After breakfast, three of Hogwart's owls arrived to their house. Each bird had a letter for the three younger Sheenan girls. Her younger sisters' letters just contained a list of books they needed to buy for their next year, but Nora's had received something more than just a shopping list. After two months of anticipation, Nora had finally received her O.W.L scores.

With the envelope in her hand, Nora exited the kitchen and headed to quiet corner of their house's yard. They had some flowers, but their yard couldn't be compared with the beautiful gardens one could see in Wellingtonshire and sometimes Bartonburg. She leaned to a tree and after she took a deep breath, she dared to open the envelope and see what scores she had received.

Mixed feelings rushed through her body as she saw her scores. A Troll. The first thing she saw was that she received a T at Ancient Runes. The rest of her results were pretty good. An O at Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, DADA, Muggle Studies and Transfiguration. An E at Potions and two As at Astronomy and History of Magic. She had received a P at Herbology, but the redhead didn't really care, it was not that she wanted to keep that class in her sixth year.

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Muireann had quickly looked at her booklist, but they seemed a little expensive, but she was sure they could find most of them second-handed, so they could afford them. She knew that Nora was waiting for her grades, so she didn’t say anything, but it didn’t took Muireann long before she wanted to know how her sister had managed. She followed Nora into the garden, but she kept hidden so Nora wouldn’t ask her to leave. <p>
Muireann crept up behind Nora and looked over her shoulder so read her grades. She gasps a little when she saw the two A’s but once again when she saw the T. How could Nora fail at anything?
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Except that T and the P at Herbology, Nora was really pleased. It was not such an easy task to get five Os, even if that particular class is your best one. Nora expected to receive more As and Es rather than Os at the classes she was good at, but it seemed that the hours of extra studying were not a waste of time, after all. She could expect an O at Transfiguration and maybe DADA, but what about Muggle Studies? She hardly payed at attention at class!

She read the paragraph about choosing your classes carefully once again when she felt someone's presence behind her. She doubted that Shib was going to hide behind her and her youngest sister was still sleeping, which meant only one thing. "Muireann, stop hiding." Nora said patiently to her sister but she didn't remove her eyes from the parchment.

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Muireann smiled and crawled forward and sat next to Nora. “How can you fail, I though you was doing excellent in everything in school.” She said and looked wonderingly at Nora. She was in wonder, her sister was about the brightest person she knew, and she had failed. Suddenly Muireann started fearing the day she would get her own grades, she would definitely fail WAY more than Nora had.
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Failed? "It's just a T among a bunch of Os, Es and As. I cannot call this failure." Nora commented with a rather irritated voice. She did not want to be called a failure, she was a Slytherin after all, and despite the fact she was not your typical serpent, Nora was still ambitious and competitive and she liked success.

"I do not even need Ancient Runes. I would call it failure if I got a T at Charms or Potions." Nora added and sighed. Electives were such a pain, but she was going to get rid of all three in her sixth year. She had received an O at Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies, but she didn't want to continue learning how to clean unicorn poo and how to recognize a train.

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Muireann sighed and looked at the flowers. She didn’t wanted Nora to be angry at her, but she still couldn’t imagine her sister failing in a subject. It just seemed wrong. “I guess you are right, but still.” She said, looking at the ground. “But I hope you will still help me in the subjects you can.” She said with a hopeful smile.
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"Of course I'll help you." Nora assured her sister with a sigh. She was already starting to feel the summer's heat despite the fact that they were under the shade of a tree. "Not now, though."

She had to decide which classes were worth keeping in her sixth year. Nora was not planning to do a particular job after her graduation so it was not that important for her to pick one particular subject. She was surely going to keep Transfiguration and Charms, but she was unsure for the rest three or four. "I need to decide which classes to keep in my sixth year. Any suggestions?"

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Muirean thought about it and bit her lip. “Those you are good at and like, if they are useful in everyday life. Isn’t that the best?” she said, looking at Nora, hoping she was right once again. “By the way, I finished my homework for the summer, so.” She said hoping Nora would be proud of her.
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Muireann was not exactly helpful, but then again she was still a second year so she didn't know how important her decision was going to be. Her answer was a pretty obvious one, of course she was going to pick the classes she was good at, she was not planning to get Ds in her NEWTs.

"Hmm, what about Transfiguration, Charms, Defense, Potions and Astronomy?" Nora asked her sister though she didn't really expect an answer. That was pretty much her decision. She didn't want to keep Care of Magical Creatures or Muggle studies.

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“Seems good, but why do you want to keep Astronomy?” she asked in curiosity, before she looked up on the sky, there was always something happening on the sky. The clouds could entertain Muireann for hours if she really had nothing else to do, but she mostly had. Homework, school, chores.
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"It's not such a bad class" Nora replied with a shrug. She rather liked Astronomy, it was not her best class but not her worst either. The professor was sometimes funny and it was nice to have a reason not to sleep early. " If not I could start Alchemy. It seems as a nice class." she added. She actually liked this idea better.

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Muireann weighed the options in her head. “I guess I just can’t see what you can use Astronomy to in life, but it is your choice. I can always choose differently when it is my turn.” She said with a smile. Looking at Nora again she smiled, “And I don’t know enough about Alchemy to say anything about it.”
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"Well, I could always teach Astronomy in the future." Nora commented with a shrug, but if she really had to become a professor in the future she would rather become Transfiguration's than Astronomy's. There were surely some jobs that required Astronomy as a NEWT class, or else why would they teach it in the first place? They wouldn't get OWLs if the class wasn't useful, just like with Art or Music.

"Alchemy is like potions, but it is different at the same time." Nora explained to her sister. "Like Charms and Transfiguration. There are similarities in both but they were still different branches of magic." They wouldn't just learn how to brew potions in alchemy. They would learn how to do elixirs and pretty useful things like that. Nicholas Flamel was an alchemist and now he was one of the richest people in the town. That would certainly be a useful class, especially if she was good at it.

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Muireann looked at Nora, and couldn’t imagine her as a Professor. “You choose yourself Nora. If you want to do it, then you will. And you know I would help you if I could.” She said with a small voice. She wished she could do more for Nora, but she had problems choosing her electives for third year.
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Nora sighed. It was a waste of time to ask Muireann for advice. Besides, she had already made a decision. "I'll go inside to see if Mother needs help with something." she said as an excuse to leave.

ooc: archive time?

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“Okay, if she needs more help, then tell her I am out here.” She said and started looking at the clouds, hoping their mother would figure out how to afford all of the school books.
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