Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or anything else that may be referenced in this chapter. The bold, italic, underlined texts are direct quotes from the Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone book.

A/N: Enormous thank yous to you all. I hope you all enjoy this chapter! :)

Chapter 19: Examinations and Cessation

Pansy sighed. "Merlin I can't wait for exams to be over."

Rachel nodded fervently, eclipsed by her own emotions regarding exams. "Neither can I."

As exams loomed ever closer, Rachel found herself measuring the passing of the week in hours as opposed to days. Monday, for example, was not Monday, but three hours of DADA work, three hours of Transfiguration, two hours of Astronomy, and four hours of Potions. At breakfast on Tuesday morning, Rachel, Pansy and Millicent all had their noses in their Charms textbooks, when Gemma Farley, the fifth year Prefect, descended upon the first years.

"Hey, Malfoy- McGonagall asked me to give you this," she said, handing a note to Draco.

"Thanks." Draco took it with a nod, unfolding it as Gemma swept off up the table to her friends. "Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight. Meet Mr Filch in the Entrance Hall. Prof. M. McGonagall," he read aloud. "Oh, bloody hell- I'd forgotten all about detention."

"Eleven o'clock seems really late for a detention." Pansy remarked.

"You better hope they don't make you go into the forbidden forest Malfoy," Irma Zabini approached the first years, clearly having overheard them.

"Why would they do that?" Draco asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I don't know," Irma replied nonchalantly, raising her slim shoulders into an elegant shrug, "but there's all sorts in the forest, you know- spiders, creepy-crawlies, werewolves-"

"Werewolves?" Draco repeated, his voice rising an octave in alarm.

"Oh yes," Irma nodded, a wicked grin unfurling across her face. "Rumour has it there's been werewolves deep inside the forest for twenty years- I thought everyone knew that. Ho bisogno di parlare con te," she said sharply, speaking suddenly in Italian, her grin fading as she turned to her brother who had just approached the rest of the first years, at Nott's side as usual. "Adesso." She added sternly when Zabini opened his mouth, looking somewhat as though he was going to argue. Zabini eyes narrowed into a glare, but he turned around and followed his sister from the Hall. Nott sat down opposite Pansy and pulled the toast rack towards him, grinning faintly along with Millicent as Draco refolded up McGonagall's note and shoved it into the pocket of his robes, looking rather paler than usual.

At a few minutes to eleven that night, Draco left the common room for his detention. Rachel, Pansy and Millicent were amongst the few Slytherins still up studying at the late hour, and they were just finishing revision for the night, about an hour and a half later, when Draco re-entered the common room, white faced and trembling from head to foot.

"Draco!" Pansy exclaimed, getting to her feet and hurrying over to him in alarm, "Are you okay? What happened?"

Draco swallowed thickly several times. "…I-I'm never going into the forest again," he stammered at last, and hurried into the boys' dormitories without another word.

All the first years ever managed to get out of Draco about his detention was that it had taken place in the Forbidden Forest, and that he had seen someone, or something, drinking the blood of a dead unicorn- presumably something severely injured, for, as Tracey Davis said, thanks to her knowledge brought about by her love of Potions, though it would curse the drinker, drinking Unicorn blood would keep someone alive. What the thing was, Rachel didn't know, and she had no real inclination to find out, coming to the conclusion that the Forbidden Forest had been dubbed so for a reason, and whatever Draco had seen was a part of said reason.

Even if she had been inclined to find out what had been drinking the blood in the forest, Rachel doubted she would have had the time, for though her world had been eclipsed by thoughts and worries about passing her exams for weeks, the thoughts, worried and by extension her levels of determination and concentration increased tenfold as she studied and studied harder than ever. She was not the only one feeling the pressure; she noticed Marcus was spending a great deal of time on his own, walking about with his nose in textbook after textbook and what seemed like piles of notes; though the only times she caught sight of Oliver he was hurrying around the castle, looking around with an increasingly high expression of bewilderment. Even Zabini was acting strangely- far from his usual impassive self, in the week leading up to exams he could be seen hunched in the corner of the common room, surrounded by textbooks, parchment and quills; muttering furiously under his breath in Italian.

"Is he alright?" Rachel overheard Pansy ask Nott in concern in the common room one evening.

"Yeah- he just talks to himself when he's stressed," Nott replied absently, looking all around him. "Have you seen my quill?"

Pansy grinned amusedly, "Behind your right ear."

