Ron's euphoria at helping Gryffindor scrape the Quidditch cup was such that he couldn't settle to anything next day. All he wanted to do was talk over the match, so Harry and Hermione found it very difficult to find an opening in which to mention Grawp. Not that either of them tried very hard; neither was keen to be the one to bring Ron back to reality in quite such a brutal fashion. As it was another fine, warm day, they persuaded him to join them in revising under the beech tree at the edge of the lake, where they had less chance of being overheard than in the common room. Ron was not particularly keen on this idea at first—he was thoroughly enjoying being patted on the back by every Gryffindor who walked past his chair, not to mention the occasional outbursts of ‘Weasley is our King'—but after a while he agreed that some fresh air might do him good.
They spread their books out in the shade of the beech tree and sat down while Ron talked them through his first save of the match for what felt like the dozenth time.
‘Well, I mean, I'd already let in that one of Davies's, so I wasn't feeling all that confident, but I dunno, when Bradley came towards me, just out of nowhere, I thought—you can do this! And I had about a second to decide which way to fly, you know, because he looked like he was aiming for the right goalhoop— my right, obviously, his left—but I had a funny feeling that he was feinting, and so I took the chance and flew left—his right, I mean—and—well—you saw what happened,’ he concluded modestly, sweeping his hair back quite unnecessarily so that it looked interestingly windswept and glancing around to see whether the people nearest to them—a bunch of gossiping third-year Hufflepuffs—had heard him. ‘And then, when Chambers came at me about five minutes later—What?’ Ron asked, having stopped mid-sentence at the look on Harry's face. ‘Why are you grinning?’
‘I'm not,’ said Harry quickly, and looked down at his Transfiguration notes, attempting to straighten his lace. The truth was that Ron had just reminded Harry forcibly of another Gryffindor Quidditch player who had once sat rumpling his hair under this very tree. ‘I'm just glad we won, that's all.’
‘Yeah,’ said Ron slowly, savouring the words, ‘we won.Did you see the look on Chang's face when Ginny got the Snitch right out from under her nose?’
‘I suppose she cried, did she?’ said Harry bitterly.
‘Well, yeah— more out of temper than anything, though ...’ Ron frowned slightly. ‘But you saw her chuck her broom away when she got back to the ground, didn't you?’
‘Er—’ said Harry.
‘Well, actually ... no, Ron,’ said Hermione with a heavy sigh, putting down her book and looking at him apologetically. ‘As a matter of fact, the only bit of the match Harry and I saw was Davies's first goal.’
Ron's carefully ruffled hair seemed to wilt with disappointment. ‘You didn't watch?’ he said faintly, looking from one to the other. ‘You didn't see me make any of those saves?’
‘Well—no,’ said Hermione, stretching out a placatory hand towards him. ‘But Ron, we didn't want to leave—we had to!’
‘Yeah?’ said Ron, whose face was growing rather red. ‘How come?’
‘It was Hagrid,’ said Harry. ‘He decided to tell us why he's been covered in injuries ever since he got back from the giants. He wanted us to go into the Forest with him, we had no choice, you know how he gets. Anyway ...’
The story was told in five minutes, by the end of which Ron's indignation had been replaced by a look of total incredulity.
‘He brought one back and hid it in the Forest?’
‘Yep,’ said Harry grimly.
‘No,’ said Ron, as though by saying this he could make it untrue. ‘No, he can't have.’
‘Well, he has,’ said Hermione firmly. ‘Grawp's about sixteen feet tall, enjoys ripping up twenty-foot pine trees, and knows me,’ she snorted, ‘as Hermy.’
Ron gave a nervous laugh.
‘And Hagrid wants us to ... ?’
‘Teach him English, yeah,’ said Harry.
‘He's lost his mind,’ said Ron in an almost awed voice.
‘Yes,’ said Hermione irritably, turning a page of Intermediate Transfiguration and glaring at a series of diagrams showing an owl turning into a pair of opera glasses. ‘Yes, I'm starting to think he has. But, unfortunately, he made Harry and me promise.’
‘Well, you're just going to have to break your promise, that's all,’ said Ron firmly. ‘I mean, come on ... we've got exams and we're about that far—’ he held up his hand to show thumb and forefinger almost touching ‘—from being chucked out as it is. And anyway ... remember Norbert? Remember Aragog? Have we ever come off better for mixing with any of Hagrid's monster mates?’
‘I know, it's just that—we promised,’ said Hermione in a small voice.
Ron smoothed his hair flat again, looking preoccupied.
‘Well,’ he sighed, ‘Hagrid hasn't been sacked yet, has he? He's hung on this long, maybe he'll hang on till the end of term and we won't have to go near Grawp at all.’
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 OWLs were upon them at last.
Their teachers were no longer setting them homework; lessons were devoted to revising those topics the teachers thought most likely to come up in the exams. The purposeful, feverish atmosphere drove nearly everything but the OWLs from Harry's mind, though he did wonder occasionally during Potions lessons whether Lupin had ever told Snape that he must continue giving Harry Ooclumency tuition. If he had, then Snape had ignored Lupin as thoroughly as he was now ignoring Harry. This suited Harry very well; he was quite busy and tense enough without extra classes with Snape, and to his relief Hermione was much too preoccupied these days to badger him 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 OWLs drew steadily nearer. Ernie Macmillan had developed an irritating habit of interrogating people about their revision practices.
‘How many hours d'you think you're doing a day?’ he demanded of Harry and Ron as they queued outside Herbology, a manic gleam in his eyes.
‘I dunno,’ said Ron. ‘A few.’
‘More or less than eight?’
‘Less, I s'pose,’ said Ron, looking slightly alarmed.
‘I'm doing eight,’ said Ernie, puffing out his chest. ‘Eight or nine. I'm getting an hour in before breakfast every day. Eights 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—’
Harry 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 everthing ...’
‘Do you think that's true?’ Hermione whispered in alarm to Harry and Ron.
‘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 Malfoy's.’
‘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 ...’
Neville looked fixedly at the floor. Harry, Ron and Hermione glanced at each other, but didn't know what to say. It was the first time Neville had acknowledged that they had met at the wizarding hospital.
Meanwhile, a flourishing black-market trade in aids to concentration, mental agility and wakefulness had sprung up among 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’ OWLs he had gained the previous summer and was offering a whole pint for a mere twelve Galleons. Ron assured Harry he would reimburse him for his half the moment he left Hogwarts and got a job, but before they could close the deal, Hermione had confiscated the bottle from Carmichael and poured the contents down a toilet.
‘Hermione, we wanted to buy that!’ shouted Ron.
‘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 Ron eagerly.
‘Not any more,’ said Hermione. ‘I confiscated that, too. None of these things actually work, you know.’
‘Dragon claw does work!’ said Ron. ‘It's supposed to be incredible, really gives your brain a boost, you come over all cunning for a few hours—Hermione, let me have a pinch, go on, it can't hurt—’
‘This stuff can,’ said Hermione grimly. ‘I've had a look at it, and it's actually dried doxy droppings.’
This information took the edge off Harry and Ron's desire for brain stimulants.
They received their examination timetables and details of the procedure for OWLs during their next Transfiguration lesson.
‘As you can see,’ Professor McGonagall told the class as they copied down the dates and times of their exams from the blackboard, ‘your OWLs are spread over two successive weeks. You will sit the theory papers 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 harbour 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 Aunt Petunia had whenever she was contemplating a particularly stubborn bit of dirt ‘—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; Harry 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 Hermione, her hand in the air, ‘when will we find out our results?’
‘An owl will be sent to you some time in July,’ said Professcr McGonagall.
‘Excellent,’ said Dean Thomas in an audible whisper, ‘so we don't have to worry about it till the holidays.’
Harry imagined sitting in his bedroom in Privet Drive in six weeks’ time, waiting for his OWL results. Well, he thought dully, at least he would be sure of one bit of post that summer.
Their first examination, Theory of Charms, was scheduled for Monday morning. Harry agreed to test Hermione 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 got 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, Ron was reading two years’ worth of Charms notes with his fingers in his ears, his lips moving soundlessly; Seamus Finnigan was lying flat on his back on the floor, reciting the definition of a Substantive Charm while Dean checked it against The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5; and Parvati and Lavender, who were practising basic Locomotion Charms, were making their pencil-cases race each other around the edge of the table.
Dinner was a subdued affair that night. Harry and Ron did not talk much, but ate with gusto, having studied hard all day. Hermione, 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. Ron 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, my goodness,’ she said faintly, staring into the Entrance Hall. ‘Is that them? Is that the examiners?’
Harry and Ron 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 Ron.
Harry and Hermione nodded and they hastened towards the double doors into the Entrance Hall, slowing down as they stepped over the threshold to walk sedately past the examiners. Harry thought 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 deferentially. Professor Marchbanks seemed to be a little deaf; she was answering Professor Umbridge very loudly considering they were only a foot apart.
‘Journey was fine, 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 hopeful 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 now 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 it Dumbledore doesn't want to be found! I should know ... examined him personally in Transfiguration and Charms when he did NEWTs ... did things with a wand I'd never seen before.’
