(Y/N)'s POV

Later in the week the Gryffindor's had a Quidditch match with the Ravenclaws, and despite my best efforts of easing his nerves at breakfast Ron was still feeling nervous.

Not that I could blame him, after seeing the replacements they got for the Weasley twins as beaters I didn't have high hopes. They were even worse than Ron was. This was going to be a squash match and the whole school knew.

But we still cheered him on, sat in the stands, we bellowed support for him as the match began. "And they're off!" said Lee Jordan.

"And Davies takes the Quaffle immediately, Ravenclaw Captain Davies with the Quaffle, he dodges Johnson, he dodges Bell, he dodges Spinnet as well. . . . He's going straight for goal! He's going to shoot — and — and —" Lee swore very loudly. "And he's scored."

We groaned with the rest of the Gryffindors. "He's just warming up, he'll get into the swing of things now!" I said hopefully in Hermione's ear.

Predictably, horribly, the Slytherins on the other side of the stands began to sing: "Weasley cannot save a thing, He cannot block a single ring . . . " "Harry," said a hoarse voice. "Hermione..." "(Y/N)..."

We turned and saw Hagrid's enormous bearded face sticking between the seats; apparently he had squeezed his way all along the row behind, for the first and second years he had just passed had a ruffled, flattened look about them.

"Listen," he whispered, "can yeh come with me? Now? While ev'ryone's watchin' the match?" "Er . . . can't it wait, Hagrid?" asked Harry. "Till the match is over? "No," said Hagrid.

"No, Harry, it's gotta be now . . . while ev'ryone's lookin' the other way. . . . Please?" Hagrid's nose was gently dripping blood. His eyes were both blackened. " 'Course," said Harry at once, " 'course we'll come. . . ."

We wandered off as I used my wand to try and fix Hagrid up a bit "I 'ppreciate this, you three, I really do," said Hagrid as they reached the stairs. He kept looking around nervously "I jus' hope she doesn' notice us goin'. . . ." "You mean Umbridge?" said Harry.

Hermione nodded, "She won't, she's got her whole Inquisitorial Squad sitting with her, didn't you see? She must be expecting trouble at the match."

"Well, her instincts are right, Me, the twins, and Lee Jordan are all in the stands, she better keep her eyes open" I said proudly, "Yeah, well, a bit o' trouble wouldn' hurt," said Hagrid, "Give us more time . . ."

"What is it, Hagrid?" said Hermione, looking up at him with a concerned expression on her face as we hurried across the lawn toward the edge of the forest. I took noticed Hagrid's pumpkins, something he usually took a lot of pride in, were looking like they hadn't been tended to for weeks.

"Yeh — yeh'll see in a mo'," said Hagrid, looking over his shoulder as a great roar rose from the stands behind them.

"Hey — did someone jus' score?" "It'll be Ravenclaw," said Harry heavily. "Good . . . good . . ." said Hagrid distractedly. "Tha's good. . . ." We had to jog to keep up with him as he strode across the lawn, looking around with every other step.

"We're goin' in here," he said, jerking his shaggy head behind him. "Into the forest?" said Hermione, perplexed. "Yeah," said Hagrid. "C'mon now, quick, before we're spotted!"

We looked at each other, then ducked into the cover of the trees behind Hagrid, who was already striding away into the green gloom, his crossbow over his arm.

Hermione took my hand as we walked, seemingly out of nervousness, I kept my other hand on my wand "Hagrid, why are you armed?" said Harry. "Jus' a precaution," said Hagrid, shrugging his massive shoulders.

"You didn't bring your crossbow the day you showed us the thestrals," said Hermione timidly. "Nah, well, we weren' goin' in so far then," said Hagrid.

"Hagrid, would it be all right if we lit our wands?" said Hermione quietly. "Er . . . all righ'," Hagrid whispered back. "In fact . . ." He stopped suddenly and turned around; Hermione walked right into him and was knocked over backward.

I was wrenched down with her too but avoided landing on top of her. I quickly got to my feet and helped her up. "You ok?" I asked concerned, she nodded.

