Chapter-31: End of a Year

As the summer was approaching the days were getting considerably hot, and giving exams in these conditions was a very bad experience for Ronan. He was sweating profusely as he wrote his papers, his sweat would sometimes fall on the parchment and would disperse the ink. As he was a good student, invigilators did help him tidy up his answer sheets, but nonetheless, it was a very tedious experience.

But the good thing was, his exams went on without a hitch. He was able to answer all the theoretical papers with ease and then came the time for practical exams.

For practical exams, Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tap dance across the desk. It was a simple charm, that was the combination of Levitating charm and Locomotor charm. And he was able to perform without a hitch. When his friends came out, Blaise was sad because somehow he had managed to blow up the pineapple. Ronan then reassured the man saying that he would make up for the lost scores in practical exams.

For Daphne practical exam went great, but she could not say the same for the theoretical exam. As far as Pancy is concerned, from her voice it seemed that she had done badly in both.

Professor McGonagall made them change a mouse into a snuff box. In a classroom full of Gryffindors and Slytherins, she would call students one by one for the exam. Although Ronan was able to change the mouse, he was not able to change into a rather beautiful one that Hermione had made. But he was easily on the number two spot.

As far as Professor Snape was concerned, he made sure to breathe near every Gryffindor's neck when they were brewing their batch of Forgetfulness Potion. This made some of them fuck up, which also included Hermione. The end potion was supposed to be a Light green potion, her's came out to be a mixture of reddish-green, unlike his perfect one one. Their last exam was History of Magic, which went by in a breeze, and finally, the long tedious period of exams was over.

That evening he and his friends went by the lake, they had one week before the results would be declared and the year would be over. With no studies to do, everyone was in a good mood.

"Well, I cannot wait to get back to my home." Daphne said, "My father said that we would be going to Switzerland to Greengrass summer house. As we have not visited that place in the past three years, I am just very excited about it."

"Me and my mother are thinking about going to Egypt." Blaise declared.

"Egypt?" Pancy said, "That is going to cost you some coin. I have heard that a portkey alone to the place cost some pretty coins."

Blaise shook his head, "We have more gold than what we need." And that was Blaise being humble. Pancy had told Ronan that Blaise's mother was this beautiful woman who marries these rich old guys, who mysteriously die after a few weeks of their marriage. Because of this, his mother had become considerably rich over the years.

"What about you Ronan?" Blaise asked.

"Well.. I dont think that I would be able to enjoy my summer," He said honestly, "From what I have gathered, my last living relative died around 3 years ago. And in that time, no one had occupied the Black Manor. I am thinking that there might be a lot of dust and cleaning to do before I could make that place habitable again."

Daphne raised her eyebrows, "Wait, you told me that you had a house elf right?" He nodded, "Then why are you doing manual work yourself? Make your elf do it."

"Well for that, I need to be there to order my elf, dont I?" Everyone looked at each other and then started laughing. Pancy was verge of tears, wiping her eyes she spoke, "You know sometimes I forget that you have recently joined our world."

Ronan was confused, "Am I missing something?"

Daphne then clarified, "You can order it from here, you dummy,"

"How?" He asked.

Blaise then spoke, "You know the name of your elf right?" he nodded, "Then the only thing that you need to do is call it. The elf would come. Just make sure that you dont order it to do anything in the school premises like clean your room or something. That is against the school rules."

"Really?" He was flabbergasted, "It is that easy?"

Everyone nodded, so to try it, he stood up. He had a lingering feeling these guys might be pulling his leg, still, he wanted to try it out, "KREACHER!"

There was a popping sound and a pink small goblin appeared to him. It had a wrinkly body, and that thing was practically naked and was not wearing anything other than a whitish-brown loincloth around its crotch.

"Who calls Kreacher?" the old thing spoke. His friends also came by his side and looked at the old thing.

