Untitled Part 31
Ron's euphoria at helping Gryffindor scrape the QuidditchCup was such that he could not settle to anything next day.All he wanted to do was talk over the match and Harry andHermione found it very difficult to find an opening in whichto mention Grawp — not that either of them tried veryhard; neither was keen to be the one to bring Ron back toreality in quite such a brutal fashion. As it was another fine,warm day, they persuaded him to join them in studyingunder the beech tree on the edge of the lake, where theystood less chance of being overheard than in the commonroom. Ron was not particularly keen on this idea at first; hewas thoroughly enjoying being patted on the back byGryffindors walking past his chair, not to mention theoccasional outbursts of "Weasley Is Our King," but agreedafter a while that some fresh air might do him good.
They spread their books out in the shade of the beechtree and sat down while Ron talked them through his firstsave of the match for what felt like the dozenth time.
"Well, I mean, I'd already let in that one of Davies's, so Iwasn't feeling that confident, but I dunno, when Bradleycame toward me, just out of nowhere, I thought — you cando this! And I had about a second to decide which way to fly,you know, because he looked like he was aiming for theright goal hoop — my right, obviously, his left — but I had afunny feeling that he was feinting, and so I took the chanceand flew left — his right, I mean — and — well — you sawwhat happened," he concluded modestly, sweeping his hairback quite unnecessarily so that it looked interestinglywindswept and glancing around to see whether the peoplenearest to them — a bunch of gossiping third-yearHufflepuffs — had heard him. "And then, when Chamberscame at me about five minutes later — what?" Ron said,stopping mid-sentence at the look on Harry's face. "Whyare you grinning?"
"I'm not," said Harry quickly, looking down at hisTransfiguration notes and attempting to straighten his face.The truth was that Ron had just reminded Harry forcibly ofanother Gryffindor Quidditch player who had once satrumpling his hair under this very tree. "I'm just glad wewon, that's all."
"Yeah," said Ron slowly, savoring the words, "we won. Didyou see the look on Chang's face when Ginny got the Snitchright out from under her nose?"
"I suppose she cried, did she?" said Harry bitterly.
"Well, yeah — more out of temper than anything, though..." Ron frowned slightly. "But you saw her chuck her broomaway when she got back to the ground, didn't you?"
"Er —" said Harry.
"Well, actually ... no, Ron," said Hermione with a heavysigh, putting down her book and looking at himapologetically. "As a matter of fact, the only bit of the matchHarry and I saw was Davies's first goal."
Ron's carefully ruffled hair seemed to wilt withdisappointment.
"You didn't watch?" he said faintly, looking from one tothe other. "You didn't see me make any of those saves?"
"Well — no," said Hermione, stretching out a placatoryhand toward him. "But Ron, we didn't want to leave — wehad to!"
"Yeah?" said Ron, whose face was growing rather red."How come?"
"It was Hagrid," said Harry. "He decided to tell us whyhe's been covered in injuries ever since he got back fromthe giants. He wanted us to go into the forest with him, wehad no choice, you know how he gets. ... Anyway ..."
The story was told in five minutes, by the end of whichRon's indignation had been replaced by a look of totalincredulity.
"He brought one back and hid it in the forest?"
"Yep," said Harry grimly.
"No," said Ron, as though by saying this he could make ituntrue. "No, he can't have. ..."
"Well, he has," said Hermione firmly. "Grawp's aboutsixteen feet tall, enjoys ripping up twenty-foot pine trees,and knows me," she snorted, "as Hermy."
Ron gave a nervous laugh.
"And Hagrid wants us to ... ?"
"Teach him English, yeah," said Harry.
"He's lost his mind," said Ron in an almost awed voice.
"Yes," said Hermione irritably, turning a page ofIntermediate Transfiguration and glaring at a series ofdiagrams showing an owl turning into a pair of operaglasses. "Yes, I'm starting to think he has. Butunfortunately, he made Harry and me promise."
"Well, you're just going to have to break your promise,that's all," said Ron firmly. "I mean, come on ... We've gotexams and we're about that far," he held up his hand toshow thumb and forefinger a millimeter apart, "from beingchucked out as it is. And anyway ... remember Norbert?Remember Aragog? Have we ever come off better formixing with any of Hagrid's monster mates?"
"I know, it's just that — we promised," said Hermione in asmall voice.
Ron smoothed his hair flat again, looking preoccupied.
"Well," he sighed, "Hagrid hasn't been sacked yet, hashe? He's hung on this long, maybe he'll hang on till the endof term and we won't have to go near Grawp at all."
The castle grounds were gleaming in the sunlight asthough freshly painted; the cloudless sky smiled at itself inthe smoothly sparkling lake, the satin-green lawns rippledoccasionally in a gentle breeze: June had arrived, but to thefifth years this meant only one thing: Their O.W.L.s wereupon them at last.
Their teachers were no longer setting them homework;lessons were devoted to reviewing those topics theirteachers thought most likely to come up in the exams. Thepurposeful, feverish atmosphere drove nearly everythingbut the O.W.L.s from Harry's mind, though he did wonderoccasionally during Potions lessons whether Lupin had evertold Snape that he must continue giving Harry Occlumencytuition: If he had, then Snape had ignored Lupin asthoroughly as he was now ignoring Harry. This suited Harryvery well; he was quite busy and tense enough withoutextra classes with Snape, and to his relief Hermione wasmuch too preoccupied these days to badger him aboutOcclumency. She was spending a lot of time muttering toherself and had not laid out any elf clothes for days.
