Harry Potter 05 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

not think of a punishment bad enough for her, though Ron’s suggestion of having her fed to a box of starving Blast-Ended Skrewts had its merits. He fell asleep contemplating hideous revenges and arose from bed three hours later feeling distinctly unrested.
    Their final exam, History of Magic, was not to take place until that afternoon. Harry would very much have liked to go back to bed after breakfast, but he had been counting on the morning for a spot of last-minute revision, so instead he sat with his head in his hands by the common-room window, trying hard not to doze off as he read through some of the three-and-a-half-feet-high stack of notes that Hermione had lent him.
    The fifth-years entered the Great Hall at two o’clock and took their places in front of their face-down examination papers. Harry felt exhausted. He just wanted this to be over, so that he could go and sleep; then tomorrow, he and Ron were going to go down to the Quidditch pitch – he was going to have a fly on Ron’s broom – and savour their freedom from revision.
    ‘Turn over your papers,’ said Professor Marchbanks from the front of the Hall, flicking over the giant hour-glass. ‘You may begin.’
    Harry stared fixedly at the first question. It was several seconds before it occurred to him that he had not taken in a word of it; there was a wasp buzzing distractingly against one of the high windows. Slowly, tortuously, he at last began to write an answer.
    He was finding it very difficult to remember names and kept confusing dates. He simply skipped question four ( In your opinion, did wand legislation contribute to, or lead to better control of, goblin riots of the eighteenth century? ), thinking that he would go back to it if he had time at the end. He had a stab at question five ( How was the Statute of Secrecy breached in 1749 and what measures were introduced to prevent a recurrence? ) but had a nagging suspicion that he had missed several important points; he had a feeling vampires had come into the story somewhere.
    He looked ahead for a question he could definitely answer and his eyes alighted upon number ten: Describe the circumstances that led to the formation of the International Confederation of Wizards and explain why the warlocks of Liechtenstein refused to join.
    I know this , Harry thought, though his brain felt torpid and slack. He could visualise a heading, in Hermione’s handwriting: The formation of the International Confederation of Wizards … he had read those notes only this morning.
    He began to write, looking up now and again to check the large hour-glass on the desk beside Professor Marchbanks. He was sitting right behind Parvati Patil, whose long dark hair fell below the back of her chair. Once or twice he found himself staring at the tiny golden lights that glistened in it when she moved her head slightly, and had to give his own head a little shake to clear it.
    … the first Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards was Pierre Bonaccord, but his appointment was contested by the wizarding community of Liechtenstein, because –
    All around Harry quills were scratching on parchment like scurrying, burrowing rats. The sun was very hot on the back of his head. What was it that Bonaccord had done to offend the wizards of Liechtenstein? Harry had a feeling it had something to do with trolls … he gazed blankly at the back of Parvati’s head again. If he could only perform Legilimency and open a window in the back of her head and see what it was about trolls that had caused the breach between Pierre Bonaccord and Liechtenstein …
    Harry closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands, so that the glowing red of his eyelids grew dark and cool. Bonaccord had wanted to stop troll-hunting and give the trolls rights … but Liechtenstein was having problems with a tribe of particularly vicious mountain trolls … that was it.
    He opened his eyes; they stung and watered at the sight of the blazing white parchment. Slowly, he wrote two lines about the trolls, then read through what he had done so far. It did not seem very informative or detailed, yet he was sure Hermione’s notes on the Confederation had gone on for pages and pages.
    He closed his eyes again, trying to see them, trying to remember … the Confederation had met for the first time in France, yes, he had written that already …
    Goblins had tried to attend and been ousted … he had written that, too …
    And nobody from