Chapter 49

Dumbledore's demanding of a meeting with him meant that Harry arrived in the corridor outside the History of Magic classroom just in time to see the last of his classmates entering the room. He hurried forwards and caught the door just before it snapped shut and slid inside.

It appeared that they were sharing this class with the Hufflepuffs. Susan and Hannah waved at him from their table to the right. Harry waved back and then scanned the room for a vacant seat. Professor Umbridge was sitting at her desk, sorting through a pile of parchment.

It quickly became apparent to Harry that there was only one vacant seat available. It was the seat that he had occupied for this class in every year previous, the one on Hermione's left. Ron was seated with Neville on the next table over.

Harry gave a weary sigh and made his way over. With Ron on his left and Hermione on his right, this may just prove to be a trying double period.

Hermione looked up in surprise when he dumped him book bag onto the table next to her and looked like she wanted to say something as he pulled out the chair, but she refrained from opening her mouth.

Ron, however, showed no such restraint. The moment Harry was seated, the red-haired boy said, with a wide grin on his face "That was awesome at breakfast Harry. First tell off Snape, then you got to punish Malfoy and humiliate him in front of everyone in the middle of the Great Hall!"

Without looking at him, Harry replied "I was just doing my job, Ron. Malfoy and his friends behaved in such a way that warranted their being punished, and I did so. At no point did I intend to humiliate them in front of the entire school, however Professor Snape forced the issue. He also acted out of line, and I merely called him on it."

"I still recon it was wicked," said Ron, who clearly still thought that he and Harry were friends. Apparently things like that took their time to sink in through the prat's thick skull.

Harry was pulling out his textbook for the class out of his bag when he became aware that Hermione was watching him. He turned to look at her and she turned away, her feeling of awkwardness clearly showing on her face.

Harry decided to just simply ignore the pair of them as he fished out some parchment from his bag.

"Hem, hem."

Silence filled the classroom as every student broke off their respective conversations in order to direct their full attention to the source of this strange noise.

Professor Umbridge was now standing up behind her desk, apparently ready to begin their class.

"Well, good morning class!" she said in that patronisingly girlish voice she had used the previous evening during her speech.

A few of the class mumbled "good morning" in reply, with Harry's response being the clearest.

"Oh, tut, tut," said Professor Umbridge "That won't do at all now, will it? I would like you, please, to reply "Good morning, Professor Umbridge". Now, one more time, please. Good morning class!"

"Good morning Professor Umbridge!" the parroted back in unison.

"There," she said in her most simpering voice "that wasn't too difficult now, was it?"

Harry winced. She was patronising them again.

"Now then," she continued "for our first lesson together, it has been decided that we shall start things off with a little pop quiz, so to speak."

An ominous feeling of dread spread through most of the students in the classroom as Professor Umbridge gave a flick of her wand at the parchment on her desk. The pile of parchment rose up into the air, divided out into groups of three in mid-air and then landed, three pieces of parchment in front of each student.

"Now this is nothing to worry about," insisted Professor Umbridge "This is just so that I, as your new teacher in this subject, can get a true feeling as to where each of you stand in your understanding of the subject matter at hand."

To Harry this made sense, but he, like so many others in this class, could only remember one other instance in which a new Professor had given them a quiz during their first lesson with them. Professor Lockhart's quiz questions had had nothing to do with the subject that he was teaching. Hopefully the case would be different here.

"Books away and quills out!" said Professor Umbridge "There is to be no talking during the test, and anyone seen copying will lose ten house points. Each of the three pages before you has ten questions, and you have forty five minutes in which to answer as many of the thirty questions as you can. The answers expected are short ones, so there will be no need to write out small essays. You may begin, now."

As one the class took up their quills and began reading the first question.

When did the war with the dark wizard known as You-Know-Who officially begin?

Harry pondered on that for a few moments. He knew that Voldemort had been defeated on 31st October 1981 (which he should know, as he was involved) and he also knew that the war had lasted approximately eleven years.

Next to him he could here Hermione's quill scratching away.

This subject had never actually come up in a History of Magic lesson before now, but Harry was certain that he had read it somewhere before. He remembered that it coincided with another date, something that was to do with America.

Then it hit him and his scribbled down his answer; 4th July, 1970.

He looked to the next question.

When did the war with You-Know-Who officially end?

