The OWLs seem
to come around the corner and hit Harry and Ron in the face. They didn’t feel
ready for them at all. Hermione on the other hand was more than ready. She would
sit by the fire every evening skimming through books looking for things she
didn’t know off by heart but she rarely found something and when she did it
was always something she definitely didn’t need to know.
By the
evening before the first exam Hermione was unable to keep still, she was so
exited.
‘I can’t
believe the exams are starting tomorrow,’ she said while skimming through what
seemed like the thousandth book to Harry. ‘I can’t wait. I wish they could
have brought them forward. Just one day.’
‘Maybe you
do,’ said Harry. ‘But have you seen the amount of stuff me and Ron still
have to learn for Transfiguration tomorrow.’
‘I told you
to start studying earlier,’ said Hermione, sounding like a mother, ‘but
would you listen? It’s your own fault if you aren’t ready. Look at Seamus
and Dean. They’re ready.’ Seamus and Dean were playing Exploding Snap and
were having great fun. Semaus looked a bit disgruntled however because, seeing
as Dean was a ghost, the explosions didn’t affect him.
‘Hermione,’
said Ron. ‘They’re just bored of studying the whole time. They’re no more
ready than me or Harry.’
‘I
wouldn’t be too sure,’ said Hermione. ‘Seamus!’
Seamus looked
up just as the pack of cards exploded in his face. ‘Yeh?’
‘Do you
know anything about the Goblin Rebellions?’ asked Hermione.
‘Course I
do,’ said Seamus defensively. ‘I know plenty.’
‘Will you
please tell these two what you know then,’ said Hermione indicating Harry and
Ron.
‘Eh- the
goblins rebelled?’ Seamus asked Hermione.
‘Oh forget
it!’ said Hermione and turned back to her book. Ron and Harry smiled at each
other.
Harry wished
that he could be back in forth year like Ginny and only have to study for the
normal end of term exams. They were so much easier. She seemed to be having
great fun with her friends and Harry longed to be with her. He hadn’t talked
to her properly in over a week because he had been studying for these stupid
exams the whole time. He promised himself that as soon as the exams were
finished he and Ginny would go down to Hogsmeade, find a private place and talk
all night. It would be a nice way to relax after the exams.
***
The most
positive thing Harry could say about the exams was that they hadn’t been bad.
But that didn’t mean he had enjoyed them or found them easy. Hermione,
however, had loved the exams. She was beaming coming out after their last exam,
Charms and couldn’t wait to get their results.
‘I can’t
believe we were asked about Cheering Charms,’ said Hermione as they walked out
to sit on the grass near the lake. It was a brilliantly sunny day and the giant
squid was almost on the lakeshore basking in the sunlight. ‘And you must have
been delighted to see the question on Summoning Charms after all the practise
you got last year, Harry.’
‘There was
a question on Summoning Charms?’ Harry asked slightly worried.
‘Oh
dear!’ said Ron sounding more worried than Harry would have expected.
‘Not to
worry,’ said Hermione reassuringly. ‘I’m sure you’ll have made up for it
with the question on Banishing Charms.’
‘What?’
asked Ron.
***
Harry made
plans with Ginny to meet her in Hogsmeade that very evening and as he did every
time he visited Hogsmeade without permission, went through the tunnel that led
to Honeydukes. When he reached Honeydukes, which was now closed, he snuck
quietly and carefully to the shop door. On his way he saw the mounds of very
type of sweet imaginable. He was tempted to take a few and leave money on the
counter but realised that he was already late for meeting Ginny.
Harry took
the key from the hook above the door where it was every time he snuck through,
left Honeydukes and headed to the Shrieking Shack, where he was to meet Ginny.
But then, without warning, a large black object hit him in the head and then
started flying around him in circles. It looked like a bat that was just
learning to fly.
Harry lost
sight of it for a second. He turned around to where it had vanished and instead
of seeing a bat, saw the dark outline of a figure. It stepped out into the light
that was shining onto the road from Dervish and Banges. It was Snape.
‘As
usual,’ said Snape, ‘rules seem too good for our perfect Potter.’
Harry was too
stunned to reply. All he could think of saying was ‘What are you doing
here?’
‘I’m here
to do something that should have been done a long time ago,’ said Snape,
stretching out his hand to lay it on Harry’s shoulder. But just as Snape’s
hand touched Harry’s shoulder so did another. Immediately all three
Disapperated.
When they
Reapperated they were in a dark room that Harry found oddly familiar but
couldn’t remember why. He immediately turned around to see who the second
person was that had touched him on the shoulder. He should have known. It was
Ginny. She looked shocked.
‘You stupid
girl!’ yelled Snape. ‘Can you not keep your nose out of other people’s
business?’
‘Leave her
out of this,’ said Harry audaciously, stepping in between the two of them.
‘How
sweet!’ said Snape, a grin streaking across his face. ‘Potter’s in love.
You know its not good to love so young – look how your parents ended up.’
‘Harry,
said Ginny from behind him, her voice trembling. ‘I want to leave.’
