By this I do not mean the post delivering, finger pecking, feathered variety I mean the exam that you take to prove that you have reached a certain level of education. It stands for Ordinary Wizarding Level Examinations but everyone just calls them OWLs. In the British muggle community there is the GCSE which is taken around the same time, in France (for Beauxbatons students), the Brevet de College and I understand it to be the GPA in Sweden (for Durmstrang) It is the first of all the major exams and you do not “drop” out of school afterwards you simply choose which subjects to specialise in afterwards.

The exam is taken in your fifth year however I already had completed an OWL and NEWT in Transfiguration by my fifth year. This was an “opportunity” to take another subject. More of this you can discover in my book “Filling the timetables”. (Yes my accent is just like Hermione in the films)…