3 Aug 2021, 04:04
Letting Off Steam... and Smoke
Backdated to the last day of final exams.
There was a reason why Hogwarts was considered to be the finest school for wizardry and witchcraft in the entire world- the curriculum was strict, the material rigorous, and each and every student was held to a high standard by the professors. Students from all four houses, not just the stereotypically nerdy Ravenclaw, could be found in the Library at all hours of the day, or pouring over homework in their respective common rooms, or studying with one another in the Small Hall. Final exams were incredibly important to everyone as well, and the end of the year always had a certain air of worried hastiness about it. This was incredibly unfortunate for a certain school-hating fourth year Hufflepuff, because that meant that exam season was as close to hell as she would get without actually dying.
She had vowed to buckle down and take her studies seriously this year, and the results were quite astonishing. She was doing relatively well in all of her classes (even Astronomy), flourishing in Transfiguration, and her hard work had paid off. All O's and E's, with not an A in sight. It was a miracle what a bit of elbow grease and devoted time to studying did for a student, really. Of course, all of those grades during the school year meant nothing if she didn't study for her exams. Now that the Quidditch season was over, she could fully devote her free time to preparing for her final exams.
But finally, after all of those flash cards, practice essays, and last minute cram sessions, her exams were done. With one last flourish on her exam parchment, Ami would snap her quill in half with a loud sigh, leaning back in her seat. History of Magic was probably her worst subject, which was really saying something, considering how terrible she was at Astronomy as well. She was more than positive that more than half of what she had written on her exam was complete nonsense, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that she was done with all of her exams, and she was finally free from schoolwork for the year. No more essays, questions, or flipping frantically through textbooks... The exams were handed forward, and the other students around her started to pack up their things. Ami hefted her backpack onto her shoulder, feeling the weight of all of her History of Magic study materials (which she had been looking through right before the test) digging into her shoulders.
Spotting a familiar head of blond hair out of the corner of her eye, Ami grinned widely as she shouldered her way past the exiting students toward her target. "Hey Harry, wait up!" she called, and soon enough she fell into step with @Adam Harringtom, fellow History of Magic victim. Neither of them was any good at history, so many a class was spent trading confused glances and mouthing What the hell? at each other. Nothing brought people together more effectively than a common interest- or in this case, a severe lack thereof. "Man, what a rough exam," she said with a strained laugh, nudging the Ravenclaw with her elbow. "You wanna see something really lethargic?"
... she meant cathartic. Not lethargic.
"I got a surprise for you," she said, a wicked glint that could only mean mischief sparkling in her eyes- a glint that spelled out TROUBLE in all caps. "Come on!" Hooking her arm through Adam's, Ami steered him through the throngs of students in the corridor, weaving in and out of the shorter students with hasty "Sorry!"s before ducking through a nondescript door. Behind the door appeared to be an abandoned classroom- or, at least, it was very empty, which was exactly what Ami wanted.
"How do you feel about fire?" she asked as casually as humanly possible, holding up a large sheaf of parchment paper. Upon closer inspection, they were all previous History of Magic homework assignments and essays, as well as what appeared to be a few torn pages from their textbook. And, of course, Ami's expression was dead serious, and her intentions were fully clear for the Ravenclaw to see- they were about to set stuff on fire.
There was a reason why Hogwarts was considered to be the finest school for wizardry and witchcraft in the entire world- the curriculum was strict, the material rigorous, and each and every student was held to a high standard by the professors. Students from all four houses, not just the stereotypically nerdy Ravenclaw, could be found in the Library at all hours of the day, or pouring over homework in their respective common rooms, or studying with one another in the Small Hall. Final exams were incredibly important to everyone as well, and the end of the year always had a certain air of worried hastiness about it. This was incredibly unfortunate for a certain school-hating fourth year Hufflepuff, because that meant that exam season was as close to hell as she would get without actually dying.
She had vowed to buckle down and take her studies seriously this year, and the results were quite astonishing. She was doing relatively well in all of her classes (even Astronomy), flourishing in Transfiguration, and her hard work had paid off. All O's and E's, with not an A in sight. It was a miracle what a bit of elbow grease and devoted time to studying did for a student, really. Of course, all of those grades during the school year meant nothing if she didn't study for her exams. Now that the Quidditch season was over, she could fully devote her free time to preparing for her final exams.
But finally, after all of those flash cards, practice essays, and last minute cram sessions, her exams were done. With one last flourish on her exam parchment, Ami would snap her quill in half with a loud sigh, leaning back in her seat. History of Magic was probably her worst subject, which was really saying something, considering how terrible she was at Astronomy as well. She was more than positive that more than half of what she had written on her exam was complete nonsense, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that she was done with all of her exams, and she was finally free from schoolwork for the year. No more essays, questions, or flipping frantically through textbooks... The exams were handed forward, and the other students around her started to pack up their things. Ami hefted her backpack onto her shoulder, feeling the weight of all of her History of Magic study materials (which she had been looking through right before the test) digging into her shoulders.
Spotting a familiar head of blond hair out of the corner of her eye, Ami grinned widely as she shouldered her way past the exiting students toward her target. "Hey Harry, wait up!" she called, and soon enough she fell into step with @Adam Harringtom, fellow History of Magic victim. Neither of them was any good at history, so many a class was spent trading confused glances and mouthing What the hell? at each other. Nothing brought people together more effectively than a common interest- or in this case, a severe lack thereof. "Man, what a rough exam," she said with a strained laugh, nudging the Ravenclaw with her elbow. "You wanna see something really lethargic?"
