"Yeah . . . you got, what was it, three O.W.L.s each?" said Ron.
"Yep," said Fred unconcernedly. "But we feel our futures lie outside the world of academic achievement." "We seriously debated whether we were going to bother coming back for our seventh year," said George brightly, "now that we've got, our O.W.L.s," (the last three words he said in a strangely hasty manner) I mean, do we really need N.E.W.T.s? But we didn't think Mum could take us leaving school early, not on top of Percy turning out to be the world's biggest prat."
"We're not going to waste our last year here, though," said Fred, looking affectionately around at the Great Hall. "We're going to use it to do a bit of market research, find out exactly what the average Hogwarts student requires from his joke shop, carefully evaluate the results of our research, and then produce the products to fit the demand."
"But where are you going to get the gold to start a joke shop?" asked Hermione skeptically. "You're going to need all the ingredients and materials — and premises too, I suppose. . . ."
"It's a good point" I said, "It's not exactly a secret that we're poor".
Harry dropped his fork at this point and dived beneath the table to pick it up. I had strange feeling that he was hiding something.
"Ask us no questions and we'll tell you no lies, Hermione. C'mon, George, if we get there early we might be able to sell a few Extendable Ears before Herbology." said Fred
"What did that mean?" said Hermione, looking from Harry to Ron. " 'Ask us no questions . . .' Does that mean they've already got some gold to start a joke shop?"
"You know, I've been wondering about that," said Ron, his brow furrowed. "They bought me a new set of dress robes this summer, and I couldn't understand where they got the Galleons. . . ."
"Is there something you're not telling us Harry?" Amy asked, but before anyone could say anything else, the bell rang.
The Gryffindor's and Slytherins in my year headed down to Care of Magical Creatures, after a History lesson where nothing noteworthy happened.
"Do you reckon Harry knows more about the twins plans than we do?" Demelza asked
"If he does, that's definitely not ok!" I said. "I have given them so much love and support when it comes to their ambitions, so for them to tell Harry things and not me would show a massive lack of gratitude! Ron and I are family, we should have a right to know if Harry does!"
"I think he's definitely hiding something" Amy said "let's confront him about it later"
Professor Grubbly Plank had a cage filled with what looked like large grey cats, with strangely elongated ears. Their tails also looked similar to lions. What made them most intriguing though, was the fact they seemed to hiss and spit towards several of the Slytherins, especially Lillian Avery.
"Gather round, gather round everyone, don't worry they're very well secured, get closer, come on!" Grubbly Plank snapped at the Slytherins, who reluctantly got up to the area she indicated. "Now, what are these? Anyone got any ideas?"
For once, the class were silent. Eventually Melinda Ramos spoke "Umm, they just look like cats to us miss". She chewed on her right thumbnail.
"Of course they aren't though Miss Ramos. No one else? Very well, these are Kneazles. As you can see, they appear to have taken a disliking to some of you. This is rather telling, as one of the biggest powers a Kneazle has is to detect untrustworthy individuals. Those of you they are hissing and spitting towards, you may want to reconsider your behaviour going forward. They are also highly intelligent, and can make great pets to the right people. They can be aggressive if instructed to find a specific person or object by their owners, and occasionally are also put to work as house guards.
This last sentence struck home with me.
"Professor" I said, raising my hand "can you breed these with other animals?"
Demelza, Amy and Magda gave me a strange look, their faces seeming to say "where are you going with this?"
"Yes, Miss Weasley, why?" said Grubbly Plank
"It's just that-" I bit my lip, thinking carefully about how to say this without mentioning Sirius "Hermione Granger's cat seems to exhibit a lot of those traits"
Looks of understanding now dawned on my mates faces.
"Interesting. Yes, it's quite common for Kneazle's and regular cats to be cross bred. Now, I'd like you all to line up in your houses, then one by one, we're going to see how they react to every one of you individually. After you have had your turn, you will make a sketch of the Kneazle, summarize it's abilities, and explain the significance behind how it acts towards you, if there is any"
Most of the Gryffindors received a friendly reaction. Thomas said that he may have to consider if his cat was part Kneazle too, as it was acting in a very similar manner to his one at home. Avery was the only one of the disliked Slytherins who seemed to embrace it, in fact, she attempted to goad them into attack several times, which lead them to crash into the magically sealed cage walls, causing several of them injury! Eventually Grubbly-Plank put a stop to it by sending Avery away to make her sketch, and also giving her a detention, but she didn't seem to care, she kept laughing about it for the rest of the lesson!
"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting to find out that Crookshanks was cross bred!" I said as we walked back.
"You don't know that for sure" said Demelza
"Come on mate, Crookshanks displays so many of those traits, she has to be!" Amy said
"Let's ask Hermione what she thinks" Magda said
When we arrived in the Great Hall however, we found Harry, Ron and Hermione sitting at the Gryffindor table with Harry looking furious about something. We joined them on the end of Harry saying "-Snape been fair to me?"
"Oh dear, what's he done now?" I asked. I sat down next to Harry and wrapped one arm around him, and he allowed me to lean against him, snuggling my head up on his shoulder.
Harry explained how Snape had singled him out for ruining a Draught of Peace, despite several others also failing miserably at making it.
"Just remember, you're amazing, and always will be. Don't let twats like him bring you down" I said. I kissed him on the cheek, then started piling my plate with food.
"I did think he might be a bit better this year," said Hermione in a disappointed voice. "I mean . . . you know . . ." She looked carefully around; there were half a dozen empty seats on either side of them and nobody was passing the table. ". . . Now he's in the Order and everything."
"Poisonous toadstools don't change their spots," said Ron sagely. "Anyway, I've always thought Dumbledore was cracked trusting Snape, where's the evidence he ever really stopped working for YouKnow-Who?"
"I think Dumbledore's probably got plenty of evidence, even if he doesn't share it with you, Ron," snapped Hermione.
"Oh, shut up, the pair of you," said Harry heavily, as Ron opened his mouth to argue back. Hermione and Ron both froze, looking angry and offended. "Can't you give it a rest?" he said. "You're always having a go at each other, it's driving me mad." And abandoning his shepherd's pie, he swung his schoolbag back over his shoulder and left us sitting there.
