The exams grew closer and closer, and the fifth years' homework grew so high that Delilah had to make a study schedule so she could have some time to herself. It was nearly impossible, but she managed to give herself an extra hour during Easter Break.
The weather grew breezier, brighter, and warmer, but the fifth and seventh years couldn't enjoy it. They were trapped inside, traipsing back and forth to the library. They couldn't even study outside due to the wind.
And as though to stop them from skiving off, a bunch of pamphlets, leaflets, and notices concerning various Wizarding careers popped up around the Slytherin Dungeon to underline the importance of their upcoming examinations before the end of the holidays, along with yet another notice on the board, which read:
CAREER ADVICE
All fifth years will be required to attend a short meeting with their Head of House during the first week of the Summer term, in which they will be given the opportunity to discuss their future careers. Times of individual appointments are listed below.
Delilah looked down the list and found she was scheduled Monday morning, so she'd miss most of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Wonderful, she didn't want to go anyway.
"What career looks good to you Delilah?" Daphne asked.
"I think I'd like something to do with potions or alchemy. Maybe open my own shop? I don't really know. What about you?"
Daphne shrugged.
"I don't really have to work, I'll inherit lots of money from my parents to get by, plus my uncle has no heirs and I'm his favorite so I might get his gold as well."
"Makes sense," Delilah replied, nodding. "I probably won't have to work either, I have enough from my parents, but I'll need something to do or I'll go stir crazy."
"True. Speaking of which, do you want to study together today? It's finally not windy so we could go outside, get out of the castle.
"I thought you were going to study with Theodore all week?"
Daphne groaned, looking up at the ceiling.
"He's driving me crazy. He keeps worrying about the exams and saying how they're only five weeks away. Theo doesn't seem to realize that's still over a month. I've contemplated freezing him in some ice to cool him down, but he got better after taking a calming draught from Madam Pomfrey."
Delilah laughed.
"It's probably best. You know how long it took to defrost Goyle after he kept trying to flirt with you?"
Daphne joined in.
"It was only a month, and he was able to attend classes after two weeks, he just had some... small parts that took longer to thaw."
After they stopped laughing, Delilah remembered Daphne's original question.
"I'll definitely study with you. I need to get out of this blasted castle for an evening."
The time spent outdoors helped clear Delilah's head, so no murders were committed that night. It also appeared to make Daphne feel better as Theodore was not found in a pile of ice, but she could have made it hard to find him, so no one knew for sure. Daphne neither confirmed, nor denied it.
The next morning Delilah desperately wanted to go outside again. The sky was clear, misty, opalescent blue, complimenting the blossoming trees and flowers. Alas, instead she had to go to Defense Against the Dark Arts, and instead of seeing a gorgeous landscape, she would see a hideous toad. Thankfully she only had to go to the beginning of the class.
It was awkward leaving, but Umbridge didn't even question her. Either Snape let her know or she was trying to be nice to Delilah so she'd join the Inquisitorial Squad. Or she just didn't care.
Snape was a different story. He seemed to be in a worse mood than normal, which was saying something. When Delilah walked into his office, he was glaring at the wall, muttering inaudibly.
"Um... Professor?"
He turned toward her and motioned for her to sit down. Once she sat down, he finally drew his attention back from his thoughts.
"Well, this meeting is to talk over any career ideas you might have, and what subjects you should continue in your sixth and seventh years to achieve it," drawled Professor Snape. "Do you have any idea what you'd like to do after Hogwarts?"
"Well, I was thinking of being a Potioneer or Alchemist and opening my own shop." Maybe a store near Fred and George's shop. She could help them develop some of their products, not that they needed it.
Snape nodded.
"You'd need to continue with potions, alchemy, and herbology. I also suggest taking a charms class." He flipped through a stack of paper. "If you keep up your current grades, you will be able to."
"Thanks Professor, is that all?"
Snape nodded and went back to glaring at the wall. She hurried out.
There was enough time for Delilah to get back to Defense Against the Dark Arts with enough time to do some work, but she didn't want to go. So instead she sat down close to the potions room and started writing the paper for the DADA.