"I called you here. My name is Ronan Johanson. I am the son of Regina Black and Victor Johanson and heir to The Most Ancient and Noble House of Black."

Tears started falling down the elf's face, "Mistress Regina's son," Then that thing knelt down, "It would be an honor to receive command from my new Master,"

"Ah…" Ronan felt uneasy, still, he commanded, "I will be coming to the Grimauld Place after a week. I need you to clean the whole until that time. Do you understand?"

The elf nodded, with tears trickling down his eyes, "Kreacher understands."

"Now go!" and with a pop, the elf vanished with a pop.

"You got quite a good-looking elf," Pancy said while sniggering. Blaise turns towards her, "Speaking of which, your elf is not a sight for sore eyes…" He said, "Wait.. I forgot. You dont have an elf," he said cheekily.

This led to a full-on fight between Blaise and Pancy, while Daphne and Ronan maintained their neutral stance and stayed out of the whole fight…

The next day during the afternoon tea time, the whole Slytherin house was buzzing with noise. Apparently, something big had happened in the school the other day. Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom were in the hospital wing, Professor Quirrell was dead, and everything was somehow connected to the third forbidden corridor.

And Ronan's friends were talking about it as well.

"What do you reckon would have happened there?" Pancy enthusiastically asked. She was interested in knowing what had transpired.

"Who cares?" Draco said out loud, he had also joined their discussion. Clearly, the boy was getting very annoyed by the attention Longbottom and his friends were getting.

"Maybe those blood traitors have wandered off in the corridor. And Quirrell saved their lives by sacrificing his," Blaise spoke, completely ignoring Draco's earlier remark.

"I think Quirell might have gone mad or something," Crabbe offered. "Yeah, he was known as a man who had lost his marbles," Goyle added.

"And he tried to kill those mutts, but someone intervened," Crabbe added.

"If that was the case, ministry aurors would be swarming Hogwarts right about now," Daphne spoke. "And we would have surely heard something." Everyone nodded with agreement.

While they argued, Ronan kept his head down and concentrated on his Runic Circuits: A Beginner Guide. He didnt want to get involved in their arguments. As for what had happened, he had some idea about what would have transpired there. But he would sure to ask to meet the four of them while going back and get the full story…

***

At the end-of-year feast, the whole great hall was buzzing with excitement, because they all would be going home tomorrow. The hall was decked out in Slytherin colors of green and silver to celebrate their winning the House Cup for the seventh year in a row. There was also a huge banner showing the Slytherin Serpent, covering the wall behind the High Table.

When Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter walked into the hall, the hall was covered in sudden hush, followed by murmurs as both the boys took their respective seats beside Ron and Hermione. Some of the first years stood up and looked at them, trying to see whether they had any visible marks on their body, after all, both of them had spent around 5 days in the Hospital wing. And everyone was curious about what happened to them.

Most of the first-year Slytherins made some snide comments about them both, but when Dumbledore came towards the podium, every noise in the Hall died down.

"Another year gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "What a year it has been! Hopefully, your heads are all a little fuller than they were, you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts... Now, as I understand it, the House Cup here needs awarding and the points stand thus: in fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw have four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two"

A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table. Draco and his goons started banging their goblet on the table. It was a very happy sight to see.

"Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore. "However, recent events must be taken into account."

The room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little.

"Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see… First, to Mr Ronald Weasley, for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points." This raised the morale of Gryffindor a little bit.

"Second, to Miss Hermione Granger, for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

"Third… to Mr Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom …" said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet. "... for pure nerve and outstanding courage in front the face of Death, I award Gryffindor house a hundred points."

There was silence in the hall. Ronan who was very good at maths, realized that Gryffindor now had five hundred and two points.

"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, for even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin, "we need a little change of decoration."

The old man clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became scarlet and the silver became gold; the huge Slytherin serpent vanished and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place. Everyone at Slytherin's table sat there, horrified and stunned. They didnt understand what had happened there.