'Easy' thought Harry as he scribbled down the date; 31st October, 1981.

When did the Wizarding community of Great Britain officially enter into the war with Gellert Grindelwald?

That brought Harry up short. He knew that the war with Grindelwald ended when Dumbledore defeated the man in a duel in 1945, but Harry wasn't sure whether or not forces from the British Ministry had been fighting in the conflict before then. He had a feeling that they had been, but he couldn't be certain.

Deciding to come back to that one later, Harry read the next question.

When did the war against Grindelwald end?

Harry noted down the year, 1945, but of the exact date he was not certain.

Who was the first female Minister for Magic of Great Britain?

Again Harry knew this one, but it was down to a chocolate frog card, not a History of Magic lesson that he knew it to be Artemisia Lufkin.

In what year war St Mungo's Hospital founded?

Harry didn't have a clue. Nor did he know the answer for question seven (which Minister for Magic approved the implementation of the Hogwarts Express?)

Question eight proved easier.

8) In what year did the International Statute of Secrecy first come into effect?

Harry had just written his answer (1692) when Professor Umbridge's voice rang out through the silence "Mr Weasley that will be ten points from Gryffindor! And if I catch you trying to look at Mr Longbottom's answers again you will be serving a detention."

Like the rest of the class, Harry turned his head to look at Ron, who had gone rather pink around the ears. Next to him, Neville was shifting himself and his work closer to the edge of the table.

"Try using your bag, Mr Longbottom," said Professor Umbridge.

Neville nodded and picked his book bag up off the floor. He then set it down on the table between himself and Ron, making it harder to the red-headed boy to try and sneak a glace.

"There," said Professor Umbridge "Carry on, class!"

Harry turned back to the questions.

9) When was Gringotts Wizarding Bank put into full control of the Goblin Nation?

Harry knew that the year was 1865, but he had no idea as to anything more specific than that. The same went for question ten. He knew that the British Ministry was founded in 1625, but he could not be more specific than that.

Question eleven was about how in 1750, Clause 73 was added to the International Statute of Secrecy. The question asked what the clause related to, but Harry had no idea so he moved on to question twelve.

12) What practice was banned by the Ministry in 1965?

Harry knew the answer to this one, but only because the school Gamekeeper, Hagrid, had broken that very law last year by crossing a manticore with a fire crab to create his infamous blast-ended Skrewts.

Experimental breeding of magical creatures. Harry wrote.

Question thirteen proved to be another that he had no clue how to answer. Harry had never heard of Pierre Bonaccord, or his desire to grant rights to trolls. Therefore he had no idea which country did not want to join the International Confederation of Wizards when he was made the organisation's first Supreme Mugwump.

14) Before its revival in 1994, when was the Tri-Wizard Tournament last held?

After being forced to compete in the stupid tournament the previous year, Harry had made sure to read up on past tournaments and could, with certainty, note down that the last one had been in 1792.

Question fifteen was on a topic that sounded familiar to him. He remembered about the common Welsh green dragon attacking a group of sunbathers, and he remembered how the witch Tilly Toke and her family had driven the creature off before anyone could be seriously hurt, but the question asked where the incident had occurred and for the life of him Harry could not remember where it had happened, though he had a feeling that it might have been somewhere in the west country. Perhaps near where Ron and his family lived…

He moved on to question sixteen, which he was able to answer. In 1935, the witch Jocunda Sykes had made history by being the first person ever to fly from one side of the Atlantic Ocean to the other on a broomstick.

He left question seventeen unanswered, having no idea just who built the famous Leaky Cauldron pub in 1500. Nor could he answer question eighteen. Despite being a keen Quidditch player, who had read the book Quidditch through the ages several times, he had no idea when the ban on players using their wands on members of the opposite team had first come into effect.

He had never heard of Almerick Sawbridge or what he was famous for doing, and so left question nineteen unanswered as well. Nor could he answer question twenty, which asked when the Werewolf Code of Conduct was passed by the Ministry.

However, he was able to answer question twenty-one, which was about a Goblin Rebellion, one of Professor Binns's preferred topics to drone on about. Harry was certain that, during the Goblin Rebellion of 1612, it had been The Three Broomsticks Inn which had served at the wizard's headquarters in Hogsmeade village.

He was also able to answer question twenty two. The Quidditch tournament that had been established in 1652 was the European Cup.

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