Just as she finished the bell rang. She waited impatiently for class to start.
After a few minutes the class finally got there and as soon as the bell rang Snape opened the door. How had he gotten in there?
"Settle down." Of course there was no need to say anything, the class was already silent. It usually was.
"Today we will be making an Invigoration Draught. They expire quickly and are easily detected once drunk, so do not think to steal any." He glared at the Gryffindors, waving his wand.
At first Delilah thought he was going to jinx them, but instead the instructions appeared on the board. As always she copied them in her potions notebook.
The class went by smoothly as Snape didn't bully anyone and stayed at his desk. It was too good to last.
As everyone turned in their potion samples, he dropped Harry's potion. Of course it was only his and no one else's. They glared at each other. It wouldn't have been too bad, but his potion had already been cleared.
The only good thing about Snape's sulking was that he seemed too moody to remember to give them homework. Of course he was the only teacher that did so. Sprout gave them another essay and McGonagall gave them a long set of questions. Thankfully Delilah had already finished Umbridge's essay, because she wouldn't have lots of time that night, not that she knew it.
That evening, the Slytherins left Transfiguration, grumbling about homework and O.W.L.s as they walked out.
"Now, O.W.L.s are-"
BANG!
McGonagall looked up and started to move towards the door before stopping.
"I'm sure it's nothing our new headmistress can't handle," she commented before sitting behind her desk.
Delilah debated about ignoring the commotion, but decided against it. She needed to know what was happening so she followed the crowd to Gregory the Smarmy's corridor.
It was just like the night when Trelawney had been sacked. Students were standing all around the walls in a great ring (some of them, Delilah noticed, covered in a substance that looked very like Stinksap); teachers and ghosts were also in the crowd. Prominent among the onlookers were members of the Inquisitorial Squad, who were all looking exceptionally pleased with themselves, and Peeves, who was bobbing overhead, gazed down upon Fred and George, who stood in the middle of the floor with the unmistakable look of two people who had just been cornered.
"So!" said Umbridge triumphantly, whom Delilah realized was near the front of the crowd. "So... you think it amusing to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?"
"Pretty amusing, yeah," said Fred, looking back up at her without the slightest sign of fear.
Filch elbowed his way closer to Umbridge, almost crying with happiness.
"I've got the form, Headmistress," he said hoarsely, waving the piece of parchment Harry had just seen him take from her desk.
"I've got the form and I've got the whips waiting.... Oh, let me do it now...."
"Very good, Argus," she said. "You two," she went on, gazing down at Fred and George, "are about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school."
"You know what?" said Fred. "I don't think we are."
He turned to his twin.
"George," said Fred, "I think we've outgrown full-time education."
"Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself," said George lightly.
"Time to test our talents in the real world, d'you reckon?" asked Fred.
"Definitely," said George.
And before Umbridge could say a word, they raised their wands and said together, "Accio Brooms!"
Delilah heard a loud crash somewhere in the distance. Looking to her right she ducked just in time — Fred and George's broomsticks, one still trailing the heavy chain and iron peg with which Umbridge had fastened them to the wall, were hurtling along the corridor toward their owners. They turned left, streaked down the stairs, and stopped sharply in front of the twins, the chain clattering loudly on the flagged stone floor.
"We won't be seeing you," Fred told Professor Umbridge, swinging his leg over his broomstick.
"Yeah, don't bother to keep in touch," said George, mounting his own.
Fred looked around at the assembled students, and at the silent, watchful crowd.
"If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number ninety-three, Diagon Alley — Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes," he said in a loud voice. "Our new premises!"
"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat," added George, pointing at Professor Umbridge.
"STOP THEM!" shrieked Umbridge, but it was too late. As the Inquisitorial Squad closed in, Fred and George kicked off from the floor, shooting fifteen feet into the air, the iron peg swinging dangerously below. Fred looked across the hall at the poltergeist bobbing on his level above the crowd.
"Give her hell from us, Peeves."
And Peeves, whom Delilah had never seen take an order from a student before, swept his belled hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset.