard for history of magic, divination, care of magical creatures and astronomy. One night it hit her right in the gut as they had fell asleep in the boys' dorm. The 'I'm happy I could make you proud, mom' had sounded in her ears and she woke up to see Nico sound asleep, probably dreaming. He wasn't made a prefect, something he wanted dearly, but knew he wouldn't achieve so study came then.

Nico was a good student, even in the run for the best alongside Sara and Hermione, so the redhead just couldn't figure out why was he so stressed, knowing he would pass his exams anyway.

Their first examination, Theory of Charms, was scheduled for Monday morning. Sara didn't even know when she got out of bed and walked to lunch, with her arms full of her Charms text books, ready to read her way trough the subject yet again.

Next to her, Nico was a little pale and his sleeves were rolled, his tie lose to show Sara how stressful it was for him.

When they sat down at the table, she made sure to fill Nico's plate with all his favorites and even more strawberry tarts than usual.

He stared at the plate for a few seconds, some color starting to return to his face then he looked up at Sara who was filling her plate with pancakes.

'You have to eat,' she said as she put her textbooks in order. Before Nico could say something, she slapped his arm playfully. 'Come on now, you look like a ghost.'

'Thanks,' he growled and took a bite out of his eggs.

'You shouldn't get stressed over Charms, it's your best subject. So don't worry love, you won't make a fool out of yourself.'

Nico looked at her for a few moments before a grin appeared on his face.

'What? Do I have chocolate on my mouth?' Sara asked, reaching for a napkin.