───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Ron's euphoria at helping Gryffindor scrape the Quidditch Cup was such that he could not settle to anything next day. All he wanted to do was talk over the match and Blair, Harry and Hermione found it very difficult to find an opening in which to mention Grawp — not that any of them tried very hard; nobody 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 studying under the beech tree on the edge of the lake, where they stood 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 Gryffindors walking past his chair, not to mention the occasional outbursts of "Weasley Is Our King," but agreed after a while 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 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," 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 Ravenclaws with Luna — had heard him.

"And then, when Chambers came at me about five minutes later — what?" Ron said, stopping mid-sentence at the look on Blair and Harry's faces. "Why are you grinning?"

Blair and Harry looked at each other before their grins became wider. "We're not," said Blair and Harry quickly. Blair looked down at her notes and attempted to straighten her face. The truth was that Ron had just reminded them forcibly of another Gryffindor Quidditch player who had once sat rumpling his hair under this very tree.

"We're just glad we won, that's all." Blair said lightly.

"Yeah," said Ron slowly, savoring 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 Blair.

"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 Blair, 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 others. "You didn't see me make any of those saves?"

"Well — no," said Hermione, stretching out a placatory hand toward 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 Blair. "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 Blair, 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 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?"

"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 O.W.L.s were upon them at last.

Their teachers were no longer setting them homework; lessons were devoted to reviewing those topics their teachers thought most likely to come up in the exams. The purposeful, feverish atmosphere drove nearly everything but the O.W.L.s from Blair's mind. She didn't really care about her Occlumency lessons anymore. She spent her nights listening to Hermione's muttering, hoping that she could remember it for her exams. 

They received their examination schedules and details of the procedure for O.W.L.s during their next Transfiguration lesson. Professor McGonagall warned them about the consequences of cheating on the examinations and told them they would be receiving their results in July.

Their first exam, Theory of Charms, was scheduled for Monday morning. Blair listened to Hermione's muttering and tested her after lunch on Sunday but regretted it almost at once. Her eyes watered when Hermione kept on snatching the book and hit her on the nose, but the kiss Hermione left on her nose made everything fine.

Blair had her dinner at the Black lake that night while reading her Charms notes of two years. She didn't usually care for examinations, but these were O.W.L.'s and their future would rely on their results. She wanted to make her parents proud. She knew she always wanted to be Aurors like them, and she knew she had to work hard for it. She looked at the Giant Squid, who suddenly rose up with his big tentacle moving towards Blair. 

Blair smiled before she shook it despite the tentacle being wet and slippery. "I'm going to make them proud. Mum and Dad, Olli, Mione, everyone and maybe, you too. Do you mind listening to me?"

The Giant Squid just blinked his eyes at her once and Blair took that as a yes.

"All right then, so Locomotion Charms..."

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

None of the fifth years talked very much at breakfast next day either. Blair ate a piece of toast and continued reading her Charms notes. Once breakfast was over, the fifth and seventh years milled around in the entrance hall while the other students went off to lessons. Then, at half-past nine, they were called forward class by class to reenter the Great Hall, which was now arranged exactly as Blair had seen it in the Pensieve when Blake, Olivia, James, Sirius, Lupin and Snape had been taking their O.W.L.s.

The four House tables had been removed and replaced instead with many tables for one, all facing the staff-table end of the Hall where Professor McGonagall stood facing them. When they were all seated and quiet she said, "You may begin," and turned over an enormous hourglass on the desk beside her, on which were also spare quills, ink bottles, and rolls of parchment.

Blair turned over her paper, her heart thumping hard... Three rows to her right and four seats ahead, Hermione was already scribbling... She lowered her eyes to the first question: a) Give the incantation, and b) describe the wand movement required to make objects fly... Blair had a fleeting memory of a club soaring high into the air and landing loudly on the thick skull of a troll... Smiling slightly, she 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 countercharm for hiccups? I wasn't sure whether I ought to, it felt like too much — and on question twenty-three —"

"Mione, love, you've done well," said Blair slowly. Hermione just sighed and intertwined their fingers.

The fifth years ate lunch with the rest of the school (the four House tables reappeared over the lunch hour) and then trooped off into the small chamber beside the Great Hall, where they were to wait until called for their practical examination. As small groups of students were called forward in alphabetical order, those left behind muttered incantations and practiced wand movements, occasionally poking one another in the back or eye by mistake. 

