End Of Year Exams

End Of Year Exams

In this last period before the Easter break, Salazar's Academy held end of year exams...as if their O.W.L.s hadn't been enough! For Ginny's and Draco's years, they were clearly designed to put an end to the school career for more than half of the pupils.

In addition to the anti-cheating measures they all knew from Hogwarts, their master ordered a set of his followers to patrol in the classrooms, rising the tension from unbearable to sheer cruelty.

The door to Transfiguration opened, spilling out the sixth form, Draco and Theo as distraught as everyone else.

"Yeuch," Ginny exclaimed, fanning the air. "Never heard of an air freshener charm, have you?" With a little drama, she pressed against the opposite wall, anxious to avoid body contact with any of them.

"Oh, shut it, Ms Snape," growled Draco, clearly not in the mood for the banter. He stepped in front of her in a weak attempt to block her way. "We're sitting more exams than you lot who get the O.W.L.s results worked in."

Ginny didn't reply. Next to her, Heather sighed, albeit inaudible to Draco with whom she still didn't feel very comfortable. Ginny doubted her friend would have done better this time round, but she didn't need the reminder of her mucked-up O.W.L.s practicals.

"Is that so?" someone else asked.

"We write as many theory exams as everybody else," Ginny countered. "In the set of subjects that the Ministry doesn't approve of, that's Duelling, Dark Arts, Combat Flying and Flying Techniques, we have practicals, too. Oh, and our paper in Charms and Hexes called for a mere fraction of the year's material...the pieces the Ministry so shamefully ignored. Several feet of parchment on the effects of shrinking body vessels, linking the urinary passages with the wind-pipe, comparing interior and exterior putrefactive hexes and what secretion to force out of an opponent without him passing out."

The sixth form students shuddered, but Ginny went on, "I wonder why no one wanted a practical from us."

"You make me look forward to tomorrow," Draco replied. "Right now, I'm starving, though, and I understand I have to make the detour via our dorm to powder my nose. Come along Theo, before she decides to bore us with more details."

:*:*:*:

After lunch, Ginny and her mates were in assorted groups of four for the practical exam in Flying Techniques, the cargo being a very shallow basin full of water.

"At least it's truly dead matter for a change," Ginny growled. Her memory of being abused as cargo was still raw.

They had to change roles for each lap and got credits for giving their commands clearly, supervising the other three and the cargo.

"They didn't say, but they will also evaluate how well we follow the other commanders," one of Ginny's team members added, muttering under his breath.

With a threatening frown directed at Ginny, another one confirmed. "Indeed."

Ginny rolled her eyes at the insinuation. She decided to play it open, as this wasn't what the Slytherins would expect. "I am compelled to hang around in this school after Easter, no matter what; however, I do prefer to not double as wall decoration. To continue schooling, I need these marks as much as you do."

"Leave it," their last team member, Bernhard Hunt, growled. "Did you even listen? Our last task will be to define our roles and positions ourselves and do another lap with unknown traps. We can't do that mistrusting each other. In for a Knut..."

For their second lap, Ginny was nominated as commander. Her memory from being the cargo made her check it regularly. They made good speed; however, as they passed through a barely enlarged Quidditch goalpost hoop, Bernhard's broom touched the obstacle. It twitched and zipped rhythmically, and water sloshed over the nastily shallow rim of the tub. With great presence of mind, the boy transfigured a measure of his holding string into elastic, breaking the correlation. Seeing most of their cargo had been saved, right after landing, the whole team high-fived him and each other enthusiastically, breaking some of the mistrust between them.

Bernhard was still in a dither from whatever curse the hoop held, so they agreed to make him the last commander.

For their extra lap, Ginny suggested the second best leader should take a rear position and concentrate on the group itself, while the commander, in the front, was to concentrate on the course and cargo. "And that will be you," Bernhard declared. The two others busied themselves with their robes, to avoid eye contact, but murmured their consent. Bernhard was second-in-command.

In these roles, they easily dodged two "Ministry squads" and passed over the "mountains". Arriving with more water than others and in the second-best time, too, Bernhard and Ginny were more than content with themselves.

:*:*:*:

In Combat Flying, always two airborne pairs were to force each other down while an examiner shot additional hexes at them from the ground.

