"So much for not causing a scene" I muttered once we'd gotten past Percy

"Yeah, well, knowing Ron, it was gonna be very difficult to avoid wasn't it?" Harry said

"True. I know the perfect way to get him to come around though"

"What's that?"

"Mum"

Pomfrey did of course manage to remove the ceramic from my eye, though it was very painful. She couldn't just vanish it, because it had embedded itself deep inside, so she was at risk of vanishing my eye too if she tried. Therefore, she was left with no choice but to remove it manually with Muggle tweezers. Once she'd done that though, she could magically heal the wound it had made and repair the damage to my vision. She also replenished my blood, a lot of which had been leaked out.

We then went to Professor McGonagall and told her exactly what had occurred, and she promised she would write to Mum. She also gave Ron a detention for trying to attack me. A Howler from Mum arrived for him the next morning, his second in consecutive school years, in which she said she was delighted that Harry and I had gotten together, and that if Ron tried any further obstructions in our relationship, he would be withdrawn from Hogwarts immediately. This second public humiliation seemed to have the desired effect though, and he approached me in the common room that evening, having already apologised to Harry in class that day.

"Ginny, can we talk for a second?" he said, and he looked pretty defeated.

I looked up from my Astronomy homework.

"Mum set you straight again?" I asked, raising an eyebrow

"You could say that" he replied, sighing. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I should have known it was wrong to interfere in anyone's relationship, let alone yours. You've loved Harry all your life, so I shouldn't stop you from dating him. Harry would never hurt you"

"Was there an element of jealousy to it, considering I'd started dating before you?"

"Yes, there was I'll admit"

"Do you fancy anyone?"

"Hey, this was meant as an apology, not for me to reveal my secrets!"

The euphoria at finally winning the Quidditch Cup lasted at least a week. Even the weather seemed to be celebrating; as June approached, the days became cloudless and sultry, and all anybody felt like doing was strolling into the grounds and flopping down on the grass with several pints of iced pumpkin juice, perhaps playing a casual game of Gobstones or watching the giant squid propel itself dreamily across the surface of the lake. But we couldn't. The exams were nearly upon us, and instead of lazing around outside, we were forced to remain inside the castle, trying to bully our brains into concentrating while enticing wafts of summer air drifted in through the windows. It meant that Harry and I found the time we could spend together very restricted, as we both needed to study.

Even Fred and George had been spotted working; they were about to take their OWLs (Ordinary Wizarding Levels). Percy was getting ready to sit his NEWTs (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests), the highest qualification Hogwarts offered. As Percy hoped to enter the Ministry of Magic, he needed top grades. He was becoming increasingly edgy, and gave very severe punishments to anybody who disturbed the quiet of the common room in the evenings. In fact, the only person who seemed more anxious than Percy was Hermione.

I found Harry and Ron's continued confusion at how Hermione was attending her classes, as well as her exam timetable, very amusing. It was almost always satisfying to know things that others didn't.

Before we went to bed on May 31st, Harry approached me.

"I received a note from Hagrid today" he said

"Really?"

"Yeah, his appeal is set for June 6th, the day we finish exams. It's happening here, and get this, they're bringing an executioner too"

"What?! They can't do that, it makes it sound like their minds are already made up!"

"I know, I know, but that's how it is, sadly"

"Ron and I have spent ages reading stuff up for him, they can't just ignore it all"

"Think they probably will"

Exam week began and an unnatural hush fell over the castle. Sadly there hadn't been enough time for Lupin to give us a preview of third year content, as even though we had performed well, we had only finished the second year content with a couple weeks to go before exams, so we needed that time to revise.

Our first exam was Charms, where we had to practically demonstrate the Shrinking Charm and the Tickling Charm in addition to the written paper. I did pretty well, though my Shrinking Charm wasn't quite at the E level speed that the examiner suggested, so I expected to only receive an A mark. Demelza massively overdid her Tickling Charm though, resulting in the examiner bursting into hysterical laughter and having to be removed from the room. The written exam was fairly straightforward.

I did brilliantly in Transfiguration, as was expected, performing Vera Verto as well as the beetle to button, and I honestly thought I may have achieved a perfect score on the written paper too.

Potions I just about scraped through, with both exams taking place without the Slytherins, thankfully. My Hair Raising Potion, while still difficult, did at least appear to me like it would be narrowly approved.

Herbology I honestly had no idea about at the time, though I would later find out I had passed, to my relief.

Defence against the Dark Arts was fantastic, as I disarmed both of my examiners, and when they claimed they'd heard I could do a Bat Bogey Hex, they allowed me to demonstrate it on a mannequin for extra points, which I did so with great pleasure!

History of Magic I knew I'd have no chance on without extra help, as I never paid attention in Binns's classes, so Hermione thankfully agreed, and that meant I scraped a pass too.

Astronomy was rather dull, as we just had to make a detailed map of that night's planetary and star positions, so I think everyone passed that one easily.

For the third year, we had to choose 2 additional "elective" subjects to take. The choices were Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies, Arithmancy, Study of Ancient Runes, and Divination. It was a very easy choice for me. I certainly wasn't going to take Divination, as the last thing I needed was that bat like fraud teaching me. Arithmancy and Muggle Studies didn't sound particularly interesting, so I opted for COMC and Ancient Runes, as the former was taught by Hagrid and the latter I could least get help from Hermione with. Demelza and Andrew went for Arithmancy instead of Ancient Runes, but Amy and Magda would join me in both of my new classes.