A Hogwarts Legend: Changing Paths [3]

Chapter Twenty Six

Unedited

Chapter Twenty Six - "I may be a bitch, but I'm not that mean."

My euphoria at finally winning the Quidditch Cup lasts a least a week. Even the weather seems to be celebrating; as June approaches, the days become cloudless and sultry, and all anybody feels like doing is 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 can't. The exams are nearly upon us, and instead of lazing around outside, the students are forced to remain inside the castle, trying to bully our brains into concentrating while enticing wafts of summer air drift in through the windows. Even Fred and George have been spotted working; they're about to take their O.W.Ls (Ordinary Wizarding Levels). Percy is getting ready to sit his N.E.W.Ts (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests), the highest qualification Hogwarts offers. As Percy hopes to enter the Ministry of Magic, he needs top grades. He's becoming increasingly edgy, and gives very severe punishments to anybody who disturbs the quiet of the common room in the evenings. In fact, the only person who seems more anxious than Percy is Hermione.

We've given up asking her how she's managing to attend several classes at once, but we can't restrain ourselves when we see the exam timetable she's drawn up for herself. The first column reads:

MONDAY
9 o'clock, Muggle Studies
9 o'clock, Transfiguration
Lunch
1 o'clock, Charms
1 o'clock, Ancient Runes

"Hermione?" Elinor says cautiously, because she's liable to explode when interrupted these days. "Er - are you sure you've copied down these times right?"

"What?" snaps Hermione, picking up the exam timetable and examining it. "Yes, of course I have."

"Is there any point asking how you're going to sit two exams at once?" says Harry.

"No," says Hermione shortly. "Has either of you seen my copy of Numerology and Grammatica?"

"Oh, yeah, I borrowed it for a bit of bedtime reading," says Rob, but very quietly. Hermione starts shifting heaps of parchment around on her table, looking for the book. Just ten, there's a rustle at the window and Hedwig flutters through it, a note clutched tightly in her beak.

"It's from Hagrid," says Harry, ripping the note open. "Buckbeak's appeal - it's set for the sixth."

"That's the day we finish our exams," says Hermione, as I begin to help her look for her book.

"And they're coming up here to do it," says Harry, still reading from the letter. "Someone from the Ministry of Magic and - and an executioner."

I look up, startled.

"They're bringing the executioner to the appeal! But that sounds as though they've already decided!"

"Yeah, it does," says Maya slowly.

"They can't!" Ron howls. "I've spent ages reading up stuff for him, they can't just ignore it all!"

But I have a horrible feeling that the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures have had its mind made up for it by Mr Malfoy. Draco, who's been noticeably subdued since Gryffindor's triumph in the Quidditch final, seems to regain some of his old swagger over the next few days. From sneering comments I overhear, Malfoy is certain Buckbesk is going to be killed, and seems thoroughly pleased with himself for bringing it about.