‘Yes ... well ...’ said Professor Umbridge as Harry, Ron and Hermione dragged their feet up the marble staircase as slowly as they dared, ‘let me show you to the staff room. I daresay you'd like a cup of tea after your journey.’
It was an uncomfortable sort of an evening. Everyone was trying to do some last-minute revising but nobody seemed to be getting very far. Harry went to bed early but then lay awake for what felt like hours. He remembered his careers consultation and McGonagall's furious declaration that she would help him become an Auror if it was the last thing she did. He wished he had expressed a more achievable ambition now that exam time was here. He knew 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 next day, either: Parvati was practising incantations under her breath while the salt cellar in front of her twitched; Hermione was rereading Achievements in Charming so fast that her eyes appeared blurred; and Neville kept dropping his 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 forwards class by class to re-enter the Great Hall, which had been rearranged exactly as Harry had seen it in the Pensieve when his father, Sirius and Snape had been taking their OWLs; 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 hour-glass on the desk beside her, on which there were also spare quills, ink bottles and rolls of parchment.
Harry turned over his paper, his heart thumping hard—three rows to his right and four seats ahead Hermione was already scribbling—and lowered his eyes to the first question: a) Give the incantation and b) describe the wand movement required to make objects fly.
Harry had a fleeting memory of a club soaring high into the air and landing loudly on the thick skull of a troll ... smiling slightly, he bent over the paper and began to write.
‘Well, it wasn't too bad, was it?’ asked Hermione 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 counter-charm for hiccoughs? I wasn't sure whether I ought to, it felt like too much—and on question twenty-three—’
‘Hermione,’ said Ron sternly, ‘we've been through this before ... we're not going through every exam afterwards, it's bad enough doing them once.’
The fifth-years ate lunch with the rest of the school (the four house tables had reappeared for the lunch hour), then they 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 forwards in alphabetical order, those left behind muttered incantations and practised wand movements, occasionally poking each other in the back or eye by mistake.
Hermione's name was called. Trembling, she left the chamber with Anthony Goldstein, Gregory Goyle and Daphne Greengrass. Students who had already been tested did not return afterwards, so Harry and Ron had no idea how Hermione had done.
‘She'll be fine, remember she got a hundred and twelve per cent on one of our Charms tests?’ said Ron.
Ten minutes later, Professor Flitwick called, ‘Parkinson, Pansy—Patil, Padma—Patil, Parvati—Potter, Harry.’
‘Good luck,’ said Ron quietly. Harry walked into the Great Hall, clutching his wand so tightly his hand shook.
‘Professor Tofty is free, Potter,’ squeaked Professor Flitwick, who was standing just inside the door. He pointed Harry towards what looked like the very oldest and baldest examiner who was sitting behind a small table in a far corner, a short distance from Professor Marchbanks, who was halfway through testing Draco Malfoy.
‘Potter, is it?’ said Professor Tofty, consulting his notes and peering over his pince-nez at Harry as he approached. ‘The famous Potter?’
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry distinctly saw Malfoy throw a scathing look over at him; the wine-glass Malfoy had been levitating fell to the floor and smashed. Harry could not suppress a grin; Professor Tofty smiled back at him encouragingly.
‘That's it,’ he said in his quavery old voice, ‘no need to be nervous. Now, if I could ask you to take this egg cup and make it do some cartwheels for me.’
On the whole, Harry thought it went rather well. His Levitation Charm was certainly much better than Malfoy's had been, though he wished he had not mixed up the incantations for Colour Change and Growth Charms, so that the rat he was supposed to be turning orange swelled shockingly and was the size of a badger before Harry could rectify his mistake. He was glad Hermione had not been in the Hall at the time and neglected to mention it to her afterwards. He could tell Ron, though; Ron had caused a dinner plate to mutate into a large mushroom and had no idea how it had happened.
There was no time to relax that night; they went straight to the common room after dinner and submerged themselves in revision for Transfiguration next day; Harry went to bed with his head buzzing with complex spell models and theories.
He forgot the definition of a Switching Spell during his written paper next morning but thought his practical could have been a lot worse. At least he managed to Vanish the whole of his 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 minute; 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, Harry felt he had done reasonably well); and then, on Thursday, Defence Against the Dark Arts. Here, for the first time, Harry felt sure he had passed. He had no problem with any of the written questions and took particular pleasure, during the practical examination, in performing all the counter-jinxes and defensive spells right in front of Umbridge, who was watching coolly from near the doors into the Entrance Hall.
‘Oh, bravo!’ cried Professor Tolty, who was examining Harry again, when Harry demonstrated a perfect boggart banishing spell. ‘Very good indeed! Well, I think that's all, Potter ... unless ...’
He leaned forwards a little.
‘I heard, from my dear friend Tiberius Ogden, that you can produce a Patronus? For a bonus point ... ?’
Harry raised his wand, looked directly at Umbridge and imagined her being sacked.
‘Expecto patronum!’
His silver stag erupted from the end of his wand and cantered the length of the Hall. All of the examiners looked around to watch its progress and when it dissolved into silver mist Professor Tofty clapped his veined and knotted hands enthusiastically.
‘Excellent!’ he said. ‘Very well, Potter, you may go!’
As Harry passed Umbridge beside the door, their eyes met. There was a nasty smile playing around her wide, slack mouth, but he did not care. Unless he was very much mistaken (and he was not planning on telling anybody, in case he was), he had just achieved an ‘Outstanding’ OWL.
On Friday, Harry and Ron had a day off while Hermione sat her Ancient Runes exam, and as they had the whole weekend in front of them they permitted themselves a break from revision. They stretched and yawned beside the open window, through which warm summer air was wafting as they played wizard chess. Harry could see Hagrid in the distance, teaching a class on the edge of the Forest. He was trying to guess what creatures they were examining—he thought it must be unicorns, because the boys seemed to be standing back a little—when the portrait hole opened and Hermione clambered in, looking thoroughly bad-tempered.
‘How were the Runes?’ said Ron, yawning and stretching.
‘I mis-translated ehwaz,’ said Hermione furiously. ‘It means partnership, not defence,I mixed it up with eihwaz.’
‘Ah well,’ said Ron lazily, ‘that's only one mistake, isn't it, you'll still get—’
‘Oh, shut up!’ said Hermione angrily. ‘It could be the one mistake that makes the difference between a pass and a fail. And what's more, 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 Harry and Ron together.
‘It is not good!’ said Hermione hotly. ‘She thinks it's Hagrid doing it, remember? And we do not want Hagrid chucked out!’
‘He's teaching at the moment; she can't blame him,’ said Harry, gesturing out of the window.
‘Oh, you're so naive sometimes, Harry. You really think Umbridge will wait for proof?’ said Hermione, who seemed determined to be in a towering temper, and she swept off towards the girls’ dormitories, banging the door behind her.
‘Such a lovely, sweet-tempered girl,’ said Ron, very quietly, prodding his queen forward to beat up one of Harry's knights.
Hermione's bad mood persisted for most of the weekend, though Harry and Ron found it quite easy to ignore as they spent most of Saturday and Sunday revising for Potions on Monday, the exam which Harry had been looking forward to least—and which he was sure would be the downfall of his ambitions to become an Auror. Sure enough, he found the written paper difficult, though he thought he might have got full marks on the question about Polyjuice Potion; he could describe its effects accurately, having taken it illegally in his second year.
The afternoon practical was not as dreadful as he had expected, it to be. With Snape absent from the proceedings, he found that he was much more relaxed than he usually was while making potions. Neville, who was sitting very near Harry, also looked happier than Harry had ever seen him during a Potions class. When Professor Marchbanks said, ‘Step away from your cauldrons, please, the examination is over,’ Harry corked his sample flask feeling that he might not have achieved a good grade but he had, with luck, avoided a fail.
‘Only four exams left,’ said Parvati Patil wearily as they headed back to Gryffindor common room.
‘Only!’ said Hermione snappishly. ‘I've got Arithmancy and it's probably the toughest subject there is!’
Nobody was foolish enough to snap back, so she was unable to vent her spleen on any of them and was reduced to telling off some first-years for giggling too loudly in the common room.
Harry was determined to perform well in Tuesday's Care of Magical Creatures exam so as not to let Hagrid down. 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 out a Fire Crab without sustaining serious burns; and choose, from a wide selection of food, the diet they would give a sick unicorn.
Harry could see Hagrid watching anxiously out of his cabin window. When Harry's examiner, a plump little witch this time, smiled at him and told him he could leave, Harry gave Hagrid a fleeting thumbs-up before heading back to the castle.
The Astronomy theory paper on Wednesday morning went well enough. Harry was not convinced he had got the names of all Jupiter's moons right, but was at least confident that none of them was inhabited by mice. They had to wait until evening for their practical Astronomy; the afternoon was devoted instead to Divination.
