Exam

The end-of-year exam week at Hogwarts finally arrived, filling the castle with an atmosphere of tension and anxiety. Students were buried in their final revisions, and the library was overcrowded.

Silas Cyril, a Ravenclaw student who usually appeared indifferent to his studies, displayed surprising (or perhaps, predictable) strength during the exams.

Transfiguration Exam:

Professor McGonagall asked them to turn a beetle into an exquisite snuffbox. Silas took out his wand, gave the beetle crawling on the table a gentle tap, barely even muttering an incantation. A soft light flashed, the beetle disappeared, and in its place was a silver snuffbox inlaid with tiny gems and carved with intricate vine patterns. The lid even opened and closed automatically. Professor McGonagall picked up the snuffbox and examined it closely, a flicker of undisguised surprise and admiration in her eyes. She ultimately awarded him an impeccable "O (Outstanding)."

Charms Exam:

Professor Flitwick asked them to make a pineapple dance a tap dance across the desk. Silas completed it with ease again. The pineapple he summoned not only performed standard tap dance steps but even spun and slid across the desk, ending with an elegant bow, like a professional dancer. Professor Flitwick was so excited he almost fell off his pile of books, giving him an "O" without hesitation.

Potions Exam:

This was the most anticipated exam, as everyone knew Snape's attitude towards Silas. The exam content was to brew a Forgetfulness Potion. Snape glided silently around the classroom like a giant bat, scrutinizing each student's actions with icy eyes. When he reached Silas's workstation, he paused. Silas's movements were fluid and seamless, each step precise, the heat perfectly controlled. The resulting potion had a textbook-perfect pearlescent sheen and swirling steam. Snape stared at the cauldron, his expression terrifyingly grim. He couldn't find a single fault, and finally, in a voice that seemed to be squeezed from between his teeth, he coldly announced, "...O." He then quickly turned and left, as if staying another second would suffocate him.

However, when it came to the History of Magic exam:

The exam hall was silent, save for the rustling of quills on parchment. Silas looked at the questions on the paper about Goblin Rebellions, the International Statute of Secrecy, and Medieval Witch Burnings, and his head began to spin. He tried desperately to recall Professor Binns's soporific lectures, but his mind was a complete blank.

(Silas's inner monologue: Why did the goblins rebel? Bad treatment? What year was the Statute of Secrecy enacted? 1692? Maybe? Burning witches... what does that have to do with the history of magic? Wasn't that a stupid thing Muggles did? Blaming wizards for the mistakes of the ruling class?)

He scratched his head, managed to write a few lines, and then started to make things up, mixing up facts and figures. When he handed in his paper, he looked at his own crookedly written, largely blank test, and painfully covered his face.

"It's over... I'm going to get a 'D' in this one..." Silas lamented. He was utterly helpless when it came to this subject that relied purely on memorization.

Ultimately, Silas Cyril ended his first year with "O"s in the vast majority of subjects, but a likely disastrous performance in History of Magic. This extreme distribution of grades perfectly reflected his complex and contradictory nature: possessing extraordinary practical magical talent, yet suffering from... terminal laziness when it came to rote theoretical knowledge.

While Silas was battling the History of Magic exam paper, Harry Potter, using his top-notch deductive skills and combining them with the snippets he'd overheard about Snape, had reached a conclusion he believed to be irrefutable: Professor Snape would use the end of the final exams today, when everyone's attention was diverted, to steal the Philosopher's Stone from the forbidden fourth-floor area!

He immediately found Ron and shared this "major discovery." (Hermione, due to Silas's earlier assessment that Snape was "just a bullying jerk, not an associate of the Dark Lord," and her greater trust in Dumbledore's arrangements, hadn't fully believed Harry's speculation. Plus, she still had studying to do, so she didn't come along this time.)

With a sense of "saving the Philosopher's Stone and stopping Snape," the two young lions sneaked to the forbidden door on the fourth floor.

Unexpectedly, they navigated the earlier challenges quite smoothly:

Fluffy the three-headed dog: Harry used his owl whistle to put it to sleep, and they slipped past.

Devil's Snare: Ron, remembering Hermione's (even though she wasn't there, her knowledge remained) teachings, stayed calm and still, and the Devil's Snare released them.

The Flying Keys: Harry's Seeker talent came into play again. He rode his broom and precisely caught the old, crucial key.

They arrived at the door to the next room, having narrowly escaped danger. However, the situation here was different from the story: there was no groggy troll in the room.

Because in this altered timeline, disrupted by Silas, Voldemort (via the Suspended Ring) didn't need Quirrell to break through the challenges one by one as in the original plot. He directly used a Portal to reach the final room where the Mirror of Erised was located, so there was no need to deal with the guards in the preceding chambers, including this troll.

So, as Harry and Ron cautiously pushed the door open, they were met by a live, enormous troll, idly banging its club on the ground, emitting a foul odor!

The troll immediately spotted the two intruders. Its cloudy little eyes lit up, it let out a low roar, raised its massive club, and charged at them with heavy steps!

"Oh no..." Harry's face instantly turned pale, his heart pounding in his chest. He suddenly remembered that Silas had mentioned Quirrell bringing in a troll, but it was dealt with on Halloween... why was there still one here?!

Ron was even more terrified. He grabbed Harry's arm, his voice cracking as he shrieked, "Let's run! Harry! Run! Didn't you forget what Silas said?!"

As Ron dragged him backward, Harry's mind went blank, and he subconsciously asked, "What... what did he say?!"

Ron pulled Harry out of the room with all his might, slamming the door shut with a "bang" and bracing himself against it, shouting at the troll already pounding on the door inside, "He said before, 'It's not worth risking your life for'! Are we crazy to risk our lives against a troll for an uncertain guess?! Let's run!!"

Reason (and the memory of Silas's pragmatic motto) finally triumphed over impulse. Harry also instantly sobered up. That's right, they were just two first-year students. Facing a ferocious troll, barging in was no different from suicide!

Without further hesitation, the two turned and fled back the way they came, sprinting at full speed, leaving the troll's roars and the sound of its pounding behind them. This time, Gryffindor's courage chose a strategic retreat in the face of the more important principle of "self-preservation." As for the Philosopher's Stone? Let Professor Dumbledore worry about that!