And it hit them like a stunning spell straight in the face or more appropriately, a bag full of their textbooks and notes straight in the face. A wave of panic crashed over the fifth years, now realizing the short period of time they had until the O.W.L.s. Hannah Abbot was the first victim, having to go to Madam Pomfrey for a calming draught one Transfiguration class period. Others fell subject to fraud and potentially dangerous magical ingredients like Harry and Ron, although the others didn't have Hermione to stop them.
Hermione tried to stay calm, focusing all her energies into studying for one test after the other, and using whatever time she had left over into organizing her planner for study sessions. They now spent three times as much time in the library than usual. Brooke discovered that Hermione, under pressure, must be studying at all times, except for the few ten minute breaks she scheduled herself to follow. Hermione never forced Brooke to follow along, however, accustomed to spending most of her time with her, Brooke ended up do so anyway.
At the same time, Hermione had more endurance when it came to independent study, looking over notes, researching and cross referencing textbooks. Instead, Brooke preferred hands on tutoring; tutoring for Arithmancy by Hermione, tutoring for Potions from Draco, tutoring for Herbology from Neville and even herself tutoring others for Transfiguration.
"Add chopped daisy roots, skinned shrivel fig, sliced caterpillar, dash of leech juice and…" Brooke dug into her brain, "frog liver?"
"Rat spleen," Draco corrected her, tapping on the book. "We learned this in our first year!"
After their conversation by the lake, Draco's mood seemed to have taken an upswing. He didn't tell her what was going on his mind that whole time, but Draco was acting more like himself and Brooke was relieved. She knew it had to be something big to have shaken him up so much, but Brooke couldn't bring herself to make him tell her. It didn't feel right knowing she was keeping something like the Order a secret from him either.
"It's been quite a time since then!" she said defensively. "How about we take a break? It's been almost forty five minutes straight reciting these potion ingredients."
"I suppose. I hate these tests, anyway. It's not like these grades really matter. If there are two people up for a post, whoever's in charge of appointing'll go for who they know better," Draco slid off the desk and plopped down into the chair next to her.
"Right. Thanks, Draco." she said, not in the mood to argue.
"It's true, though," he persisted against her monotone agreement, "whether you like it or not, it happens."
"And when you can prove that to me by failing school and getting elected Minister of Magic, I'll believe you," she smiled playfully.
"Hmph. Fail my O.W.L.s. Father would have my head," he chuckled.
"I can imagine," Brooke said, picturing Mr. Malfoy using no mercy punish Draco, but closing her mouth silent. Her mind lingered on the parenting style of a Death Eater.
Suddenly, Draco shot up and leaned down on her arm chair, coming into level with her face.
"Wanna teach me how to conjure a patronus?" he said, eyes bright like a child asking for candy.
"What? Right now?" she asked, slightly alarmed at this change of pace.
"Yeah, come on. I'm dying to see what mine would be," he pulled out his wand.
"You know it's not a quick and easy spell right?"
"So you don't think I can do it?" he challenged her.
Brooke groaned, too tired to do anything, especially performing a spell like the Patronus Charm. Nonetheless, Draco pulled her up from the couch, and shoved her wand in her hand.
"Alright, so the main thing you need," Brooke explained, "is a good memory; sometime when you felt the happiest."
Draco shut his eyes, trying to think of something, then opened them.
"Okay, got it."
"Then, expecto patronum!" Brooke said, as if actually performing it.
"Expecto patronum!" Draco echoed.
Emitting from his wand was a tiny misty cloud of silver sparkles, floating for a couple seconds before fading into the air.
"Expecto patronum!" he said again, only producing an even smaller amount of wisps.
"Expe-"
"Stop, stop," Brooke put her hand out to lower his wand. "It'll only get worse, believe me. The more frustrated you are, the less you're thinking about happiness. Try again, but this time, let that feeling fill you up and focus."
Draco raised his wand again, and making a thin shield after the sixth try.
