Professor McGonagall collected their slips of parchment the next day at breakfast. Harry could see

Professors Flitwick, Snape and Sprout all doing the same thing at the other house tables.

She also gave them a time that they should arrive at her office to find out which placements they

had been given.

"Excellent! 11:45 that's midway through potions!" beamed Harry. "What've you got?" he asked

turning to Ron and Hermione.

"9:30" said Hermione looking crestfallen. "I'm going to miss half of ancient runes! I hope it won't

take too long..."

"2 o Clock – that's History of Magic" said Ron "I'd still rather miss potions though."

Ron and Hermione had both had more trouble deciding on which placements to apply for than Harry had. Hermione had dithered over many different options – even dashing off to ask Professor Flitwick which he thought was best, before finally deciding on Gringotts, the wizard Bank. Ron still wanted to apply at the Three Broomsticks, but was worried that his mother might not approve, and he took almost half an hour to make up his mind, before deciding that he might as well aim high and ask for the Irish International Quidditch team. Hermione said she thought that he had more chance of getting blessing from Mrs Weasley for working at the Three Broomsticks than he did of receiving that placement, and Harry privately agreed.

His musings about work experience carried him all the way through double divination, and it was a relatively painless lesson. He and Ron spent most of it wondering if Hermione had got what she wanted, and laughing aloud when Ron suggested they might give her the job of waitress in the Hogs Head. However, it was with good news that Hermione joined them outside Snape's dungeon before Potions.
"I got it! I'm working at Gringotts" she informed them breathlessly. "Professor McGonagall said there were a lot of applications for it, but she thought I would represent Hogwarts best!"

Just then, Snape came striding into view, followed by Malfoy, who was looking thoroughly pleased with himself.
"Just got my work experience placement" he said loudly as the class filed into the dungeon. "The one I wanted of course."

"Smarmy little git" Ron muttered, as he, Harry and Hermione took their usual seats at the back of the classroom.

Harry said nothing. He hoped he would get his placement, but he wasn't optimistic. He had a feeling that Dumbledore wouldn't want him anywhere near the Ministry at the moment. He had barely unpacked his potions ingredients when Hermione nudged him at nodded at the clock.

"Professor, I've got to go, work experience appointment" He said loudly. Snape stared at him for a second and then said

"Very well, leave your things here. I expect you back before twelve Potter."

Harry hurried out of the dungeons and up the stone steps to the entrance hall. He wondered again whether he would get the Auror office. If not, what else was there? A shop maybe? Quality Quidditch supplies? That would be okay, as long as it wasn't something terribly boring, like Flourish and Blotts or Madam Malkins...

He reached Professor McGonagall's office just as Parvati Patil was leaving it, beaming.

"I got it!" she told him excitedly "My first choice, Madam Puddifoots teashop!"
"Err, Congratulations" Harry said, feeling privately that he would rather do a week at the Daily Prophet than two days in Madam Puddifoots.

"Thanks! I thought I wasn't going to get it, Lavender didn't – she applied for Honeydukes, but then Seamus got that. She's stuck with Dervish and Bangs!"

"Potter!" called Professor McGonagall, who was standing in the doorway, and Harry moved forward into the large, brightly lit office.

Professor McGonagall gestured at the stiff wooden chair in front of her desk and said

"Sit". Harry sat.

He had been in this office already this year, sent there by Professor Umbridge as a punishment for telling the truth about Voldemort. His insides boiled at the memory. Umbridge really was twisted, evil old-

"So" said professor McGonagall, slamming the door and making Harry jump. "Let me just have a look at your placement Potter." She sat down opposite him and ran her quill down a long piece of parchment, finally stopping about two thirds of the way down.

"Ah." She said looking up him. "Yes here you are. St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries." She put the quill down and looked up at him expectantly.

"What?" asked Harry, shocked.

"You heard me, Potter". She said impatiently, already standing up. "St Mungo's. London."

"I know where it is!" said Harry, sounding rather ruder than he had intended to. "Sorry, Professor" he said hastily. "It's just I didn't apply there, I applied at-"

"I know where you applied Potter. But not all students get there first choices I'm afraid and yours proved very popular. You will go to St Mungo's at nine O'clock on Thursday morning. Ask for Healer Damol."

