Chapter 30: The N.E.W.T.s
Harry didn't know what to think, what to feel now. They had been discussing all their failures of searching of the Diadem for hours, even until it was a late Saturday night. They had have combed the Ravenclaw Tower from top to bottom. They had also have knocked with their wands on the statue and especially with a great care on its podium, but there had been nothing. The only place they didn't get to carefully check inch by inch was the very top of the statue, but as Ron had said about it, "Luna had already inspected it. And what do you expect – that You-Know-Who would have drilled a hole in the face of the dear Ravenclaw and hid the Diadem there? I don't think so." They had no advice on what to do next, there was even no comprehension of what to conclude about all of this. Harry was constantly feeling now as the Diadem had slipped right through his fingers. He felt like he should have known exactly where it was located, but when he needed to say it in words, they were like hanging on the tip of his tongue never leaving it; like he should only reach out with his hand but when trying grabbing something with it, his fist stubbornly remained empty; like he should know exactly where to go, but in the end he's still confused. Hermione said the French called this feeling Presque vu when you think something is very well known, but you can't grasp it; though this knowledge didn't lessen Harry's suffering.
Hermione also couldn't conclude any sensible results of their today's efforts. The only thing she said was, "Still, there's something not right." Ginny also tried to help, trying to figure out if there was something they could have missed, but she wasn't very successful with it.
The O.W.L. examinations in the basic subjects were to start next Monday, and a week later there will be the N.E.W.T.s in the optional subjects, so on Sunday Hermione didn't want to hear anything about the Diadem anymore and spent all her time studying Arithmancy tables. "Harry, I have my first exam on Arithmancy Monday a week later. I really want to be prepared for it," Hermione replied, despite Harry's objection that it's Sunday and there's still a whole week left to the exam.
"We have almost two weeks until the Alchemy exam," he told Ginny, "so let's go for a walk. I can't focus enough for studying now."
"Yes, of course," she agreed, and in the summer like afternoon, they went for a walk along the Hogwarts Lake, which reflected brightly the sunshine. There were a few clouds in the sky, but otherwise the day looked quite pleasant, almost like in spite of the confusion, unrest and perplexity dwelling on his mind. Here and there were groups of other students strolling along the lake, but more than just a few of the fifth-years and sixth-years were crouched over their books, intently reading as they were preparing for tomorrow's Charms exam.
"How are you?" Ginny asked as they stopped in the sand one step away from the water of the lake holding their hands.
"Humpf," Harry sighed hard. "The worst part is that I understand nothing now. And if even Hermione isn't sure what's happening, then I just don't know what to do next. Besides, there's the thing that there's still the possibility that Diadem really isn't located anywhere at all. Maybe we've already had defeated Voldemort and now we're chasing who knows what."
"Yeah, it's pretty depressing," Ginny agreed, "but do take a look at it from this point of view – everything is still calm right now, Voldemort hasn't shown up anywhere, and at least we're safe here."
"But what if we haven't destroyed Voldemort, so he's wandering somewhere around and waiting? It wouldn't be the first time," Harry said grimly as he gazed into the distance.
"Then we'll be ready for it if he'll show up," Ginny said reassuringly.
"How can you be so calm about all this?" Harry asked curiously, looking at the girl. "Aren't you even a little bit worried that, maybe just next to here, let's say in the Forbidden Forest, there's roaming a ghost of a monster?"
"Of course I'm worried a lot. But there're two things that calm ne down," Ginny replied as she squeezed his hand. "Firstly, I have you, secondly, the act of worrying has never solved any problem, so usually it's just a waste of time and energy."
"Oh, really?" Harry asked with a grin.
"Of course it is. For example, when I constantly worried about what are you thinking of me, you didn't even look at me, but then I just stopped worrying, and look, now we're together," she said with a wink.
"And I'm happy about that," Harry said with a smile, and then he leaned closer to her and gave her a quick kiss.
"So you're suggesting I should simply stop worrying?" Harry asked.
"You are such a quick learner," Ginny said as her smile spread wider, then she put her arms around his neck, and he leaned down and kissed her.
