Snape's "Thoughtful Fine-Tuning"

Professor Sprout stirred the flower tea in her cup. "Minerva, I think you may be right!"

"I think this is also one of the reasons they've improved," Professor McGonagall said. "Since the results are this good..."

"Perhaps starting next school year, we can raise the difficulty of the exams a little? What do you all think?"

"That is a good suggestion," Professor Flitwick agreed. "If the students' standards have improved, then we ought to teach them more magic. That will give them an even greater advantage when they look for work after graduation!"

Professor McGonagall's proposal did not only win Professor Flitwick's approval; the other professors also nodded one after another in agreement...

Snape did not take part in the discussion the entire time. He merely picked up the beef sandwich from his plate and chewed it in silence.

By the time the professors began talking about Hogwarts Voice and considering how to increase the difficulty of the exams, he had just finished the last bite of his sandwich.

He drained the black coffee in his cup, picked up a napkin to wipe the corner of his mouth, and left the Teachers' Table without a word.

Only start increasing the difficulty next school year?

Heh! As if he would let them have it that easy.

Snape felt that waiting until next school year would be far too late, so when he designed the Exam Questions, he took the first step and increased the difficulty of both the Written Exam and the practical exam;

He had noticed some time ago that when students were brewing potions in Potions Class, quite a few of them had become more composed, and were no longer so easily affected by him;

Later, when he found Hogwarts Voice to read, he discovered that it was