𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗢𝗬

ACT TWO, CHAPTER TEN
O.W.L.'s start.

RON'S EUPHORIA OF helping Gryffindor win the Quidditch Cup was definitely too high to settle at anything the next day. Quite literally all he wanted to was talk about the match, and Venus, Harry, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah were having a hard time finding an opening where they could mention anything about Grawp — well, not that they tried very hard. None of them wanted to bring Ron down from his high so out of the blue.

Currently, the six of them were sitting outside to study. They all sat under the beech tree on the edge of the edge of the lake. It was a warm day and the sun was shining from a brilliantly blue sky. Venus, Harry, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah had all agreed to do this so that they wouldn't be overheard as much as anywhere else. Ron wasn't really keen on this idea at first — he was enjoying being patted on the back by Gryffindors in the common room or in the hallways or being greeted with kisses by Penelope whenever she saw him. Finally, after a while, he agreed that some fresh air might do him good. Venus was looking down at her Charms book, listening to Ron talk about the first save of the match for what felt like the millionth time.

"Well, I mean, I'd already let in that one of Davies's, so I wasn't feeling that confident, but I dunno, when Bradley came toward 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 goal hoop — 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," Ron concluded, sweeping his hair back so that it looked sort of windswept and glanced around to see if the people nearest to them (a group of gossiping third-year Hufflepuffs) had heard him. "And then, when Chambers came at me about five minutes later — what?" Ron stopped to look at Harry. "Why are you grinning?"

Venus looked up at her boyfriend. Sure enough, he had that cute grin on his face, the same one that made butterflies erupt in her stomach all the time. A small smile involuntarily crept onto her face, and she looked back down at her book, her face burning.

"I'm not," Harry replied quickly, going back to study his Transfiguration notes. "I'm just glad we won, that's all."

"Yeah, we won," Ron repeated slowly like he was savoring the words. "Did you seethe look on Chang's face when Ginny got the Snitch right out from under her nose?"

"I suppose she cried, did she?"

"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—" Harry began, even though their cover was totally blown.

"Well, actually . . . no, Ron," Hermione admitted with a heavy sigh, setting down her book and looking at him apologetically. "As a matter of fact, the only bit of the match Harry, V, Charlie, Eli, and I saw was Davies' first goal."

Ron looked between all of them. "You didn't watch? You didn't see me make any of those saves?"

"We're sorry we missed it," Venus told him sincerely. "Truly, we are. In fact, we didn't want to leave in the first place."

Charlotte nodded in agreement. "We were quite literally forced into it."

"Yeah?" Ron responded, his face growing rather red. "How come?"

"It was Hagrid," Harry revealed. "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 entire story was told in five minutes. By the end, Ron's anger had turned into total incredulity.

"He brought one back and hid it in the forest?" Ron asked.

"Yep," Harry answered grimly.

"No. No, he can't have . . ."

"Well, he has," Hermione stated firmly. "Grawp's about sixteen feet tall, enjoys ripping up twenty-foot pine trees, and knows me as Hermy."

Ron let out a nervous laugh. "And Hagrid wants us to . . . ?"

"Teach him English," Elijah finished.

"He's lost his mind."

"Yes," Hermione voiced irritably, turning a page of Intermediate Transfiguration and glaring right at a series of diagrams depicting an owl turning into a pair of opera glasses. "Yes, I'm starting to think he has. But unfortunately, he made Harry, Venus, Charlie, Elijah, and me promise."

"Well, you're just going to have to break your promise, that's all," Ron suggested. "I mean, come on . . . we've got exams and we're about that far—" he held up his hand to show his thumb and pointer finger were a millimeter apart "—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?"

"We did promise, though," Charlotte reminded him. "I really don't know about you, but breaking promises — even one like this — doesn't sit right with me."

Ron sighed. "Well, 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."

May progressed into June, where the castle grounds were now gleaming in the sunlight like they had been freshly painted. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the warm breeze was gentle, but none of the fifth years had time to bask in that. Since it was June, it was finally time for their O.W.L. exams.