Ginny's suggestion had been good for him, though not in the way Harry would've wanted. After the pleasant and peaceful Sunday afternoon, he lay in his bed in the night and allowed his thoughts to wander on their own. Of course, all the confusion wasn't suddenly gone, but it seemed that after the nice rest, his mind was working better. More and more new thoughts arose; events began to appear from different points of view. However, unfortunately he didn't come to any clear conclusion; only one thing was certain – that nothing was certain; he just felt it more pronounced that he definitely had missed something. In a way, it also mattered, because it encouraged him to keep trying in order to come to some sensible solution in all this mess.
Although the N.E.W.T. students didn't have any exams on the following week, they didn't have a lot of free time or long periods of reflection because Hermione, of course, had planned a very busy schedule for repeating the studying subjects. She even almost had a quarrel with Ginny, stating that now is not the right time for Quidditch practices. Ginny had replied to her that they need to prepare for the final game of the season versus Slytherin, besides her mom had always said that healthy spirit dwells in a healthy body, so a great deal of flying would only do good for everyone. Regarding this question, Harry was on Ginny's side too – Hermione, naturally, was able to study some twelve hours a day a week in a nonstop, but it wasn't the same for the ordinary people. They needed a moment for clearing their heads, too.
So the free week passed, and on Monday at noon, Hermione was tuning herself for the N.E.W.T. Arithmancy exam at one o'clock.
"I've done all the homework assigned by Vector, I've read the New Theory of Numerology, Basics of Arithmancy, and Modern Arithmancy. I've overlooked all the topics given by Vector which we had to reread while preparing for the exam. I don't know what else could I have done more, but I shouldn't be too overconfident with myself, otherwise it will end like my O.W.L. Defence Against the Dark Arts exam. Right, I need to reread about the dualism of the being; what if it actually is in the exam…"
"Hermione, everything will be fine," Ron said as he smiled reassuringly at her and stroked her back comfortingly.
As they left Hermione in the Entrance Hall after lunch with some other classmates devouring their notes with their eyes, the three of them went out of the castle – the sky was clouded, but the weather was pleasant and warm.
"Well, Ron, what are we going to repeat now?" Ginny asked him with a grin.
Ron looked at her like she was crazy. "Hermione's not here and you still want to study? Seriously, my fingers are already flat from the page flipping."
"Relax, mate," Harry said with a smile, "she was just kidding; weren't you, Ginny?"
"Of course it was just a joke." She took the two of them to a tree, and they lay down in its shadow, chattering about the Quidditch, until Hermione had finished her exam.
As she came out in the yard, Hermione found them quickly and hurried to her friends, then fell beside them, sighing hard, like she had defeated some terrible beast.
"Well, how was it?" Ron asked immediately as he looked at his girlfriend.
"I think I did well, but until I haven't got the results, I can't really know it for sure," Hermione replied. "We were asked to calculate the fate of some unknown people and only at the end did the examiners tell us what kind of people we may have had. It seemed I had Gilderoy Lockhart."
Both Ron and Harry grinned equally. "Well, and how is he going to be?" Harry asked now.
"I got the results telling that he was destined to go through an unpleasant incident and the recovery is going to be long and painful," she replied.
"So, he's going to recover after all?" this time asked Ginny.
"My calculations showed that he is destined to still have a long and full-fledged life. So sooner or later he has to recover someday," Hermione confirmed. "Well, I can have a few free moments tonight, because tomorrow there's the Divination exam. Fortunately, I have nothing common with this subject for a long while, but there's Ancient Runes on Wednesday. It's unlikely I'm going to have The Tales of Beedle the Bard in my exam."
While Hermione was diligently repeating everything about the Ancient Runes the next day, Harry, Ron, and Ginny still used their free time to relax, since they were not bothered neither by Astronomy exam Wednesday night, nor by History of Magic or Muggle Studies on Thursday. The evening wasn't far away, when Hermione was sitting again in their usual four in the Common Room as the very late afternoon sun shone on her Rune Dictionary. Harry, Ron, and Ginny had also begun to reread their Alchemy notes when, having just passed their Divination exam, Lavender and Fay entered the ultra-quiet Common Room, which had the library atmosphere. They whispered quietly but lively to each other as they sat at the table near a group of fifth-years who studied as hard as Hermione.
After a few minutes, two fifth-year girls stood up and walked out of the Gryffindor Common Room, giving reproachful looks to the chatty Lavender. It didn't go unnoticed for Hermione, and she approached her classmates to ask them not to disturb the people who are preparing for their exams.
"Oh, you've made the library atmosphere in here," Lavender said. "So where can we rest after our exams?"
