Chapter Fifteen
"O.W.L.s"
Ron's euphoria at helping Gryffindor scrape the Quidditch Cup was such that he could not settle to anything the next day. All he wanted to do was talk over the match. Now there was a part of Lizzie that had wished that she hadn't stepped out of the pitch just as the game began. She just couldn't stand the Slytherins berating Ron.
As it was another fine warm day, Lizzie offered to have him join her and Hayden in studying under the beech tree near the lake. "Thanks, but no thanks," said Ron, smirking.
So they set off once again to the edge of the lake. They spread their books out in the shade of the beech tree and sat down. "I'm really happy for Ron, though," said Lizzie. "I mean, his goalkeeping record was never spotless." "I guess it was good luck then," said Hayden, shrugging. "A person makes their own," said Lizzie. "Really? You believe that?" asked Hayden. "Yeah," said Lizzie. "It's the same with fate and destiny – things just happen for a reason."
"I heard Ron telling Harry about how Ginny caught the Snitch right out from Cho's nose," said Hayden. "And let me guess," said Lizzie bitterly. "She cried." "Well, yeah," said Hayden. "More out of temper than anything else, according to Ron."
"Figures," Lizzie scoffed. "Anyway, you'll never guess what Harry and Hermione told me the other day…."
She told him about how Hagrid had taken Harry and Hermione into the Forest and introduced them to his 'brother' Grawp, who was about sixteen feet tall, enjoyed ripping up pine trees, and knew Hermione only as 'Hermy.'
Hayden looked floored. "And Hagrid wants to…" "Teach him English, yeah," said Lizzie. "And I was beginning to like him," said Hayden. "Mm," said Lizzie flipping a page of Intermediate Transfiguration and staring at a series of diagrams showing an owl turning into a pair of opera glasses.
"Well, you can count me out being a part of it," said Hayden. "We've got Nationals, you've got O.W.L.s, I've got my own exams to worry about, and you're about this close…." He held up a hand to show his thumb and forefinger a millimeter apart, "from getting kicked out by that old toad." "Don't remind me," said Lizzie.
"Well," said Hayden, running his fingers through his hair. "Hagrid hasn't been sacked yet, has he? He's hung on this long, maybe he'll hang out till the end of term, and we won't have to go near Grawp at all….."
The castle grounds were gleaming in 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 – two things to Lizzie: O.W.L.s, and Nationals the week after.
Their teachers were no longer setting them homework; lessons were devoted to reviewing those topics their teachers thought most likely to come up in exams.
The purposeful, feverish atmosphere drove nearly everything but O.W.L.s from Lizzie's mind. Even during her last few lessons of practice before the show, she was distracted. Flicka was agitated, and Hayden had resorted to turning Jedi out in the paddock at night because he would become restless in his stall.
Snape was now thoroughly ignoring Lizzie, which suited her well; she was quite busy and tense enough as it was with Nationals coming up. Add to that, that Hayden seemed to be becoming restless over the constant secrecy and deception regarding his relationship with Lizzie and tried sneaking opportunities to snog her whenever possible.
He tried to kiss her in the middle of the crowded corridor one day as they walked to their morning lessons, but Lizzie held back. "Hayden, please," she begged. "Not here…." "Yes, here," said Hayden, pulling Lizzie close. "I'm – I'm tired of all this deception, Liz. I don't care if Umbridge knows you're my girlfriend."
"I care," said Lizzie. "Umbridge has already tried to kill me….She'll do whatever necessary to get rid of me!" "Professor McGonagall won't let that happen," said Hayden reassuringly. "She will fight like hell for you, you know she will. Everything will be fine."
Lizzie swallowed and nodded. "Come here," said Hayden as he leaned in, and this time, Lizzie allowed him to kiss her. "I love you," Hayden whispered. "I love you too," said Lizzie hugging him closely.
Meanwhile, a flourishing black-market trade in aide to concentrate mental agility and wakefulness had sprung up amongst the fifth and seventh years. Lizzie was very much tempted to take some of the Baruffio's Brain Elixir that was offered to her by Ravenclaw sixth year, Eddie Carmichael, who swore up and down that it was solely responsible for the nine 'Outstanding' O.W.L.s he had gained the previous summer and was offering the whole pint for a mere twelve Galleons. But Hayden quickly talked her out of it.
They received their examination schedules and details of the procedures for O.W.L.s during their next Transfiguration lesson.
"As you can see," Professor McGonagall told the class while they copied down the dates and times of their exams from the blackboard, "you O.W.L.s are spread over two successive weeks. You will sit for 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 Rememberalls, Detatchment 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 Examination Authority's rules. I can only hope that it is nobody in Gryffindor."
"Cheating makes losers of us all," said. Lizzie. "Thank you, Miss Brooks," said Professor McGonagall. "Our new – headmistress…." She pronounced the word with the same look on her face that she had when Lizzie had her career advice consultation. "Has had 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 new headmistress's new regime at the school."