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 afterward, so Blair, Harry and Ron had no idea how Hermione had done.

"She'll be fine — remember she got a hundred and twelve percent 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 Blair and Ron quietly. Harry smiled lightly before going into the Great Hall, remembering everything Cedric taught him (and the kisses he got as rewards for every correct answer).

Another twenty minutes later, Professor Flitwick called, "Weasley, Ron — Wood, Blair — Zabini, Blaise." Blair and Ron patted each other on the back before walking into the Great Hall. Blair clutched her wand so tightly her hand shook.

"Professor Tofty is free, Wood," squeaked Professor Flitwick, who was standing just inside the door. He pointed Blair toward 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 Parkinson.

"Wood, is it?" said Professor Tofty, consulting his notes and peeringover his pince-nez at Blair as she approached. "The famous Wood?" Out of the corner of her eye, Blair distinctly saw Parkinson throw a scathing look over at her; the wine glass Parkinson had been levitating fell to the floor and smashed. Blair could not suppress a grin.

Professor Tofty smiled back at her 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 eggcup and make it do some cartwheels for me..."

On the whole Blair thought it went rather well; her Levitation Charm was certainly much better than it had been four years ago, and she got the incantations for Color-Change and Growth Charms down.

There was no time to relax that night — they went straight to the common room after dinner and submerged themselves in studying for Transfiguration next day. Blair went to bed, her head buzzing with complex spell models and theories.

Blair was happy that she managed to remember everything during her written exam next morning and her practical went well. She managed to vanish the whole of her iguana whereas poor Hannah Abbott lost her head completely at the next table and somehow managed to multiply her ferret into a flock of flamingos, causing the examination to be halted for ten minutes while the birds were captured and carried out of the Hall.

They had their Herbology exam on Wednesday (other than a small bite from a Fanged Geranium, Blair felt she had done reasonably well) and then, on Thursday, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Here, for the first time, Blair felt sure she had passed. She had no problem with any of the written questions and took particular pleasure, during the practical examination, in performing all the counterjinxes and defensive spells right in front of Umbridge, who was watching coolly from near the doors into the entrance hall.

"Oh bravo!" cried Professor Tofty, who was examining Blair again, when Blair demonstrated a perfect boggart banishing spell. "Very good indeed! Well, I think that's all, Wood... unless..." He leaned forward a little. "I heard, from my dear friend Tiberius Ogden, that you can produce a Patronus? For a bonus point... ?"

Blair raised her wand, looked directly at Umbridge, and imagined her being sacked. "Expecto Patronum!"

The silver lion erupted from the end of her 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, Wood, you may go!"

As Blair passed Umbridge beside the door their eyes met. There was a nasty smile playing around her wide, slack mouth, but Blair did not care and winked at her. Unless she was very much mistaken (and she was not planning on saying it to anybody, in case she was), she had just achieved an "Outstanding" O.W.L. 

On Friday, Blair, 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 studying. They stretched and yawned beside the open window, through which warm summer air wafted over them as Harry and Ron played a desultory game of wizard chess. 

Blair could see Hagrid in the distance, teaching a class on the edge of the forest. She was trying to guess what creatures they were examining — she 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 Blair, yawning and stretching.

"I mistranslated 'ehwaz,' " said Hermione furiously. "It means 'partnership,' not 'defense,' 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 Blair, 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 toward the girls' dormitories, banging the door behind her.

Blair let out a sigh before standing up, "I'll go up to her."

Blair walked up the stairs slowly and muttering under her breath, "I can do this. She won't kill me. I can do this." And Blair opened the door, "Hey-"

She was cut off when she saw Hermione pacing around, muttering under her breath. "They just don't understand. If Hagrid gets fired, we won't be able to do anything."

Hermione was cut off when Blair came and put her hands on Hermione's shoulders, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Hermione nodded and started talking furiously while Blair sat down on her bed and pulled Hermione down gently to her lap. Blair wrapped her arms around Hermione while nodding and listening to every word she said.

When Hermione finally finished, Blair spoke softly. "About Ancient Runes, I'm sure, no wait," she said once she saw Hermione open her mouth, "I'm sure that one mistake won't make you fail. Why? Because I've watched you study with everything you have, and I know, Mione, that you will pass that exam with flying colors."