... she meant cathartic. Not lethargic.
"I got a surprise for you," she said, a wicked glint that could only mean mischief sparkling in her eyes- a glint that spelled out TROUBLE in all caps. "Come on!" Hooking her arm through Adam's, Ami steered him through the throngs of students in the corridor, weaving in and out of the shorter students with hasty "Sorry!"s before ducking through a nondescript door. Behind the door appeared to be an abandoned classroom- or, at least, it was very empty, which was exactly what Ami wanted.
"How do you feel about fire?" she asked as casually as humanly possible, holding up a large sheaf of parchment paper. Upon closer inspection, they were all previous History of Magic homework assignments and essays, as well as what appeared to be a few torn pages from their textbook. And, of course, Ami's expression was dead serious, and her intentions were fully clear for the Ravenclaw to see- they were about to set stuff on fire.
According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly.
stamina: 7 | evasion: 15 | strength: 21 | wisdom: 6 | arcane power: 3 | accuracy: 25
martial artist | spell spread | animagus
stamina: 7 | evasion: 15 | strength: 21 | wisdom: 6 | arcane power: 3 | accuracy: 25
martial artist | spell spread | animagus
15 Aug 2021, 00:33
Letting Off Steam... and Smoke
Adam had never felt more like a Ravenclaw than he had last night. After dinner, having eaten all that he could stomach, the boy had hurried up to the library to grab a whole arsenal of history books. Then, arms full, he'd navigated carefully to his common room and rooted himself to an armchair by the fire. He had one goal — one mission: to learn absolutely everything there was to learn about magical history. And he wouldn't eat, wouldn't sleep, wouldn't even think about anything else until he'd completed that mission.
Now, with his quill poised to answer the final question on the History of Magic exam, he was starting to think that he'd gone too far.
He just couldn't win. Adam had always had a hard time with this class, and he knew it. He did all his work, tried as hard as he could; it wasn't that he was a bad student, it was just that history was so long and sooooooo complicated. Why would anyone waste their time on things that had already happened? Wasn't everybody always saying not to focus on the past? It didn't make sense at all. But since he'd become so much more studious this year (having been banned from participating in anything fun — sorry, dangerous), Adam had started to think that he could even pull a good grade in History of Magic. He gave his books a little more attention every night, until finally, on Exam Eve, it was time for the grand finale. He memorized names. He made timelines. When he fell asleep, he dreamed of parchment and ink jars. Adam had gotten as close to "absolutely everything" as he was going to get.
And in the moment of truth, he couldn't remember any of it. He'd overstudied.
The contents of his history books swam around like fish in his mind as he reread the final question, and then reread it again. He knew how to answer, he was sure of it, but every time he reached for one of those thought-fish, it slipped under the surface and he was left with nothing. Unless the fish started biting, he was going to have to make a Plan B. He couldn't just leave the question blank: that was even worse than answering it wrong.
With the ink nearly dried at the tip of his quill, Adam checked the line once more. Nothing. He cursed himself under his breath, did it again for good measure, and began scribbling down anything and everything that he could come up with.
It was over not long after that. Adam watched his feet as he walked away from the classroom, focusing on putting one in front of the other, trying not to beat himself up over the exam. He'd done fine on all the others — right? He was pretty sure he could allow one screw-up. The boy didn't hear the familiar voice as it called out for him (he definitely wasn't used to answering to Harry) but he noticed when one of his classmates appeared at his side. Hey, not just any classmate: Ami! His partner in historical inadequacy. He groaned in agreement as she brought up the exam; it was nice to know that he wasn't the only one that had struggled. "Ugh, I don't even want to think about it. History is so stupid."
Did he want to see something...lethargic? Did Ami know what that word meant? Before he could find out, she tugged him forward, mentioning something about a surprise before pulling him down the corridor. It was impossible to fight it — instead, Adam focused on dodging other students as they raced to see Ami's surprise. He didn't even try to protest, knowing it would be useless until they were standing still.
His friend veered into an empty classroom. More than empty, actually: it seemed like it hadn't been used in ages, and Adam worried for a second that Ami was going to kill him and hide his body in here. His fears were not eased when she turned to him with a straight face and asked: "How do you feel about fire?"
Oh, of course, she'd gone crazy. Or she'd been crazy the whole time. Adam had rarely, if ever, been one-on-one with Ami like this before, and he didn't know what she got up to in her free time, but he knew that arson was very much against the school rules. "Merlin's arse, Ami!" he hissed, glancing warily towards the door. "Look, I'm sorry, but I'm really not in the mood for this, and even if I was, it's totally against..." Wait. Wait a moment. Those sheets of parchment in her hand....were they....?
They were. History of Magic papers. Maybe a whole year's worth, judging by the size of the stack. He thought about that exam, about how much time he'd spent studying for it, about how much good that had done for him, and suddenly he felt much less attached to the rules. He was sure that Ami could see the change in his eyes as he stepped forward.
"This is so stupid," Adam started, reaching out for a piece of parchment, "and normally I'd say no way. But you know what's more stupid? Every single goddamn thing we learned this year." He felt an adrenaline rush as he considered what he was agreeing to and grinned. "Let's burn all of it."