Chapter 597

Hermione was unfazed by Ron’s self-deception and simply grunted in response as they returned to the common room for a short break before turning back to the great hall in time for lunch.

During the lunch hour, the four House tables reappeared.

Hermione asked after they settled down at the table, “By the way, why were you nearly late this morning?”

“You mean that,” Harry wolfed down his mashed potatoes, his mouth stuffed full, “overslept.”

“Everyone’s overslept?” Hermione looked surprised, were these boys in such a good state of mind, the girls’ dormitory was full of people who had insomnia all night.

“Yeah.” Harry said vaguely, moving the pumpkin soup near him in passing, and Ron responded by waving a sausage.

While it was true that forgetting to set the alarm wasn’t a smart thing to do, but given how spontaneous it was, the five of them in the dorm decided in unison to forget that it had even happened, and at least they got plenty of sleep and woke up the next morning with tons of energy, which Harry believed was more than enough, wasn’t it the case?

The fact that Neville’s scream was the first thing that woke the others up was proof of that.

Professor Hap did not turn up for the afternoon Charms Practical exam.

“He’s lecturing the fourth years.” Terry Boot, a fifth year Ravenclaw student, said to Harry and the rest of the boys, “I saw it when I passed by.”

The students in the entrance hall preparing for their exams were putting up their final struggle.

Ernest Macmillan and his friend Justin Finch-Fletchley were quizzing each other about common incantations, reciting them as they made rapid spell-casting gestures that looked like some sort of comical dance; Parvati Patil and her twin sister stood left and right on either side of Lavender Brown, staring blankly and mumbling, Lavender looked like she was on the verge of a mental breakdown, looking pale with an amulet clutched tightly in her hand.

Every time Professor Flitwick came out to call a small group of people away in alphabetical order, the students in the entrance hall looked up in a panic as if Professor was taking them to some horrible and dangerous place.

Harry’s exam order was sandwiched between Hermione and Ron, and when his name was called, he followed the Patil sisters straight inside, only to be pulled back by the short Professor Flitwick at the door. “Professor Tofty is available now, Potter.” Flitwick, who nearly fell backward with him, said under his breath.

Harry hurriedly said sorry and trotted inside.

The great hall was not decorated as it was in the morning, with only seven or eight tables arranged in the centre with an examiner sitting behind each one. Harry knew Professor Tofty, he had just met him in the morning, so he walked up to the old male wizard with the least visible hair, and Professor Tofty lifted his wide glasses from the roster to scrutinize Harry.

“Is that Potter? The famous Potter? Now, I’d like you to make this egg cup to do some flips for me …”

Outside the great hall, Ron and Dean came together to chat in whispers.

They were both fairly far back in the alphabetical order by name, almost last in the group, and neither was in much of a mood to look over their notes as the crowd continued to decrease.

“I wonder what will be on the test? The people who went in never showed up again, it’s really strict.”

“Probably some basic spells, levitation charm, summoning charm, make a teacup grow legs, that sort of thing.”

Dean glanced quickly from side to side to make sure no one was paying attention to them before he lowered his voice and said to Ron, “I’ve heard that … you can get extra points for good performance.”

Ron’s spirit perked up, “Tell me more elaborately!”

“I’m not really sure,” Dean said uncertainly, “I heard from someone else … that if you master any particularly advanced magic, you can take the initiative to show it and the examiner will give extra points at his discretion. ”

Ron sighed and said pessimistically, “That’s a privilege reserved for good students.”

“True,” Dean agreed, and looked at Ron sympathetically, “Hanging out with Harry and Hermione must be a lot stressful in general, right?”

“Yeah … wait, what do you mean?” Ron turned red.

“Oh, uh,” Dean, who realized that he had slipped a tongue, held up his hand and whispered soothingly, “You actually do better than most, it just doesn’t stand out since you’re always with Harry and Hermione … one is first in every subject from the year one, and the other one can’t find a rival in practical class.”

Ron’s face calmed down a little, and he grunted, “Actually I’m not that good … cough!” Despite saying this, his eyes glowed with excitement, and he looked at Dean expectantly, as if silently urging him to say more.

