Ron's euphoria at helping Gryffindor scrape the Quidditch cup was such that he couldn't settle to anything next day. All he wanted to do was talk over the match, so Harry, Y/n and Hermione found it very difficult to find an opening in which to mention Grawp. Not that any of them tried very hard, none was keen to be the one to bring Ron back to reality in quite such a brutal fashion.
As it was another fine, warm day, they persuaded him to join them in revising under the beech tree at the edge of the lake, where they had less chance of being overheard than in the common room. Ron was not particularly keen on this idea at first, he was thoroughly enjoying being patted on the back by every Gryffindor who walked past his chair, not to mention the occasional outbursts of 'Weasley is our King' but after a while he agreed that some fresh air might do him good.
They spread their books out in the shade of the beech tree and sat down while Ron talked them through his first save of the match for what felt like the dozenth time.
"Well, I mean, I'd already let in that one of Davies's, so I wasn't feeling all that confident, but I dunno, when Bradley came towards me, just out of nowhere, I thought...you can do this! And I had about a second to decide which way to fly, you know, because he looked like he was aiming for the right goalhoop, my right, obviously, his left...but I had a funny feeling that he was feinting, and so I took the chance and flew left, his right, I mean...and...well...you saw what happened." he concluded modestly, sweeping his hair back quite unnecessarily so that it looked interestingly windswept and glancing around to see whether the people nearest to them, a bunch of gossiping third-year Hufflepuffs had heard him. "And then, when Chambers came at me about five minutes later...What?" Ron asked, having stopped mid-sentence at the look on Harry's face. "Why are you grinning?"
"I'm not." said Harry quickly, and looked down at his Transfiguration notes, attempting to straighten his lace. "I'm just glad we won, that's all."
"Yeah." said Ron slowly, savouring the words. "We won. Did you see the look on Chang's face when Ginny got the Snitch right 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 broom away when she got back to the ground, didn't you?"
"Er..." said Harry.
"The thing is..." Y/n started but did not finish not wanting to hurt Ron's feelings.
"Actually...no, Ron." said Hermione with a heavy sigh, putting down her book and looking at him apologetically. "As a matter of fact, the only bit of the match Harry, Y/n and I saw was Davies's first goal."
Ron's carefully ruffled hair seemed to wilt with disappointment. "You didn't watch?" he said faintly, looking from one to the other. "You didn't see me make any of those saves?"
"Well...no." said Hermione. "But Ron, we didn't want to leave...we had to!"
"Yeah?" said Ron, whose face was growing rather red. "How come?"
"It was Hagrid." said Harry. "He decided to tell us why he's been covered in injuries ever since he got back from the giants."
"He wanted us to go into the Forest with him, we really had no choice Ron, you know how he gets." Y/n said.
"Anyways..." Harry started and the story was told in five minutes, by the end of which Ron's indignation had been replaced by a look of total incredulity.
"He brought one back and hid it in the Forest?"
"Unbelievably, Yes." said Y/n grimly.
"No." said Ron, as though by saying this he could make it untrue. "No, he can't have."
"Well, he has." said Hermione firmly. "Grawp's about sixteen feet tall, enjoys ripping up tweny 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 of Intermediate Transfiguration and glaring at a series of diagrams showing an owl turning into a pair of opera glasses. "Yes, I'm starting to think he has. But, unfortunately, he made Y/n, 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 got exams and we're about that far..." he held up his hand to show thumb and forefinger almost touching. 'From being chucked out as it is."
"I know, it's just that...we promised." said Hermione in a small voice.
Ron smoothed his hair flat again, looking preoccupied. "Well." he sighed. "Hagrid hasn't been sacked yet, has he? He's hung on this long, maybe he'll hang on till the end of term and we won't have to go near Grawp at all."
"One can only hope..." Y/n sighed.
The castle grounds were gleaming in the sunlight as though freshly painted, the cloudless sky smiled at itself in the smoothly sparkling lake, the satin green lawns rippled occasionally in a gentle breeze. June had arrived, but to the fifth-years this meant only one thing, their OWLs were upon them at last.
Their teachers were no longer setting them homework, lessons were devoted to revising those topics the teachers thought most likely to come up in the exams. The purposeful, feverish atmosphere drove meant that Hermione was much too preoccupied these days to spend any real meaningful time with Y/n in the common room. She was spending a lot of time muttering to herself, and had not laid out any elf clothes for days.
She was not the only person acting oddly as the OWLs drew steadily nearer. Ernie Macmillan had developed an irritating habit of interrogating people about their revision practices.
"How many hours d'you think you're doing a day?" he demanded of Harry, Y/n and Ron as they queued outside Herbology, 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. "Eight or nine. I'm getting an hour in before breakfast every day. Eights my average. I can do ten on a good weekend day. I did nine and a half on Monday. Not so good on Tuesday, only seven and a quarter. Then on Wednesday..."
Y/n was rather grateful that Professor Sprout ushered them into greenhouse three at that point, forcing Ernie to abandon his recital.
Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy had found a different way to induce panic.