Even by Harry's low standards in Divination, the exam went very badly. He might as well have tried to see moving pictures on the desktop as in the stubbornly blank crystal ball; he lost his head completely during tea-leaf reading, saying it looked to him 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 Ron gloomily as they ascended the marble staircase. He had just made Harry feel rather better by telling him how he had told the examiner in detail about the ugly man with a wart on his nose in his crystal ball, only to look up and realise he had been describing his examiner's reflection.
‘We shouldn't have taken the stupid subject in the first place,’ said Harry.
‘Still, at least we can give it up now.’
‘Yeah,’ said Harry. ‘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.’
Harry laughed just as Hermione came running up behind them. He stopped laughing at once, in case it annoyed her.
‘Well, I think I've done all right in Arithmancy,’ she said, and Harry and Ron both 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 they 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 ar 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 Harry completed the constellation Orion on his chart, however, the front doors of the castle opened directly below the parapet where he was standing, so that light spilled down the stone steps a little way across the lawn. Harry glanced down as he made a slight adjustment to the position of his telescope 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.
Harry put his eye back to his telescope and refocused it, now examining Venus. He looked down at his chart to enter the planet there, but something distracted him; pausing with his quill suspended over the parchment, he 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 walked. Even at this distance, Harry had a funny feeling he recognised the walk of the squattest of them, who seemed to be leading the group.
He could not think why Umbridge would be taking a stroll outside after midnight, much less accompanied by five others. Then somebody coughed behind him, and he remembered that he was halfway through an exam. He had quite forgotten Venus's position. Jamming his eye to his telescope, he found it again and was once more about to enter it on his chart when, alert for any odd sound, he heard a distant knock which echoed through the deserted grounds, followed immediately by the muffled barking of a large dog.
He looked up, his 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 sharply defined figures walk over the threshold. The door closed again and there was silence.
Harry felt very uneasy. He glanced around to see whether Ron or Hermione had noticed what he had, but Professor Marchbanks came walking behind him at that moment and, not wanting to look as though he was sneaking looks at anyone else's work, Harry hastily bent over his star-chart and pretended to be adding notes to it while really peering over the top of the parapet towards Hagrid's cabin. Figures were now moving across the cabin windows, temporarily blocking the light.
He could feel Professor Marchbanks's eyes on the back of his neck and pressed his eye again to his telescope, staring up at the moon though he had marked its position an hour ago, but as Professor Marchbanks moved on he 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 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. Harry looked to his left. Hermione was gazing transfixed at Hagrid's cabin.
‘Ahem—twenty minutes to go,’ said Professor Tofty.
Hermione jumped and returned at once to her star-chart; Harry looked down at his own and noticed that he had mis-labelled Venus as Mars. He bent to correct it.
There was a loud BANG from the grounds. Several people cried ‘Ouch!’ when they poked themselves in the face with the ends of their telescopes as they hastened 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 scandalised voice. ‘This is an examination!’
But nobody was paying the slightest attention to their star-charts any more. Jets of red light were still flying about beside Hagrid's cabin, yet somehow they seemed to be bouncing off him; he was still upright and still, as far as Harry 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!’
Harry could see the tiny outline of Fang, attempting to defend Hagrid, leaping repeatedly 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. Hermione gasped, both hands over her mouth; Harry looked round at Ron 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 had opened again; more light was spilling out on to 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 towards the battle beside Hagrid's cabin.
‘How dare you!’ the figure shouted as she ran. ‘How dare you!’
‘It's McGonagall!’ whispered Hermione.
‘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—’
Hermione, Parvati and Lavender all screamed. The figures around the cabin had shot no fewer than four Stunners at Professor McGonagall. Halfway between cabin and castle the red beams collided with her; for a moment she looked luminous and glowed an eerie red, then she lifted right off her feet, landed hard on her back, and moved no more.
‘Galloping gargoyles!’ shouted Professor Tofty, who also seemed to have forgotten the exam completely. ‘Not so much as a warning! Outrageous behaviour!’
‘COWARDS!’ bellowed Hagrid; his voice carried 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. Harry saw Hagrid double over, and thought he had finally been overcome by a spell. But, on the contrary, next moment Hagrid was standing again with what appeared to be a sack on his back—then Harry realised that bangs 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 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 towards the distant gates, disappeared into the darkness.
There was a long minute's quivering silence as everybody gazed open-mouthed into the grounds. Then Professor Tofty's voice said feebly, ‘Um ... five minutes to go, everybody.’
Though he had only filled in two-thirds of his chart, Harry was desperate for the exam to end. When it came at last he, Ron and Hermione forced their telescopes haphazardly back into their 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 Ernie Macmillan 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. ‘Its 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?’
‘Dreadful, dreadful,’ said Ernie, shaking his head pompously. ‘Well, I'm off to bed. Night, all.’
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. ‘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.’
They traipsed back to the Gryffindor common room to find it full. The commotion out in the grounds had woken several people, who had hastened to rouse their friends. Seamus and Dean, who had arrived ahead of Harry, Ron and Hermione, were now telling everyone what they had seen and heard from the top of the Astronomy Tower.
‘But why sack Hagrid now?’ asked Angelina Johnson, shaking her head. ‘It's not like Trelawney; he's been teaching much better than usual this year!’
‘Urnbridge hates part-humans,’ said Hermione bitterly, 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 Katie Bell.
‘Oh, blimey,’ said Lee Jordan, covering his mouth. ‘It's me who's been putting the Nifflers in her office. Fred and George left me a couple; I've been levitating them in through her window.’
‘She'd have sacked him anyway,’ said Dean. ‘He was too close to Dumbledore.’
‘That's true,’ said Harry, sinking into an armchair beside Hermione's.
‘I just hope Professor McGonagall's all right,’ said Lavender tearfully.
‘They carried her back up to the castle, we watched through the dormitory window,’ said Colin Creevey. ‘She didn't look very well.’
‘Madam Pomfrey will sort her out,’ said Alicia Spinnet firmly. ‘She's never failed yet.’
It was nearly four in the morning before the common room cleared. Harry felt wide awake; the image of Hagrid sprinting away into the dark was haunting him; he was so angry with Umbridge he could not think of a punishment bad enough for her, though Ron's suggestion of having her fed to a box of starving Blast-Ended Skrewts had its merits. He fell asleep contemplating hideous revenges and arose from bed three hours later feeling distinctly unrested.
Their final exam, History of Magic, was not to take place until that afternoon. Harry would very much have liked to go back to bed after breakfast, but he had been counting on the morning for a spot of last-minute revision, so instead he sat with his head in his hands by the common-room window, trying hard not to doze off as he read through some of the three-and-a-half-feet-high stack of notes that Hermione had lent him.
The fifth-years entered the Great Hall at two o'clock and took their places in front of their face-down examination papers. Harry felt exhausted. He just wanted this to be over, so that he could go and sleep; then tomorrow, he and Ron were going to go down to the Quidditch pitch—he was going to have a fly on Ron's broom—and savour their freedom from revision.
‘Turn over your papers,’ said Professor Marchbanks from the front of the Hall, flicking over the giant hour-glass. ‘You may begin ’
Harry stared fixedly at the first question. It was several seconds before it occurred to him that he had not taken in a word of it; there was a wasp buzzing distractingly against one of the high windows. Slowly, tortuously, he at last began to write an answer.
He was finding it very difficult to remember names and kept confusing dates. He simply skipped question four (In your opinion, did wand legislation contribute to, or lead to better control of, goblin riots of the eighteenth century?), thinking that he would go back to it if he had time at the end. He had a stab at question five (How was the Statute of Secrecy breached in 1749 and what measures were introduced to prevent a recurrence?) but had a nagging suspicion that he had missed several important points; he had a feeling vampires had come into the story somewhere.
He looked ahead for a question he could definitely answer and his eyes alighted upon number ten: Describe the circumstances that led to the formation of the International Confederation of Wizards and explain why the warlocks of Liechtenstein refused to join.
I know this, Harry thought, though his brain felt torpid and slack. He could visualise a heading, in Hermione's handwriting: The formation of the International Confederation of Wizards ... he had read those notes only this morning.
He began to write, looking up now and again to check the large hour-glass on the desk beside Professor Marchbanks. He was sitting right behind Parvati Patil, whose long dark hair fell below the back of her chair. Once or twice he found himself staring at the tiny golden lights that glistened in it when she moved her head slightly, and had to give his own head a little shake to clear it.
... 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 Harry 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? Harry had a feeling it had something to do with trolls ... he gazed blankly at the back of Parvati's head again. If he could only perform Legilimency and open a window in the back of her head and see what it was about trolls that had caused the breach between Pierre Bonaccord and Liechtenstein ...
Harry closed his 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.
He opened his eyes; they stung and watered at the sight of the blazing white parchment. Slowly, he wrote two lines about the trolls, then read through what he had done so far. It did not seem very informative or detailed, yet he was sure Hermione's notes on the Confederation had gone on for pages and pages.
He closed his eyes again, trying to see them, trying to remember ... 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 him quills scratched out never-ending answers and the sand trickled through the hour-glass at the front ...
