Sirius's son

O.W.L.s

"He's lost his mind," said Ron in an almost awed voice.

"Doesn't sound like it," Rigel said not raising his head from the trio.

Ron started. "Rigel how could you..."

"Ron if you had an abused half-brother would you leave him out on the streets?" Rigel retorted.

Ron opened his mouth but no words came.

"To me," Rigel said closing his charms textbook. "It sounded like he wants to protect his little brother from bullies."

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: TheirO.W.L.s were upon them at last.

Their teachers were no longer setting them homework; lessons were devoted to reviewing those topics their teachers thought most likely to come up in the exams. The purposeful, feverish atmosphere drove nearly everything but the O.W.L.s from Rigel's mind. Hermione was much too preoccupied these days to badger Harry about Occlumency. 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 O.W.L.s drew steadily nearer. Ernie Macmillan had developed an irritating habit of interrogating people about their study habits.

Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy had found a different way to induce panic.

"Of course, it's not what you know," he was heard to tell 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 ofthe Wizarding Examinations Authority for years — old Griselda Marchbanks — we've had her round for dinner and everything. . . ."

"Do you think that's true?" Hermione whispered to Harry, Eliza, Rigel, and 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 behind them."Because Griselda Marchbanks is a friend of my gran's, and she's never mentioned the Malfoys." 

"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. . . ." 

Meanwhile, a flourishing black-market trade in aids to concentration, mental agility, and wakefulness had sprung up in 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" O.W.L.s he had gained the previous summer and was offering the whole pint for a mere twelve Galleons. But Hermione and Rigel confiscated the bottle from Carmichael and poured the contents down a toilet knowing that it was doxy droppings.

Rigel received his examination schedules and details of the procedure for O.W.L.s during his Transfiguration N.E.W.T lesson s. Their first exam, Theory of Charms, was scheduled for Monday morning. Rigel agreed to test Eliza after lunch on Sunday but she was very agitated and kept snatching the book back from him to check that she had gotten the answer completely right.