"What took you so long?" Lucille asks as I take a seat next to them in the Great hall. I shrugged.
"My conversation was interrupted by Umbridge," I say grabbing bread and munching on it. "She then gave me detention tonight." Astoria mouth hung open.
"But you never get detention!" Astoria says dumbfounded that I had. "You must've done something really bad then." I shake my head.
"I mean, I just called her Professor instead of High Inquisitor." I sigh, playing with the food in front of me. Astoria gives me a look knowing I wasn't telling the entire truth. "Well I may of had a bit of a attitude when I said it." I mumbled.
"You really need to stop getting yourself in trouble. You're prefect now and she can take that away if you keep getting detention." Lucille says.
"I got in trouble one time," I say rolling my eyes. "I don't think one detention will hurt me."
"What's this about a detention?" A gruff voice from behind me said. I turn my head around and see Montague, the Slytherin Quidditch captain.
"It's nothing,"
"It better not interfere with the Quidditch game tomorrow." He said harshly, "I need my top chaser there." He walks away without saying another word.
"On the bright side, he thinks you're the top chaser now." Astoria says trying to lighten the mood a bit.
Double Charms was succeeded by double Transfiguration. Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall both spent the first fifteen minutes of their lessons lecturing the class on the importance of OWLs.
"What you must remember," said little Professor Flitwick squeakily perched as ever on a pile of books so that he could see over the top of his desk, "is that these examinations may influence your futures for many years to come! If you have not already given serious thought to your careers, now is the time to do so. And in the meantime, I'm afraid, we shall be working harder than ever to ensure that you all do yourselves justice!"
They then spent over an hour reviewing Summoning Charms, which according to Professor Flitwick were bound to come up in their OWL, and he rounded off the lesson by setting them their largest ever amount of Charms homework.
"I now this is O.W.L year but they could lighten the homework load a bit." Lucille complains as we head to Transfiguration.
It was the same, if not worse, in Transfiguration.
"You cannot pass an OWL," said Professor McGonagall grimly, "without serious application, practice and study. I see no reason why everybody in this class should not achieve an OWL in Transfiguration as long as they put in the work." Neville made a sad little disbelieving noise.
"Yes, you too, Longbottom," said Professor McGonagall. "There's nothing wrong with your work except lack of confidence. So... today we are starting Vanishing Spells. These are easier than Conjuring Spells, which you would not usually attempt until NEWT level, but they are still among the most difficult magic you will be tested on in your OWL."
She was quite right; Lucille and Astoria found the Vanishing Spells horribly difficult. I found it medium difficult. By the end of a double period I hadn't fuller vanished the entire snail which we were practicing on but I had managed to vanish half of it.
Hermione, on the other hand, successfully vanished her snail on the third attempt, earning her a ten-point bonus for Gryffindor from Professor McGonagall. She was the only person not given homework; everybody else was told to practice the spell overnight, ready for a fresh attempt on their snails the following afternoon.
By the time we reached Care of Magical Creatures , the day had become cool and breezy, and as we walked down the sloping lawn towards Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, we felt the occasional drop of rain on their faces. Professor Grubbly-Plank stood waiting for the class some ten yards from Hagrid's front door, a long trestle table in front of her laden with twigs.
