Exam Stress Syndrome

During the first week after term began, every professor, regardless of subject, desperately piled homework onto them and constantly stressed the importance of the O.W.L.s.

In Fred's words, it was as though the sky would fall if they failed the O.W.L.s.

However, Fred soon regretted saying that, because the sky really had fallen.

As soon as the weekend arrived, they discovered they had no choice but to spend vast amounts of time in the library, facing a mountain of homework that never seemed to end. They had even lost much of their enthusiasm for causing trouble for Malfoy.

At that moment, Fred flipped through a book while muttering nonsense under his breath. "The O.W.L.s are like a grindstone. They force candidates' heads into books, grind away their patience bit by bit, and drive them mad!"

George looked up from his parchment and glanced at the fellow rambling away nearby. "Stop going mad. You haven't practised the Vanishing Spell yet, have you? They'll be checking us next class. Watch out, or you'll get detention."

"Well, at least I'm better off than Albert. I'd rather sit here doing homework than have Snape tutor me for two hours." Fred muttered in consolation before lowering his head and returning to his homework.

In the Potions Classroom, Albert and Isobel listened as Snape talked about the Potions Championship.

"Magical Garden is the most complete and best-preserved garden in the world, with the greatest variety of potion ingredients. Though it is called Magical Garden, it is actually a forest, no smaller than the Forbidden Forest. It contains more potion ingredients than you can imagine."

As a Potions Master, Snape naturally knew all about Magical Garden.

"Students taking part in the Potions Championship must enter Magical Garden to gather ingredients. After preserving and bringing them back, they