‘Potter,’
came a cold, hissing voice from a dark doorway, ‘once again you have lured a
friend into a trap set for you.’ Harry looked towards the doorway and saw the
dark outline of a person. He could see two glinting eyes through the dark. He
knew who it was immediately.
‘Now,’ Lord Voldemort continued, ‘because of your foolishness I
shall finally finish what I started fourteen years ago and kill you both.’
‘Master,
what are you doing here,’ came Snape’s, now trembling and shocked voice. He
didn’t seem to be expecting Lord Voldemort. ‘I thought we’d agreed I would
kill Potter on my own.’
Harry
suddenly realised why the room was so familiar. He had, in a way, been here
twice before for he had been here in dreams he had had about Voldemort last
year. He had witnessed him kill an innocent Muggle and heard him plan Harry’s
death. Lord Voldemort’s shrieks suddenly brought Harry back to his senses.
‘Do you
think, fool,’ bellowed Lord Voldemort, ‘that I would really trust you with
something so important. Do you think I didn’t realise you’ve been spying on
me for the past year? How stupid do you think I am?’
‘Master,’
trembled Snape, ‘I know not what you mean.’
‘You know
exactly what I mean,’ shrieked Lord Voldemort. ‘Prove your loyalty then, and
kill them both.’
All this time
Harry had been trying to figure some way out but each plan seemed more ludicrous
than the last and in each, he or Ginny was sure to be caught.
‘O-of
course, master,’ said Snape, taking his wand out of his robes. ‘I’ll kill
the girl first.’ There was sudden malice in his voice.
‘Poorness
and muggle-loving families can be done without,’ he said, moving closer to
Ginny who had gone almost as pale as a ghost.
Suddenly
something large broke through the window and landed smoothly before the
fireplace. It was a large man on a flying carpet. It was Hagrid.
Harry could
tell Hagrid was surprised to see Lord Voldemort standing in front of him but he
didn’t seem at all surprised to see Snape there.
‘You two,
under the carpe’ now!’ boomed Hagrid, suddenly seeming twice his normal
size. ‘Me ‘n’ these two have somethin’ t’ sor’ out.’
‘Hagrid,
no,’ said Harry as Ginny grabbed his hand. ‘I won’t leave you.’
‘Do what he
said, Harry,’ said Ginny almost to tears. ‘We’ve got to go.’
‘Not
without Hagrid,’ said Harry defiantly. ‘I won’t leave him.’
‘Harry! Go
now,’ roared Hagrid taking out his pink umbrella and pointing it at Harry.
‘I’m hear t’ save ye Harry. ‘N’ I’m no’ abou’ t’ le’
Dumbledore down.’
‘Oh don’t
worry,’ said Lord Voldemort quietly. ‘You won’t be around long enough to
let that Muggle-loving fool down.’
Hagrid spun
on his heel as Ginny pulled Harry towards the carpet and started to lift it.
‘Dumbledore is a grea’ man ‘n’ I’ll die before I let anythin’ like
you near him.’
‘That you
certainly will,’ said Voldemort as Hagrid continued to walk towards him. And
then something happened that no one in the room seemed to expect. Hagrid threw a
kick to Voldemort’s face. Voldemort went flying through the air and landed
with a thud against the wall and slid down to the ground. The last thing Harry
heard before Ginny pulled him onto the ground and under the carpet was Voldemort
laughing a cold callous laugh and then a flash of green light. Ginny screamed
and Harry called ‘Hagrid’ but there was no answer.
Harry stood
up. He wasn’t under the carpet any longer but in a small, darkly lit room. Was
this room another room in the house? Had they fallen through the ground? There
were tears streaming down Ginny’s white, shaking face and she managed to say:
‘We’ve
got to get to Hogwarts. We’ve got to tell Dumbledore what’s happened.’ But
Harry didn’t want to waste time getting Dumbledore’s help. He wanted to help
Hagrid. There was only one thing that green flash could have been but Harry
needed to be sure. But he didn’t know how to get out of this place. There was
a door in the corner but would that lead back to that dark house? There was only
one way to find out.
He led, the
now sobbing, Ginny through the door. But the door didn’t take them back to the
room where Hagrid was. Instead they were in a small, cluttered shop. An elderly
wizard came up to them.
‘Welcome to
Godric’s Travels,’ said the wizard cheerfully, ‘helper of the stranded
witch or wizard. How can I be of service?’
‘Hogwarts,’
said Ginny through sobs. ‘Hogwarts, quickly.’
‘Oh,’
said the wizard, ‘you’re in a hurry. You’ll want to use Floo Powder then.
Take some from the pot there and the fireplace is over here.’
Harry and
Ginny each took a handful of the powder and the wizard led them to the
fireplace. They made a mutual agreement to travel together as it would be
quicker so they both through their powder into the fire and stepped into the
large green flame that had erupted.
‘Would you
like me to fix your carpet,’ asked the wizard attentively but Harry had
already called out ‘Hogwarts’ in as non-a shaking voice as possible and they
were gone before answering.