Pleasant and carefree times always seem to pass quickly. With the arrival of June, all students found themselves tethered to the library and common rooms, preparing for the upcoming final exams.
Snape became increasingly moody, deducting points at every turn, especially taking a particular dislike to the third-year Gryffindors. In his Potions class, even Orli found herself once again the target of point deductions, for reasons as trivial as speaking too loudly, not buttoning her shirt collar, or even smiling at Harry.
Even Orli's usual little tricks were no longer effective. No matter how she tried to flatter Snape from various angles in the dungeon office, all she received were his sharp glares and a curt "Shut up."
The task of delivering potions to Lupin fell entirely on her shoulders. Lupin was deeply moved by Orli's indifference to his condition, but to Orli's surprise, Hermione also knew that Lupin was a werewolf.
One evening, Orli, Harry, Ron, and Hermione gathered at their small potions base to review spells and transfiguration lessons. Suddenly, Harry asked about Lupin's illness again.
## Harry
"Orli, do you know what illness Professor Lupin has? You've been delivering his potions lately, so maybe you know what they are."
Orli was momentarily speechless, unsure whether to reveal Lupin's secret. But Hermione answered for her:
# Hermione
"It's Wolfsbane Potion."
# Ron
"Wolfsbane Potion? What kind of potion is that?"
Ron didn't catch on immediately.
# Harry
"It's...!"
Harry dashed to the table, grabbed his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook, flipped to the last chapter on werewolves, and showed it to everyone.
## Orli
"Yes."
Orli sighed.
## Orli
"Remember, once a month. Keep it a secret for Professor Lupin."
# Ron
"Professor Lupin... he's... he's a werewolf?!"
Ron gasped, quickly covering his mouth in shock.
# Hermione
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. He's a good professor."
Hermione said quickly.
# Harry
"Hermione, when did you find out?"
Harry asked.
# Hermione
"A few days ago, I started my third round of revision, going over all the homework from this term—I reread the essay Snape assigned on werewolves."
Hermione explained.
# Ron
"If people find out, it'll be terrible!"
Ron looked around anxiously, then glanced towards the door.
# Harry
"We'll definitely keep it a secret for him, but Snape..."
Harry hesitated.
## Orli
"It's always been the professor helping Lupin prepare the Wolfsbane Potion, for an entire year now! If he wanted to tell, he would have done it long ago."
Orli argued.
Harry looked at Orli, pressed his lips together, and finally said nothing more.
Exam week began, and an unusual silence fell over the castle. On Monday, the third-year students emerged from their Transfiguration class at lunchtime, looking disheveled and dispirited, comparing scores and complaining about the difficulty of the exams—Professor McGonagall's test required them to transform a teapot into a turtle.
Hermione fussed that her turtle looked more like a terrapin and its patterns weren't symmetrical enough. Ron was annoyed by her comments because his turtle's tail was still a teapot spout. Harry kept asking Orli if the turtle's mouth would also emit steam, but Orli couldn't reassure him; the turtle she transformed still had faint bamboo leaf patterns on its shell.
Then, they hurriedly ate lunch and went upstairs for the Charms exam. Hermione had been right—Professor Flitwick did test them on the Cheering Charm.
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