The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts fell ill suddenly and Dumbledore cancelled that class until she was back on her feet. Therefore Nim had a free period. It was a warm day in April and Nim had her black hair braided down her back. When it was braided, it came down to her knees. Her mum had never wanted her to cut her hair, so even though it was now outrageously long, Nim had never cut it.
She had been sitting outside Hagrid's hut since the twins had gone into the Forbidden Forrest. Growing bored while waiting for them; she began to weave some flowers through her hair. There were some purple ones and some yellow ones. The flowers weren't supposed to be there, but had accidentally been planted when Professor Sprout threw out some seedlings.
She thought about the day before when she had been tutoring Katie for Transfiguration. It had been so hard to explain to Katie that Transfiguration was more than simply waving her wand. It was theory and bookwork and so many wonderful things.
She picked up her book which she had discarded next to a tree. And read the worn, brown pages. It had been a while since she had read a book for something more that school. She had hardly gotten through four pages when the twins walked back out of the woods.
"Giant spiders!" George said.
"Ron's gonna have tons of fun with them when he comes." Fred grinned
Nim stood up suddenly, "Acromantula?" Nim demanded, "How are you still alive if you've encountered one of those?"
"Careful planning,"
"And a bit of ingenuity."
Nim rolled her eyes, "Alright, then. We're going to be late for Transfiguration if we don't hurry," She checked her watch, "We'd better hurry." The three laughed and began to run up the hill to the casle.