"Of course, it's not what you know." he was heard to tell Atticus, Crabbe and Goyle loudly outside Potions a few days before the exams were to start. "It's who you know. Now, Father's been friendly with the head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority for years...old Griselda Marchbanks, we've had her round for dinner and everthing."
"Do you think that's true?" Hermione whispered in alarm to Y/n, Harry and Ron.
"Nothing we can do about it if it is." said Ron gloomily.
"Stuff and nonsense." Y/n waved his hand dismissing such an idea.
"I don't think it's true." said Neville quietly from behind them. "Because Griselda Marchbanks is a friend of my gran's, and she's never mentioned the Malfoy's."
"What's she like, Neville?" asked Hermione at once. "Is she 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." said Neville, still more miserably. "Gran's always telling Professor 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 and Hermione glanced at each other, but didn't know what to say. It was the first time Neville had acknowledged that they had met at the wizarding hospital.
Y/n just put his hand on Neville's shoulder now. "Do not listen to her Neville. As someone who has had the pleasure of teaching you, I can say with certainty that you have improved dramatically this year."
Meanwhile, a flourishing black-market trade in aids to concentration, mental agility and wakefulness had sprung up among the fifth- and seventh-years. Harry and Ron were much tempted by the bottle of Baruffio's Brain Elixir offered to them by Ravenclaw sixth-year Eddie Carmichael, who swore it was solely responsible for the nine 'Outstanding' OWLs he had gained the previous summer and was offering a whole pint for a mere twelve Galleons. Ron assured Harry he would reimburse him for his half the moment he left Hogwarts and got a job, but before they could close the deal, Y/n and Hermione showed up with her confiscating the bottle from 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 take Harold Dingle's powdered dragon claw and have done with it."
"Dingle's got powdered dragon claw?" said Ron eagerly.
"Not any more." said Y/n. "Hermione confiscated that, too."
"None of these things actually work, you know." Hermione said.
"Dragon claw does work!" said Ron. "It's supposed to be incredible, really gives your brain a boost, you come over all cunning 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 at it, and it's actually dried doxy droppings."
This information took the edge off Harry and Ron's desire for brain stimulants.
They received their examination timetables and details of the procedure for OWLs during their next Transfiguration lesson.
"As you can see." Professor McGonagall told the class as they copied down the dates and times of their exams from the blackboard. "Your OWLs are spread over two successive weeks. You will sit the theory papers in the mornings and the practice in the afternoons. Your practical Astronomy examination will, of course, take place at night."
"Now, I must warn you that the most stringent anti-cheating charms have been applied to your examination papers. Auto-Answer Quills are banned from the examination hall, as are Remembralls, Detachable Cribbing Cuffs and Self-Correcting Ink. Every year, I am afraid to say, seems to harbour at least one student who thinks that he or she can get around the Wizarding Examinations Authority's rules. I can only hope that it is nobody in Gryffindor. Our new...Headmistress..." Professor McGonagall pronounced the word with a look on her face that would match if she was trying to remove a particularly stubborn bit of dirt. "Has asked the Heads of House to tell their students that cheating will be punished most severely, because, of course, your examination results will reflect upon the Headmistress's new regime at the school..."
"I believe dictatorship, to be a more accurate term professor." Y/n said from his desk causing a small amount of laughter in the class.
"I do not allow students to talk over me Grindelwald...five points from Gryffindor. However given that you spoke a true statement five points shall also be awarded..." Professor McGonagall gave a tiny sigh and Y/n saw the nostrils of her sharp nose flare. "However, that is no reason for you all not to do your very best. You have 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." said Professor McGonagall.
"Excellent." said Dean Thomas in an audible whisper. "So we don't have to worry about it till the holidays."
Their first examination, Theory of Charms, was scheduled for Monday morning. Y/n had agreed to test Hermione after lunch on Sunday, but regretted it almost at once, she was very agitated and kept snatching the book back from him to check that she had got the answer completely right, finally hitting him hard on the nose with the sharp edge of Achievements in Charming.
If it had been anyone else than her he would have given up and told them to practice alone.
Meanwhile, Harry and Ron were reading two years' worth of Charms notes with their fingers in ears and lips moving soundlessly, Seamus Finnigan was lying flat on his back on the floor, reciting the definition of a Substantive Charm while Dean checked it against The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5, and Parvati and Lavender, who were practising basic Locomotion Charms, were making their pencil-cases race each other around the edge of the table.
Dinner was a subdued affair that night. Harry and Ron did not talk much, but ate with gusto, having studied hard all day. Hermione, on the other hand, kept putting down her knife and fork and diving under the table for her bag, from which she would seize a book to check some fact or figure. Y/n was just trying to tell her that she ought to eat a decent meal or she would not sleep that night, when her fork slid from her limp fingers and landed with a loud tinkle on her plate.
"Oh, my goodness." she said faintly, staring into the Entrance Hall. "Is that them? Is that the examiners?"
Y/n looked up and Harry and Ron whipped around on their bench. Through the doors to the Great Hall they could see Umbridge standing with a small group of ancient-looking witches and wizards. Umbridge, Y/n was pleased to see, looked rather nervous.
