"As you can see," McGonagall began, handing out their exam schedule their next Transfiguration class period, "your O.W.L.s are spread over two successive weeks. You will sit the theory exams in the mornings and the practice in the afternoons. Your practical Astronomy examination will, of course, take place at night. Now, I must warn you that the most stringent Anti-Cheating Charms have been applied to your examination papers. Auto-Answer Quills are banned from the examination hall, as are Remembralls, Detatchable Cribbing Cuffs, and Self-Correcting Ink. Every year, I am afraid to say, seems to harbour at least one student who thinks that he or she can get around the Wizarding Examination Authority's rules. I can only hope that it is nobody in Gryffindor."

Suddenly sounding much more tense, she resumed, "Our new - headmistress - has asked the Heads of House to tell their students that cheating will be punished more severely - because, of course, your examination results will reflect upon the headmistress's new regime at the school..."

Althea raised her eyebrow. Seriously?

With a tiny sigh, McGonagall resumed, "However, that is no reason not to do your very best. You have your own futures to think about."

"Please, Professor," Hermione said, raising her hand. "When will we find out our results?"

"An owl will be sent to you sometime in July," McGonagall replied.

"Excellent," Dean Thomas whispered. "So we don't have to worry about it till the holidays."

As they left class that day, however, Althea began to nervously fidget before finally pulling her bag forward to dig for one of her textbooks.

.

The weekend before their exams was tense and subdued. Althea spent most of it shut in the library on her own, studying notes and textbooks intensely. Throughout the course of the year, she had reread every textbook from their competent teachers over the years as well as studied other subjects they had not yet studied in classes. She was so stressed about the exams, she forgot to check on Neville as often, but thankfully, all her help earlier in the year had gotten him where he needed to study on his own. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were occasionally seen in the library, but they spent more of their time looking over notes in the Common Room.

When Althea went to sleep the night before their first exam, she feltmore nervous than she remembered feeling in a long time. She wished she had been able to see her mother over the weekend, but she had disappeared with little more explanation than that Amara was likely to need her soon.

Rolling over onto her side, Althea curled under her blankets, closing her eyes as she tried to force herself to sleep.

.

The following morning, Althea jolted awake, her heart pounding. She had had a nightmare she had slept past all her exams. The moment she looked at the clock, however, she saw it was five in the morning. Even so, she knew there was no more sleep to be had for her. Instead, she got up and dressed before taking her schoolbag downstairs to study.

After a few hours had passed, she took her notes for the Charms exam down with her to the Great Hall, serving herself breakfast as she continued to study.

.

"Well that wasn't too bad, was it?" Hermione asked anxiously after the exam.

As she continued muttering to herself, Althea shared looks with Ron, Harry, and Neville, but no one spoke a word until Ron finally said, "Hermione, we've been through this before. We're not going through every exam afterward. It's bad enough doing them once."

"Hear, hear," Althea muttered.

In the afternoon came the practical examination. Althea, as her last name started with B, was the first of the group to be called. It was a rather easy examination, she had to admit, but even so, she still found herself stressing over it as she returned to the Common Room to begin studying for Transfiguration the next day. None of her friends asked her anything on their return as each of them were too stressed about the coming exams to think much about the one they could now forget.

Wednesday, they had their Herbology exam, the first exam Althea was positive she had done extremely well on while Thursday was Defence Against the Dark Arts, which also went extremely well.

To her extreme surprise, however, when she had completed her practical examination with Professor Marshbanks, an elderly witch Neville had told her was friends with his grandmother, she remarked, "My friend Augusta Longbottom tells me you can perform a patronus."

"Oh, well, yes I-I can," Althea confessed shyly.

"Might I tempt you for a demonstration for extra credit?" she asked.

"Oh, well, all right," Althea replied. She hesitated for a moment in thought before picturing a future where her parents were married, and the three of them lived as happily as could be while Amara and Sirius were free, raising their child. "Expeto Patronum!"

Instantly, a silvery wolf sprang from her wand, running around the hall excitedly, it's movements followed by Umbridge's glare.

Friday, Althea and Hermione took their Ancient Runes exam while Ron and Harry took a break from studying. Despite the weekend, it was not as peaceful as they might have hoped. Instead of getting to relax, they were all busily preparing for their Potions exam on Monday, an exam Althea thought was just about the easiest one she had ever taken. Tuesday, however, Althea had the day off as she did not take Care of Magical Creatures. Instead, she spent her morning giving herself a break before studying for Astronomy in the afternoon.

The afternoon after their written Astronomy exam, they had Divination as they needed to wait for it to grow dark before the practical. The exam went decently well, Althea supposed, but she did not think much about it as Divination was not something she cared to pursue, but despite how dull and uneventful the first week and a half of exams had been, their Astronomy practical proved to be much more interesting.