Future Nostalgia / Harry Potter Fanfic

Classes and Detention

Double Charm 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 O.W.L.s.

"What you must remember," said 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 future for 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 more than an hour reviewing Summoning Charms, which according to Professor Flitwick were bound to come up in their O.W.L.s and he rounded the lesson by setting them their largest amount of Charms homework ever.

It was the same, if not worse, in Transfiguration.

"You cannot pass an O.W.L.," said Professor McGonagall grimly, "without serious application, practice, and study. I see no reason why everybody in this class should not achieve an O.W.L. 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 much easier than Conjuring Spells, which you would not usually attempt until N.E.W.T. level, but they are still among the most difficult magic you will be tested on in your O.W.L."

She was quite right; Estella found the Vanishing Spells quite easy and was able to do it wandless and nonverbally by the end of a double period, earning Gryffindor twenty House points while Hermione earned an additional ten for successfully vanishing her snail on the third attempt. They were the only two not given homework; everybody else was told to practice the spell overnight, ready for a fresh attempt on their snails the following afternoon.

Estella spent the lunch hour in the library helping Ron and Harry with the uses of moonstones in potion-making. At the end of the hour, the three of them made their way down to Care of Magical Creatures with Professor Grubbly-Plank.

"Everyone here?" barked Professor Grubbly-Plank, once all the Slytherins and Gryffindors had arrived. "Let's crack on then-who can tell me what these things are called?"

She indicated the help of twigs in front of her. Hermione's and Estella's hand rose in the air. Behind Hermione's back, Draco did a buck-toothed imitation of Hermione jumping up and down in eagerness to answer a question. Pansy gave a shriek of laughter that turned almost at once into a scream, as the twigs on the table leapt into the air and revealed themselves to be what looked like tiny pixieish creatures made of wood, each with knobbly brown arms and legs, two twig like fingers at the end of each hand, and a funny, flat, barkline face in which a pair of beetle-brown eyes glittered.

"Ooooh!" said Parvati and Lavender, thoroughly irritating Estella: Anyone would have thought that Hagrid never showed them impressive creatures; admittedly the flobberworms had been a bit dull, but the salamanders, nifflers, and hippogriffs had been interesting, and the Blast-Ended Skrewts perhaps too much so.

"Kindly keep your voices down, girls!" said Professor Grubbly-Plank sharply, scattering a handful of what looked like brown rice among the stick-creatures, who immediately fell upon the food. "So, anyone know the names of these creatures? Miss Granger?"

"Bowtruckles," said Hermione. "They're tree-guardians, usually live in wand-trees."

"Five points for Gryffindor," said Professor Grubbly-Plank. "Yes, these are bowtruckles and, as Miss Granger rightly says, they generally live in trees whose wood is of wand quality. Anybody know what they eat?"