First Year, Revision, Exams and the End of the Year
April 1972
With the lengthening of the days and the sprouting of the leaves, time seemed to speed up and the castle awoke from its hibernation. The dormant beast, called end of year exams, lay looming in the doorway, menacing and waiting to prance on the students of Hogwarts.
With her elbow, Lily pushed into their dorm room, carefully balancing a pile of books in her arms, her wand stuck in her hair, holding her curls back from falling in her face.
`Behold: the thing that reads a lot!` Mary announced as she spotted Lily. She was laying on her belly on the rug, cutting into old magazines, little pieces of paper littered around her.
Lily plonked the pile of books down on her bed with a heavy thud, the bedsprings creaking under the weight. She let out a deep breath and rolled her shoulders to get the tension out. It hadn`t been an easy operation to lug the books up several lights of stairs. In hindsight, she probably could have levitated them up here.
`What are you planning?` Mary asked, bemused and raising her eyebrows. `Robbing the library?`
`No.` Lily said pointedly, exchanging her wand for a rubber band and quickly plaiting her hair into a thick braid. `I am studying. Opposed to you. You are going to clear that up, aren`t you?` She gestured at the mess in the rug.
`Yes, mom.` Mary rolled her eyes, but still started gathering her cut-outs.
Lily began rummaging in her storage space, looking for her History of Magic notes. She had them stashed somewhere around here, but with her piles upon piles of notes, it was sometimes hard to keep record of everything.
`You do know we still have a couple of weeks, right?` Mary asked. `We`ve still got loads of time. We haven`t even covered everything in class yet.`
`All the more reason to start now!` Lily said.
Lily felt panic rise up in her chest as a result of her missing notes, luckily that quickly resolved as she spotted them behind her Astronomy folder, and she exhaled relieved.
*
Either Lily`s exam stress was contagious, or Mary and Marlene finally started to realise that they were nearing the end of April, either way, it seemed like all three of them were in full revision mode. All their free time was consumed by studying, either in their dorm room, or the library, under the watchful eye of Madam Price.
Evidently, it wasn`t only the Gryffindor first year girls that were bowing deeply over their studies. The entire castle appeared to be run through by a high currant, static buzzing, sparks flying. Lily had heard rumours that Bellatrix Black had cursed the tongues off some fellow Slytherin students for making noise when she was trying to study for her NEWTs. Madam Pomfrey actually had to grow their tongues back and the Slytherins hadn`t been able to talk for three whole days. While it had been revolting and not the right method to get people to be quiet, Lily did understand where she had been coming from.
Sometimes Lily felt the rising urge to curse her dormmates or fellow Gryffindors for being too loud while she was trying to revise. Especially Potter and Black, who seemed to exert their excess of exam anxiety, by setting off firecrackers in the hallways and pulling all sorts of other obnoxious pranks.
`I`m never going to get it right!` Mary wailed.
`Yes you are!` Lily replied insistently. `You just need to find a way to remember them easily. I do them in alphabetical order for instance.`
They were memorising potion ingredients in the library, their table full of books, parchment and ink wells. Marlene and Mary kept alternation between fits of laughter from the nerves and utter bouts terror.
`How much did you say we need to get on these exams to pass the year?` Marlene asked anxiously, biting her nails.
`I`m not going to tell you again.` Lily responded, annoyed. `You need to study either way. So there`s no use telling you, if you are only going to cry about it.`
`I`m not going to cry about it!` Marlene spat back indignantly and started chewing on her hair. A habit she seemed to exhibit in times of extreme stress.
Lily sighed and started to look around her chair for her bookbag. They had had this exact conversation at least ten times by now and Lily was getting shot of it. She couldn`t wait for this horrid end of the year sprint to be over. The fact that this were their first end of the year exams, made that Lily felt even more nervous about them. It was as if she needed to prove herself. She needed to set a standard to hold herself to for the years to come. Create an image. And most of all; beat Potter and Black.
`I don`t want to do this anymore.` Mary moaned and plonked her head down on her book.
`Mary, stop whinging.` Lily replied, scanning the floor. `Has any of you seen my bookbag?`
Marlene shook her head, still chewing on her hair.
Out from behind a row of bookcases rose a low chuckle, followed by hushing and the shuffling of two pairs of feet.
`Potter! Black!` Lily cried, angrily and annoyed. `I swear I`m going to hex you all the way to the summer holidays.`
`Oh no, Evans, don`t swear!` Sirius yelped as he ran away, tugging James behind him, cackling loudly.
James and Sirius had started vanishing bookbags in the library, for their own entertainment obviously. It made Lily want to pull a Bellatrix on them.
*
`Wake up!` Lily shook Marlene by her shoulder.
Marlene groaned and pulled the duvet over her head.
`You need to quiz me on the 18th century goblin riots.` Lily whispered, urgently.