He was walking along the cool, dark corridor to the Department of Mysteries again, walking with a firm and purposeful tread, breaking occasionally into a run, determined to reach his destination at last ... the black door swung open for him as usual, and here he was in the circular room with its many doors ...
Straight across the stone floor and through the second door ... patches of dancing light on the walls and floor and that odd mechanical clicking, but no time to explore, he must hurry ...
He jogged the last few feet to the third door, which swung open just like the others ...
Once again he was in the cathedral-sized room full of shelves and glass spheres ... his heart was beating very fast now ... he was going to get there this time ... when he reached number ninety-seven he turned left and hurried along the aisle between two rows ...
But there was a shape on the floor at the very end, a black shape moving on the floor like a wounded animal ... Harry's stomach contracted with fear ... with excitement ...
A voice issued from his own mouth, a high, cold voice empty of any human kindness ...
‘Take it for me ... lift it down, now ... I cannot touch it ... but you can ...’
The black shape on the floor shifted a little. Harry saw a long-fingered white hand clutching a wand rise at the end of his own arm ... heard the high, cold voice say ‘Crucio!’
The man on the floor let out a scream of pain, attempted to stand but fell back, writhing. Harry was laughing. He raised his wand, the curse lifted and the figure groaned and became motionless.
‘Lord Voldemort is waiting ...’
Very slowly, his arms trembling, the man on the ground raised his shoulders a few inches and lifted his head. His face was bloodstained and gaunt, twisted in pain yet rigid with defiance ...
‘You'll have to kill me,’ whispered Sirius.
‘Undoubtedly I shall in the end,’ said the cold voice. ‘But you will fetch it for me first, Black ... you think you have felt pain thus far? Think again ... we have hours ahead of us and nobody to hear you scream ...’
But somebody screamed as Voldemort lowered his wand again; somebody yelled and fell sideways off a hot desk on to the cold stone floor; Harry awoke as he hit the ground, still yelling, his scar on fire, as the Great Hall erupted all around him.
罗恩对自己帮助格兰芬多赢得魁地奇奖杯感到如此的高兴，以至于在第二天他都不能安下心来做任何事。他想做的一切事就只有不断的讨论那场比赛，所以哈利和荷米恩都发现很难找到一个切入点来谈谈格拉普。他们两个都没有竭力的这么做，也都不想成为用那么残忍的手段把罗恩拉回到现实中的人。在另一个有着晴朗温暖好天气的日子里，他们在湖边的山毛榉树下成功的劝说他加入到他们的讨论中去，在那个地方，他们被偷听的机会要比在公共休息室中少。罗恩一开始对这个主意并不特别热心——他很喜欢被那些经过他椅子的格兰芬多轮流拍拍背，他们更不会时不时的唱出“威斯里是我们的国王”??但是过了一会儿，他同意一点新鲜空气对他有益。
当他们在山毛榉树的树荫里展开他们的书本坐下之后，罗恩第12次的告诉他们他在比赛中第一次救球的情况。
“好了，我的意思是，我已经漏过了戴维斯的那个球，所以我还没有感到自信的程度，但是，我不知道，当布拉德利向我冲过来时，无处可走了，我想到———你能做到的！然后我花了大概一秒钟的时间决定往那个方向飞，你知道的，因为他的表情看上去象是在瞄准右边的球环——－我的右边，那很明显，他的左边??于是他在做作的时候我做了一个滑稽的表情，然后我抓住机会向左飞去，??我的意思是他的右边－然后－很棒－你看见了发生了什么。”他谨慎的推断，把他的头发不必要的向后一掳为的是让它看起来被风吹过般的有趣，同时来回扫视看看是否有人在向他们接近———一串嚼舌的3年级赫奇帕奇??已经在听他说话。“然后，当钱伯斯5分钟后到达我那里时??什么？”罗恩问，他看着哈利的脸把话说到一半。“你为什么要笑？”
“我没有。”哈利迅速的说，低下头去看他的变形笔记，试图来绷直他的脸。事实上，罗恩刚才让哈利想起了另一个强悍的魁地奇选手，他也曾在这颗树下弄乱过他的头发。“我刚才为我们赢了而高兴，就这些。”
“是啊”罗恩慢慢的说，打开了话盒子，“我们赢了，你看见昌斯脸上的表情了吗？金妮在她鼻子底下轻松的抓到了飞贼？”
“我猜她哭了，是吗？”哈利痛苦的说。
“是啊，的确－虽然要比一般的事要生气。”罗恩微微有些皱眉，“但你看见她在回地面时把她扫帚扔了的事了吗？
“呃－“哈利说
“好吧，确实没有，罗恩。”荷米恩深深的叹了口气，放下他的书抱歉的看着罗恩。“事实是，我和哈利只看了戴维斯进第一个球的那部分比赛。”
似乎是伴随着失望罗恩小心打理的头发褶了起来。“你们没看？”他模糊的说，从这个看到另一个，“你们没有看到我救的那些球？”
“好吧－没有”荷米恩说，安慰性的向他伸出一只手，“但是，罗恩，我们并不想离开??我们必须走！”
“是吗？”罗恩说，他的脸变得更红了，“怎么回事？”
“是因为哈格力”，哈利说，“他决定要告诉我们为什么他从巨人那里回来后带着伤。他要我们和他一起去禁林，总之，我们别无选择，你知道他是怎么回事吗？
