Green Flame Torch

It was another boring day in Transfiguration class. Once again, Professor McGonagall spent most of the class on bookwork.

Care of Magical Creatures, on the other hand, was much more interesting. Hagrid, of course, discussed another new creature.

"Today I will show you some Diricawls, but firs', let me ask, do any of you know what Diricawls are? Yes, Hermione?"

"The Diricawl is a plump-bodied, fluffy-feathered, flightless bird."

"Five points to Gryffindor," said Hagrid. "And our gues', Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Diggory, has brough' in a colony of Diricawls to show you."

Professor Diggory stood before a flock of blackish gray birds. "Interestingly, Muggles were once fully aware of the Diricawl, though they knew it by another name. Who can tell me? Yes, Miss Jones?"

"The dodo, sir?" asked Megan.

"Good for you. Ten points to Hufflepuff," said Diggory, who was still partly biased towards his own -- and former son's -- house. "Although the dodo, or Diricawl, cannot fly, it is remarkable for its method of escaping danger. It can vanish in a puff of feathers and reappear elsewhere. Does anyone know what other species of bird shares this? Yes, Mr. Potter?"

"The phoenix," said Harry. Of course, he was thinking about that day the previous year when Professor Dumbledore used a phoenix to escape from Fudge.

"Fifteen points to Gryffindor," said Hagrid. As he said this, one of the Diricawls disappeared and reappeared on Ron's desk.

"In fact," Diggory continued, "the Order owns these Diricawls. They are used in emergencies when one needs to leave Hogwarts quickly but can't Apparate."

Some more bookwork followed. After class, Hermione told Harry and Ron that there was to be another SPEW meeting. On the way to the Room of Requirement, the trio met up with Draco Malfoy.

"So, where do you Gryffindorks think your going?" asked Malfoy. "To that secret room where you have your stupid Dumbledore's Army meetings? As if Dumbledore could ever be --"

"As a matter of fact," Hermione began, "it's a meeting of the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. You're welcome to attend, if --"

"As if I'll attend some meeting led by a Mudblood. And besides, I want my house elves to work their arse off, not go free!"

But Ron suddenly had his wand out. "I don't want you to come within a kilometer of my sister."

"But you see, Weasel, I have no choice, because I'm her tutor. Professor Snape --"

"Impedimenta!" Ron yelled out. Malfoy's wand had been pointing at Ron, and he was just about to perform a spell on Ron when he fell over.

"Malfoy! Weasley! What is going on here?" came the voice of Professor McGonagall.

"But he was about to --" Ron began.

"You two know better than to fight in the halls," she said, "especially considering that both of you are prefects. You two can join Potter in detention next week."

After McGonagall left, Hermione said, "You should know better than to pick fights with that Malfoy. Don't you know what spell he was trying to do on you?"

"No."

"It was one of the human transfiguration spells we are learning in class. Malfoy was about to transform you into some beast!"

Ron was dumbstruck and didn't know what to say. So he, Harry, and Hermione entered the Room of Requirement for the SPEW meeting.

"Well it's Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin," Dean Thomas announced. "I'm so nervous! I'm always nervous before a Quidditch game, never know where you'll take a bludger, but it's especially bad when playing Slytherin. I hope Ravenclaw win..."

"Thomas!" McGonagall scolded him.

Harry took his seat in the stands between Ron and Hermione.

"Ooh! I hope Ravenclaw win! I can't bear to think what Malfoy will do if they win!"

Over at the stands across the way was the large green mass of students cheering loudly and waving banners. Hermione and Harry had bewitched a banner to flash "Go Ravenclaw!" in blue and silver, which they had learned in Charms. But several hysterical laughs from the other students made Harry look up at their banner. It was now flashing, "Go Ravenclaw!... Slytherins Smell Like Dung!...Visit Weasley's Wizard Wheezes in Hogsmeade!"

Hermione gave a small shriek, rolled up the banner hurriedly, and tucked it under her seat while Harry was laughing uncontrollably on the ground.

Draco Malfoy called to Cho from his broom, "Want to give up now and save yourself the humiliation when we slaughter you?!"

Hearing the rude remark from Malfoy made Harry really mad. He flung himself under the Gryffindor crowd and when he emerged out of it again, he was holding the sign Hermione had just rolled up as high as he could.

"Hermione!" he yelled, "help me hold this higher!" The sign continued to flash, "Go Ravenclaw!...Slytherins smell like Dung!... Visit Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!"

When Draco flew by the Gryffindor stand again in his warm-up laps Harry yelled, "Hey Malfoy! Don't worry! A lot of people don't have talent! And you're most of them!" He knew it was very bad sportsmanship, but he didn't care. Nothing would stop him from getting back at Malfoy.

"POTTER! DETENTION!" yelled McGonagall.

The Quaffle went up. Bradley, a chaser on the Ravenclaw team, caught it and passed it to Kimberly Brittain. The second-year flew forward on her Nimbus 2003. As she raced forward, she dodged a bludger and threw the Quaffle towards the hoops. The Slytherin keeper Bletchley dived and missed, and Ravenclaw were up 10-nil. After 15 minutes Ravenclaw were winning 70-20. It was then that Cho saw it. A Bludger was heading straight toward her head. Before she could swerve out of the way it hit her, and a loud "Ooohh!!!" echoed from the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor stands.

"That one will leave a mark!" cried Dean. "There will be a lot of crying in the Ravenclaw common room tonight!"

"Oh! I hope she's okay!" squealed Harry, but just as he was saying that, Cho slipped off her broom and started to fall. With a thud, Cho layed motionless on the ground.

"HERMIONE!" cried Harry, but Hermione was already ahead of him in running down the steps of the high stands.

"I thought you were over Cho," said Ron, following them.

"I am," said Harry, "but still I don't want to see her get hurt."

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the other Ravenclaw players raced over to Cho's side. The Slytherin chasers Montague and Pucey each scored an uncontested goal as the Ravenclaw keeper Chambers was sitting next to a barely conscious Cho, making the score 70-40 Ravenclaw. And Warrington was just about to score a goal as well when Cho was able to open her hand and reveal the Snitch.

Madame Hooch blew her whistle. "Ravenclaw win 220-40!"

The Ravenclaw players helped Cho off the pitch. Katie Bell approached Harry and Ron to remind them of the standings."

"Now it's a four-way tie, as each team has one win and one loss. We'll definitely have to beat Ravenclaw if we are to have any chance at the Cup."

So Harry, Ron, and Hermione returned to the Common Room.

"Today," said Professor McGonagall, "you shall begin the study of a most difficult discipline, namely human transfiguration. This is not the type of magic that any of you should take lightly. We shall begin with human to animal transfiguration. There are limits to this power of which you should be aware. For example, a human can be changed into only one animal during his or her lifetime. Therefore Mister Malfoy here can forever only change into a ferret."

Harry laughed quietly as he thought back to fourth year, when Professor Moody had transformed Malfoy as a punishment.

"The same goes for Animagi," she continued, "but very few wizards actually gain the ability to transform into another creature without a wand. In particular, only one wizard or witch a year is allowed to register as an Animagus, and this is usually determined after N.E.W.T.s in Transfiguration are taken into consideration. Of course, some decided to become unregistered Animagi, which are illegal."

She spent the whole time lecturing on the dangers of human transfiguration, as well as some of the most famous Animagi of all time, namely the Founding Four. Indeed, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin had been able to transform into a lion, a badger, an eagle, and a snake respectively, and it is their Animagical forms which appear on the Hogwarts crest.

Professor McGonagall assigned the students an essay on human transfiguration, and class ended. Hermione told Harry to meet her at the Room of Requirement.

"Why?" asked Harry.

"You'll see when you get there," was all she told him.

So Harry followed Hermione over to the Room of Requirement, which was where the DA meeting had been held in fifth year. There were several students already sitting down on cushions. Harry took a seat between Ron and Luna, and he asked Ron whether he knew why Hermione had asked them to come.

"Beats me," Ron told Harry.

Hermione stood in front of the other dozen students, and then she began to address the crowd.

"Welcome everyone to the first meeting of the year of the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, or S-P-E-W for short."

"Oh no," Ron groaned. "Not spew again!"