"Shall we go and have a closer look?" said Ron.
Harry, Y/n and Hermione nodded and they hastened towards the double doors into the Entrance Hall, slowing down as they stepped over the threshold to walk sedately past the examiners. Harry thought Professor Marchbanks must be the tiny, stooped witch with a face so lined it looked as though it had been draped in cobwebs. Umbridge was speaking to her deferentially. Professor Marchbanks seemed to be a little deaf, she was answering Professor Umbridge very loudly considering they were only a foot apart.
"Journey was fine, journey was fine, we've made it plenty of times before!" she said impatiently. "Now, I haven't heard from Dumbledore lately!" she added, peering around the Hall as though hopeful he might suddenly emerge from a broom cupboard. "No idea where he is, I suppose?"
"None at all." said Umbridge, shooting a malevolent look at Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione, who were now dawdling around the foot of the stairs as Ron pretended to do up his shoelace. "But I daresay the Ministry of Magic will track him down soon enough."
"I doubt it." shouted tiny Professor Marchbanks. "Not if Dumbledore doesn't want to be found! I should know...examined him personally in Transfiguration and Charms when he did NEWTs...did things with a wand I'd never seen before."
"Yes...well..." said Professor Umbridge as Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione dragged their feet up the marble staircase as slowly as they dared. "Let me show you to the staff room. I daresay you'd like a cup of tea after your journey."
It was an uncomfortable sort of an evening. Everyone was trying to do some last-minute revising but nobody seemed to be getting very far. Y/n was sat in an armchair next to Hermione tonight instead of sharing one with her as every available space was filled with books and notes on charms. Y/n who felt he had done enough was simply reading one of the muggle books he bought with Hermione last summer.
'When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.' Y/n read in his mind curious for what new world in this story awaited him.
None of the fifth-years talked very much at breakfast next day, either. Parvati was practicing incantations under her breath while the salt cellar in front of her twitched, Hermione was rereading Achievements in Charming so fast that her eyes appeared blurred, and Neville kept dropping his knife and fork and knocking over the marmalade. Only Y/n seemed relatively calm as he ate breakfast normally.
Once breakfast was over, the fifth and seventh years milled around in the Entrance Hall while the other students went off to lessons, then, at half past nine, they were called forwards class by class to re-enter the Great Hall, which had been rearranged, the four house tables had been removed and replaced instead with many tables for one, all facing the staff-table end of the Hall where Professor McGonagall stood facing them. When they were all seated and quiet, she said. "You may begin." and turned over an enormous hour-glass on the desk beside her, on which there were also spare quills, ink bottles and rolls of parchment.
Y/n turned over his paper, his mind was calm as he read through the question. '(A) Give the incantation and (B) describe the wand movement required to make objects fly.' He picked up his quill already knowing the answer. It was Wingardium Leviosa. As he wrote he could hear the frantic scratchings of Hermione who was already scribbling. He just smiled a little returning to his paper.
"Well, it wasn't too bad, was it?" asked Hermione anxiously in the Entrance Hall two hours later, still clutching the exam paper. "I'm not sure I did myself justice on Cheering Charms, I just ran out of time. Did you put in the counter-charm for hiccoughs? I wasn't sure whether I ought to, it felt like too much...and on question twenty-three..."
"Hermione." said Ron sternly. "We've been through this before...we're not going through every exam afterwards, it's bad enough doing them once."
Y/n just chuckled and took Hermione's hand. "Tell me about question twenty three and I will tell you what I wrote."
Ron just glared at Y/n as Hermione burst back into life.
The fifth-years ate lunch with the rest of the school that afternoon, the four house tables had reappeared for the lunch hour, then they trooped off into the small chamber beside the Great Hall, where they were to wait until called for their practical examination. As small groups of students were called forwards in alphabetical order, those left behind muttered incantations and practised wand movements, occasionally poking each other in the back or eye by mistake.
Y/n and Hermione's name were soon called. Trembling, Hermione left the chamber with Anthony Goldstein, Gregory Goyle, Daphne Greengrass and Atticus Grindelwald.
Y/n walked into the Great Hall, Hermione by his side as he lowered his voice to a whisper. "You will do wonderful, after all you are the brightest witch I know." He reassured her but Hermione still looked dreadfully nervous.
"Professor Marshbanks is free, Grindelwald, Y/n that is. Atticus you are with Professor Tofty." squeaked Professor Flitwick, who was standing just inside the door. He pointed Y/n towards the witch they had seen with Umbridge before. She was sitting behind a small table in the middle of the room corner, a short distance from Professor Tofty, who was now testing his brother.
"Grindelwald?" said Professor Marshbanks, consulting her notes. "Surely not any relation to Frieda and Gellert Grindelwald?"
"My Grandmother." Y/n replied choosing to ignore the mention of his great uncle.
"A talented witch." Professor Marshbanks continued. "I have only met her a few times but was always left rather impressed. Her son was rather talented too, I oversaw his practical exams too. A shame how he turned out in the end..."