None of the teachers were giving them homework anymore. Lessons were now devoted to reviewing topics that the teachers thought were most likely to come up in the exams. Venus, in short, was getting more stressed by the day. Nothing else was on her mind except O.W.L.'s — including Harry, as much as she hated to admit it. But she could tell that he was the exact same way. Everyone was sort of secluding themselves from social interactions with friends or significant others in their spare time.

In fact, Elijah was barely seen outside of classes, and Penelope had told Ron she didn't even want him near her outside of class or else she would be distracted. Hermione was now spending a lot of time muttering to herself and wasn't laying out any Elf clothes for days. However, Hermione was not the only person acting oddly as O.W.L.'s drew nearer. Ernie Macmillan had developed an irritating habit of asking people about their study habits.

"How many hours d'you think you're doing a day?" he had demanded Harry, Ron, and Venus as they waited outside the greenhouses for Herbology, a sort of manic gleam in his eyes.

"I dunno," Ron replied. "A few . . ."

Ron looked slightly alarmed. "Less, I s'pose."

Ernie puffed out his chest. "I'm doing eight. 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—"

Venus was thankful when Professor Sprout allowed them to enter since it forced Ernie to abandon his bragging about he was basically overloading himself.

Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy had found a different way to induce panic on the other students.

"Of course, it's now what you know, it's who you know," Malfoy had told Crabbe and Goyle loudly outside Potions a few days before exams would begin. "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 . . ."

"Do you think that's true?" Hermione whispered to Venus, Harry, Ron, and Charlotte, looking very frightened.

"Nothing we can do about it if it is," Ron stated gloomily.

"I don't think it's true," Neville admitted quietly from behind them. "Because Griselda Marchbanks is a friend of my gran's, and she's never mentioned the Malfoys."

Charlotte turned to look at him. "Is she strict, Nevs?"

"Bit like Gran, really."

"Knowing her won't hurt your chances though, will it?" Ron questioned encouragingly.

"Oh, I don't think it will make any difference," Neville continued, still miserable. "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 cast his gaze onto the floor. Venus, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all glanced at one another, not knowing what to say. It was the first time that Neville had acknowledged that they ran into each other at the hospital. Charlotte, on the other hand, was staring at Neville with a deep frown. She hadn't been there at St. Mungo's, but it was obvious that she probably knew what happened to Neville's parents.

Meanwhile, there was a flourishing black-market trade in aids to concentration, mental agility, and wakefulness that had sprung up among the fifth years taking their O.W.L.'s and the seventh years taking their N.E.W.T.'s. Harry and Ron had even wanted to buy a twelve Galleon pint of Baruffio's Brain Elixir offered by sixth year Ravenclaw Eddie Carmichael, who claimed it was how he had gotten nine Outstanding O.W.L.'s. However, Hermione had confiscated the bottle and poured the contents down a toilet, and after the protests from Ron, she revealed it was actually dried Doxy droppings.

Finally, at their next Transfiguration lesson, they received their exam schedules and details of the procedure for O.W.L.'s.

"As you can see, your O.W.L.'s are spread over two successive weeks," McGonagall announced while they copied down the dates and times of their exams from the blackboard. "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 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. . . ." She let out a tiny sigh. "However, that is no reason not to do your very best. You have your own futures to think about."

Hermione raised her hand. "Please, Professor, when will we find out our results?"

"An owl will be sent to you some time in July."

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

Their first exam — Theory of Charms — was scheduled for Monday morning. Harry was testing Hermione after lunch in the common room on Sunday, but Hermione was very agitated and kept taking the book back from him to check that she had gotten the answer completely right. Ron was reading two years of Charms notes with his fingers in his ears and his lips moving soundlessly. Seamus was laying 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. Parvarti and Lavender were making their pencil cases race around each other at the edge of the table while practicing basic locomotion charms. Meanwhile, Venus kept reading through her book and notes, although it felt like she could practically picture them in her mind now.

Dinner was a subdued affair that night. Venus had her chin placed in the palm of her hand, the nerves making it hard to eat.

"C'mon, darling," Harry urged. "Just a little bit."

Venus shook her head. "I'm not hungry."

"You have to eat something, Star. I know it's hard, but . . . just something light, okay?"

