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DRACO'S EUPHORIA AT CATCHING THE SNITCH quickly disappeared because 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 O.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 Este's mind. She had been spending hours in the Library, had paid more visits to Madam Pomfrey than in her past years at Hogwarts, and her nose had bled so much she was sure it would run out of blood soon, and her area of the dorm room she shared was littered with unfinished cups of coffee and tiny little cigarette buds.
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. "How many hours d'you think you're doing a day?" he demanded of Este and Atlas as they queued outside Herbology, a manic gleam in his eyes.
"I dunno," said Este. "A few . . ."
"More or less than eight?"
"Less, I s'pose," said Este, looking slightly alarmed.
"I'm doing eight," said Ernie, "Eight or nine. I'm getting an hour in before breakfast every day. Eight's 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 —" Este was deeply thankful 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 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 everything. . . ."
"Fucking liar," Este scowled, "Everyone knows Griselda's friends with Grandmother and is on friendly terms with Narcissa," Este remembered how she still sometimes went over to the lady's house to pet-sit her cat.
Meanwhile, a flourishing black-market trade in aids to concentration, mental agility, and wakefulness had sprung up in the fifth and seventh years. Theodore and Mattheo 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 before they could close the deal, Este had confiscated the bottle from Carmichael and poured the contents down a toilet.
"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.
"Oh fuck fuck fuck," she said faintly, staring into the entrance hall. "Oh shit, it's Marchbanks."
Atlas 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, Harry was pleased to see, looked rather nervous. "Shall we go and have a closer look?" said Atlas.
Este nodded and they hastened toward the double doors into the entrance hall, slowing down as they stepped over the threshold to walk sedately past the examiners. 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 very deferentially. Professor Marchbanks seemed to be a little deaf; she was answering Umbridge very loudly considering that they were only a foot apart.
"Journey was fine, the 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 hoping 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, and Hermione, who were also 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 N.E.W.T.s . . . Did things with a wand I'd never seen before . . ." Professor Marchbanks stopped, catching sight of the Black cousins. "My life is complete," Professor Marchbanks proclaimed, "Atlas, Estele, how good it is to see you..."
"Madam," Atlas greeted loudly, giving Griselda Machbanks double cheek kisses.
"Call me Griselda! I've known you two since you were wee babes! Estele!" Este gave the tiny witch a tight smile, bending down to hug the witch and kissing her cheeks.
"My two brightest students," Umbridge said, in her fake, girlish voice──in hopes to coax the witch's favor. "In the running for Head Boy and Girl!"
Atlas and Este glanced at one another. Griselda Marchbanks laughed, "Mighty good choice! The Black children... How is your Grandmama?"
Este smiled tightly, "Dead, Ma'am."
"Oh... Oh yes. I forget. Sometimes Walburga would visit me through her portrait! Come, we have so much to discuss," Atlas nodded, holding Griselda's hand and helping her as Este followed them.
"Yes . . . well . . ." said Professor Umbridge, slightly startled, "let us show you to the staffroom . . . I daresay you'd like a cup of tea after your journey. . . ."
After accompanying Griselda Marchbanks for a spot of tea, Este and Atlas returned to the common room. It was an uncomfortable sort of an evening. Everyone was trying to do some last-minute studying but nobody seemed to be getting very far. Este went to bed early but then lay awake for what felt like hours. She remembered her careers consultation and Snape's begrudging stamp of approval. . . .Este knew that he was not the only one lying awake, but none of the others in the dormitory spoke and finally, one by one, they fell asleep.
None of the fifth years talked very much at breakfast the next day either. Pansy was practicing incantations under her breath while the salt cellar in front of her twitched, Daphne was rereading Achievement in Charming so fast that her eyes appeared blurred, and Milicent Bulstrode kept dropping her knife and fork and knocking over the marmalade. 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 forward class by class to reenter the Great Hall, which was now arranged exactly as Este had seen it in the Pensieve when her mother and Sirius had been taking their O.W.L.s. 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 hourglass on the desk beside her, on which were also spare quills, ink bottles, and rolls of parchment.
Este turned over her paper, her heart thumping hard. . . . Three rows to his right and four seats ahead, Atlas was already scribbling. . . .She lowered her eyes to the first question: a) Give the incantation, and b) describe the wand movement required to make objects fly. . . . Este's heart leapt with relief as she began to scribble down the answers.
