ANTI-HERO ♱ Harry Potter

XX, Coffee Cups And Cigarettes.

"Es, we wanted to buy that!" shouted Theodore.

"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 Mattheo eagerly.

"Not anymore," said Este. "I confiscated that too. None of these things actually works you know —"

"Dragon claw does work!" said Mattheo. "It's supposed to be incredible, really gives your brain a boost, you come over all cunning for a few hours — Es, let me have a pinch, go on, it can't hurt —"

"This stuff can," said Este grimly. "I've had a look at it, and it's actually dried doxy droppings."

This information took the edge off Mattheo and Theodore's desire for brain stimulants. They received their examination schedules and details of the procedure for O.W.L.s during their next Transfiguration lesson.

"As you can see," Professor McGonagall told the class while they copied down the dates and times of their exams from the blackboard, "your O.W.L.s are spread over two successive weeks. You will sit the theory exams 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 harbor 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 the same look on her face that her Grandmother had whenever she spoke about Sirius — "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. . . ."

Professor McGonagall gave a tiny sigh. Este saw the nostrils of her sharp nose flare. "However, that is no reason not to do your very best. You have your own futures to think about."

"Please, Professor," said Este, her hand in the air, "when will we find out our results?"

"An owl will be sent to you sometime in July," said Professor McGonagall.

"Excellent," said Blaise Zabini in an audible whisper, "so we don't have to worry about it till the holidays. . . ."

Este imagined sitting in her bedroom in Grimmauld in six weeks' time, waiting for her O.W.L. results. Their first exam, Theory of Charms, was scheduled for Monday morning. Mattheo agreed to test Este 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 gotten the answer completely right, finally hitting him hard on the nose with the sharp edge of Achievements in Charming. "Why don't you just do it yourself?" he said firmly, handing the book back to her, his eyes watering.

Meanwhile, Blaise was reading two years of Charms notes with his fingers in his ears, his lips moving soundlessly; Atlas was lying flat on his back on the floor, reciting the definition of a Substantive Charm, while Draco checked it against The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5; and Pansy and Daphne, who were practicing basic locomotion charms, were making their pencil cases race each other around the edge of the table.

Dinner was a subdued affair that night. Atlas did not talk much, but ate with gusto, having studied hard all day. Este 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. Atlas was just telling 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.