30

Before they knew it, the exams they had jokily dubbed SKREWTS, were upon them and they had precious little time to enjoy themselves. Both Harry and Kathryn felt more at ease in their potions practical than they had ever been under Snape's instruction and managed to produce an antidote to the poison they were given without hassle. That, they assumed, was due to the fact that they did not have the greasy Potions Master breathing down their necks at every conceivable moment. They were also still on the euphoric high from their winning the Quidditch Cup and smashing the record for the longest held title, so they supposed that was also a help.

Defence against the Dark Arts went supremely well for the four of them. They even seemed to wow the examiners with some of their own counter-curses and jinxes that they had been working on. Transfiguration also went well, even though Kathryn accidentally left the family of swans she had transfigured from set of pillows with dark blue plumage before rectifying her mistake.

"Anything else, my dear, that you would like to show me?" the tiny Professor Tofty asked her at the end of the exam.

"Actually, there is Professor," she admitted, "but it must not leave this room." She was glad for the fact that the examination was being held in a single room.

"Go ahead." She nodded and stepped back from the desk. She saw Professor Tofty's eyes widen as the girl before him transformed into a wolf and then back into the girl.

"You have achieved Animagus transformation!" he squeaked. "That is certainly worth an extra point." He made a note before turning to look at her seriously. "You will make sure to register, won't you? There are severe penalties for those who do not."

"I fully intend to, Professor," she reassured him, "but I am sure you understand that any paper record of this ability would only endanger my life, given the current situation." She explained.

"My goodness yes." He nodded fervently. "Well, your secret is safe with me, now off you go, I'm sure you have lots to revise for."

"Thank you Professor." She left the room and hurried back up to Gryffindor tower.

Their last exam was their charms theory paper and then they were free. The four of them spilled out into the glorious sunshine along with the rest of their year.

"Free at last!" Ron cried as they settled themselves on the grass by the lake. "No more exams ever." He said with a relieved gasp, his hands playing with Hermione's hair.

"We'll still have a lot to do if we want to be Aurors though." Hermione reminded him.

"That's right, ruin my happiness with a few words." Ron grumbled.

"But that's why you love me." She told him with an impish look, resting her head on his shoulder.

"We still have work to do you know," Kathryn reminded them before they became too lost in each other to notice her speak, "if you hadn't forgotten, we have a ball to put on in just over a fortnight and we still have a lot to do."

"It can't be that hard." Harry said distractedly, noticing Ginny heading over.

"We have to organise the food, drinks, decoration, invitations, outdoor decoration, start time, finish time." She checked off the tasks on her fingers.

"Invitations?" Hermione gave her a quizzical look. "The whole school knows; we don't need to send invitations."

"I meant to the Governors, I feel like we have to invite them." Kathryn explained.

"Can we leave Lucius Malfoy off the list?" Harry asked hopefully as Ginny sat down next to him.

"Oh yes," she replied cynically, "because that won't look suspicious at all. No, I'm just issuing a general invitation; they're free to come if they want to."

"Well, with any luck he won't." Ginny said hopefully, stretching out onto the grass.

"And, if what Snape said is true, he might be coming with someone anyway." Hermione added in the same optimistic voice. "Unless of course said woman is a 'lady of the night' like Snape says she might be." Kathryn laughed at Hermione's careful avoidance of the word 'whore' but was also thankful of her unwillingness to so easily demean the woman. This also gave her a positive gauge of Hermione's possible reaction if she was discovered. Of course, Kathryn could not be so sure that Hermione would be so disposed to seeing the good in people when she found out that Lucius Malfoy's whore, as Snape put it, was one of her best friends.