The Hidden One

OWLs

Rose was tired of hearing about quidditch. Ron hadn't shut up about the match all day and Rose was five seconds from punching him anytime he mentioned the game. The quartet was sitting under a beech tree on the grounds, and Rose was doing a very good job of ignoring Ron but when he repeated the same story for the fifth time, she couldn't help but say something.

"Ron! Please shut up!" Rose cried out. The boy looked at her with shock clear on his face. "We weren't there for most of the game. We're really sorry, but we had to leave."

"You-you weren't there?" Ron asked quietly.

"Er-not after Davie's first goal," Harry admitted.

"You didn't see me make any of those saves?" Ron asked sadly.

"No," Hermione said sheepishly. "We wanted to, but we had to leave."

"Well...why?" Ron asked. His face was growing redder and redder by the second.

"It was Hagrid," Harry answered. "He decided to tell us why he's been so beaten up recently. He wanted us to go into the forest with him and he had no choice...anyways..."

Harry told the story in about five minutes, Hermione and Rose chiming in when necessary. Ron's look of anger was replaced by one of disbelief.

"He brought one back and hid it in he forest?" Ron asked when they were done.

"Yep," Rose said with a sigh.

"No, no, he can't have," Ron said.

"Well, he did. Grawp is about sixteen feet tall, enjoys ripping up twenty foot pine trees, and knows me as Hermy," Hermione said firmly. Ron let out a nervous laugh.

"And Hagrid wants us to...?"

"Teach him English, yeah," Harry said.

"He's lost his mind," Ron said in an awed voice.

"Yes," Hermione said. "Yes, he has. But we promised."

"You're going to have to break your promise," Ron told her. "We have exams and how to teach  a giant English is not something that we've learned how to do."

"I know, it's just...we promised," Hermione sighed.

"Well, Hagrid hasn't been sacked yet," Ron said. "All he has to do is last till the end of term and we won't have to go near Grawp."

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"Tillie, I'm going to fail everything," Rose groaned. She was laying in her bed, the first OWL exam barely an hour away.

"Rose, stop talking to your cat and get ready," Hermione snapped. Rose sat up and threw open the curtains.

"I'll do what I want," Rose mumbled as she stood up and started getting ready.

The past few weeks had been interesting. Teachers stopped giving homework and let the students have the whole afternoon to study. Everyone constantly wanted to know how long others had been studying, causing Rose to almost scream on multiple occasions. She was tired of hearing about OWLs. She just wanted them over with. Hermione had to consfigate fake potions from people who were selling them to make money. Ron and Harry almost bought a Brain Elixir that was very much fake. Luckily, Hermione poured it down the toilet.

The examiners had come the night before, looking very strict. They all seemed to support Dumbledore, making Umbridge very upset.

"You ready?" Hermione asked Rose a few minutes later. Rose nodded and they made their way to breakfast. Rose was only able to stomach a single piece of toast, too nervous to eat anything else.