`No.` Marlene grumbled, only her hair sticking from beneath the bedcovers, the rest of her invisible.
`What time is it?` Mary asked groggily.
Lily had now also woken up Mary with her stumbling about in the dark.
`Five thirty.` she replied, already stuffing books in her bag, and searching for her quill with a lot of noise.
`Why?` Mary sighed exasperated.
`Oh, uh, maybe because we move through the fabric of space, giving us something we call time!` Lily hissed back.
`Lily, go to sleep.` Mary replied sleepily, before drawing her bedcurtains shut.
`I`ll sleep when I`m dead. Don`t come crying to me if you fail your exams!` Lily called, before storming out their room.
The common room was relatively empty, save for some older students, already cramming for their NEWTs or OWLs. Before starting on her planned revision schedule, she snuck down to the kitchens to get herself some coffee. If she was going to start at this ungodly hour, she needed something to keep her going.
Lily sat herself down in front of one of the fireplaces and splayed her History book open on her lap, going over the 18th century goblin riots. There seemed to have been countless of them, but she felt like she had almost gotten them all down. When she groped in her bookbag to find her quill, she recoiled as she grabbed something slimy. Gagging, she pulled half of a decomposed banana out of there. They were supposed to transform banana`s into slippers for Transfiguration, apparently she had forgotten to take one out of her bag. Once again, she longed for the exam period to be over and done with.
There was a creaking of the stairs and Lily spun around to see Sirius descending from the boys dormitories.
`You!` she pointed at him as she sprung up.
Sirius blinked and stepped back, backing against the wall, his eyes bleary from sleep.
`Quiz me on the 18th century Goblin Riots!`
`You`re mental.` Sirius mutter before turning around and running back up to the dormitories.
`Don`t you run from me Black!` Lily called after him.
`Mental!`
***
May 1972
The two weeks before the end of the year exams had been rid of classes and Marlene spent every spare moment studying with Lily and Mary. Lily seemed to have completely lost her mind over the exams, sometimes Marlene heard her muttering potion ingredients in her sleep, listing them in alphabetical order. She was up at the crack of dawn and downed coffee like her life depended on it.
Mary was a little bit more lenient with studying and sometimes snuck away from them. Even though Marlene was desperately gasping for air, she didn`t dare quit or take a break. She felt the incredible pressure to get good marks that she would be able to present to her family. It was expected of her to do good in school, failure wasn`t an option.
The subjects Marlene was worrying about the most about were Transfiguration and Charms, since they were both practical exams and it didn`t matter how hard you practiced for them, in the end, it all came down to the moment. Herbology she worried the least about, it was the subject she enjoyed the most and it barely felt like studying. Astronomy and History of Magic were both a lot of cramming information into your head and being able to reproduce it on parchment. Defence Against the Dark Arts was relatively hard, but extremely rewarding when you got it right, so secretly Marlene was looking forward to that exam. Potions always came down to precision in the end. Sadly, there wasn`t an exam for Flying, because Marlene felt sure she would have aced that.
Still, it seemed like her heart hadn’t been beating at a proper pace for the last couple of weeks. Maybe it was the lack of consistent fresh air, or the extreme pressure she felt, but it was as if a giant troll was sitting on her chest. She had been consistently chewing on her hair, to the point that her ends always seemed to be slightly wet with saliva. Mary thought it was a filthy habit, but Marlene couldn`t really help it, she had done it for as long as she could remember. When her stepdad had first moved in with them, she had chewed off an entire chunk of hair, much to the displeasure of her mum and hilarity of her brother.
On the morning of their first exam, which was Charms, she woke up even before Lily, and quietly pulled on her running shoes. If she wasn`t going to get some fresh air, she felt like she might just combust. She hadn`t been outside enough, which was a shame, since the weather had actually been quite pleasant. A balmy mid spring breeze and aquatic sunlight.
In the dim light of the morning, Marlene ran over the Hogwarts grounds, the wind biting her face and the dew drenched grass sinking away under the soles of her feet. With every step she could feel it thunder through her bones, into her skull. Marlene was prone to getting migraines when she was stressed, so she desperately hoped she wouldn`t get one during exams.
She ran until she came across the Great Lake, on the beach she stood still, staring out over the rippled water. The fleecy clouds reflecting off the surface like tufts of cauldron smoke. Marlene was eagerly awaiting the summer, mostly so she could take her little boat out on the loch and spent her days lazing about on the water. That, and training with her brother, so she could go out for the quidditch team next year. But, for now, she just needed to get through the exams. In this moment, nothing else mattered besides that.
Even though Marlene had endlessly practiced for her Charms Exam, nothing could have prepared her for having to make a coconut dance an Irish jig. Lily, obviously, immediately got hers to do a perfect jig on top of her desk. Secretly, Marlene attributed this to her red hair, though she would never say that out loud and she knew it was just coping for the fact that her coconut had only wanted to preform a Highland dance. Luckily, the tiny Charms professor had been able to appreciate this. Mary didn`t come off so lucky, as she completely lost control of her coconut and it started spinning wildly before combusting and momentarily attracting all attention.