"Oh, Ginny, I'm sorry," Heather said when they were partnered together. "You could have been among the very best, but now I'll totally ruin your scores. I'm pants at shields, and everyone knows it."

Ginny was dead sure the arrangement wasn't accidental, but meant to drag her marks down, and using a friend of hers was just the cherry on top. Severus' earlier exercises in temper control helped her to not show it, lest Heather would lose the bit of confidence she still possessed.

"You've got a great aim, Heather, when you are calm, and you know hexes like nerve ticklers or eye irritants that they will not expect. Low key maybe, but very long lasting. I'm confident I can handle the cover for the two of us, long enough, to have you land those. Trust me to observe and block both parties, our two adversaries in the air and the examiner from below. Keep close and concentrate on the stronger flyer. Hit them fair and square, and then let's see how they deal with that."

Before take-off, Ginny tied a strong, all-purpose curse deflector to the bristles of both brooms with her wand up her sleeve. "An old charm that I found in Severus' material. It isn't well known," she whispered. "We might surprise someone."

Barely in the air, she erected a strong shield around them both, and Heather was free to fire through it. Their opponents each fought on their own, alternating between protection and attack. Ginny's shield repelled the attacks well, and the rebound went to her wand alone so that Heather flew steadily. She was free to chose her targets and hexes. And yet.

With each attack, the shield twanged tinnily all around them. Ginny's ears rang.

The boy in front of them, a Durmstrang-transfer, easily shook off one of Heather's reliably loaded spells. She groaned in frustration. "I cannot get enough power through," she shouted against the high-pitched, metallic noise. "And I barely hear what I'm saying."

It was true. Heather will be exhausted, and they'll know all her favourite spells without having endured from any of the effects, Ginny realised. This was no good. They had to do something drastic, but Ginny wasn't willing to give her friend up. Heather, with her poor defence skills, would be down in no time without even tiring their opponents, and with her gone, Ginny would give up her own chances as well.

Her maltreated ears brought Mad Eye's favourite shields, Hector's Husk, back to Ginny's mind. He had had them learn it for this very purpose of firing from inside out. Ginny flicked her wand sharply to disconnect her old shield, letting it widen and weaken on its own. Its pitch fell immediately, and Ginny felt herself inhale deeply in relief. Conjuring Hector's Husk within the fading shield, Ginny had some time to get tuned to its particular oddities before it was being tested in earnest.

Her new, invisible choice, dampened the attacks gradually in an active zone a few inches thick. It wasn't in the syllabi of either Hogwarts or Salazar's Academy, adding the element of surprise they so badly needed.

With a wide grin, the boy right in front of them cast a focussed cutting hex. Hector's Husk made no sound at all as it invisibly absorbed and dispersed its power. A mere fraction passed the shield and knocked bluntly against Ginny's broomstick, sending them a little off course. Reflexively she strained to pump more power through her wand hand. It was so much easier to think in the cottony quiet that surrounded them now!

Their second opponent was nowhere to be seen, when suddenly something sizzled sharply in from far to their right. The attack faded out with no effect, and murmur arose from bystanders on the ground. The very same hex came their way again, stronger even, as if not quite believing what had happened, but then the girl shrieked as Heather's well-placed stinging hex hit her wand-hand and it glowed bluish. Her fingers opened, but her wand remained tethered to her rapidly retreating wrist. Too bad Heather missed it in her afterthrust.

More hexes flew hither and thither with no effect until the girl yelped yet again as her ear and half her torso grew an icy crust. The weak Aguamenti! Heather was capable of adding enlarged the lop-sided ice crust and had her spiralling helplessly to the ground.

An encouraging, "all right," was all Ginny had time for before she stared at an opaque, green cloud that now concealed the Durmstrang boy. "Don't waste your energy on him now," she suggested. Heather nodded, thankful for a respite.

Soon after, Ginny's shield flickered pinkish into sight, revealing its extraordinary thickness but not reaching its edges.

"What the blazes..."

Ginny pumped more force into her protection, worried at how much toll it took. She could barely hold her wand hand straight! They'd have to end this fight quickly! One of the examiners pointed at them, interfering for the first time. His curse thrummed against the already fading pink at least a dozen times, shaking Ginny's wand, but it abated without damage.

