OWLs were inhumane. 

Fred was sure when the Board of Governors sat down many years ago and decided to have these tests they were all secretly plotting to kill the weak ones.  Fred was one of the weak ones.  He could feel it.  Maybe not physically weak, but he was exhausted and nervous and the pile of books he was carrying was insane.  His life was ending.  This much was clear.

He brought a few extra sheets of parchment with him just in case he wanted to write to his mum about preparing for his funeral come the end of the year.  They’d probably ship his body back on the Hogwarts Express, she’d be able to get that at least, because her son was most assuredly not going to survive these exams. 

He always thought he was a good student – he thought he stood a chance!  But the studying and practice questions were so hard.  Maybe he had only passed his classes because his professors liked him.  Or they felt bad for him.  That had to be it: Radley was a pathetic  loser who was going to fail his OWLs and return to Piddlehinton a disgrace with no future in magical law enforcement. 

Plopped down in the Great Hall, breakfast wasn’t even immune from studying.  He held his head up on his balled first and yawned, closing his eyes for just a second before his head dipped and his  other hand found its way into the oatmeal in front of him.  Lifting the goo covered hand with a grimace, Fred groaned: “Fizzing whizzbees!” he shook the gunk off and glanced around the table: he needed a new breakfast item. 

Bella sat down at the Slytherin table, alone as ever. Even if any of friends were here, they're 7th years off studying or in different houses. Bella pulled out her Aritmancy parchment and started reading over some material. Bella knew she had the hang of it, but she couldn't risk messing up. The only other subject she was worried about was Herbology. She needed it if she wanted to be an auror, but it was a very distasteful subject to the fifth year.

Finishing reading the Arithmancy notes, Bella pulled out One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, skipping ahead a few chapters to where she had left off. For a few nights Bella's nighttime reading had been from textbooks. Bella grabbed a muffin from the basket in front of her and started munching on it. She heard laughs all around her, especially from the perky Hufflepuffs. Hufflepuffs were certainly not Bella's favorite people, although her aunt and uncle had both been Hufflepuffs. Bella grumbled, trying to drown out the sound so she could concentrate on the passage.

Finishing the muffin, the noise unbearable, Bella stood up and walked towards the doors, hoping nobody would try to prevent her from making her way to silence.

Fred couldn’t do another minute of this.  Grabbing a croissant from the tray in front of him, he downed the rest of his pumpkin juice in one gulp, smacking his lips as he placed the cup back on the table.  Class was probably starting soon and he had so much to do – or he felt like he had so much to do.  Pushing himself up from the table, he put the croissant in his mouth – a secure holding spot for the time being while he packed his bag full of the ridiculous books he needed to carry around. Studying could happen anywhere, after all. 

So, as soon as his books were packed, he put his bag over his shoulder and leaned down to grab another glass of pumpkin juice – you know, for the road. 

Unfortunately, as he stood all the way up, someone must have walked by because he felt a sudden pressure against his backpack and it jostled his feet and… “Oh sugar mice,” he looked down at the front of his shirt and his Hufflepuff tie: orange.  All orange and dripping.  Freddie grimaced and pulled at his shirt with his free hand, croissant still in the other.  Gross. 

 Looking around, he saw Bella – fellow fifth year-  walking quickly.  He didn’t know if she bumped him or not, but she would probably know, “Do I have enough time to change before classes?” The Slytherin dungeons were near the Hufflepuff cellar, she’d know (probably). 

"Doubtfully. One second." Bella added in a murmur. She set her books down on the ground. "I know I shouldn't be doing magic, but you seem to be in dire need of some clean-up." She then whispered, "Tergeo[1]." Like that, the crumbs and what looked like pumpkin juice disappeared. She gave the clumsy Hufflepuff- Fred, she was sure was his name- a small smile, picking her books back up.

"Do you have History next?" Bella certainly wasn't in any rush to reach her least favorite class, so it seemed fine to ask idiotic questions to which she knew the answer.

Bella fingered with the edge of her book, her hand absentmindedly resting on her quill, which was sticking out of the pocket in her bag. It wasn't very nice outside, Bella noticed as she looked up at the ceiling and then outside, rainy and only reaching 57, and Bella knew it's always much cooler or warmer than predicted (In this case she assumed colder). The weather had been like this yesterday as well, and most of March, quite frankly. There was a week of snow at the beginning[2], postponing Astronomy and Care of Magical Creatures, and making the Gryffindor versus Slytherin[3] match quite crumby to watch.

1.	Proof of Spell
2.	Weather
3.	Quidditch Match Proof

Well, that was good!  The mess cleared up straight away, thankfully Bella had thought to do a spell and clean him up since he wouldn’t have time to go back to the door.  He should have thought of that!  This was why he was clearly going to fail his OWLs.  He couldn’t even think of a simple spell to clean himself up after a spill.

Glancing up, he shrugged and let go of his shirt, tugging down the edges so he was presentable again, trying to make things smooth too.  He didn’t like the idea of going to class like a mess.  “Thanks,” he tried to smile, but Fred probably always looked a little bit like a gassy baby when he did. 

His posture fixed, he could meet eyes with Bella (she was tall as opposed to a lot of the girls in their year that seemed to be half pixies or something) and shrugged.  “Yeh, history too,” he turned a little to indicate his backpack, as though that would explain where he intended to go.  “I’ll probably end up studying for transfiguration during the lecture though,” he explained. 

“It’s supposed to be a really difficult OWL and,” he sighed heavily, falling in next to her.  “That’s what my mum said anyway, in her letter.”  He motioned for her to follow him, “what have you heard?”

Bella walked after the Hufflepuff. Her stereotype for them was confirmed, whatever that truly meant.

She felt a smile pressing at her. She was almost a Ravenclaw, but saying that could make it sound like she was gloating, and Bella did not want chaos to occur. "Well, my mother didn't go here, and I'm not to sure about my what my dad thought about it, but he was a Ravenclaw." She assumed Fred had heard about her father's death, or could at least infer François Seulement died. "But my Aunt and Uncle- they were Hufflepuffs- said it was fairly difficult. Of course, if I want to be an auror, I'll need to make the exam easy." There was a slight pause before Bella continued on with whatever she was getting to. "Although, I do need to study for herbology."

I'm a natural at all subjects, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't study. My problem is I don't like herbology or history... But I still have an A in both of those, O and E in everything else. Bella smiled at the though of her grades, but then grumbled at the thought of the long, boring exams of her two least favorite subjects.

"It's terrible," Nicholas said, unable to help himself, as he walked past the two younger students.  He laughed as he went on, "If you screw up on the practical they start transfiguring you one body part at a time."

He pulled out his wand, "I can show you if you want?"  He smiled and shrugged before slipping his wand back into his pocket.

"Practice your counter-spells if you don't want to be a chicken at the end of the exam."  With another laugh that echoed down the corridor, he turned off into a side stairwell, a shortcut to a nice smoking location.

Exit Nicholas