She was not the only person acting oddly as the O.W.L.sdrew steadily nearer. Ernie Macmillan had developed anirritating habit of interrogating people about their studyhabits.
"How many hours d'you think you're doing a day?" hedemanded of Harry and Ron as they queued outsideHerbology, a manic gleam in his eyes.
"I dunno," said Ron. "A few ..."
"More or less than eight?"
"Less, I s'pose," said Ron, looking slightly alarmed.
"I'm doing eight," said Ernie, puffing out his chest. "Eightor nine. I'm getting an hour in before breakfast every day.Eight's my average. I can do ten on a good weekend day. Idid nine and a half on Monday. Not so good on Tuesday —only seven and a quarter. Then on Wednesday —"
Harry was deeply thankful that Professor Sprout usheredthem into greenhouse three at that point, forcing Ernie toabandon his recital.
Meanwhile Draco Malfoy had found a different way toinduce panic.
"Of course, it's not what you know," he was heard to tellCrabbe and Goyle loudly outside Potions a few days beforethe exams were to start, "it's who you know. Now, Father'sbeen friendly with the head of the Wizarding ExaminationsAuthority for years — old Griselda Marchbanks — we'vehad her round for dinner and everything. ..."
"Do you think that's true?" Hermione whispered to Harryand Ron, looking frightened.
"Nothing we can do about it if it is," said Ron gloomily.
"I don't think it's true," said Neville quietly from behindthem. "Because Griselda Marchbanks is a friend of mygran's, and she's never mentioned the Malfoys."
"What's she like, Neville?" asked Hermione at once. "Isshe strict?"
"Bit like Gran, really," said Neville in a subdued voice.
"Knowing her won't hurt your chances though, will it?"Ron told him encouragingly.
"Oh, I don't think it will make any difference," saidNeville, still more miserably. "Gran's always tellingProfessor Marchbanks I'm not as good as my dad. ... Well ...you saw what she's like at St. Mungo's. ..."
Neville looked fixedly at the floor. Harry, Ron, andHermione glanced at one another, but didn't know what tosay. It was the first time that Neville had acknowledged thatthey had met at the Wizarding hospital.
Meanwhile a flourishing black-market trade in aids toconcentration, mental agility, and wakefulness had sprungup among the fifth and seventh years. Harry and Ron weremuch tempted by the bottle of Baruffio's Brain Elixiroffered to them by Ravenclaw sixth year Eddie Carmichael,who swore it was solely responsible for the nine"Outstanding" O.W.L.s he had gained the previous summerand was offering the whole pint for a mere twelve Galleons.Ron assured Harry he would reimburse him for his half themoment he left Hogwarts and got a job, but before theycould close the deal, Hermione had confiscated the bottlefrom Carmichael and poured the contents down a toilet.
"Hermione, we wanted to buy that!" shouted Ron.
"Don't be stupid," she snarled. "You might as well takeHarold Dingle's powdered dragon claw and have done withit."
"Dingle's got powdered dragon claw?" said Ron eagerly.
"Not anymore," said Hermione. "I confiscated that too.None of these things actually works you know —"
"Dragon claw does work!" said Ron. "It's supposed to beincredible, really gives your brain a boost, you come over allcunning for a few hours — Hermione, let me have a pinch,go on, it can't hurt —"
"This stuff can," said Hermione grimly. "I've had a look atit, and it's actually dried doxy droppings."
This information took the edge off Harry and Ron's desirefor brain stimulants.
They received their examination schedules and details ofthe procedure for O.W.L.s during their next Transfigurationlesson.
"As you can see," Professor McGonagall told the classwhile they copied down the dates and times of their examsfrom the blackboard, "your O.W.L.s are spread over twosuccessive weeks. You will sit the theory exams in themornings and the practice in the afternoons. Your practicalAstronomy examination will, of course, take place at night.
"Now, I must warn you that the most stringent AntiCheating Charms have been applied to your examinationpapers. Auto-Answer Quills are banned from theexamination hall, as are Remembralls, Detachable CribbingCuffs, and Self-Correcting Ink. Every year, I am afraid tosay, seems to harbor at least one student who thinks that heor she can get around the Wizarding ExaminationsAuthority's rules. I can only hope that it is nobody inGryffindor. Our new — headmistress" — ProfessorMcGonagall pronounced the word with the same look onher face that Aunt Petunia had whenever she wascontemplating a particularly stubborn bit of dirt — "hasasked the Heads of House to tell their students thatcheating will be punished most severely — because, ofcourse, your examination results will reflect upon theheadmistress's new regime at the school. ..."
Professor McGonagall gave a tiny sigh. Harry saw thenostrils of her sharp nose flare.
"However, that is no reason not to do your very best. Youhave your own futures to think about."
"Please, Professor," said Hermione, her hand in the air,"when will we find out our results?"