"Good! That was really good," she commented as the silver faded.
"That thing?" he said, skeptically. "That didn't look like anything."
"It'll take a while before you get the hang of it. Eventually, it'll take form."
"You said most of your little friends got it within that hour," he raised his eyebrows.
"Has it been an hour yet, Draco?" she pointed out, having it been only about fifteen minutes.
Draco practiced for another fifteen minutes. In the end, he managed to improve the thickness and strength of the shield, but didn't get close to forming an animal. As much as Brooke praised him for getting the shield in the small amount of time, Draco was displeased, eager to see his real patronus.
"Don't think so much about just wanting to see it, or else your patronus won't show. You really have to put all your energy into that memory," Brooke said as they sat back down to study.
"I know. I know," he broke open the book. "Now name the properties of moonstone."
They received their examination schedules and the procedure of the O.W.L.s in Transfiguration.
"As you can see," Professor McGonagall gestured to the test dates and times on the board, "your O.W.L.s are spread over the course of two weeks. The theory exams will take place in the mornings and the practicals in the afternoons, all except for Astronomy, which, of course, will be in the evening."
"When will we get the results?" Hermione asked.
"You will receive your results by owl in July," Professor McGonagall replied.
Brooke was relieved from before, thinking of how her grades would probably affect the entire summer holidays, especially if her parents found out they were horrible.
Charms was first. All the fifth years were scrambling more than ever to study or at least compensate for their nerves. Even Pansy Parkinson had laid off her taunting whenever Brooke walked over to say hi to Draco. Back in the common room, Brooke recopied charm incantations and their uses. Ron sat with Charms notes in his lap, ears plugged and mouth moving soundlessly. Hermione and Harry brooded over Achievements in Charming. Seamus lay upside on the couch as Dean tested him. Parvati and Lavender were practicing the basic charms, making erasers, pencils, and rolls of parchment move all over the place.
For dinner, however, they all took a break, besides Hermione, who seemed in a distant world of her own, having her fork clatter upon her plate, so she can check a fact in the texbook.
Reluctantly, Hermione put the notes and books down and finally extinguished the light in their dormitory. Although physically tired and mind filled to the brim with details about Charms, Brooke stared at the dark ceiling, illuminated by the faint light from the window.
The O.W.L.s were one of the first steps of qualification for a career. She couldn't think of anything when McGonagall had each of the fifth year Gryffindor students meet with her and talk about careers. Transfiguration was the first thing that came to mind, but Brooke knew she had no temper for teaching like McGonagall. Her thoughts drifted off to and from images of her future until she fell asleep.
When they arrived at the Great Hall the next morning, the four House tables had vanished and instead held rows of individual desks facing to the front of the room. There stood an enormous dark bronze pendulum, swinging back and forth, back and forth.
"Turn your papers over," said Professor Flitwick once everyone had sat down, "and begin."
Quill in hand, Brooke looked down at her parchment.
a) Give the incantation, and b) describe the wand movement required to make objects fly.
Easy, she thought to herself and began scribbling away, adding to the constant scratching of quills to parchment.
"I guess that wasn't as bad as I thought," said Ron as they left the Great Hall. "I'm sure you've done just fine." Hermione's expression was ten times brighter than it had been all week. It was apparent to the three of them how easy the test must have been to her.
"I suppose," she said breathlessly. "Although the Cheering Charm free response definitely had been my weakness."
They had been let out about a half of an hour before lunch began, where the tables had reappeared for the rest of the school as well. Then, they were escorted to a small chamber next to the Great Hall. In alphabetical order, they were called up in groups for the practical exam, while the rest of them waited, mostly performing charms left and right. Hermione had been the first out of the four of them to go and she stood up, her fingers trembling on her wand.
After less than ten minutes, Professor Flitwick called out, "MacMillan, Ernie- Malfoy, Draco- McDougal, Morag- Miller, Brooke."
