Together (A Harry Potter love story) 1

51

MILLIES POV

In years to come, I would never quite remember how I had managed to get through my exams when I half expected Voldemort to come bursting through the door at any moment. Yet the days crept by and there could be no doubt that Fluffy was still alive and well behind the locked door.

It was swelteringly hot, especially in the large classroom where we did our written exam papers. We had been given special, new quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an anti-cheating spell.

We had practical exams as well. Flitwick called us one by one into his classroom to see if we could make a pineapple tap dance across a desk. Professor McGonagall watched us turn a mouse into a snuff-box. Snape made us all nervous I think, breathing down our necks while we tried to remember how to make a forgetfulness potion.

I was worried about Voldemort, and I wanted to do something about it. Maybe it was because they hadn't seen what Harry and I had seen in the forest, but Ron and Mione didn't seem as bothered about the Stone as us. The idea of Voldemort certainly scared them, but they were so busy with their revision they didn't have much time to fret about what Snape or anyone else might be up to.

Our very last exam was history of magic. One hour of answering questions about batty, old wizards who'd invented self-stirring cauldrons and I'd be free, free for a whole wonderful week until our exam results came out. When the ghost of Professor Binns told us to put down our quills, and roll up our parchment, I couldn't help cheering with the rest.

"That was far easier than I thought it would be," said Mione, as we joined the crowds flocking out into the sunny grounds with our arms linked. "I needn't have learnt about the 1637 werewolf code of conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager."

Mione and I always liked to go through our exam papers afterwards together, but Ron said this made him feel ill, so we wandered down to the lake and flipped under a tree. Fred, George and Lee were tickling the tentacles of a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows.

"No more revision," Ron sighed happily, stretching out on the grass. "You could look more cheerful, Harry, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet."

Harry was rubbing his forehead.

"I wish I knew what this means!" He burst out angrily, as I watched him anxiously. "My scar keeps hurting - it's happened before, but never as much as this."

"Go to Madam Pomfrey," Mione suggested.

"I'm not ill," said Harry. "I think it's a warning ... it means dangers coming ..."

I glanced in the direction of the forest. He was in there somewhere, watching ... waiting ...

"We need to do something about it." I spoke up, looking determinedly at my three friends. "What else are we going to do? Wait for Voldemort to come and kill Harry and sit back and watch him?"

Harry stayed silent, watching me curiously.

Ron, however, looked as though he was not the least bit bothered.

"Millie, relax, you said it yourself, the stones safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not going to try it again in a hurry. And Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down."

I sighed, sitting with my back against the tree, defeated. I couldn't shake off a lurking feeling that there was something I'd forgotten to do, something important. When I tried to explain this, Mione said "That's just the exams. I woke up last night and was halfway through my transfiguration notes before I remembered we'd done that one." I was quite sure the unsettled feeling didn't have anything to do with work, though. I watched an owl flutter towards the school across the bright blue sky, a note clamped in its mouth. My eyes landed on the twins and Lee, who waved enthusiastically at me. I grinned.