Professor McGonagall gave a tiny sigh, and Lizzie saw the nostrils of her sharp nose flare. "However, this is no reason not to do your very best. You have your own futures to think about." "Please, Professor," said Hermione, her hand in the air, "when will we find out our results?"
"An owl will be sent to you some time in July," said Professor McGonagall. Lizzie imagined sitting at home in six weeks time, waiting for her O.W.L. results.
Her first examination, the Theory of Charms, was scheduled for Monday morning. Hayden offered to test her on Sunday after lunch, but she was very anxious, almost manic and got a lot of the answers wrong, finally becoming so overstimulated, that she had a full-blown meltdown in the middle of the common room, and Hayden spent the next five minutes sitting on the couch, hugging her, and trying to calm her down as she sobbed uncontrollably in his arms.
Meanwhile, Harry was tutoring Hermione, who got so uptight and anxious she whacked him on the face with the book. Ron was reading two years worth of Charms notes with his fingers in his ears, his lips moving soundlessly; Seamus was lying flat on his back on the floor reciting the definition of a Substantive Charm while Dean Thomas checked it against The Standard Book of Spells Grade 5; and Parvati and Lavender, who were practicing basic locomotion charms were making their pencil cases race each other around the edge of the table, casting looks of adoration and longing in Hayden's direction every now and then.
Dinner was a subdued affair that night. Lizzie and Hayden didn't talk much, but ate like they were dying of starvation, having studied hard all day. Hermione on the other hand, kept putting down her knife and fork and diving under the table for her bag, from which she would seize a book the check some fact or figure. Rom was just telling her that she ought to eat a decent meal or she would not sleep that night.
Lizzie knew this to be true. During her first horse show in her third year, she hadn't eaten anything the night before out of nerves, and as a result, didn't sleep a wink.
Hermione's fork slid from her limp fingers and landed with a loud tinkle on her plate. "Oh, my goodness," she said faintly, staring into the entrance hall. "Is that them? Is that the examiners?"
Lizzie, Hayden, Harry, and Ron whipped around on their benches, through the doors to the Great Hall they could see Umbridge standing with a small group of ancient-looking witches and wizards. Umbridge, Lizzie was pleased to see, looked rather nervous.
"Shall we go and have a closer look?" said Ron. They all nodded as they hastened toward the double doors into the entrance hall, slowing down as they stepped over the threshold to walk sedately past the examiners.
There was a tiny witch with a stooping posture, and a face so lined that it looked as though it had been draped in cobwebs. Lizzie assumed that she was one of the head honchos of the group.
Umbridge was speaking to her very deferentially. The witch, who Hermione identified to Lizzie as Professor Marchbanks, seemed to be a little deaf; she was answering Umbridge very loudly, considering that they were only a foot apart.
"Journey was fine, journey was fine, we've made it plenty of times before!" she said impatiently. "Now I haven't heard from Dumbledore lately!" she added, peering around the hall as though hopeful he might suddenly emerge from a broom cupboard. "No ide where he is, I suppose?"
"None at all," said Umbridge, shooting a malevolent look at Lizzie, Hayden, Harry, Ron, and Hermione who were now dawdling around the foot of the stairs as Ron pretended to do up his shoelace and Lizzie pretended to be wiping the lenses of her glasses on her robes.
"But I daresay the Ministry of Magic will track him down soon enough…."
"I doubt it," shouted tiny Professor Marchbanks. "Not if Dumbledore doesn't want to be found! 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…" said Professor Umbridge as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hayden, and Lizzie dragged their feet up the marble staircase as slowly as they dared, Hayden keeping a firm grip on Lizzie's arm so she wouldn't fall.
"Let me show you the staffroom…I daresay you'd like a cup of tea after your journey…."
It was an uncomfortable sort of an evening. Everyone was trying to do some last-minute studying, but nobody seemed to be getting very far. Lizzie stopped by the hospital wing to take her medication and went to bed early, but then lay awake for what felt like hours.
She remembered her career consultation, and how McGonagall had furiously declared she would help her in her ambition to change Wizarding law as well as school rules to offer more accommodation and resources to people with disabilities. But now that exams were here, she wished she had expressed a more achievable ambition. Maybe she could become a Healer like Sapphire Cassowary…..
She knew she wasn't the only one lying awake, but none of the others in her dorm spoke and finally, one by one, they fell asleep.
None of the fifth years talked very much during breakfast next day either. Parvati was practicing incantations under her breath while the salt cellar in front of her twitched. Hermione was rereading Achievements in Charming so fact that her eyes appeared blurred, and Neville kept dropping his knife and fork, and knocking over the marmalade, and Lizzie was stimming by flapping her hands under the table.
Once breakfast was over, the fifth and seventh years milled around the entrance hall while the others went off to their lessons, Hayden stopping to give Lizzie a hug and a kiss good luck.