"An owl will be sent to you some time in July," saidProfessor McGonagall.
"Excellent," said Dean Thomas in an audible whisper, "sowe don't have to worry about it till the holidays. ..."
Harry imagined sitting in his bedroom in Privet Drive insix weeks' time, waiting for his O.W.L. results. Well, hethought, at least he would be sure of one bit of post nextsummer. ...
Their first exam, Theory of Charms, was scheduled forMonday morning. Harry agreed to test Hermione afterlunch on Sunday but regretted it almost at once. She wasvery agitated and kept snatching the book back from him tocheck that she had gotten the answer completely right,finally hitting him hard on the nose with the sharp edge ofAchievements in Charming.
"Why don't you just do it yourself?" he said firmly,handing the book back to her, his eyes watering.
Meanwhile Ron was reading two years of Charms noteswith his fingers in his ears, his lips moving soundlessly;Seamus was lying flat on his back on the floor, reciting thedefinition of a Substantive Charm, while Dean checked itagainst The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5; and Parvatiand Lavender, who were practicing basic locomotioncharms, were making their pencil cases race each otheraround the edge of the table.
Dinner was a subdued affair that night. Harry and Rondid not talk much, but ate with gusto, having studied hardall day. Hermione on the other hand kept putting down herknife and fork and diving under the table for her bag, fromwhich she would seize a book to check some fact or figure.Ron was just telling her that she ought to eat a decent mealor she would not sleep that night, when her fork slid fromher limp fingers and landed with a loud tinkle on her plate.
"Oh, my goodness," she said faintly, staring into theentrance hall. "Is that them? Is that the examiners?"
Harry and Ron whipped around on their bench. Throughthe doors to the Great Hall they could see Umbridgestanding with a small group of ancient-looking witches andwizards. Umbridge, Harry was pleased to see, lookedrather nervous.
"Shall we go and have a closer look?" said Ron.
Harry and Hermione nodded and they hastened towardthe double doors into the entrance hall, slowing down asthey stepped over the threshold to walk sedately past theexaminers. Harry thought Professor Marchbanks must bethe tiny, stooped witch with a face so lined it looked asthough it had been draped in cobwebs; Umbridge wasspeaking to her very deferentially. Professor Marchbanksseemed to be a little deaf; she was answering Umbridgevery loudly considering that they were only a foot apart.
"Journey was fine, journey was fine, we've made it plentyof times before!" she said impatiently. "Now, I haven't heardfrom Dumbledore lately!" she added, peering around thehall as though hopeful he might suddenly emerge from abroom cupboard. "No idea where he is, I suppose?"
"None at all," said Umbridge, shooting a malevolent lookat Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were now dawdlingaround the foot of the stairs as Ron pretended to do up hisshoelace. "But I daresay the Ministry of Magic will trackhim down soon enough. ..."
"I doubt it," shouted tiny Professor Marchbanks, "not ifDumbledore doesn't want to be found! I should know. ...Examined him personally in Transfiguration and Charmswhen he did N.E.W.T.s ... Did things with a wand I'd neverseen before ..."
"Yes ... well ..." said Professor Umbridge as Harry, Ron,and Hermione dragged their feet up the marble staircaseas slowly as they dared, "let me show you to the staffroom... I daresay you'd like a cup of tea after your journey. ..."
It was an uncomfortable sort of an evening. Everyone wastrying to do some last-minute studying but nobody seemedto be getting very far. Harry went to bed early but then layawake for what felt like hours. He remembered his careersconsultation and McGonagall's furious declaration that shewould help him become an Auror if it was the last thing shedid. ... He wished he had expressed a more achievableambition now that exam time was here. ... He knew that hewas not the only one lying awake, but none of the others inthe dormitory spoke and finally, one by one, they fell asleep.
None of the fifth years talked very much at breakfast nextday either. Parvati was practicing incantations under herbreath while the salt cellar in front of her twitched,Hermione was rereading Achievement in Charming so fastthat her eyes appeared blurred, and Neville kept droppinghis knife and fork and knocking over the marmalade.
Once breakfast was over, the fifth and seventh yearsmilled around in the entrance hall while the other studentswent off to lessons. Then, at half-past nine, they were calledforward class by class to reenter the Great Hall, which wasnow arranged exactly as Harry had seen it in the Pensievewhen his father, Sirius, and Snape had been taking theirO.W.L.s. The four House tables had been removed andreplaced instead with many tables for one, all facing thestaff-table end of the Hall where Professor McGonagallstood facing them. When they were all seated and quiet shesaid, "You may begin," and turned over an enormoushourglass on the desk beside her, on which were also sparequills, ink bottles, and rolls of parchment.
Harry turned over his paper, his heart thumping hard. ...Three rows to his right and four seats ahead, Hermione wasalready scribbling. ... He lowered his eyes to the firstquestion: a) Give the incantation, and b) describe the wandmovement required to make objects fly. ...
Harry had a fleeting memory of a club soaring high intothe air and landing loudly on the thick skull of a troll. ...Smiling slightly, he bent over the paper and began to write....
