Chapter 19 - Exams
Over the next week, Tom continued to act just as he had done all year. Guard up, game face on, meaning business. Except when he was with Amber. He couldn’t put into words how much it meant to him to have her. Someone to talk to and someone to support him. Up until he’d told her everything, he hadn’t realised how much happier he’d be by doing it.
Saturday came around which marked Amber’s apparition exam. They would be taking place in Hogswine throughout the day so Tom wished her luck before she left and waited nervously.
The funny thing was that Tom was much more nervous for Amber than he was about his own exams which started next week. However, he wasn’t the type of person to sit around waiting and so dove into some Herbology revision.
At 4pm, Amber came rushing into his room with a huge smile on her face. “I passed.”
“Yes! Congratulations.”
“I can now legally apparate around the country.”
“This is so cool. I’m so happy for you.”
Oddly, Tom was just as happy about the news as Amber was. To Tom, apparition was incredibly useful and a mark of being a grown up and so he envied anyone who could do it. He also knew it meant she could come and visit him more easily in the holidays.
His euphoria was short lived however. Monday meant the start of exams. Sunday night saw the library fuller than Tom had ever seen it. He’d gone in there to look for a book on 5th grade transfiguration, having lost his and he wanted to check up on animagi.
As he expected, he spotted Hermione poking out behind a stack of books. He crept over to her and startled her from behind. She jumped and turned around to see Tom laughing at her. “Tom, don’t do that!” she said rather loudly. Then, remembering the librarian, she dropped her voice. “I’m already nervous enough as it is.”
“Why? You’ll get top marks. Didn’t you start revising months ago?”
She scowled at him. “What are you doing in the library anyway? I thought you might be allergic to them.”
“Just some last minute revision.”
Her face changed to interest. “So you do revise after all?”
“Of course I do. I want to do well on these exams as well and I don’t know everything.”
She seemed genuinely surprised. “It’s news to me.”
“Come on Hermione, what are you worried really worried about?”
“Ok fine. I’m worried you’re going to beat me and I’ll no longer be top in the year.”
Tom retreated in surprise. He’d not been expecting something like that. “It’s not a competition. Does being top of the year matter to you that much?”
She checked no one was in ear shot and then look at him seriously. “I don’t like to admit it, but yes, it does. I’m known as the nerdy brain box. It’s all I’ve got. What if I can’t even be that?”
“You’re a lot more than that Hermione and you know it.” She showed no sign of agreement so he continued. “Who else can say they solved Snipe’s potion riddle, which was designed for the best of the best, in their first year? Who else can say they won Victor Dumbo’s heart? Who else can say they saved innocent people from danger?”
Hermione looked more suspicious with every statement. “How do you know I did those things?”
“Harry mentioned them to me. He’s incredibly fond of you.” She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, not in that way,” he said quickly. “All I’m trying to say is, exam grades don’t define a person. What you do in the real world is what defines you and you’ve done a lot more than most of your age.” He sighed. “If you still care about being top, I can make sure that happens.”
Hermione gasped at him. “You’d do that, for me?”
“Who says I’m doing anything. We don’t know which of us is cleverer yet.”
“I won’t let you lose to me on purpose.... Your right, exam results aren’t the be all and end all. I’ll face you fair and square and we’ll see who wins.”
Relieved, Tom said, “I’m glad to hear it. Now, I’m going to bed. I want some good sleep. I always find that to be the best preparation.”
“How we differ Tom,” she said smiling.
“Touché… See you in the exam and good luck.”
“Good luck,” she said in reply and buried herself back into her books.
The transfiguration exam was over before lunch. Tom quietly felt he’d aced it but he was not one to brag. Instead he sought out the company of Mark and Ryan since they were 7th years and so hadn’t done the same exam. As they ate lunch together, Tom was surprised to find them so happy since they felt like they hadn’t done great in their exam. After all, T.O.A.D’s were quite a lot more important than C.A.T’s. It felt great to take their minds off exams and just enjoy some good food together. However, they had charms in the afternoon whilst Tom’s next exam wasn’t till the following afternoon so they left quickly to do some last minute revision.
The next few exams for Tom seemed to fly by. Charms, Potions and Herbology. During the potions exam, Tom could have sworn Snipe nudged him to indicate he’d written the wrong answer. Tom supposed he didn’t want to be made a fool of by having his favourite student only perform adequately.