Nott reached up behind his right ear, grinning sheepishly as he found his quill. "Thanks."

As if the terrifying prospect of first year exams wasn't bad enough the weather was swelteringly hot as exams commenced on the first of June. The large classroom in which the first years did their written papers with special, anti-cheating quills they had been given for exams was particularly hot, but Rachel did her best to forget about the heat and focus on answering every question on every paper to the best of her ability.

It was not just written exams she had to contend with, however. There were practical exams, too, and Rachel did her best not to let her nerves get the better of her and tremble from head to foot as she took her turn in Professor Flitwick's classroom charming a pineapple to tap-dance across a desk for Charms; tried to transfigure a mouse into the prettiest snuffbox she could and make sure it didn't have whiskers for Transfiguration; and tried to remember how to brew, and then brew, the best forgetfulness Potion she could while Professor Snape swept intimidatingly around the dungeons breathing down people's necks for potions. She managed to hold herself together, how she didn't know, and the more the exam week progressed the more tired Rachel felt and the more she longed to curl up in a ball and go to sleep. But still she kept pushing, forcing herself to do the best that she could, telling herself that it would be worth it, right up until the last minute of her last exam, the written paper that made up the full percentage of the mark for History of Magic…

"Finish off your current sentence and put your quills down, please. Time is up."

Rachel exhaled, a broad grin unfurling across her face despite the sweltering heat of the classroom around her as she followed Professor Binns' instructions; finishing the last line of her answer to the final question on her History of Magic exam and setting her quill down. Time was up. Exams were over at last. Finally, she could relax.

"Thank Merlin!" Pansy exclaimed as she, Rachel and Millicent met up outside the exam room and walked out into the grounds. "They're over- exams are finally over!"

"Ah, I know," Rachel breathed as they flopped down on a patch of grass in the cool shadow of the castle. "I can't believe I spent so long revising the Eric the Eager's uprising when it wasn't even on the exam."

"Let's not go over the exams again, please," Millicent said, rolling onto her back. "I don't know if I can stomach it. I need a week off and we've got that now, thank Merlin."

"Fair enough." Rachel agreed, laying down too and closing her eyes, savouring the fact that she didn't have to work anymore until her second year; that she could just relax and have fun with e friends until she had to go back home for the summer holidays.

When Rachel woke up the next morning and went up to breakfast with Pansy and Millicent, she found the Great Hall to be abuzz with conversation. Students sat with their heads chose together, talking excitedly.

"What's happened?" Pansy wondered aloud as the girls made their way over to the Slytherin table.

It was Sebastian who told them, and the rest of the first year Slytherins when they arrived at breakfast, the story that was going around the school. It turned during his sabbatical before the start of the school year, Professor Quirrell had gone mad and to stop people from laughing at him, had gone in search of any remains of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to learn the skills to become more powerful wizard, and had managed to find some of the remains and became possessed by them. It was he who had tried to break into Gringotts on the thirty-first of July. He had been trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone- a powerful magical object that could be used to create the Elixir of Life, which could turn any metal into solid gold and granted the drinker eternal life- and use it to bring He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named back to life. But the Stone had already been moved from Gringotts before he tried to steal it and it had been brought to Hogwarts, and kept on the right had side of the third floor corridor- which was why it had been out of bounds. Once in the castle, the stone had been under the protection of trapdoor that lead underground which had been guarded by a three headed dog, curtesy of Hagrid, which then led to a web of Devil's Snare from Professor Sprout; flying keys charmed by Professor Flitwick; a giant chess set from Professor McGonagall; a mountain troll provided by Professor Quirrell to avoid raising suspicions; a riddle and Potions from Professor Snape; and an enchanted mirror from Professor Dumbledore. Quirrell had apparently been trying to steal the stone all year- it had been he who had let the troll into the castle on Halloween night, but had evidently failed in his attempt to retrieve the stone, then. He had tried again last night, but Harry Potter and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger had somehow figured out that Quirrell was after the stone for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and gone after it, too. Weasley and Granger had turned back after Weasley got hurt beating McGonagall's giant chess set and, having used Granger's help to pass Snape's riddle, Potter had ended up facing Quirrell and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Though unconscious in the Hospital Wing, having been brought there by Dumbledore, Potter had survived, again; Quirrell had died, and it was presumed that whatever remains of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named that had possessed him had died with him, or fled far, far away; for the right hand side of the third floor corridor was no longer out of bounds, nor was any other part of the castle or it's surroundings- with the exception of the Forbidden Forest, but then again, it had always ben out of bounds. Draco was convinced that the monster in the forest had been Quirrell trying a new way to bring back He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named; but seeing as Dumbledore stood up at the end of breakfast ad assured the school that they were all perfectly safe now, any panic that would have been caused by Draco's conviction had ceased and evaporated. As for the Philosopher's Stone, rumour had it it was going to be destroyed.