"Oh yes," said Hermione gleefully. "For you see, I went to Professor Dumbledore and he says that S-P-E-W is now an official Hogwarts club. I'm the president, of course, Ron's the treasurer, and Harry's the secretary. So you can collect two sickles from every member, Ron, and you might want to write down information on all of the members, Harry. We'll go around to each member and he or she can tell me their name, year, house, and why they believe house elves should be free." She took out the list which already had Ron's, Harry's, and her own name.

"And what if I don't choose to cooperate?" asked Ron.

"Well, your name is already on this sheet of parchment," said Hermione. "And I just may have put a curse on this parchment --"

"Okay, you made your point," said Ron. Both he and Harry remember what had happened with Marietta Edgecombe the previous year, when she had betrayed the DA and ended up with a face worse than Eloise Midgen's.

Luna went first. "Hello," she said in her usually dreary voice, "I am Luna Lovegood and I'm a Ravenclaw fifth year prefect. I am against the enslavement of house elves because house elves are really hitmen in disguise."

"What? How absurd!" said Hermione.

"It says so, right here in the latest issue of the Quibbler," Luna insisted. "Think about it for a while. House elves can do things that not even the most powerful wizards can do, like apparate at Hogwarts. I mean, Hermione, even you yourself insist that wizards can't disapparate from school grounds."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean that house elves do have that power."

"House elves can attack powerful wizards, yet the Ministry cannot distinguish between wizard-cast spells and house elf-cast spells," Luna added.

"She does have a point," said Harry. "Remember the summer before our second year, when I got blamed for Dobby's Hover Charm?"

"But that doesn't make them hitmen," said Hermione. "I mean, it's not as if house elves can kill a wizard."

"That's what they want you to think," said Luna. "Anyhow, if wizards don't free the house elves soon, they will one day turn against the masters and kill them."

"That makes no sense at all," Ron broke in. "House elves must always obey their masters, no matter what."

After Luna signed the parchment, the next student, a short, slender boy with dark brown hair, began to speak.

"I'm Wayne Hopkins, a sixth-year Hufflepuff. I joined S.P.E.W. because of the very awesome badges," he told the group.

His girlfriend, Megan Jones, was next, followed by Colin Creevey. Naturally, he only joined S.P.E.W. because Harry Potter was in it, which, incidentally, was the same reason he had joined the DA.

Next was Colin's girlfriend, Emily Emerson, who was the new Hufflepuff prefect. She was followed by Logan Long, a tall Gryffindor boy with tan hair. His girlfriend spoke.

"I'm Linda Lloyd and I'm a Ravenclaw fourth-year. I joined SPEW because I believe that house elves deserve civil rights also."

"Good for you," said Hermione.

Next was Brian Brittain, a first-year Ravenclaw, followed by Mary Ann Zeller, who was also a first-year, but in Hufflepuff. The final student was Angel Zabini, who was the new Slytherin prefect. Harry recognized that Angel Zabini had an older sibling, Blaise, a Slytherin in Harry's year.

"What were you thinking letting a Slytherin in?" asked Ron.

"Don't you remember the Sorting Hat last year?" asked Hermione. "We need more House unity, and that includes Slytherin."

"Who cares about House unity?" Brian Brittain broke in. "We're going up against Slytherin in Quidditch this weekend. And one of the Slytherin players tried to jinx my sister yesterday!"

"Your sister is on the team?" asked Linda Lloyd.

"Yes, her name is Kimberly. She's a chaser and this is her first year on the Ravenclaw House team."

"Which Slytherin player tried to jinx her?" asked Ron.

"I think his name was Malloy or something," Brian recalled.

"It's Malfoy," Harry corrected him. "Hey, the next time you or your sister see Malfoy, tell him that little ferrets like him will have trouble catching the Snitch."

"Why do I even bother?" asked Hermione. "Meeting adjourned."

The spring term at Hogwarts began. Harry woke up from a dreamless sleep in his dormitory. He got dressed and read the notices board. The new teachers were listed, as well as the schedule changes which resulted from having so many new teachers. The next Hogsmeade weekend was also announced as the 14th of February. It seems as if Hogsmeade weekend is always on Valentine's Day, he thought to himself. Then he reminded himself that he had invited Ginny. What had possessed him to ask her out, anyway, he wondered.