Harry and Ron whispered a good luck as she headed towards the door. Brooke gave a fleeting anxious look at Draco before being pointed towards one of the older wizards three down from where Draco was assigned.
"Good afternoon, Ms. Miller," the tall, thin witch greeted her. "Could you start off by cleaning this." She pointed at the mass of dust, cobwebs and what looked like a honey colored slime. It vaguely reminded her of the pus from Neville's Mimbulus Mimbletonia and Brooke performed the Scourging Charm to reveal a completely clean goblet.
A little more than halfway through her exam, she saw Harry walk in and go to a bald wizard two wizards away. Brooke felt more comfortable in the practical exam than she had during the theoretical. Mostly because the Great Hall had not been dead silent and instead, examiners asked questions, examinees performed charms, sometimes making noises. She could tell each time someone messed up, hearing things like glass crashing, things exploding, or the more often 'whoops' or 'sorry.'
Their day was nonstop testing, while that night was filled with studying for their Transfiguration test. Brooke spent her four hours after dinner turning ants into beads, vanishing pillows, and changing the colors of the curtains and other people's clothing. To her own surprise, she even managed to change Dean's entire face to that of a fox.
The written exam didn't seem too bad, except for Brooke was sure she wrote down the wrong definition of whatever spell 'Incarceri' was. The Transfiguration practical was the least of Brooke's worries, but she felt pressured to do well because of the expectations everyone had. Her father would never say so, but Brooke thought that if she got anything less than an 'Outstanding,' he might be a bit disappointed.
Despite the pressure, however, Brooke successfully vanished her iguana, turned the small cockroaches into wood chips, and animated her chess pieces. Before Brooke could leave, the stout plump old wizard told her, "And your teacher, Professor McGonagall, has told me you can successfully turn into your full Animagus, is that right?"
"Erm, yes," she said, already wondering if they were going to ask her about it. "I turn into a tiger."
"And one of the few wizards who can do so!" he exclaimed. "I can't remember any registered Animagus changing so young. When was your first full transformation?"
"Early last year," Brooke smiled, remembering the sense of accomplishment she felt after two months of frustration with transfiguring her stubborn hands.
"Impressive," he said, marking a piece of parchment. "It usually takes years and years to undergo full training. When you started to train you must have been…"
"Around eight, I think," Brooke finished for him. "My father's an Animagus as well, and he was so excited for me to be one too, so he started as soon as possible."
"Oh? And what is his Animagus, if I may ask?"
"A cheetah," Brooke replied.
"Ah, yes, yes," he nodded. "Miller. I knew that name sounded familiar. I believe he was Minerva's previous Animagus student."
"Oh," Brooke said, not knowing how to respond to a stranger knowing that fact when it was definitely news to her.
"May you demonstrate?" he asked, gesturing at her.
"Mhm," she nodded, prepared herself and melted down three feet lower into a pouncing position. In the corner of her eye, Blaise Zambini jumped back and sent his cockroaches flying at Madam Marchbanks. A couple of the other examinees were staring at her too. Brooke took a few paces forward and sat down.
"Marvelous!" the old wizard exclaimed, clapping. "This is one test you don't have to worry about."
She changed back into her human standing position, thanked the examiner and walked out the door.
Herbology was set for the next day, where Brooke accidentally mixed up two plants and the potted soil they had to match with. Thursday had been Harry's easiest day, with Defense Against the Dark Arts. Both tests, Brooke thought she did fairly well. Friday had been a day off for Harry, Ron, and Brooke, while Hermione had to sit through her Ancient Runes examination, coming back furious at herself for mixing 'ehwaz' and 'eihwaz.'
After the fastest moving weekend, lay the Potions exam, which Brooke felt confident in, since Draco made her test him every waking moment. His constant questions and facts weren't half as worse as Hermione, whose brief moment of peace after the Charms O.W.L expired. She ran around like mad, yelling at anyone who disturbed her studying, so Brooke decided to let her to it until the end of exams.