"Maybe we bes' jus' stop fer a momen', so I can . . . fill yeh in," said Hagrid. "Before we ge' there, like." "Good!" said Hermione, as I set her back on her feet. We murmured "Lumos!" and our wand tips ignited.

"Righ," said Hagrid. "Well . . . see . . . the thing is . . ." He took a great breath. "Well, there's a good chance I'm goin' ter be gettin' the sack any day now," he said.

"But you've lasted this long —" Hermione said tentatively. "It's not the end o' the world, I'll be able ter help Dumbledore once I'm outta here, I can be useful ter the Order."

" An' you lot'll have Grubbly-Plank, yeh'll — yeh'll get through yer exams fine. . . ." His voice trembled and broke. "Don' worry abou' me," he said hastily, as Hermione made to pat his arm.

He pulled his enormous spotted handkerchief from the pocket of his waistcoat and mopped his eyes with it. "Look, I wouldn' be tellin' yer this at all if I didn' have ter."

"See, if I go . . . well, I can' leave withou' . . . withou' tellin' someone . . . because I'll — I'll need you ter help me. An' Ron, if he's willin'." "Of course we'll help you," said Harry at once. "Yeah, who do you think been feeding Fang whenever you're gone?" I smirked, pointing a finger at my chest.

"What do you want us to do?" Hagrid gave a great sniff and patted Harry wordlessly on the shoulder with such force that Harry was knocked sideways into a tree.

"I knew yeh'd say yes," said Hagrid into his handkerchief, "but I won' . . . never . . . forget . . . Well . . . c'mon . . . jus' a little bit further through here . . . Watch yerselves, now, there's nettles. . . ." We walked on in silence for another fifteen minutes "Really easy," he said softly. "Very quiet, now."

"Sleepin'," breathed Hagrid. I could hear a distant, rhythmic rumbling that sounded like a pair of enormous lungs at work. I looked for the source and was amazed.

"You're kidding me" I muttered, looking at Hermione who had just squeezed my hand very hard.  She looked utterly terrified. "Hagrid," she said in a whisper barely audible.

"Hagrid, you told us," said Hermione, her wand now shaking in her hand, "you told us none of them wanted to come!""I' cou'nt leave 'im. See — he's my brother!" Hermione simply stared at him, her mouth open.

"Hagrid, when you say 'brother,' " said Harry slowly, "do you mean — ?" "Well — half-brother," amended Hagrid. "Turns out me mother took up with another giant when she left me dad, an' she went an' had Grawp here —" "Grawp?" said Harry.

"Yeah . . . well, tha's what it sounds like when he says his name," said Hagrid anxiously. "Oh Hagrid" said Hermione, flopping down onto a ripped-up tree and burying her face in her hands.

"What do you think you're going to do with a violent giant who doesn't even want to be here!" "Well, now — 'violent' — tha's a bit harsh," said Hagrid, still twisting his hands agitatedly.

"I'll admit he mighta taken a couple o' swings at me when he's bin in a bad mood, but he's gettin' better, loads better, settlin' down well. . . ."

"What are those ropes for, then?" Harry asked. Referring to the ropes thick as saplings stretching from around the trunks of the largest nearby trees toward the place where Grawp lay curled on the ground with his back to them.

"You have to keep him tied up?" said Hermione faintly. "Well . . . yeah . . ." said Hagrid, looking anxious. "See — it's like I say, he's only small see — he doesn' really know his strength —" "Oh that's fine then, I'll remember to forgive him when he rips my arms off!" I whispered harshly.

"So what is it you want us to do?" Hermione asked apprehensively. "Look after him," said Hagrid croakily. "After I'm gone." We exchanged miserable looks, "What — what does that involve, exactly?" Hermione inquired. "Not food or anythin'!" said Hagrid eagerly.

"He can get his own food, no problem. Birds an' deer an' stuff . . . No, it's company he needs. If I jus' knew someone was carryin' on tryin' ter help him a bit . . . teachin' him, yeh know . . ."

