Summer's Eve

⚡️34⚡️

Ron and I were thrilled with our victory that the two of us told our victory story dozens of times. We sat under our tree and told the story yet again.

"Joy's going after the Snitch and it's under her broom so she lets go of the handle to SWING for it! She caught the Snitch upside down! Joy's speech at the start helped, she had a good plan and it worked, it helped when she told me she believed in me. She told me to try to figure out their pattern, which I caught on to pretty quickly, they only scored once and then Ginny, Angelina and Katie focused on racking up our points."

"And Cho's face when I caught the Snitch!" I burst out laughing and Ron did with me. "Did you see her chuck her broom onto the ground? She was furious."

"No, we didn't," Hermione sighed. My smile quickly fell. "What do you mean?"

"We only saw Davies' first goal," she admitted. My happiness faded away and like Ron's face, it quickly washed over with disappointment.

"You didn't see any of my saves? Or Joy catching the Snitch?"

I looked down, a little sad that my boyfriend and best friend weren't there to support us. "Hey," Harry took my hand. "I swear, it's not what you think, I didn't want to leave but I had to. Hagrid showed up and wanted us to go with him into the Forest while Umbridge was busy at the match. You know Hagrid doesn't give us much of a choice in these things."

"True," I sighed. "He told us why he was covered in cuts and bruises."

Harry and Hermione told us what happened and I shook my head in bewilderment while Ron looked incredulous. "He brought one back with him?! Is he out of his damn mind?!"

"Yes, he is," Hermione sighed. "He wants the four of us to look after him, teach him English. He made us promise."

"Okay, he's insane," I grumbled. "But how does he expect us to do this while the Vulture herself is watching us? While we have exams? And every time we get involved with one of his creature friends, we end up in trouble or nearly dead or both."

"You're right, but we promised," Hermione pointed out. "Hagrid's still here, he hasn't gotten sacked yet," Ron pointed out.

***

The OWLs have finally arrived. All of us were buried into our textbooks and didn't think about anything else. Hermione had put aside everything to focus on the exams, as had I.

Ernie was interrogating us about our exam study timetable, which I told him to mind his own business about. While Malfoy was bragging about having the exam coordinator over at his house for dinner.

I couldn't care less. He's still stupid regardless. "It's not true, she's friends with my gran and never mentioned the Malfoys once," Neville piped up. "She strict?" I asked him. "Well, she's like Gran, you know what she's like."

"Yeah," I sighed.

We sat in Transfiguration as McGonagall talked us through the exam timetable. "Your OWLs are spread over two successive weeks. Theory papers are in the morning, practical exams are in the afternoon, except for Astronomy, that exam will take place during the night. The most stringent anti-cheating Charms have been applied to every paper. Auto-Answering Quills, Remebralls and Self-Correcting ink have been prohibited, one or two students think that they can try to get around it. I hope it's no one in Gryffindor. Our new 'Headmistress' has asked me to remind you not to cheat or else it would result in severe punishment and affect her image. I know it's tempting but please keep your own futures in mind."

"When will our exam results come out?" Hermione asked her. "An owl will be sent in July," McGonagall told her.

Harry and I hadn't spent much time together as we were too busy studying together. Quizzing Hermione got very violent very fast. She didn't believe us when we said she got a question right so we quizzed each other. Every time Harry got an answer right, I gave him a kiss.

It's cheesy but it motivated him. We still had our books out during dinner. "Check it out," Ron whispered, nodding towards the entrance hall. Umbridge was with a group of witches and wizards and looked nervous?

The four of us got up and slowly headed towards the Entrance Hall. All they did was ask her about Dumbledore.

The first question in the Charms exam was about an incantation and wand movement. Harry and I glanced at each other, smirking, remembering the troll incident.

***

"For the last time, I'm not talking about the exam!" Ron grumbled. "Doing it was bad enough."

"Just the practical now," I said as we sat outside. We were called alphabetically. Hermione went in with Anthony Goldstein, Goyle and Daphne.

"Jones, Joanna," my name was called next. "Good luck," Harry kissed me on the cheek before I went in. Professor Marchbanks beckoned me forward. "Jones, is it?"

I nodded. "Don't worry, no need to be nervous, we're just going to do a few Charms, nothing out of the ordinary."

I performed the Levitation, Summoning and the Shrinking Charm. It went alright. We had no time to relax as we had to study for Transfiguration and Herbology. The one that went the best was Defence Against the Dark Arts. Umbridge was watching me like a hawk but I didn't care.

"Miss Jones, is it true you can produce a Patronus Charm?" Marchbanks asked me. "Yes," I nodded. "My father taught me."

I looked right at Umbridge, glaring at her as I said that. "Could you show me? For a bit of...extra credit?"

"Sure," I nodded gleefully as I performed the Charm. "Expecto Patronum!"

The silver fox pranced around the hall and Marchbanks cheered. "Splendid! Just splendid, Miss Jones!"

Then it was Ancient Runes on Friday and afterwards, Hermione and I met up with Harry and Ron. Harry's eyes lit up once he saw me. "Hey, how was Ancient Runes?"

"Went pretty well," I said as I sat down and snuggled into my boyfriend. "There's another Niffler in Umbridge's office, it bit her."

"Good," Harry chuckled and Hermione rolled her eyes. "She'll blame it on Hagrid!"

"Yeah but he's teaching," Harry pointed out. "She won't care," I told him. Potions was on Monday which was easier to perform without Snape breathing down my neck. Tuesday, I had to feed a unicorn and Bowtruckle in Care of Magical Creatures and Wednesday night was Astronomy.

I saw figures heading towards Hagrid's hut during the exam and I felt a bit uneasy. There was a huge bang that made everyone jump and they looked to see what was going on. Small red jets of light came from below, flying towards the hut.

Stunning Spells.

They pissed Hagrid off and McGonagall had rushed to his aid, "Leave him alone!" she shouted. Hermione screamed and I gasped as McGonagall got hit with four Stunning Spells.

"COWARDS!" Hagrid shouted out at them.

No one cared about the exam anymore, shocked by the events that unfolded and we all left the Astronomy Tower. "That evil woman!" Hermione gasped. "He definitely held his own," Ron pointed out. "Poor McGonagall," I sighed. "It'll take her a while to recover from that attack."

Everyone was discussing it in the common room that night. "Why sack Hagrid now?" Angelina wondered. "Umbridge hates all people who are part human, like giants, werewolves, centaurs, she's been after Hagrid since he came back, she's been after me since....birth most likely," I sighed.

"She thought it was Hagrid putting the Nifflers in her office," Katie pointed out. "That was me," Lee Jordan piped up. "It was only a matter of time, he was too close to Dumbledore," Dean told us.

***

The last exam was History of Magic, which didn't take place until the afternoon. I heard a sudden thud and saw that Harry had collapsed, his hand over his scar, screaming in pain and writhing around.

"Harry!" I shouted, abandoning my exam and rushing to his side. He woke up, looking terrified. "What is it?" I asked him. "What did you see?"