"Well, it wasn't too bad, was it?" asked Hermioneanxiously in the entrance hall two hours later, still clutchingthe exam paper. "I'm not sure I did myself justice onCheering Charms, I just ran out of time — did you put in thecountercharm for hiccups? I wasn't sure whether I oughtto, it felt like too much — and on question twenty-three —"
"Hermione," said Ron sternly, "we've been through thisbefore. ... We're not going through every exam afterward,it's bad enough doing them once."
The fifth years ate lunch with the rest of the school (thefour House tables reappeared over the lunch hour) andthen trooped off into the small chamber beside the GreatHall, where they were to wait until called for their practicalexamination. As small groups of students were calledforward in alphabetical order, those left behind mutteredincantations and practiced wand movements, occasionallypoking one another in the back or eye by mistake.
Hermione's name was called. Trembling, she left thechamber with Anthony Goldstein, Gregory Goyle, andDaphne Greengrass. Students who had already been testeddid not return afterward, so Harry and Ron had no ideahow Hermione had done.
"She'll be fine — remember she got a hundred and twelvepercent on one of our Charms tests?" said Ron.
Ten minutes later, Professor Flitwick called, "Parkinson,Pansy — Patil, Padma — Patil, Parvati — Potter, Harry."
"Good luck," said Ron quietly. Harry walked into the GreatHall, clutching his wand so tightly his hand shook.
"Professor Tofty is free, Potter," squeaked ProfessorFlitwick, who was standing just inside the door. He pointedHarry toward what looked like the very oldest and baldestexaminer, who was sitting behind a small table in a farcorner, a short distance from Professor Marchbanks, whowas halfway through testing Draco Malfoy.
"Potter, is it?" said Professor Tofty, consulting his notesand peering over his pince-nez at Harry as he approached."The famous Potter?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry distinctly saw Malfoythrow a scathing look over at him; the wine glass Malfoyhad been levitating fell to the floor and smashed. Harrycould not suppress a grin. Professor Tofty smiled back athim encouragingly.
"That's it," he said in his quavery old voice, "no need to benervous. ... Now, if I could ask you to take this eggcup andmake it do some cartwheels for me. ..."
On the whole Harry thought it went rather well; hisLevitation Charm was certainly much better than Malfoy'shad been, though he wished he had not mixed up theincantations for Color-Change and Growth Charms, so thatthe rat he was supposed to be turning orange swelledshockingly and was the size of a badger before Harry couldrectify his mistake. He was glad Hermione had not been inthe Hall at the time and neglected to mention it to herafterward. He could tell Ron, though; Ron had caused adinner plate to mutate into a large mushroom and had noidea how it had happened.
There was no time to relax that night — they wentstraight to the common room after dinner and submergedthemselves in studying for Transfiguration next day. Harrywent to bed, his head buzzing with complex spell modelsand theories.
He forgot the definition of a Switching Spell during hiswritten exam next morning, but thought his practical couldhave been a lot worse. At least he managed to vanish thewhole of his iguana, whereas poor Hannah Abbott lost herhead completely at the next table and somehow managed tomultiply her ferret into a flock of flamingos, causing theexamination to be halted for ten minutes while the birdswere captured and carried out of the Hall.
They had their Herbology exam on Wednesday (otherthan a small bite from a Fanged Geranium, Harry felt hehad done reasonably well) and then, on Thursday, DefenseAgainst the Dark Arts. Here, for the first time, Harry feltsure he had passed. He had no problem with any of thewritten questions and took particular pleasure, during thepractical examination, in performing all the counterjinxesand defensive spells right in front of Umbridge, who waswatching coolly from near the doors into the entrance hall.
"Oh bravo!" cried Professor Tofty, who was examiningHarry again, when Harry demonstrated a perfect boggartbanishing spell. "Very good indeed! Well, I think that's all,Potter ... unless ..."
He leaned forward a little.
"I heard, from my dear friend Tiberius Ogden, that youcan produce a Patronus? For a bonus point ... ?"
Harry raised his wand, looked directly at Umbridge, andimagined her being sacked.
"Expecto Patronum!"
The silver stag erupted from the end of his wand andcantered the length of the hall. All of the examiners lookedaround to watch its progress and when it dissolved intosilver mist, Professor Tofty clapped his veined and knottedhands enthusiastically.
"Excellent!" he said. "Very well, Potter, you may go!"
As Harry passed Umbridge beside the door their eyesmet. There was a nasty smile playing around her wide, slackmouth, but he did not care. Unless he was very muchmistaken (and he was not planning on saying it to anybody,in case he was), he had just achieved an "Outstanding"O.W.L.
On Friday, Harry and Ron had a day off while Hermionesat her Ancient Runes exam, and as they had the wholeweekend in front of them, they permitted themselves abreak from studying. They stretched and yawned beside theopen window, through which warm summer air wafted overthem as they played a desultory game of wizard chess.Harry could see Hagrid in the distance, teaching a class onthe edge of the forest. He was trying to guess whatcreatures they were examining — he thought it must beunicorns, because the boys seemed to be standing back alittle — when the portrait hole opened and Hermioneclambered in, looking thoroughly bad tempered.
"How were the runes?" said Ron, yawning and stretching.
