Chapter 26: Exams
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***
Harry walked out of the transfiguration room and closed the door behind him.
- What have you got so far? - Ernie Macmillan asked.
- I had to turn a mouse into a snuff box. I think I'm going to have an 'Above Expected'.
- "Above expectations"? You? No way! - Megan Jones exclaimed unhappily.
She stepped out of the queue and looked at him contemptuously.
- 'You've been slacking off in lessons and arguing with Professor McGonagall all the time.
- That's not true," Potter countered. - I've been studying. I just wasn't very good at it.
- No, you weren't. All you did was break the rules and lose faculty points, which we all earned, by the way. Why do slackers like you get good grades and real hard-working students get bad grades?
- Look, first of all, I haven't got anything yet, and secondly, it's not my fault that your friend from the second year got a "Disgusting"; assignments are given to everyone at approximately the same level according to our knowledge and skills, and the fact that I got a better grade than your friend just means that I know the subject better. That's it. I gotta go. I have more Dark Arts defence tomorrow," Harry nodded goodbye to Ernie and Zack and headed for the living room.
The journey from the transfiguration room to the Hufflepuff common room was a long one, but for Harry it was over in a flash. A perfectly passed transfiguration exam had improved Potter's mood immensely.
- What have you got? - Justin greeted him at the entrance.
- I'm great. I did a perfect job. I think I'll get at least an 'Above Average'.
- Really? - Waiting for Harry's nod, Justin raised his head high and shouted softly, but very desperately. - Ka-how!!!
- Very simple, I've been preparing, but I think you're aware of that. By the way, I had the same assignment as you. Tell me, how did you manage to get a mouse on McGonagall?
- I'm not telling you anything. You're such a clever transfiguration expert, you can figure it out for yourself! - Justin said and quickly ran out of the living room.
Harry stared after him in bewilderment. Until the last moment he thought Finch-Fletchley was just joking, he couldn't really be upset about his success, could he?
- He's upset, but it'll pass, while you were away he tried to bet me three galleons that you'd fail the exam like him," came a voice from the corridor leading towards the bedrooms.
Harry turned round. Cedric was approaching him with a smile.
- You were right. About everything. About the assignments, and about McGonagall. She seems to be really fair in her grading.
- I'm glad to hear that. I was afraid you wouldn't be able to do the assignment.
* * *
- Mmmm... Cedric, I just got off the street... I mean... Anyway, my hands are dirty. Can't we just pretend I shook your hand?
- Sure," Diggory agreed. - No problem, Harry, how you doing?
- He's going to play on the Quidditch team next year," Tonks didn't let him answer. - Your position, too. Seeker.
- I..." Harry was taken aback. He hadn't expected such a set-up from Nymphadora. - I haven't decided yet. It doesn't have to be Seeker, it could be hunter or something.
- It's okay, Harry, if you really play better than me, I'll quit the team and give the captain's armband to someone else," Cedric said calmly.
- You will, mark my word," Tonks exclaimed prophetically. - Get ready to polish your bench and watch Quidditch, not play it.
- I'm not going to do anything, and you-" Potter pointed a finger at Nymphadora. - I'm not going to tell you anything else.
Shame gave way to anger. Why did she have to tell everything?
- Well, if you're not going to, then you're not going to," Cedric pulled away from Tonks a little. - You still haven't told me how you're doing?
- He's going to fail his exams," Tonks intervened again with a chuckle in her eyes. - He hasn't even started studying for anything yet.
- Nymphadora, leave the boy alone. Can't you see he doesn't like your humour.
- You're Nymphadora!
Tonks' nostrils flared instantly, just like McGonagall's. Or maybe she'd just used her powers and turned her nose into a transfiguration professor's nose.
- Oh, come on. You can't take a simple joke, I'd better go catch up with Moody.
Nymphadora left them alone and left the room. However, Harry could have sworn he noticed her choking with laughter as she walked out. Was she really just feigning annoyance?
- It was a lot more relaxed, wouldn't you agree?
With that one phrase, Cedric had gained Potter's complete trust. Diggory sided with him in the little tiff between him and Tonks.
- All right, what's going on with your exams? Do you need any help?
- I don't know," Potter answered honestly. - I haven't started studying yet. Just spells, I've had... an elective in spells, you could say that.
- And how good is that elective? Are you sure you're going to get what you know on the exam?