Care of Magical Creatures took place on Tuesday with quite an array of hedgehogs, bow truckles, fire-crabs and knarls. They all had to wait until Wednesday night for the Astronomy practical, but in the mean time, took the Divination exam. Reading tea leaves seemed like the easiest part, as all Brooke had to do to prepare was memorize a couple symbols and reiterate them and their meaning if she saw it. Crystal balls, on the other hand, were much more challenging, so she ended up just guessing what a couple of the misty clouds looked like and making up a story from there.
It was eleven o' clock and they made their way to the Astronomy Tower. Brooke took a telescope in between Harry and Draco. Professor Marchbanks and Professor Tofty patrolled around as they worked, trying to fill in their Astronomy charts. Just as Brooke drew in the constellation for Scorpius and Gemini, Harry 'psst' at her.
She mouthed "What?" ever so slightly, so Professor Marchbanks wouldn't think they were cheating. Harry turned his eyes to the grounds below and Brooke did the same. Hagrid's door was wide open with six silhouettes standing in front, one of them squat wearing a fuzzy coat. Brooke furrowed her eyebrows and threw a questioning expression at Harry, who only looked worried and like he wanted to jump off the tower to see what was up.
After a few moments Brooke went back to her telescope. A loud BANG rang up, startling her while staring into the telescope. It looked like even the stars shook. The scratching of quills ceased as everyone peered over to see. Red beams of light were aimed at Hagrid, who was furious as ever.
"No!" cried Hermione.
"My dear!" said Professor Tofty. "This is an examination!"
No one paid him any attention. One wizard shot straight at Fang, who was trying to fight and leap up at him. Hagrid took the man in his bare hands and threw him across the floor.
"Look!" Parvati squealed and pointed at the Hogwarts doors, flying open.
"How dare you!" McGonagall yelled, striding across to Hagrid's. "Leave him alone! What grounds do you have to-"
"Professor!" Brooke shouted, as four of the silhouettes sent stunning spells straight into her chest. McGonagall lifted up off the ground a couple moments before landing hard on the grass.
"Goodness Gracious!" Professor Tofty exclaimed, this time watching the fight take place. "Not even a moment's warning!"
"COWARDS!" bellowed Hagrid, who knocked out two wizards, took Fang upon his back and ran into the forest.
The air lay still and the stars in place.
"Um…five minutes to go, everybody…" Professor Tofty said feebly.
Brooke turned back at her chart to fill in some last minute constellations and saw that Harry stood there, eyes still glued to the grounds and his quill lazily lying next to his paper. She got his attention and gestured at the test, which he hesitantly finished.
Along the staircase, everyone was chattering away at what they just saw, coming up with their own conclusions and reasons.
"That evil woman!" gasped Hermione, who was rambling and tripping on her words out of anger. "Trying to sneak up on Hagrid in the dead of the night!"
Several others were woken up by the commotion and already gathered in the Gryffindor common room. Seamus and Dean, having reached there before Harry, Hermione, Ron and Brooke, already told them what they saw from up on the Tower.
"Why sack Hagrid now?" Angelina asked. "He's been teaching alright, unlike Trelawny."
"Umbridge'll do anything to get rid of anyone that's only part-human," said Hermione, still sharp tongued.
"I just hope Professor McGonagall's alright," said Lavender tearfully.
"She'll be fine," Brooke replied quickly. "She's stronger than her age gives her." She always pictured McGonagall as a strong person, someone who always knew how to keep her cool and demanded order. It was the first time, Brooke considered the mortality of her mentor. Brooke forced the thought from her mind.
Not to mention, Brooke was planning on asking her about being the mentor of her father as well. The more Brooke thought about it, the more she realized there was a lot about her father that she didn't know.
They all stayed quiet for a little while before trooping off into bed. With McGonagall, Dumbledore and Hagrid gone, Brooke felt more vulnerable and kept picturing Umbridge bursting into the door and stunning them all to death.