"Merlin," Rachel shook her head in amazement as she, Pansy and Millicent made their way out into the grounds once they had finished eating. "I mean, Quirrell was always a bit... odd, but to think that he was being possessed by You-Know-Who…"

"It's horrible," Pansy shuddered as they sat down under the beech tree by the Black Lake.

"D'you think Potter will be okay?" Rachel asked. "If he's been unconscious since last night…"

"I'm sure he'll be fine- they'll do everything to save him, he's The Boy-Who-Lived," Millicent said comfortingly, going on decisively. "Look, we shouldn't dwell on this. It's a horrible thing to have happened yes, but it's over; this is supposed to be our time to unwind after and have this week's Witch Weekly to dissect."

Pansy and Rachel grinned back, nodding their agreement and the subject of the previous night's events was dropped and changed to their horoscopes for the month and whether or not colour changing nail polish really was all it was advertised to be.

As the next few days passed, the excitement over Potter's exploits died down considerably, especially once word got round that he had woken up in the Hospital Wing, and Rachel found herself more relaxed than she had been in ages, and thus was able to fully join in with the enthusiasm with which the rest of her House faced the End of Term feast. Though Ravenclaw won the Quidditch Cup, having defeated Gryffindor- who played Katie Bell as Seeker and used a reserve Chaser- two days after the end of exams, Slytherin had all but physically won the House Cup, sitting on a grand total of four hundred and seventy-two points, and thus, were very much looking forward to the feast, where their victory would become official.

When Rachel, Pansy and Millicent entered the Great Hall the night of the End of Term feast, they found that it had been decorated in green and silver as well as a simply enormous banner embroiled with the Slytherin serpent hanging behind the staff table at the head of the hall, to celebrate Slytherin's seventh win of the House Cup in as many years.

"Good décor." Nott remarked as he ad Zabini entered the Hall behind the girls.

"Lovely, isn't it?" Pansy agreed with a grin.

Nott grinned back, sitting down beside Pansy as she, Rachel and Millicent sat down at the Slytherin table. Rachel groaned inwardly as Zabini sat down beside him but said nothing. She would rather not have to spend her last feast of the school year sitting opposite Zabini, but she resolved to just ignore him no matter what; knowing that Pansy was friends with Nott not wanting to get into an argument on what was such a happy occasion for her house.

The atmosphere around the Slytherin table was jubilant that evening- everyone was looking forward to Dumbledore's speech.

"Look- Harry Potter's back!" Tracey Davis hissed suddenly and looking round at the doors to the Hall, Rachel saw that she was quite right- Potter had just entered, looking perfectly healthy. Tracey was not the only one who had noticed Potter's arrival; a sudden hush eclipsed the Hall and then most of the Hall started talking in loud voices, spreading the news of Potter's return far and wide about the Hall. Potter, for his part, hurried over to the Gryffindor table and slipped into an empty seat between Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

"Look at him- he's soaking up all the attention, really," the other first year Slytherins heard Draco mutter to Vincent and Gregory. Millicent rolled her eyes.

Regardless of whether or not Potter was inwardly soaking up all the attention- though it appeared to Rachel that he was ignoring the people who were standing up to try and get a better look at him- the babble surrounding his arrival was not to last, for it died away once Professor Dumbledore arrived and took his usual spot at the centre of the staff table and cleared his throat to begin his speech.

"Another year has gone!" Dumbledore began cheerfully. "And regrettably I must trouble you all with an old man's wheezing gobbledygook before we all sink our teeth into our utterly delicious feast. What a year this one has been! I hope that your heads are all a little fuller than they were at the start... and you all have the entire summer ahead to get them all nice and empty before the next school year starts...

"Now, if I understand correctly, the house cup needs o be awarded, and the points standings are as thus: In fourth place, we have Gryffindor, with three hundred and tweve house points; in third place, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two house points; in second place, we have Ravenclaw with four hundred and twenty-six house points and in first place we have Slytherin, with four hundred and seventy-two house points."

