Leaving the Castle late at night to see Grawp had been just that-a visit. For now, Hagrid could still stay in the Castle, and there was nothing Su Er or Hermione could do.
It was only a small interlude in their lives. For Hermione, what mattered was the approaching O.W.L.s exams.
Umbridge had learned how to ignore Peeves's pranks.
Special tasks called for dedicated personnel, so she had handed this task to the members of the Inquisitorial Squad, in whom she placed such high hopes.
Those Slytherins were only too happy to flank Umbridge whenever she went out and keep watch. Acting as security guards was nothing to be ashamed of; on the contrary, it made them even more overbearing.
The grass on the lawns beside the Black Lake grew like mad, its colour becoming ever more lush and green. Merlin had blown the grey clouds responsible for the hazy drizzle between spring and summer into another hemisphere in a single breath, and at some point, a trace of heat had crept into the gentle breeze.
June was drawing near.
That also meant the two-week O.W.L.s exams were beginning.
These were major exams, very important ones, equivalent to the secondary school entrance exams in the Muggle world. The professors had stopped assigning homework, and lessons were mainly spent reviewing the questions most likely to appear on the exams.
Hermione began behaving strangely, often muttering to herself with her eyes half closed. Fortunately, she was not the only one acting oddly.
Others became extremely keen on interrogating people about how their revision was going.
During this period, black-market trading among the fifth- and seventh-years flourished. Already a "dead man," Su Er did not have to sit the O.W.L.s. Whenever he wandered around the Castle, he would see little groups of young