𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒-ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕪 ℙ𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣❥

𝐇𝐁𝐏 𝟖

One morning, in The Great Hall as Hermione, Emily, Harry and Ron sat around eating breakfast.

Hermione noticed that Emily and Harry were being a lot more closer than usual, acting more like happy children then they normally did.

"What's got you two so giddy?" Hermione laughed.

Ron let out a snort, "I know."

Harry kicked Ron under the table and shook his head, pleading for him to keep quiet.

"What?" Ron shouted out, "Emily's probably already told her!"

"What? Told me wha-"

But the penny dropped in Hermione's brain as she dropped her spoon that still had some remaining corn flakes on as she dramatically gasped.

Emily and Harry both turned a bright red, resembling tomatoes before Hermione and Ron both burst into laughter.

"It's not funny!" Emily shouted, hiding her face in her hands, "Stop!"

As Hermione had predicted, the sixth years' free periods were not the hours of blissful relaxation Ron had anticipated, but times in which to attempt to keep up with the vast amount of homework they were being set.

Not only were they studying as though they had exams every day, but the lessons themselves had become more demanding than ever before.

To Emily's suprise, her grades had slowly turned back to normal and she was five steps ahead of the class again, although the lessons were increasingly getting harder and she had to ask McGonagall to repeat the instructions once or twins.

Incredibly, and to Hermione's and Emily's increasing resentment, Harry's best subject had suddenly become Potions, thanks to the Half-Blood Prince.

Nonverbal spells were now expected, not only in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but in Charms and Transfiguration too.

Emily frequently looked over at her classmates in the common room or at mealtimes to see them purple in the face and straining as though they had overdosed on U-No-Poo; but she knew that they were really struggling to make spells work without saying incantations aloud.

It was a relief to get outside into the greenhouses; they were dealing with more dangerous plants than ever in Herbology, but at least they were still allowed to swear loudly if the Venomous Tentacula seized them unexpectedly from behind.

One result of their enormous workload and the frantic hours of practicing nonverbal spells was that Emily, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had so far been unable to find time to go and visit Hagrid.

He had stopped coming to meals at the staff table, an ominous sign, and on the few occasions when they had passed him in the corridors or out in the grounds, he had mysteriously failed to notice them or hear their greetings.

"We've got to go and explain," said Hermione, looking up at Hagrid's huge empty chair at the staff table the following Saturday at breakfast.

"We've got Quidditch tryouts this morning!" said Ron. "And we're supposed to be practicing that Aguamenti Charm from Flitwick! Anyway, explain what? How are we going to tell him we hated his stupid subject?"

"We didn't hate it!" said Emily.

"Speak for yourself, I haven't forgotten the skrewts," said Ron darkly. "And I'm telling you now, we've had a narrow escape. You didn't hear him going on about his gormless brother — we'd have been teaching Grawp how to tie his shoelaces if we'd stayed."

"I hate not talking to Hagrid," said Emily, looking upset.

"We'll go down after Quidditch," Harry assured her. He too was missing Hagrid. "But trials might take all morning, the number of people who have applied." He felt slightly nervous at confronting the first hurdle of his Captaincy. "I dunno why the team's this popular all of a sudden."