Hermione smiled softly and cupped Blair's face. "You think so?"

"I know so," said Blair firmly. "And as for Hagrid, it's not that we don't care about him, and I don't care if it'll take me another detention, but I know we won't let him go that easily. We'll fight for him, love, me, you, Harry, Ron and everyone here in Hogwarts."

Hermione leaned in and placed a sweet kiss on Blair's forehead. "Did I mention how grateful I am that I have you?"

"You did, and I never get tired of hearing it," mumbled Blair softly.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Blair spent most of her weekend helping Hermione calm down and studying for Potions on Monday, the exam to which Blair was looking forward least and which she was sure would be the one that would be the downfall of her ambitions to become an Auror.

Sure enough, Blair found the written exam difficult, though she thought she might have got full marks on the question about Polyjuice Potion: Blair could describe its effects extremely accurately, having taken it illegally in her second year.

The afternoon practical was not as dreadful as she had expected it to be. With Snape absent from the proceedings she found that she was much more relaxed than she usually was while making potions. Neville, who was sitting very near Blair, also looked happier than Blair had ever seen him during a Potions class. When Professor Marchbanks said, "Step away from your cauldrons, please, the examination is over," Blair corked her sample flask feeling that she might have achieved a good grade.

"Only four exams left," said Parvati 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!"

Everyone looked at Blair, who wrapped an arm around Hermione and led her up to the dormitory. "Okay, Mione, come on, I'll help you study."

Blair 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 a fire-crab without sustaining serious burns, and choose, from a wide selection of food, the diet they would give a sick unicorn.

Blair could see Hagrid watching anxiously out of his cabin window. When Blair's examiner, a plump little witch this time, smiled at her and told her she could leave, Blair gave Hagrid a fleeting thumbs-up before heading back up to the castle.

The Astronomy theory exam on Wednesday morning went well enough; Blair was not convinced she had got the names of all of 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 Blair's low standards in Divination, the exam went very badly. She might as well have tried to see moving pictures in the desktop as in the stubbornly blank crystal ball; she lost her head completely during tea-leaf reading, saying it looked to her as though Professor Marchbanks would shortly be meeting a round, dark, soggy stranger, and rounded off the whole fiasco by mixing up the life and head lines on her palm and informing her that she ought to have died the previous Tuesday.

"Well, we were always going to fail that one," said Ron gloomily as they ascended the marble staircase. He had just made Blair feel rather better by telling her how he told the examiner in detail about the ugly man with a wart on his nose in his crystal ball, only to look up and realize he had been describing his examiner's reflection. Harry, on the other hand, told his examiner that he would be marrying someone in pink, not realizing that the person in pink was Umbridge all along.

"We shouldn't have taken the stupid subject in the first place," said Harry.

"Still, at least we can give it up now," said Blair.

"Yeah," said Harry.

Ron smiled widely. "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."

Blair and Harry laughed just as Hermione came running up behind them. They stopped laughing at once, in case it annoyed her. "Well, I think I've done all right in Arithmancy," she said, and Blair, Harry and Ron sighed with relief. "Just time for a quick look over our star charts before dinner, then..."

When they reached the top of the Astronomy Tower at eleven o'clock they found a perfect night for stargazing, cloudless and still. The grounds were bathed in silvery moonlight, and there was a slight chill in the air. Each of them set up his or her telescope and, when Professor Marchbanks gave the word, proceeded to fill in the blank star chart he or she had been given.

Professors Marchbanks and Tofty strolled among them, watching as they entered the precise positions of the stars and planets they were observing. All was quiet except for the rustle of parchment, the occasional creak of a telescope as it was adjusted on its stand, and the scribbling of many quills. Half an hour passed, then an hour; the little squares of reflected gold light flickering on the ground below started to vanish as lights in the castle windows were extinguished.

As Blair completed the constellation Orion on her chart, however, the front doors of the castle opened directly below the parapet where she was standing, so that light spilled down the stone steps a little way across the lawn. Blair glanced down as she made a slight adjustment to the position of her 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.

Blair put her eye back to her telescope and refocused it, now examining Venus. She looked down at her chart to enter the planet there, but something distracted her. Pausing with her quill suspended over the parchment, she squinted down into the shadowy grounds and saw half a dozen figures walking over the lawn.