- They're not the problem. Astronomy, transfiguration, history of magic, defence against the dark arts. I don't know the first thing about those subjects.
- Well, Defence Against the Dark Arts is pretty much the same for everyone. Quirrell only taught us an effective method of fighting bloodsuckers. If you see a vampire, throw garlic at it and run.
Harry laughed out loud. He found the joke incredibly funny. After it, all the unpleasant emotions and feelings finally receded.
- Everyone's been in trouble with the history of magic for years. Bince gave us an extra forty-five minutes, or an hour and a half if there were two lessons, of sleep a day and taught us only that goblins often revolt. I don't have any problems with transfiguration and astronomy, though, I can help with that.
- That would be nice, if you don't mind.- No, of course, if I have to remember the first year astronomy topics, I know Transfiguration by heart. I got nothing but an "Excellent" in it, and McGonagall loves me, even though I'm not in her favourite Gryffindor. She's got a job as transfiguration professor after her.
- Yeah? Well, she doesn't like me... She doesn't like me very much, I've been breaking the rules in front of her.
- It won't affect your grade, don't worry, Professor McGonagall is a very strict but fair woman, just don't say anything in the exam and do the assignment quietly.
- I'll give it a go. When can you help me?
- Alas, not soon, I have exams myself right now. Let's do it in a month or so. I'll have time to study. In the meantime, you study other subjects.
* * *
A month and a half later, Harry started studying with Cedric. They finished Astronomy quickly, as there was only one topic to be covered in the first year exam. Transfiguration, on the other hand, was a bit of a struggle. Diggory didn't like Potter's level of knowledge, so he began to race him, starting with the basics. Harry didn't notice when the Potions exam appeared on his doorstep. Dirk the Third seated the students in their desks and handed out the ingredients. The ingredients - the ingredients, not the students - were to be used to make a memory-clearing potion. Even though this exam had taken Harry by surprise and he hadn't prepared at all, Dumbledore's lessons were firmly planted in his head and he was able to prepare the necessary potion with ease. Walking out of the stuffy dungeon, he was confident that at least he hadn't failed.
The next exam was spells. Harry went into the Room-by-Wish for ten minutes, made sure he was still good at each of the spells he knew, and began to prepare for the other subjects.
Flitwick, however, managed to surprise him unpleasantly.
- Mr Potter, I have the fondest memories of you, and I hope you will be able to complete this task with ease. You are to use your wand to make this pineapple dance.
"Make what?" - Harry wanted to ask. But he immediately overcame the urge and stared at the pineapple, making the most serious and intelligent grimace possible. Potter didn't even bother to run through the list of spells he knew in his head. He had no doubt that the "pineapple dance spell" was not among them.
He had to improvise. Potter pointed his wand at different edges of the fruit one at a time and quietly recited 'Vingardium Leviosa'. As it happened, the pineapple was bouncing around a bit and seemed to be dancing. In Harry's opinion it looked very believable. In Flitwick's opinion, it didn't.
The next exam was History of Magic. This was the one Potter had failed so badly. The dates were set almost at random, and the only thing he was sure to get right was writing a short biography of Elfric the Silly. Harry was just lucky, he had come across the subject in a history of magic textbook and, purely for fun, decided to read more about him, he was curious as to why Elfric was nicknamed stupid.
Things went a little better in the astronomy exam. Potter confidently wrote the names of the planets in the solar system, and was also able to solve a few problems related to the topic "optics", on which he had time to prepare Cedric Diggory.
A couple of days later, in a greenhouse in the sunshine, Harry was trying to transplant jumping bulbs from pot to pot.
A week later, after herbology, Potter successfully applied the knowledge he had gained from Cedric and transfigured a mouse into a snuff box in front of a surprised Minerva McGonagall.
* * *
- I did everything you said and it worked. I didn't even have time to visualise the snuff box, it just came out the way McGonagall asked it to. Even if I don't get a good grade, it's still a skill I'll need in my next course.
- I'm glad to hear that," Cedric said. - What other exams do you have left besides DADA?
- It's the only one I have left, and to be honest, I'm even less prepared for it than I was for History of Magic, where at least I knew what was going to be on the exam... Look, you took Defence before me, didn't you? Can you at least tell me what to expect?
- I don't know. I haven't taken the DADA yet, everyone's exam was postponed, and I just found the professor now.
- Do you even know who's taking it?