"You'll do fine," said Hayden softly as he hugged. "Just do your best," Lizzie nodded. "All right, I'd better go," said Hayden as he kissed and hugged her again. "I love you," said Hayden. "I love you more," said Lizzie, hugging him back. "Ohh, that's not possible," sighed Hayden. Harry, Ron and Hermione were watching with disgusted looks on their faces, like this was too lovey-dovey for their palate.
"You guys are nauseating!" groaned Ron. "Good! Our plan is working!" said Lizzie brightly. Hayden smiled as he gave her one last hug. "I'll see you after the exam, okay?" said Hayden. "Okay, I'll miss you," said Lizzie. Hayden gave her a final kiss before walking up the marble staircase towards History of Magic.
Then at half past nine, they were called forward class by class to reenter the Great Hall which was now arranged so 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. Lizzie was shaking and her palms were sweating profusely as she entered.
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. Lizzie turned her paper over, her heart thumping hard…Three rows to her right and four seats ahead, Hermione was already scribbling….She lowered her eyes to first question: a) Give the incantation and b) describe the wand movement required to make objects fly…..
Lizzie had a fleeting memory of her first Charms class with Professor Flitwick where they were making feathers levitate, and only she and Hermione had managed to perform the spell correctly on the first go. Professor Flitwick's instructions echoing in her head; "Swish and Flick….Wingardium Leviosa…
Smiling reminiscently, she bent over the paper and began to write.
"How was it?" asked Hayden as he sat down to lunch with Lizzie and the rest of the school (the four House tables reappeared over the lunch hour). "Good, I think," said Lizzie, once again, looking like she hadn't eaten since January. "What about you? How was History of Magic?" "Boring as always," said Hayden, who was eating at a much slower rate than Lizzie. He was much cooler under pressure than Lizzie, and she couldn't think for the life of her how he was able to do it.
After lunch, Lizzie and a group of students trooped off into the small chamber beside the Great Hall where they were to wait until called for their practical examination.
A small group of students were called forward in alphabetical order, those left behind, muttered incantations and practicing wand movements, occasionally poking one another in the back by mistake.
"Brooks, Elizabeth!" called Professor Flitwick. Trembling, yet determined to appear confident, Lizzie drew herself up to her full height and walked out of the chamber, clutching her wand in her hand. "Professor Tofty is free, Miss Brooks," squeaked Professor Flitwick, who was standing just inside the door. He pointed Lizzie 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 Draco Malfoy.
"Brooks, is it?" said Professor Tofty. "Elizabeth Brooks…..Didn't I see you perform in a figure skating show just before Christmas with another young gentleman?"
Lizzie stared. Apart from the Daily Prophet journalist who had written that enormously flattering review, she had no idea that any other Ministry officials had come to watch her and Hayden skate. Clearly the word had gotten around fast.
Lizzie nodded shyly, and saw distinctly out of the corner of her eye, Malfoy throw her a scathing look over at her; the wine glass Malfoy had been levitating fell to the floor and smashed. Lizzie could not suppress a grin. Professor Tofty smiled back at her encouragingly. "That's it, dear," he said in a quavering 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….."
It went well, Lizzie thought; her Levitation Charm was certainly far better than Malfoy's had been, and she performed rather decent Color Changing and Growth Charms so well that by the end of it, Professor Flitwick was glowing with pride.
There was no free time for Lizzie to spend with Hayden that night – they went straight to the common room after dinner and Lizzie submerged herself in studying for Transfiguration next day. She went to bed, her head buzzing with complex spell modules and theories.
She wrote a lengthy definition for the Switching Spell on her written exam next morning, and fully Vanished her iguana, which was much better than Hannah Abbott, who 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 in Wednesday (other than a small bite from a Fanged Geranium, Lizzie felt she had done reasonably well) and then, on Thursday, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Here, for the first time, Lizzie felt sure she had passed. She had no problems whatsoever 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 coldly from near the door to the entrance hall.
"Oh, bravo!" cried Professor Tofty, who was examining Lizzie again, when she demonstrated a flawless boggart banishing spell. "Very good! Well, I think that is all, Miss Brooks…unless…" he leaned forward a little. "Why not do one more spell for me, any one you like, for a bonus point?"
Lizzie knew the perfect one.
After everything that she had been put through by Umbridge, she felt a deep, burning desire to wipe that stupid smirk off her ugly toad face. She stared Umbridge down with perfect eye contact and imagined her being sacked as she raised her wand.
"Expecto Patronum!"
The large silver mare erupted from the end of Lizzie's 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. "Oh, very impressive, indeed! Very well, Miss Brooks, you may go."
As Lizzie passed Umbridge beside the door, their eyes met a second time. Lizzie gave her a look of gloating satisfaction almost as if to say, 'Intellectual deficits, eh?' and there was a look of utter shock on Umbridge's pallid toad face. Lizzie smiled to herself, feeling confident that she had just scored and 'Outstanding' O.W.L.
