The week following the Quidditch final, Hari couldn’t go more than a few minutes before someone else was congratulating him on catching the Snitch. Oliver still kept approaching Hari to thank him profusely, having to be pulled away by Percy for bothering Hari while he was ‘busy’, though it amused Hari greatly regardless. The weather seemed to be celebrating as well, the snow and clouds having faded away as the grounds flourished with overflowing flowers and the sun shone in the sky.

Even people from other houses were congratulating him. Cedric visited him at the Gryffindor table the day after the match to tell him his flying was excellent and that he looked forward to flying against each other next year, which left Hari warm in the face for the rest of the meal. Mei Chang and Luna Lovegood both congratulated him as he passed their table, Luna showing off dangly earrings shaped like little lions. Even Pansy and Millicent congratulated him during their following Potions lessons and Blaise shook his hand saying, “Good game, mate. Don’t get your hopes up for next year, though.”

However, the celebrations were short lived as, in the coming weeks, the exams were thrust upon the students. Hermione made extensive study plans for herself and Draco, even trying to force Hari and Ron to use them, though they refused every time she asked. The homework was piling up on everyone, even Fred and George working to study for their O.W.L.s, though not quite as much as others in their year. Percy, who had his N.E.W.T.s coming up, was particularly irritable, snapping at people for bothering him while he studied and telling his friends off for not studying hard enough.

Hari, Ron, Hermione and Draco were currently in a corner of the common room one evening, trying to study, when Ron peered down at the exam schedule Hermione had written on the back of her study plan. She was in the middle of rewriting an essay about boggarts, eyebrows furrowed and hair pulled back from her face as she attempted to write even more facts than before.

“Hermione, are you sure you’ve written your exam schedule properly?” Ron asked as he leaned over her shoulder.

“What?” she snapped, looking up from her essay. “Of course I have.” She glanced down at her schedule and added. “Yes, I’m certain of it.”

“But look,” said Ron, pointing at her paper, “you’ve got two different exams at the same time! That’s impossible, Hermione. You can’t expect to be in two places at once, can you?”

Hermione rolled her eyes and tugged the paper away from Ron’s face, stuffing it inside her bag. “What do you care about my exam for anyway? It’s none of your business,” she snapped, scowling. Ron held his hands up in surrender, going back to his own studying of the potions textbook.

Hari, whose eyes were burning from looking over his notes for several hours straight, looked up, glancing around the room. Fred, George, Angelina and Lee covered a nearby table with various notes, whispering to each other about their upcoming exams; Neville was being comforted by Seamus, Dean and Fay, apparently still struggling over his Potions homework; and Percy and Oliver were sitting farther apart than usual after they ended up having a very public argument earlier when Percy tried to tell Oliver off for not studying enough and caring too much about Quidditch and Oliver insisted that he didn’t need to study so hard.

Hari nudged Draco in the side and gestured his chin towards Percy and Oliver. “Do you think they’ll make up soon, Percy and Oliver?” he whispered. Draco glanced up from his notes, over at the quarreling couple.

“Hmm, I hope so,” replied Draco. “They’ve had arguments before and made up, haven’t they?”

Ron leaned across the table towards Hari and Draco, peering over in the same direction. “I reckon they’ll make up by tomorrow at the latest,” said Ron in a low voice, ignoring the scowl from Hermione for bumping her work to the side. “I’m not sure anyone else could put up with both of their obsessions quite as well as each other, honestly.”

Going back to his work again, Hari was inclined to agree with Ron.

Indeed, several hours later as the clock struck eleven, Oliver and Percy were back to holding hands as Oliver dragged Percy to bed after studying for ‘far too long.’

¤¤¤

When the exam season officially started, the school grew eerily quiet, just as it did every other year around this time. The library was unusually filled with people studying last minute for their exams the following day and students wandering the corridors in search of teachers they needed to ask for help. Remus was regularly passing out chocolate to students stressed over their exams as well, along with Madam Pomfrey’s stress inducing potions.

The third years’ first exam was Transfiguration, in which they had to turn a teapot into a tortoise. The students complained to each other afterwards, claiming their tortoises still had floral patterns or steaming tails. Hermione made the entire group groan as she insisted that her tortoise looked more like a turtle.

“Hermione, no one gives a damn if it’s vaguely turtle-like. At least yours doesn’t whistle loudly like mine,” Ron complained as he held the door open to the Great Hall.