Deep down, Venus knew he was right. She spooned some mashed potatoes on her plate and began to eat them. Harry and Ron had no trouble scarfing down everything, but Hermione kept putting down her utensils to dive under the table for her bag, where she would seize a book to fact check things. Ron was doing the same thing to Hermione that Harry was doing to Venus — saying that if she didn't eat a decent meal she wouldn't sleep that night. But suddenly, Hermione's fork slid from her fingers and landed against her plate.

Hermione stared into the entrance hall. "Oh, my goodness. Is that them? Is that the examiners?"

Venus' eyes widened slightly and she whipped around. Right through the doors of the Great Hall was Umbridge standing with a small group of old witches and wizards. With a dark sense of satisfaction, Venus noticed that Umbridge looked rather nervous.

"Shall we go and have a closer look?" Ron inquired.

Venus, Harry, and Hermione nodded. Harry interlocked his and Venus' hands together tightly as they hastened towards the double doors into the entrance hall, only slowing down as they stepped over the threshold to walk calmly past the examiners. Venus guessed that Professor Marchbanks was the tiny, stooped witch with a very lined face. Marchbanks seemed to be a little deaf, however — she was answering Umbridge very loudly even though they were standing just a foot apart from each other.

"Journey was fine, journey was fine, we've made it plenty of times before!" Marchbanks stated rather impatiently. "Now, I haven't heard from Dumbledore lately!" She peered around the hall for a moment. "No idea where he is, I suppose?"

"None at all," Umbridge replied, giving Venus, Harry, Ron, and Hermione a rather malevolent look as they paused at the foot of the stairs so Ron could pretend to tie his shoe. "But I daresay the Ministry of Magic will track him down soon enough . . ."

"I doubt it not if Dumbledore doesn't want to be found!" Marchbanks shouted. "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 . . ."

"Yes . . . well . . . let me show you to the staffroom . . ." Umbridge trailed off as the group of four dragged their feet up the marble staircase as slowly as they could. "I daresay you'd like a cup of tea after your journey . . ."

The rest of the evening was sort of uncomfortble. Many of them were trying to some last-minute studying, yet nobody seemed to get very far. Venus was sure that it she read one more word she would actually go insane, so she decided to go to sleep early. However, she didn't have much luck there either. She was so anxious that her racing heart was keeping her awake. The only thing that really helped her was doing the trick of counting backwards from one hundred, and at about thirty, Venus fell asleep.

None of the fifth years talked much at breakfast the next day. Parvati was practicing incantations under her breath while the salt shaker twitched in front of her. Hermione was rereading Achievement in Charming so fast that her eyes seemed blurred. Neville kept dropping his knife and fork and knocking over the marmalade. Venus kept her gaze on the table, absentmindedly stirring her cereal with her spoon as she tried to remember everything.

Once breakfast was over, the fifth and seventh years waited in the entrance hall while the other students went off to lessons. Venus was joined by Charlotte and Elijah. For once, Charlotte didn't have anything to say. Elijah kept pacing and muttering. Finally, at nine thirty, all of them were called forward class by class to reenter the Great Hall to take their exam. The four House tables were removed and replaced with many tables for each student, all facing the staff-table end of the Hall where McGonagall was standing. When they were all seated and quiet, she uttered you may begin, and turned over a huge hourglass on the desk beside her on which were also spare quills, ink bottles, and rolls of parchment.

Venus, her heart beating fast, turned over her paper. Her eyes scanned over the first question about giving the incantation and the wand movement required to make objects fly. With a fleeting memory of her and her old Charms class at Ilvermorny, she began to write.

"Well, it wasn't too bad, was it?" Hermione asked in the entrance hall two hours later, still clutching on 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 twenty-three—"

"Hermione, we've been through this before. . . ." Ron interrupted sternly. "We're not going through every exam afterward, it's bad enough doing them once."

Venus nodded in agreement. "Sorry, Hermione, but I can barely think right now."

The fifth years ate lunch with the rest of the school — the four House tables had reappeared over the lunch hour — before going into the small chamber beside the Great Hall to wait to be called for their practical examination. A small group of students were called forward in alphabetical order. Venus, her last name starting with B, was obviously in one of the first groups. Finally, her name was called.

"Oh God," Venus let out, her eyes wide.