If they had not been moving, and the moonlight had not been gilding the tops of their heads, they would have been indistinguishable from the dark ground on which they stood. Even at this distance, Blair had a funny feeling that she recognized the walk of the squattest among them, who seemed to be leading the group.

She could not think why Umbridge would be taking a stroll outside past midnight, much less accompanied by five others. Then somebody coughed behind her, and she remembered that she was halfway through an exam. She had quite forgotten Venus's position — jamming her eye to her telescope, she found it again and was again on the point of entering it on her chart when, alert for any odd sound, she heard a distant knock that echoed through the deserted grounds, followed immediately by the muffled barking of a large dog.

Blair looked up, her heart hammering. There were lights on in Hagrid's windows and the people she had observed crossing the lawn were now silhouetted against them. The door opened and she distinctly saw six tiny but sharply defined figures walk over the threshold. The door closed again and there was silence.

Blair felt very uneasy. She glanced around to see whether Harry, Ron or Hermione had noticed what she had, but Professor Marchbanks came walking behind her at that moment, and not wanting to appear as though she was sneaking looks at anyone else's work, she hastily bent over her star chart and pretended to be adding notes to it while really peering over the top of the parapet toward Hagrid's cabin.

Figures were now moving across the cabin windows, temporarily blocking the light. She could feel Professor Marchbanks's eyes on the back of her neck and pressed her eye again to her telescope, staring up at the moon though she had marked its position an hour ago, but as Professor Marchbanks moved on, she heard a roar from the distant cabin that echoed through the darkness right to the top of the Astronomy Tower. Several of the people around Blair 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. Blair looked to her left. Hermione was gazing transfixed at Hagrid's. "Ahem — twenty minutes to go," said Professor Tofty.

Hermione jumped and returned at once to her star chart; Blair looked down at her own and noticed that she had mislabelled Venus as Mars. She bent to correct it. There was a loud BANG from the grounds. Several people said "Ouch!" as they poked themselves in the face with the ends of their telescopes, hastening to see what was going on below.

Hagrid's door had burst open and by the light flooding out of the cabin they saw him quite clearly, a massive figure roaring and brandishing his fists, surrounded by six people, all of whom, judging by the tiny threads of red light they were casting in his direction, seemed to be attempting to Stun him.

"No!" cried Hermione.

Blair stood up now, but Professor Tofty stood in her way. "My dear, sit down!" said Professor Tofty in a scandalized voice. "This is an examination!"

Blair pointed somewhere behind him. "Look!" 

And when he was distracted, Blair had ran past him and quickly down the stairs. "Accio broom," she muttered under her breath and in a second, a broom, though not her Firebolt, came into her hand. She quickly mounted it and flew down the stairs. As she flew down, cries and yells echoed across the grounds; a man yelled, "Be reasonable, Hagrid!" and Hagrid roared, "Reasonable be damned, yeh won' take me like this, Dawlish!"

Blair was now out the Entrance Hall when she saw see the tiny outline of Fang, attempting to defend Hagrid, leaping at the wizards surrounding him until a Stunning Spell caught him and he fell to the ground. Hagrid gave a howl of fury, lifted the culprit bodily from the ground, and threw him: The man flew what looked like ten feet and did not get up again.

Blair felt scared. She had never seen Hagrid in a real temper before... But nonetheless, Blair got off the broom and brought out her wand, "Hagrid!"

Hagrid turned around and his eyes widened. "Blair! What are yer doin' here? Get back!"

Blair started running towards him when someone shouted, "Incarcerous!" Blair was immediately bound by ropes and she whipped her head around to see that Professor McGonagall was there, running towards her.

Blair started struggling. "Professor, let me-"

"No, Blair, you've done enough, let me do this," said Professor McGonagall with a stern look before she pointed her wand at Blair once more, "Illusiont, Silencio!" Blair felt a cold sensation over her body and she looked down to see that she was disillusioned. Blair tried shouting and struggling once more, anything to help, but nothing worked.

"How dare you!" Professor McGonagall shouted as she ran. "How dare you!"

"Come on, Blair," someone whispered from behind her. Blair saw that it was Professor Flitwick with a grave look on his face. He levitated Blair to the entrance, but he did not take off the charms and cast them once more upon Blair, and they watched the scene play out.

