𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐦𝐞 | 𝐇.𝐏.

𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝟓 - 𝟗

The OWLs had begun. They were absolute torture. 

The OWLs were held in the Great Hall, supervised by Umbridge, but I didn't know it was possible for them to be a trillion times worse than a regular class with her. I knew they were supposed to be challenging, but I was convinced that Umbridge had made it extra hard for us on purpose. 

The Great Hall was always dark and forbidding, and the only sounds were the scratch of quills and hisses of pain from people who had spoken out and were forced to write with one of Umbridge's magic quills.  

My worst subject by far was History of Magic, but I'm pretty sure only Hermione got an O on that one. Everyone had complained afterwards that they had gotten Wendolyn the Weird and Winston the Worried mixed up because they both married witches.

I tried to imagine sincerely wanting to marry an ogre and nearly threw up all over my essay on vampire rights.

I did take great satisfaction though from Umbridge's face when everyone that used to be in Dumbledore's Army got the actual wand-using section of her test perfectly. I had a feeling she wasn't expecting that.

Still, it was grueling. Every night and every free period all the fifth year students would gather in the common room and rake their eyes over mountains of notes on whatever subject we were taking the next day. 

At one point Hermione got so agitated with Potter asking her questions from Achievements in Charming that she accidentally hit him on the side of the nose with a sharp corner of the book while trying to snatch it back and check her answers. I only laughed a little bit.

During our second to last OWL, Charms, there was a sudden thudding from the closed doors to the hall. Umbridge's face twisted in annoyance as everyone turned behind them to see where the noise was coming from. When it happened a second time, Umbridge left her chair and walked briskly past the students.

Upon opening the doors, a little sparkling ball of light began to jitter in front of her face like a bothersome fly. Finally it flew to the middle of the room and exploded over our heads in blue fountains of light. It was a firework?

We watched Umbridge lean forwards, craning her neck around the corridor. Faster than I could realize what was happening there was a whooshing sound, and then Fred and George rocketed in on their brooms.

They whooped and cheered, sending bigger fireworks up at the ceiling and blowing all our exam papers into the air. Soon the Great Hall looked like a bomb went off. There was smoke and colorful sparks everywhere, and all the students had gotten up from their desks and were laughing at Umbridge's face.

Fred and George threw their last big firework up into the air. It burst into colors of yellow and purple and red, and then a dragon's head formed out of all the light. It's face was bigger than my entire body, and it sported horns and long, pointy teeth the length of my leg. There was even real smoke coming out of it's nostrils, which didn't exactly give it a friendly look.

It quickly growled and swooped down, making its way through the rows of desks to Umbridge. She screamed and ran as fast as she could to the doors, but just when she got out into the corridor the dragon snapped its jaws shut.

The incredible firework exploded, sending every last Educational Decree to the ground. The glass shattered, the picture frames cracked, and Umbridge was left standing there, hair messed up and clothes sparking.

Fred and George zipped out of the hall, nearly knocking her over as they passed. Every single fifth year student followed them out into the courtyard, yelling and clapping. As the twins flew into the sky, all that was left against the clouds were a thousand fireworks creating a huge orange W, marketing their new shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.