On Friday, Harry, Ron, and Lizzie had the day off while Hermione sat her Ancient Runes exam, and they had the whole weekend in front of them, they permitted themselves a break from studying.
Lizzie missed figure skating terribly, and felt fortunate that the Room of Requirement existed and could transform into an indoor skating rink that she and Hayden could use.
So, they spent the entire weekend in the Room of Requirement, gliding across the ice doing triple Axels, Lutzes, sit spins, camels pins, doughnut spins, crossovers, and death spirals, which the two of them were becoming much more confident in performing.
They spent the entire weekend choreographing a routine to a beautiful piano score from the TV show Castle that Lizzie was fond of.
As they skated, Hayden thought about how in the beginning of the year he had been single and not looking for anyone, and yet by a series of coincidences, he and Lizzie found each other.
Hayden could have applied for foreign exchange at any of the Wizarding schools in the world, and yet, Hogwarts was his choice, and he had arrived at a time when Lizzie was in desperate need of someone, because after Raven's death, nearly all of her friends that she had before had all but abandoned her. The only friends she had left were Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Luna.
Before Raven died, Lizzie had been one of the most popular girls in the school, everyone, except perhaps the Slytherins wanted to be friends with her.
She was slowly getting that popularity back, but it wasn't terribly important her anymore. Coming to terms with Raven's death and working to improve her mental health had been such a roller coaster ride, full of up and downs, that there was a part of her that didn't really care if she got her old friends back or not. Everyone turning on her had shown Lizzie the kinds of people they really were, and she just didn't need that kind negativity in her life.
She and Hayden spent the latter part of the afternoon on Sunday by the lake enjoying the nice weather, laying out on a blanket, feeling the warm sun on their faces, and a gentle breeze run through their hair….
Lizzie heard Hayden gasp suddenly and saw him swatting at something. A loud unmistakable buzzing noise told her that it was a bee.
"I'm allergic!" said Hayden, continuing to swat at it. "Stay perfectly still, don't more!" Lizzie instructed. But it didn't really make much of a difference. Hayden yelped as the bee inserted its stinger into his hand as the area immediately began to redden and swell uncontrollably, seconds later, he was gasping for breath, and his skin was turning blue.
Thinking quickly, Lizzie rummaged in her bag and pulled out an EpiPen that her mother had given to her for emergencies, and jammed it into Hayden's leg, injecting its contents.
Slowly, his skin returned to normal color, and his breathing returned to normal as well. "Breathe…..Just breathe…" said Lizzie soothingly as Hayden held her hand. "It's okay, I'm right here," said Lizzie.
When he regained normal breathing and could stand again, Lizzie insisted that Hayden go to the hospital wing to be checked out by Madame Pomfrey.
"Quick thinking on your part, Miss Brooks, using epinephrine. How did you know?" "My mum," said Lizzie. "She gave it to me at the beginning of the year. Just in case I happen to develop an allergy to certain potion ingredients or toxic plants, or even a food allergy, you know."
"You did the right thing," said Madame Pomfrey, examining the bite site that was still red, as she carefully removed the stinger with a pair of tweezers and cleaned the wound.
"So I guess that makes us even," said Lizzie brightly as Hayden was given a venom antidote for good measure. "Hmm?" asked Hayden as he drank the potion. "You saved my life, now I returned the favor. That makes us even," said Lizzie. "I guess it does," said Hayden, handing the goblet back to Madame Pomfrey. "As a matter of interest, how have you been?" asked Madame Pomfrey to Lizzie. "Good," said Lizzie. "Better than good, actually. I feel great! My scar is healed – people keep asking to see it…"
Madame Pomfrey chuckled. Lizzie neglected to mention her suspicions about Umbridge, since Hayden had already been told it was highly unlikely that she could have been involved.
They hadn't been inside the common room five minutes when the portrait hole opened and Hermione clambered in, looking thoroughly bad tempered. "What?" she snapped when she saw Hayden and Lizzie staring at her. "Somebody's cranky," said Lizzie, smirking slightly. "Somebody needs to shut up!" snapped Hermione.
"Hermione!" said Hayden reproachfully. "What happened? How did Runes go?"
"I mistranslated 'ehwaz'," said Hermione furiously. "It means 'partnership,' not 'defense,' I mixed it up with 'eihwaz'."
Lizzie shrugged. "Well, that's an easy mistake to make, isn't it?" she asked. "No big deal, right? I'm sure you'll still get…."
"Oh, shut up, Lizzie!" said Hermione angrily. "Hermione!" said Hayden, standing up and glaring at her. "No, Hayden!" said Hermione. "It could mean the one mistake that makes a difference between a pass and a fail, but I don't expect you to understand! The examiners at your school probably gave you 'Outstanding's didn't they? You probably didn't have to try!"
Lizzie's mouth fell open. "That's uncalled for, and you know it!" said Hayden, his face turning slightly pink, wishing he had the authority to give her detention. As a prefect, he only had the authority to put students from his own school in detention, but not anyone from Hogwarts.