"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 —"

No fewer than four Stunners had shot from the figures around the cabin toward Professor McGonagall. Halfway between cabin and castle the red beams collided with her. For a moment she looked luminous, illuminated by an eerie red glow, then was lifted right off her feet, landed hard on her back, and moved no more. Blair heard screams from the Astronomy Tower as she stood up and tried making her way to her, but Professor Flitwick cast the Full Body-Bind curse on her.

"We can't do anything, Blair, we have to keep our heads down," said Flitwick in a solemn tone. And Blair, who was just about to summon her powers, felt defeated and watched.

"COWARDS!" bellowed Hagrid, his voice carrying clearly to the top of the Astronomy tower, and several lights flickered back on inside the castle. "RUDDY COWARDS! HAVE SOME O' THAT — AN' THAT —"

Hagrid took two massive swipes at his closest attackers; judging by their immediate collapse, they had been knocked cold. Blair saw him double over and thought for a moment that 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 Blair realized that Fang's limp body was draped around his shoulders.

"Get him, get him!" screamed Umbridge, but her remaining helper seemed highly reluctant to go within reach of Hagrid's fists. Indeed, he was backing away so fast he tripped over one of his unconscious colleagues and fell over. Hagrid had turned and begun to run with Fang still hung around his neck; Umbridge sent one last Stunning Spell after him but it missed, and Hagrid, running full-pelt toward the distant gates, disappeared into the darkness.

Professor Flitwick let out a sigh and began levitating the frozen and silenced Blair to the Astronomy Tower. When they arrived at the Astronomy Tower, everybody was staring at Flitwick, who had his wand pointed up at something they couldn't see. "Oh, right," said Flitwick, and he began taking the charms off. Blair fell to the ground, breathing heavily.

"Oh dear, you," said Professor Tofty, helping her up, "Um... five minutes to go, everybody..." Blair muttered her thanks to Professor Flitwick and went back to her seat and scribbling down some answers while looking into the telescope. She was desperate for the end of the exam. When it came at last, Harry, Ron and Hermione immediately came to her and started reprimanding her for what she did while they went down the stairs.

"What were you thinking, Aika?" Harry said angrily. "You could've been expelled or hurt!"

Blair opened her mouth, but Ron spoke this time. "He's right, Blair. It was too reckless."

"But-"

"Blair Aika Wood. Don't even try to get out of this. You know what you did was too reckless," said Hermione furiously.

"Someone had to help him! I couldn't just stand and watch," said Blair, her temper rising.

"But what could you have done? You could have gotten hurt as well! You could have been the one in the hospital bed right now," said Hermione, her voice rising. The four of them stopped talking, now aware of the students who were listening into their conversation.

"Come on," Ron mumbled and all of them were too angry to speak as they went on their way.

And after a few minutes of silence, Hermione started again, her face now red with rage. "Blair-"

"Look, let's talk about me later, can we please talk about Hagrid first?" Blair said, exhaustion seeping in her tone. Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged glances before nodding, knowing better than to push Blair. 

"And that evil woman!" gasped Hermione. "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. "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?"

"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 Blair, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, were now telling everyone what they had heard from the top of the Astronomy Tower.

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

"Umbridge 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.

"Oh blimey," said Lee, covering his mouth. "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," said Dean. "He was too close to Dumbledore."

"That's true," said Blair, 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."

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Blair was thankful that all of them were too exhausted to tell her off, but she felt wide awake — the image of Hagrid sprinting away into the dark was haunting her, and the fact that she couldn't help made her feel so much guilt, and she didn't know what to say to her friends, who were making it look like she had done something so bad.

Blair just watched the moon from the window and when she felt that an hour had passed, she went up to her dorm, dressed up and went down to the Black Lake, not wanting to talk to anyone. She knew she was reckless in what she had done, but no one could blame her. Surely, some of them thought of helping Hagrid as well, but why was it that they were so mad at her for doing something that they themselves would have done?

Three people sat down beside Blair, and to her surprise, they were Dean, Neville and Seamus.

Blair scoffed, her anger getting the best of her, "Going to tell me off too?"

"No, we were going to say you did well," said Neville.

And Blair looked down, feeling ashamed. "I'm sorry, I-"

"We know, Caelum, we know," said Seamus, pulling her gently into a hug. And Blair sighed defeatedly as she felt Neville and Dean join in. She relaxed into their embrace and closed her eyes, the anger leaving her body.