故事讲了整整5分钟，结束后，罗恩的愤怒被完全怀疑的表情所取代。
“他带了一个回来还养在森林里？”
“是的”，哈利阴森的说。
“不”罗恩说，他仿佛认为所说的是不真实的，“不，他不可能这么做。”
“是的，他真的这么做了。“荷米恩坚定的说，“格拉普有大概16英尺高，喜欢撕开20米左右的树，而且现在认识我们了。”她简短的说“比如荷米恩。”
罗恩露出了一个神经质的笑容。
“那么哈格力要我们——”
“教他英语，是的”哈利说。
“他丧失了理智，”罗恩用几乎惊骇的声音说。
“是的”荷米恩暴躁的说，翻出一页《中级变形术》盯着一系列演示把猫头鹰变成一副小型双筒望远镜的图表。“是的，我开始认识到他是丧失了理智，但是，很不幸，他要哈利和我做出了保证。”
“是的，你们应该做的是不得不去违背你们的誓言了，这就是一切。”罗恩顽固的说，“我的意思是，来吧，我们要考试了，我们要避免——”他伸出了他的手打了个动人的响值“被从这里开除，而且，无论如何，记得诺伯吗？记得阿拉戈克吗？我们最好还是别和哈格力的怪物伙计混在一起不是吗？”
“我知道，只不过－我们答应了。”荷米恩用微弱的声音说。
罗恩有一次把她的头发抚平，表情是全神贯注的。
“是啊”他叹息道，“哈格力现在还没被解雇不是吗？他会呆的更长些，可能他会坚持到学期结束然后我们就不用不得不靠近格拉普了。”
城堡的场地闪出仿佛春天的色泽，课程被全部专注于教师们认为最有可能出现在考试中的主题上。
除了OWLs所有的东西都从哈利的脑子中被赶走了，有目的的，兴奋的氛围在渐渐的临近，虽然他有时会在魔药课时想是否卢平曾经告诉过斯内普他必须要继续给哈利上思维闭锁术的课，如果他这么做了，那么斯内普现在象彻底忽略哈利一样彻底的忽略了卢平。这对哈利很好。没有和斯内普的额外加课他就已经够忙够紧张得了。让他欣慰的是，荷米恩这几天太全神贯注了以至于不再强迫他练习思维闭锁术；她现在花很多时间对着她自己嘀嘀咕咕，而且也没再为小精灵做衣服。
而她不是唯一因为OWLs的临近而行为古怪的人。厄尼麦克米兰已经养成了问别人他们复习时间的可恶习惯。
“你们认为你们每天复习几个小时？”当哈利和罗恩在草药课外面排队时，他问他们，在他的眼里闪着狂躁的微光。
“我不知道，”罗恩说，“就一会儿。”
“比八个小时多还是少？”
“我猜要少。”罗恩说，看上去有些惊慌。
“我花八小时，”厄尼说，他的胸口突了起来。“八到九个小时，每天吃早饭之前我用一个小时。我的平均水平是八小时。我可以在一个有益的周末花上十个小时。我在星期一花了九个半小时。不象在星期二－只有七小时一刻钟。而在星期三————”
哈利深深的感激在三点钟斯普劳特教授引着他们进入温室，强迫厄尼结束他的陈述。
其间，德拉科马尔夫找到了一个不同寻常的方法来制造恐慌。
“当然，这不是你们所知道的那个。”他被人听见就在考试开始前的几天，在魔药课教室外对克拉布和高尔说，“你们知道的。现在，爸爸已经和巫师考试的权威友好相处了好多年了??老格瑞索达－马区班克教授??我们已经请她来吃晚餐解决了一切。““你们认为那是真的吗？”荷米恩惊慌的小声对哈利和罗恩说。
“如果那是真的我们无能为力。”罗恩沮丧的说。
“我认为那不是真的。”纳威在他们后面安静的说，“因为格瑞索达－马区班克教授是我奶奶的一个朋友，而她从没提过马尔夫家。”
“她的爱好是什么？纳威？”荷米恩立刻问，“她严厉吗？”
“很象奶奶，真的”纳威用压抑的声音说。
“可是她不会剥夺你的机会，不是吗？”罗恩鼓励他说。
“欧，我认为这没有什么不同。”纳威说，更加凄惨了，“奶奶总是告诉马区班克教授我不如我爸爸这么好，是啊，象你们在圣芒戈看到的一样。”
纳威呆呆的盯着地板。哈利、罗恩和荷米恩彼此看看，都不知道该说什么。这是第一次纳威承认他们在巫师医院遇到过。
同时，黑市的药品交易正在欣欣向荣的发展着，增加智力的和治疗失眠的药在五年级和七年级中卖的很好。哈利和罗恩被瓶由一名叫埃迪考瑞麦克六年级拉文克劳所提供的补脑剂所深深诱惑住了，他现在正在发誓这药是他在去年夏天明显进步并在OWLs中取得九个“O”的唯一原因而且整整一品脱只要12个加隆。罗恩向哈利保证在他从霍格瓦彻毕业找到一份工作后会还他另一半钱的，但在他们完成这个交易之前，荷米恩已经从考瑞麦克那里没收了瓶子倒进了卫生间。
“荷米恩，我们想买那个的！”罗恩叫道。
“别傻了，”她吼道，“你还不如弄一点哈罗德丁格的龙爪粉来对付一下。”
“丁格弄到了龙爪粉？”罗恩急切的说。
“不是很多。”荷米恩说，“而且我也没收了。这些东西都没有真的作用，你知道的。”
“龙爪是有作用的！”罗恩说“你这个假设令人难以置信，它真的会给你的脑子一点推动，你会调动全部的智能在数个小时内。荷米恩，给我一撮吧，来吧，它不可能伤害——”
“这个材料能。”荷米恩可怕的说，“我已经看过了，它实际上是导克斯的干粪。”
这个消息使得哈利和罗恩对刺激大脑的渴望渐渐减弱了。
在他们的下一节变形课上，他们得知了考试时间表和OWLs手续的详细资料。
“正如你们所看到的。”麦格教授当全班都把黑板上的考试时间和日期抄下来时说，“你们的OWLs将会持续整整两周。你们将在上午在纸上表述理论而在下午进行实践。当然了，你们的天文学实践考试是在晚上。
现在，我必须最迫切的警告你们的是反欺诈的咒语已经施在了你们的考卷上。自动回答的羽毛笔在考试的大厅里是被禁的，诸如此类的还有可以用来记忆、分拆、抄袭的衣服翻边以及自动修正的墨水。每年，我恐怕得讲，好像都有至少一个学生认为他或她能够传颂巫师考试权威的法则。我只能希望在格兰芬多没有。我们的新－女校长－”麦格教授说这话的时候脸上明显带着和当帕尤妮亚姨妈沉思一块特别顽固的污垢时一摸一样的的表情，“已经告诉了学院的院长通知他们的学生欺骗将会受到最严厉的惩罚。因为，当然，你们考试的结果会反映出女校长在学校的新制度——”
麦格教授发出一声轻微的叹息；哈利看到她尖尖的鼻子张开了鼻孔。
“－然而，这不是你们不能做到最好的理由。你们已经有你们自己的未来要考虑了。”
“请问，教授。”荷米恩说，她的手举在里空中，“什么时候我们可以看到我们的成绩？”
“一场中级巫师考试的成绩将在七月份送到你的手里。”麦格教授说。
“很好”迪安托马斯用听得见的耳语声说，“所以我们直到假期都不用担心了。”
哈利想象自己坐在女贞路自己的卧室六个星期，为的是等待他的OWL成绩。好吧，他迟钝的想，至少他会在暑假里受到一封信了。
他们的第一场考试，魔咒理论，被定在了星期一的早上。哈利同意在星期天午餐时测试荷米恩，但是几乎立刻就后悔了；她是如此的激动不安而且不断的要求他翻开书来确认她是否回答的完全正确，最后用《迷人的成就》的边角狠狠的打中了他的鼻子。
“为什么你刚才不自己做呢？”哈利顽固的说，给书递还给她，他的眼睛流出了眼泪。
与此同时，罗恩正用手指指着默读二年级时的咒语笔记，他的嘴唇无声的翻动着，西莫斐尼甘正仰天躺在地板上，背诵着《一个真正的咒语解说》，而迪安在核对《标准咒语5级》；帕瓦迪和拉文德在练习基础的移动咒语，她们正试图让她们的笔袋绕着桌角边彼此追逐。
那天晚上的晚餐是很压抑的。哈利和罗恩除了爱吃的东西外没有多谈，他们已经认真学习了一整天了。在另一方面，荷米恩不停的用她的刀叉切呀切的还一直往她放在桌子底下的袋子看去，由此看来，她想以此来对这本书有个大概粗略的认识。罗恩刚告诉她应该适当的吃点饭，要不她今晚会睡不着的，她的叉子正好从她柔软的手中滑了出去摔在她的盘子里发出了响亮的叮当声。
“欧，我的上帝，”她盯着门厅模糊的说，“他们是什么人？是主考官吗？”
哈利和罗恩在他们的椅子上象被鞭子抽到了。透过通往大厅的那扇门，他们能看见昂布瑞奇和一小群古板表情的女巫男巫站在一起。昂布瑞奇，哈利很高兴的看到，她看上去很紧张。
“我们要不要走近点看看呢？”罗恩问。
哈利和荷米恩点点头而后他们加倍匆忙的走到了门厅处的大门，然后以慢到极限的速度从主考官们的身边走过。哈利认为马区班克教授是个瘦小而又有些驼背的女巫，而她脸上的皱纹看上去就象是窗帘上的蜘蛛网，昂布瑞奇正谦卑的和她说话。马区班克教授似乎有一点耳背，考虑到她们只相据一步之遥她回答昂布瑞奇教授的声音过于响亮了。
