Argus Filch rose that morning in a supremely good mood for today was for him both Christmas and New Year all rolled into one. In a few hours time the Hogwarts Express would be leaving packed to the brim with hundreds of students, their pets and trunks looking forward to their summer holidays. There were also a few students who would be collected by their families direct from the school and that process would be beginning after breakfast.
Then a few hours after the departure of the train, the staff would one-by-one take their leave until only the Headmaster remained to have a few final words to the Caretaker and wish he and Mrs. Norris a good summer before his own departure.
By nightfall, Filch would lock the main gates and settle in for a blissful two months during which he and Mrs Norris would reign supreme throughout the school. A summer in which he could update his voluminous files that he kept separate from the official school records – the Filch eye view of various students and their infractions. Plus, of course there was his room of confiscated magical objects and jokes to carefully sift through. Each item held a treasured memory of a young witch or wizard apprehended in the midst of some tomfoolery.
Yes, for two months the ongoing war between Argus Filch and the students would be in abeyance. He was a happy man.
**********
It was the last day of term and the exam results were due to go up. Each student was called up one at a time to receive a folded piece of paper on which their results were put.
Dumbledore was stood at the front of the great hall, while Prof. McGonagall was calling out the names.
"Elizabeth Nimue Hawkwood"
Her results are:
Year Mark 71%
Tansfig 75%
HoM 55%
Alchemy (O) 64%
DADA 63%
CoMC (O) 84%
Astronomy (O) 80%
Potions 87%
Herbology 90%
Divination (O) 52%
Charms 62%
Spell Invention (O) 71%
As Nimue takes the paper, Dumbledore congratulates her. "I see you have done best in the class at Herbology. Well done."
"Madison Avalon"
Year Mark 70%
Tansfig 77%
HoM 74%
Arithmancy (O) 59%
DADA 71%
CoMC (O) 75%
Astronomy (O) 56%
Potions 65%
Herbology 81%
Divination (O) 60%
Duelling (O) 74%
Charms 80%
Dumbledore smiles at her. "Congratulations."
"Yvette Monclere"
Year Mark 71%
Tansfig 79%
HoM 77%
Arithmancy (O) 68%
DADA 72%
Astronomy (O) 72%
Potions 52%
Herbology 82%
Divination (O) 89%
Duelling (O) 75%
Charms 58%
Spell Invention (O) 60%
Dumbledore hands her the paper. "Top at Divination I see. Well done."
"Dylan Rhydderch"
Year Mark 62%
Tansfig 35%
HoM 50%
Arithmancy (O) 60%
DADA 92%
Astronomy (O) 57%
Potions 50%
Ancient Runes (O) 53%
Herbology 83%
Duelling (O) 87%
Charms 63%
Spell Invention (O) 50%
"Well done. I see your transfiguration is not up to scratch but your DADA is excellent. Top of the class." Dumbledore gave Dylan a friendly smile.
"Elia Concinni"
Year Mark 71%
Tansfig 79%
HoM 64%
Arithmancy (O) 65%
DADA 65%
CoMC (O) 76%
Potions 60%
Ancient Runes (O) 75%
Herbology 75%
Divination (O) 80%
Charms 70%
Muggle Studies (O) 75%
"Well done, my dear."
"Shinrei Hikari"
Year Mark 74
Tansfig 76
HoM 67
Arithmancy (O) 70
DADA 74
CoMC (O) 68
Astronomy (O) 76
Potions 86
Herbology 88
Divination (O) 55
Duelling (O) 89
Charms 71
Spell Invention (O) 69
"A valiant effort for a new comer. Well done."
"Kathryn Black"
Year Mark 80
Tansfig 80
HoM 78
DADA 83
CoMC (O) 92
Astronomy (O) 86
Potions 73
Herbology 78
Divination (O) 67
Duelling (O) 78
Charms 90
Spell Invention (O) 75
"Very well done, Kathryn. Top in Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, as well as joint top of the year. Good to see Ravenclaws keeping up the traditions." Dumbledore winked at her and moved on to the next student.
"Sarah Taverner"
Year Mark 72%
Tansfig 73%
HoM 82%
Arithmancy (O) 48%
DADA 78%
CoMC (O) 90%
Potions 52%
Ancient Runes (O) 84%
Herbology 62%
Divination (O) 70%
Charms 76%
Muggle Studies (O) 80%
"Looks like you need to brush up on Arithmancy, but otherwise a good result. Well done." Dumbledore smiled at her as he gave her the paper.
"Branwen Evans"
Year Mark 80%
Tansfig 88%
HoM 85%
Arithmancy (O) 71%
DADA 88%
CoMC (O) 86%
Potions 75%
Ancient Runes (O) 82%
Herbology 68%
Duelling (O) 70%
Charms 81%
Spell Invention (O) 87%
"Very well done, Branwen. You may have joined us late in the year but you are joint top in marks! Congratulations." Dumbledore was smiling a great deal as he gave Branwen her results. Obviously enjoying being the bearer of good news.
"Fiona Munro"
Year Mark 72%
Tansfig 60%
HoM 56%
Arithmancy (O) 70%
DADA 89%
CoMC (O) 77%
Astronomy (O) 83%
Potions 72%
Herbology 74%
Divination (O) 57%
Duelling (O) 79%
Charms 71%
"Well done, Fiona. A good result."
"Jacob"
Year Mark 79%
Tansfig 69%
HoM 92%
Arithmancy (O) 77%
DADA 75%
Astronomy (O) 90%
Potions 73%
Ancient Runes (O) 79%
Herbology 64%
Duelling (O) 65%
Charms 90%
Spell Invention (O) 90%
"Well done, Jacob. Looks like you were joint top in Charms, top in Astronomy and HoM. But I think you were pipped to the post for being top of the year. Congratulations on a good result."