- Certainly not Quirrell, he's gone. I was thinking of Professor Snape, not a professor any more, but he knows a lot about this science, but since we've been waiting a month and a half for this exam, it's obviously not going to be him. The examiner has obviously been persuaded for a long time, so it's not Snape. Apparently the Ministry hasn't authorised him to teach at Hogwarts yet. I for one have no idea how Dumbledore is going to bring him back to the school at all. Killing a partially sentient magical creature with the worst of the unforgivable spells in front of a freshman girl isn't going to be so easily hushed up. I'm still surprised they didn't put him in jail.
- Oh no, not Snape," Harry grimaced. - I hope I never see him again in my life. I'd rather have Quirrell back. I still don't know what's wrong with him, by the way. Did he just leave a couple of weeks before exams?
- He's actually a very strange story, Samuel Park, our head boy, told me. Dumbledore came to him, looking for Quirrell, saying it was very urgent. Samuel told him he'd seen him outside the Forbidden Corridor. That's all. No-one else knows anything. All I can say is that there's something obviously wrong - a professor can't leave of his own free will a few days before exams, not even a teacher like Quirrell. Herbert Flint told me in confidence that a vampire had infiltrated the school, trying to get even with the defence professor. So either Quirrell's been eaten or he's forced to hide in another country.
- What's Dumbledore got to do with this?
- No idea. Dealing with a vampire, I guess. Whether the vampire story is true or not, I don't know. Except that Herbert had never been seen spreading silly stories before.
- Oh, come on," Harry didn't believe it. - It's more like Quirrell just went to get a new batch of garlic.
* * *
The next day, the students were on edge. The temporary DADA teacher had to take all of the students' practical exams on the same day. To Harry's great surprise, that examiner turned out to be none other than Mad-Eye Moody. Potter had found out before the others - Tonks had approached him in the Hufflepuff drawing room and informed him that she had received an 'Excellent' for her ZHABA in Defence Against the Dark Arts with the help of Moody.
Harry wasn't sure how he felt about this substitution. On the one hand there was the possibility that Mad-Eye would give him a higher grade than he deserved, after all he had told Alastor about how badly Quirrell had taught and that he didn't know anything.
And on the other hand... Moody the examiner? He hasn't been in Quirrell's classes and is unlikely to know what to ask the freshers, so his exam will be conducted according to his methods, and his method will probably be to throw a stun spell at everyone who enters. If the person dodged it - "Excellent", if not - "Troll", well, or something like that....
When it was Potter's turn to take the exam, he took out his wand and looked around carefully as he entered the room. However, he never waited for any unexpected attacks, there was a desk next to the teacher's desk, where Malfoy was sitting and writing something on a piece of paper.
Seeing Harry, Moody stood up from his chair and leaned on his healthy leg and walked over to him.
- Potter, I have a special task for you. Have a seat.
Trying not to panic, Harry sat down in the chair next to Draco. One thing he didn't want was a special assignment from Moody. Alastor was staring at him with his healthy eye, while the magical one was looking at something through the back of his head, apparently at Malfoy.
- Excellent question. Potter, tell me, what colour is the textbook?
Draco tore himself away from his notes and stared at Moody with indignation.
- What are you looking at? - Mad-Eye turned around. - 'The ghost curse won't formulate itself.
Malfoy ducked into his notes and Moody turned back around.
- Potter, hurry up, I've got fourth and sixth year exams to check.
Harry was about to give an answer, but then he realised he couldn't remember the colour of the textbook. He hadn't used it much, but he had read it at the beginning of the year and opened it a couple of times during homework. I think it was green... Or was it red?
- Green? - Harry surmised.
- What if you think about it?
- Red?
- Right, good boy, you can go.
Confused, Potter walked out of the study. He still couldn't decide what he thought of Moody. Yesterday he would never have guessed that Alastor would give him the highest mark for nothing. Mad-Eye was more like the kind of man who couldn't have any favourites. It was strange to see him so... Kind?
* * *
Because of the problems with the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam, the grades were handed out just before the feast.
The grades for the final exam of the first year:
Potions - "P" - Excellent.
Spells - "U" - Satisfactory.
History of Magic - "O" - Disgusting.
Astronomy - "U" - Satisfactory.
Herbalogy - "U" - Satisfactory.
Transfiguration - "P" - Excellent.
Defence Against the Dark Arts - "P" - Excellent.