And she swept him out of her office without another word.

"How'd it go?" whispered Ron eagerly, when Harry joined him and Hermione in Potions ten minutes later.

"Rubbish." Harry muttered. "I got St Mungo's."

"What?!"

"Silence!" Snape hissed at them. "Five points from Gryffindor for your lateness Potter. I said I wanted you back before 12. It is now 12:04, and, yes, another five for disrupting my lesson."

The day just continued to get worse from then on, after Snape had declared Harry's potion "worthy of a 5 year old", to shrill laughter from the Slytherins, he made Harry stay behind after class to clean up everyone else's leftover beetle eyes. Then, when he finally joined Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table for lunch, Harry was met with even more unwelcome news.

"Malfoy got Borgin and Burkes!"

"No way!" said Harry angrily, spilling pumpkin juice all down the front of his robes.

"Yes, way" said Hermione grimly. "I heard him boasting to Parkinson after Potions, and Snape was right behind us so he wouldn't have lied."

"What's Dumbledore playing at? Giving Malfoy Borgin and Burkes! Everyone knows it's full of dark magic and his father's a death eater!"

"I know." Said Ron, "and you won't believe who got your Auror place. That lousy Hufflepuff git, Smith."

"You're joking!"

"I wish I was mate. That one should have been yours. I'm dreading finding out mine now!"

Extremely annoyed, Harry shovelled beef casserole into his mouth and stared up at the staff table. Dumbledore was sitting there, enjoying the same beef casserole as Harry by the looks of it, and deep in conversation with Professor Umbridge, who was smiling widely.

Harry suddenly found that he had lost his appetite.

"Come on, let's go" he said to Ron and Hermione, swinging his schoolbag over his shoulder and standing up abruptly.

They spent the rest of the lunch hour in the Gryffindor common room, abusing Snape and Umbridge heartily and making a start on some more homework before History of Magic. When the bell rang at the end of lunch, Harry and Hermione said goodbye to Ron, who would miss the first fifteen minutes of the lesson due to his appointment with McGonagall, and headed down the History of Magic classroom, where they were joined before long by the rest of the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs from their year.

Binns's classroom was absolutely freezing. The snow outside was now falling so thick and fast that the majority of students wore gloves and scarves indoors and Susan Bones of Hufflepuff had even taken to wearing earmuffs and a woolly hat. As usual, Binns droned on and on about something completely mundane and tedious. Only Hermione seemed to be listening. When Ron entered the classroom, some twenty minutes (though it felt like hours to Harry) later, three people had already gone to the hospital wing having had nosebleeds, thrown up and fainted, thanks to Fred and George's wide range of products.

Harry jumped as Ron slammed his bag down next to him with tremendous force. He had been watching flecks of snow hit the window, and making bets with himself as to which would slide down to the bottom in the quickest time.

"Get anywhere good?" he asked, although he already knew the answer.

"Of course not", Ron snapped. "When do I ever get anything good?"

Harry chose to ignore this last comment and instead asked,

"So... what have you got?"

"Gladrags Wizardwear." Ron spat, as though he had just uttered something disgusting.

"Oh." Said Harry, who was starting to see his own placement in a rather better light. "Um, which branch?"

"London." Ron said quietly. Then he said so loudly that he made Harry jump again, "It just isn't fair!! All I want is something that isn't embarrassing for a change! I mean, Percy got the Department of International Magical Co-operation, Charlie got Ollivander's and Bill got Gringotts, and they even offered him a job afterwards! I'll be the laughingstock of the school!"

"Well, at least we're all in London." Harry said bracingly, promptly stepping on Hermione's foot, for he was sure she had just opened her mouth to ask whether or not they thought Gringotts would offer her a job too. "We could meet up for lunch!"

"Great" said Ron gloomily.

"Oh don't be so sulky Ron!" Hermione said, then dropping her voice to a whisper she hissed "You're not the only one who didn't get their first choice. Lavender got Dervish and Bangs and Terry Boot got Scrivenshafts and that's just as bad!"

"And" She added, ignoring the warning look Harry shot her, "it's your own fault for asking for such a ridiculous placement in the first place!"

Ron did not speak to her for the rest of the day.