"Today I have History of Magic with Tonks," he said when he had arrived in the Great Hall, "then Defense Against the Dark Arts, followed by extra Quidditch practice."

"Well, I'm supposed to have Divination now," Ron said to the others, "but Trelawney's still in grieving over the loss of her great-great-grandmother. Why do you reckon she was Torched, anyway?"

Hermione took out her copy of the Daily Prophet.

OBITUARY:
Cassandra Trelawney, nee Vablatsky (1894-1997), was a learned Seer. She wrote "Unfogging the Future," which is now the standard text at Hogwarts for Divination. Her most wellknown prophecy was the foretelling of Grindewald's death in 1945.

Her demise came about after she had made some sort of prophecy about Marla Hedwig the 9th of January. But it wasn't what the owl Animagus wanted to hear. So she fired the Green Flame Torch at her.

Her body, like those of all of Hedwig's victims, has been transported to the Hogwarts infirmary.

"See you after Potions," said Ginny, and then she headed towards Snape's dungeon.

Harry and Hermione walked together towards the History of Magic classroom. On the way there, Harry remembered about seeing Hermione's grandparents in Little Whinging, and he asked her about them.

"But of course," she began, "I have two sets of grandparents, namely my father's parents and my mother's parents. My maternal grandparents are the ones who live in the United States. Because of the Statute Against Wizarding Secrecy, my Muggle relatives are not supposed to know about magic. Only my dad, mum, and her parents, who happened to be visiting us from overseas at the time my Hogwarts letter arrived by owl, know that I'm a witch."

Harry caught on. "And that's why your dad had to lie to your parents and say that you ran away!"

"Yes, and that's why I often spend extended periods of time away from my family. Sometimes aunts or uncles come over to visit and I'm not supposed to appear."

Harry thought that sometimes he could just go away rather than have to live at the Dursleys.

"Oh," Hermione went on, "I forgot to tell you that you and the Weasleys are invited to my house over the Easter holidays. Mum and Dad said you can come since there will be no other relatives over this year."

They entered the History of Magic classroom. Tonks was standing in front of the room. Other students in the class included Seamus Finnegan, Neville Longbottom, Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Pansy Parkinson, as well as Luna Lovegood.

"Wotcher, class," Tonks greeted the students. "We are going to have fun today! Put your books away, as you don't need them for this course."

Everyone was delighted except for Hermione, who was a little bit disappointed when she put away her copy of Hogwarts, a History.

"My name is Tonks," she told the class, "and I am a Metamorphmagus. And that power of mine will come in handy. Now, let's see, according to Binns, you had left off with the year 1400, back when Burdock Muldoon was Minister of Magic."

Then Tonks transformed her face into that of Burdock Muldoon. The former Minister had been Irish, and Tonks had to grow a long, red beard. She used her wand to conjure up Muldoon's monocle and cane. Finally, she pointed the wand at her throat and said, "Sonorus Chief Muldoon" quietly to herself. Then she addressed the class to say, "Hello, I'm Burdock Muldoon," in a loud, masculine voice.

The entire class laughed. Tonks then began her lecture about the former Minister.

"I think that anything or anyone who walked on two legs is a Being. So I summon all Beings to a great council to decide on laws. But who knows what happened next?"

Hermione raised her hand. "All the Diricawls, Pixies, and Trolls ruined the meeting."

"Ten points to Gryffindor."

At that moment several Diricawls and Pixies, obviously borrowed from Hagrid, ran across the room for a few moments and then left through the window. The entire class laughed again. And this was how Tonks and her first lesson went.

"It was the best History of Magic lesson ever," remarked Seamus delightfully when class had ended and Tonks had returned to her natural face. "She makes you feel like you're actually living history."

"I probably would have learned more if Tonks had been our History teacher all these years," said Harry.

Hermione scowled. "Well, at least I don't need a Metamorphmagus to teach me --"

"Lighten up, Hermione," said Harry.

"Well, I --" she started, but even she couldn't help smiling and chuckling at how funny History of Magic had been that day.

In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Amos Diggory left Harry in charge again.

