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A Matter of Time	By : AdaraB Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Het - Male/Female Views: 7796 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything in the Harry Potter universe. I own nothing and I make no profit off of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter 16 – O.W.L.

16 December

Ashleigh was going to go crazy. Really, she was.

Today is the last day of her O.W.L. exams and her brain was about to explode. The only subjects she has left are History of Magic and Transfiguration. She was just glad she only had one practical to do today instead of two. Having the theory examinations for the most boring class and her most troublesome class in one day was not something she was looking forward to.

It also didn’t help that she couldn’t sleep…or eat. People probably thought she was madly in love or something. Humph, she wished that was the case! No, instead of something as pleasant as being in love, she was just a plain old nervous wreck. She hadn’t slept more than five hours a night since Draco had asked her out and all because her exams had started the very next day. And once again, the only time she had seen Draco was at meals and even then they didn’t talk much because she had her head stuck in a book.

Glancing at the clock she saw that it was nearly eight a.m. She had been up since five and had been going over her Transfiguration notes since she had grudgingly got out of bed. Deciding that she would kill herself if she looked over the notes one more time, she got up and headed for the shower.

By the time she reentered her bedroom she saw that it was twenty after. ‘I’d better hurry’ she thought to herself. Her Transfiguration theory exam was set for nine that morning. She quickly dressed, dried her hair with a spell (she really loved that spell), threw on her school robe and was out the door.

When she entered the Great Hall she noticed that Draco was already seated at his new place at the Slytherin table. Taking her place next to him, she leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek before filling her plate.

“Good morning. Running late?” He asked as he watched her scarf down her food.

“Yeah. I lost track of time studying.” She answered in between bites.

As soon as she was finished, she checked her watch and noticed she had ten minutes before she was late.

“I’ve got to go.”

“Good luck!” Draco wished and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

“Thanks.” She said and just as quickly she was up and out of the door.

Skidding to a halt outside of the Transfiguration classroom, she struggled to catch her breath. With new resolve, she calmly walked into the classroom and took the seat at the center front of the room. The Ministry official was nowhere in sight as of yet. Sighing with relief that she wasn’t late, she settled back in her chair and tried to calm her raging nerves further.

A moment later, a stout wizard with a grey moustache and a balding head walked into the room. He walked directly over to Ashleigh, placed a testing booklet and a quill on her desk and then retreated to the front of the room, taking a seat behind Professor McGonagall’s desk.

“You have two hours to complete the examination; I suggest you use your time wisely. You may begin.”

Ashleigh opened her booklet and took a deep breath. This was going to be a long day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Ashleigh entered the Great Hall she immediately walked over to the Gryffindor table and plopped down into her seat. She sighed heavily and laid her head on the table, carefully banging it a few times.

Knowing how she felt, Harry rubbed slow circles on her back to try and comfort her. He had felt like doing the same thing in his fifth year and was sure the both of them would be feeling that way again come spring.

“How did your exams go?” Hermione was near jumping in her seat at the thought of discussing an exam.

“As well as can be expected, I suppose.” Ashleigh replied dully as she lifted her head from the table.

“I’m sure you did well. I’ve never seen anyone study as hard as you have. And that’s saying something considering Hermione’s my girlfriend?”

“I thought that would have warranted another slap on the arm Hermione?” Ashleigh asked the girl with an amused eyebrow raised.

“Not this time. I know the way he meant it and it certainly wasn’t anything bad.” She replied as she smiled at her boyfriend.

“What do you have left?” Ginny asked Ashleigh, continuing their previous conversation.

“Just History of Magic. I think when I’m done I’m going to sleep for a year!”

“I don’t think Draco would appreciate that very much, unless of course you invite him to sleep the year with you.” Harry said with a laugh.

“Shut up.”

“What time is your exam?”

“One.”

“Well you’d better get going. It’s ten of.”

“Arrrg. I’ve been running late all day. I can’t wait until this is all over.” She growled as she stood and started walking toward the doors.

“Good luck!” The four Gryffindor’s yelled to her retreating form.

She turned back to them and yelled a ‘thanks’ and then hurried off to her destination.

When she reached the History of Magic classroom, the Ministry official was already waiting for her.

“Ah, just in time Miss Grey. Take a seat and begin, you have two hours.”

Quickly, Ashleigh sat at the desk in the middle of the room where the test booklet and quill had been placed. Sighing, she took a deep breath to relax, opened the booklet and started her last O.W.L. examination.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ashleigh lay face down, spread eagled across her poster bed, finally succumbing to the sleep that had been evading her for almost a week. She was exhausted and now that her exams were over she felt that she could actually rest without feeling guilty about doing so. She had only been asleep for about two and a half hours when someone cleared their throat rather noisily causing her to wake from her slumber.

Ashleigh opened her eyes and looked around for the cause of the disturbance that had brought her out of her wonderful, resting sleep. Spying Professor Snape by the door, she laid her head back down and asked sleepily “Yes professor?” Her voice muffled by her pillow.

“Miss Grey, you would do well to wake up. Dinner will be over within the hour and you will want a full stomach as the Headmaster would like to speak to you afterwards. Your…friends also seem quite worried about you as they actually came to me to see how you are doing after your exams today.”

“Ok.” She grudgingly got out of bed and grabbed her robes, giving herself a once over in the mirror. Noticing a hideous red mark on her right cheek where it had been resting, she sighed in defeat as she brushed her hair. There was only one way to get rid of a mark like that and that is to let it fade naturally.