"I mistranslated 'ehwaz,' " said Hermione furiously. "Itmeans 'partnership,' not 'defense,' I mixed it up with'eihwaz.' "
"Ah well," said Ron lazily, "that's only one mistake, isn't it,you'll still get —"
"Oh shut up," said Hermione angrily, "it could be the onemistake that makes the difference between a pass and afail. And what's more, someone's put another niffler inUmbridge's office, I don't know how they got it through thatnew door, but I just walked past there and Umbridge isshrieking her head off — by the sound of it, it tried to take achunk out of her leg —"
"Good," said Harry and Ron together.
"It is not good!" said Hermione hotly. "She thinks it'sHagrid doing it, remember? And we do not want Hagridchucked out!"
"He's teaching at the moment, she can't blame him," saidHarry, gesturing out of the window.
"Oh, you're so naive sometimes, Harry, you really thinkUmbridge will wait for proof?" said Hermione, who seemeddetermined to be in a towering temper, and she swept offtoward the girls' dormitories, banging the door behind her.
"Such a lovely, sweet-tempered girl," said Ron, veryquietly, prodding his queen forward so that she could beginbeating up one of Harry's knights.
Hermione's bad mood persisted for most of the weekend,though Harry and Ron found it quite easy to ignore as theyspent most of Saturday and Sunday studying for Potions onMonday, the exam to which Harry was looking forward leastand which he was sure would be the one that would be thedownfall of his ambitions to become an Auror. Sure enough,he found the written exam difficult, though he thought hemight have got full marks on the question about PolyjuicePotion: He could describe its effects extremely accurately,having taken it illegally in his second year.
The afternoon practical was not as dreadful as he hadexpected it to be. With Snape absent from the proceedingshe found that he was much more relaxed than he usuallywas while making potions. Neville, who was sitting verynear Harry, also looked happier than Harry had ever seenhim during a Potions class. When Professor Marchbankssaid, "Step away from your cauldrons, please, theexamination is over," Harry corked his sample flask feelingthat he might not have achieved a good grade but that hehad, with luck, avoided a fail.
"Only four exams left," said Parvati Patil wearily as theyheaded back to Gryffindor common room.
"Only!" said Hermione snappishly. "I've got Arithmancyand it's probably the toughest subject there is!"
Nobody was foolish enough to snap back, so she wasunable to vent her spleen on any of them and was reducedto telling off some first years for giggling too loudly in thecommon room.
Harry was determined to perform well in Tuesday's Careof Magical Creatures exam so as not to let Hagrid down.The practical examination took place in the afternoon onthe lawn on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, wherestudents were required to correctly identify the knarlhidden among a dozen hedgehogs (the trick was to offerthem all milk in turn: knarls, highly suspicious creatureswhose quills had many magical properties, generally wentberserk at what they saw as an attempt to poison them);then demonstrate correct handling of a bowtruckle, feedand clean a fire-crab without sustaining serious burns, andchoose, from a wide selection of food, the diet they wouldgive a sick unicorn.
Harry could see Hagrid watching anxiously out of hiscabin window. When Harry's examiner, a plump little witchthis time, smiled at him and told him he could leave, Harrygave Hagrid a fleeting thumbs-up before heading back upto the castle.
The Astronomy theory exam on Wednesday morning wentwell enough; Harry was not convinced he had got thenames of all of Jupiter's moons right, but was at leastconfident that none of them was inhabited by mice. Theyhad to wait until evening for their practical Astronomy; theafternoon was devoted instead to Divination.
Even by Harry's low standards in Divination, the examwent very badly. He might as well have tried to see movingpictures in the desktop as in the stubbornly blank crystalball; he lost his head completely during tea-leaf reading,saying it looked to him as though Professor Marchbankswould shortly be meeting a round, dark, soggy stranger,and rounded off the whole fiasco by mixing up the life andhead lines on her palm and informing her that she ought tohave died the previous Tuesday.
"Well, we were always going to fail that one," said Rongloomily as they ascended the marble staircase. He had justmade Harry feel rather better by telling him how he toldthe examiner in detail about the ugly man with a wart on hisnose in his crystal ball, only to look up and realize he hadbeen describing his examiner's reflection.
"We shouldn't have taken the stupid subject in the firstplace," said Harry."Still, at least we can give it up now."
"Yeah," said Harry. "No more pretending we care whathappens when Jupiter and Uranus get too friendly ..."
"And from now on, I don't care if my tea leaves spell die,Ron, die — I'm just chucking them in the bin where theybelong."
Harry laughed just as Hermione came running up behindthem. He stopped laughing at once, in case it annoyed her.
"Well, I think I've done all right in Arithmancy," she said,and Harry and Ron both sighed with relief. "Just time for aquick look over our star charts before dinner, then ..."
When they reached the top of the Astronomy Tower ateleven o'clock they found a perfect night for stargazing,cloudless and still. The grounds were bathed in silverymoonlight, and there was a slight chill in the air. Each ofthem set up his or her telescope and, when ProfessorMarchbanks gave the word, proceeded to fill in the blankstar chart he or she had been given.
Professors Marchbanks and Tofty strolled among them,watching as they entered the precise positions of the starsand planets they were observing. All was quiet except forthe rustle of parchment, the occasional creak of a telescopeas it was adjusted on its stand, and the scribbling of manyquills. Half an hour passed, then an hour; the little squaresof reflected gold light flickering on the ground belowstarted to vanish as lights in the castle windows wereextinguished.