"And what's more," said Hermione. "Somebody's put a niffler in Umbridge's office, I don't know how they got it through that new door she had installed, 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 Lizzie and Hayden together. "It is not good!" said Hermione hotly. "She thinks it's Hagrid doing it, remember?" and we do not want Hagrid chucked out!" "My neck's on the chopping block too, remember?" said Lizzie. "He's teaching at the moment. I just saw him," said Hayden, gesturing towards the window. "Umbridge can't blame him for it."
"Really, Hayden, you are so naïve!" said Hermione. "Do you really think Umbridge is going to wait around for proof?" She seemed almost determined to be in a towering temper, as she swept off toward the girls' dormitories, banging the door behind her.
"Nice girl," said Hayden, not forgetting that Hermione had flat out refused to believe that Lizzie had attempted to drag herself out of the forest when her appendix burst, despite what he had told her.
Hermione's bad mood persisted for most of the weekend, though Lizzie and Hayden found it quite easy to ignore, as Hayden helped Lizzie to study for her Potions O.W.L., the exam that Lizzie had been looking forward to the least, and which she was sure would be the one that would mark the end of her Potions career. If she didn't scrape and 'Outstanding,' she would no longer be taking Potions – something she was very conflicted about.
Despite her loathing of Snape, and her less than enthusiastic feeling toward the practice, she had secretly decided after her career advice meeting with Professor McGonagall that she would become a Healer if her desires to change Wizarding law to offer better accommodations to individuals with disabilities didn't work out, and the Wizarding world just wasn't ready for that kind of change.
"I think you'd be a great Healer," said Hayden as he walked her to her examination.
"You've always enjoyed helping people!" "At least I'd be making Mum proud," said Lizzie.
Sure enough, she found the written examination difficult, and Lizzie could barely read what was on the parchment because the print was far too small, even though she had a customized lesson plan requiring that all her examination papers be printed in large print for her to read. Lizzie glared up at Snape, convinced that he had done this on purpose.
The afternoon practical was not as horrible as she had expected it to be. Snape was absent, thank goodness, so Lizzie found that she was more relaxed and confident while making her potions. Neville who was sitting nearby Lizzie also looked happier than she had ever seen him during any Potions class.
When Professor Marchbanks said, "Step away from your cauldrons, please, the examination is over," Lizzie corked her sample flask, feeling that she might not have achieved a good enough grade, but by the grace of God, avoided a fail.
"Only four exams left," said Hayden wearily, as he and Lizzie headed back to Gryffindor Tower. "Only!" said Hermione snappishly. "I've got Arithmancy and it's probably the toughest subject there is!"
"Then why did you choose to take it if it was going to be so hard that you'd complain this much?" asked Lizzie.
Hermione refused to speak to her for the rest of the day, though she did tell off some first years for giggling too loudly in the common room
"I get that she's stressed – we all are!" said Hayden in a low voice as he and Lizzie huddled in a corner of the common room, playing Chocolate Frog card Poker, a stash of Canadian and Wizarding currency in front of them. "But does she really have to chew people up like this?"
He set down a card and took one from the deck in front of him. "Has she always been like this?"
"As long as I've know her – cards?" asked Lizzie. "Two," said Hayden as he and Lizzie swapped cards. "Hmm," said Lizzie thoughtfully. "What have you got?" asked Hayden. "Two pair," said Lizzie, setting down her cards. "You?" "Straight flush," said Hayden, setting down his own cards. "Good game," he said. Lizzie smiled as Hayden reached for the pile of money in front of them. "Oh, wait – sorry about that…full house," said Lizzie, setting side a card to reveal two more. "Again, are you kidding me?" asked Hayden as Lizzie laughed. "Sorry," she said. "How about we split it?" "You drive a hard bargain," said Hayden. "How did you get so good at this?"
"I used to play with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. But then, I beat Hermione, and she didn't want to play with me anymore," said Lizzie. "Sore loser, eh?" asked Hayden. "Yep," said Lizzie. "That explains a lot," said Hayden.
Lizzie 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, and Lizzie had a panic attack just before the examination began as her mind flashed back in horribly vivid detail to the day she almost died.
She could see it all play out like a movie in her head: Riding Flicka…horrible pain, falling off of Flicka and lying on the ground… dragging herself along the ground…Hayden carrying her into Hagrid's….
"Lizzie? Hey, Lizzie, are you okay?"
She blinked hard as she came back to reality, breathing deeply trying to settle her heart rate. Harry was staring at her looking worried. "Are you okay?" asked Harry. "Y-yeah, I'm – I'm fine," said Lizzie, only now realizing how badly she was shaking. "You don't have to do this," said Harry. "I could tell Professor Tofty and Professor Marchbanks you're not feeling well….."
