September and October passed quickly with Ari going home often for a three day yom tov. He wanted to stay home tzom gedalia also, but his mother said that a fast day is no reason to miss school. Overall, it was easy to remember fast days in Hogwarts since his mother didn't send food until after the fast was over.
There were more scary creatures in defense, but Ari tried not to show visible signs of fear. It helped that the creatures were often in tanks.
Ari made sure not to irritate Snape in Potions. He wondered if Snape was worried about Black, considering their past history.
Herbology was interesting as usual, at least to people like Ari who liked plants.
Ancient Runes was making more sense to Ari every day. He didn't have to always look in his dictionary anymore, and tried passing notes to his friends written in runes.
Arithmancy was still Ari's favorite. He got to use his love of numbers for something fun. He shared it with his family when he was home for yom tov. His mother enjoyed calculating various names, while his father acted as if they were both crazy.
After all the yamim tovim passed, people started talking about the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend. Ari was relieved to find out it was on Sunday, but he wasn't sure what he could do there. He wasn't into pranks, so he didn't think he would find Zonkos too interesting. He knew the sweet shop would have nothing kosher, and he didn't understand what was so special about the shrieking shack.
While Ari was right that those three places didn't interest him, he tagged along with his friends and soon found himself in Dervish and Banges. Ari was fascinated by all the products they sold. He ended up staying there while his friends went to The Three Broomsticks and they met up again after. Zonkos wasn't so bad either. While Ari would never consider buying any of those products, he thought it might be good to know what other people may do to him. He also wondered if any Zonkos products would be useful in a muggle war.
Ari stayed in the common room during the Halloween feast again. He was surprised when everyone came back to hear that nothing happened this year. He found out he was wrong ten minutes later, when Professor Flitwick walked into the common room and announced they are returning to the great hall because Sirius Black broke into Hogwarts.
Ari didn't think he could sleep in the same room as girls, even if there were many other people around. He figured he could just sit upright the whole time and try not to look at anyone who may not be tzniusdik. The head boy yelled at everyone to go to sleep, but nobody paid him any attention. At some point, Ari fell asleep sitting upright against the wall, or at least, that's the position he was in when he woke up.
People discussed Sirius Black for a few days before the conversations shifted back to quidditch. Ari wondered why things always happened at Gryffindor matches but not at any other matches. He wasn't even too surprised when he heard that dementors came out on the pitch during the Gryffindor Hufflepuff game and that Potter was once again in the hospital wing. The only report Ari heard from the Ravenclaw Hufflepuff game was that Ravenclaw won by a lot.
Ari was finding the decorations in December to be a bit confusing. Living in a diverse neighborhood, he grew up seeing X-mas decorations, but having real fairies as decorations was going too far. Of course, Michael and Terry teased him when he said he felt sorry for the fairies.
The next Hogsmeade weekend was on Shabbos. As students were going home the next day, Ari didn't bother coming back after Shabbos. He was relieved not to have to deal with the pre-holiday rush at the castle.
When everyone came back after the holiday, most discussion centered on whether or not Ravenclaw would win the quidditch cup this year. They lost to Slytherin a week into the term, but it wasn't such a big loss. Ari missed the game as usual, but he heard about it after.
The next match would be Ravenclaw against Gryffindor. The Ravenclaws were really hoping they would win, but weren't too optimistic.
"Why wouldn't you win?" Ari asked.
"Potter will do anything to get the snitch," Davies, the captain explained. "In first year, he caught it in his mouth from a broom that was throwing him off. At the next match, he caught it right away, not giving anyone time to score. Last year, a bludger was targeting him, and he told the beaters to leave it and let him outfly it, and he still caught the snitch. The only reason he lost a match this year was because of dementors."
"Who's our seeker?" Ari asked.
"Cho Chang," Davies told him. "She's good, but she's not Potter."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Ari said confidently. "Just stay with Potter and she won't even have to look for the snitch. She just needs to get in front of him whenever he sees it."
"That may work," Davies said. "It's better than your earlier strategy with the fake fouls."
"That's only for when you play with Slytherin," Ari corrected. "If they're fouling you anyway, you may as well take advantage."
Ari was disappointed to hear that his strategy didn't work, and Ravenclaw lost again. Soon though, people stopped talking about the match and started talking about Black breaking into the Gryffindor dorms. When people lost interest in that conversation, the talk shifted to the next Hogsmeade weekend.
Once again, it was scheduled for Shabbos, so Ari knew he wasn't going to go. Ari didn't really care. He heard rumors that two Gryffindors also weren't going, but unlike him, they couldn't go home. One was being punished, and the other one didn't have the permission slip signed.
Not long after the Hogsmeade weekend, Ari learned cheering charms in Charms class. When he was home for Pesach, he decided to try it on his family.
A week after Pesach, Ari missed the last quidditch match of the year. Not surprisingly, Gryffindor won. His friends provided him with a commentary of all the fouls that happened in the match.
The rest of the semester was spent revising for exams. Ari didn't study too hard. He skimmed his books if they interested him, and ignored them if they didn't.
This time, Professor McGonagall noticed when Ari backed away from his tortoise that used to be a teapot.
"It can't hurt you," she said reassuringly. "Especially since you transfigured it into a dead tortoise."
"That's safer to deal with," Ari said.
The cheering charm was easy, since Ari practiced over Pesach. Ancient runes was also not too difficult. One thing Ari did do before the test was read his book. This way, he remembered what most of the runes meant. Potions wasn't too difficult either. Ari completed his potion with time to spare. He was half asleep during Astronomy, but felt confident that he did okay anyway. History of magic also wasn't bad. Ari learned nothing from Binns, but he read the book and wrote what he remembered. Herbology was always easy, and the Defense against Dark Arts would have been fun if it wasn't scary. The last test was Arithmancy, Ari's favorite subject. He knew he did well when he handed in his paper.
Ari went home for Shabbos after exams, annoyed that he had to come back in order to go to London and go home again, but he was told that he can't miss the last week of school. When he came back, he was surprised to hear that Professor Lupin is a werewolf! Ari didn't know what to think about that. Obviously, he's scary if he's an animal, but as a teacher, he was pretty nice.
Gryffindor won the house cup again, which didn't surprise anyone. At least this year, Harry Potter and his friends didn't win a bunch of last minute points.
The train ride home was a waste of time as usual. Ari sat with Michael and Terry who were discussing the quidditch world cup. Dean and Seamus came in for a while to join the discussion. Seamus was obviously supporting Ireland and was planning on attending the game. Nobody else knew yet what they were doing this summer. They agreed to keep in touch, although Ari wasn't interested in the game. It wasn't long before he was back home with another summer ahead of him.