Well, that's a blow. For him, I mean. And after so many of our professors were running around trying to help him, too. Don't know the bloke well, but I can't help but think he could have scrapped together a few more O.W.L.s than that, or how else did he even get a Hogwarts letter in the first place?

No, they wouldn't do that to a pureblood, not a loyal one at least. No, for that they'd figure out something entirely different.

Are you and others really under the impression that my parents would let me get away without having a job? If anything, they expect me to have a better job than Father does. I'm supposed to improve on the family name, not coast along on it. It might not be the sort of pressure other people face, but it's its own special variety.