"I'm fine," said Lizzie. "It's just….I don't like being near the Forest, that's all…" Harry nodded as the group was called to order and the examination began.
Students were required to correctly identify the knarl hidden amongst 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.
Lizzie even surprised Professor Tofty and Professor Marchbanks, by treating a unicorn with colic by feeding it a mixture of oil and water before slipping a halter over its alabaster face and walking it around. When she was dismissed, Hagrid gave her a fleeting thumbs up before she headed back to the castle.
The Astronomy Theory exam on Wednesday morning went well enough; Lizzie was not convinced however that she had gotten all the names of Jupiter's moons right, but she was at least somewhat confident that none of them were inhabited by mice – she had previously mislabeled an essay saying that one of Jupiter's moons was inhabited by mice, when she meant to write ice. They had to wait until evening before their practical examination; the afternoon was instead devoted to Divination.
Lizzie by now was beginning accept Professor Trelawney's prediction regarding her and Hayden, and that it wasn't just her normal erratic mumbo-jumbo, it was real, though she still hadn't told anyone about it, and confided only in her journal.
To Lizzie's great relief and surprise, she did exceptionally well during the practical exam, though she couldn't see anything in the crystal ball; though she did very well during the tea leaf reading, that she would soon face a separation and say goodbye to a loved one. She silently prayed that none of her friends were going to die, especially Hayden…
She did, however, get the head and life lines on Professor Marchbanks' hand confused and told her that she ought to have died the previous Tuesday, much to her extreme humiliation.
"Why did I say that?" Lizzie wailed as they ascended the marble staircase. "Well, we were always going to fail that one," said Ron gloomily. He had actually just made Lizzie 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 realized that he had been describing the examiner's reflection.
"I never should have taken that subject! What was I thinking?" asked Lizzie. "What were any of us thinking?" asked Harry. "Still," said Ron. "At least we can give it up, now,"
"Amen to that!" said Lizzie as Hermione came running up behind them along with Hayden. "Well I think I've done all right in Arithmancy," she said and Harry, Ron, Lizzie, and Hayden sighed with relief. "Just in 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. It was very romantic, in a way. I should come up here with Hayden sometime, Lizzie thought dreamily. 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 the blank star chart he or she had been given.
Professor Marchbanks and Tofty strolled among them, watching as they entered the precise position 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 flickered on the ground below starting to vanish as light in the castle windows were extinguished.
As Lizzie 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, Lizzie 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.
Lizzie 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 gliding the tops of their heads, they would have been indistinguishable from the dark ground on which they stood.
Even at this distance, Lizzie 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 of why Umbridge would be taking a stroll out past midnight, much less accompanied by five others. Then somebody coughed behind them, and she remembered that she was halfway though an exam.
She had quite forgotten Venus's position – jamming her good eye (her right) 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.
She 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.
Lizzie 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 Lizzie 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. Lizzie 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; Lizzie looked down at her own and noticed that she had mislabeled Venus as Mars as she bent down to correct it.
There was a loud BANG from the grounds. Several people said "Ouch!" as they poked themselves in the face with the end 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.
"My dear!" said Professor Tofty in a scandalized voice. "This is an examination!"
But nobody was paying the slightest attention to their star charts anymore. Jets of red light were still flying beside Hagrid's cabin, yet they seemed to be bouncing off him He was still upright and still as far as Lizzie could see, fighting. Cries and yells echoed across the grounds; a man yelled, "Be reasonable, Hagrid!" and Hagrid roared, "Reasonable, be damned, yeh won't take me like this, Dawlish!"
Dear Lord, please help him! Lizzie prayed desperately seeing 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. Lizzie clapped a hand to her mouth and gasped in shock.
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. Hermione was looking as equally shocked as Lizzie, both hands over her mouth. Lizzie looked around at Harry and Ron and saw that they too were looking frightened. None of them had ever seen Hagrid in a real temper before.
"Look!" squealed Parvati, who was leaning over the parapet, and pointing to the floor of the castle where the front doors seemed to have opened again, more light had spilled out onto the dark lawn and a single long black shadow was now rippling across the lawn.
"Now, really!" said Professor Tofty anxiously. "Only sixteen minutes left, you know!"
But nobody paid him the slightest attention. They were watching the person now sprinting toward the battle beside Hagrid's cabin. "How dare you!" the figure shouted as she ran. "How dare you!"
"Lizzie," Hermione whispered. "It's McGonagall!"
"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…."
Hermione, Parvati, Lavender, and Lizzie all screamed at once. 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 she was lifted right off her feet, landed hard on her back, and lay motionless.
"Oh, my God!" Lizzie gasped.
"Galloping gargoyles!" shouted Professor Tofty, who seemed to have forgotten the exam completely. "Not so much as a warning! Outrageous behavior!"
If Umbridge had been the ringleader in all this, then it came as no surprise that this happened. It was only a matter of time…..
