Daylight || Harry Potter

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Our first exam, Theory of Charms, was scheduled for Monday morning. Harry agreed to test Hermione after lunch on Sunday but regretted it almost at once. She was very agitated and kept snatching the book back from him to check that she had gotten the answer completely right, finally hitting him hard on the nose with the sharp edge of Achievements in Charming.

"Why don't you just do it yourself?" he said firmly, handing the book back to her, his eyes watering. "No, Ash, don't," he added to me as I extended a glowing hand to heal him, "It's fine."

"Okay, test me instead," I told him, handing him a thick stack of flashcards I'd made over the past week.

"Promise not to hit me?" He joked. Hermione shot him an annoyed look, and he put up his hands in mock surrender.

While Harry read off my flashcards and Hermione occasionally butted in with her guesses before I could make mine, Ron was reading two years of Charms notes with his fingers in his ears, his lips moving soundlessly; Seamus was lying flat on his back on the floor, reciting the definition of a Substantive Charm, while Dean checked it against The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5; and Parvati and Lavender, who were practicing basic locomotion charms, were making their pencil cases race each other around the edge of the table.

Dinner was subdued that night. Harry and Ron didn't talk much, but ate with gusto, having studied hard all day. I ate slowly, trying to relax, but it was nearly impossible because Hermione kept putting down her knife and fork and diving under the table for her bag, from which she would seize a book to check some fact or figure. Ron was just telling her that she ought to eat a decent meal or she would not sleep that night, when her fork slid from her limp fingers and landed with a loud tinkle on her plate.

"Oh, my goodness," she said faintly, staring into the entrance hall. "Is that them? Is that the examiners?"

We whipped around on our bench. Through the doors to the Great Hall I could see Umbridge standing with a small group of ancient-looking witches and wizards. Umbridge looked rather nervous.

"Shall we go and have a closer look?" said Ron. The rest of us nodded and we snuck over toward the double doors into the entrance hall, slowing down as we stepped over the threshold to walk past the examiners. I figured Professor Marchbanks was the tiny, stooped witch with a face so lined it looked as though it had been draped in cobwebs. Umbridge was speaking to her very deferentially. Professor Marchbanks seemed to be a little deaf, because she was answering Umbridge very loudly even though they were only a foot apart.

"Journey was fine, journey was fine, we've made it plenty of times before!" she said impatiently. "Now, I haven't heard from Dumbledore lately!" she added, peering around the hall as though hoping the old man might suddenly burst from a broom cupboard. "No idea where he is, I suppose?"

"None at all," said Umbridge, shooting a malevolent look at us as we dawdled around the foot of the stairs while Ron pretended to fix his shoelace. "But I daresay the Ministry of Magic will track him down soon enough..."

"I doubt it," shouted tiny Professor Marchbanks, "not if Dumbledore doesn't want to be found! I should know... Examined him personally in Transfiguration and Charms when he did N.E.W.T.s... Did things with a wand I'd never seen before..."

"Yes... well..." Umbridge trailed off, glancing over at us. Hermione and I stifled giggles. Harry smirked at Ron. We dragged our feet up the marble staircase as slowly as we dared while Umbridge found her voice and continued, "let me show you to the staffroom... I daresay you'd like a cup of tea after your journey..."

It was a pretty uncomfortable evening. Everyone was trying to do some last-minute studying but nobody seemed to be getting very far. When I did go to bed, I ended up lying awake for what felt like forever. I was pretty sure the other girls in the dorm were just as conscious as I was. Nobody sparked up a conversation, though I did hear Hermione muttering Charms under her breath.