The pressure now shifted to Dean’s side, and he changed the subject stiffly, “By the way, do you think illumination counts as advanced magic? That’s ancient magic-”

Ron looked a little disappointed, but he couldn’t force Dean to compliment himself.

He shook his head, “It probably doesn’t count, everyone in the Magic Rune Club knows illumination, remember the day the army of Inferi attacked the school? How many balls of light were above our heads then.” He lamented.

“It would have been the case two years earlier, but now? I bet there are at least a hundred students in the school who know this magic.”

The two men became even more downcast as Ron finished.

There weren’t many people left in the entrance hall now, and they stared at Zacharias Smith, who was talking loudly in front of the Hufflepuff House Hourglass, some moment later Dean looked away and said, “I wish I could punch him in the nose.”

Ron grinned, “Man, I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”

Zacharias Smith, of course, was unaware of Ron and Dean’s prickly comments, he was speaking rhetorically in an arrogant sarcastic tone, “Oh come on, is this test even difficult?”

” Damn it, he hasn’t even mastered the Patronus Charm.” Ron said contemptuously, looking at Dean, whose expression had suddenly become rigid, so he asked curiously, “What’s wrong?”

“You just said, said-” Dean asked in an extremely weak tone.

“What.” Ron was puzzled over the comment, when a silvery magic spread out from the great hall, a huge pillar of light completely engulfing the students still in the entrance hall with a sweeping momentum.

He saw Dean’s mouth open wide in surprise at first, then the pessimism that still lingered on his face was swept away.

Ron reckoned he had the same look on his face. “It’s Harry’s Super Patronus!” He said in a somewhat exaggeratedly perky voice, pivoting on his toes as he peered into the great hall, which appeared very quiet, and just as Ron was surprised that the Patronus Charm had failed to garner the full attention, there was finally the sound of chaotic commotion heard from inside.

“Looks like the Patronus works after all.” Ron said contentedly, listening with pleasure to the exclamations from the examiners, “I almost forgot, I know this magic too.”

…

“The exam was interrupted for ten minutes because of you.”

Ron said to Harry, who had left early, in the common room after that day’s exam was over, “But also thanks to your Patronus, I was in great shape for the exam.” He furrowed his eyebrows halfway through the sentence, “Too bad that bugger got a dose of it too.”

“Who are you talking about?” Ginny, who was preparing for her final exams, asked.

“Zacharias Smith.” Ron said without thinking.

“Oh, him.” Ginny pouted as she remembered, “He’s been pestering me and Luna about a few club events, asking questions with a condescending attitude and making fun of Luna’s adornments.”

Harry looked conflicted, he acknowledged that Luna had a lot of individuality, but he wouldn’t praise her aesthetic, but who made him find Zacharias repulsive too, so he agreed, “Yeah, he’s really annoying for sure.”

As they prepared for their next day’s Transfiguration exam, Harry’s mind was filled with complex spell models and theoretical explanations, and he could never understand one question: how could turning a toad into a mouse possibly occupy an entire chapter of the textbook? Moreover, Hermione had managed to compile a dozen parchment of notes from the textbook, and she had even managed to pull out three essays she had written in the past.

So when he heard someone at the door shout “Harry – there’s someone looking for you -“, his first thought was that he could finally get some air. As he passed Fred and George’s table, the two of them were playing wizard cards with Lee Jordan and discussing in whispers as they played.

Fred waved lazily at Harry in a gesture of greeting.

“Aren’t you guys going to review?” Harry asked.

“We have a clear understanding of how good we truly are.” George said. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Well, Harry thought unconvincingly, then you must not know that Mrs. Weasley would always ask about both of you incidentally whenever she wrote to Ginny. He pushed open the door with a stifled feeling and heard the Fat Lady chatting enthusiastically with a familiar voice.