In retaliation, Heather shouted, "Aguamenti!", which, albeit simple, distracted the examiner.

She continued throwing her hexes as Ginny blocked, but eventually Heather's broomstick received a major push, and she shrieked in distress. They had moved too far apart!

Swearing, Ginny dove down, caught her fall and deftly tethered her friend to herself in child-flight mode. "Heather, trust me on this," she hissed. "Just stay airborne and fire off all you have!"

Her experience with Ron paid off as she manoeuvred both of them around. The opponent permanently probed Ginny's shield, but tightly coupled as they were, their combined mass withstood incoming attacks easier than Ginny alone. Inertia, her brain provided in Professor Barnes' voice.

Ginny alternately rested her wand hand on the broomstick and the crook of her elbow. Strands of hair clung to her temples and cheeks, wet from rivulets of sweat. She could not risk any curses of her own in between pumping power into her shield and steering them.

Released from flying, Heather breathed deeply. Her posture straightened, and she fired hell for leather.

For a while, they found themselves in a stalemate. Their opponent agilely dodged or blocked whatever Heather threw at him. He didn't give Ginny any break either, constantly firing and probing, hoping to tire her.

Eventually Ginny had to re-group, and he promptly landed a lateral blow. The coupled witches reeled in mid-fire. Heather's sharp slicing hex made the examiner jump to the right...directly into Ginny's swarm of Bat-Bogeys that wasn't meant for him either. Ginny turned them level hastily, erecting just a simple deflector shield.

Expecting her old, thick absorber, their schoolmate sent a blinding flashlight hex to stall a new attack. Ginny's simple shield had it ricochet down on the already troubled examiner as well. The man must have inhaled in surprise, since he spluttered and ran to the nurse, howling.

The boy froze in shock at what he'd caused. It was enough for Heather to knock his broomstick skywards and shout, "Fire!" Ginny didn't hesitate to oblige and set the bristles and frock tails aflame. He gesticulated wildly for conjuring water and re-levelling his broom, and Ginny pressed the last bit of her magic energy into "Incarcerous!", imagining a thick, metal chain. It wound itself only poorly around the boy's broom hand and the front end of the broomstick, ends dangling two feet, but it was quite enough: the boy couldn't counteract the sudden additional weight and was pulled head first towards the ground.

Reaching the ground, Heather and Ginny toppled over their brooms and limps and wished for nothing more than staying put for a week.

"Get up! Quick!" someone hissed.

Not up to that task, Ginny remained on her knees, and Heather sat on the ground, but they both lifted their wand arm as if ready to continue.

Shaking his head, their second examiner blew the whistle to call an end, and Ginny fell nose-first to the ground. She couldn't care less whether the crowd of spectators was sympathetic or not.

Urquhart's pointed Dragonhide boot was the first thing she saw when her eyes opened.

:*:*:*:

Their classmate Lisa Madley broke down over a barely touched breakfast. With little ado, patrolling staff sent her to the hospital room. When the girl not only missed the exam but didn't return even at lunch time, Millicent cut her meal short to visit her. She didn't mind Ginny joining.

The nurse, this time a chubby blonde, pointed to a bed with a heap of shaking sheets and shrugged. Lisa's sobs could be heard, but only wild strands of her hair were visible.

"Our pep ups for exam exhaustion require a certain level of co-operation from the patient, which she is clearly missing," the witch from St Mungo's stated.

Between her sobs, Lisa moaned over Linda, her sister, who had been married together with the Snapes. Weeks back, Ginny had heard the woman and her husband had arranged themselves fairly well, considering.

Millicent blanched. "Oh, Merlin. Did she get an owl this morning?"

"They did come early today," Ginny recalled. "So it's possible."

Before Ginny could ask for a connection, Millie stood and resolutely drew the nurse into her little office, where she gesticulated wildly, stomping her foot, too.

Ginny drew the distraught girl's attention to herself and got her into a half sitting position. "Here, take a little tea."

Returning, the nurse had lost the colour in her face and her self-satisfied attitude. She made no further attempts to push Lisa into returning to her exams. "You stay here, girl. Don't worry, you're excused from all exams this term."