"Maybe next time, Caelum, tell us so we could go together," said Dean, and the four of them let out much-needed laughter.

Blair smiled at all of them. "Thank you, you three. For being here."

"We'll always be here, Caelum, just as how you've been always here for us," said Neville with a grin. And that took away all of Blair's worries for she knew she would have someone to lean on no matter what.

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A few minutes before the exam, Blair walked over to Harry, Ron and Hermione, who were studying quietly. "I'm sorry," said Blair, and the three of them snapped their heads up. Blair looked down and fiddled with her fingers. "I'm not sorry for what I did, but I'm sorry for worrying-"

She was cut off when she felt arms wrap around her, and she smiled widely and buried her face into the bushy hair of her girlfriend. Harry and Ron grinned before joining in the hug.

"We're sorry too, Aika," said Harry. "We didn't mean to blow up at you."

"We were just worried, you know," said Ron.

Blair smiled at the both of them. "It's all fine." Then she looked at Hermione and smiled softly. "I'm sorry, love,"

"It's fine, just don't go doing that again," said Hermione sternly, hugging Blair once more.

Blair chuckled and kissed the top of her head, "No promises."

With everything all forgiven, they started doing their last minute review with Cedric passing by and wishing them all good luck (they all knew he just wanted to see Harry). The fifth years entered the Great Hall at two o'clock and took their places in front of their overturned examination papers. Blair felt exhausted. She just wanted this to be over so that she could go and sleep.

Then tomorrow, she, Harry and Ron were going to go down to the Quidditch pitch — she was going to have a fly on Ron's broom and savor their freedom from studying... Then, she would be curling up in bed with Hermione in her arms.

"Turn over your papers," said Professor Marchbanks from the front of the Hall, flicking over the giant hourglass. "You may begin..."

Blair stared fixedly at the first question. It was several seconds before it occurred to her that she had not taken in a word of it; there was a wasp buzzing distractingly against one of the high windows. Slowly, tortuously, she began to write an answer.

Blair was finding it very difficult to remember names and kept confusing dates. Goblin riots... Statute of Secrecy... She skipped those questions, thinking she would have to come back to them later. Blair looked ahead for a question she could definitely answer and her 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, Blair thought, though her brain felt torpid and slack. She could visualize a heading, in Hermione's handwriting: The Formation of the International Confederation of Wizards... She had read these notes only this morning... She began to write, looking up now and again to check the large hourglass on the desk beside Professor Marchbanks. She was sitting right behind Hermione, who was scribbling furiously. Once or twice, Blair found her staring at the back of Hermione's head, trying to find out if there was something that could help her.

... 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 Blair, quills were scratching on parchment like scurrying, burrowing rats. The sun was very hot on the back of her head. What was it that Bonaccord had done to offend the wizards of Liechtenstein? Blair had a feeling it had something to do with trolls...

She gazed blankly at the back of Hermione's head again. If she 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... Blair closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands, so that the glowing red of her 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...

Blair opened her eyes; they stung and watered at the sight of the blazing-white parchment. Slowly she wrote two lines about the trolls then read through what she had done so far. It did not seem very informative or detailed, yet she was sure Hermione's notes on the confederation had gone on for pages and pages... She closed her eyes again, trying to see them, trying to remember.... The confederation had met for the first time in France, yes, she had written that already...

Goblins had tried to attend and been ousted... She had written that too... And nobody from Liechtenstein had wanted to come... Think, she told herself, her face in her hands, while all around her quills scratched out never-ending answers and the sand trickled through the hourglass at the front... She 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 her destination at last...

The black door swung open for her as usual, and here she 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, she must hurry... She jogged the last few feet to the third door, which swung open just like the others...

Once again she was in the cathedral-sized room full of shelves and glass spheres... Her heart was beating very fast now... She was going to get there this time... When she reached number ninety-seven she 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 upon the floor like a wounded animal... Blair's stomach contracted with fear... with excitement...

A voice issued from her 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 upon the floor shifted a little. Blair saw a long-fingered white hand clutching a wand rise on the end of her 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. Blair was laughing. She raised her 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 two people screamed as Voldemort lowered his wand again; two people yelled and fell sideways off hot desks onto the cold stone floor. Blair and Harry hit the ground and awoke, still yelling, their scars on fire, as the Great Hall erupted all around them.

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