Considering the few things the witches and wizards had known of the Higher Powers which sometimes choose to intervene in the reality, this obscene murder had rarely been done, and then more in ignorance and stupidity than in true malice. There were prices to pay no one sane witch or wizard would ever consider. But as the dark-robed figure bent to touch the still hot corpse of the unicorn proved, there were always a few beings too far gone in the darkness to understand there were things that really should not be done.
The instant the lips touched the cursed silver liquid, loud screams echoed in the Forbidden Forest.
April 11 1992, Hogwarts, Scotland
Alexandra groaned as she finished the last line of her Potions essay with her quill. With Saturday morning being bright and sunny, she had hoped getting rid of her homework in one hour or two and then going outside doing some sport or simply enjoying the weather with her friends. Flitwick had been particularly vicious in his duels last night, and she would have really enjoyed the relaxation. Unfortunately, the professors seemed to have concerted to bury the first-years under the weight of homework and essays. With the exams of the end of the year approaching, each teacher competed in ingenuity to give them the longest and difficult assignment possible. The Easter holidays, only one week away from now, promised to be more stressing than the Christmas ones.
The homework she had just been working on was a case in this point. Following the explosion of the cauldron of Sally-Anne Perks on Monday, Professor Snape had been in a massacring humour, and ordered them to write a roll of parchment on the subject of snake fangs. As the information on this ingredient was in the library and not on the current first-year book, Alexandra and the rest of the class had been forced to go row after row searching for books specialising on the effects of the Strength potion, the Boil-Cure Potion and many others. Even by beginning this homework on Wednesday, with the current amount of work delivered by the other classes, Alexandra had just finished the last touches on her essay. At three o'clock in the afternoon, far later than she had ever imagined. At least it was the last piece of homework she had to be done this week, so now she was free to do something else other than list the various proprieties of the fangs from venomous snakes. Closing the massive book Snake parts: What good are they? she had opened two hours ago, Alexandra looked around her, and saw Hermione looking pensively at her on the other side of the desk she was currently sitting on.
Of their trio, the Gryffindor girl had been by far the first drawing up revision tables and underlining all her notes in bright colours for the upcoming exams. When Nigel had had the bad idea to tell her exams were still eight weeks away and she had no need to begin such an arduous amount of revision, the answer had been bearing more than her standard level of 'aggressive'.
"What am I revising for? Are you mad? You realise we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's got into me …"
Poor Nigel hadn't since tried to question Hermione planning of revision. Neither had Alexandra for that matter. Still, Hermione took things far too seriously in her opinion. Discussing with Flitwick after her duels on Friday evening, Alexandra had learnt no student had ever been forced to do again his first-year since the 1870s. In reality, before fifth-year and the OWLS examinations, it was really difficult to redo a year at Hogwarts, and nearly impossible to be dismissed because of your results. If there were students like Crabble and Goyle every year in Slytherin, she was ready to accept her Head of House explanation on the spot.
That was not to say grades and exams at Hogwarts were not important, quite the contrary. Some options taken in third-year like Arithmancy were not accessible anymore if a student received failing grades in the subject at the end of a year. There was also the not very spoken understanding that while the professors had not the power to force a boy or a girl to abandon his magical studies, they had the right to refuse one of their students entry in their class past the fourth year if they judged teaching this teenager was a waste of their time. This right was rarely used, but it existed.
After fifth year, things changed considerably as the Senior Professors set their own requirements to attend their courses. The magical grades of Hogwarts were 'O' for 'Outstanding', 'E' for Exceeds Expectations, 'A' for Acceptable, 'P' for 'Pitiful' , 'D' for Dreadful and 'T' for 'Troll'. Only the three first grades validated a course, and a student had to earn at least two OWLS from the twelve existing classes to stay at Hogwarts. In reality, the teaching staff accepted back teenagers who had had at least three OWLS with one 'E' awarded. While Flitwick had revealed to her Charms studied were open to any Hogwarts alumni having an 'A', he was definitely an exception. Most of the other classes required an 'E', with the exception of History of Magic (that few boys and girls except some studious Ravenclaws dared to take anyway) and Defence Against the Dark Arts (which was changing professors at the end of each year). Professor Snape in Potions class was the worst: he accepted nothing but "O" for sixth and seventh years! Fortunately, the preoccupation of the OWLS score was still some years away for Alexandra. Though it didn't stop certain persons to project themselves forward.
✨ Want to read the next chapters early?
Unlock 20+ advance chapters and get exclusive perks by joining my Patreon!
🔗Join here: Patreon.com/Makimafic
---
💎 Patreon Tiers
🥉 Tier 1 — $10
📖 Access to 20 advance chapters
🥈 Tier 2 — $20
📚 Access to 30 advance chapters
🎁 Extra exclusive benefits
---
🔥 Patreon Benefits
📚 Read 40+ advance chapters early
👥 Join a private fan community
📝 Access exclusive unreleased novels
[ ] 🚫 Enjoy a 100% ad-free reading experience