"Now, in the summertime, you can easily go outside. As you see, people are studying for their exams here," Hermione argued, kindly and politely, but still instructive.
"Okay, okay, we'll go outside. Come on, Fay," Lavender said as she began to get up on her feet.
"Even though you're not studying Divination, Hermione, but you're still attending Arithmancy lessons, aren't you?" Fay suddenly addressed Hermione.
"Well, yes, I am. Why?" Hermione didn't understand what she meant.
"Hasn't Arithmancy revealed anything to you about the upcoming events in the summer? In a way, it's the same as Divination. You know – in Trelawney's lessons, we've seeing it for months this year that there's evil hiding somewhere near, but now in the exam, we both saw a Quidditch player and then a wolf clad in a sheepskin clearly. Lavender thinks it's obvious these visions show Harry," Fay finished her story in a dramatic tone.
"So you mean that Harry is the evil hiding here? That's nonsense," Hermione exclaimed. "And for your information, Arithmancy is no Divination. You have to calculate the course of events In Arithmancy, not just stare blankly at the shadows until you start imagining something."
"Okay, okay, there's no need to get mad," Lavender said reassuringly, "we'll take another walk along the lake." After that, the two chatty girls left the quiet Common Room, but Hermione returned to her books, telling her friends in detail the conversation she just had.
"But, Hermione," Ginny whispered carefully, "didn't you say that Professor Vector doesn't take your homework seriously because it tells there's too much danger everywhere?"
Hermione gave her a strange look. "Well, yeah, but I don't know how it could relate the Quidditch, wolves or sheep. I think this is just a new rumour, so they could gossip about Harry."
"Well, you're probably right," Ginny said with a soft sigh, and the young people turned their attention back to their notes.
After the Ancient Runes exam on Wednesday, Hermione had free time for the rest of the week, while Harry, Ron, and Ginny were getting ready for their Alchemy exam on Friday afternoon.
As usual, the exams took place in the Great Hall, where a lot of single tables were placed throughout the Hall. Professor Flamel and Professor Switch were busy at the teacher's table, and they both were supervised by one of the Ministry's examiners, which Harry remembered seeing in his O.W.L.s three years ago. But behind the table in four places there shone red, blue, green or white light – Harry already knew what the practical part of the exam is going to be, and he sighed hard, thinking about it. He hadn't been able to move any of these four elements in his seventh year.
At exactly one o'clock in the afternoon, Flamel left the Great Hall, leaving his students in the supervision of Switch and an ancient man.
"Now you may begin," Switch announced, first waving his wand to send the each exam taker a sheet full with questions, and then he turned the hourglass upside down.
Harry caught his page, which almost shot past him, and he read the questions on it. They didn't look very hard. 1) How many elements there are used in Alchemy? Name them and describe their interaction with each other! 2) Give the meaning of these symbols and describe their potion properties! … until finally the sheet ended with the fifteenth question – What is the main goal of Alchemy? Harry smiled at it – he knew that very well. Some questions seemed to be very easy, like the last one; he had to ponder his answers more carefully for some others, but two hours later, Harry felt he had given proper answers to most of the questions and as he looked at Ron sitting nearby, he saw that his friend swayed his head like saying – it wasn't so hard after all.
The sand in the hourglass had run out, and Switch waved his wand again collecting the not so many students' parchment sheets. Then they were allowed to rest for a half-hour, and at half past four they had to start their practical test, which they were taking all together, since the number of Alchemy students didn't exceed twenty.
The practical test was examined by the very old wizard Professor Tofty, but Professor Switch supervised the order. Initially, they were allowed to choose one of the elements and practice for a moment, so that they could show their skills to the examiner. Harry and Ginny chose the element of fire – as Hermione had mentioned, fire has a self-amplifying property, so he hoped that he could somehow use that. The professor first examined Hannah, who conjured a rather great water column, then a sixth-year girl drew out fragrant roses from the green corner, and Terry Boot made a huge gust of wind in the Hall. So went the exam, until half an hour later, it was Harry's turn.
"Well then, Harry Potter, do show what you are able of," the old wizard said with a smile.
Feeling like there's an anthill churning in his stomach, Harry thought that he wasn't able of anything much at the moment. Though, he got his courage and he said a spell in his mind, "Flipendo!" Nothing happened. Harry pointed to the fiery red corner with his hand again, but nothing happened.