"Well, it wasn't too bad, was it?" asked Este 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 countercharm for hiccups? I wasn't sure whether I ought to, it felt like too much — and on question twentythree —"
"Este," said Atlas sternly, "we've been through this before. . . . 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 (the four House tables reappeared over the lunch hour) and then 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 forward in alphabetical order, those left behind muttered incantations and practiced wand movements, occasionally poking one another in the back or eye by mistake.
"Black Este, Black Atlas, Brown Lavender, Bones, Susan, Boot, Terry." Este walked into the Great Hall, clutching her wand so tightly her hand shook.
"Professor Marchbanks is free, Miss Black!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, who was standing just inside the door.
Este nodded and walked toward Professor Marchbanks, "Well, well, Miss Black. No need to be nervous, Dear. . . . Now, if I could ask you to take this eggcup and make it do some cartwheels for me. . . ."
On the whole Este thought it went very well; her Levitation Charm was nearly perfect, she had not mixed up the incantations for Color-Change and Growth Charms, and even Professor Marchbanks had said she had done exceptionally well.
But there was no time to relax that night — they went straight to the common room after dinner and submerged themselves in studying for Transfiguration next day. Este went to bed, her head buzzing with complex spell models and theories.
She managed to vanish the whole of her iguana, whereas poor Hannah Abbott lost her head completely at the next table and somehow managed to multiply her ferret into a flock of flamingos, causing the examination to be halted for ten minutes while the birds were captured and carried out of the Hall. They had their Herbology exam on Wednesday (other than a small bite from a Fanged Geranium, Este felt he had done reasonably well) and then, on Thursday, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Este felt sure she had passed this along with Charms and Transfiguration. She had no problem with any of the written questions and took particular pleasure, during the practical examination, in performing all the counterjinxes and defensive spells right in front of Umbridge, who was watching coolly from near the doors into the entrance hall.
"Oh bravo!" cried Professor Marchbanks, who was examining Este again, when Este demonstrated a perfect boggart banishing spell. "Very good indeed! Well, I think that's all, Estele you are free to go!"
On Friday, Este and Mattheo had a day off while most of the others sat their Ancient Runes exam, and as they had the whole weekend in front of them, they permitted themselves a break from studying. They stretched and yawned beside the open window, through which warm summer air wafted over them as they played a desultory game of wizard chess. Este had just taken Mattheo's queen when the door opened and most of their friends clambered in, looking thoroughly bad tempered. "How were the runes?" said Este, yawning and stretching.
"I mistranslated 'ehwaz,' " said Atlas, scowling, "It means 'partnership,' not 'defense,' I mixed it up with 'eihwaz.' "
"Ah well," said Mattheo lazily, "that's only one mistake, isn't it, you'll still get —"
"Oh shut up," saidn Atlas angrily, "it could be the one mistake that makes the difference between a pass and a fail. But you know what? 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 Este.
"It maybe sound nice but putting Umbridge in a bad mood during exam season does not sound nice," Atlas grabbed his bag, "I'll be doing revision in my room. Do not disturb me unless you want to die."
"Such a lovely, sweet-tempered lad," said Este, very quietly, prodding her queen forward so that she could begin beating up one of Mattheo's knights. Atlas bad mood persisted for most of the weekend, though Este found it quite easy to ignore as she spent most of Saturday and Sunday studying for Potions on Monday, the exam to which Este was looking forward least. Este was a good potions students, one of the best but because of Snape's vendetta against her, she wasn't feeling to confident.
But the written work andafternoon practical was not as dreadful as she had expected it to be. With Snape absent from the proceedings he found that she was much more relaxed than she usually was while making potions. Neville, who was sitting very near Este, also looked happier than she had ever seen him during a Potions class. When Professor Marchbanks said, "Step away from your cauldrons, please, the examination is over," Este corked her sample flask feeling that she might have achieved a good grade.
"Only four exams left," said Pansy wearily as they headed back to Slytherin common room.
"Only," said Atlas. "I've got Arithmancy and it's probably the toughest subject there is."
Nobody was foolish enough to snap back.
Este was determined to perform well in Tuesday's Care of Magical Creatures exam──she wanted to get everything perfect──everything. 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 demonstrate correct handling of a bowtruckle, feed and clean a fire-crab without sustaining serious burns, and choose, from a wide selection of food, the diet they would give a sick unicorn.
