Chapter 203: Chapter 203: End of the course (1) (Edited)
"Gilderoy, we must check carefully and there must be no omissions!" warned Professor Flitwick. Every year during the O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. exams, there were always some little wizards who tried to cheat by any means possible.
The reason why cheating is so common in the magical world is that the punishments for cheating are not strong enough. If a mage is caught cheating, he or she will only be disqualified from the subject and can still take the exam. If a Muggle is caught cheating on an exam, their results are invalidated and they are suspended for one to three years. The penalty for illegal use of listening or photographic devices is up to two years imprisonment, detention or control.
Both penalties are very different.
In addition, grades for each subject in the magical world are calculated independently. If a Muggle has a grade taken away from a subject, it screws up the exam: someone gets a perfect 750, you get a perfect 600, what the hell. Unlike the wizarding world, if they take away your History of Magic grade, so be it, and you can find a job that doesn't require a History of Magic certificate.
However, so far, no Hogwarts wizard has ever been caught cheating on exams, because Hogwarts professors are so good at countering cheating that wizards are caught before they even start cheating, without missing a beat, which is just called attempted cheating, and the dean will just look at it closely and confiscate the tools to commit the crime.
The way to combat cheating is also very simple: young wizards are forbidden to use their own quills and ink during exams.
It's as simple as that. But it worked well.
Without electronic devices, the only way to cheat was with ink and quills; the other options of magic potions, bandages and charms never crossed the professors' minds.
Potions? Most likely to cause only psychological suggestion and food poisoning. cheat sheet? An "accio" before entering the place will solve it. As for charms, is there really any being that can bless a magician? In the magical world, there is no such thing.
Flitwick stood in front of the students and pulled out his wand, "Children, get out your quills and ink, memory balls are not allowed in the exam classroom, and I remind you that all O.W.L. papers have a particularly severe anti-cheating spell that even I can't break."
The last statement was a lie, of course Professor Flitwick could break it, he just needs a little movement.
A few small wizards moved and handed Professor Flitwick the quills and vials of ink. Professor Flitwick didn't even bother to look, he could have guessed with his own fingernails that the quills and ink were mature stationery and could answer the questions themselves.
How fragile is trust between people?
[Did you see the TV remote control?]
[No!]
[Move your ass!]
How fragile is trust between magicians?
"Have they given it all away?"
"Yes."
"Accio!" Professor Flitwick broke the trust between wizards, using the summoning spell to find several novel props for cheating on exams: an improved version of the loose sleeve cheat sheet (which can do keyword searches); a motion replicator bracelet (which can replicate a classmate's hand movements); telescoping Goggles (can see farther)....
Professor Flitwick put all these objects away, one by one, expressionless, and then subtracted points from their owners based on their academic record, as well as assigning them punishment time. After all this, it was time for exams.
The Great Hall had been redecorated and the long tables of the four Houses had been replaced by small tables with quills, ink bottles and rolls of parchment. Professor McGonagall stood at the faculty table, a huge hourglass in her hand. The young wizards dutifully entered the Great Hall and found their seats, and when the last one was seated, Professor McGonagall turned the hourglass over.
"You may now begin answering questions."
Outside the Great Hall, Professor Flitwick fiddled with the confiscated items and exclaimed, "These cheating toys are getting really creative! Especially the inventor of the motion replica bracelet, what a genius! How did he come up with such an idea?".
The O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. exams were held at the same time and shared the same location, lasting a total of two weeks.
The first week is devoted to Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Ancient Runes. These are mainly written exams in the morning and practical exams in the afternoon.
The second week is devoted to Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy, Divination, Arithmancy and History of Magic. Astronomy practical exams are in the afternoon.
The fifth and seventh graders Tom taught did well and got results commensurate with their efforts.
Everything was going well.
On the afternoon of the History of Magic exams, Hogwarts was in full swing as the fifth and seventh year students, relieved of their burdens, began a frenzy of celebrations, ignoring the fact that young wizards from other years were still studying hard.
They just wanted to blow off some steam!
On this crazy night, Professor Lockhart, who taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, knocked on the door of Dumbledore's office....
The next day was Saturday. At breakfast time, Professor Lockhart's place at the cloister table was empty again, but the young wizards were used to it: Professor Lockhart had missed breakfast many times during the school year, and it was perfectly normal.
The unusual thing was that Professor Dumbledore stood up when the Great Hall was almost full, and Professor McGonagall, at his side, tapped her silver spoon against the goblet to silence everyone.
"To all Hogwarts students and staff, I apologize for disturbing you while you eat, but I need to make this sad announcement before you leave."
The young wizards stopped swallowing and looked silently at Professor Dumbledore, waiting for his next words.
"Our beloved Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart, left us last night...".
The young wizards stood confused for a moment, many of them not reacting: what was going on? How was it possible that Professor Lockhart was alive yesterday morning and this morning he had gone to see Merlin?
Not only the students, but also the professors were stunned: not even a full year had passed yet! Could the curse happen earlier?
Even some of the young witches were on the verge of tears, but fortunately Dumbledore didn't dwell on it for long: "...he sent me his letter of resignation last night and now he's left Hogwarts."
It wasn't as scary as the first half of the sentence, but it was strong enough to make the young wizards almost jump at the news.
Chapter 204: Chapter 204: The end of the school year (2) (Edited)
After the shock of the professor's sudden resignation, most of the young wizards had one question on their minds: what about us?