“旅途很顺利，旅途很顺利，我们提早了很多时间到达！”她没有耐性的说，“到现在，我还没有听到丹伯多的近况！”她补充到，怀疑在大厅里扫视好像希望他会突然从一个放扫帚的碗柜里出现。“我猜，没人知道他在哪里吧？”
“一个都没有。”昂布瑞奇恶意的瞅了一眼哈利，罗恩和荷米恩，他们现在在楼梯口闲逛而罗恩假装在系他的鞋带。“但我料想魔法部会在足够迅速的时间内把他抓获的，”
“我怀疑”马区班克教授轻轻叫道，“如果丹伯多不想被发现的话没人可以抓他。我应该了解的，当他在考NEWTs时，是我亲自考他的变形和咒语的，在那之前我从没见过有人能用魔杖做到那样的事。”
“是的，好吧”当哈利、罗恩和荷米恩用慢的好像他们受到惊吓似的速度爬楼梯时，昂布瑞奇说，“让我领您到教研室。我猜您会喜欢的在您的旅行之后来喝一杯茶的。”
那是个令人不舒服的夜晚。每个人都想在临睡前的最后几分钟作些什么但是却有似乎没人想做长一些。哈利早早的上了床但是他清醒的躺力好几个小时。他记得他的职业咨询和麦格教授狂暴的宣布她要做的最后一件事就是她会帮助他成为一个傲罗。他希望他现在能表达出他对考试临近更大的雄心壮志。他知道他不是唯一清醒的躺着的人，但是在宿舍没有其他人最后还在说话的，一个接一个的，他们全都睡着了。
第二天吃早饭时，没有一个五年级是谈的很多的。每一个都是，帕瓦迪当她被在她前面的盐管打痛时她正在练习她的咒语；荷米恩如此迅速的重读《迷人的成就》以至于她的眼睛越来越模糊了；而纳威让他的刀叉飘了起来咔哒咔哒的在果酱中穿梭。
早餐一结束，当其他学生消失去上课时五年级的和七年级的在门厅里到处游走，然后，在九点半时，他们被一个班级一个班级的被叫道大厅中，那里确实已经被的整理成了就像哈利在冥想盆中看到的他的爸爸，天狼星和斯内普做他们自己的OWLs的那个样子；四张学院桌已经被拿走了，取而代之的是许许多多的单人小桌子，它们全部面向教工桌，麦格教授正站在那里面对着他们。当他们都安静的坐好了，她说，“你们可以开始了。”然后把一个巨大的沙漏翻了过了放在她的旁边，在那里还有多余的羽毛笔，墨水瓶和成卷的羊皮纸。
哈利展开他的试卷，他的心脏猛烈的跳动着??在他右边的第三排再前面四个座位荷米恩已经在疯狂的涂写着了??而他眼睛往下一低去看第一个问题：a）给出个咒语b）描述要让物体飞起来魔杖的动作哈利已经短暂的回忆起了魔杖以一个愚蠢的旋转让俱乐部中的一根棒子高高的飞到空中再响亮的掉在地上的情景，略微的有了点笑容，他碾平了考卷开始写了。
“是啊，那并不是太糟，不是吗？”两小时后荷米恩在门厅里不安的问，仍然抓着考试卷，“我不确定我自己正确的使用了快乐咒语，我刚才超过了时间。你写出了打嗝的解咒术了吗？我不，不确信我是否应该这样，我好像写的太多了－还有在23题中－”
“荷米恩”罗恩苛刻的说，“在我们想这些以前。我们还要经历随后的每个考试呢，那已经够糟的了。”
五年级的用休息时间吃了午饭（那四张学院桌在午餐时间又出现了），然后他们成群结队的进入大厅旁的小间，在那里他们要等待叫他们参加实践考试。由于一小群一小群的学生都被按字母的顺序被叫进去，留在后面的人就在不停的嘀咕着咒语而且练习魔杖的挥动，偶尔会错误的互相戳中彼此的后背和眼睛。
荷米恩的名字被叫到了。她和Anthony Goldstein, Gregory Goyle and Daphne Greengrass一起离开了房间。那些已经考完的学生没有再回来，所以哈利和罗恩都不知道荷米恩做的怎么样。
“她会很棒的，记得她在魔咒考试时得过112分吗？”罗恩说。
十分钟后，弗立维教授叫了，“潘西帕金森、帕德玛佩蒂尔、帕瓦蒂佩蒂尔、哈利波特。”
“祝你好运”罗恩平静的说。哈利走进了大厅，他把魔杖抓的紧紧的但他的手却又有些抖。
“Tofty教授有空，波特。”弗立维教授站在门里尖尖的说。他给哈利指了指坐在远处角落里一张小桌子后面的一位看上去又老又秃的主考官，他和马区班克教授距离很近，而她正给德拉科马尔夫考到一半。
“波特，是吗？”Tofty教授说，查看了一下他的笔记本又从他的夹鼻眼睛上方尽可能近的打量哈利，“那个著名的波特？”
在他的视野之外，哈利明显的看到马尔夫对他射出一个严厉的眼神来查看他；马尔夫升上空中的酒瓶象酒醉似的跌在了地板上。哈利忍不住笑了起来；Tofty教授也鼓励性的对他笑笑。
“那只是”他用他苍老颤抖的声音说，“不需要太紧张。现在，我要求你把这个卵形杯子给我变成一些车轮。”
整个过程，哈利认为都很不错。虽然他没有把转换颜色和变大咒混合，但是他的漂浮咒比马尔夫的好多了，因为在他能纠正他的错误之前他的老鼠已经超出原先预想的变成了橘黄色而且变得大的可怕成了獾的尺寸。哈利很高兴荷米恩这时没在大厅里而且后来也忘了再和他提。虽然，他和罗恩讲了；罗恩把一个盘子变成了一个巨大的蘑菇而且不知道怎么发生的。
那天晚上也没有时间给他们放松；他们在晚餐后直接来到公共休息室然后把自己淹没在明天要进行的变形考试的复习中；哈利上床睡觉时，满脑子都是嗡嗡的咒语公式和理论依据。
虽然他在第二天的书面考试时忘记了转换咒的定义但是这并没有使他的实践考变得很糟。至少他成功的把他的整只鬣蜥变没了。然而，可怜的汉娜艾伯却在他的领桌把她的主要任务搞砸了，她不知何故的把她的白鼬变成了一群火烈鸟，当要抓这些鸟再把它们弄出大厅时整个考试被整整耽搁了10分钟。
他们在星期三进行他们的草药课考试（除了被长着毒牙的天竺葵咬了一口，哈利感到他做的相当不错）；接着，在星期四，黑魔法防御术。在这门课，在一开始，哈利就确信他肯定已经通过了。他在书面考试中毫无问题因而特别满意，在实践考时，他在昂布瑞奇面前完美表演了所以的解咒术和防御咒语，而她从最近的门里进入门厅冷冷的看着。
“欧，棒极了！”Tofty教授喊道，他又一次给哈利考试，当哈利完美的示范了一个博格特驱逐咒时，“真的太好了！是的，我认为不出意外的话是满分，波特。”
他稍微向前倾斜了一下。
“我听说了，从我亲爱的朋友台比留奥格登那里听说的，你能召唤出一个保护神？想要额外的加分吗？”
哈利举起了他的魔杖，指着昂布瑞奇的方向并想象她被解雇。（这大概是他现在最幸福的事了）
“呼神护卫！”
他的银色牡鹿从他的魔杖一端迸射了出来而且在大厅里慢慢的跑出了很长的距离。所以的主考官都抬起头来看着它前进，当它消散成银色的雾气时Tofth教授用他那能看出静脉和多节的手掌狂热的鼓起掌来。
“极好的”他说，“非常好，波特，你可以走了！”
当哈利在门边经过昂布瑞奇身边时，他们的眼睛相遇了。在她那宽大松弛的嘴边周围还挂着那肮脏的微笑，但是哈利没在意。除非他是犯了极大的错误，否则他不准备告诉任何人，（万一出了问题呢？），他刚才已经在OWLs中得到了一个“O”。
在星期五，当荷米恩进行她的古代魔文考试时哈利和罗恩休息了一整天，而且由于之前他们已经整整一周这样了，所以他们允许自己和复习说暂时决裂。他们在打开的窗户旁打着哈欠伸着懒腰，当他们在玩巫师象棋时，夏季温暖的空气正透过窗户飘送进来。哈利可以看见哈格力在禁林边缘教一个班级。他想才他们正在考什么动物－他认为那肯定是独角兽，因为男孩们好像被排的靠后一点??当肖像画的洞打开荷米恩爬进来时，她的样子似乎脾气不好。
“魔文怎么样了？”罗恩边打哈欠边伸懒腰的说。
“我翻错了ehwaz”荷米恩狂暴的说，“它的意思是合作，不是防卫，我把它和eihwaz弄浑了。”
“啊哈，好啊”罗恩懒洋洋的说“这是唯一的错误，是不是？你仍然可以得到——”
“欧，闭嘴！”荷米恩愤怒的说，“这个唯一的错误就有可能使得及格与不及格之间产生差别。而且还有，有人在昂布瑞奇的办公室放了另一只Niffler。我不知道他们怎么通过那扇新门的，但我刚才路过那里，昂布瑞奇正在尖叫的拦截——凭着声音，它正在努力把她的腿给撕下来－”
“好”哈利和罗恩一起说。
“这并不好！”荷米恩激烈的说，“她认为那是哈格力干的，记得吗？我们可不想哈格力被撵出去！”
“他刚才在教书；她没法怪他。”哈利说，向窗外做了个手势。
“欧，有时候你太天真，哈利。你真的认为昂布瑞奇会等待证据？”荷米恩说，她带着很大的火气，傲慢的走上的女生宿舍，在他身后带上了门。
“一个多么可爱，性情温和的姑娘啊”罗恩说，十分平静，指引他的王后前去痛打哈利的骑士。
