The dark clouds of final exam week loomed over all of Hogwarts.
The air in the Castle seemed to drift with the scent of old parchment and Wit-Sharpening Potion.
Students chasing and playing could no longer be seen in the corridors; everyone was in a hurry, their faces worn with the exhaustion of sleep deprivation.
The Gryffindor common room had become a battlefield for exam preparation.
"Harry! You've got the key points of your Transfiguration spell wrong! It's a flick of the wrist, not a wave! Ron! Put down that pie! Which year have you reached in your History of Magic timeline?"
Hermione paced back and forth in the common room like a stern commander, holding a revision schedule precise to the minute.
Her energy seemed boundless; ever since Lia brought back the Moonlight Petalss and she successfully brewed a perfect Vigor Tonic, earning an extremely rare nod from Snape, she had been in better form than ever.
Harry and Ron groaned in pain behind mountains of books.
And Lia, as a "special member" of this study group, was lying on Hermione's lap, the tip of her tail boredly curling around a corner of Hermione's Wizard robes.
She had to take exams too.
Considering Lia's special circumstances, Dumbledore had specially permitted her to participate in some of the practical final exams.
Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall had specially designed exam papers for her—mainly testing her control over her cat form and some basic, non-verbal magic sensitivity.
The first day of exams was History of Magic.
In the entire Great Hall, there was only the scratching of quills on parchment and Professor Binns's monotonous, lullaby-like lecturing.
Lia sat on a small stool specially prepared for her, a blank piece of parchment spread out before her.
She tried hard to keep her eyes wide open, attempting to understand what the translucent ghost was saying.
"...The fundamental cause of the Goblin Rebellions lay in the Wizards' monopoly over the ownership of metallurgy and casting..."
She knew every word, but together, they were like an incomprehensible script.
In less than five minutes, Lia's eyelids began to fight.
Ten minutes later, her little head tilted, and she sprawled on the table, breathing evenly, fast asleep.
Professor Binns's ghostly form drifted down from the podium, weaving through the students.
He passed right through Lia's small body, seemingly completely unaware that there was an extra, soundly sleeping "examinee" in this examination hall, as he continued to drift into the distance with his monotonous voice.
After the History of Magic exam, Ron said to Lia with a face full of envy, "It's so nice, Lia. You're probably the only person who can sleep so soundly in Professor Binns's exam."
The real challenge was in the dungeons.
Snape's Potion exam.
The exam content was to brew a simple "Forgetfulness Potion."
Though simple, Snape's hawk-like eyes were enough to make any student who made an operational error tremble with fear.
"Begin."
At Snape's command, the fires beneath the cauldrons ignited one after another, and the dungeons were immediately filled with the scent of various mixed herbs.
Hermione methodically took out her ingredients: Lethe River Water, Valerian Root, two drops of Sopophorous Bean juice... Lia had turned into a pure white Ragdoll Cat, elegantly perched on Hermione's workstation like a fine ornament.
Hermione picked up the Valerian Root, covering the silver knife with her palm to ensure Lia wouldn't see, and began to cut precisely.
She was just about to put the cut root into the cauldron when suddenly, the back of her hand was gently poked by the tip of a furry tail.
Hermione paused.
She looked down; Lia was looking at her, blue eyes blinking.
Hermione understood immediately.
She picked up another small section of Valerian Root, cut off a thin slice, and added it.
The tip of Lia's tail curled around her wrist once in satisfaction.
Hermione's heart settled.
She continued the operation.
When she used a dropper to collect the Sopophorous Bean juice, Lia the Cat's nose leaned in and sniffed gently at the bottle's mouth.
After Hermione added two drops, she was about to stop.
Lia the Cat's paw suddenly tapped the back of her hand gently and quickly.
Hermione understood at once; with a flick of her wrist, she squeezed out another half-drop.
An extremely subtle, cloyingly sweet fragrance wafted out, but it was quickly masked by the scent of other herbs.
The subsequent operations became a silent, tacit cooperation.
Hermione was responsible for all the movements, while Lia the Cat became the most precise "olfactory analyzer."
Which ingredient's age was slightly off, which powder wasn't ground finely enough, which drop of liquid had a slightly different concentration... Lia the Cat could distinguish them all through her keen sense of smell, which far exceeded that of a human, and gave the most timely feedback with her tail and paws.
A poke meant the amount was insufficient.
A tap meant the amount was too much.
A tail wrap meant perfection.
Their cooperation was as smooth as flowing water, without a single redundant exchange, yet more efficient than any language.
Time passed minute by minute.
When Snape announced the end of the exam, Hermione's cauldron held a Potion of clear color, a standard sky blue, with faint, almost invisible silver steam rising from the surface.
With a gloomy face, Snape checked the students' results one by one.
"Potter, you call this a Forgetfulness Potion? I think it looks more like a cauldron of slug vomit! Five points from Gryffindor!"
"Weasley! Did you throw Mandrake leaves in there too? Do you want the person who drinks it to lose their memory or scream all day long?!"
He finally walked to Hermione's table.
Snape leaned down and sniffed over the cauldron with his signature hooked nose.
A pure, standard Potion scent, without any impurities.
He then used a glass rod to take a drop and held it against the light to observe.
The color was perfect, the texture uniform.
Snape's eyebrows twitched, as if he wanted to find even the slightest flaw.
But he failed.
This cauldron of Potion was as perfect as a textbook illustration.
Snape could even feel that the potency of this Potion was a fraction stronger than the standard formula.
That was because the ratio of ingredients had reached a kind of precision that transcended the norm, bordering on the rigorous.
His gaze fell upon the white Ragdoll Cat perched at the corner of the table, currently washing its face with its paws.
The cat seemed to feel his gaze, stopped its movements, looked up, and stared back at him with those sky-blue eyes.
Pure, innocent.
Snape was silent for a moment.
He straightened up and said in his characteristic, drawling tone, "Passable."
Then, on Hermione's parchment, he heavily wrote a letter with his quill.
"O".
Outstanding.
As they walked out of the dungeons, Ron was still in shock.
"Hermione, did you see that? Snape gave you an O! He actually didn't deduct any points!"
He then lowered his voice and leaned into Harry's ear: "Do you think... does this count as Hermione and Lia cheating? But the Professor couldn't catch any evidence at all!"
Harry looked at Lia, who was being held in Hermione's arms and rewardingly fed small dried fish, and also showed a look of being between laughter and tears.
"If it wasn't discovered, it's not!"
Ultimately, relying on her perfect "cat-to-human, human-to-cat" demonstration in Transfiguration Class, her "special contribution" in Potion Class, and Hermione's one-on-one tutoring throughout, Lia passed her first final exams at Hogwarts without any mishaps.
When the report cards were handed out, looking at those few crooked "Passes" on it, Lia happily rolled around several times in Hermione's arms.
This school year was finally coming to an end.