But Y/n had not been listening, out of the corner of his eye he watched his brother levitating an egg cup quite well much to his slight annoyance. Atticus clearly wasn't as incapable as he thought.
"Now." Professor Marshbanks began gaining Y/n's attention again. "If I could ask you to take this wine glass and make it hover for me."
"Wingardium Leviosa." Y/n said pointing his wand at the glass and immediately it began to levitate. "Is that all?" Y/n asked finding the task rather simple
"Very good, You can return it to the table now." She said and made notes. "Next I want you turn this cat's fur from white to black." She said lifting a white cat up on to her small table.
Y/n pointed his wand towards it and used colour change charm effortlessly.
"Any requests?" He asked Professor Marshbanks.
"Can you do other colours?" She asked him inquisitively.
"Of course." Y/n replied and had the cat's fur change from white and go through every colour of the rainbow before turning it back to its original white.
"Very good Grindelwald." Professor Marshbanks said scribbling more notes. "Finally, could you make this parrot larger?"
Again Y/n found this very simple. He pointed his wand to the parrot. "Engorgio." He cast and immediately it grew to twice it's normal size on it's perch.
"A perfect enlargement charm." Professor Marshbanks noted.
"Reducio." Y/n cast now returning the parrot to normal.
"And a perfect shrinking charm too, very nicely done indeed." The professor said impressed scribbling. "Well, that concludes the exam Grindelwald, a very well done. If you'd like to exit through that door please." and he saw her point to a door at the opposite end of the room, Hermione was stood by it obviously waiting for him.
"Thank you." Y/n said and left now to join Hermione.
"How did it go?" Hermione asked him nervously as they left the room together. "I think I did alright, I did all the spells they asked me too but perhaps If I could have been quicker I would have gotten extra marks..." Hermione began to ramble.
There was no time to relax that night, they went straight to the common room after dinner and submerged themselves in revision for Transfiguration next day, Once again Y/n seemed to be the only one who had an air of calm around him.
His calmness followed him into the next day as he wrote the definition for the Switching Spell during his written paper in the morning and during his practical he managed to Vanish the whole of his racoon with ease, He looked over to see Hermione was doing well too.
They had their Herbology exam on Wednesday, This is where Y/n was slightly nervous. Herbology was easily his worse subject, to him all plants looked vaguely the same yet he tried his best in both exams not feeling too confident.
On Thursday, It was Defence Against the Dark Arts. Here Y/n's confidence returned, he had no problem with any of the written questions even going as far to write extra. During his practical he made extra effort to show off in performing all the counter-jinxes and defensive spells right in front of Umbridge, who was watching coolly from near the doors into the Entrance Hall.
"Very well done." said Professor Marshbanks, who was examining Y/n again, when Y/n demonstrated a perfect shield charm. "Very good indeed! Well, I think that's all, Grindelwald...unless.., it has been rumoured that you can produce a Patronus? Could you try for a bonus point...?"
"Certainly. Though I must say Miss Granger is also capable of casting one as well." Y/n said wanting to make sure Hermione got a chance of receiving extra points.
"Is that so? Professor Tofty, could you and Miss Granger come here for moment." Professor Marshbanks called out to the examiner testing.
Professor Tofty and a nervous Hermione made their way over to Y/n and Professor Marshbanks.
"The Grindelwald boy here says that Miss Granger is able to cast a Patronus. Are you willing to give a bonus point to her if they can do it?" Marshbanks asked Tofty.
Hermione whipped her head around look at Y/n surprised. He just lightly smiled and nodded his head.
"Why certainly!" Professor Tofty said excited. "That indeed would be worth bonus points."
"Off you go then." Professor Marshbanks said to Y/n and he raised his wand, pointing it to the middle of the room.
"Expecto patronum!"
His silver cat erupted from the end of his wand and began to strut the length of the Hall. All of the examiners looked around to watch its progress
"Expecto patronum!" Hermione cast next and her silver otter appeared immediately gaining the attention of Y/n's cat as it rolled over on its back and gently pawed at the otter's face.
When they dissolved into silver mist Professor Tofty clapped his veined and knotted hands enthusiastically. "Excellent!" he said. "Very well, Granger, you may go!"
"As may you Gridelwald. Well done once again." Professor Marshbanks said.
As they moved to leave the room they could see Umbridge beside the door. There was a nasty smile playing around her wide, slack mouth, but Y/n did not care. Unless he was very much mistaken he had just achieved an 'Outstanding' OWL.
On Friday, Harry, Y/n and Ron had a day off while Hermione sat her Ancient Runes exam, and as they had the whole weekend in front of them they permitted themselves a break from revision. They stretched and yawned beside the open window, through which warm summer air was wafting as Harry and Ron played wizard chess and Y/n watched. Harry could see Hagrid in the distance, teaching a class on the edge of the Forest. He was trying to guess what creatures they were examining, he thought it must be unicorns, because the boys seemed to be standing back a little when the portrait hole opened and Hermione clambered in, looking thoroughly bad-tempered.
"How did it go?" Y/n asked cautiously.