"I'll come back later, Lisa. Maybe sleep a bit?" Millie suggested kindly and patted her shoulder more gently than Ginny would have imagined.

As the door closed, Ginny turned to Millie, holding her elbow. "What's going on? Knowing the nurses as I do, your story must have been very convincing."

However, Millie shook her head and didn't elaborate to Ginny. She stalked off with purpose.

"I hate how I'm kept in the dark!" Ginny huffed.

She bumped into Millicent, who had stopped short. "You?" the elder girl rebuked her. "You're married to the prime source of information."

"It might come as a surprise to you, but Severus does shield me from whatever he deems to be unsavoury." Ginny continued to defend herself. "And Merlin knows he has a lot on his shoulders."

Millie stared into space, not revealing her thoughts.

"Don't you believe me?" Ginny probed. "It's true, although he hinted that I'll join his social events over Easter break. Banquettes and receptions where my marital status and blood status will outweigh my age. I'm all delighted"

Before they joined the thong leaving the hall, Ginny added, "You lot barely talk to me, even when I sleep in your dorm."

"Point taken."

:*:*:*:

It was Transfiguration theory this afternoon. With delight, Ginny noticed how Lucius Malfoy hurried in still arranging his clothes when it was already time for them to turn over the papers. Like my little hex, you snob? she thought grimly. Now, what's the betting you'll pick on me?

However, he pranced up and down the other aisle, and Ginny quickly tuned out the sound of his harrumphing. She quickly jotted down replies to the few questions on the basics to get them out of the way.

Far too soon, she faced the eclectic and tricky questions that required thorough deliberation but would score highly.

7. Which class of Transfigurations would you apply on the depicted set of necklaces to get them through a raid? Elaborate also on two discarded options.

Why necklaces of all things? Ginny wondered. Model A sported a preposterously valuable, heavy...and ugly...stone-loaded pendant on a gossamer chain that needed a spell to not break under the load. One would instinctively think of shrinking the monstrosity, but wouldn't anyone truly searching immediately cast detectors on shrinking spells, or just cast a restoration spell? Ginny noted this down as discarded. Instead, she opted for skewing and flattening and moulding it to a lamp shade, hanging the chain playfully along the edges. Model B consisted entirely of identical pearls, thus clearly counting as a bulk good. A great set of charms formed in her mind, but, sadly, it didn't belong to Professor Flank's realm. She needed to find something unassuming that would often be found in a magical lab. Something that was lining up numerous identical components...elements...segments...a caterpillar or, even better, a centipede! She carefully elaborated how she'd concentrate on the clasp to become a head with believable forcipules. Florence's words rang in her mind how she'd have to make the thing alive.

The delicately meshed collar-wide model C became a perfect little cage for the centipede. Ginny almost regretted that this was merely a theoretical test.

8. How are proclastic and anticyclic Transfigurations related? Point out commonalities and differences. llustrate with two exemplary spells. Discuss three Transfigurations that resemble one class but in fact belong to the other.

With a sigh, Ginny decided to skip this question, although it was clearly going to give high scores.

Passing by her for the first time, her old nemesis bestowed a cold smile upon her that was as unusual as it was false.

The man had now picked out a couple of pupils, one of which was Ginny. How typical, she thought. He breathed down her neck and shook his head minutely when reading, but she would not let it get to her. Her exam provided enough trouble!

"Mr Malfoy, if you'd please stay in the centre of the aisle," Professor Flank asked with no particular emphasis, and the man ignored her.

Ginny cast a cooling charm on herself and bent over her parchment again. Question by question she worked herself through.

"Half an hour to go," Professor Flank announced, and Ginny still had very little on the important question eight. Damned proclastic and bloody-anticyclic Transfigurations! She sat back to sip at her water, wondering why she was feeling less under pressure than just minutes before... well yes, Lucius Malfoy had stopped prowling the aisles!

He was hovering near the exit, self-occupied, twitching and turning surreptitiously and very eager to leave. What a sight it was to have the arrogant bastard squirm under the curse she'd cast!

"Fifteen minutes!"

Merlin, she could not afford observing Malfoy, no matter how delightful it was!

Slowly turning back to her task, Ginny noticed Larry Thompson wriggle his pinky awkwardly. Oh, yes, that was the characteristic that gave anticyclic Transfigurations their name, and it manifested in... right, the homogeneous inner structure of the marble or china they produced. It was also reflected in the horrid décor Professor Flank tended to favour.