"COWARDS!" bellowed Hagrid, his voice carrying clearly to the top of the tower, and several lights flickered back inside the castle. "RUDDY COWARDS! HAVE SOME O' THAT – AN' THAT….."
"Oh, my…" gasped Hermione. A whinny broke the eerie silence as the thundering sound of hoofbeats came closer and closer and Lizzie saw a black shadowy figure jump over the nearest fence and gallop straight for Hagrid. "Flicka!" gasped Lizzie as she watched the black mustang rear and whinny angrily as she snorted and kicked Hagrid's attackers in the face many times as they attempted to Stun her too.
"Stun that horse!" screeched Umbridge. "No!" gasped Lizzie, but Flicka reared up at Umbridge as she raised her own wand, knocking it out of her hand. Then there was a loud "Ouch!"
Flicka had apparently bitten Professor Umbridge. "Good girl Flicka!" said Lizzie happily as she watched the last of Umbridge's minions hesitate to within reach of either Flicka or Hagrid. Indeed, he was backing away so fast that he tripped over one of his unconscious colleagues, and fell over. Hagrid had turned and begun to run with Fang hung around his neck as Flicka trotted off into the Forest.
There was a long minute's quivering silence, everybody gazing openmouthed into the grounds. Then Professor Tofty's voice said feebly. "Um…five minutes to go, everybody."
Though she had only filled in two-thirds of her chart, Lizzie was desperate for the end of the exam. When it came at last, Harry, Ron, and Hermione forced their telescopes haphazardly back into their holders and dashed back down the spiral staircase. None of the students were going to bed – they were all talking loudly and excitedly at the foot of the stairs about what they had witnessed.
"That evil woman!" gasped Hermione, who seemed to be having difficulty talking due to rage. "Trying to sneak up on Hagrid in the dead of night." "And guess who might be next?" said Lizzie. "Don't say that, Lizzie!" said Hermione. "Why not?" asked Lizzie. "She hates me just as much as Hagrid – maybe more! What if she's just biding her time, waiting for the right moment to kill me? She's already tried and failed once! And she would have succeeded too, if Hayden hadn't come looking for me! Who's to say I'm not next on her list?"
"She clearly wanted to avoid another scene like when Trelawney got the sack," 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?" "That's the giant in him," said Lizzie. "It's very hard to Stun them, they're tough like trolls…."
"But poor Professor McGonagall!" said Hermione. "Four Stunning Spells straight to the chest, and she's not exactly young, is she?"
"No," said Lizzie, trying not to sound terrified. Professor McGonagall had acted somewhat in the role of Lizzie's protector against Umbridge, and now she was all alone….helpless and completely at the mercy of Umbridge. She suddenly felt as though she had a target on her back.
"At least they didn't get to take Hagrid off to Azkaban," said Ron. "I s'pect he'd gone to join Dumbledore, hasn't he?" "I suppose so," said Hermione, who looked tearful. "Oh, this is awful. I really thought that Dumbledore would be back before long, but now we've lost Hagrid too….."
And Lizzie couldn't help but think that it would only be a matter of time before Umbridge fulfilled her goal and got rid of her too, as she had been trying to so desperately to do for the entire year.
They traipsed back to the Gryffindor common room to find it full. The commotion out in the grounds had woken several people, including Hayden and his friends, who had congregated in a corner of the room, looking anxious.
Lizzie ran up to Hayden as he hugged and kissed her. "Do you know what this means?" she asked tearfully, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione relayed to Molly Cobb and the rest of her Canadian friends what had happened on top the Astronomy Tower.
"If Umbridge can get rid of Hagrid, then she can easily get rid of me!" said Lizzie, tears brimming in her eyes. "Don't talk like that," said Hayden soothingly, reaching up and brushing the tears gently from her eyes. "Don't you get it?" asked Lizzie. "Without Professor McGonagall, I don't have anyone to protect me!" "Yes you do," said Hayden. "You have me." "She'll just see you as an obstacle and try to get you out of the way!" said Lizzie. "She'll send you back to Toronto, and we'll never see each other again! Hayden, she won't stop until she kills me!"
Lizzie was shaking now. She had never felt so scared or vulnerable in her life, and there was nothing she could do. "But why fire Hagrid now?" asked Hayden. "Umbridge hates part-humans," said Lizzie. "The same way she hates people with disabilities – why do you think she set her sights on me in the first place?"
"And she thought Hagrid was putting nifflers in her office," said Hermione. "Anyway, it doesn't really make a difference, she would have sacked him anyway. He was too close to Dumbledore."
"That's true," said Hayden, gripping Lizzie's hand as she held it tight. "Gosh! 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….."
Now Lizzie felt even more anxious. Hogwarts had been full of wonderful people before Umbridge came along, now she was slowly stripping the school of everything and everyone that made it great.
"Madame Pomfrey will sort her out," said Alicia Spinnet firmly. "She hasn't failed yet,"
"She managed to save my life," said Lizzie. "Yep," said Hayden, nodding.