"I mis-translated ehwaz." said Hermione furiously. "It means partnership, not defence,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 one mistake that makes the difference between a pass and a fail. And what's more, someone's put another Niffler in Umbridge's office. I don't know how they got it through that new door, but I just walked past there and Umbridge is shrieking her head off. By the sound of it, it tried to take a chunk out of her leg..."
"Good." said Harry and Ron together.
"No, it is not." Y/n said grimly remembering what Hagrid had said.
"She thinks it's Hagrid doing it, remember? And we do not want Hagrid chucked out!" Hermione said hotly to the two.
"He's teaching at the moment, she can't blame him." said Harry, gesturing out of the window.
"Oh, you're so naive sometimes, Harry. You really think Umbridge will wait for proof?" said Hermione, who seemed determined to be in a towering temper, and she swept off towards the girls' dormitories, banging the door behind her.
"Such a lovely, sweet-tempered girl your girlfriend." said Ron, very quietly, prodding his queen forward to beat up one of Harry's knights.
"She is simply stressed with the exams Ron." Y/n said looking at the pieces on the board. "Hermione has always taken our exams rather seriously. Though with Hagrid's potential sacking looming and what comes with it I doubt her temper will calm anytime soon."
And he was right. Hermione's bad mood persisted for most of the weekend, Y/n did his best and remained silent throughout it figuring it as best to leave her be. Harry and Ron however found it quite easy to ignore as they spent most of Saturday and Sunday revising for Potions on Monday, the exam which Harry had been looking forward to least and which he was sure would be the downfall of his ambitions to become an Auror.
Y/n had worked extra hard on revising instead as he remembered McGonagall saying it would be important for his aspirations. The written paper was indeed difficult, though he knew for certain he had gotten full marks on the question about Polyjuice Potion, he could describe its effects accurately, after He, Hermione, Harry and Ron had illegally brewed it in his second year.
The afternoon practical was not as dreadful as he had expected, it to be. With Snape absent from the proceedings, he found that the room was much more relaxed than it usually was while making potions. Neville, who was sitting very near Harry, also looked happier than Y/n had ever seen him during a Potions class. When Professor Marchbanks said. "Step away from your cauldrons, please, the examination is over." Y/n corked his sample flask feeling that he might have achieved a good grade.
"Only four exams left." said Parvati Patil wearily as they headed back to Gryffindor common room.
"Only!" said Hermione snappishly. "I've got Arithmancy and it's probably the toughest subject there is!"
Y/n also had Arithmancy but was not foolish enough to mention this as no one else said a word, so she was unable to vent her spleen on any of them and was reduced to telling off some first-years for giggling too loudly in the common room.
The four all worked hard in Tuesday's Care of Magical Creatures exam so as not to let Hagrid down. The practical examination took place in the afternoon on the lawn on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where students were required to correctly identify the Knarl hidden among a dozen hedgehogs. The trick was to offer them all milk in turn, Knarls, highly suspicious creatures whose quills had many magical properties, generally went berserk at what they saw as an attempt to poison them. Then to demonstrate correct handling of a Bowtruckle, feed and clean out a Fire Crab without sustaining serious burns, and choose, from a wide selection of food, the diet they would give a sick unicorn.
Harry could see Hagrid watching anxiously out of his cabin window. When Harry's examiner, a plump little witch this time, smiled at him and told him he could leave, Harry gave Hagrid a fleeting thumbs-up before heading back to the castle.
The Astronomy theory paper on Wednesday morning went well enough. Y/n had managed to name all of Jupiter's moons right with time to spare. They had to wait until evening for their practical Astronomy. That afternoon Y/n and Hermione would take their Arithmancy exam while Harry and Ron's afternoon was devoted instead to Divination.
Even by Harry's low standards in Divination, the exam went very badly. He might as well have tried to see moving pictures on the desktop as in the stubbornly blank crystal ball, he lost his head completely during tea-leaf reading, saying it looked to him as though Professor Marchbanks would shortly be meeting a round, dark, soggy stranger, and rounded off the whole fiasco by mixing up the life and head lines on her palm and informing her that she ought to have died the previous Tuesday.
"Well, we were always going to fail that one." said Ron gloomily as they ascended the marble staircase. He had just made Harry feel rather better by telling him how he had told the examiner in detail about the ugly man with a wart on his nose in his crystal ball, only to look up and realise he had been describing his examiner's reflection.
"We shouldn't have taken the stupid subject in the first place." said Harry.
"Still, at least we can give it up now."
"Yeah." said Harry. "No more pretending we care what happens 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 they belong."
Harry laughed just as Y/n and Hermione came running up behind them. 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 a quick look over our star-charts before dinner, then..."
When they reached the top of the Astronomy Tower at eleven o'clock, they found a perfect night for stargazing, cloudless and still. The grounds were bathed in silvery moonlight and there was a slight chill in the air. Each of them set up his or her telescope and, when Professor Marchbanks gave the word, proceeded to fill in the blank star-chart they had been given.