Transfiguration had been even more eventful. Professor McGonagall had ordered them all to turn a beetle into a peppershaker. While most of them were struggling, James` topped the lot by having his peppershaker fly out the window, making her and Mary shriek in terror. Luckily, after the commotion had died down, all three of them were able to turn in decent peppershakers. Lily had even managed to transform her beetle into glass, whereas Mary`s and Marlene`s kept being black and shiny. When the Transfiguration Professor was examining her work, Marlene was momentarily scared hers would fly away as well, yet it didn`t, and she felt assured she would get an acceptable mark.
To Marlene`s surprise, the rest of her examens went better than expected. Potions was relatively easy. They had to brew a cure for warts from memory, which Marlene thought was straightforward enough. When it came to potions, she liked it when they had to brew something that was designed to prevent or heal something, it made her feel more motivated to make it. Much to Snape`s displeasure, she was third to finish her potion, Lily being second. Professor Slughorn actually praised her on the colour of her liquid as he peered into her cauldron.
The written exams were, although tedious and time consuming, not as bad as she had expected. Her wrist did start to cramp up halfway through her History of Magic exam and she was scared she would need to stop.
Marlene spent the sparce time between examinations sneaking out of the castle to walk around the Great Lake. Or watching the older students fly their brooms around the quidditch pitch. Lugging her notes along with her as she sat in the stands.
In the evenings, they opened up their dorm widow to let in the balmy spring air and sat on their rug, listening to the radio or talking about their summer plans. Lily had gotten a great deal more pleasant now most of the exams were over and she wasn`t constantly hyped up on caffeine, quizzing everybody on their course material. They had banned the topic of exam results from their dorm as proposed by Mary, much to the Marlene`s relieve.
On the morning of their final examination, Astronomy, Marlene went out running again in the morning. It was drizzling slightly, but she didn`t mind it as the rain hit her face and cooled her cheeks.
`Oi, McKinnon!`
Marlene turned around to see James Potter come up behind her, hair standing on end and also in running gear. She slowed her pace and he caught up, siding next to her.
`You`re fast.` he panted as they plodded on.
She grinned smugly, there was a hint of surprise in his voice. There was always a hint of surprise when someone found out she was actually really fast and a lot stronger than noticed upon first glance. Since last spring, she was actually able to outrun her brother in races and she always won from her stepdad in arm wrestling matches.
`I`ve seen you run around here a lot.` James continued, pushing his glasses further up his nose.
`Aye.` Marlene answered, she wasn`t really sure how she was supposed to respond to this observation. She had never really talked to James before.
`Your brother plays for the Cannons right?`
She nodded and stopped next to a tree stump to stretch her legs, they were getting sore.
`You`re going out for the quidditch team then? After the summer? `he asked.
`That`s the plan.` Marlene replied, switching to her other leg. `You too, right?`
James nodded and followed her example by dropping down into a lunge. `I`ve seen you fly in class. You`re really good. I`m sure you`ll get in.`
Marlene grinned and they picked back up to the castle, running in silence for a while. When they got back to the common and went to head to their own respective dorms, James waved a good-natured goodbye. Marlene thought that maybe James wasn`t as bad as she had thought, although, she would never say that to either of her dormmates.
***
Friday June 2nd 1972
Exams were over, they were free, summer could start. Mary wanted to sing and dance and shout it from the roofs. No more late night cramming sessions, no more Lily waking her up in the middle of the night, no more banana slippers, no more dancing coconuts or beetle peppershakers, no more goblin riots and astronomy charts. It was done, well, at least for this year. She would have six more years of this. But that could be put on hold for now.
To her ultimate surprise and also very much delight, she hadn`t completely ruined all her exams and had actually passed all her classes. She hadn`t come top of the class like Lily had in Charms, or second like Marlene in Herbology. But she had done alright, and that was enough for her. Good marks didn`t really mean much to her family, especially when the subjects were ones they didn`t even know. Nobody at home would care if she wasn`t able to perfectly make a coconut dance an Irish jig or name all the 18th century goblin riots. All they cared about was that she would return safely home for the summer. When Mary saw Marlene and Lily completely lose their heads over grades and exams, it made her feel grateful for the fact that she didn`t necessarily felt that pressure. Maybe it would come in years to come, but that was something to worry about when it would happen.
They were laying on the pebble beach of the Great Lake. The sun was shining brightly and Mary revelled in the warmth. Her system had missed the sun, she felt most herself in the summer, it made her feel more alive. Secretly she cursed the founders of Hogwarts for having chosen to place the school in a place that was so incredibly prone to rainy and dreary weather.