Professor Snape waited for her outside of her bedroom while she made herself presentable. He was only alone for a moment before she came out looking refreshed since he’d seen her only a moment ago. Together they walked from her rooms and up to the Great Hall.

“How did you fair on your exams Miss Grey?” Snape asked her. She was surprised at his inquiry as he usually didn’t care about his students lives outside of the classroom. Unless they were behaving in a manner unbefitting of a Slytherin of course.

“Pretty well I think. If I get any Poor’s or Troll’s it’ll be in History of Magic. I really despise that class, I usually love anything written and I could barely keep my eyes open after one page.” Frustration evident in her voice.

Snape smirked at her assessment. He couldn’t have agreed more, it was a tedious subject that they should have at least assigned a new text for by now. Binns was still using the one he learned with when he was in school for Merlin’s sake!

As they entered the Great Hall, Snape kept on straight as Ashleigh veered off to the Slytherin table. She sat down next to Draco and gave him a big hug.

“I’m done!”

“Congratulations! Where have you been though? You finished at three.”

“My room, taking a nap. I haven’t been sleeping well since the testing started.”

“Well, you’ll have to get caught up then because I plan to tire you out at the ball.” He said suggestively.

“Oh really? How so?” She asked, feigning innocence.

“Well by dancing…snogging…dancing…snogging…and oh yeah! Snogging.”

“Sounds like I have an exhausting night ahead of me.” She replied with a giggle giving him another hug. She had missed his hugs, among other things.

“You’re not doing anything tonight I hope. I want to spend some time with you since I’ve barely seen you in the last five days.”

“I actually have to meet with Dumbledore after dinner but I’m free after that.”

“What does Dumbledore want?”

“I don’t know. It has to be too soon to know my results, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know? We got our results two weeks after we took our exams but there were also about forty students taking them. I suppose it’s possible that they have your results ready.”

“I hope so. I’m dying to know how I did. Actually, I think Hermione and Harry are more anxious than I am.”

“I’m not surprised when it comes to Hermione, but Harry? I didn’t see that coming.”

“Well I am like a sister to him just as he’s a brother to me. I like having him be excited and anxious for me. It’s a nice change from having no one.” She insisted, leaning her head on his shoulder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ashleigh stood outside of the stone gargoyle as she realized she didn’t know the password. She stood there for a few long moments before it started to move, spiraling up. Quickly, she jumped on the staircase and ascended as it moved. When it came to a stop, the door in front of her opened of its own accord to permit her. She entered the room to find the Headmaster sitting at his desk.

“Did Professor Snape not give you the password my dear?”

“No he didn’t.” She replied taking a seat in one of the wing backed chairs.

“Ah, it must have slipped his mind. He is after all under a great amount of stress as always.”

“Well as you may or may not have guessed, your exam results are in.” He said handing her an envelope that was addressed to her.

“You may want to wait until you are with your friends to open it, I’m sure they would like to share your experience with you.”

“Thank you.” She slipped the envelope into her robe pocket.

“Now, there is something I have been meaning to ask you. Is there anything at all that you can remember from the future that may have seemed strange or unexplainable? As I am sure you have heard by now, the Dark Lord Voldemort is among us once more and it is poor Harry’s destiny to rid the wizarding world of his evil. Since the news that Hogwarts has fallen in the future, I need you to tell me anything that might aid him in his fight to help him win.”

“Well I don’t know all that much. The Ruins were discovered in 2007 by an unknown man. I thought it was really strange that this man didn’t want any credit for the discovery of it, I mean; it was added to the list of the Wonders of the World! From what my European History Professor told me, the man contacted the proper authorities, told them the location of the Ruins, and then disappeared. No one ever saw him again. Many people reported after it was opened to the public that they felt something sinister about the place when they visited it, like something evil was lurking around the corner. No one could really explain it since they all felt completely normal once they left the grounds. I was kind of looking forward to that particular experience but I didn’t feel anything of that nature and my friends didn’t mention anything about it either. Although, the lake and the forest did creep us out a bit. The lake seemed to vibrate instead of wave and the forest seemed to repel anyone who thought to go near it. That’s it really.”

Dumbledore looked thoughtful as he processed this information. After a few moments he finally spoke.

“Well, I thank you Miss Grey for your information, I believe that it will be most helpful. Now, I believe that you have your O.W.L. results to consult. I think you should review them with your friends and then perhaps play a game of Exploding Snap or maybe Chess. And do try to get a good night’s rest; I have noticed that you have not been sleeping well.”

With a smile she bid the Headmaster goodnight and left the office, wondering what Exploding Snap was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Severus Snape walked out of the shadows and sat down in the vacated wing backed chair across from Dumbledore.

“Well I have to say, that was more than what I expected.” Snape said calmly.

“Indeed. The castle or at least the wards must have fallen in 2007. There must have been a very dark spell put on the castle for Muggles to have been able to feel it after the wards fell.”

“Do you have any inclination of what the spell is or how to go about stopping it from coming to pass?” Snape inquired.

“Not yet. I must ask you to keep your eyes and ears open for any hint of what may come from Voldemort. Although, I know you know that already.” He said at Snape’s look of careful contempt.

“I shall keep you informed. You do realize that since this castle is greatly held up by magic considering the number of years it has been standing, that once the magic was gone and the wards dropped it was probably only a matter of hours before it became the Ruins that Miss Grey informed us of? And if that is indeed true, we may not find the answer to your question for many years to come.”

“What I fear the most, is that you are right and that it will be too late to do anything about it.” Dumbledore said, laying his glasses on his desk and pinching the bridge of his nose, attempting to stave off a headache.
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A Matter of Time