As Harry completed the constellation Orion on his chart,however, the front doors of the castle opened directly belowthe parapet where he was standing, so that light spilleddown the stone steps a little way across the lawn. Harryglanced down as he made a slight adjustment to theposition of his telescope and saw five or six elongatedshadows moving over the brightly lit grass before the doorsswung shut and the lawn became a sea of darkness oncemore.
Harry put his eye back to his telescope and refocused it,now examining Venus. He looked down at his chart to enterthe planet there, but something distracted him. Pausingwith his quill suspended over the parchment, he squinteddown into the shadowy grounds and saw half a dozenfigures walking over the lawn. If they had not been moving,and the moonlight had not been gilding the tops of theirheads, they would have been indistinguishable from thedark ground on which they stood. Even at this distance,Harry had a funny feeling that he recognized the walk ofthe squattest among them, who seemed to be leading thegroup.
He could not think why Umbridge would be taking a strolloutside past midnight, much less accompanied by fiveothers. Then somebody coughed behind him, and heremembered that he was halfway through an exam. He hadquite forgotten Venus's position — jamming his eye to histelescope, he found it again and was again on the point ofentering it on his chart when, alert for any odd sound, heheard a distant knock that echoed through the desertedgrounds, followed immediately by the muffled barking of alarge dog.
He looked up, his heart hammering. There were lights onin Hagrid's windows and the people he had observedcrossing the lawn were now silhouetted against them. Thedoor opened and he distinctly saw six tiny but sharplydefined figures walk over the threshold. The door closedagain and there was silence.
Harry felt very uneasy. He glanced around to see whetherRon or Hermione had noticed what he had, but ProfessorMarchbanks came walking behind him at that moment, andnot wanting to appear as though he was sneaking looks atanyone else's work, he hastily bent over his star chart andpretended to be adding notes to it while really peering overthe top of the parapet toward Hagrid's cabin. Figures werenow moving across the cabin windows, temporarily blockingthe light.
He could feel Professor Marchbanks's eyes on the back ofhis neck and pressed his eye again to his telescope, staringup at the moon though he had marked its position an hourago, but as Professor Marchbanks moved on he heard aroar from the distant cabin that echoed through thedarkness right to the top of the Astronomy Tower. Severalof the people around Harry ducked out from behind theirtelescopes and peered instead in the direction of Hagrid'scabin.
Professor Tofty gave another dry little cough.
"Try and concentrate, now, boys and girls," he said softly.Most people returned to their telescopes. Harry looked tohis left. Hermione was gazing transfixed at Hagrid's.
"Ahem — twenty minutes to go," said Professor Tofty.
Hermione jumped and returned at once to her star chart;Harry looked down at his own and noticed that he hadmislabelled Venus as Mars. He bent to correct it.
There was a loud BANG from the grounds. Several peoplesaid "Ouch!" as they poked themselves in the face with theends of their telescopes, hastening to see what was goingon below.
Hagrid's door had burst open and by the light floodingout of the cabin they saw him quite clearly, a massive figureroaring and brandishing his fists, surrounded by six people,all of whom, judging by the tiny threads of red light theywere casting in his direction, seemed to be attempting toStun him.
"No!" cried Hermione.
"My dear!" said Professor Tofty in a scandalized voice."This is an examination!"
But nobody was paying the slightest attention to their starcharts anymore: Jets of red light were still flying besideHagrid's cabin, yet somehow they seemed to be bouncingoff him. He was still upright and still, as far as Harry couldsee, fighting. Cries and yells echoed across the grounds; aman yelled, "Be reasonable, Hagrid!" and Hagrid roared,"Reasonable be damned, yeh won' take me like this,Dawlish!"
Harry could see the tiny outline of Fang, attempting todefend Hagrid, leaping at the wizards surrounding himuntil a Stunning Spell caught him and he fell to the ground.Hagrid gave a howl of fury, lifted the culprit bodily from theground, and threw him: The man flew what looked like tenfeet and did not get up again. Hermione gasped, both handsover her mouth; Harry looked around at Ron and saw thathe too was looking scared. None of them had ever seenHagrid in a real temper before. ...
"Look!" squealed Parvati, who was leaning over theparapet and pointing to the foot of the castle where thefront doors seemed to have opened again; more light hadspilled out onto the dark lawn and a single long blackshadow was now rippling across the lawn.
"Now, really!" said Professor Tofty anxiously. "Only sixteenminutes left, you know!"
But nobody paid him the slightest attention: They werewatching the person now sprinting toward the battle besideHagrid's cabin.
"How dare you!" the figure shouted as she ran. "Howdare you!"
"It's McGonagall!" whispered Hermione.
"Leave him alone! Alone, I say!" said ProfessorMcGonagall's voice through the darkness. "On whatgrounds are you attacking him? He has done nothing,nothing to warrant such —"
Hermione, Parvati, and Lavender all screamed. No fewerthan four Stunners had shot from the figures around thecabin toward Professor McGonagall. Halfway between cabinand castle the red beams collided with her. For a momentshe looked luminous, illuminated by an eerie red glow, thenwas lifted right off her feet, landed hard on her back, andmoved no more.