Rachel cheered with delight along with the rest of her house at this; several of the older students started to stomp their feet on the stone floor and several Slytherins, including Draco, banged their empty goblets in the table, creating more noise in celebration.

"Yes, Yes, very well done to Slytherin," Dumbledore nodded, breaking up the noise. "However, I am afraid that recent events have to be taken into account."

The entire Hall suddenly turned very still. Rachel, Pansy and Millicent exchanged glances, their smiles fading slightly.

Dumbledore cleared his throat and went on, "I have a few last-minute house points to hand out... Let's see here... Yes...

"Firstly- to Mr. Ronald Weasley..."

Across the Hall Ron Weasley turned purple in the face; suddenly he looked rather like a radish with a very bad sunburn. "...for the one of the most well-played games of chess that Hogwarts has seen in a number of years, I award Gryffindor fifty house points."

The cheers from the Gryffindor table at this were so loud that the stars in the enchanted celling above their heads seemed to tremble. One of the Gryffindor prefects, a fifth year with flaming red hair who could only be one of the Weasley boys could be heard amidst the cheers telling his fellow other prefects:

"My little brother, you know! My youngest brother- he was the one who got past Professor McGonagall's giant chess set!"

After a while, silence fell once again and Dumbledore went on. "Secondly- to Miss Hermione Granger... for using cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor fifty house points."

At this, Hermione Granger could be seen burying her face in her arms; it looked very much as though she had burst into tears. The rest of Gryffindor house were quite beside themselves with delight- far from being in last place, they were now one hundred points up.

"Thirdly- to Mr. Harry Potter," Dumbledore continued; and the Hall was suddenly deadly quiet. "For pure nerve and exceptional courage, I award Gryffindor sixty house points."

The cheers from the Gryffindor table were deafening. The Slytherins stared at each other, dumbfounded. Their absolute victory was no more- Gryffindor now had four hundred and seventy-two house points- exactly the same as them.

After a moment, however, Dumbledore raised his hand for silence again, and gradually, it fell.

"There are a number of different kinds of courage," Dumbledore recommenced his speech, smiling. "It takes a great amount of bravery to stand up to one's enemies, but just as much, if not more, to stand up to one's friends. Thus, I award ten house points to Mr. Neville Longbottom."

If the noise was thought to have been loud before, it was nothing to how loud it was in that moment. Marcus caught Rachel's eye and grimaced; Oliver, too, looked sympathetic, but the rest of Ravenclaws, especially Rachel's old friends Terry and Lisa, along with all of Hufflepuff, were celebrating just as much as the Gryffindors.

"Which I believe to mean," Dumbledore called over the thunderous cheers and applause, "that we require a little change in decoration," he clapped his hands as he spoke and in an instant, the green drapes became scarlet and the silver drapes became gold; and the huge Slytherin serpent behind the staff table vanished to be replaced in seconds by a towering Gryffindor lion. Also up at the staff table, Professor Snape was shaking Professor McGonagall's hand; a horrible, clearly forced smile plastered across his face.

Rachel looked around at her fellow first years, and saw the same shock and dismay she felt echoed on their own faces- even Zabini looked put out. Looking beyond those around her, Rachel saw that all of her house fellows looked either shocked and dismayed or mutinous, and as her own mood sank further at the sight, Rachel had a feeling that this fest was not going to taste nearly as wonderful as usual.

The Slytherins' disappointment continued throughout the next few days, though it slowly lessened the more time passed, to be replaced with determination to redeem themselves the following year. Rachel, for her part, quite forgot her disappointment when exam results were released and she discovered she had come third in her year overall, behind Hermione Granger, who had passed every exam with perfect scores, and Terry, who had only beaten Rachel thanks to his potions mark and looked at her very smugly indeed upon discovering the rankings. Rachel glared back at him, vowing inwardly to work harder than ever so that next year, or failing that one other year, she would triumph over him. Pansy and Millicent- despite the latter's only just scraping through Charms- had got good marks too, as had the rest of the first years- indeed, Rachel was very surprised that Zabini had come fifth in the year, his abysmal Transfiguration mark being the only thing stopping him from beating a Hufflepuff boy, Ernie Macmillan, for fourth place.

"Nice one, mate." Nott said to Zabini, grinning. "Looks like that last minute revision payed off."

Zabini shrugged nonchalantly, and, looking bored walked off. Nott rolled his eyes exasperatedly. "He's hiding it very well but I think that deep, deep, deep down he's pleased, really," Rachel heard him say to Pansy. "Well done, by the way," he smiled.