What are the students going to do when the professor resigned? The seventh year wizards were fine, as they had finished the N.E.W.T. exams and the change of professor had nothing to do with them. But the other six years were in shock: Professor, at least wait until the final exams are over before you run off!
If you leave, how are we going to do the exam at the end of the term, there will be no one to write the questions!
Wait, something seems to have been overlooked?
There's no one to write the questions!
Professor Lockhart has run away, no one is going to write the questions for the final exam, so the exam....
For a moment, it looked like the news was good....
But Dumbledore dashed their hopes quickly and mercilessly.
Professor Lockhart is gone!
(T_T) Oh, no!
But there was no one left to write the final exams.
(＾-＾) Yes!
But Professor Lockhart already issued the exams ahead of time, packed them up along with his usual notes and handed them to me.
Σ(っ°Д°;)っ!!!∑(??Д??)ノ
The ups and downs of life, that's all.
Tom had chosen that moment to leave, and he had a good reason for it: a few more days and Madam Pomfrey's antidote would be ready. He wouldn't be able to play two roles at the same time, and it would only be a matter of time before he got caught. It would be best to withdraw and not let anyone associate Tom with Lockhart.
He had been delayed, naturally, because of the O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. exams, and would break the big news when the students were finished. He was not going to allow his actions to affect the students' performance.
After this news, Dumbledore pulled a letter out of his pocket, he cleared his throat, "Class, this is a letter Professor Lockhart left for you before he left, he wanted me to read it in front of you."
Dumbledore smiled, opened the envelope, which was untouched, and read it in public.
[Hello, Hogwarts students and teachers.
I'm sorry to leave you in such a hasty manner, but I have my own reasons and difficulties..... well, no complications, mainly that the dried shredded Skin of an African tree snake I stole from Professor Snape was lost in a fire and I don't have enough Multijuice Potion to last me until the end of term].
The Great Hall erupted as soon as this was read, and the news was far more explosive than Professor Lockhart's quick death: someone else was impersonating their Professor Lockhart!
Professor Lockhart had left because he was running out of Multijuice Potion! As for the purpose of using the Multijuice Potion, anyone who isn't stupid can guess.
Of course, there were a few younger wizards who were not so surprised, like Hermione, who already knew what was going on, and brothers Fred and George. Their first reaction was: Tom, you left, but you've left so many exams, dammit! They were tempted to pull out the Marauder's Map, find the spot corresponding to Tom, block it, and not stop until they had the answers to the exam.
The reaction of the teachers was also mixed. Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows and exchanged a glance with Professor Sprout, who was sitting next to her, while Professor Flitwick stood up and his cutlery dropped on the table, and most of the other teachers looked surprised.
Snape's face was frozen and he clenched the cup so tightly in his hand that his fingers turned white to the knuckles. Now, he had finally found the culprit who had stolen his potion ingredients!
Dumbledore looked around the Great Hall, ignoring the noise, and read on.
[You're probably surprised, aren't you? I have my own reasons for doing so. I have to let Professor Dumbledore tell you a big secret: Gilderoy Lockhart is a great liar!
All his adventures are "stolen" from other wizards. He finds wizards living in remote areas who have lived legendary lives, extracts details of their adventures from them, and then uses a dememorizing spell to alter their memories and take these events as his own.
I learned of this by chance, and was so repulsed by his actions that I arrested him and brought him to justice, only to find out later that he had agreed to become a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts! Classes had already started and Headmaster Dumbledore didn't have time to find a replacement, so I had to hurry and try to fill Lockhart's position.
I managed to get the job done, with Merlin's blessing. As I saw the students entering the examination room, I felt a great relief: my work was done!]
At this point, all the uninformed people in the Great Hall felt numb: they would never have imagined that there would be so many twists and turns in this story! This morning's news seemed like a fairy tale: the professor who had been teaching for a whole year was a person impersonating Professor Lockhart, and the real professor was a big fraud.
Some of the young wizards couldn't accept it, they even thought it was a prank by Dumbledore.
[In any case, thank you all for your company over the past year, and I'm sure we'll see each other again. As for the real Lockhart, I still haven't figured out what to do with him, so I guess I'll let him face the law.
Take care everyone and goodbye!
PS: Good luck with your final exams, covering everything you've learned this year.
Love, anonymous]
Dumbledore finished reading the letter and shrugged, "I've been alive for over a hundred years and this is the first time I've seen this happen. But, so be it, everyone can still enjoy the food."
Despite Dumbledore's words, those present did not feel like eating, they just wanted to discuss with their friends what they had just heard.
"Let me just say that I remember the real Lockhart not being very trustworthy. I was so skeptical when I was at the Lihen bookstore..."
"I told you, I remembered the real Lockhart not being very trustworthy, I suspected as much when I was at Flourish and Blotts..."
"Nonsense! You even sent Lockhart a card for Christmas."
"Actually, the car accident at the beginning of term proved how unreliable he is....".
"I think it's actually okay, it was really cool, I doubt Lockhart would have been changed by then."
... The young wizards were analyzing the traces of the school year, and it suddenly seemed to them that this Professor Lockhart also had many flaws, they just hadn't noticed them at first.
"But this impostor, he's really strong!" They soon turned their attention elsewhere, one of the young Slytherin wizards remembered what 'Lockhart' had done before. "He taught the best spells I've seen in four years!"
"Yes, and leaving after the N.E.W.T. exam was over was a sign of responsibility" Cassandra complimented Tom.
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