"Galloping gargoyles!" shouted Professor Tofty, whoseemed to have forgotten the exam completely. "Not somuch as a warning! Outrageous behavior!"
"COWARDS!" bellowed Hagrid, his voice carrying clearlyto the top of the tower, and several lights flickered back oninside the castle. "RUDDY COWARDS! HAVE SOME O'THAT — AN' THAT —"
"Oh my —" gasped Hermione.
Hagrid took two massive swipes at his closest attackers;judging by their immediate collapse, they had been knockedcold. Harry saw him double over and thought for a momentthat he had finally been overcome by a spell, but on thecontrary, next moment Hagrid was standing again withwhat appeared to be a sack on his back — then Harryrealized that Fang's limp body was draped around hisshoulders.
"Get him, get him!" screamed Umbridge, but herremaining helper seemed highly reluctant to go withinreach of Hagrid's fists. Indeed, he was backing away so fasthe tripped over one of his unconscious colleagues and fellover. Hagrid had turned and begun to run with Fang stillhung around his neck; Umbridge sent one last StunningSpell after him but it missed, and Hagrid, running full-pelttoward the distant gates, disappeared into the darkness.
There was a long minute's quivering silence, everybodygazing openmouthed into the grounds. Then ProfessorTofty's voice said feebly, "Um ... five minutes to go,everybody ..."
Though he had only filled in two-thirds of his chart, Harrywas desperate for the end of the exam. When it came at lasthe, Ron, and Hermione forced their telescopes haphazardlyback into their holders and dashed back down the spiralstaircase. None of the students were going to bed — theywere all talking loudly and excitedly at the foot of the stairsabout what they had witnessed.
"That evil woman!" gasped Hermione, who seemed to behaving difficulty talking due to rage. "Trying to sneak up onHagrid in the dead of night!"
"She clearly wanted to avoid another scene likeTrelawney's," said Ernie Macmillan sagely, squeezing overto join them.
"Hagrid did well, didn't he?" said Ron, who looked morealarmed than impressed. "How come all the spells bouncedoff him?"
"It'll be his giant blood," said Hermione shakily. "It's veryhard to Stun a giant, they're like trolls, really tough. ... Butpoor Professor McGonagall. ... Four Stunners straight inthe chest, and she's not exactly young, is she?"
"Dreadful, dreadful," said Ernie, shaking his headpompously. "Well, I'm off to bed. ... 'Night, all ..."
People around them were drifting away, still talkingexcitedly about what they had just seen.
"At least they didn't get to take Hagrid off to Azkaban,"said Ron. "I 'spect he's gone to join Dumbledore, hasn'the?"
"I suppose so," said Hermione, who looked tearful. "Oh,this is awful, I really thought Dumbledore would be backbefore long, but now we've lost Hagrid too. ..."
They traipsed back to the Gryffindor common room to findit full. The commotion out in the grounds had woken severalpeople, who had hastened to rouse their friends. Seamusand Dean, who had arrived ahead of Harry, Ron, andHermione, were now telling everyone what they had heardfrom the top of the Astronomy Tower.
"But why sack Hagrid now?" asked Angelina Johnson,shaking her head. "It's not like Trelawney, he's beenteaching much better than usual this year!"
"Umbridge hates part-humans," said Hermione bitterly,flopping down into an armchair. "She was always going totry and get Hagrid out."
"And she thought Hagrid was putting nifflers in heroffice," piped up Katie Bell.
"Oh blimey," said Lee Jordan, covering his mouth. "It'sme's been putting the nifflers in her office, Fred andGeorge left me a couple, I've been levitating them inthrough her window. ..."
"She'd have sacked him anyway," said Dean. "He was tooclose to Dumbledore."
"That's true," said Harry, sinking into an armchair besideHermione's.
"I just hope Professor McGonagall's all right," saidLavender tearfully.
"They carried her back up to the castle, we watchedthrough the dormitory window," said Colin Creevey. "Shedidn't look very well. ..."
"Madam Pomfrey will sort her out," said Alicia Spinnetfirmly. "She's never failed yet."
It was nearly four in the morning before the commonroom cleared. Harry felt wide awake — the image of Hagridsprinting away into the dark was haunting him. He was soangry with Umbridge he could not think of a punishmentbad enough for her, though Ron's suggestion of having herfed to a box of starving Blast-Ended Skrewts had its merits.He fell asleep contemplating hideous revenges and arosefrom bed three hours later feeling distinctly unrested.
Their final exam, History of Magic, was not to take placeuntil that afternoon. Harry would very much have liked togo back to bed after breakfast, but he had been counting onthe morning for a spot of last-minute studying, so instead hesat with his head in his hands by the common room window,trying hard not to doze off as he read through some of thenotes stacked three-and-a-half feet high that Hermione hadlent him.
The fifth years entered the Great Hall at two o'clock andtook their places in front of their overturned examinationpapers. Harry felt exhausted. He just wanted this to be overso that he could go and sleep. Then tomorrow, he and Ronwere going to go down to the Quidditch pitch — he wasgoing to have a fly on Ron's broom and savor their freedomfrom studying. ...