With 4 down, their first week of exams was over. Only one more to go. Amber, being in 6th year, had only had one week of exams and was thoroughly enjoying mocking Tom about the exams he had left to do.
On Saturday however, during lunch, massive explosions were heard from far off. Then a few minutes later, Fred and George came flying into the great hall on their broomsticks, setting off an array of fireworks as they went. They headed straight for Dumbridge and laid into her with fireworks, stink bombs and other such items. The students cheered as Dumbridge cowered in a corner. Tom noticed that no teachers tried to help her or stop Fred and George.
After their assault on Dumbridge, the whole hall followed the twins out into the courtyard where they announced their departure of Hogwash and their new premises for a joke shop they’d been planning. It turned out all the fireworks were their own brand and that the first sound the hall had heard had been the twins setting off a swamp in the transfiguration corridor, also of their making.
The disruption causes a lasting effect over the rest of the exam time. People were still trying to revise but their concentrations would wonder off, thinking about what it would be like to ‘do a Weaselby’.
Tom’s next exam, Care of Magical Creatures, had to be his best exam. Most of it was about dragons. He was pretty sure no one could beat him on that one and thoroughly enjoyed telling Amber about it afterwards. “You lucky sod,” she said, whilst smiling, when he told her.
Defence against the Dark Arts was a piece of cake for all the DL members. Especially the practical exam, where, predictably, the only spells they had to cast were very simple ones that wouldn’t even harm an earwig, let alone a human.
Their final exam was a history of magic. This is the one Tom feared the most. There was no logic or practical application to it. All you could do was remember pages and pages of information, something Tom found incredibly boring and so had struggled to revise for it.
About an hour into the exam, whilst Tom was trying to remember who the 14th headmaster of Hogwash had been, Harry collapsed, yelling his head off in parseltongue. Tom had heard that Harry had collapsed a few times during his time at Hogwash but he’d never witnessed it. He’d always thought Harry had overreacted to show off but now, seeing it, Tom thought that Harry had no control over his body.
The exam was paused and everyone waited nervously, to see what would happen. One of the examiners tried to calm him down but to no avail. Suddenly, Harry changed from writhing around to completely still. Once he seemed to come back to himself, he was removed from the hall and the exam continued. Tom struggled to concentrate for the rest of it. He could sense something was about to go down. He kept seeing Ron and Hermione look at each other across the room. To Tom, seeing Hermione look up from her exam was a sure a sign as any that Harry was in real t
rouble.
Once out of that hall, most students headed off into the grounds to enjoy the rest of the sunshine and to rejoice at the end of their exams. Tom however, went looking for the triple threat but couldn’t find them anywhere. He must have lost Ron and Hermione in the commotion of 100 kids rushing out the hall.
In the commotion, Cho caught up with him, looking scared. “Cho, do you know what happened?”
“No,” she said worried. “I know Harry has collapsed before but he’s never told me why.”
Tom swore. “Should we go to the hospital wing?” he suggested.
“I don’t think he’ll be there. He doesn’t like being made a fuss over.”
Tom couldn’t go round the whole castle looking for him. Besides, he’d told Hermione to call him if something serious had happened. Seeing Cho’s concerned face, he said, “I’m sure he’ll be alright.” Then added, “I’m going to go find Amber.”
“I’m going to find Harry,” she said determinedly.
“He could be anywhere,” Tom protested.
“I have an idea where and if not, I know how to find him.”
Tom didn’t understand how she could know where he was but then, Tom was not Harry’s girlfriend. He left Cho and went back to Ravensnore tower where he’d arranged to meet Amber in the common room.
Throughout the afternoon Tom talked with Amber and fellow Ravensnores who had finished their exams. The common room had a party atmosphere but Tom was still worried about Harry in the corner of his mind. He hadn’t been called or texted but he was still worried. As the afternoon turned into the evening, Tom assumed everything must be fine and finally started to fully relax. He enjoyed a truly spectacular dinner with the Ravensnore Quidditch team, followed by drinks with the rest of the house in the common room.
He was over the moon with happiness, right up until the point where he felt his phone vibrate. With dread, he pulled it out his pocket to see a text from Hermione. He knew she was in danger from the lack of grammar and misspelled words. Tom worked out it was meant to say ‘quick, meet us at Hogrod’s hut. NOW.’ As if he’d hit a light switch, his brain instantly turned on and was ready for action. He hurriedly told Amber he had to go and left straight for the grounds.