It was nearly four in the morning before the common room cleared. Lizzie and Hayden felt wide awake – the image of Hagrid sprinting away into the dark, with Flicka trailing after him was haunting her. She was possessed with a kind of fury that didn't even feel like her own, she couldn't even come up with a punishment bad enough for Umbridge. Ron suggested having her experience what Lizzie did in the Forbidden Forest. "She'd probably enjoy that too much," said Lizzie. "And anyway, we don't even know how she did it," said Hayden.
I wish he'd have been there, thought Lizzie. He would make her pay for everything she's done…
Lizzie was normally not a violent person, and would never wish harm on anyone for any reason. However, given everything she had been put through by Dolores Umbridge, and all because of her own prejudices, ableism, and disgust toward Lizzie for something she had no control over, had gone beyond inappropriate behavior. It was appalling, and no matter how much Lizzie wracked her brains she couldn't figure out how she was able to get away with it for this long…..
She and Hayden fell asleep together on the sofa, their arms wrapped around each other, contemplating hideous revenges, and woke three hours later feeling as though they had bee awake for days.
At least she had one more exam to go; History of Magic, which would not take place until that afternoon. Lizzie would much have liked to go to bed after breakfast, but she had been counting on the morning to a spot of last-minute studying with Hayden, so instead, she sat with her head in her hands by the common room window, trying not to nod off as she read through some of the notes stacked three-and-a-half feet high that Hermione had lent her.
The fifth years entered the Great Hall at two o'clock and took their places in front of the overturned examination papers. Lizzie felt exhausted. She just wanted this to be over so she could sleep. Then she would have a few more days' riding on Flicka before the show. When she had asked Molly that morning if Flicka was okay, she had discovered that Flicka had been in her stall the entire time and could not have been the horse that she had seen that night. So, if it wasn't Flicka, who was the black horse that defended Hagrid?
"Turn over your papers," said Professor Marchbanks from the front of the Hall, flicking over the giant hourglass. "You may begin…."
Lizzie stared fixedly at the first question. It was several seconds before it dawned on her that she had not taken in a word of it; there was a wasp buzzing distractedly against one of the high windows.
Slowly and torturously, she began to write her answer.
She found it difficult to remember and kept confusing her dates. She simply skipped over question four: In your opinion, did wand legislation contribute to or lead to better control of goblin riots of the eighteenth century?
Who cares? thought Lizzie dully, thinking that she would go back to it if she had time at the end. She had a stab at question five: How was the Statute of Secrecy breached in 1749 and what measures were introduced to prevent a recurrence? But had a nagging suspicion that she had missed several important points. She had a feeling that vampires had come into the story somewhere…..
She looked ahead for a question she could definitely answer and her eyes slighted upon number ten: Describe the circumstances that let to the Formation of the International Confederation of Wizards and explain why the warlocks of Liechtenstein refused to join.
Hang on – I know this, Lizzie thought, though she felt like her brain was enveloped in a dense fog. 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 beside Parvati Patil, whose long dark hair fell below the back of her chair. Once or twice, she found herself staring at the tiny gold light that glistened in it when she moved her head very slightly and had to give her own head a little shake to clear it.
….the first Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards was Pierre Bonaccord, but his appointment was contested by the Wizarding community of the Liechtenstein because…..
There was a great sound from the entrance hall as Lizzie was brought back to earth with a bump. There was a great deal of shouting and movement coming from outside as everyone turned to see where the noise was coming from.
Fred and George Weasley flew into the room on their Cleansweeps, scattering examination papers everywhere and dropping pre-lit fireworks everywhere as they exploded into multicolored stars against the enchanted ceiling.
Even those not taking examinations had noticed the spectacle, and came to catch a closer look. Lizzie saw Hayden grinning as he watched more fireworks being set off. Umbridge came pelting into the room on her short legs, huffing and puffing, gazing around with a mixture of anger and confusion as more fireworks exploded all around her.
"Stop this!" she shouted. "Stop this at once!" Fred and George laughed, dropping another firework as it went off with a loud BANG and turned into a dragon with menacing teeth, heading straight for Umbridge. She turned on her heel and began to run out of the Great Hall as the firework dragon opened its mouth and appeared to swallow her whole, while emitting sparks as they fell against all the educational decrees that had been put in locked frames on both sides of the large double gold doors to the Great Hall, shattering the glass in each frame and shredding each decree into ribbons as all the frames collapsed from their hangers with an almighty crashing noise. Lizzie was grinning broadly as she watched the paper streamers that used to be Educational Decree Number Twenty-nine – stating that anyone with a diagnosed learning difference will be expelled – wafted down and landed at her feet. She felt slightly relieved now that that educational decree, and those that came before it were now all null and void.
Fred and George flew out of the entrance hall into the cheering and applauding crowd.
They threw the last few fireworks as they exploded into a large shimmering W against the overcast sky as the two of them disappeared.