"Turn over your papers," said Professor Marchbanks fromthe front of the Hall, flicking over the giant hourglass. "Youmay begin. ..."
Harry stared fixedly at the first question. It was severalseconds before it occurred to him that he had not taken in aword of it; there was a wasp buzzing distractingly againstone of the high windows. Slowly, tortuously, he began towrite an answer.
He was finding it very difficult to remember names andkept confusing dates. He simply skipped question four: Inyour opinion, did wand legislation contribute to, or lead tobetter control of, goblin riots of the eighteenth century?thinking that he would go back to it if he had time at theend. He had a stab at question five: How was the Statute ofSecrecy breached in 1749 and what measures wereintroduced to prevent a recurrence? but had a naggingsuspicion that he had missed several important points. Hehad a feeling vampires had come into the story somewhere....
He looked ahead for a question he could definitely answerand his eyes alighted upon number ten.
Describe the circumstances that led to the Formation ofthe International Confederation of Wizards and explain whythe warlocks of Liechtenstein refused to join.
I know this, Harry thought, though his brain felt torpidand slack. He could visualize a heading, in Hermione'shandwriting: The Formation of the InternationalConfederation of Wizards... He had read these notes onlythis morning. ...
He began to write, looking up now and again to check thelarge hourglass on the desk beside Professor Marchbanks.He was sitting right behind Parvati Patil, whose long darkhair fell below the back of her chair. Once or twice he foundhimself staring at the tiny golden lights that glistened in itwhen she moved her head very slightly and had to give hisown head a little shake to clear it....
the first Supreme Mugwump of the InternationalConfederation of Wizards was Pierre Bonaccord, but hisappointment was contested by the Wizarding community ofLiechtenstein, because —
All around Harry quills were scratching on parchment likescurrying, burrowing rats. The sun was very hot on theback of his head. What was it that Bonaccord had done tooffend the wizards of Liechtenstein? Harry had a feeling ithad something to do with trolls. ... He gazed blankly at theback of Parvati's head again. If he could only performLegilimency and open a window in the back of her head andsee what it was about trolls that had caused the breachbetween Pierre Bonaccord and Liechtenstein. ...
Harry closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands, sothat the glowing red of his eyelids grew dark and cool.Bonaccord had wanted to stop troll-hunting and give thetrolls rights ... but Liechtenstein was having problems witha tribe of particularly vicious mountain trolls. ... That was it....
He opened his eyes; they stung and watered at the sightof the blazing-white parchment. Slowly he wrote two linesabout the trolls then read through what he had done so far.It did not seem very informative or detailed, yet he was sureHermione's notes on the confederation had gone on forpages and pages. ...
He closed his eyes again, trying to see them, trying toremember. ... The confederation had met for the first timein France, yes, he had written that already. ...
Goblins had tried to attend and been ousted. ... He hadwritten that too. ...
And nobody from Liechtenstein had wanted to come ...
Think, he told himself, his face in his hands, while allaround him quills scratched out never-ending answers andthe sand trickled through the hourglass at the front. ...
He was walking along the cool, dark corridor to theDepartment of Mysteries again, walking with a firm andpurposeful tread, breaking occasionally into a run,determined to reach his destination at last. ... The blackdoor swung open for him as usual, and here he was in thecircular room with its many doors. ...
Straight across the stone floor and through the seconddoor ... patches of dancing light on the walls and floor andthat odd mechanical clicking, but no time to explore, hemust hurry. ...
He jogged the last few feet to the third door, which swungopen just like the others. ...
Once again he was in the cathedral-sized room full ofshelves and glass spheres. ... His heart was beating veryfast now. ... He was going to get there this time. ... When hereached number ninety-seven he turned left and hurriedalong the aisle between two rows. ...
But there was a shape on the floor at the very end, ablack shape moving upon the floor like a wounded animal.... Harry's stomach contracted with fear ... with excitement....
A voice issued from his own mouth, a high, cold voiceempty of any human kindness, "Take it for me. ... Lift itdown, now. ... I cannot touch it ... but you can. ..."
The black shape upon the floor shifted a little. Harry sawa long-fingered white hand clutching a wand rise on theend of his own arm ... heard the high, cold voice say,"Crucio!"
The man on the floor let out a scream of pain, attemptedto stand but fell back, writhing. Harry was laughing. Heraised his wand, the curse lifted, and the figure groanedand became motionless.
"Lord Voldemort is waiting. ..."
Very slowly, his arms trembling, the man on the groundraised his shoulders a few inches and lifted his head. Hisface was bloodstained and gaunt, twisted in pain yet rigidwith defiance. ...
"You'll have to kill me," whispered Sirius.
"Undoubtedly I shall in the end," said the cold voice. "Butyou will fetch it for me first, Black. ... You think you have feltpain thus far? Think again. ... We have hours ahead of usand nobody to hear you scream. ..."
But somebody screamed as Voldemort lowered his wandagain; somebody yelled and fell sideways off a hot desk ontothe cold stone floor. Harry hit the ground and awoke, stillyelling, his scar on fire, as the Great Hall erupted all aroundhim.
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