He ran all the way, thankfully not meeting anyone. He didn’t stop till he made it to the back of the hut. There he found the triple threat, along with three DL members who he’d never really talked to but knew the names of. They were Neville, Luna and Ginny who was Ron’s sister. Whilst Tom caught his breath, Harry explained the situation. “Sonrus is captured by Moldywart in the DRM at the Ministry.”
“The what?” asked Neville.
“It’s also known as the department of riddles and mysteries… We need to get there as soon as possible to save him.”
Tom was the first to say something. “Harry, no! You can’t. What if it’s a trap?”
“Even if it is, I’m still going.”
Hermione gave Tom a stern look. To save interruptions, Tom spoke quickly and tried to explain everything. “Listen to me. I’ve been working with Dumby for the entire year. He expected something like this to happen.” As expected, everyone gasped but he powered on. “You’re playing into Moldywart’s hands if you go. Don’t throw your life away so easily.”
Harry shouted back, “I’m not. I’m trying to save the only family I have and no one is going to get in my way. Besides, I’ve already escaped Moldywart multiple times, who’s to say I won’t again.”
Before Tom could reply, Ron said in surprise, “Is that why you’ve been teaching us? On Dumby’s orders?”
“Yes.”
“So surely you’ve been preparing us for this moment. We’re meant to go and save him,” said Harry.
Looking for support, Tom said, “Hermione, what’s your say in this?” The whole group looked to her.
“Well, I don’t like it but if Harry goes, I’m going too.”
There was a chorus of, “Me too,” from everyone else.
Realising that he’d lost, Tom conceded. “Fine, go. Go and save him but I’m coming with you.”
“That’s why you’re here in the first place, we want you with us,” said Hermione.
“Right, let’s go!” said Harry definitively.
“But how are we going to get there?” asked Ron.
Luna, in her dreamy voice, said, “We fly by thestral.”
That seemed to settle that and they headed off into the forest. On the way, Hermione filled Tom in on everything he’d missed. It turned out Harry had seen a vision of his godfather, Sonrus Black, captured by Moldywart in the DRM and he’d been dreaming about the place for moths. They had tried to contact him using Dumbridge’s fire but had been caught by Dumbridge. Then Hermione, with Harry, led her into the forest and she was taken away by the centaurs whilst in a mix up with Hogrod’s giant half-brother. It was a lot of crazy information for Tom to take in in such a short space of time but he expected crazy at Hogwash so accepted everything without question.
They arrived at the thestral paddock when Tom spotted a problem. “How are we meant to ride them if we can’t see them?”
Luna said without a care in the world, “Harry, Neville and I can see them, we can help the rest of you up once they arrive.”
They had to wait for only a few minutes for 7 thestrals to appear. Ron got seated first, followed by Ginny, Neville, Hermione and Harry. Then, as Luna walked over to help Tom, he heard the unmistakable sound of Lyrotth roaring. The rest of the group jumped and Ron shouted, “What the hell was that?”
Smiling, Tom said, “That, is my ride!”
They all stared at him, stunned, but next second their pending questions were answered. Lyrotth burst out of the trees and sprinted over to Tom who greeted her. The rest of the group looked terrified but Tom got onto her back as he had many times before and whispered in her ear “I need to get to the Ministry of magic. Will you take me?”
She hummed in a way that meant yes and so Tom then addressed the group’s stunned faces. “This is Lyrotth. Queen of wherever she wants to be and my dear friend.”
Still no one said a word so Lyrotth let out a jet of fire which snapped them back into action.
“What? How? When?” asked Neville, Hermione and Ron in disbelief.
“You have a pet dragon?” asked Harry.
Lyrotth let out a massive roar right at Harry. Smiling, Tom said, “You’d do well not to offend her Harry. Lyrotth is no one’s pet. She is my friend and she allows me to ride her, but no one else.”
Whilst the others mounted up, with everyone in complete silence, Tom got his phone out to text Amber. ‘I’m going to the Ministry to fight Moldywart and his death munchers. I’m sorry I didn’t say goodbye properly. I love you.’
He put his phone back in his pocket, just as Luna asked, “Are we going?”
Harry span back into action. “Yes, everyone ready?” he looked round to see everyone nodding, although still looking frightened. “Let’s go then!” shouted Harry and the 6 thestrals flew into the air.
Tom then said, “Whenever you’re ready,” and Lyrotth too, soared into the air and followed the thestrals.