"Take it easy, Harry. There's no need to worry. I won't bite," the old Tofty smiled at him, having just a few teeth in his mouth.
Harry tried it one more time, but now he slid his left hand unnoticed in his robes, grabbing his wand before he mouthed the spell "Flipendo!" And a small pillar of fire swirled out of the red corner, which, after whirling for several seconds, soon faded.
"Don't worry about it. I believe it's due to the stress. I remember when I saw you in the O.W.L. Charms exam, you did very well," Tofty said gently as he made a note on his examiner's sheet, and then, giving Harry a strange look, turned to Jacob Prewett who was a seventh-year from Ginny's year. After half an hour, Ginny and Ron had also passed the exam as the last ones, each of them showing Tofty to his delight long whipping strings out of the corresponding lighted corners of fire or earth.
"Did you see my Devil's Snare? It was exactly how I wanted it!" Ron said excited as soon as they went out in the Entrance Hall.
"But my loop of fire would have burned your Devil's Snare like a wick of a candle," Ginny said. Ron just laughed at that and turned to Harry.
"Don't worry, mate, that you didn't do well in your exam, but for that you have the potential to… well, you know to what," Ron said, after all avoiding to mention the Philosopher's Stone in the near of their classmates.
"You're right, I'll be fine. At least I think I answered most of the questions correctly. Maybe I mistook the copper symbol with mercury when I think more about it," Harry said thoughtfully as they climbed the stairs heading to the Gryffindor Tower.
There seemed that people were having a lot of fun in the Common Room, since the fifth and sixth-years celebrated the last day of their O.W.L. session. Here and there, on the tables, were some delicacies from the kitchen and butterbeer bottles from the Three Broomsticks. And as he stepped in, in the middle of all this happy chattering and chuckling, Harry found Hermione talking to Neville.
"…we've repeated all the topics given by Flitwick, Hannah is particularly good at conjuring the rain of stars thanks to your advice. Oh, hello!" Neville greeted the three of them, looking at them.
"Hi to you too," Harry greeted him back and sat next to Neville on the couch and rested his back flatly at it.
"You all passed your first exam, eh? How was it?" Neville asked – he'll have his first exam in Charms on Monday.
"Well, this one wasn't very hard," Ron replied with a wave of his hand. "But the most serious business is going to start next week."
"Mhm," Ginny agreed. "But they can be happy now, they have finished all of their exams," she said as she looked at a group of sixth-years having fun.
"This is such a weird year, isn't it?" Hermione said thoughtfully as she looked at the same group of sixth-years.
"Right, because you're studying together with us the little ones this year," Ginny joked with a grin.
"That, too," Hermione said with a smile, "but it's also that in the sixth year they had to take all the subjects of the O.W.L. exams, which they'll only be able to choose to continue or not next year. In the McGonagall's office, I once heard how Slughorn complained that it's nonsense to teach Potions for all of the sixth year students. The poor man felt exhausted, since half of the class shouldn't be there at all. And McGonagall now needs to solve the problem with Binn, because he's often asking her to give him the freshest historical events of the 19th century since he's obliged to teach N.E.W.T. students about the modern history, but, as far as I see it, he just can't accept that we're living in the 20th century now at all."
Ron looked very amused about it. "Well, when she succeeds, maybe we should no longer call him Binn, but rather Willbe." All of them laughed at Ron's joke.
"But to be honest, it's a bit strange that a ghost teaches a subject. Like what are the things he's spending his salary on?" Ginny said.
"I doubt he's getting any salary at all," Neville said amused. "You know, it sounds like it's a quite good advantage for the school – a volunteer teacher."
"But still he's doing his job as a professor and we were able to learn the history," Hermione said. Both Harry and Ron grinned at it.
"He would be doing his job much better if he could somehow broadcast his monologue in our dreams while everyone's sleeping in his lessons," Harry said with a laugh.
"But you just needed to concentrate a little bit and listen. If you imagined those events, then it wasn't so bad," Hermione replied.
"Only you have such superpowers, Hermione," Ron concluded with a wink. "For the others, it worked just as well as a lullaby for Fluffy."
"What's Fluffy?" Neville wanted to know.
"Remember that scary beast owned by Hagrid, the three-headed dog we ran into in our first year?" Harry reminded his friend.
