Chapter 26
The party that night went on for ages. It included all the Gryffindor and many of the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Quite a few Slytherins had shown up as well. Nott was there, and Harry had truly changed his opinion of him, as he could see that the boy was a good person who had hung with the wrong crowd for to long.
There were many Hogwarts alumni at the party as well, most notably Fred and George, whom called for quiet once they arrived and announced to the room that Ron really was their brother despite what they had been telling them for years.
Everybody laughed, but not quite as loud as when Ron's skin turned beat red, for the twins had slipped him an emotion pill, which turned him the color of whatever emotion he was feeling.
The crowd laughed harder still when Padma Patil came up to Ron, and he turned a brilliant shade of pink.
Seamus wasted no time telling the twins all about all the trouble that Harry and Hermione had gotten themselves into that year. Fred and George beamed at them and congratulated them on being the new troublemakers, and Seamus for being the new funny guy on campus.
Oliver Wood came by later as well, and told Ron he couldn't wait to play him in a true professional match, then laughed with everyone when Ron's skin turned a dark shade of magenta again.
An official plaque for Ron went up in the trophy room a few days later for his accomplishment. They placed it right next to Harry's :42 second snitch catch award, and in-between Harry and Hermione's Order of Merlin's.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione beamed at them for a while, but then Hermione pointed out that their exams were only two weeks away now, so they all went back to the common room to study.
For the next to weeks they studied like house elves, and Hermione said nothing when Ron made that comment. Apparently she had spoken to some house elves over the summer holidays and had finally given up on S.P.E.W.
Harry and Ron were excited that they would do well on their exams, as their studying had gone very well. DADA was a given, but they felt that they were making great strides in all other classes as well.
Transfiguration was their first exam. Harry grinned and turned to see a grinning Ron and Hermione as well after reading question one.
Name an animagus and their form after transfiguration, and explain in full the details of the transformation, and the effect it has on the mind of the transformer.
Harry smiled and wrote nearly an entire page of parchment on a great black dog animagus he had once knew...
Charms had gone very good for them as well, and Harry and Ron bid Hermione good-bye and good luck as they headed for Herbology and Hermione to Arithmancy. Harry wrote to Hermione after he was done with his test, and found it as no surprise that she had long since finished her own.
The both expressed their positive outtakes on how they had done on their tests, then met up and talked about them for dinner. That supper Dumbledore announced that there would be an end of the year ball, and all students third year and above were welcome to attend. Harry grinned and immediately turned to Hermione.
"So would you like to come to the ball with me Hermione?"
Hermione scrunched her face up in mock concentration. "Well, I'll have to see what Viktor thinks first..."
They both laughed at this and went up to the common room, where Ron informed them that he had already asked Padma and that Dean and Ginny and Seamus and Parvati were going as well. He also told them that Neville and Lavender had decided to go as friends.
Harry grinned guiltily at this. Neville and Lavender were the only Gryffindor sixth years that had not hooked up with someone yet.
The next day they only had their last two exams, Care of Magical Creatures and DADA, both of which went extremely well. Harry had actually laughed out loud at the easiness of the DADA final, and grinned when he turned it in to Lupin twenty-five minutes before anyone else.
"You don't have to grade it," Harry said louder than he intended. "It's a perfect score." The room burst out laughing and Lupin smiled at him as he went back to his seat.
Five days later they got their exams back, and sure enough Harry had gotten a perfect score on DADA, which he loved to brag to Hermione about, until she pointed out that she had beaten him steadily on all of the other tests.
The class results were pretty much as expected, Harry obviously had the top DADA score, Neville had achieved the top marks in Herbology, and Hermione had been the best at everything else.
Harry grinned despite himself before going to bed that night. He knew that he would be going back to the Dursley's in two days, but he couldn't wait for the ball that was coming the following night.