Este could see Hagrid watching anxiously out of his cabin window. When Este's examiner, a plump little witch this time, smiled at her and told her she could leave, Este gave Hagrid a fleeting nod and smile before heading back up to the castle. The Astronomy theory exam on Wednesday morning went very well; Being a Black, it was almost customary for Este to perform well──she had got the names of all of Jupiter's moons right and was sure of everything on the exam. They had to wait until evening for their practical Astronomy; the afternoon was devoted instead to Divination.
Even with Este's low standards in Divination, the exam went very badly. She might as well have tried to see moving pictures in the desktop as in the stubbornly blank crystal ball; she lost her head completely during tea-leaf reading, saying it looked to her 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 Mattheo gloomily as they ascended the marble staircase. He had just made Este feel rather better by telling him how he told the examiner in detail about the ugly man with a wart on his nose in his crystal ball, only to look up and realize he had been describing his examiner's reflection.
"We shouldn't have taken the stupid subject in the first place," said Este, frowning.
"Still, at least we can give it up now."
"Yeah," said Este. "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." Este laughed just as Atlas came running up behind them. She stopped laughing at once, in case it annoyed her cousin.
"Well, I think I've done all right in Arithmancy," he said, and Este 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 he or she 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 Este completed the constellation Orion on her chart, however, the front doors of the castle opened directly below the parapet where she and Harry were standing, so that light spilled down the stone steps a little way across the lawn.
Este glanced at Harry before gesturing down as they both made slight adjustments to the positions of their telescopes 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. Este put her eye back to her telescope and refocused it, now examining Venus. She looked down at her chart to enter the planet there, but something distracted her. Pausing with his quill suspended over the parchment, she 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 stood. Even at this distance, Este had a funny feeling that he recognized the walk of the squattest among them, who seemed to be leading the group. She could not think why Umbridge would be taking a stroll outside past midnight, much less accompanied by five others. Then somebody coughed behind her, and she remembered that she was halfway through an exam.
She had quite forgotten Venus's position — jamming her eye to her telescope, she found it again and was again on the point of entering it on her chart when alert for any odd sound, she heard a distant knock that echoed through the deserted grounds, followed immediately by the muffled barking of a large dog. Este looked up, 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 tiny but sharply defined figures walk over the threshold. The door closed again and there was silence. Este felt very uneasy. She glanced around to see whether anyone had noticed what she had and found Harry looking at her, aghast. At that moment Professor Marchbanks came walking behind her at that moment, and not wanting to appear as though she was sneaking looks at anyone else's work, she hastily bent over her star chart and pretended to be adding notes to it while really peering over the top of the parapet toward Hagrid's cabin.
Figures were now moving across the cabin windows, temporarily blocking the light. She could feel Professor Marchbanks's eyes on the back of her neck and pressed her eye again to the telescope, staring up at the moon though she had marked its position an hour ago, but as Professor Marchbanks moved on she 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 Este 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. Este looked to his left. Harry was gazing transfixed at Hagrid's. "Ahem — twenty minutes to go," said Professor Tofty. Este jumped and returned at once to her star chart; She looked down and before she could add anything, There was a loud BANG from the grounds.
Several people said "Ouch!" as they poked themselves in the face with the ends of their telescopes, hastening 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 scandalized voice. "This is an examination!" But nobody was paying the slightest attention to their star charts anymore: Jets of red light were still flying beside Hagrid's cabin, yet somehow they seemed to be bouncing off him. He was still upright and still, as far as Este could see, fighting
. Cries and yells echoed across the grounds; a man yelled, "Be reasonable, Hagrid!"
Hagrid roared, "Reasonable be damned, yeh won' take me like this, Dawlish!"
Este could see the tiny outline of Fang, attempting to defend Hagrid, leaping 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. Este gasped, both hands over her mouth; she looked around at Atlas and saw that he too was looking scared. 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 seemed to have opened again; more light had spilled 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 toward the battle beside Hagrid's cabin. "How dare you!" the figure shouted as she ran. "How dare you!"
"It's McGonagall!" whispered Este, slightly alarmed.
"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 —"
Este and Hermione screamed. No fewer than four Stunners had shot from the figures around the cabin toward Professor McGonagall. Halfway between the cabin and castle the red beams collided with her. For a moment she looked luminous, illuminated by an eerie red glow, then was lifted right off her feet, landed hard on her back, and moved no more. "Galloping gargoyles!" shouted Professor Tofty, who seemed to have forgotten the exam completely. "Not so much as a warning! Outrageous behavior!"