"That was Fluffy?" Neville asked with horror in his voice. "Hagrid indeed is having very cute pets."
Hermione grinned and said, "Yeah, but look, if his favourite dog breed is a Cerberus and for a spider he chooses an Acromantula, that's our luck that Hagrid hasn't got any toads and he's allergic… to cats." The girl said the end very softly and thoughtfully. She seemed to listen in carefully. The Common Room had become much quieter, but there had started a suspicious crowding in one of the corners.
"Not those amulets again," Hermione sighed, getting to her feet.
When the Head Girl approached a group of students and strictly asked what's being sold there, Ron grinned and put his hands behind his head, saying, "These aren't dragon's claws, my friends. This year, you aren't going to deceive me with those Doxy droppings."
Ginny laughed softly at that and wanted to know if Harry and Ron had really planned to eat Doxy droppings for increasing their intellectual abilities. So they kept teasing each other and chatted until late at night, and then Harry went upstairs to the seventh-year boy's dormitory and changed into pyjamas before going to bed. Contrary his everyday sadness, he felt a little happier now – the joyful conversation with his friends had done him good.
So the first exam has been passed, but he still needed to survive the whole next week. And then what? In a week, his stay at Hogwarts is going to be over – there's just the final game of the Quidditch season and then the End-of-Term Feast on Sunday. And then it's all over, he'll have to leave Hogwarts. There's only a week left, but what he has accomplished here in this year? He had learned to amplify and fasten spells, had seen some more unusual plants in the greenhouses, had practiced making essences, had vanished or conjured up all sorts of objects, and had even summoned a speaking Patronus. But what was the benefit of all these skills – wouldn't he have mastered them anyway if he had chosen to apply for the Auror training instead? It was most likely – so it may seem that he had wasted a whole year just for chasing some ghost in a foolish dream. Otherwise, how else could he explain it that they didn't find anything in the Ravenclaw Tower? Though he still had the feeling like he hadn't fully uncovered something, but where exactly then could the Diadem be in the Ravenclaw Tower? Where exactly?
But at least Alchemy was quite interesting, and only with his help, Professor Philip Flamel was able to obtain the substance very similar to the Philosopher's Stone. Harry took his mokeskin pouch from the top of his nightstand and pulled the Slytherin's Locket and the Hufflepuff's Cup out of it. Looking at the shiny gold surface of the relics, Harry's thoughts kept running – it had turned out that even a centuries-old puzzle was easier to solve than to find out what had really happened to Voldemort. No matter was he alive or not, but Harry was certain about one thing – he wasn't going to stop and he's going to do his best to unravel this whole mystery. However, at the moment, it seemed that he would need a miracle for that, for which he had completely given up any hopes. Still in silence, he touched the ancient treasures of the Hogwarts as the pale moonlight shone into the dark room.
Then suddenly he felt something rough with his fingertips on the surface of Hufflepuff's Cup. He examined more closely the exact spot and noticed that a brownish-black swollen dot had appeared on the Cup. The Cup had begun to decay; the restoration spell was slowly expiring. So it meant Professor Flamel hadn't yet succeeded in obtaining the perfect Philospher's Stone, and the essence, he had created, was losing its effect over time like any other ordinary spell. So it's another failure. Harry sighed hard and tried to fall asleep. He succeeded with it only several hours later.
Saturday morning dawned quite gloomy, but the young people were relaxing and joking, while waiting for Hermione to return from her last patrolling duty and the meeting with McGonagall.
Finally having returned to Gryffindor Common Room, Hermione shortly told them how the meeting had proceeded, at the end adding, "And she told me and Malfoy that we weren't obliged to do our duty on this Saturday, since it's the exam week."
"Some people say that too much diligence leads to zealousness," Ginny said with a smile.
"And how was your patrolling? I suppose all the Boggarts are caught?" Ron asked.
"You're probably right. I caught the last one about two months ago, since then I hadn't seen any of them. So Terry was the only one we met this morning," Hermione replied.
"You met Terry?" Ron asked in suspicion, and Harry was also listening intently.
"Would that make you less suspicious, Ron, if I tell you that when we came out of the dungeons, we passed by Romilda?" Hermione explained with a smile. "Since the exams had started, people say that they both had been seen there now and then, especially in the evenings."