"You want us to teach him," Harry said in a hollow voice. "Yeah — even if yeh jus' talk ter him a bit," said Hagrid hopefully. "'Cause I reckon, if he can talk ter people, he'll understand more that we all like him really, an' want him to stay. . . ."

I looked at the others, and then at the hope in Hagrids eyes, and sighed. "We'll try, Hagrid. . . ." Harry said first "I knew I could count on yeh," Hagrid said, beaming in a very watery way and dabbing at his face with his handkerchief again.

"An' I don' wan' yeh ter put yerself out too much, like. . . . I know yeh've got exams. . . . If yeh could jus' nip down here in yer Invisibility Cloak maybe once a week an' have a little chat with him . . . I'll wake him up, then — introduce you —"

"Wha — no!" said Hermione, jumping up, "Hagrid, no, don't wake him, really, we don't need —" But Hagrid had already stepped over the great trunk in front of them and was proceeding toward Grawp. "Hagrid, there's a whole saying warning people about this!" I whispered after him.

Before we could protest the gigantic Grawp was rising from the ground, which shuddered as he placed an enormous hand upon it to push himself onto his knees and turned his head to see who and what had disturbed him.

"All righ', Grawpy?""Had a nice sleep, eh?" "Let's hope so..." I muttered. Grawp pushed himself to his feet with surprising speed and agility. "Oh my . . ." Hermione squealed, terrified.

The trees to which the other ends of the ropes around Grawp's wrists and ankles were attached creaked ominously. "Hagrid, If this is a small giant I think your dad is an even braver man then you."

"Anyway, Grawpy," shouted Hagrid, "I got company fer yeh!" Hagrid shouted. "Company, see! Look down, yeh big buffoon, I brought yeh some friends!" 

Looking at the giant at his true height I looked to Hagrid, trying to beg him to stop with my eyes. He didn't even notice. Hagrid picked up a large branch of a tree

"Oh Hagrid, don't," moaned Hermione, but Hagrid had already raised the bough and gave Grawp's knee a sharp poke. "Great, lets poke him with a stick, that always ends well" I sighed.

The giant let go of the top of the pine tree, which swayed menacingly and deluged Hagrid with a rain of needles, and looked down. "This," said Hagrid, hastening over to where we stood, "is Harry, Grawp! Harry Potter! He migh' be comin' ter visit yeh if I have ter go away, understand?"

He did not, anyone but Hagrid could tell that "This is (Y/N), he's a big boy too, like you Grawpy," I gave an awkward wave "Hey little man" I said jokingly to calm down but every instinct I had was telling me that we should leave as quickly as we could.

"An' this is Hermione, see? Her —" Hagrid hesitated. Turning to Hermione he said, "Would yeh mind if he called yeh Hermy, Hermione? On'y it's a difficult name fer him ter remember. . . ."

"No, not at all," squeaked Hermione, trying to make herself smaller and almost cowering behind me. "This is Hermy, Grawp! An' she's gonna be comin' an' all! Is'n tha' nice? Eh? Three friends fer yeh ter — GRAWPY, NO!"

Grawp's hand had shot out of nowhere toward Hermione, I seized her and Harry and pulled them backward behind the tree, so that Grawp's fist scraped the trunk but closed on thin air. "I think you have an admirer" Harry said shakily.

"BAD BOY, GRAWPY!" we heard Hagrid yelling, as Hermione clung to me behind the tree, shaking and whimpering. I stroked her hair to calm her, but she was very shaken.

"VERY BAD BOY! YEH DON' GRAB — OUCH!" Harry and I poked out from around the trunk and saw Hagrid lying on his back, his hand over his nose. Grawp, apparently losing interest, had straightened up again and was again engaged in pulling back the pine as far as it would go.

"Righ'," said Hagrid thickly, "Well, I reckon tha's enough fer one day," said Hagrid. "We'll — er — we'll go back now, shall we?" We nodded. Hagrid shouldered his crossbow again and, still pinching his nose, led the way back into the trees.