“Yes, I went to see it … giggle … The painting was huge, I guess it must be about twenty feet long … Violet was with me when I went, and the students did a good job painting it, it was very grand … as expected of Dumbledore, he beat the Dark Lord into submission … giggle …”

Harry glanced backward at the Fat Lady’s portrait as he exited through the round cave like entrance and unsurprisingly saw some bottles of alcohol piled underneath her figure inside the portrait, her face flushed as she seemed unaware that someone had come out, and mumbled under her breath.

“… I just can’t figure out why there’s a Niffler standing so conspicuously in it …”

“Professor?” Harry exclaimed in surprise when he saw the person at the entrance.

Felix nodded at him, “Come with me Harry.”

Harry followed the professor with some anxiety, secretly rumming through his memory for any serious mistake he could have made to get the ever lazy Professor Hap to find him at the door. He guessed that there might be something serious going on, and they came to a dark corridor where the professor, who was walking ahead of him, stopped.

“You have shocked the examiners collectively with your performance today.” Felix smiled, “That Patronus was far more intensive than what they knew.”

“Well-” Harry didn’t know how to respond.

“I need a favour from you.” Felix said bluntly.

“Okay.” Harry asked with a nod, “What is it?”

“For a certain reason, I’m hoping to gather some emotions, your emotion.” Felix inclined his head towards him, ” To do that, you need to use your unique Patronus, remember not to let the magic burst out like it did during the day, it would draw too much attention … summon it quietly and leave the rest to me.”

When Harry returned to the common room, the shock on his face had not subsided.

“What’s wrong? You look like you aced an exam-” said Ron.

“That was Hermione.” Harry retorted subconsciously.

Hermione raised her eyebrows and glared at him, and Harry immediately corrected his words, “Slip of the tongue.” Ginny and Ron burst out laughing.

“It was Professor Hap who called me,” Harry described to them what had happened when they had settled down, “He said he needs my Patronus …”

The few of them listened quietly, and after he finished Ron asked incredulously, “You mean Professor Hap put your Patronus in a glass jar?”

“Shhh.” Harry said hurriedly, “Keep your voice down.”

“Didn’t he tell you why?” Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head. “No.” He said honestly.

“That’s odd,” she rubbed her head softly with one hand, “given the Professor’s character, if it is for some sort of magical experiment, he’ll be more than happy to tell you the circumstances and maybe pull you into the research, unless it has to be kept secret.”

“That’s what he said to me,” Harry instantly said, “Keep it a secret for now.”

“Probably doesn’t want to distract us, we’ve got exams tomorrow.” Ron guessed.

“But the Professor asked me to go over to him every night for a while and use the Patronus once.” Harry commented how normally the Patronus would dissipate on its own if he actively cancelled the magic, but the Professor had preserved the emotion and the magic in some way he couldn’t understand – Harry guessed it was probably some kind of device like a Dementor capture cage – -he felt strange at the thought of having a row of his own Patronus in the Professor’s office for a few days.

“If it’s like what you described, it must be serious and urgent.” Hermione said with certainty.

They spent a bit of time guessing the reason why the professor is doing this, but there were too few clues available at hand.

“Could it be something to do with the person He … Who Must Not Be Named?” Ginny interjected in a whisper.

Harry’s heart pounded, but there was little support for this speculation, and they ended up going back to their boring revision, Harry yawning as he flipped through Hermione’s Transfiguration notes, the clarity of mind that had been brought on by witnessing Professor Hap scooping up his Patronus using a wide mouth bottle reverting to hazy state.

After the Transfiguration test, the third day was devoted to Herbology, followed by Defence Against the Dark Arts. Sirius stood at the door cheering each of them on. “What if we don’t do well on the test?” A student asked timidly after giving Sirius a high five. “Don’t worry, I won’t be your professor by the time you get your results,” Sirius said as he bared his teeth, ” No need to worry that I’ll be chasing after your arse chanting hexes.”

After Friday’s Ancient Rune exam, Harry and Ron talked privately and both agreed that they would get at least two ‘Outstanding’.

One in Defence Against the Dark Arts and one in Ancient Rune.

“That’s a good start, I’m sure you’ll be more confident for the next week’s exams.” Hermione said calmly as she leafed through her book.