There showed up a relieved smile on Ron's face. "That explains everything. Then it means their relationship is a serious thing, if they are already seeking dark corners in the very morning."
"Well, different people prefer different things, isn't it? For example, I better like the summer sunset now," Harry said as he winked at Ginny.
They spent the rest of the Saturday without bothering their minds with the upcoming exams, and enjoyed a great deal of flying in their last Quidditch practice of the Gryffindor Team, so they went to their beds quite satisfied. However, on Sunday, Hermione began to maintain a rather feverish pre-exam atmosphere, and the younger Gryffindor members had to endure that some N.E.W.T. students were practicing conjuring up starry sparks with their cheeks inflated, then some tried to get their clocks to announce loudly and correctly the full hours, and some tried to pour out the ice sculptures wordlessly without flooding the whole Common Room, but Hermione herself diligently repeated the Protean Charm since Flitwick had made them practice its fastening for a whole month straight.
Actually Charms was one of the most difficult exams, since it involved a lot of practical activities, without which it was impossible to pass the exam, and the range of spells to be examined was unimaginably wide. However, the next morning, as he flipped through his notebooks, both before breakfast and during the meal, Harry felt more ready for the exam than ever.
The theoretical part began at 10 a.m. in the Great Hall, with each exam taker sitting at a single table. Later at dinner discussing the questions and exercises, Harry felt that he must have passed this exam at least half-acceptable; only if he hadn't have tangled so much the amplifying Rite Chant for the Cheering Charm.
In the practical part, he was lucky to be tested by old Griselda Marchbanks, who wanted to hear and see how he wordlessly silences a frog placed on top of the table and also conjures up a particularly spectacular rain of golden stars. Harry did it flawlessly, and the face of the old woman twisted in a toothless smile. "I was sure you indeed know how to do charms – you didn't win He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named just by having pretty eyes. Good luck with your career choice, Harry Potter!"
After leaving the exam hall, he felt both the relief of the finished exam and the thorn of guilt prickling again – people really thought and believed that he had defeated Voldemort, but was it really true? However, he didn't have enough time to fall in a long sadness due to it, since he had Herbology exam tomorrow.
A celebrity this evening was Neville, who asked the four of them the long list of questions given by Sprout. Hermione, of course, knew all the plants by heart and could tell the subtle differences between a Venomous Tentacula and an ordinary Wild Tentacula.
After reading until late at night about Snargaluffs, Bubotubers, Abyssinian Shrivelfigs, Flowerferns, Exploding plants, and Stinging nettles, they felt like their heads was stuffed with some kind of a moss – as Ron had joked, "We have to go to sleep. I no longer know whether my mind is stuffed with a thornmoss or a sleepmoss."
"I'd say it's something more like a cotton wool, and the one that isn't made of sugar," Hermione teased him.
After sleeping through night, having a dream of a few nasty Devil Snares that had somehow caught his broom in the Quidditch practice, Harry went to breakfast, where he listened to Hermione instructing them on how to approach the Estonian Strangling Fir.
Like in the yesterday's Charm exam, the theoretical part of the Herbology exam passed in an instant. After describing in a detail the role of Bowtruckles in the process of the pollination of Strangling Firs, Harry was relieved to let Dawlish collect his answer sheet along with the other pages written by his classmates.
"Phew, it's over," Hermione said, relieved, standing in the Entrance Hall, as they waited for the Great Hall to be ready for lunch.
"Charms exam yesterday was much harder," Harry said.
"It was, wasn't it?" Ginny agreed. "Give the healing properties of Dittany. I think my text was so watery I almost wanted to take out my handkerchief and dry it for a little bit." She chuckled, showing a gesture like drying a parchment sheet. Harry and Ron laughed out loud.
"But we can't relax yet, there's the practical part just right after lunch. I wonder, what's there prepared for us?" Hermione pointed out thoughtfully.
Having dined quickly since they were too anxious due to the exams, the young people had already reached the third Greenhouse in half past twelve. While they were still discussing and giving advices about the peculiarities of tending to a wide variety of plants, the examiner, Professor Penelope Pole, opened the door at one o'clock and showed each of the exam taker their working places they had to take. Their task turned out to be quite tricky – first they had to collect the poisonous smoky mist from the Acrid Primroses, then they had to harvest Dittany berries without damaging their fragile green plant parts, and finally they had to fertilize the Spiky Bushes that could shoot out their thorns. In the end, almost getting one in his cheek, Harry gladly left the greenhouse and went to dinner along with his other classmates.