After a hasty lunch, they had their Charms exam. Just as Flitwick had hinted, they had to perform a successful Cheering charm and a Banishing spell. Hari partnered up with Ron to try the Cheering charm, though he ended up being a little over-enthusiastic in his approach, leaving Ron in fits of giggles so much that tears streamed down his face. Ron also ended up Banishing his cushion so hard that it hit Flitwick off his chair with a yelp.

The next morning, they had their Care of Magical Creatures exam, which kept the students relatively busy as they were tasked with trying to successfully catch and identify a fairy in a jar. As they were feisty and tiny creatures, this took them the majority of the morning, everyone feeling a bit stupid as they hurried around with jars, trying not to run into each other. Ron ended up breaking his jar on a rock as he tried to slap it over a fairy sitting there while Pansy shoved Blaise onto the ground to try to catch the fairy he had been after. In the end, Hari was the first one to successfully catch a fairy, likely due to his quick Seeker reflexes, though Draco and Blaise weren’t far behind.

Potions that afternoon was interesting to say the least. Hari’s Confusion Concoction refused to thicken enough despite his many desperate attempts and Snape tutted as he wrote down Hari’s mark, which was likely not very high. Neville, on the opposite end of the spectrum from Hari, produced a potion which, according to Professor Snape, was ‘miraculously a solid.’ Draco’s potion, however, thickened perfectly as he added the correct ingredients perfectly. He was very cocky indeed after they left the stuffy classroom, stating that he thought his was the best potion in the class. Ron hit him over the head with his bag in retaliation.

At midnight, the third years wandered up to the Astronomy tower for their Astronomy exam. They spent the next few hours sketching a map of the sky as they looked up through their telescopes. Hari noticed that the moon was incredibly close to being full, making him remember how tired Remus looked recently.

After an incredibly dull History of Magic exam, leaving Hari’s fingers cramping up from writing such a long essay about witch trials, they had Herbology in the greenhouses. On Thursday, they had the Defence Against the Dark Arts exam. It was easily the most enjoyable of exams thus far as Professor Lupin made some sort of obstacle course that they had to get through successfully in order to pass.

With the sun glaring down on the grounds and a light breeze filtering the air, Hari had a relatively pleasant time trying to defeat each individual creature. There was a paddling pool with a grindylow, which Hari was able to easily get past by breaking its fingers; a hinkypunk trying to give him bad advice on which direction to go in; potholes with Red Caps trying to tackle him and then another boggart to defeat. Hari managed to get past every creature successfully, using his Patronus charm on the boggart inside the closet.

“Brilliant, Hari,” said Professor Lupin when Hari stepped out of the closet, giving him a high five. “Full marks.” Hari grinned, standing beside him while he waited for his other friends to finish.

Draco stumbled out of the closet a few minutes after Hari, taking a piece of chocolate from Remus and hugging Hari as he complained about how uncanny the boggart was to his father. “It even quotes him for Merlin’s sake!” he complained, pouting as Hari patted his shoulder comfortingly.

Ron managed to do pretty well, except for getting confused by the directions from the hinkypunk and getting briefly stuck in the bog, swearing profusely. Hari and Draco laughed at his expense as Professor Lupin easily Scourgified away the muck from the bog. Finally, Hermione managed the course perfectly, up until her boggart. After only a minute, she threw herself out of the closet with tears streaming down her face and shrieking at the top of her lungs.

“Hermione!” exclaimed Professor Lupin as she hurried over, falling into Draco’s arms. “What happened?”

She blubbered loudly, unable to speak for a good minute. “P-Professor M-McGonagall told me I f-f-failed all my exams!” she sobbed finally.

“Hermione, darling, it wasn’t real,” Draco cooed, rubbing her back. “It’s just a boggart, alright? Nothing to worry about.” This still didn’t seem to be enough for Hermione as she continued to bawl loudly, attracting the attention of the rest of her class.

It took Hermione several minutes to finally calm down, Parvati, Lavender, Rabeel and Fay also joining in trying to help relax her as Professor Lupin offered copious amounts of chocolates. Finally, after almost ten minutes of coaxing and chocolate, Hermione calmed down enough to go up for lunch before their afternoon exam.

After lunch, Hari and Ron had their Divination exam while Hermione and Draco had their Arithmancy exam, their final exams of the year. Hermione and Draco wished Hari and Ron good luck and they went their separate ways, Draco and Hermione quizzing each other on their upcoming quiz as they wandered off together.

