As late May arrived, the end of the school year was already within sight.
The approaching summer holiday and the Triwizard Tournament final, just over two weeks away, brought the students enough joy to ease the tension caused by the equally imminent final exams.
"Stay focused, Mr. Potter!"
But Professor McGonagall gave the young wizards no chance to relax. During Transfiguration class, Harry and Ron took the opportunity while transforming dried codfish to quietly discuss the injuries on Hagrid's face—the injuries he had refused to explain when they visited him on the night of his return.
"And Mr. Weasley—"
With her lips pressed tightly together and a stern expression on her face, Professor McGonagall strode over from the front of the classroom. As she passed Seamus, she glanced at the codfish that had begun to smoke after his flamboyant efforts, instinctively moved a little farther away, then shot Ron a cold glare for snickering at the sight.
Professor McGonagall lowered her gaze to the dried codfish on the two boys' desks. As required, they should have been shaped like pen holders by now, but the fish on their desks had merely curled their bodies into tubes while still looking entirely like codfish.
"If you cannot successfully turn your codfish into pen holders before the end of class, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, then I regret to inform you that you will each need to write a separate twenty-inch essay on how intermediate Transfiguration spells should be adjusted during cross-species conversion—"
Professor McGonagall said,
"Furthermore, you will report to my office this weekend for practice. You may not leave until you have successfully mastered this spell."
Harry and Ron both looked thoroughly disgruntled.
"This is obviously aimed at us, Harry—"
Ron muttered,
"Seamus's codfish is even worse than ours. At least ours