Professors Marchbanks and Tofty strolled among them, watching as they entered the precise positions of the stars and planets they were observing. All was quiet except for the rustle of parchment, the occasional creak of a telescope as it was adjusted on its stand, and the scribbling of many quills. Half an hour passed, then an hour, the little squares of reflected gold light flickering on the ground below started to vanish as lights in the castle windows were extinguished.
As Y/n completed the constellation Lyra on his chart, however, the front doors of the castle opened directly below the parapet where he, Hermione, Harry and Ron was standing, so that light spilled down the stone steps a little way across the lawn. Y/n glanced down as he made a slight adjustment to the position of his telescope and saw five or six elongated shadows moving over the brightly lit grass before the doors swung shut and the lawn became a sea of darkness once more.
Y/n put his eye back to his telescope and refocused it, now examining Mars. He looked down at his chart to enter the planet there, but something distracted him, pausing with his quill suspended over the parchment, he squinted down into the shadowy grounds and saw half a dozen figures walking over the lawn. If they had not been moving, and the moonlight had not been gilding the tops of their heads, they would have been indistinguishable from the dark ground on which they walked. Even at this distance, Y/n had a funny feeling he recognized the walk of the squattest of them, who seemed to be leading the group.
He could not think why Umbridge would be taking a stroll outside after midnight, much less accompanied by five others. Then somebody coughed behind him, and he remembered that he was halfway through an exam. He had quite forgotten Mars's position. Jamming his eye to his telescope, he found it again and was once more about to enter it on his chart when, alert for any odd sound, he heard a distant knock which echoed through the deserted grounds, followed immediately by the muffled barking of a large dog.
He looked up, his heart hammering. There were lights on in Hagrid's windows and the people he had observed crossing the lawn were now silhouetted against them. The door opened and he distinctly saw six sharply defined figures walk over the threshold. The door closed again and there was silence.
Y/n felt very uneasy. He glanced around to see whether Ron, Harry or Hermione had noticed what he had. He could see Harry looking at him having noticed what was happening too but Professor Marchbanks came walking behind them at that moment and, not wanting to look as though they were sneaking looks at anyone else's work, they hastily bent over their star-charts and pretended to be adding notes to them while really peering over the top of the parapet towards Hagrid's cabin. Figures were now moving across the cabin windows, temporarily blocking the light.
He could feel Professor Marchbanks's eyes on the back of his neck and pressed his eye again to his telescope, staring up at the moon though he had marked its position an hour ago, but as Professor Marchbanks moved on he heard a roar from the distant cabin that echoed through the darkness right to the top of the Astronomy Tower. Several of the people around him and Harry ducked out from behind their telescopes and peered instead in the direction of Hagrid's cabin.
Professor Tofty gave another dry little cough.
"Try and concentrate, now, boys and girls." he said softly.
Most people returned to their telescopes. Y/n looked to his right. Hermione was gazing transfixed at Hagrid's cabin.
"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 had mis-labelled Mars as Venus. He bent to correct it.
Y/n however kept his eyes on the cabin and there was a loud BANG from the grounds.
Several people cried 'Ouch!' when they poked themselves in the face with the ends of their telescopes as they hastened to see what was going on below.
Hagrid's door had burst open and by the light flooding out of the cabin they saw him quite clearly, a massive figure roaring and brandishing his fists, surrounded by six people, all of whom, judging by the tiny threads of red light they were casting in his direction, seemed to be attempting to Stun him.
"No!" cried Hermione.
"My dear!" said Professor Tofty in a scandalised voice. "This is an examination!"
But nobody was paying the slightest attention to their star-charts any more either. Jets of red light were still flying about beside Hagrid's cabin, yet somehow they seemed to be bouncing off him, he was still upright and still, as far as Harry could see, fighting. Cries and yells echoed across the grounds; a man yelled. "Be reasonable, Hagrid!"
"Reasonable be damned, yeh won' take me like this, Dawlish!" Hagrid roared.
Y/n could see the tiny outline of Fang, attempting to defend Hagrid, leaping repeatedly at the wizards surrounding him until a Stunning Spell caught him and he fell to the ground. Hagrid gave a howl of fury, lifted the culprit bodily from the ground and threw him, the man flew what looked like ten feet and did not get up again. Hermione gasped, both hands over her mouth, Harry looked round at Ron and saw that he, too, was looking scared. Y/n looked furious however. None of them had ever seen Hagrid in a real temper before.
"Look!" squealed Parvati, who was leaning over the parapet and pointing to the foot of the castle where the front doors had opened again; more light was spilling out onto the dark lawn and a single long black shadow was now rippling across the lawn.
"Now, really!" said Professor Tofty anxiously. "Only sixteen minutes left, you know!"
But nobody paid him the slightest attention, they were watching the person now sprinting towards the battle beside Hagrid's cabin.
"How dare you!" the figure shouted as she ran. "How dare you!"
"It's McGonagall!" whispered Hermione.
"No!" Y/n said worried for what they would do to her.
"Leave him alone! Alone I say!" said Professor McGonagall's voice through the darkness. "On what grounds are you attacking him? He has done nothing, nothing to warrant such..."