With relief, Ginny bent over her parchment yet again.

... whereas proclastic Transfigurations, especially those of second grade, result in elongated fibres. When the dish is sliced or breaks, the shards will reveal the class of spells used unambiguously. This is, however, not a suitable test as only anticyclically Transfigured objects respond well enough to mending spells...

The moment Professor Flank asked them to finish their sentence, Malfoy stormed out and wasn't seen anymore that day. What kind of revenge could be sweeter?

:*:*:*:

The somewhat odd subject of Geography and Beasts of Britain came next. The test was held in the Great Hall, the questions being near-identical for the upper forms four to six, since the subject had been neglected in their previous schools.

After their general knowledge of the British Isles, one block of questions was about potential places for a makeshift stay. Well, even Muggles knew of lots of caves, although the wizarding community had concealed the major ones in southern Scotland for their own use.

Further down in her parchment, Ginny described how the air circulation over land was different from over water, and how even forest and towns had their own air conditions, the thermic. As consequences, she was to describe where she would find Thestrals, Hippogriffs, birds of prey or Dragons, and what spells would a broom rider need to compensate for the thermic.

Ginny happily put quill to parchment.

"Will you IMMEDIATELY stop casting spells on the photos!" Professor Windeye's scream interrupted her. Smoke wafted around the room, and two of the parchments in Ginny's view ignited.

Confused, Ginny scrolled down to find a set of still, black-and-white photos, supposedly depicting geographical landmarks and famous locations of the British wizarding culture. Oh my, how can Muggles see anything in them?

Lastly she had to describe how she would go from the Isle of Man to Diagon Alley with not more than 50 miles in one means of travelling to shake off followers. A Portkey was first, since one doesn't Apparate over water. Should she go to Scafell pike? Or Anglesey, which, she recalled with amusement, was an island on Muggles maps. If she did, she had to consider bypassing the reserve for the Welsh Green that lay under the Muggle waterways. No way flying over it: a Dragon could easily set her broom on fire.

Ginny went through her material and ended up with a course alternating the transportation between Muggle and magical. She used the Knight bus for an odd passage in between and ended in Oxford from where she took a tourist boat to London. The question was far from simple, but imagining the trip had been fun as well.

Hogwarts should really offer an adjusted version of this subject, she thought not for the first time. But the exam could be shorter than four hours!

:*:*:*:

Tonks yanked open the bedroom door, hands on her hips. "Remus Lupin, you kept tossing and turning until two in the night, and now you've been out of bed for another hour. You tell me what's up. Now."

Tonks prodded the man on the sofa once more, and he propped himself on an elbow, saying, "Severus."

"What about that horrid man can possibly be worth forfeiting a night's sleep?"

"Nympha, please, I cannot dismiss a classmate, and Severus less of all. He was a constant presence in my youth," Remus said, then paused to sit up. He stared unseeingly at the far wall. "I thought I knew him, but from Ron's reports, Ginny Weasley peeled out a layer in his soul, I didn't imagine existed." Remus thought more about it. "You know, if she is happy with this...truly happy, I mean...then I might be glad for him. This is a startling concept."

"Bet it is," Tonks answered, plopping down next to him. "A happy Snape...what would Sirius say? I'd not have thought it possible. He treated me like pond scum, and I'm not even a Gryffindor."

"How many cauldrons did you toss over?"

"Oh, stop it already. Can we trust he's treating her... well, appropriately?"

"I do believe we can. See, Severus has never been one for pretending. If he could not have the real thing, he was wont to decide he doesn't need it. I thought he has given up all thoughts of family life."

"Family?"

"Romance then, or actually any sort of partnership. Whatever it is they have, Severus would not be addling her mind, giving her love potions or exercise other manipulations as the stories of Death Eaters go."

"He's always abused his pupils, setting them on menial tasks in hours of detentions when a wand could have done a neater work in minutes."

"That's not entirely true. Most of the disembowelling has to be done without magic. He merely omitted explaining this."

"How... convenient."

"Of course. Look, Nympha, if he puts Ginny to work, then it's not to be lazy himself or to exploit her beyond need or reason. I was thinking more of the respect, or even love they seem to have developed."