"In fact," said Diggory, "now that Dumbledore has me busy with Order work, I will now let you take over the class, Harry. You can handle it, right?"

"Sure," said Harry.

"I'll pop in from time to time to make sure everything's OK," said Diggory. "Why don't you teach them the Bat-Bogey Hex?"

And when Diggory left the room, it was now almost exactly like the DA again, except that there were Slytherins around and no Ravenclaws.

"Harry," Ron whispered, "did you see Malfoy's face turn white when the Bat-Bogey Hex was first mentioned?"

Of course, that was because Draco Malfoy had been the victim of several Bat-Bogey hexes by the DA at the end of the previous year.

Both Harry and Ron demonstated the hex to the class. After all, Harry had first learned the charm from Ron, who in turn learned the charm from Ginny. Naturally, they all used Malfoy as target practice.

"Get away from me," said Malfoy after the class was over. "You'll pay for this, Potter, just you wait and see!"

"That wasn't very funny," said Hermione, but Harry and Ron continued to laugh.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione ate lunch in the Great Hall. Then Hermione said, "Maybe we should go to the library and finish those essays in Astronomy."

"What essays?" asked Ron.

"The ones we were supposed to finish over the holidays," said Hermione.

"But we've got Quidditch practice," Harry insisted.

"Actually," Katie Bell interrupted, "practice won't be until 4:00. We'll have to have less practice because I need to study extra, since I have NEWTS this year, and besides, we don't play Ravenclaw until March."

Harry was surprised to hear a Captain put studying over Quidditch. But Katie Bell was certainly no Oliver Wood. He sighed as he headed for the library.

Harry's essay had been nearly complete, as he only needed a few more inches. As Hermione continued to help Ron with his essay, Harry heard the sound of a chair falling over, and he headed in the direction of the sound to see what all the commotion was.

Harry saw that it was Ginny and Malfoy. He found her on the ground; Draco Malfoy sprawled out on top of her, both of them snogging uncontrollably.

"Mr. Malfoy, Ms Weasley!" Madame Prince had appeared at their sides. "I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in my library. Ten points from Gryffindor and Slytherin."

"What's going on here?" asked Ron angrily. "How dare you even touch her? And why were you here in the library?" He looked as if he wanted to do the Bat-Bogey Hex on Malfoy again.

"What does it mean to you, Weasley?" asked Malfoy. "Anyway, Professor Snape assigned me to be Ginny's tutor for Potions. Then one thing led to another, and --"

"Relax, Ron," said Hermione. "I don't think Madam Pince wants you practicing Defense Against the Dark Arts in the library."

"Better luck finding a girlfriend, Potter," said Malfoy.

With Malfoy's last words, Harry felt betrayed. He had asked Ginny on a date and suddenly she was snogging Malfoy?

Ron seemed to be just as upset as Harry. "Corner and Thomas were bad enough, but I'd never think you'd sink that low, sister! First that git Percy betrays the family, and now this!"

"I don't care what you think, Ron!" Ginny immediately changed the subject. "Don’t we have Quidditch practice now, anyway?

Quidditch practice was a disaster, with Ron intentionally throwing Quaffles at Ginny while Harry didn't even try to look for the Snitch.

"Thank goodness we don't have a match soon," Katie commented.

The day of Harry's make up OWL exam arrived. He dressed and breakfasted quickly, then he and Ginny walked down to Hogwarts in order to sit the exam.

"I'm sure you'll do well," Ginny told Harry as they made the short trek to the school. Harry was confident that he would pass, for he and Ginny had spent the last few days studying together.

They were the first students to arrive at Hogwarts, and so they waited in the Great Hall. Susan Bones was the next to arrive.

"Hi, Harry," she said quietly. "Look, I can finally do a corporeal patronus now. Expecto Patronum!"

A large badger came out of her wand, which was appropiate because it was the symbol of Hufflepuff, which was her house.

"Good job," said Harry, "but maybe you should wait until the examiner arrives."

"Of course I'm not here for Defense Against the Dark Arts," Susan reminded him. "I'm already in your class, don't you remember? I'm actually here for Divination."

At that moment Luna Lovegood entered.