Aside from my spell to stop the bleeding from Hagrid's nose. Nobody spoke for a while. Hermione's face was pale and set, she held my hand tightly, still trembling. "Well . . . see you later, then, Hagrid. . . ."

"I don't believe him," said Hermione in a very unsteady voice, the moment we were out of earshot of Hagrid. "I don't believe him. I really don't believe him. . . ."

I was ranting too "I thought he was just going to ask us to take care of his pumpkins!" "First a dragon that grew up and almost killed me, then a spider that almost killed me and now a GIANT! Oh I can't wait!" I bellowed "He's off his head" "Calm down," said Harry.

"Calm down!" Hermione said feverishly. "A giant! A giant in the forest! And we're supposed to give him English lessons! Always assuming, of course, we can get past the herd of murderous centaurs on the way in and out! I — don't — believe — him!"

"We haven't got to do anything yet!" Harry tried to reassure her a quiet voice, "He's not asking us to do anything unless he gets chucked out and that might not even happen —" "Oh come off it, Harry!" said Hermione angrily, stopping dead in her tracks so that I had to swerve to avoid her.

"Of course he's going to be chucked out and to be perfectly honest, after what we've just seen, who can blame Umbridge?" In my anger I nodded along, even if I didn't really agree.

There was a pause in which Harry glared at her, and her eyes filled slowly with tears. "You didn't mean that," said Harry quietly. "No . . . well . . . all right . . . I didn't," she said, wiping her eyes angrily.

"But why does he have to make life so difficult for himself — for us?" "I dunno —" "Oh and Harry" I said out of frustration, he turned to me shyly "Next time. Speak for yourself!" I said as I clutched Hermione and basically escorted her shaking form back to the castle.

As we made our way to the crowds, I tried to drown out that song they made up about Ron, it wasn't even that clever. That was until I subconsciously started listening to the lyrics after I realised it sounded different.

"Weasley is our King, Weasley is our King, He didn't let the Quaffle in, Weasley is our King . . ." I looked over the crowd and my mouth fell open.

"I wish they'd stop singing that stupid song," said Hermione miserably, "haven't they gloated enough?" A great tide of students was moving up the sloping lawns from the pitch. "Oh, let's get in before we have to meet the Slytherins," said Hermione.

"-Weasley can save anything, He never leaves a single ring. That's why Gryffindors all sing: Weasley is our King." I grabbed her head and positioned it to what I was seeing. Harry noticed too.

"Hermione . . ." said Harry slowly. Her eyes widened "No!" said Hermione in a hushed voice. "YES!" said Harry loudly. "HARRY! HERMIONE! (Y/N)!" yelled Ron, waving the silver Quidditch Cup in the air and looking quite beside himself.

"WE DID IT! WE WON!" We beamed up at him as he passed; there was a scrum at the door of the castle and Ron's head got rather badly bumped on the lintel, but nobody seemed to want to put him down. Still singing, the crowd squeezed itself into the entrance hall and out of sight.

"We're never hearing the end of this one" I predicted, they snorted. "We'll save our news till tomorrow, shall we?" said Harry. "Yes, all right," said Hermione wearily. "I'm not in any hurry..." "I'd hate to say it, but I called it" I whispered to Hermione a week later.

Ron's euphoria hadn't dulled, he recited the story for the fifth time "Well, I mean, I'd already let in that one of Davies's, so I wasn't feeling that confident, but I dunno, when Bradley came toward me, just out of nowhere, I thought — you can do this!"

"And I had about a second to decide which way to fly, you know, because he looked like he was aiming for the right goal hoop — my right, obviously, his left — but I had a funny feeling that he was feinting, and so I took the chance and flew left — his right, I mean — and — well — you saw what happened," he concluded modestly

"I told you. Just hit the balls away from the hole" I smiled as he recalled it, sweeping his hair back quite unnecessarily so that it looked interestingly windswept and glancing around to see whether the people nearest to them, a bunch of gossiping third-year Hufflepuffs, had heard him.

"And then, when Chambers came at me about five minutes later — what?" Ron said, stopping mid-sentence at the look on Harry's face. "Why are you grinning?" "I'm not," said Harry quickly, looking down at his Transfiguration notes and attempting to straighten his face.