"As much as the theoretical part seemed easy, this was exactly oppositely exhausting," Ginny concluded, examining her reddened wrists, which even her dragon skin gloves hadn't been able to protect from the acidic smoke.
"Eh, and we're having Potions tomorrow," Harry said with a sigh, agreeing with her. They didn't have even the shortest time for resting. After dinner, they immediately returned to the Common Room to reread Libatius Borage's and some other books recommended by Slughorn from the Restricted Section on slow-acting poisons.
"I'm one hundred points sure that there'll be that Golpalott's Law, which is impossible to remember for any normal person," announced Ron. By the time they had repeated the theory of producing essences, it was already half past ten.
"Crookshanks, now is not the right time," Hermione said as she removed her cat from the book on the table, on which the cat had lay on, purring.
"It seems even Crookshanks thinks we should take a rest now," Harry said and looked around. There weren't many who had chosen to take Potions exam – there was only one more group of students from Ginny's year preparing for Potions. Suddenly there was a knock at the nearby window of the Common Room.
Harry shot his head toward the sound and saw an owl rattling the window, the light of the setting sun shining behind it.
Ron had noticed the bird, too, "Have Gladys sent another letter again? Her owl rarely waits until morning." Meanwhile, Harry had stood up and he crossed the room to free the owl from the load she had to deliver. It wasn't uncommon for him to receive letters from fans even late at night, and the most devoted of them wanted their well-wishing to be delivered immediately.
"Hello there," Harry addressed a large spotted owl as he opened the window, and the owl stretched her leg towards him. He untied the thin paper bundle of her leg and a second later she flapped her wings and took off into the pink sky. Harry gazed at the red-orange clouds for a brief moment and then looked at the letter.
"No, Ron, your guess is wrong," he said with a grin. "It's from Lockhart."
"From Lockhart?" Ron chuckled. "I wonder why he wants to pour his heart out to us?"
Harry returned to their favourite spot by the fireplace and, resting his elbows on the top of the table, he opened the envelope and took out the letter. It was a parchment sheet written in a fancy elegant handwriting.
"Dear Harry Potter!
I do wish you and your friends great success in your N.E.W.T. exams sincerely!
I myself personally have enjoyed this difficult burden of being a professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, so I know how tiring this job is, but it also brings an endless joy – in realizing that it is my knowledge that has been so useful and had even saved our world of magic. And this is exactly what I wanted to reveal to the whole world in my latest book: Who Am I? So I kindly ask you to give answers to the questions I have added on the second page of this letter." – Harry flipped this sheet to look at the next one, which was followed also by some photos of a smiling blond man, and there indeed was given at least twenty questions: 1. Which spells taught by Gilderoy Lockhart were the most useful battling the Death Eaters? 2. Which skills demonstrated by Gilderoy Lockhart you consider the most useful? 3. Please tell me how the personality of Gilderoy Lockhart has influenced you as a child? and so etc. until 21. What would you like to wish me and all the other Hogwarts professors? – then Harry returned to the letter and finished reading it.
"I will be extremely grateful to receive your answers, which I intend to use in writing my latest book. And I hope very much that my excellent apprentice Terry Boot is going to help me with this. He has already given me a fairly complete and comprehensive insight into how my invaluable knowledge has helped not only you, but also many other Hogwarts students who heroically call themselves the members of the Dumbledore's Army.
Wishing you good success in the examinations and looking forward to some extensive and fully explanatory answers,
your Gilderoy Lockhart.
P.S. For a reward, I have already added half a dozen signed photos."
The moment he finished reading the letter, Harry felt like his heart had been grabbed by an icy cold hand, and a second later, there flinched also his stomach and the rest of his belly. That wasn't good at all.
Ginny noticed first his reaction to the letter. "So what did Lockhart say so awful that you look as pale as a ghost?" She tried to smile, but her smile faded quickly when Harry handed her the letter with a deadly gloomy expression. Ginny's gaze also switched to frightened anxiety. Both Hermione and Ron read the letter together, too, and they all exchanged shocked looks.
"Terry Boot," Hermione spoke up first. "How can he be at St Mungo? He can't be in two places at the same time."
"He sure can't," Harry confirmed, "and that means there's something utterly wrong with Terry."