Finnishing Exams

[Monty Pendleton]

Set during y24's exams.

The year had been a rough one, and Monty couldn't say he wasn't going to be pleased to see the back of Arithmancy lessons. He'd enjoyed spending time with Arvo, whom had grown over the months to be the closest and most wonderful friend he had ever had, but this was the only part of the subject he was going to miss after his exam.

Feeling very much like a student again, the Potions Professor steeled himself before knocking twice on Arvo's office door. Since he'd have looked a little out of place taking his exam with the students, the Arithmancy Professor had kindly arranged for Monty to take his privately in the comfort of his friend's office. He was completely dreading the hour that would follow, but he'd spent so many hours that week studying that he was almost grateful for the chance to write what was in his head down on paper.

 

[Arvo Tuuri]

Unbeknownst to poor, dear Monty, Arvo had woken up on the right side of the bed this morning, and was in such an impeccable mood that he just had to express it in one of the best ways he knew how - pranking. Whilst childish and hardly becoming of a gentleman in his seventies (shh!), Arvo had always had a funny bone, and his wife (and her babysh!t green hair) could certainly testify to that. He could be a terribly awful man at times, and often used his vast intelligence to think up elaborate ways to play jokes on his wife. But seeing as she was so far away and it was hard to find the time to properly tease her the way she deserved - it all came back to his best friend within the castle, a certain professor taking his class. Montgomery Pendleton.

Having told him he could take the exam in the office (as he couldn't get away with this in a public setting, after all), he had cleared his office free of anything that could be used to aid in his exam. In fact, it was basically empty excusing his desk and chair, and a tray of cupcakes from his wife. He opened the door at the knocks, and grinned up at the tall man.

"Come on in, Monty! You can sit in my seat today, I've got a few errands to run," he explained, closing the door behind him. "The cupcakes are for you, you can open the windows if you need a little air. Exam's on the table, I'm sure I can trust you to open it when the hour starts, yes?" He beamed at him, all sugar, spice and everything nice. "I wish you luck, it is a little complicated." Mostly because of the calculations, and the fact that it was in Finnish didn't help. Poor, poor dear. With another farewell, the pint-sized professor was out of the room, and if that wasn't suspicious enough, the door was locked behind him.
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[Monty Pendleton]

Arvo's cheer was usually infectious, but Monty especially appreciated it on a day like this. Exams didn't scare him - at least, not in the way they had done twenty ago - but even the most accomplished wizard was likely to succumb to a little anxiety. He smiled gratefully, stepping around the part-goblin and into the room, which smelled, to Monty's further delight, of cupcake icing. With a few words of good luck and farewell, the Arithmancy Professor was gone, leaving Monty to wonder what errands demanded his attention so immediately that he couldn't stay a while and chat. More confusingly, there was a definitely click upon his departure that sounded suspiciously like the door being locked. Did Arvo really expect him to cheat? Montgomery had thought his friend had known him better.

There were still five minutes to the hour, so he wandered over to the small window and cracked it open an inch, pausing by the stone windowsill to look out over the grounds. In this time, he tried to recall the most important points he'd read in the textbooks Arvo had lent him. He'd been truly obliging, and Monty couldn't thank him enough for the help and extra tuition. Whilst he (not so) secretly loathed Arithmancy, he was looking forward to improving his grade, and he couldn't have done it without Arvo's assistance.

On the hour, Monty sat himself down at Arvo's desk and picked up his quill. Ensuring that his exam had officially begun, he flipped open the page and began to read. Or rather, he tried to read, because he didn't happen to know any Finnish, and that was almost certainly the language of the writing before him. The Potions Professor stared at the paper, turning it over in case the English version was on the back. When it was not, it took him approximately three seconds to realise he'd been set up. He blushed hard, feeling very foolish not to have known his friend would pull something like this on him. Worse than that, he was locked in; and since Arvo had very cleverly instructed him not to bring his wand, he couldn't get out. Well, he could have, with a little wandless magic, but the Potions Professor didn't like to use this unless it was completely necessary.

Once the initial embarrassment had worn off, Monty started to smile. It was, after all, incredibly funny, now that he came to think of it. He rolled the exam up into a tube, stood up, and went over to the door. "Arvo!" he said, beginning to wonder if Arvo really had gone to run some errands. He tried the handle. Definitely locked. "Arvo, come and open this door!" He paused. "Kata will be hearing about this!!"