"I'm just glad we won, that's all." "Yeah," said Ron slowly, savouring the words, "We won. Did you see the look on Chang's face when Ginny got the Snitch right out from under her nose?" "I suppose she cried, did she?" said Harry bitterly.

"Well, yeah — more out of temper than anything, though . . ." Ron frowned slightly. "But you saw her chuck her broom away when she got back to the ground, didn't you?"

"Er —" said Harry. "Well, actually . . . no, Ron," said Hermione with a heavy sigh, putting down her book and looking at him apologetically.

"As a matter of fact, the only bit of the match we saw was Davies's first goal." Ron's carefully ruffled hair seemed to wilt with disappointment. "You didn't watch?" he said faintly, looking downcast "You didn't see me make any of those saves?"

"Well — no," said Hermione, stretching out a placatory hand toward him. "But don't worry, now you can tell us all of it in ridiculous amounts of detail. Silver lining" I said. He huffed and said "Not the same though is it!"

"But Ron, we didn't want to leave — we had to!" pleaded Hermione "Yeah?" said Ron, whose face was growing rather red. "How come?" "It was Hagrid," said Harry. The story was told in five minutes.

"He brought one back and hid it in the forest?" "Yep," said Harry grimly. "No," said Ron, as though by saying this he could make it untrue. "No, he can't have. . . ." "Well, he has," said Hermione firmly.

"Grawp's about sixteen feet tall, enjoys ripping up twenty-foot pine trees, and knows me," she snorted, "as Hermy." I chuckled as Ron gave a nervous laugh."And Hagrid wants us to . . . ?" "Teach him English, yeah," said Harry.

"I'll move on to French after that" I promised, putting a thumb up. "He's lost his mind," said Ron in an almost awed voice. "Yes," said Hermione irritably, turning a page of Intermediate Transfiguration and glaring at a series of diagrams showing an owl turning into a pair of opera glasses.

"Yes, I'm starting to think he has. But unfortunately, he made us promise." "Well, you're just going to have to break your promise, that's all," said Ron firmly. "I mean, come on . . . We've got exams.

"and we're about that far," he held up his hand to show thumb and forefinger a millimetre apart. "From being chucked out as it is. Especially him." He said, pointing at me, I agreed, it was a fair point.

"And anyway . . . remember Norbert? Remember Aragog? Have we ever come off better for mixing with any of Hagrid's monster mates?" I nodded, "Took the words right out of my mouth mate."

After weeks of preparation, June had arrived, but to the fifth years this meant only one thing: Our O.W.L.s were upon us at last. Their teachers were no longer setting them homework; lessons were devoted to reviewing those topics their teachers thought most likely to come up in the exams.

Which of course meant Hermione was going mental, we had a lot of 'S.P.E.W. meetings' but they had a lot less snogging and a lot more flashcards, and my proposal for a 'rewards-based system' did not go down well.

We received examination schedules and details for O.W.L.s during our next Transfiguration lesson. "As you can see," Professor McGonagall told the class while we copied down the dates and times of our exams from the blackboard.

"Your O.W.L.s are spread over two successive weeks. You will sit the theory exams in the mornings and the practice in the afternoons. Your practical Astronomy examination will, of course, take place at night." "Damn, probably would have done better if I could just make it up" I muttered.

"Now, I must warn you that the most stringent Anti-Cheating Charms have been applied to your examination papers. Auto-Answer O.W.L.S Quills are banned from the examination hall, as are Remembralls, Detachable Cribbing Cuffs, and Self-Correcting Ink."

"Every year, I am afraid to say, seems to harbour at least one student who thinks that he or she can get around the Wizarding Examinations Authority's rules. I can only hope that it is nobody in Gryffindor."

"Our new...headmistress...has asked the Heads of House to tell their students that cheating will be punished most severely because, of course, your examination results will reflect upon the headmistress's new regime at the school. . . ." Professor McGonagall gave a tiny sigh.