At the top of North tower, Ravenclaws and Gryffindors waited together, talking or doing last minute studying. Hari and Ron joined Neville at the bottom of the trap door where he explained that Trelawney was meeting with everyone individually to ask them to interpret a crystal ball for her.

“Oh, that’ll be easy,” said Ron, sighing in relief. “We can just lie about seeing something.” Parvati and Lavender, listening nearby, both gave him dark looks.

“Come on, let’s go sit over here,” said Hari, pulling Ron over to an empty spot by his elbow. They sat down on the floor, a few feet away from a pair of Ravenclaws doing last minute revision together, pulling their knees up to their chests. “I’m so glad we’ll finally be finished with our exams after this one,” said Hari, head resting against the wall.

Ron nodded, beaming. “Me too. All I want to do is go and take a nap forever,” he replied. “Or we could go take turns on your Firebolt?” Hari snorted, elbowing Ron in the side.

One by one, students were called up the stairs by the familiar misty voice, returning a few minutes later to make their way back down the many stairs leading down from the top of North tower. Eventually, only Hari and Ron remained, waiting at the bottom of the steps for Parvati to return.

Parvati clambered down the steps a few minutes later, grinning widely and tossing her long dark ponytail behind her shoulder. When Hari asked her how she did, she replied, “Excellent! Professor Trelawney says I’ve got the makings of a true Seer!”

“Nice! I’m sure you did great, then,” said Hari kindly, smiling at his cousin.

“Good luck! See you both at dinner!” she called over her shoulder, hurrying off down the stairs, still beaming with pride.

“Ronald Weasley,” came the misty voice of Trelawney from above Hari. Ron bade Hari goodbye, waving and climbing up the rickety ladder.

While he waited, Hari entertained himself by watching a painting of a group of centaurs near the top of the stairs, stomping their hooves and talking to each other in low tones. Finally, after almost half an hour, Ron climbed down the ladder, frowning. Hari jumped to his feet, asking him how it went.

“It was dreadful,” said Ron, scowling. “I tried making shit up, but I couldn’t think with all her perfume and I think she knew I was lying. Good luck, mate.” He patted Hari’s shoulder and went in the direction Parvati had gone a little while ago, leaving Hari alone at the top of the tower.

“Hari Potter…”

Climbing up the ladder and stepping into the dim and piping hot classroom, Hari made his way for his final exam. Coughing at the particularly strong odor of perfume and incense, he moved over to the table where Trelawney sat in front of a crystal ball, dressed in her usual attire of various colourful shawls and her massive glasses. He perched on the edge of his chair in front of her.

“Uh, hello, Professor,” said Hari awkwardly once he sat down.

“Hello, my dear boy,” said Trelawney dreamily. “Look into the crystal ball and tell me what you see…”

Hari nodded, leaning forward and looking into the swirling white fog inside the ball of glass. He furrowed his eyebrows trying to think of something as he pretended to be looking at some sort of image inside the ball.

“What do you see, my boy?” asked Professor Trelawney goadingly, eyes wide and blinking behind the enormous glasses.

“Uhh, I see… a rat,” said Hari vaguely, thinking of Scabbers. “And two cats. The cats are both chasing the rat… one of them is pouncing on the rat…”

Trelawney leaned forwards in her seat with interest, gesturing for him to go on. “It sounds as though you are seeing an escape. A rat could symbolise betrayal, my boy.”

“Right,” said Hari, blinking. “Uh, the mouse—I mean rat… has escaped. It’s running away. The cats are…hugging? The rat got away and the cats are friends, I guess…”

“Are you sure they are not fighting, dear? The cats could be fighting,” suggested Trelawney. “Perhaps that suggests that the betrayal has caused a rift among comrades. They are turning on each other, as friends often do.”

“No, they’re definitely hugging,” said Hari testily, disliking her suggestions. “Uhh, that’s all I see.”

Trelawney sighed, frowning. She looked disappointed. “Very well. You may go,” she said with another sigh. No wonder Minerva couldn’t stand her.

Hari said goodbye to his professor and made his way over to the trap door. However, just as he leaned down to lift it up from the floor, an odd choking, gasping sound from behind startled him. He spun around and gasped. Professor Trelawney had gone incredibly stiff in her seat, eyes rolled back in her head and her glasses falling to the floor.

“P-Professor? Professor Trelawney?” asked Hari, voice rising several pitches as he moved slowly towards his professor. She looked like she was having some sort of seizure or fit of sorts. “Professor?”