"You got this, Star," Harry told her. He kissed her cheek quickly. "Good luck. We'll see you later"

She smiled fleetingly at him before leaving the chamber. Hitting her wand against her palm nervously, she walked into the Great Hall. Flitwick instructed her to go to Professor Tofty and she obeyed. Turns out, she really had no reason to be nervous. All her charms went exceptionally well and there wasn't any huge mistakes.

That night there was no time to relax. Everyone went straight to the common room after dinner and began to study again for Transfiguration the next day. Venus went to bed with her mind spinning with complex spell models and theories, but she woke up feeling ready. Both the written exam and practical went well, although Venus felt like she could've done better. Their Herbology was exam was on Wednesday — where Venus felt like she did good, too — and then Defense Against the Dark Arts on Thursday.

The Defense exam was the most important to Venus because, after all, she had told McGonagall about her dreams of becoming a Defense Professor. Anybody could tell that she was absolutely nervous out of her mind, but it the end, everything went extremely well. She answered all the written questions easily and got every spell right during the practical, right in front of Umbridge.

On Friday, Venus, Harry, and Ron had a day off while Hermione took her Ancient Runes exam. Seeing as they had the whole weekend to study, they allowed themselves a break from studying — which also meant that Harry had to convince Venus that. Together, the three of them sat beside an open window to feel the warm summer air. Venus rested her head on Harry's shoulder as she watched him and Ron play a game of wizard chess. Every so often, he would turn his head and press a kiss to her forehead, making her smile. Finally, after a while, the portrait hole opened and Hermione entered, looking thoroughly bad tempered.

"How were the runes?" Ron questioned, yawning and stretching.

"I mistranslated ehwaz," Hermione revealed furiously. "It means partnership, not defense, I mixed it up with eihwaz."

"Ah well, that's only one mistake, isn't it, you'll still get—"

"Oh shut up, 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," Harry and Ron voiced together.

"It is not good!" Hermione exclaimed 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," Harry said, gesturing out of the window in the direction of Hagrid's cabin.

"Oh, you're so naïve sometimes, Harry, you really think Umbridge will wait for proof?" Hermione snapped before heading towards the girls' dormitories, slamming the door behind her.

"Such a lovely, sweet-tempered girl," Ron said very quietly as he prodded his queen forwards so she could beat up one of Harry's knights.

"She's not wrong, you know," Venus admitted. "Hagrid deals with magical creatures, and Umbridge is looking for any excuse to sack him out." She sighed and lifted her head, looking towards the girls' dormitories. "I should probably go check on her."

Hermione's bad mood did not go away for the rest of the weekend. Venus kept herself busy by spending her time studying for the Potions exam on Monday. Potions always came sort of easy for her, so she wasn't too worried. The written exam was pretty difficult but Venus felt like she did okay. Also, the practical was honestly really good. Snape wasn't there to watch them, which took an immense pressure of Venus' shoulders. She corked her sample flask feeling that she had gotten at least a passing grade.

"Only four exams left," Parvati stated wearily as they all headed back to the Gryffindor common room.

"Only!" Hermione repeated snappishly. "I've got Arithmancy and it's probably the toughest subject there is!"

"Hermione, so do I," Venus replied casually. "We can study together."

That seemed to calm her down some. However, she still told off some first years for giggling too loudly in the common room.

Their Care of Magical Creatures exam was on Tuesday. The practical took place in the afternoon on the lawn of the edge of the Forbidden Forest. They had to correctly identify the Knarl hidden among a dozen hedgehogs, demonstrate correct handling of a Bowtruckle, feed and clean a Fire-crab without sustaining serious burns, and choose the diet they would give a sick Unicorn from a wide selection of food.

Venus tended to excel in Astronomy — well, she means, her name was Venus. Her theory exam went well, but she had to wait until the evening for the practical. In the meantime, her afternoon was devoted to Arithmancy. Just like Hermione had said, that exam was indeed very hard, but Venus wasn't too worried about it. The subject didn't really have anything to do with the profession she chose. Finally, once Venus finished, her and Hermione left to find Harry and Ron, whom were walking in the hallway. Venus walked up to Harry's side and instantly laced their fingers together.

"Hey, darling," Harry greeted, kissing her cheek. "How'd it go?"

Venus shrugged. "All right."

