One obvious change upon entering the O.W.L. year was that the professors no longer showed any mercy when assigning homework.
In Herbology and Charms that morning,
Harry and the others each received two essays from Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick, respectively, with a minimum length of fourteen inches.
On top of the essay Professor Slughorn had assigned them the day before yesterday on the properties of moonstone, and Professor McGonagall was unlikely to let them off that afternoon either.
Harry could practically foresee himself spending every spare moment after dinner that year sprawled beside the coffee table in the common room, frantically catching up on homework.
Hermione had no choice but to make use of lunchtime as well. She stuffed food into her mouth while flipping through the reference materials she had borrowed from the library.
A burst of noise distracted Hermione. She tore her gaze away from the dense text and glared furiously at whoever was making the racket.
"I said it's absolutely impossible, Ron. Hagrid can't possibly be keeping a Dragon in his hut. Has he forgotten the lesson he learned?"
"Oh, then tell me—what is he keeping locked up in there?"
Ron demanded stubbornly.
"Maybe it's..."
Hermione hesitated.
"A magical creature Hagrid bred himself, like last year's Blast-Ended Skrewts!"
Harry's mouth twitched, and he shuddered involuntarily.
If that was really the case, Professor Dumbledore and Professor Breen might as well show some mercy and let Hagrid keep a Dragon!
Ron seemed ready to argue with Hermione again, but Harry shot him a timely look, his eyes full of warning.
If they did not want homework to work them to death all year, they had better not provoke Hermione in the very first week of term.
Harry's look reminded Ron as well. He glanced around, then lowered his