Year End

It was the Easter holidays and the final exams were just around the corner. As such a studious atmosphere filled the whole castle. Magnus stopped his potion experiments for now and set about studying like everyone else. Not that he needed to, but a revision was always good. The Study Hall was almost always full with Madam Pince overlooking them. For the Ravenclaws it didn't make much of a difference from their common room except for the lack of comfort.

Magnus limited his visits to the Room of Requirement. It would look suspicious if he disappeared too often when everyone else was studying in the study hall or the library. People usually didn't pay attention to his disappearances as they assumed he was studying in the library. It wouldn't do well to change that impression. He read all the books about mind arts in the room anyway, there weren't many to begin with. The only thing remaining is to start practicing.

So, he spent the days studying like everyone else and helping out in the medical wing whenever necessary. His sessions with Tonks too stopped. At nights he practiced his mind arts. Well, there's not much to say at the moment but everyone has to start from somewhere. From what he understood, mind arts weren't all about Legilimency or Occlumency. In fact, it first started as a way to be in tune with the self and in turn know about oneself. The first step is to still the body and mind. He already had experience with this when training for wandless magic. So, this step came easy.

The second step is to fall into different levels of trance, each deeper than the previous. Each level filtering out the distractions and even emotions one by one and by the end, there should be nothing in his mind. After that comes the third, resurgence, where they come back one by one, but this time, you are the one in control. You can decide what goes where. It is at this stage that the memory management of occlumency comes into place. Magnus was stuck at the second step. There were still some emotions and distractions that occasionally popped up in his head. He wasn't dissatisfied though. It was supposed to be slow and a long-term goal.

Soon the exams were upon them and even the Weasley twins had to stop their usual pranks. The exams were scheduled one on each day of the week with Astronomy on the same day as potions but at night. Only the core subjects had exams. Subjects like Magical Theory that were taught for one class or mostly self-study were exempted and they wouldn't be making an appearance in the later years. Charms involved making a pineapple tap-dance with extra points if you can make it do loops. The test was conducted one by one and Magnus was asked to perform a few more charms by Prof. Flitwick which posed no problems. Transfiguration had them turning mice into snuff boxes as that was the most complex thing that was taught this year. Extra points for beauty and attention to details.

Prof. Snape asked them to brew either the Cure for Boils or the Forgetfulness Potion from memory. The twist is that they don't get to pick, it was up to Snape. Magnus got the Forgetfulness Potion but he brewed it to perfection with no problem. Standing Snape's scrutiny over your shoulders while you brewed was as much of a test as the actual exam, one which not many could handle. Prof. Binns had them write down about cauldrons and their history for the exam. He managed to make even the exam boring and totally out of scope of the textbook but no one seemed to care. Prof. Sinistra had them filling star charts. Herbology was a mix of theory and practical. For practical they just had to identify some of the plants they covered during class. Defense against the Dark Arts also involved both theory and practical. For theory it was about dealing with different dark creatures they had studied during class. For the practical part Prof. Rakepick had them demonstrate the Knockback jinx, Flipendo, on imps. All in all, it was an eventful week and Magnus was certain he did well in all the subjects. He did get 100 impact points after all.

They had a week for themselves after the exams. The senior students still had more exams, but the first-years were free. It was spent running around and playing in the castle grounds for the most part. Even Magnus took some time off after Prof. Flitwick found him holed up in the library and advised him to enjoy his youth whenever possible. When the results came, Magnus was happy to find that he got O's (Outstanding) in all subjects except for History of Magic in which he got an EE (Exceeds Expectations). In fact, the only one who got an O in their whole year was Roger. 'Well at least my efforts towards educating Roger in history didn't go to waste,' Magnus thought sarcastically. While he was satisfied with his grades, the rest of the Ravenclaws were all bemoaning that they didn't get many O's. Roger got three while Noah and Eva got two each. No one in their year got an O in potions except for Magnus which surprised even the seniors. Apparently, it was a privilege reserved for the best of the Slytherins. Unfortunately, there weren't many smart Slytherins their year.

Fred and George ended up with all EE's. They were pretty smart after all and the smartest among all Gryffindors. It's just their preferences are less academic in nature. The Year-end feast was an exciting affair as everyone eagerly awaited the results for the house-cup. Hufflepuff came last and no one seemed surprised. Gryffindor came third which was a surprise as they usually contended with the Slytherins for the house-cup. The biggest surprise was not that Slytherin came first but that Ravenclaw came second and the difference between them both was only 5 points. Those who shared classes with Magnus gave him a knowing look. He alone brought Ravenclaw over a hundred points by answering questions during class. If it wasn't because Slytherin won the quidditch cup, the first place would have gone to Ravenclaw who had a weak quidditch team this year. Roger and Noah patted his back and Fred and George congratulated him loudly from across the table much to the confusion of the other students.

Soon, they packed up their luggage and were off to home on the Hogwarts express after the completion of a successful year. The whole train was noisy for the whole journey. Their return journey was spent playing a lot of exploding snap and snacking on unhealthy amounts of chocolate and candies. When they reached King's Cross station in the evening, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were there waiting for them.

Magnus said goodbyes to his other friends. Isabel gave him a discreet wave from behind an older gentleman who's probably her father. Tonks gave him a hug before she went to meet a graceful looking older woman, probably her mother. Mrs. Weasley gave them all her trademark hug and ushered them all outside the station. Ron and Ginny were left with their great aunt Muriel apparently. Everyone seemed to wince at once when they heard her name. They went to the Ministry cars outside as Mr. Weasley asked them about their year. Percy kept complaining that the twins were bringing bad name to him but they all laughed it off. They reached the Burrow in an hour and after a quick dinner, Magnus flooed himself home.

"Home-Sweet Home," he looked around at the dusty place and pulled out his wand to clean the place.

[Magnus Webb

Title: Seer Descendant

Traits: Beast Blood (Magic), Blood Curse (inactive), Beast Blood (Deformation)

Body: 2

Mind: 15

Magic: 15

Impact Points: 1073

School: Divination Lv2 (80%), Healing Lv2 (70%), Charms Lv2 (90%), Transfiguration Lv2 (90%), DADA Lv2 (80%), Potions Lv3 (30%), Herbology Lv2 (60%), Astronomy Lv2 (60%), Magical Theory Lv2 (80%), Mind Arts Lv1 (80%)

Skills: Wand Magic Lv2 (90%), Wandless Magic Lv2 (60%)]