"Well, I think I've done all right in Arithmancy," Hermione added. "Just time for a quick look over our star charts before dinner, then . . ."

It was a perfect night for stargazing when they reached the top of the Astronomy Tower at eleven o'clock. The sky was cloudless and still while the grounds sparkled in a silvery moonlight, and there was a slight chill in the air. Venus set up her telescope, and when Marchbanks allowed them to start, her and the rest of the fifth years began to fill out the blank star chart they had been given.

Both Marchbanks and Tofty strolled among them, watching as they entered the precise positions of the stars and planets they had to observe. Everything was quiet besides the rustle of parchment, an occasional creak of a telescope as it was adjusted on its stand, and the scribbling of many quills. After an hour passed, the little squares of reflected gold light flickering on the ground below started to vanish as the lights in the castle windows were extinguished.

Venus, with a sort of small smile on her face, marked down Venus on her star chart once she found it. However, as she did so, the front doors of the castle opened directly, light spilling down the stone steps a little way across the lawn. Venus' smile turned into a frown as she watched about six elongated shadows move over the brightly lit grass before the doors shut, drowning the lawn in darkness once more.

Shaking it off, she moved her telescope and saw the constellation of Orion. Venus marked it down on her chart before looking back up. Those same six figures were walking over the lawn, only visible from the moonlight. Venus instantly recognized the shortest one leading the group. She had no idea why Umbridge could be taking a walk outside after midnight with five other people, but nevertheless, she put her attention back on her exam. Just as she was about to find the position of Saturn, a distant knock echoed through the deserted ground followed immediately by the muffled barking of a large dog.

Well, that couldn't be good.

Venus looked up once more to see the lights on in the windows of Hagrid's cabin. Umbridge plus the five people with her were now silhouetted against them. The door opened, the figures entered, and then the door closed, encapturing the grounds in silence again. An uneasy feeling settled in her stomach. She forced herself to look through her telescope again. After searching for a minute, she found Saturn, and she marked it down.

However, just as she felt Marchbanks move behind her, a roar from Hagrid's cabin echoed through the darkness right to the top of the Astronomy Tower. Her head snapped up and peered in the direction of the cabin, her heart racing and her stomach churning with nerves.

Tofty let out a dry little cough. "Try and concentrate, now, boys and girls. Ahem — twenty minutes to go."

This time, Venus did not return to her star chart. Something bad was about to happen, she could feel it.

As if on cue, there was a loud BANG from the grounds. Several people cried ouch since they poked themselves in the face with the ends of their telescopes in a haste 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 swinging his fists. He was surrounded by six people, all of whom were attempting to Stun him judging by the tiny threads of red light they were casting in his direction.

"No!" Hermione shouted.

"My dear!" Tofty scolded in a scandalized voice. "This is an examination!"

Nobody was paying the slightest attention to their star charts anymore. Jets of red light were still flying all around Hagrid's cabin yet all of them seemed to bounce off of him. Hagrid was still upright and fighting with cries and yells echoing across the grounds. Venus felt a hand touch hers, and by the feel of it, she knew it was Harry next to her. She gripped onto it tight as she watched everything unfold.

"Be reasonable, Hagrid!" a man yelled.

"Reasonable be damned, yeh won' take me like this, Dawlish!" Hagrid roared.

The tiny outline of Fang then attempted to defend Hagrid. He leaped at the wizards surrounding him until he was hit by a Stunning Spell and fell to the ground. Hagrid gave a howl of fury, lifted the wizard who did it, and threw him. The man flew about ten feet and did not get up again. Venus' eyes widened and she gasped, her free hand reaching up to cover her mouth in shock. Meanwhile, Harry's grip tightened on her other hand.

"Look!" Parvati squealed, pointing to the foot of the castle where the front doors seemed to have opened again, since more light was spilling out onto the dark lawn and a single black shadow was now moving rapidly.

"Now, really!" Tofty said anxiously. "Only sixteen minutes left, you know!"

Nobody paid him the slightest attention. In fact, they were all watching the person who was now sprinting towards the battle beside Hagrid's cabin.

"How dare you!" a familiar voice yelled as she ran. "How dare you!"

"It's McGonagall!" Hermione whispered.

