OWL Exam Hall (Exams starting with History of Magic)

Natalie Patterson sat at a little desk two rows from the front and watched as the examiner explained the rules.

"On your desk," said the examiner, "you will find you test paper. Do not turn it over until I tell you to begin. There will be not talking, coping or cheating of any kind. Normal quills are to be used. You have one hour for your History Of Magic paper. Any confuring answers and your paper will be given a 'T'...you may begin...now," the examine turn over a large hour glass.

Immediately, Natalie turned over her paper and began to scribble frantically.

Holly "Blah blah" ed at the examiner, sighed lightly and opened her paper.
"Okay Holly....you can do this. Question one.....hey I wonder where Riley's sitting...?"
After a quick glance at the examiner Holly looked behind her to find him.
"NO! HOLLY CONCENTRATE!" came the little voice that took the form of Natalie in Holly's head.
"Okay!" Holly muttered.

Ok...question 5. said Natalie in her head, the amount of parchment she had already written drooping off the side of the desk, What year was the Calcutta giant war?...That's an easy one.
She began to write down her answer.

Holly's mouth fell open at how much Natalie had written. She decided to get ahead with her own.
"Question one...." she muttered, "When were the Giant Wars in Ireland..."
Her mind trailed off and the "Cheers" theme played. "Where everybody knows your name..."
Holly frowned thinking of good times in Ireland.

((LOL! This is a *headdesk* moment....it really is))

Natalie was on question 7 by this time, 'What happened to the female giants during the great siege in the camping territory, Mount Logadoog?'

Natalie checked the end of her quill, she was running low on ink, so she dipped it in the pot, thinking, then, when it came to her, she began to scribbed the answer down frantically.

Holly had gone off into a daydream about cats and marshmallows.
"Yum......." she said thoughtfully, and then looked at her paper again. Skipping question one, she moved onto question two....

Shadow had been writing quickly, her quill zooming back and forth. She had missed her NEWTS, so she was taking them now, along with the fifth years doing their OWLS. She didn't really need to think about what she was writing, and this was one time she was extremely grateful for the personified Knowledge in her mind who just went to look up the question in the great archives of her memory.

Holly noticed Shadow and almost lifted her hand in greeting, but stopped after the examiner gave her a look.
"Sorry!" she mouthed, and went back to twiddling her quill with her fingers.

Shadow stopped writing for a few minutes, Knowledge having to run deeper into her memory, muttering something about getting a computer installed in there to stop having to look through the library that contained every single little scrap of information Shadow looked at.

Natalie was now on question thirteen, having know straight away the answers to the few before that. She began to answer it carefully, cleverly using similes to discribe the Tribe leader.
When she'd finished the answer, she moved on to section B. She grinned. It was on the book, 'Hogwarts; a history.'

Shadow's quill was scratching like mad again, halfway through her paper already and she was sure that the answers were correct.

Holly smiled remembering a time when she had seen all the little Shadow's in Shadow's head. Good times. Wait...what was she doing thinking about that at a time like this?
Glancing at the hour glass Holly realised half the time was gone. She swore. She was only on question three!

Shadow sensed Holly's difficulty and attempted a mind connection with her. It was invisible, and the only people knew about it was if you zoned out suddenly.

Holly panicked, seeing thoughts and memories that werent her own. Out of habit she glanced at Shadow and grinned, but quickly stopped. The examiner already hated her.

Shadow allowed Holly access to Knowledge's realm, also known as the answers that she needed.

Holly had a sudden urge to run to Shadow and hug her, but she restrained herself and made do with a quick wink.
She had most of the answers! And almost wrote more than Natalie....mwah ha ha ha ha.

Natalie continued steadily, pretending not to notice what she knew was happening between Shadow and Holly.

Natalie wrote paragraph after paragraph about the amazing school, careful to get her dates correct and her spelling accurate.

Shadow continued to write furiously, her quill racing back and forth.

Natalie rolled up her 27 inch piece of parchment and took out her second one and began writing her account of Godric Gryffindor's brave deeds, and about his house at Hogwarts, and about his sword.

Shadow looked at the hourglass and saw that they had about 5 minutes left. She quickly finished her last sentence and sat back, putting her quill down and massaging her temples.

Natalie finished her last answers, until the secind piece of 20 inch parchment was full, and then rolled it up and sat at her desk, bolt upright and facing the from, red in the face, hair standing on end....waiting.

Holly's quill inked across the page slowly and deliberately. The spelling was off and the handwriting differed near the end, but she was done.
Holly laughed loudly.

Shadow handed her rather long paper in and walked out of the hall, standing at the entrance to wait for the others.

Natalie handed her rolls of parchment in, smiling slightly, and walked out of the hall and to Shadow.
"Arithmacy after break...can't wait," she muttered, grinning, "that went well..."

"Yo- Jenkins!" Holly yelled holding up her paper, "Im done, AND i got everything right!"
The examiner took the paper of Holly, frowning. Suddenly he smiled.
"You know spelling is taken into-"
But Holly had already left.

Shadow shook her head as Holly walked out. She was leaning on the doorframe, and was now only waiting for Natalie.

Natalie walked out of the hall and up to Shadow.
"Well....that went rather well....I thought," said Natalie, grinning.

Shadow grinned at her friend.
"Seriously, your paper was well easy."

"Hallo!" Holly said brightly, "How did yours go? Mine went well, as if the knowledge was coming from somewhere else."
She grinned her thanks to her friend.

Shadow sighed.
"NEWTS, not my favourite of exams." She smiled slightly back at Holly.

Natalie grinned at Holly, not mentioning that she knew.
"I know....it went really well for me too...can't wait until after break now..." Natalie laughed, "what exam are you doing after break Shad?"

"Are any exams to be favourited?" Holly asked, knowing Natalie would say yes.

Shadow took out a list of exams and times.
"I've got.. Oh no... DADA practical!"

"We have Arithmacy, Transfiguration practical and DADA practical after break," said Natalie excitedly.
She loved all of those aspects.

"Better hope you're not around me. I still can't get the hang of my wand." Shadow said, taking out the polished black wand from a pocket.

"Pretty," Holly commented, "And if I can do DADA, so can you."
As if it were settled.

Natalie smiled.
"We're taking our practicals in the great hall...as well as our theory...what about you?"

"Same. NEWTS were sat like two months ago. I missed them so I follow your timetable, but with a NEWT paper." Shadow said. She flicked the wand, saying 'incendio', and was thrown backwards.

"That did not work," Holly pointed out helping her out, "Maybe you should leave it for the exam yeah?"

"Try not holding you wand so tight..." said Natalie, grabbing Shadow's wrist and losening her hand from the wand slightly, "now try it."

"I can't use a wand to save my life!" Shadow said in despair.

"Just try it with your grip looser...." said Natalie.
She grinned at Shadow to make her more confident.

Shadow took a deep breath, relaxing herself and trying again.

Holly raised her eyebrows in an ATTEMPT to make Shadow more confident.

Natalie hoped this would work.
She had read this tip in 'Wand making and usage.'

A small tongue of flame burst from the tip of the wand before extinguishing. Shadow sighed again.

"That was good...try again," said Natalie, grinning with pride at Shadow.

"That was better than the first time," Holly said, remembering that awful first time.

Shadow tried again, and managed to make a bigger flame.

"YAY!" Holly yelled happily. She was very pleased for Shadow.