"Hello," she said to Harry and Ginny.

"What are you here for?" asked Ginny.

"My dad was hoping that I could sit some of my examinations early and be moved up to sixth form. I'm taking Divination and History of Magic."

"Me too," said Ginny, "but I'm taking Potions instead."

Then in came Neville, and he proudly exclaimed, "I'm here for my NEWT exam."

"NEWT?" asked Harry skeptically.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me," said Neville.

"I'm sorry," said Harry. "I believe you. So how come you're taking the NEWT already?"

"I -- I'm hoping to become the Herbology professor."

"That's wonderful," said Ginny.

Then Madame Marchbanks arrived. She was elderly, even older than Dumbledore, but still healthy. "Good morning," she greeted the students. "Now this is a special offering of the exam, given at Dumbledore's request. In the morning session I'll be proctoring the exams for Divination, Potions, and NEWT-Herbology."

So she handed out the written exams, Divination for Susan and Luna, the NEWT's for Neville and the twins, and Potions for Harry and Ginny. Harry finished his exam quickly, confident that he would pass his exam and thus begin the road to becoming an Auror.

After he had finished, Marchbanks said, "There is only time to concoct one potion for the practical. It will be evaluated by your Potions professor."

"Why does he have to be here?" Harry asked angrily.

"There is no time to have anyone else evaluate it, and besides, Professor Snape volunteered to do it."

Harry knew that at that point he was doomed. Moreover, Snape intentionally chose a potion that was not covered in any class he had taken, the famous Love Potion. Harry didn't even know what the ingredients were.

"Then I guess I won't be seeing you in Advanced Potions then," Snape grinned.

Although Harry was upset that he had spent all that time studying for nothing, at least it had resulted in his spending some extra time with Ginny.

Professor Marchbanks told Harry that he could have a lunch break, and so he sat off to the far side of the Great Hall, away from the exam takers. Luna had also finished her morning exam. She was eating some liver sandwiches, which she offered to Harry.

"How was your holiday," asked Harry, more out of politeness than of genuine interest.

"I spent it with my Dad. We went out searching for the Blibbering Humdinger."

Of course, Harry was reminded of the Crumpled Horned Snorkack and how it turned out to be nothing more than the "reindeer" used by Father Christmas.

After lunch, Harry saw that Ginny had finished her exam and started to return to McGonagall's house. But Professor Marchbanks stopped him.

"We have time to finish one more exam that you failed last June, History of Magic."

"But --" Harry began. For Harry hadn't even studied for this exam at all, but she merely set an exam in front of himself and Luna.

For a few minutes Harry did nothing. Then he began to look at the questions and saw that many of them dealt with the history of the Founders and the Green Flame Torch, to which of course Harry had paid special attention the past few months.

When he had finished, Professor Marchbanks walked up to him and said, "Because this is an emergency situation, we will be using a special method to grade the exams."

Then Harry saw her pour a few drops of Veritaserum on the parchment. The letters on the exam disappeared and slowly, a large "A" began to form on the test.

"Congratulations, Mr. Potter," she said. "You have passed the exam at an Acceptable level."

She graded Luna's exam similarly, and she received a grade of "E."

Harry then returned to the Order Headquarters. He was glad to see that Hermione had returned from her trip to the States, and Arthur was reunited with his family for the first time since the elections. He told the others about how he had failed Potions again, but passed History of Magic.

"That's wonderful," said Hermione with a smile.

"And you still don't have to take Snape's Potions class," Ron added.

"But I don't like Binns either," said Harry. "He's boring."

"You're forgetting something," said Tonks, who was now also at McGonagall's house and had overheard. "I'm the new History of Magic professor."

Over dinner, Ginny told the others that she had passed her Potions exam.

"I had to do the Draught of Peace, which we did the very first day of class this year," she said. "Oh, and I'm sorry you didn't pass, Harry."

Fred and George were about to tell Molly how they had failed Herbology but passed Defense Against the Dark Arts at NEWT level. But they were interrupted by Professor Trelawney, who entered the Order Headquarters, sobbing completely.

"What is it, Sybill," asked Professor Dumbledore.

"It's my great-great-grandmother," she told him. "She's been Torched!"