"COWARDS!" bellowed Hagrid, his voice carrying clearly to the top of the tower, and several lights flickered back on inside 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 knocked cold. Este saw him double over and thought for a moment that he had finally been overcome by a spell, but on the contrary, the next moment Hagrid was standing again with what appeared to be a sack on his back — then Este realized 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 that 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 toward the distant gates, disappeared into the darkness.
There was a long minute's quivering silence, everybody gazing openmouthed into the grounds. Then Professor Tofty's voice said feebly, "Um . . . five minutes to go, everybody . . ." Este had already finished──she felt sick. When it came at last she forced her telescopes haphazardly back into her 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 Atlas 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?"
"It's sick," Este declared, "That Umbridge woman... she's just sick."
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, quite comfortable with Este and Atlas being there, "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. . . ."
Este and Harry looked at one another, "See you," she said quietly, following Atlas back down to the Slytherin Dungeons to find it full. The commotion out in the grounds had woken several people, who had hastened to rouse their friends. Mattheo and Draco, who had arrived ahead of Este and Atlas, were now telling everyone what they had heard from the top of the Astronomy Tower.
"But why sack Hagrid now?" asked Pansy slightly baffled, "It's not like Trelawney, and don't hold me too accountable for this, but he's been teaching much better than usual this year!"
"Umbridge hates part-humans," said Este, flopping down into an armchair. "She was always going to try and get Hagrid out."
"And she thought Hagrid was putting nifflers in her office," piped up Daphne.
"Oh fucking hell," said one of the sixth years, covering his mouth. "It's Lee Jordon who's been putting the nifflers in her office, Fred and George left him a couple, and he's been levitating them in through her window. . . ."
"She'd have sacked him anyway," said Mattheo, shrugging "He was too close to Dumbledore."
"That's true," said Atlas, sinking into an armchair beside Estes.
"I just hope Professor McGonagall's all right," said Este shakily.
"They carried her back up to the castle, we watched through the dormitory window," said Montague
"She didn't look very well. . . ."
"Madam Pomfrey will sort her out," said Milicent Bulstrode "She's never failed yet."
It was nearly four in the morning before the common room cleared. Este felt wide awake — the image of Hagrid sprinting away into the dark was haunting her. She was so angry with Umbridge that she could not think of a punishment bad enough for her, though, the suggestion of having her fed to a box of starving Blast-Ended Skrewts had its merits. She fell asleep contemplating hideous revenge and arose from bed three hours later feeling distinctly unrested. Their final exam, History of Magic, was not to take place until that afternoon.
Este would very much have liked to go back to bed after breakfast, but she had been counting on the morning for a spot of last-minute studying, so instead she sat with her head in her hands by the common room window, trying hard not to doze off as she read through some of the notes stacked three-and-a-half feet high that her magical quill had written. The fifth years entered the Great Hall at two o'clock and took their places in front of their overturned examination papers. Este felt exhausted. She just wanted this to be over so that she could go and sleep. Then tomorrow, she and Atlas were going to go down to the Quidditch pitch — she was going to have a fly on her broom and savor their freedom from studying
"Turn over your papers," said Professor Marchbanks from the front of the Hall, flicking over the giant hourglass. "You may begin. . . ." Este stared fixedly at the first question, trying to be as fast and as careful as possible, she began to write an answer. She was finding it very difficult to remember names and kept confusing dates.
Question four: In your opinion, did wand legislation contribute to, or lead to better control of, goblin riots of the eighteenth century?
Question five: How was the Statute of Secrecy breached in 1749 and what measures were introduced to prevent a recurrence?
explain why the warlocks of Liechtenstein refused to join.
Este scribbled down her answer... The Formation of the International Confederation of Wizards. . . She had read these notes only this morning. . . . She continued her exam, looking up now and again to check the large hourglass on the desk beside Professor Marchbanks. She was sitting right behind Atlas.
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 Este 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? She gazed blankly at the back of Atlas' head again. If she could only perform Legilimency and open a window in the back of his head and see the answers. . . . Este closed her 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. . . . She opened his eyes; they stung and watered at the sight of the blazing-white parchment.
Slowly she wrote two lines about the trolls then read through what she had done so far before continuing. . . . 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 the quills scratched out never-ending answers and the sand trickled through the hourglass at the front. And as she reached the near end of her exam, it was sudden, but Harry suddenly hit the ground, yelling.