When Hermione Fights

Now It's Getting Serious!

Chapter beta: Dani

Chapter translator: Aivy

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McGonagall called us into the Great Hall which was now empty without the four House tables. Instead, there were four desks next to each other in neat rows with plenty of space between the seats standing down the hall up to the door.

This alone was exciting for many as it screamed 'exam'.

The mood of the students knew no bounds; the tension was palpable. Finally, the professor asked us in her usual stern way to sit down. I felt, as so often at exams, an exciting tickle of anticipation. No, no fear or nervousness took possession of me, but rather an icy calm, conscious that I wanted to do everything right and perfect. In order to also find fun and enjoyment in the whole thing, I also set myself a time limit, with the goal to make it as fast as possible.

"Please sit down completely randomly. You do not have to sit next to your friends as the parchments are magically protected against cheating!" her hard, magically amplified voice sounded through the hall.

I could see the panic in Ron's eyes and looked at him reassuringly.

"I would like to introduce you all to the Chairman of the Examination Board, Professor Griselda Marchbanks," she pointed to the ancient woman standing next to her, who, when she spoke, did so very loudly because she was almost deaf because of her age. She had already taken Dumbledore's O.W.L.s a hundred years ago and well, she had the wrinkled look to go with it. The question of whether the magical world didn't know retirement suggested itself to me.

Now I was curious to see what we had to do.

Charms, one of the basic subjects taught at Hogwarts by little Flitwick, was a challenge for many of us, though it had always been surprisingly easy for me. In this subject, we learned to enchant items or sentient beings with a wand in conjunction with a spell so that they acted differently than usual because here only the behaviour was changed, not the shape.

This art also involved manipulating and erasing desired memories with a spell that was not taught in practice, but as we all know, had been applied by me and successfully, as I remembered pensively and somewhat self-righteously my altercation with the two attackers in the alley and how I victoriously defended myself against them.

In Charms, to get the magical effect you wanted, you needed exactly the right wand movement and you had to be very precise. It was therefore not allowed to swing the wand too violently or too laxly. Do not make the movement too fast or too slow, not too wide but not too short and so on. As I said, that was the art of the whole thing: Sensitivity, tact and an understanding of the magic!

For the normal wizards and witches, it is important to say the spell with the proper intonation and inflexion.

Those like me who had been cramming non-verbal magic like a madman since this year, had to put more power and force into the spells to make them work without words. The more imagination and willpower was required, the harder it became to execute the spell as desired. But for me, the will was the smallest problem. Thus, it wouldn't even have been necessary for me to verbalise the spell in the practical exam on this day in Charms, however, I treasured my secrets way too much to brag about it.

The practical task was the same for everyone.

We should subject the Nifflers in front of us to a colour change. What colour didn't matter, they only had to lose the rich black of their coat and I would have managed that without a sound as well. It was ridiculously easy and I made mine a deep purple so you noticed easily that the spell had succeeded. I glanced around and saw how Harry was doing the wrong wand movement. He made a similar move to the growth spell.