"H. David Ollivander"
Year Mark 73%
Tansfig 78%
HoM 81%
Arithmancy (O) 74%
DADA 67%
CoMC (O) 69%
Potions 64%
Ancient Runes (O) 71%
Herbology 70%
Duelling (O) 60%
Charms 75%
Muggle Studies (O) 92%
"Well done, David. Top in Muggle studies I see. very commendable."
"Morticia Lagrand"
Year Mark 73%
Tansfig 76%
HoM 71%
Alchemy (O) 60%
DADA 65%
CoMC (O) 72%
Potions 80%
Ancient Runes (O) 81%
Herbology 59%
Divination (O) 89%
Charms 88%
Muggle Studies (O) 63%
"Well done Morticia. Joint top in Divination. I am pleased. Keep up the good work."
"Randal Fudge"
Year Mark 78
Tansfig 91
HoM 60
Arithmancy (O) 60
DADA 90
CoMC (O) 73
Potions 80
Ancient Runes (O) 80
Herbology 64
Duelling (O) 90
Charms 88
Spell Invention (O) 80
"Top in Transfiguration and Duelling Mr Fudge. No surprise there then. Well done."
"Arcadia Fudge"
Year Mark 68%
Tansfig 56%
HoM 55%
Arithmancy (O) 78%
DADA 66%
CoMC (O) 52%
Astronomy (O) 56%
Potions 92%
Ancient Runes (O) 81%
Herbology 76%
Divination (O) 85%
Charms 55%
"Nice to see you know your potions, Miss Fudge, you came top of that class. Well done."
"Katia Drachenstein"
Year Mark 50%
Tansfig 53%
HoM 50%
Arithmancy (O) 30%
DADA 51%
CoMC (O) 30%
Astronomy (O) 40%
Potions 82%
Herbology 51%
Divination (O) 68%
Charms 63%
Spell Invention (O) 34%
"I think you were lucky to scrape the results this year. Perhaps you should try a little harder next year." Dumbledore did not look so pleased at greeting Katia who had managed to fail in 4 of her subjects!
"Niki Pheidippides"
Year Mark 72%
Tansfig 63%
HoM 68%
Arithmancy (O) 80%
DADA 73%
Astronomy (O) 78%
Potions 78%
Ancient Runes (O) 85%
Herbology 57%
Duelling (O) 68%
Charms 76%
Spell Invention (O) 62%
"Well done. Top of the class in Arithmancy and Ancient Runes."
"Winifred Fanel"
Year Mark 74%
Tansfig 56%
HoM 78%
DADA 76%
CoMC (O) 75%
Astronomy (O) 68%
Potions 76%
Ancient Runes (O) 73%
Herbology 73%
Divination (O) 76%
Charms 81%
Muggle Studies (O) 78%
"Well done my dear. A good result."
And finally as he came to the other years he also covered....
"Alpha Rich"
Year Mark 69
Tansfig 65
HoM 56
Arithmancy (O) 82
DADA 73
Astronomy (O) 60
Potions 73
Ancient Runes (O) 79
Herbology 61
Charms 81
Muggle Studies (O) 82
Spell Invention (O) 50
"Well done. I am glad you managed to make it through the year. A good result." Dumbledore smiled at her.
<HR>"Nathan Lagrand"
Year Mark 79
Tansfig 88
HoM 72
Arithmancy (O) 78
Astronomy (O) 90
Potions 87
Ancient Runes (O) 67
Herbology 75
Duelling (O) 66
Charms 78
Muggle Studies (O) 90
Spell Invention (O) 76
"Congratulations. A very good set of results."
After he had finished handing out the individual results he turned to address the school going through and embarrassing those who had come top of the year at each year level.
"And in the 3rd Year I am pleased to announce that the Ravenclaw trend seems to continue as Miss Kathryn Black and Miss Branwen Evans jointly came top of their year, closely followed by Jacob."
Dumbledore waited for quiet as he stood at the front of the school finishing the announcements.
"Thank you. Now, if you will all allow I will announce the house points for the year."
There was an excited bussing in the hall. No-one knew who had won. And the tension was becoming unbearable.
"In 4th place with a fairly poor score of 20 points are the Hufflepuffs."
There was some grunting and bad cheering from the Hufflepuff table, while the Slytherins started to sneer.
"Quiet!" The noise died down again.
"In third place with an also fairly poor 55 points, and you can stop those remarks over there," he was pointing at the Slytherin table. "Are the Slytherins. Perhaps you should all reform for next year?" He was smiling at them and there was no bitterness to the tone, it was said as a joke...
There was however lots of shouting and a great cheer from the rest of the school that the Slytherins had not managed to do very well at all.
"Thank you. Can you please be quiet!" The was some muttering as the school became more attentive...
"In second place this year with 200 points are the Gryffindors!"
Now there was an almighty cheer from the Ravenclaw... having realised what it meant.
Dumbledore had to almost shout over the noise. "And in first place are the Ravenclaws with 260 points."
There was more cheering.
"Can the prefects please come forward."
Kat and Isaac looked at each other and got up. Isaac shuffled a little nervously, but Kat was grinning and there seemed to be tears of happiness in her eyes. They reached Dumbledore who shook both their hands and handed over the cup. They both grinned at each other and help the cup up for all the Ravenclaws to see. This action was followed by a lot of cheering which eventually died out only when the Ravenclaws had left the hall to celebrate in their own common room.