Suddenly, a very different voice than Trelawney’s usual misty one came from her mouth, a hoarse and haunting voice like a dying breath.

“Tonight! It will happen tonight!”

“Sorry?” asked Hari.

She didn’t seem to hear him, still stiff in her chair. Panic gripped at Harry’s throat as he tried to decide what to do, but his limbs seemed frozen to the spot, keeping him there, watching his teacher in horror.

“The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned… His servant has been chained for twelve years. Tonight! Tonight before Midnight, the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master... The Dark Lord shall rise once more with his servant at his side… He shall return once more when the servant… rejoins… his master…”

The voice trailed off and Trelawney’s head fell forwards onto her chest, apparently unconscious. Shaking like a leaf, Hari reached out to try to wake her, but jumped back when Trelawney shot up once again, blinking around. Heart hammering, Hari stumbled a few steps back, gaping at his teacher and wondering what just happened. It was as though she had been in some sort of trance or possessed by some other life force, talking vaguely and creepily…

“Oh! I’m so sorry, my dear boy!” said Professor Trelawney, lifting her glasses off the floor and putting them back on. “I must have dozed off again.”

“A-are you okay, Professor?” asked Hari shakily.

Trelawney blinked, the move magnified by her spectacles. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” she asked in confusion.

“Uh, nevermind,” blurted Hari, stumbling away again. “I’ll, uh, go now. Er, see you.” Hari hurried over to the trap door, climbing down the creaking steps and ran down the spiral steps of North tower, skipping steps in his haste.

He ignored the roaring in his ears and the slapping of his shoes on stone as he ran all the way across to the other side of the school to find his friends. He choked out the password to the portrait of the Pink Lady, scrambling inside to find Hermione, Ron and Draco lounging on one of the couches in the common room. Ron had his feet hanging over the side of the couch, leaned back with his head on Draco’s lap while Hermione sat low in her seat, curled up on her side while she stroked Leo’s fur where he lay on the carpet by the fireplace.

“Hari! How’d it go?” asked Ron, eyes shut as Draco ran his nimble fingers through the fiery red hair.

Draco glanced up at Hari and his face fell, eyebrows furrowing. “Hari? Hari, what’s wrong?” he asked, hands stilling, hovering over Ron’s head. Ron’s eyes opened and he sat up, tilting his head at Hari. “Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

“Professor Trelawney,” Hari blurted, falling into the armchair next to the couch.

Hermione sat up this time, rolling her eyes. “Ugh, what could possibly be worrying you because of that old fraud?” she asked irritably.

Hari told them about Trelawney’s fit, trying to quote what she said as well as he could. When he finished his explanation, Hermione scoffed, Draco’s eyebrows furrowed with thought and only Ron looked properly worried.

“You don’t think… you don’t think she predicted something, do you?” he asked worriedly, eyes wide. “As in, she actually told a prophecy? That sounds like a prophecy to me…”

“Oh, Ron. You don’t really believe that, do you?” snapped Hermione. “She’s a fraud! You said it yourself! She’s probably just been huffing too much of whatever that stuff that fills her classroom is and now she’s had some sort of… delusion or fit or something!”

“You have to admit, that does sound similar to a prophecy, Hermione,” said Draco.

“And by the look on Hari’s face, she must have been properly creepy,” added Ron, pointing at Hari.

“My dad talked about prophecies sometimes and that sounds exactly like what happens when someone gives a prophecy,” said Draco. “I mean, she could be a fraud, but that’s pretty dubious. Maybe she occasionally has the Sight.”

Hermione sighed. “Whatever,” she said, getting to her feet. “What do you say to going down to visit Hagrid? We haven’t seen him much lately because of the exams.”

Draco looked out the window onto the grounds. Through the open window, the sky was starting to dim significantly in the early evening, blue fading into a red and orange hue as the sun started to dip below the mountains. “Are you sure, Hermione? It’s already getting dark and Hari’s not allowed out after dark…” Draco fiddled with his signet ring, frowning.

“Hari’s got an Invisibility Cloak for a reason, hasn’t he?” she said. “Hari, just go and get it and we can go and have a cup of tea with Hagrid, rules be damned.”

“Blimey, Hermione,” said Ron, eyes wide. “What’s gotten into you lately? Since when did you stop caring about rules?”

Hermione grinned, tucking a curl behind her ear bashfully and pushing Hari towards the stairs to his dormitory.