What Lies Within

The next few days drug on for the fifth years, the O.W.L.s killing them. Sophie got through her Transfiguration theory and practical exam perfectly well. Draco complained during the entirety of their Herbology practical exam, saying that it smelled and that just about everything went wrong for him though Sophie knew he was just over reacting and was stressed. He surely did just fine. Thursday showed up and brought them Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry seemed to be pretty excited about this and gushed that he did excellent on it. Draco had again been in the Great Hall at the same time as Harry and had seen Harry show off with a Patronus charm.

"He never stops. He always has to make himself look so good." Draco complained as he lounged out on the sofa of the room of requirement that currently looked like his tree house. Draco laid on his back with his head resting on Sophie's legs while she skimmed over her Muggle Studies text book and notes. Draco had a free day tomorrow but Sophie of course had to study for Muggle Studies.

"Will you please give this whole complaining thing a rest?" Sophie finally yelled at him after he continued to complain about Harry for ten minutes. Draco sat up and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well excuse me." He moved and sat on the opposite side of the couch, making her sigh. She closed her book and set it on the ground before sliding over to him, resting against his side.

"I'm sorry, Draco. I'm just so stressed. You get three days to relax but I have an exam tomorrow and I can't concentrate with you complaining about something none of us can control. Harry is going to act how he wants, you can't change that, nor can I." Draco sighed and nodded.

"Sorry for being annoying. Go back to studying, I'll be quiet." He told her. She smiled and gave his lips a soft kiss before reaching for her books again. "What do you even have to do for a Muggle Studies exam? Do they like bring in a muggle and you have to tolerate lunch with it or something?" Sophie couldn't help but laugh.

"No, Draco. Professor Burbage said that our practical exam will be that we have to make a telephone call to our examiner and show that we know how to correctly use it. Should be easy enough." Sophie explained, shrugging while Draco grimaced at her.

"What on earth is a telephone?" He questioned, making her burst into laughter. She lifted her textbook up and pointed at a diagram taking up half the right page.

"That is a telephone. Muggles use them to communicate with one another who may be somewhere else. Like say I was at my house and you were at yours and I need to speak with you that second, I pick up the receiver," She pointed at the mentioned part of the phone. "And dial your telephone number." She pointed to the numbers. "Your telephone will then ring and you pick it up and talk into this," She pointed out the mouth piece of the receiver before pointing to the ear piece. "And I hear you though that." Draco was now staring at his girlfriend as if she had grown a second head.

"Why couldn't you send an owl, or use the floo network, or even apparate over to me?" He questioned making her laugh and shake her head.

"Muggles don't have any of that. This is their quick way off speaking with one another." She explained to him but he simply shook his head.

"So you know how to use one of these muggle contraptions?" He asked, staring down at the diagram once more.

"It's really not that hard, Draco." She was far too amused at this. He seemed so bewildered at the idea of a telephone. It really was a basic idea, she thought. It was pretty clever too. It was a very simple way to talk with someone.

"I don't understand muggles." Draco finally muttered before closing his eyes and resting his head on the back of the couch. Sophie smiled and leaned over to kiss his cheek before she went back to studying. When it started to get late they cleared up their things and went back to their common room so Sophie could get some sleep before her exam the next day.

When she sat down in her desk the next morning after breakfast she felt that this exam was going to be easy. She, unlike most witches and wizards, understood muggles. She saw the practicality in their inventions. That was one of the reasons why her and Mr. Weasley got on so well. They could sit around talking about muggles all day. She loved his shed full of muggle things. They fascinated her.

She would never mention this to anyone, especially not Draco, but she wanted to spend at least a year after she got out of school in the muggle world. She would use magic but only for necessary things. She would cook for herself, watch the muggle television, learn to drive a muggle car, learn how to light the fireplace without magic. The idea fascinated her but she knew that Draco would never allow it now that they were dating and would hopefully still be dating by the time they got out of school.

Sophie pushed those thoughts from her head and bent her head over her exam, ready to focus. Just as she thought, the questions were easy for her.

Question 1: Who invented the telephone?

The question seemed so simple and easy to Sophie. She quickly wrote the answer, which was Alexander Graham Bell, and moved on. The first twenty or so questions consisted of things about the telephone and how to use it before it moved on to other muggle things.

Question 27: What is the proper method to light a fire?
Question 28: What is the muggles most common form of transportation apart from vehicles?
Question 29: Explain the rules of baseball.

The baseball question threw Sophie a little. She had studied the rules of the muggle sport but still struggled a little with some of the official terms. Other than that she felt that she did very well on everything else.

"How did the test about useless muggle things go?" Draco asked her when they met up after for lunch.

"It went very well. I forgot a few things but I feel confident that it went well enough." She told him, smiling at him. He smiled back and nodded.

"Good." He kissed her cheek before they dug into their lunch. Afterwards she waited around with the other fifth years who had taken muggle studies and waited for their practical exam to begin. Sophie wasn't nervous, she knew how to do this. Sure enough, her examiner said that she had demonstrated the use of a telephone perfectly, better than any other pureblood she had ever encountered. Sophie went to dinner feeling very good about herself and ready to spend the weekend studying for Monday's Potions exams.