Harry Potter 06 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

waste his time – he must think you’ve got a chance!’
    ‘That’s true,’ said Hermione. ‘I wonder what he’ll teach you, Harry? Really advanced defensive magic, probably … powerful counter-curses … anti-jinxes …’
    Harry did not really listen. A warmth was spreading through him that had nothing to do with the sunlight; a tight obstruction in his chest seemed to be dissolving. He knew that Ron and Hermione were more shocked than they were letting on, but the mere fact that they were still there on either side of him, speaking bracing words of comfort, not shrinking from him as though he were contaminated or dangerous, was worth more than he could ever tell them.
    ‘… and evasive enchantments generally,’ concluded Hermione. ‘Well, at least you know one lesson you’ll be having this year, that’s one more than Ron and me. I wonder when our O.W.L. results will come?’
    ‘Can’t be long now, it’s been a month,’ said Ron.
    ‘Hang on,’ said Harry, as another part of the previous night’s conversation came back to him. ‘I think Dumbledore said our O.W.L. results would be arriving today!’
    ‘Today?’ shrieked Hermione. ‘ Today? But why didn’t you – oh my God – you should have said –’
    She leapt to her feet.
    ‘I’m going to see whether any owls have come …’
    But when Harry arrived downstairs ten minutes later, fully dressed and carrying his empty breakfast tray, it was to find Hermione sitting at the kitchen table in great agitation, while Mrs Weasley tried to lessen her resemblance to half a panda.
    ‘It just won’t budge,’ Mrs Weasley was saying anxiously, standing over Hermione with her wand in her hand and a copy of The Healer’s Helpmate open at ‘Bruises, Cuts and Abrasions’. ‘This has always worked before, I just can’t understand it.’
    ‘It’ll be Fred and George’s idea of a funny joke, making sure it can’t come off,’ said Ginny.
    ‘But it’s got to come off!’ squeaked Hermione. ‘I can’t go around looking like this for ever!’
    ‘You won’t, dear, we’ll find an antidote, don’t worry,’ said Mrs Weasley soothingly.
    ‘Bill told me ’ow Fred and George are very amusing!’ said Fleur, smiling serenely.
    ‘Yes, I can hardly breathe for laughing,’ snapped Hermione.
    She jumped up and started walking round and round the kitchen, twisting her fingers together.
    ‘Mrs Weasley, you’re quite, quite sure no owls have arrived this morning?’
    ‘Yes, dear, I’d have noticed,’ said Mrs Weasley patiently. ‘But it’s barely nine, there’s still plenty of time …’
    ‘I know I messed up Ancient Runes,’ muttered Hermione feverishly, ‘I definitely made at least one serious mistranslation. And the Defence Against the Dark Arts practical was no good at all. I thought Transfiguration went all right at the time, but looking back –’
    ‘Hermione, will you shut up, you’re not the only one who’s nervous!’ barked Ron. ‘And when you’ve got your ten “Outstanding” O.W.L.s …’
    ‘Don’t, don’t, don’t!’ said Hermione, flapping her hands hysterically. ‘I know I’ve failed everything!’
    ‘What happens if we fail?’ Harry asked the room at large, but it was again Hermione who answered.
    ‘We discuss our options with our Head of House, I asked Professor McGonagall at the end of last term.’
    Harry’s stomach squirmed. He wished he had eaten less breakfast.
    ‘At Beauxbatons,’ said Fleur complacently, ‘we ’ad a different way of doing things. I think eet was better. We sat our examinations after six years of study, not five, and then –’
    Fleur’s words were drowned in a scream. Hermione was pointing through the kitchen window. Three black specks were clearly visible in the sky, growing larger all the time.
    ‘They’re definitely owls,’ said Ron hoarsely, jumping up to join Hermione at the window.
    ‘And there are three of them,’ said Harry, hastening to her other side.
    ‘One for each of us,’ said Hermione in a terrified whisper. ‘Oh no … oh no … oh no …’
    She gripped both Harry and Ron tightly around the elbows.
    The owls were flying directly at The Burrow, three handsome tawnies, each of which, it became clear as they flew lower over the path leading up to the house, was carrying a large square envelope.
    ‘Oh no !’ squealed Hermione.
    Mrs Weasley squeezed past them and opened the kitchen window. One, two, three, the owls soared through it and landed on the