Harry and Ron were playing wizard cards, which they had borrowed from the Weasley twins, the wizard cards had been modified by the two, and when Harry used a ‘Disarming Charm’ card, an illusory red light sent Ron’s knight’s armour flying.

While Ron was drawing his cards, Harry leaned forward and took the exam timetable from the table, “Let’s see what’s on the schedule for next week – Monday, Potions; Tuesday, Care of Magical Creatures; Wednesday, er, that’s a bit of a tough day, with an Astronomy theory exam in the morning and a Divination class exam in the afternoon, and it’s not over yet. … There’s a Practical Astronomy exam at 11 pm.”

“I’ve always wondered why you guys haven’t given up on Divination class yet. Even if Trelawney can make prophecies on extremely rare occasions, there’s no denying that what she usually teaches is rubbish.” Hermione asked pointedly.

“Listen to me, Hermione – oh, Weather-Modifying Charm, Harry, you are lost.” Ron said after a moment of silent reminiscence of victory, “We made up nonsense for three whole years just to score a spot to the Divination class O.W.Ls exam-”

Seeing Hermione trying to interject, he said quickly, “If you’re in luck, this class will add an O.W.Ls certificate for you – even if you didn’t know anything about it, I seriously mean it!”

Harry hadn’t expected Ron to make some sense out of it, and he thought hard for a moment; a large part of the reason he was still taking Divination class was due to habit, and another small part was because he had personally heard the prophecy that Trelawney had made.

Despite the low probability, Harry had a glimmer of hope: what if he could hear another real prophecy? But if there is a next time, he hopes that Trelawney will be more precise in her descriptions, without being too vague, such as giving the exact date of Voldemort’s death …

The days passed and the students finally went to their last exam.

Harry opened the History of Magic test sheet on the single table and skimming through the questions according to his usual habit, his head immediately buzzed. The stack of History of Magic notes he had borrowed from Hermione in the morning was desperately trying to slip away from his mind, and he didn’t bother to look at the back, as he tried to write a few more questions before he forgot all the complicated names and dates.

He glanced hastily at the lectern, where Professor Hap was slouching in his chair, seemingly distracted.

‘It certainly is a good day to be lazy.’ Harry thought with indignation.

After another ten seconds or so, he realized that he hadn’t finished a single question, so he quickly looked down to answer the questions. As Harry had predicted, he ran into trouble with the time and the names of historical figures and events – especially the names of the Giants, Goblins, Trolls, and Centaurs, which were both tongue-twisting and lengthy, and Harry suspected that the historians of that time had been lazy and translated them directly from their grunts and groans.

For almost two hours Harry fought against his drowsiness.

When Professor Tofty, who was already very old, slowly told them that there were only thirty minutes left, Harry sighed in resignation and stopped thinking about what had happened in the dispute between Liechtenstein and the trolls and flipped the question sheet to the front, where a few questions remained unanswered.

He stared at the fourth question – ‘In your opinion, did the wand regulations contribute to or helped to better control the Eighteenth Century Goblin Rebellion?’

Harry struggled to get his numb brain to function, the sand from the time keeping hourglass on the lectern leaked down unhurriedly, the sun was shining just right outside, it was a perfect June-ish weather, but he had to sit in a stuffy great hall and think about the Goblin Rebellion… Harry’s consciousness was growing fuzzy, his head dropping uncontrollably towards the table, the corners of his mouth leaking suspicious water stains … He found himself looking at Headmaster Dumbledore’s face, which was no longer gentle, and the dark blue eyes behind the half-moon shaped lenses did not have a spark of joy that he had seen in previous days. He looked gloomy and solemn.

He waved his wand wildly, and the power of the spell made Harry’s heart skip a beat as rows of stones came towards him with masses of grass and mud like the whole earth was being dragged and slammed into him.

But Harry didn’t flinch.

A dazzling green light poured from the wand he held in his hand, with ghostly silhouettes forming in the green light. He could feel his face reveal a hideous grin as he spoke in a tone that filled with overwhelming excitement, “The curse is not pleasant, is it, Dumbledore?”

“Show me what else you can do, or you’re dead today!”

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