Hermione, Parvati and Lavender all screamed. The figures around the cabin had shot no fewer than four Stunners at Professor McGonagall. Halfway between cabin and castle the red beams collided with her; for a moment she looked luminous and glowed an eerie red, then she lifted right off her feet, landed hard on her back, and moved no more.
"Galloping gargoyles!" shouted Professor Tofty, who also seemed to have forgotten the exam completely. "Not so much as a warning! Outrageous behaviour!"
"YOU COWARDS!" Y/n shouted furiously from the top of the tower they were on, not caring if he was thrown out of his exam. His voice carried clearly from the top of the tower, and several lights flickered back on inside the castle.
"AYE YER RUDDY COWARDS!" Hagrid could be bellowing in agreement. "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 knocked cold. Y/n saw Hagrid double over, and thought he had finally been overcome by a spell. But, on the contrary, next moment Hagrid was standing again with what appeared to be a sack on his back, then Y/n realised that Fang's limp body was draped around his shoulders.
"Get him, get him!" screamed Umbridge, but her remaining helper seemed highly reluctant to go within reach of Hagrid's fists. Indeed, he was backing away so fast he tripped over one of his unconscious colleagues and fell over. Hagrid had turned and begun to run with Fang still hung around his neck. Umbridge sent one last Stunning Spell after him but it missed and Hagrid, running full-pelt towards the distant gates, disappeared into the darkness.
There was a long minute's quivering silence as everybody gazed open-mouthed into the grounds. Then Professor Tofty's voice said feebly. "Um...five minutes to go, everybody."
Y/n was so angry that he rushed to finish his star chart and could only wait for the exam to end. When it came at last he, Hermione, Harry and Ron forced their telescopes haphazardly back into their holders and dashed back down the spiral staircase. None of the students were going to bed, they were all talking loudly and excitedly at the foot of the stairs about what they had witnessed.
"That evil woman!" gasped Hermione, who seemed to be having difficulty talking due to rage. "Trying to sneak up on Hagrid in the dead of night!"
"She clearly wanted to avoid another scene like Trelawney's." said Ernie Macmillan sagely, squeezing over to join them.
"Hagrid did well, didn't he?" said Ron, who looked more alarmed than impressed. "How come all the spells bounced off him?"
"It'll be his giant blood." said Hermione shakily. "It's very hard to Stun a giant, they're like trolls, really tough...but poor Professor McGonagall...four Stunners straight in the chest and she's not exactly young, is she?" She looked at Y/n to see his face was still full of fury. She was very sure that if he came into view of Umbridge tonight he would do something he regretted later on.
"Dreadful, dreadful." said Ernie, shaking his head pompously. "Well, I'm off to bed. Night, all."
People around them were drifting away, still talking excitedly 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't he?"
"I suppose so..." said Hermione, who looked tearful. "Oh, this is awful, I really thought Dumbledore would be back before long, but now we've lost Hagrid too."
They traipsed back to the Gryffindor common room to find it full. The commotion out in the grounds had woken several people, who had hastened to rouse their friends. Seamus and Dean, who had arrived ahead of Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione, were now telling everyone what they had seen and heard from the top of the Astronomy Tower.
"But why sack Hagrid now?" asked Angelina Johnson, shaking her head. "It's not like Trelawney, he's been teaching much better than usual this year!"
"Umbridge hates part-humans,' said Hermione bitterly, flopping down into an armchair. "She was always going to try and get Hagrid out."
Y/n was too angry to sit though as he paced around the room.
"And she thought Hagrid was putting Nifflers in her office." piped up Katie Bell.
"Oh, blimey." said Lee Jordan, covering his mouth. "It's me who's been putting the Nifflers in her office. Fred and George left me a couple, I've been levitating them in through her window."
"She'd have sacked him anyway." said Dean. "He was too close to Dumbledore."
"That's true." said Harry, sinking into an armchair beside Hermione's.
"I just hope Professor McGonagall's all right." said Lavender tearfully.
"They carried her back up to the castle, we watched through the dormitory window." said Colin Creevey. "She didn't look very well."
"Madam Pomfrey will sort her out." said Alicia Spinnet firmly. "She's never failed yet."
"Mark my words..." Y/n began with a more calm anger as everyone looked at him apprehensively. "If Professor McGonagall is harmed because of this...I will deal with Umbridge appropriately, no matter the cost." He said darkly.
It was nearly four in the morning before the common room cleared. It had taken Hermione three hours to finally calm Y/n down. The image of McGonagall lying stunned on the ground made his blood boil, he was so angry with Umbridge that he could not think of a punishment bad enough for her.
Harry thought Ron's suggestion of having her fed to a box of starving Blast-Ended Skrewts had its merits. He fell asleep contemplating hideous revenges and arose from bed three hours later feeling distinctly unrested.
Their final exam, History of Magic, was not to take place until that afternoon. Harry would very much have liked to go back to bed after breakfast, but he had been counting on the morning for a spot of last-minute revision, so instead he sat with his head in his hands by the common-room window, trying hard not to doze off as he read through some of the three-and-a-half-feet-high stack of notes that Hermione and Y/n had lent him.