"Leave him alone!" McGonagall ordered. "Alone, I say! On what grounds are you attacking him? He has done nothing, nothing to warrant such—"

Venus gasped again in horror, while Hermione, Parvati, and Lavender all screamed. No fewer than four Stunners had shot from the figures around the cabin towards McGonagall. The red beams collided with her halfway between the cabin and the castle. For a moment she was illuminated by an eerie red glow, but then she was lifted right off her feet, landed hard on her back, and did not move again.

"Galloping gargoyles!" Tofty shouted, who seemed to have forgotten the exam completely. "Not so much as a warning! Outrageous behavior!"

"COWARDS!" Hagrid bellowed, 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 God," Venus whispered.

Hagrid took two massive swipes at his closest attackers. They were obviously knocked cold judging by their immediate collapse. Hagrid bent over and picked up the limp body of Fang, draping the dog around his shoulders.

"Get him, get him!" Umbridge screamed.

However, her remaining helped seemed extremely reluctant to go within reach of Hagrid's fists. He was backing away so fast that he tripped over one of his unconscious colleagues and fell over. Hagrid then turned around and began to run with Fang still hung around his neck. Umbridge sent another Stunning Spell but missed — and Hagrid, running towards the distant gates of Hogwarts, disappeared into the darkness. The whole group on the Astronomy Tower was left with nothing but a shocked silence.

"Um . . . five minutes to go, everybody . . ." Tofty instructed.

Venus scribbled in what she could on the rest of her chart. When the end came, her, Harry, Ron, and Hermione forced their telescopes haphazardly back into their holders and ran down the spiral staircase. None of the students were going to bed — they were all talking loudly at the foot of the stairs about what they had witnessed.

"That evil woman!" Hermione voiced, 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," Ernie Macmillan revealed, who squeezed over to join them.

"Hagrid did well, didn't he?" Ron asked, looking more impressed than alarmed. "How come all the spells bounced off him?"

"It'll be his Giant blood," Hermione answered 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?"

Ernie shook his head. "Dreadful, dreadful. Well, I'm off to bed . . . 'night, all . . ."

Venus looked at Charlotte worryingly, who had the most stone cold expression she had ever seen on her face. "Charlie? Are you okay?"

"I'm going to Azkaban," Charlotte decided. "That woman better watch out, because I swear, when I get my hands on her, she's going to be murdered."

Elijah sighed. "Please don't do that. You'd hate it in Azkaban."

"It's better than staying here with her."

"At least they didn't get to take Hagrid off to Azkaban," Ron said. "I 'spect he's gone to join Dumbledore, hasn't he?"

"I suppose so," Hermione replied, who looked tearful. "Oh, this is awful, I really thought Dumbledore would be back before long, but now we've lost Hagrid too . . ."

After saying goodnight to Charlotte and Elijah, Venus, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked back to the Gryffindor common room to find it full. The commotion out in the grounds had woken several people who then awoke their friends. Seamus and Dean, who had arrived earlier, were now telling everyone what they had heard and seen from the top of the Astronomy Tower.

"But why sack Hagrid now?" Angelina Johnson questioned, shaking her head. "It's not like Trelawney, he's been teaching much better than usual this year!"

"Umbridge hates part-humans," Hermione revealed bitterly, sitting down in an armchair. "She was always going to try and get Hagrid out."

"And she thought Hagrid was putting Nifflers in her office," Katie Bell added.

Lee Jordan covered his mouth. "Oh blimey. It's me'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," Dean responded. "He was too close to Dumbledore.""

"That's true," Harry agreed, sinking into an armchair beside Hermione's while Venus sat on the arm of it, her arm slung around Harry's shoulders casually.

"I just hope Professor McGonagall's all right," Lavender stated tearfully.

They carried her back up to the castle, we watched through the dormitory window," Colin Creevey announced. "She didn't look very well. . . ."

"Madam Pomfrey will sort her out," Alicia Spinnet reassured them firmly. "She's never failed yet."

It was nearly four in the morning before the common room cleared. Venus laid awake that night, the images of what had happened flashing through her mind. Quite literally everything was going wrong.

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wow ??? this book ??? getting updated ??? unheard of

lol sorry about that y'all I've been a little busy lately <3

I say that as if I just didn't publish another book bye I hate myself