"However, that is no reason not to do your very best. You have your own futures to think about." "Please, Professor," said Hermione, her hand in the air, "when will we find out our results?" "An owl will be sent to you sometime in July," said Professor McGonagall.

Harry's POV

Our first exam, Theory of Charms, was scheduled for Monday morning. I agreed to test Hermione, despite (Y/N) warning against it, I regretted it almost at once.

She was very agitated and kept snatching the book back to check that she had gotten the answer completely right, finally hitting me hard on the nose with the sharp edge of Achievements in Charming.

"Why don't you just do it yourself?" I said firmly, handing the book back to her, my eyes watering. Meanwhile Ron was reading two years of Charms notes with his fingers in his ears, his lips moving soundlessly.

(Y/N) was being weird, he seemed to be trying to memorise the information through interpretive dance, although I suppose It must have meant something to him. Everyone was trying to do some last-minute studying, but nobody seemed to be getting very far.

A few hours later we all waited for the words. "You may begin," McGonagall turned over an enormous hourglass on the desk beside her, on which were also spare quills, ink bottles, and rolls of parchment.

"Well, it wasn't too bad, was it?" asked Hermione anxiously in the entrance hall two hours later, still clutching the exam paper. "I'm not sure I did myself justice on Cheering Charms," "Well, you shouldn't have slept through them then" (Y/N) teased.

She frowned but continued "I just ran out of time — did you put in the countercharm for hiccups? I wasn't sure whether I ought to, it felt like too much — and on question twenty-three —"

"Hermione," said Ron sternly, "We've been through this before. . . . We're not going through every exam afterward, it's bad enough doing them once." (Y/N) smiled and said, "We can go through them later yeah?" looking at Hermione strangely.

For a second I thought I saw him wink, she nodded. After Charms and Potions we were sat in the common room with the twins. They were trying to take our mind off things. "We've decided we don't care about getting into trouble anymore." "Have you ever?" asked Hermione.

"'Course we have," said George. "Never been expelled, have we?" "We've always known where to draw the line," said Fred. "We might have put a toe across it occasionally," said George. "But we've always stopped short of causing real mayhem," said Fred, an accusatory upturned eyebrow in (Y/N)'s direction.

"But now?" said Ron tentatively. "Well, now —" said George. "— what with Dumbledore gone —" said Fred. "— we reckon a bit of mayhem —" said George. "— is exactly what our dear new Head deserves," said Fred. "You mustn't!" whispered Hermione. "Need any help?" said (Y/N), she scowled at him.

"You really mustn't! She'd love a reason to expel you!" "You don't get it, Hermione, do you?" said Fred, smiling at her. "We don't care about staying anymore. We'd walk out right now if we weren't determined to do our bit for Dumbledore first. So anyway," he checked his watch.

"Phase one is about to begin. I'd make sure they check your attendance during exams, that way the teachers will see you can't have had anything to do with it." They looked at (Y/N) "You especially Mr. Pyromaniac" He shrugged "That's more Seamus's shtick, but sure"

Halfway through our Defence Against the Dark Arts exam, there was a quick "Snap!" and the doors to the great hall flung open, and then, pandemonium reigned. Somebody had set off what seemed to be an enormous crate of enchanted fireworks.

Dragons comprised entirely of green-and-gold sparks were soaring up and down the corridors, emitting loud fiery blasts and bangs as they went.

Shocking-pink Catherine wheels five feet in diameter were whizzing lethally through the air like so many flying saucers. Rockets with long tails of brilliant silver stars were ricocheting off the walls. Sparklers were writing swearwords in mid-air of their own accord.

Umbridge stormed forward down the exam hall "What is the meaning of this!" Filch rushed to her side, muttering, and then it happened. They were standing, apparently transfixed with horror, halfway down the stairs.

One of the larger Catherine wheels seemed to decide that what it needed was more room to manoeuvre; it whirled toward Umbridge and Filch with a sinister wheeeeeeeeee. Both adults yelled with fright and ducked, and it soared straight through the rows of fifth years. Sending our exam papers everywhere.