The fifth-years entered the Great Hall at two o'clock and took their places in front of their face-down examination papers. Harry felt exhausted. He just wanted this to be over, so that he could go and sleep, then tomorrow, he and Ron were going to go down to the Quidditch pitch, he was going to have a fly on Ron's broom and savour their freedom from revision.
"Turn over your papers." said Professor Marchbanks from the front of the Hall, flicking over the giant hour-glass. "You may begin."
Harry stared fixedly at the first question. It was several seconds before it occurred to him that he had not taken in a word of it, there was a wasp buzzing distractingly against one of the high windows. Slowly, tortuously, he at last began to write an answer.
He was finding it very difficult to remember names and kept confusing dates. He simply skipped question four. 'In your opinion, did wand legislation contribute to, or lead to better control of, goblin riots of the eighteenth century?' thinking that he would go back to it if he had time at the end. He had a stab at question five. 'How was the Statute of Secrecy breached in 1749 and what measures were introduced to prevent a recurrence?' But had a nagging suspicion that he had missed several important points, he had a feeling vampires had come into the story somewhere.
He looked ahead for a question he could definitely answer and his eyes alighted upon number ten, Describe the circumstances that led to the formation of the International Confederation of Wizards and explain why the warlocks of Liechtenstein refused to join.
'I know this!' Harry thought, though his brain felt torpid and slack. He could visualise a heading, in Hermione's handwriting, The formation of the International Confederation of Wizards...he had read those notes only this morning.
He began to write, looking up now and again to check the large hour-glass on the desk beside Professor Marchbanks. He was sitting right behind Parvati Patil, whose long dark hair fell below the back of her chair. Once or twice he found himself staring at the tiny golden lights that glistened in it when she moved her head slightly, and had to give his own head a little shake to clear it.
...the first Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards was Pierre Bonaccord, but his appointment was contested by the wizarding community of Liechtenstein, because...
All around Harry quills were scratching on parchment like scurrying, burrowing rats. The sun was very hot on the back of his head. What was it that Bonaccord had done to offend the wizards of Liechtenstein? Harry had a feeling it had something to do with trolls...he gazed blankly at the back of Parvati's head again. If he could only perform Legilimency and open a window in the back of her head and see what it was about trolls that had caused the breach between Pierre Bonaccord and Liechtenstein...
Harry closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands, so that the glowing red of his eyelids grew dark and cool. Bonaccord had wanted to stop troll-hunting and give the trolls rights...but Liechtenstein was having problems with a tribe of particularly vicious mountain trolls...that was it.
He opened his eyes, they stung and watered at the sight of the blazing white parchment. Slowly, he wrote two lines about the trolls, then read through what he had done so far. It did not seem very informative or detailed, yet he was sure Hermione's notes on the Confederation had gone on for pages and pages.
He closed his eyes again, trying to see them, trying to remember...the Confederation had met for the first time in France, yes, he had written that already.
Goblins had tried to attend and been ousted... he had written that, too.
And nobody from Liechtenstein had wanted to come...
Think, he told himself, his face in his hands, while all around him quills scratched out never-ending answers and the sand trickled through the hour-glass at the front...
He was walking along the cool, dark corridor to the Department of Mysteries again, walking with a firm and purposeful tread, breaking occasionally into a run, determined to reach his destination at last...the black door swung open for him as usual, and here he was in the circular room with its many doors...
Straight across the stone floor and through the second door...patches of dancing light on the walls and floor and that odd mechanical clicking, but no time to explore, he must hurry...
He jogged the last few feet to the third door, which swung open just like the others...
Once again he was in the cathedral-sized room full of shelves and glass spheres...his heart was beating very fast now...he was going to get there this time...when he reached number ninety-seven he turned left and hurried along the aisle between two rows...
But there was a shape on the floor at the very end, a black shape moving on the floor like a wounded animal...Harry's stomach contracted with fear... with excitement...
A voice issued from his own mouth, a high, cold voice empty of any human kindness...
"Take it for me...lift it down, now... I cannot touch it... but you can..."
The black shape on the floor shifted a little. Harry saw a long-fingered white hand clutching a wand rise at the end of his own arm and heard the high, cold voice say. "Crucio!"
The man on the floor let out a scream of pain, attempted to stand but fell back, writhing. Harry was laughing. He raised his wand, the curse lifted and the figure groaned and became motionless.
"Lord Voldemort is waiting..."
Very slowly, his arms trembling, the man on the ground raised his shoulders a few inches and lifted his head. His face was bloodstained and gaunt, twisted in pain yet rigid with defiance...
"You'll have to kill me." whispered Sirius.
"Undoubtedly I shall in the end." said the cold voice. "But you will fetch it for me first, Black... you think you have felt pain thus far? Think again... we have hours ahead of us and nobody to hear you scream..."
But somebody screamed as Voldemort lowered his wand again, somebody yelled and fell sideways off a hot desk on to the cold stone floor, Harry awoke as he hit the ground, still yelling, his scar on fire, as the Great Hall erupted all around him.