虽然荷米恩的坏脾气持续了周末的大部分时间，但是哈利和罗恩发现当他们花费了星期六星期日的大多数时间为星期一的魔药复习时很容易的忽略它，这场考试是哈利希望最小的一场－而且哈利确信它会成为破坏他成为一名傲罗雄心的一场考试。果然，他发现书面的考试很难，虽然他认为他已经取得有关复方汤剂的足够成绩；他能正确的描述出它的的效果，而且在他二年级时非法的服用过。
下午的考试并没有他想象的那么可怕。由于斯内普在这个过程中的缺席，他发现他比平时配置药剂的时候更轻松了。纳威，坐的离哈利很近，看上去也比哈利曾在任何一节魔药课上看到的要高兴。当马区班克教授说“请停下，离开你们的坩锅，考试结束了。”哈利塞住了他的试管感觉他可能不会要一个好成绩但是他，很幸运的，避免了一个不及格。
“剩下的只有四场考试了”当他们低着头回到格兰芬多的公共休息室时，帕瓦迪佩蒂尔疲倦的说。
“只有！”荷米恩急躁的说，“我还要考数字占卜，这可能是这里最难吭的科目了！”
没有人会傻到反驳她，所以她不能对他们任何人发脾气而在公共休息室中一年级的傻笑声也明显的降了下来。
哈利决定在星期二的保护神奇生物课考试中好好表现为了让哈格力别走。实践考被安排在了下午禁林边的草坪上，在那里学生们被要求在一打的刺猬中间辨认出变形兽（他们用给它们轮流喝牛奶的方式来哄骗它们：变形兽警惕性很高，它那象刺猬一般的硬毛拥有很多的魔法用途，通常它们是很狂暴的，会对看到的东西下剧毒）；然后正确的示范如何处理一只Bowtruckle ；再就是在没有被严重烧伤的情况下给火螃蟹喂食洗澡，接着是选择题，从范围广泛的食物当中，选出应当给生病的独角兽的食物。 哈利可以看到哈格力一直在忧虑的透过他小屋的窗户看着。当哈利的考官，一个丰满的稍稍有点矮小的女巫，对他笑并告诉他他可以走时，哈利在会城堡前给哈格力飞快的做了个翘起大拇指的手势。
天文学的理论考试在星期三的上午，进行的还算顺利。哈利不敢肯定自己把木星所以卫星的名字都写对了，但至少有信心不会很糟。他们不得不等到晚上来考天文学的实际技能；于是下午就被占卜替代了。
即使哈利的占卜一直是很差的水平，这场考试也绝对是糟透了的。他倒不如去看空白水晶球里的移动影像；因为当他考茶叶的知识时他觉得他的头整的失踪了，他预言马区班克教授不久会遇到一个肥胖，无知，浑身湿漉漉的陌生人，而更为锦上添花的是他把她手掌中的生命线和智慧线完全搞浑了，而且通知她她应该在上周二就死了。
“好了，我们通常总是有一门是不及格的。”当他们在大理石楼梯上向上走时，罗恩沮丧的说。他刚才告诉了他他是如何的告诉他的主考官他在他的水晶球里看到了一个鼻子上长瘤的丑八怪的，只有当他抬头时他才意识到这是他主考官在水晶球里的倒影，这使得哈利感觉好了一点。
“一开始我们就不应该学这门愚蠢的科目的。”哈利说。
“尽管如此，至少我们现在可以放弃它了。”
“是的。”哈利说，‘不必在假装我们关心木星和天王星交汇时会发生些什么了。”
“而且从现在起，我不会再关心是否我的茶叶意味着死亡，罗恩，死亡－我刚才把它们都扔回了它们应该呆的箱子了。”
哈利笑了，荷米恩从他们的后面跑来。他立刻停下来不笑了，这有可能惹恼了她。
“很棒，我认为我在数字占卜考试中全部作对了”她说，而哈利和罗恩都松了口气，“然后，在晚餐之前很快就会拿到我们的星座图了。”
当他们11点到达天文学塔楼时，他们发现这是一个没有云层的完美的星空。地面被撒上了一层银色的月光，夜空中略微的有那么一丝的寒意。他们每个人都架起他或她的望远镜，当马区班克教授发出命令后，都开始填写他们被发到的星座图。
马区班克教授和Tofty教授在他们中间漫步，观察他们有没有找到他们应该留意的恒星和行星的正确位置。除了羊皮纸的沙沙声一切都是那么精，偶尔传出望远镜调整角度的支支声，羽毛笔大写特写的声响。半个小时过去了，然后是一个小时，小平台上方才从城堡窗户那里一闪一闪反射出来的金光也逐渐黯淡了下去消失不见了。
然而当哈利在他的羊皮纸上完成了猎户星座时，在哈利站着的地方下面，城堡的前面突然开了，以至于漏出的光线透射出来在草坪上形成了一条窄窄的光路。当哈利用他望远镜的调节器做一些调整时，他向下撇了一眼而且看到五、六个拉长的阴影在门关上之前在草坪上挪动，然后草坪就又是如同海一般的黑暗了。
哈利把他的眼睛拉回了他的望远镜重新调整了焦距，现在要考金星了。他盯着他的星座图来确定行星的位置，但是有什么东西在使他心烦意乱；他把他的羽毛笔在羊皮纸停了下来，他斜视着地面上的阴影看见半打的人影在草坪上。如果他们没有动的话，月光就不会照在他们的头顶，已经没法辨认出他们是从那一条路上过来的了。在这样的一个距离，哈利有一个滑稽的想法他能认出蹲着的那个人，她似乎在领着队伍。
他不明白为什么昂布瑞奇会在午夜以后在外面散步，还有多于5个的其他人跟着她。有人在他后面咳嗽了一声，他这才记起他还在考试中。他完全忘记了金星的位置了。把眼睛压在望远镜上，在他又一次发现金星在他星座图上的位置时，他听到了远处传来的敲打声穿过荒芜的场地发出的回声，紧接着就是一条大狗给用布蒙住的声音。
他抬起头来，心脏剧烈的跳动着。哈格力的窗口透出了灯光，他的轮廓表明他想到草坪上在和蹲在那里的人战斗。门开了他清晰的看到六个人影急速的闪了进去。门有再次关上了而且安静了下来。
哈利感到非常不安。他向四周扫去看看罗恩或者荷米恩是否已经注意到了他所看到的，但是那时马区班克教授走到了他的面前，那个架势似乎哈利在偷看别人的作品似的。哈利草率的填写着他的星座图然后假装要再添些什么而好奇的打量着哈格力小屋那边的栏杆。人影现在小屋的窗口不断的移动，灯火忽明忽暗。
他能感觉到马区班克教授的眼睛正盯着他的头颈他强迫自己的眼睛再一次转向他的望远镜，目不转睛的盯着月亮，虽然他在一个小时前就标好了它的位置，但当马区班克教授继续前进时，他听到从小屋方向传来一声咆哮，回声穿过了黑暗直达天文塔的顶端。哈利周围的好几个人都把他们前面的望远镜移开转而盯着哈格力小屋的方向。
Tofty教授又干咳了一声。
“现在集中精力，小伙子和姑娘们。”他温柔的说。
大多数的人回到了他们的望远镜旁。哈利向左看去荷米恩正呆呆的盯住哈格力的小屋。
“嗯哼－20分钟后交。”Tofty教授说。
荷米恩跳了起来立刻把注意力回到她的星座图上；哈利向下看看自己的注意到他错误的把金星当火星表上了。他连忙改正它。
场地上发出一声巨响。好几个人叫道：“哎哟！”他们都是太急于看下面发生了什么而用自己望远镜的一头戳中了自己的脸。
哈格力的门被猛地打开，藉由小屋漏出的光线他们很明显的看见一个魁梧的身影在咆哮而且挥舞着他的拳头，被六个人纠缠着，所有的人，通过他们向他的方向射出的红色光线的细微迹象，他们似乎想要击晕他。
“不！”荷米恩尖叫道。
“亲爱的！”Tofty教授愤慨的说，“这是一场考试！”
但是再也没人对他们的星座图有一丝的关心了。哈格力的小屋里红光仍在喷射着，然而不是为什么，他们似乎在试探他；他仍然笔直的站着，哈利尽可能的想看清战斗。劝降和叫喊的回声穿过场地；一个男人呼喊道；“理智些，哈格力！”
哈格力咆哮道；“该死的理智，你们休想就这么带走我，戴瓦士！”
哈利看到牙牙模糊的轮廓，他正努力去收回哈格力，不断的在那些巫师周围跳跃着直到被一个昏迷咒打中摔到了地上。哈格力发出一声狂怒的咆哮，他把那个人从地上抓起来扔了出去，那个人看上去飞出了十米再也没起来。荷米恩气喘的说，两只手都捂住的嘴；哈利转头看罗恩看见他也看着他，表情恐惧极了。从没人见过哈格力发那么大的火。
“看！”帕瓦迪尖叫到，她倚着栏杆指着城堡的底楼那里的前门又一次打开了；更多的光线漏进了黑暗的草坪，一个长长的黑影现在正在穿过草坪。
“现在，真的！”Tofty教授焦急的说，“你们知道！只剩16分钟了！”
但是没人注意他：他们正在看着那个人跑向哈格力小屋旁的战场。
“你们怎么敢！”那个人影边跑边叫，：你们怎么敢！”
“那是麦格！”荷米恩小声的说。
“把他留下！我说留下！”麦格教授的声音刺穿了黑暗，“你们怎么能在这个地方袭击他？他什么也没干，没有理由－”
荷米恩，帕瓦迪和拉文德都尖叫起来。小屋里的人影中大约有4个人击中了麦格教授。在从城堡到小屋的路上红色的光线一齐打中了她，有那么一会儿她好像在发光发出了可怕的红色，然后她立刻仰天倒了下去，就没再动。
“一帮禽兽！”Tofty教授大声叫道，他现在似乎彻底忘记了考试，“没有警告！野蛮的行径！”