The whole year of students immediately rushed out of their seats, the hall exploded into laughter and cheers, everyone looked around for the culprits only to find Fred and George at the front of the hall, throwing fireworks out of a huge box, listening to Umbridge's and Filch's yells and quaking with mirth.

"Hurry, Filch, hurry!" shrieked Umbridge. "They'll be all over the school unless we do something — Stupefy!" A jet of red light shot out of the end of her wand and hit one of the rockets.

Instead of freezing in mid-air, it exploded with such force that it blasted a hole in a nearby gong she had used for a timer. She tried to contain them, screaming "I will have order!" but the fireworks were too much.

As Professor Umbridge shouted, she drew attention to herself. The largest firework of all was lit by the twins with a loud cackle, the expression on her face was priceless, she was frozen in an expression of absolute horror.

As the firework took form, the headmistress lost her nerve, she was sent running down the hall, terrified as she was chased by a sparkling Chinese dragon.

As It caught her, it exploded into a huge stream of sparklers, each of which found a new target, the notices that Umbridge had pinned around the entrance to the great hall.

As they made impact all the notices shattered, flaming paper and glass went everywhere, raining down onto a traumatised Umbridge, who much to my immense satisfaction, was dishevelled and soot-blackened, tottering and sweaty-faced.

She glared at the twins and charged them, wand drawn, they looked to each other and immediately ran, holding their own wands. It was just like the night when Trelawney had been sacked.

Students were standing all around the walls in a great ring, teachers and ghosts were also in the crowd. Prominent among the onlookers were members of the Inquisitorial Squad, who were all looking exceptionally pleased with themselves.

Peeves, who was bobbing overhead, gazed down upon Fred and George, who stood in the middle of the floor with the unmistakable look of two people who had just been cornered. "So!" said Umbridge triumphantly.

She was standing just a few stairs in front of them, once more looking down upon her prey. "So . . . you think it amusing to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?" "Pretty amusing, yeah," said Fred, looking back up at her without the slightest sign of fear.

Filch elbowed his way closer to Umbridge, almost crying with happiness. "I've got the form, Headmistress," he said hoarsely, waving the piece of parchment Harry had just seen him take from her desk. "I've got the form and I've got the whips waiting. . . . Oh, let me do it now. . . ."

"Very good, Argus," she said. "You two," she went on, gazing down at Fred and George, "are about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school." "You know what?" said Fred. "I don't think we are."

He turned to his twin. "George," said Fred, "I think we've outgrown full-time education." "Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself," said George lightly. "Time to test our talents in the real world, d'you reckon?" asked Fred. "Definitely," said George.

And before Umbridge could say a word, they raised their wands and said together, "Accio Brooms!" I heard a loud crash somewhere in the distance.

Umbridge ducked just in time, Fred and George's broomsticks, one still trailing the heavy chain and iron peg with which Umbridge had fastened them to the wall, were hurtling along the corridor toward their owners.

"We won't be seeing you," Fred told Professor Umbridge, swinging his leg over his broomstick. "Yeah, don't bother to keep in touch," said George, mounting his own.

Fred looked around at the assembled students, and at the silent, watchful crowd. "If anyone fancies buying some of these products, come to number ninety-three, Diagon Alley. Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes," he said in a loud voice.

"Our new premises!" "Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat," added George, pointing at Professor Umbridge.

"STOP THEM!" shrieked Umbridge, but it was too late. As the Inquisitorial Squad closed in, Fred and George kicked off from the floor, shooting fifteen feet into the air, the iron peg swinging dangerously below.

Fred looked across the hall at the poltergeist bobbing on his level above the crowd. "Give her hell from us, Peeves. (Y/N)." Peeves, whom had never taken an order from a student before, swept his belled hat from his head and sprang to a salute, as did (Y/N), tears of joy and laughter running down his face.

Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below. And with two final simultaneous fireworks a huge "W" was emblazoned in the sky, silhouetted by the glorious sunset. That was the day Fred and George Weasley became legends that would be talked about in the walls of Hogwarts forever.