"Before I believe Ron's story about their genuine feelings for each other, I'd put it all on his addled mind!"

"Ron isn't that befuddled." Remus though a little more and added, "Neither was Fleur. She even looked past his attitude towards herself, calling her pale and shallow."

"Severus Snape, the loving husband. It gives me the creeps." After a while, she snuggled closer, asking, "Why, pray tell, isn't Remus Lupin a loving... husband?"

:*:*:*:

Their Duelling examination the next morning was held at the same place, two pairs at a time. Ginny was in the last group, when the air was already carrying more than its share of sulphur, and three students had been sent to the nurse. Ginny and Mandy Sands bowed and paced the required ten steps. The tension between them had never eased, and now they stared daggers at each other. The taller of their examiners appeared more than happy about it. Slash, who had more respect for the Snapes than these examiners, was observing the other pair.

Technically, Mandy was no match against Ginny, but her repertoire of spells went well beyond the curriculum, and she certainly wasn't afraid of using them. If they came more focussed and didn't miss their target so often, she'd be a real threat.

Ginny identified her pattern easily and sent the leg locker where she expected Mandy to be a second later. It homed in, and Mandy couldn't balance out. In mid-flight she still shrieked a strangulating curse that could be fatal. Ginny parried it easily and immobilised her with a Full Body-Bind. Her duel with Mandy ended before Ginny had even found her rhythm.

The gangly young examiner now sent his own hexes towards Ginny, strong, sharp and in rapid succession. They weren't too strong for her to block, and he might still have held back, but Ginny didn't like her own performance.

Ginny saw a pattern in what he did and anticipated his next move, just when he did the unexpected, and she fell. He loomed over her, sneering malevolently. His one eyeball sported a green hue and a wide open pupil. The blinding spell she had deflected must have hit his eye, and the man took it personally. She had, after all, bested him two days before with the same deflection, only from up in the air.

She found herself surrounded with a circular iron fence he had conjured. The upper end of the fence started contracting and closed itself over Ginny like a dome. Its diameter shrank. A fence; how to attack a fence? Her feet were pushed in, and her knees bent. She rolled to lie on the side, feeling how her knees were gradually pushed up to eventually meet her head that was already pressed in as well. The examiner took his time. He taunted her and her Gryffindor courage, which, so obviously, didn't help anything.

Ginny's mind worked full speed now. What spell works against a fence? Iron. Can't be burnt, can hardly be sawn. Acid, yes, but corrosion takes time. Any conjured object would, however, dissolve or be movable if the caster was distracted. How to achieve that? She looked around, for which she was taunted again. The examiner's own chair! She transposed it to stand directly behind her opponent while he called her arrogant and overconfident. Her hope that her peers would not give her away turned true. Most didn't even see what she was doing staring transfixed onto the steadily shrinking fence. With all strength she could muster, she mouthed Accio! towards the chair. When its seat hit the examiner's knees, they bent, his wand hand lifted up, and his concentration was broken for just a moment. With a Mushroom buffer, Ginny hovered the fence two feet into the air, rolled out and rolled on to quickly hide among her peers. She didn't have the energy to do as they had learned, fight until the opponent is incapable to move or harm anybody. She was glad she herself had escaped that state.

The examiner dismissed her, saying, "Until we meet again, Miss... Mrs Snape!"

:*:*:*:

Term ended for good when the pupils left school on Wednesday morning. The teachers were supposed to stay a little longer but the Notts had invited Ginny to spend the day. Severus was welcome for lunch, when (or if) he escaped from the claws of the headmistress.

Brenda wanted to know exam details, and Theo groaned. They were both exhausted and felt they had read books enough to last a lifetime. Yes, Theo felt confident with most subjects, and even Potions had gone rather well. Ginny had seen his sleeping draught being too runny from stirring too much and with a wrongly tilted rod, but she wouldn't say this now. It would still make you sleep, but you'd feel twitchy and uneasy for hours, she assumed. The way she felt right now, she would take it anyhow.

Paul Nott arrived, and they had lunch outside in the warm, spring sun.