"Thanks- you, too." Pansy smiled back.

"Congratulations, Rachel," Marcus tapped her on the shoulder, grinning as she turned around. "You did very well."

"Thanks," Rachel grinned back. "You, too- first in the year is nothing to sneer at. Mum and Dad will be pleased."

"They'll be pleased with you, too, I bet. Top three." Marcus said bracingly.

Rachel grimaced, her previous hopes regarding her parents and her exam results rising inwardly despite herself. "Hopefully."

All too soon, or so it felt to Rachel, the wardrobes in her dormitory were all empty and each girl had packed her respective trunk; all pets were in their cages and notes had been handed out, warning students that no magic was to be used during the school holidays; then she was clinging on for dear life to the side of the boats gliding across the Black Lake, her eyes screwed tight shut, hoping and praying with all her might that she didn't fall in; then she was safely in the train in a compartment with Pansy, Millicent, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis, giggling and talking over Witch Weekly, games of Exploding Snap, sharing confectionary bought from the trolley, and changing from their wizarding clothes into Muggle clothing as the train sped through the countryside back to London; then the train was pulling into Platform nine and three-quarters and they were leaving the train with their things; waving back- Rachel with slight reluctance- to Nott as he was waved goodbye to them all as he passed through the barrier with the ever-impassive Zabini and his sister Irma. Rachel said goodbye to Daphne and Tracey and found Marcus waiting for her near the barrier as Harry Potter and his friends passed through it to shouts along the lines of: "See you, Potter!"

"Er- Oliver's already left- he and Terry have gone to see Mother in St, Mungo's with their father," Marcus said as Rachel approached him, Pansy and Millicent beside her. "Ready to go?"

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," Rachel replied, nerves unfurling in the pit of her stomach. She had not seen or heard from her parents since the small Easter egg they had sent her during the Easter holidays and if that was anything to go by, her summer holidays looked very much as though they would follow along similar lines as her Christmas holidays. The only thing that was keeping her hopes for improvement up at present were the thought that perhaps that maybe, just maybe, they had thought a bit about their feelings since then, and that her exam results would bring forth something positive. Rachel did her upmost to concentrate on these thoughts as the wizened old guard supervising the students' leaving so they would not attract the attention of any Muggles beyond the barrier let her, Marcus, Pansy and Millicent through the archway that lead back into the Muggle world.

"Expect an owl," Pansy said to Rachel and Millicent as they emerged into the Muggle world. Her mother, Isabella, dressed yet again in this time seasonally appropriate flowery scarves and a large summer hat, stood a short distance away with Millicent's mother, Emma. A good distance away from the two women stood Rachel's mother, Susanne, who beamed at Marcus as he approached her as Pansy went on to Rachel and Millicent: "I'm not sure when but you two definitely have to come and stay again these holidays."

"Yeah, count me in," Rachel nodded; Millicent did the same.

"Rachel!" Susanne called out, a sharp, stern note to her voice, "Come now, we need to get home."

Rachel flinched inwardly at her mother's tone; it did not appear that the time apart had softened her parents' feelings towards her, and the small flicker of hope she had regarding their reception of her exam marks wilted slightly. "See you- have a good summer," she said to Pansy and Millicent, managing a smile.

"You too," Pansy and Millicent replied with smiles; exchanging goodbyes, too, and going their separate ways as their own mothers approached them, beaming.

Rachel turned and made he way over to Susanne, who was regarding her impatiently as she waited. A lump rose in Rachel's throat, but she forced herself to smile at her mother as she reached her.

"Hi, Mum; how are you?" she asked.

"Fine." Susanne replied curtly, not returning Rachel's smile. "Let's go, shall we? The taxi is waiting." Without waiting for a reply, she turned and started walking towards the entrance to Kings Cross Station. The lump in Rachel's throat rose higher, despite herself.

Marcus fell into step beside Rachel as they followed their mother with their belongings and offered her a comforting smile. Rachel managed a smile back, and took a deep, inward breath, willing herself to keep her emotions in check until she was alone. She didn't quite know how well her summer was going to go, but she had a pretty good idea; but at least her had Marcus, her friends, and the thought that on September the first, she would be on her way back to Hogwarts.

END OF VOLUME ONE.

A/N: The second book in this series is now up on my profile, titled: 'To Find a Way: Volume II.' Thank you all so much for reading this book and for all the support and feedback it has received. As always, please review! :)