Despite the unsatisfactory grade in History of Magic, Potter was happy with his grades for the first year, so he packed his bags in a happy mood. But the entire Slytherin faculty was on their way to appeal to Dumbledore, causing the festive feast to start half an hour late.
- So, another year is behind us! - Dumbledore exclaimed cheerfully. - I'll take you away from our fantastic feast for a moment and give you some important news. Due to the sudden change of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, some students have low grades in this subject, and to remedy this, I am inviting all those who are dissatisfied to retake the defence at the beginning of September next academic year. That should be satisfactory to everyone. And now, as I understand it, we have to determine who won the competition between the faculties. First place went to Ravenclaw with four hundred and ninety-five points!
The Ravenclaw Faculty table shouted loudly and happily, this year was definitely a success for them. Winning the inter-faculty competition and the school's Quidditch cup, leaving Slytherin a fool after all these years. Harry looked glumly at the blue banners with the big eagle hanging everywhere, he couldn't be happy for the others, and who knows, if only he hadn't broken the rules, maybe Hufflepuff could have won the competition this year.
- Slytherin nestled in second place with four hundred and seventy-two points, third place Gryffindor with three hundred and fifty-two points. Well, fourth place is Hufflepuff, they only have three points," Dumbledore looked around the great hall with his beaming eyes.
There was a sepulchral silence at the Hufflepuff table, but suddenly there was loud laughter.
- Mr Thomson," Dumbledore addressed the laughing red-haired boy. - I understand the reason for your laughter, but I still don't think that the small number of points in your department is a reason to rejoice.
The guy got up from his seat and nodded, but he couldn't stand it and laughed again, he muttered through his laughter:
- Just... Just don't take points off me, we're barely on the plus side.
- I wasn't even thinking. I'd tell you a joke, but we got a late start as it is, and a lot of people haven't packed yet, so I won't drag it out any further. So, a great school year is behind us! - Dumbledore turned to all the students again. - I hope your heads are a little heavier than they were at the beginning of the year. However, you have the whole summer ahead of you to get your heads in order and empty them completely before the start of the next term. Now eat, drink and pack, the train won't wait long.
* * *
Harry took a long time to pack. To his surprise, by the end of the year he had a lot more stuff than he had at the beginning of the year. Most of the time Potter just looked at a thing and remembered the events associated with it. The Nimbus 2000 broom, here was Finch-Fletchley giving it to him a little shyly, and here was him and Zhou trying to fly in a race, with the Elemental flying beside him. Potter felt some strange emotions then: the sensation was similar to when he first met Justin, but still a little different. The Invisibility Cloak, Harry couldn't remember taking it to Hogwarts, he didn't even recognise who might have given it to him, and there wasn't even a single candidate. If it had happened a few months later, Potter would have thought it was Moody, but the gift had come at Christmas, and they hadn't been in touch then... And the robe had belonged to the older Potters, Harry had no living relatives, maybe a friend? Then why give it secretly? Why not sign it? All questions and no answers.
An old notebook left in the Wishing Room. The first experiment... More good memories had accumulated in one year at Hogwarts than the Dursleys had in eleven.
The door to the bedroom opened and Justin walked in. He'd packed his things ahead of time.
- What's going on? - He asked. - How's Zhou?
Finch-Fletchley had asked such questions regularly over the past month, hoping to embarrass Harry. This time, however, he had an answer ready.
- I'll only answer if you tell me how Hermione is doing.
Justin stammered and blushed, but he smiled fake and indignant:
- Hey! We're just studying!
- Yeah I remember. Great student, knows a lot. You see her all the time because she helps you study. And you only invited her to your birthday party because she doesn't have any friends.
- She does. I just hang out with her a little bit.
- I get it. Well, it's the same with me and Zhou, but I don't ask you how Granger's feeling every time I see you.
- Let's sign a non-aggression pact. How does that sound?
- Sure. Only in blood. Alright, I'm almost packed, I'm going to go find Tonks, I'll see you on the train.
Harry threw the notebook into his suitcase and headed for the door.
- Wait," Justin called out to him. - How would you feel about coming to visit me? In the summer. We've got plenty of rooms to choose from.
- That sounds great," Harry said happily. - I'll definitely come, I just don't know when yet, I'll text you with an owl.
- Okay, I'll be waiting.
Potter left the living room and went to find Tonks.
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