“考沃德！”哈格力怒吼道；他的声音清晰的传到塔顶，城堡内部好几盏灯亮了起来，“瑞杜考沃德！这么做－这样－”
“啊呀－”荷米恩叫道。
哈格力给了离他最近的几个袭击者结实的两下；看来他们立刻就完了，他们已经晕了过去。哈利看见哈格力倒了下去，他认为他最后还是被一个咒语制服了，但，恰恰相反，哈格力又立刻站了起来，他的背上突然多了一个布袋。
然后哈利明白了牙牙被他背在了肩上。
“抓住他，抓住他！”昂布瑞奇尖声喊道，但是她剩下的帮手似乎在哈格力拳头的势力范围下很不情愿这么做；确实，他后退的这么快以至于他被他的一个不省人事的同事给绊了一下摔了下来。哈格力已经开始转身把牙牙放在了他的脖子上飞快的跑了。昂布瑞奇在他身后发射了最后的一个昏迷咒但是没打中，然后哈格力，全速冲出了大门，消失在夜色中2。
当每个人都张着嘴看着场地时那是个长久的沉默。然后Tofty教授无力的说，“唔，大家伙，还有5分钟要交了。”
虽然哈利的试卷只填满了三分之二，但是他不顾一切的希望考试结束。当他总后做完了，罗恩和荷米恩强迫他们的望远镜回到他们主人手里迅速的冲下螺旋楼梯。没有一个学生上床睡觉；他们都在楼梯底部大声兴奋的谈论着他们所目击的事。
“那个邪恶的女人！”荷米恩气喘的说，似乎由于愤怒而很难交谈。“在夜深人静时袭击哈格力！”
“她很明显的想避免像特里劳妮教授的情况。”厄尼麦克米兰明智的说，挤过去加入他们。
“哈格力干得很好，是不是啊？”罗恩说，看上去被深深的吓住了，“那些咒语怎么会从他身上弹开呢？”
“那是因为他的巨人血统。”荷米恩颤抖的说，“打晕一个巨人是很难的，他们就象巨怪，真的很强壮。但是可怜的麦格教授被四道昏迷咒击中了胸口而她又确实不年轻了，不是吗？”
“可怕，可怕”厄尼说，傲慢的摇摇手，“好了，我要睡了。大家晚安。”
他们周围的人也走远了，但还在兴奋的谈论着他们刚才看见的。
“至少他们没有把哈格力抓到阿兹卡班。”罗恩说，“我看他去和丹伯多会合了，不是吗？”
“我猜”荷米恩含着泪说，“欧，这真可怕，我真的认为丹伯多会在不久后回来的，但是现在我们又失去了哈格力。”
他们慢慢走回格兰芬多的公共休息室发现那里是满的。场地外面的骚乱已经被几个人平息了，他们已经急着让他们的朋友苏醒。西莫和迪安走在哈利、罗恩和荷米恩前头，已经告诉每个人他们看到的和从天文塔顶听到的。
“但是哈格力现在为什么要背着袋子？”安吉莉娜杰克逊问，摇摇头，“他不象特里劳妮，他今年教的比往年要好！”
“昂布瑞奇恨半人类”荷米恩悲痛的说，无力的坐进一把扶手椅子里，“她总是试图赶哈格力走”
‘而且她认为是哈格力在她的办公室里放了Nifflers”凯蒂贝尔接着说。
“欧，啊呀”李乔丹说，遮住了他的嘴，“是我把Nifflers放到她的办公室的。弗来德和乔治留给我一对；我已经让它们飘进了她的窗户。”
“总之，她解雇了他。”迪安说，“他是那么的接近丹伯多。”
“这倒是真的。”哈利说，在荷米恩旁边淹没在一张椅子里。
“我只希望麦格教授没事。”拉文德悲伤的说。
“他们把她带回了城堡，我们看着他们穿过宿舍的窗户。”科林克立维说，“她看上去可不好。”
“庞弗雷夫人会治好她的”艾丽西娅斯平纳特坚定的说，“她从没失败过。”
在凌晨4点时公共休息室走空了，哈利感到很清醒；哈格力跑进黑暗中的形象一直在他的脑中浮现；他对昂布瑞奇是这么的愤怒以至于他想不出什么样的惩罚才配的上她，罗恩的把一个装着饥饿Blast-Ended Skrewts箱子的来暗算她建议很不错。他沉思着骇人听闻的复仇方法慢慢的想睡着了在床上不安的躺了三个小时。
他们最后的考试，魔法史，一直到下午都没有开始。虽然哈利在早餐之后非常想回床上去，但是他在考试前场地上的最后一分钟都在复习，所以他在公共休息室里托住头，尽力把荷米恩借给他的三寸半的笔记再看一遍而不要睡着了。
五年级的在2点钟进入了大厅然后在他们的面前铺开了他们的考卷。哈利感到疲劳。他刚开始就希望它能结束，为的是他能离开去睡觉，然后明天，他和罗恩去打魁地奇的比赛??他要用罗恩的扫帚飞??从复习中摆脱出来。
“翻开你的考卷”马区班克教授在大厅的前面说道，翻过了沙漏，“你们可以开始了。”
哈利开始回答第一题了。但在他想了好几秒钟之后他脑子里还没有想出一个字来，那里只有一只嗡嗡作响的蜜蜂在扰乱他的思绪。慢慢的，曲折的，他最终开始写答案了。
他发现很难记起那些混乱的名字和日期。他仅仅跳过了第4道题（从你的角度，谈谈18世纪妖精造反是否因为制订更好管理魔杖的法律而引起的），考虑到最后他能够有时间回去。他试图回答第五题（在1749有多少的秘密法令被颁布用来预防计量单位的多重标准）但是他有一个挑剔的猜想他遗漏了几个要点；他有个感觉吸血鬼应该在故事的某个地方出现的。
他抬头找寻一个他能干脆答出的问题然后他的眼睛落在了数字10上面（描述世界巫师联合会建立的情况并且解释为什么列支敦士登的巫师反对加入？）
“这个我知道”哈利想，现在抬头查看马区班克教授身旁桌上的大沙漏。他正在坐在帕瓦迪佩蒂尔的左后方，她长长的黑发遮住了她的桌子的后面。有那么一两次他发现当她摇头时，他看见闪出的微弱金光，他不得不轻轻敲敲自己的头来清醒一些。
哈利身边所以的羽毛笔都想在竞速一样在羊皮纸上飞快的写着，扯出洞来。晒在他后脑的太阳很热。Bonaccord对列支敦士登的巫师干了什么？哈利有种感觉一些东西在他的大脑中盘旋。他再次茫然的凝视着帕瓦迪的后脑勺。如果他想完美的答好列支敦士登那道题，那么他就只要在她的后脑开个窗户来看看那个盘旋着的引起Pierre Bonaccord和列支敦士登的巫师的裂痕的原因到底是什么？
哈利闭上了眼睛把他的手埋在了手里，为的是让晒的火红的眼皮变得黑暗清凉。Bonaccord曾经希望阻止猎杀巨人给巨人以权利。但是列支敦士登已经被一个山里特别残暴的巨人部落困扰了很久。就是这个。
他睁开了眼睛；他们一刻不停的盯着那白色灼人的羊皮纸。慢慢的，他写出了两行关于巨人的东西，然后最快的读了一遍。那似乎不是很丰富和详细的，但是哈利肯定荷米恩关于联合会的事已经记了一页又一页。
他再次闭上眼睛，尽力考虑回忆它们，联合会在法国第一次开会，是的，他已经写了妖精试图参加而且被驱逐了。他也写了。
还有没有列支敦士登的人参加。
“想”他告诉自己，当他周围所以的人都在不停的写而前面沙漏里的沙子还在不断流失时，他把他的脸摆在他的手上。
他又一次往前走在通往神秘事务司冰冷黑暗的走廊上，稳键的走着有规律的迈着步子，偶而小跑一会儿，最终他决定到达了目的地。黑色的门想往常一样为他摇曳的开启，他站在一间有着许多门户的圆形房间。
笔直走过石阶穿过第二扇门，墙上和地板上跳动的灯光机械的发出滴答声，但是没有时间参观了，他必须要快。
他又最后走了几步到了第三扇门，那扇门象其他的一样为他而虚掩着。
他再一次来到那个放满了架子和玻璃球的大房间，他的心脏现在跳的很快。他这次准备去那里了。当他到底数字97时他向左在两排之间的走廊中穿行。
但是在地板的尽头处有一个影子，一个在地板上移动起来像是受伤动物的黑色影子。哈利的胃由于害怕和兴奋收缩了起来。
一个声音从他自己的嘴里说了出来，一个高耸，冰冷完全没有人性的声音。
“把那个给我。放下来，现在，我不能碰他，但你行。”
那个在地板上的黑影动了一下。哈利看到自己手里抓着一根魔杖那是一只白色手指纤细的手，然后听到高耸，冰冷的声音说，“钻心剜骨！”
地上的男人发出痛苦的尖叫，试着站起来但是腾的摔倒了。哈利在笑。他举起他的魔杖，咒语停了然后那个人影的呻吟渐渐平息了。
“伏地魔在等待”
很慢的，他的手发抖了，地上的男人抬起他的肩膀一两寸然后抬起了头。他的脸留着血污还很憔悴，因为疼痛而扭曲的脸还是有着挑战的刚毅。
“你必须杀了我。”天狼星小声的说。
“在最后我会毫无疑问的这么做的。”冷酷的声音说，“但是你要先为我东西拿来，布莱克。你想要再痛一些吗？再考虑一下吧。我们有好几个小时呢而且没人能听到你的尖叫。”
但是当伏地魔再一次举起魔杖时有个人在尖叫。有人叫喊着把炎热的桌子推到了冰冷的石头地板上。但哈利敲打着地面时他已经清醒了，但仍在尖叫，他的伤疤象火烧一样，整个大厅的人都在他身旁看着他。
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