Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [145]
They reached the Transfiguration class, just as the Slytherins were leaving it. Harry sighed as Malfoy passed him by, anticipating some sort of insult. But, Malfoy just walked right by him, not saying or doing anything. He was probably still sore about his two losses in a row, and wasn’t in the mood to traumatize Harry.
Harry shrugged, walked in the room, and took his seat. The rest of the class soon filed in, and Professor McGonagall rose from her desk, and spoke,
“Hello students, having fun so far?” she said, smiling. Everyone groaned. “Well, only six more to go! Think of it that way, and it doesn’t seem so bad….” She started passing out the written tests to everyone. Harry was relieved that this test wasn’t nearly as long as his History of Magic exam, and it had some easier questions too. Harry breezed through the test, having read an entire book on Transfiguration the previous night. He had also heard Professor McGonagall talk so much about her other classes and such during his Animagus classes that he probably knew more about the subject than most Seventh Year students.
The last question was by far the easiest: “If you were an Animagus, what animal would you be and why?” Harry just wrote that he would be a gryffin, because he is an Animagus, and that is his animal. Duh. He skipped up to the front of the room, and gave his paper to Professor McGonagall.
“Thank you Mr. Potter.”
“Do I get to start on my Advanced O.W.L. yet?” asked Harry.
“No, not yet,” said Professor McGonagall. “Once everyone has finished the exam, we will begin.”
“Alright, professor,” said Harry as he walked back to his seat. He didn’t wait too much longer, Neville was the last person to pass his test in, and that was only about fifteen minutes later. Professor McGonagall shuffled all of her papers together, and put them away into her desk drawer. She waved her wand, and a giant, blue box appeared. It looked like a large, square shed.
“For your Advanced O.W.L,” she said, “you will enter this room, and perform the task I tell you. Afterwards, you will exit the room, and NOT TELL ANYONE WHAT THE TEST WAS! Anyone who gives away what the answers are will get ZERO O.W.L.s, and be expelled from this school for the rest of their life!”
Everyone swallowed hard, she wasn’t usually this strict. But, the O.W.L.s were major business, and she didn’t want anyone not to take them seriously.
“If you want to try your luck at this test, line up in front of this room, and wait until I call your name.”
Harry stepped forward, right in front of the small, conjured box. Hermione and Ron came over as well, along with most of the class. Only Seamus and Dean chose not to participate, everyone else wanted to try. Professor McGonagall walked into the room she made, through some invisible door.
“Ron Weasley! You’re up!” she yelled from inside the room. Ron walked through the invisible door and disappeared. Everyone immediately started talking about what the test could be.
“I’ll bet you have to turn a needle into a buffalo!” yelled Neville.
“Maybe you have to become an Animagus in ten minutes!” said Parvati.
“Yeah right,” said Harry. “It took me months to become one, there’s no way someone could do it in ten minutes.”
“Let’s see you transform!” squealed Lavender. Suddenly, the entire room became focused on Harry, all chanting for him to morph. Harry glanced at Hermione, waiting for her approval. She knew more about what he should and shouldn’t do as an Animagus than he ever would.
“Go for it,” she said, smiling. Harry stared at his crowd of admirers, and focused his mind on the gryffin. He closed his eyes, and thought about its skin color, its shape, every delicate detail on its body. When he opened them up again, he was several feet shorter, looking up at the group of people through the eyes of a gryffin.
Everyone gave sounds of amazement, some ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’. Parvati and Lavender starting petting and stroking Harry’s mane and fur. Harry made a purring noise which just encouraged them to do more. It was an experience