Lily was laying next to her, thickly coated in sunscreen to keep her fair skin protected from the sun, a giant hat placed on her head to shield her eyes as she was reading. The little radio, which they of course had managed to carry along with them, was playing I Put A Spell on You by Creedence Clearwater Revival, which Mary thought was rather funny and especially fitting.
Languidly she flipped through her copy of Witch Weekly, it was an old copy, like most of the magazines in the common room. She pondered about whether she could maybe ask her parents for a magazine subscription for her thirteenth birthday that was coming on August.
Mary saw Marlene emerge out of the water and run towards them, blonde hair dripping wet and plastered over her shoulders like a cape.
`Cold, cold, cold.` Marlene mumbled, shivering.
`Well what did you expect?` Mary asked bemused, looking up from her magazine.
Marlene ignored her remark and stood dripping in front of her. `Can I have my towel, you`re sitting on it.`
`Oh, yeah.` Mary stood up and handed her friend the towel, who immediately wrapped it around herself and continued trembling.
All around them, students were either lounging in the sun or going for a swim. Mary admired those who dared to tread the water, she wouldn`t wage the change to encounter that horrible squid. Even though Marlene had told her that the squid didn`t actually pose a tread and it were the Grindylows and Mer-people you were supposed to look out for. Mary didn`t think that sounded more appealing, so she stayed on the bank, she didn`t want to get her hair wet anyway.
As she gazed out over the lake, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand, she recalled the beginning of the year and having to cross the body of water in that tiny boat. It had rained that day, if she remembered correctly. She had not yet known anything about what she knew know. Marlene and Lily hadn`t been her friends yet. Her knowledge of the magical words had been basically non-existent.
How could she have known that the shy girl on the train was one of the wittiest and bold people she knew and that the nosy redhead was the most driven and caring person alive? It had been Marlene with her McGonagall impression who had made that first dire night at Hogwarts bearable. And Lily`s help that had pulled her through those first few weeks of classes.
At the beginning of the year, she had been so convinced that she was a fraud and would never be able to do magic. Now, she levitated the pitcher with lemonade her way with a flick of her wand, as if it didn`t take her any effort.
She giggled as she poured herself a glass of lemonade, thinking about the time they had rearranged the entire potions classroom. Or Lily sneaking down to the kitchens for Marlene`s birthday cake. How angry she had been when they hadn`t been allowed to attend the Halloween party and they had threw one of their own.
Not everything that happened her first year at Hogwarts had been good. She had for instance been met with a lot of bigotry, more than she had anticipated. However, all in all, it had been good. And a lot of it was thanks to her dear newfound friends. Mary turned to the side to look at Lily and Marlene. Marlene was no longer shivering and lay breathing quietly on the rocks while Lily was plucking some weeds of her skin.
`Are you two still up to visit me around my birthday?` Mary asked.
They had been discussing Marlene and Lily visiting Mary in London for when she turned thirteen, at the same time combining it with a trip to Hogsmeade. Both Mary and Lily had only been in Hogsmeade once, at the beginning of the year. That time Mary had only gone into Ollivanders, to get her wand, the rest of her school necessities had been supplied from Hogwarts` second hand bin. So, Mary was dying to see more of the magical shopping street. Marlene had already been there multiple times, either for Hogwarts business or just as a family outing.
`If you still want us to?` Marlene asked, sitting up and stretching her arms above her head.
Mary nodded vigorously. She wanted nothing more than spent some time with her friends outside of school.
The summer stretched endlessly in front of her and while it was certainly a welcome change to not have to worry about schoolwork for a couple of months, she would dearly miss her friends. Mary supposed that her summer would look like most summers did. Her parents would probably go back to Jamaica for a couple of weeks to visit family, leaving her and her siblings behind, since they could hardly afford plane tickets for every one of them. Mary and her eldest siblings would have to watch the younger ones, although her parents would probably take Shamar with them.
When the sun was out she would go down to her local playground with some of the kids from her building and hang around the swing sets. Sometimes, she would help their neighbour with chores, in exchange for some money that she then spent on ice cream, hiding the treat from her younger siblings. Her oldest brother, Jayden, had just gotten a job as barman at a local pub, so maybe she could hang out there when he was working, take some magazines with her.
Mary looked up as she heard the shuffling of footsteps over the beach pebbles and saw Peter hurrying past them, carrying four big cones of ice cream, dripping all over his stubby hands. From a little distance, in the shade of the trees, James waved beckoning at him and Peter almost tripped as he hastened towards the three other boys.
Evidently, Lily had also noticed Peter, as she put her book down and looked longingly after the boy, her nose beaded with sweat and slowly running her tongue over her top lip.
`One last trip to the kitchens?` Mary asked, innocently, batting her eyelashes.
Marlene sprang up, `Aye, let`s go then!`
///