Severus owled that he would not make it after all. "Oh my, he's truly pissed." The Notts looked up, and Ginny covered her mouth with her hand. "I'm sorry for the expression, but I can't say differently, what with this scrawl." Theo shook his head. His Potions essays looked no different once he received them back.

The Notts announced an Easter Sunday's brunch at their place. The invitation list would not be too large, and one could take the garden and the house to avoid a crowd. Ginny accepted gladly, suggesting she could come earlier and help. "Well, but this is nice, indeed," Brenda exclaimed. "I'm always so pressed with these parties since most others have an elf or six to help them out." Ginny nodded. She was well familiar with this situation from the social events among the Ministry staff.

Paul provided Ginny with a blue bow that she could wear open in her hair or keep hidden under her clothes. It was a Portkey to their house. "On Sunday, come whenever you're ready. Listen, Ginevra, this is a permanent Portkey to our hall. An activation is needed, but if the time arises I'm sure you'll manage that wandlessly as well. Keep it safe, and it can bring you to safety.

"I want you to have a secure place to go where you're likely to meet people. Even if nobody is here, be our guest and use any facilities you need. Every single one, you hear?" Brenda nodded in agreement.

Then she excuse herself, for she was on duty in the evening.

Out of politeness, Theo and Ginny played a little Exploding Snap and made an effort to talk, while avoiding any conversation about the school. However, they were too groggy to concentrate on anything. "Severus wrote he won't be here before four. We should go outside, enjoy the fabulous weather," Ginny suggested, stifling a yawn. "Where did you play as a child? You had friends?"

They strolled through the Notts' garden and forayed into the surrounding fields. The warm, sunny weather made them sit in the shade of Brenda's best apple tree and talk. Yes, Theo had had a few friends before Hogwarts, but his father had been very protective. Like Draco, also Theo had been given instructions which families to avoid. He knew that there must have been those who had instructions to avoid him. "Mandy Sands for one, and Pansy Parkinson might have as well. It's to maintain the hierarchy, you see." In contrast to Draco, Theo had been rather free to befriend Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, provided they had at least one magical parent.

Considering this freedom, Ginny wondered why he had remained so solitary, but it felt wrong to ask. She repeated what she had told Draco before, how very different social life in Gryffindor tower was.

Just as they were dosing off, Severus arrived to pick Ginny up.

:*:*:*:

Back home Ginny dropped herself on the bed. "I'm not going to leave this place for days, or maybe for weeks."

For a long while, Severus simply regarded her exhausted face and tired body from the door. Not once this week had she asked or somehow verified that he had made and sent the pies for their lycanthropic friends. This ignorance to the calendar wasn't like her. He took off her shoes for her before he retreated into the kitchen.

A tempting smell travelled through the house and woke Ginny up. She stretched and yawned.

"I'm having dinner, and there is enough for two, but there is no room service," Severus declared. Grudgingly, Ginny stepped over and took up a spoon. She ate little, and her enthusiasm in the kitchen was so poor that he sent her back to bed instead.

Severus stayed up a little longer, reflecting the term. The lessons he had prepared, including Duelling, had been adequate in pace, but others had overloaded their charges. Remembering Barnes' request to keep Ginevra the refreshingly natural girl she could be, Severus vowed to himself that he would make sure she was fresh and regenerated in three weeks time. Not an easy task! He frowned. Already now, he knew of three or four social obligations a week they would have to fulfil. There were dinners or other events with the Dark Lord. He also had two invitations from colleagues–sadly not those he could have found an interest in visiting.

Retiring himself, Severus noticed how narrow their bed was. He didn't mind spooning and feeling Ginevra all night. Now that they need not avoid mouth contact, it was even easier than before. But he had to admit his back felt better with the freedom of turning around. He would take their new bed from the school home during summer break.

:*:*:*:

A/N:

I'm very sorry for the long silence. I'ts been busy over here, and my muse just wasn't flowing. Trying to get into a rhythm again, and hoping you're still willing to follow with me.

My gratitude goes once again to my beta and Britpicker team, Soprano-in-Shadow and MagicAlley.

In GoF a girl named Laura Madley is sorted into Hufflepuff. I created Lisa and Linda as her elder sisters. Lisa is in Ginny's year, whose sorting Ron and Harry missed. Linda is even older and got married together with G&S.