Final Exams

The sound of pens and paper clattering continued until noon. The sky outside the window grew even darker, and the wind picked up, a reminder that a heavy rain was on its way.

"Let's go, time for lunch." Loren put down his pen and stretched.

Hermione calmly tidied her desk, tucked the homework, which filled an entire page of parchment, into her textbook, and put it into her bag.

She always carried a lot of books with her. Loren heard her roommate Parvati Patil, complain that Hermione carried 20 books with her when school started and only changed them after memorizing them all.

She scared the girls in her dorm so much that they didn't dare to approach her.

Looking at the bulging book bag, Loren quietly moved forward a certain plan in his mind.

Hermione was coming to Library Library again in the afternoon, so she left her book bag there. Under Madam Pince's wary gaze, the two walked out of the Library side by side and headed to the Great Hall for lunch.

Dumbledore sat at the High Table, eating slowly. Harry and Ron, on the other hand, were ravenously gulping down bread, steak, and broth.

Loren and Hermione sat down opposite them.

"Burp~" Harry let out a long, satisfied burp and said with a blissful expression, "I feel like I just stuffed a cow in there."

Ron nodded repeatedly in agreement, his cheeks puffed out and his mouth stuffed full of food.

"When did you get up?" Loren's gaze wandered over the food on the table, wondering which items he should take.

"Just now!" Harry said with a strange sense of pride.

He noticed something was off about Loren's face. "What happened to your forehead? What's that red dot?"

"Snape poisoned me, and I'm supposed to figure out the antidote myself," Loren blurted out. The contents of the Book of Abraham couldn't be revealed; it was all fabricated anyway, and Snape was far more believable.

Harry nodded, believing this explanation; Snape was indeed no good person.

Meanwhile, Loren, having finished making up his lie, saw "Hot Mango Sauce Rice Pudding" on the dining table. His pupils dilated in shock. What kind of culinary abomination was this?!

Warm mango sauce was poured over rice, and it was named "Hot Mango Sauce Rice Pudding." Sure enough, lying would bring its own consequences, Loren silently repented, and then greedily ate several large pieces of fried pork cutlet.

While Loren, his grief and anger manifesting as a voracious appetite, ate heartily, Harry was thinking about how to avoid him and discuss the scar with the other two.

Fortunately, it didn't take much effort. After Loren finished eating, he saw Dumbledore leave through the side door and hurried after him.

Harry spoke up, "Hermione, I have something to tell you..."

"Headmaster Dumbledore!" Loren jogged to catch up with Dumbledore was taking a leisurely stroll to digest his food.

"Loren, it's best not to do strenuous exercise after a meal; that's my secret to longevity." Dumbledore smiled gently and winked at Loren. "Also, you look very nice today."

Loren ignored the topic and began to recount his experiences from the previous night: the Dark Lord in the Forbidden Forest and the Centaur's astrological Prophecy.

Even though he had already gone to the Unicorn Tribe that morning to make amends, Dumbledore's eyes still showed sadness upon hearing of the deaths of the two Unicorn.

After listening to Loren's explanation, he slowly asked, "I've noticed that your friends are still stuck in the mystery. Why don't you help them?"

Good grief, Loren's eyelids are twitching. I'm giving you a report: you want me to lead a group into a dungeon, and train me too.

He ignored the conversation, and the two walked past the monster statue and took the spiral staircase to the Headmaster's office on the Seventh Floor.

Loren sat down as if he were a familiar face, his movements relaxed and unhurried, which made Dumbledore feel much lighter as well.

"Has Nagini woken up?" Loren asked. Summer was here; hibernation should have ended long ago.

"She's been awake for over a month. I've left her with Professor Sprout to be cared for; she doesn't like being in an office," Dumbledore said as he poured tea.

"What about the Diadem? Did you destroy it?" Loren held the cup in his hand.

Back in the Albanian Forest, he mentioned that Ravenclaw's Diadem hidden in the Room of Room of Requirement, but he didn't follow up on Dumbledore's progress in destroying the Horcrux.

"Oh, actually, I don't know where this Room of Requirement you're talking about is," Dumbledore, leaning back in his chair and spouting nonsense. "I only ever found a room full of exquisite chamber pots once when I needed to use the toilet."

Loren watched as Dumbledore talked nonsense. If Professor Trelawney could hide Sherry inside, he didn't believe that Dumbledore hadn't discovered the Room of Requirement all these years.

"I can take you there, right now."

"Ahem," Dumbledore said, showing no sign of being exposed, "In fact, I'm not sure what the consequences would be if we destroyed or touched that Horcrux now. After all, it's too close; it's right there..."

The following sentence was vague, and the old man with the white beard was trying to fool him again.

"I will handle it later," Dumbledore concluded.

Loren sipped his tea absently, no longer concerning himself with the Diadem. "There's one more thing, for some reason I can't say." He emphasized the word "can't say."

He pointed to his forehead with his right index finger, showing Dumbledore the red mark, "I would like the headmaster to examine this red dot for me."

"Oh, I thought it was your unique attire." Dumbledore understood that "cannot be spoken" referred to the cursed book. He extended his index finger and gently touched Loren's brow, then quickly withdrew it.

"Except for the fact that it can't be erased, it looks like it was born that way." Dumbledore looked interested; he was quite certain that Loren didn't have the mole last night.

For a fleeting moment, Dumbledore's Magic Power seemed to activate. Loren was certain he had used many detection spells on him, but he felt nothing.

Now he really had no choice but to accept it. Even Dumbledore couldn't do anything about it, so what could a mere wizard like him do?

"Do you need to speak with Nicol?" Dumbledore asked.

Loren shook his head in refusal; Nicol's failure to provide Flamel with such memories already spoke volumes. Matters related to the Book of Abraham were something he would have to figure out himself.

He bid farewell to Dumbledore with heavy thoughts in his heart. As he walked out of the Headmaster's office, a gust of cold wind made him realize that the old white-robed wizard had been rambling on for the entire conversation, saying nothing of any use.

Meanwhile, Harry was in an Abandoned Classroom, telling Ron and Hermione about his experiences the previous night.

"When I saw that the Dark Lord last night, my scar was very painful. That person must be related to Voldemort..."

"I had a nightmare last night. I dreamt of a person wearing a hood, wandering around Castle..."

Boom!

A thunderclap resounded.

After a long period of preparation, the first heavy rain of summer 1992 came crashing down, engulfing the ancient Castle in a curtain of rain...

As the next school year draws to a close and final exams are fast approaching, the atmosphere at school is becoming tense. Everyone is rushing to and from get out of class, their steps quick, as if they could fly.

One week before finals, at the long table in Gryffindor Great Hall.

Neville stuffed bread and steak into his mouth, chewed haphazardly a few times, and gulped down a large glass of Pumpkin Juice to get the food into his stomach. Then he hurriedly got off the table and ran, running to the Great Hall door, before turning back to retrieve the notebook he had left on the table.

The entire meal lasted no more than three minutes.

Staring blankly at Neville's rapidly disappearing figure, Loren felt a bloating and pain in his stomach. How could he have eaten all that?

"Why doesn't he keep the book in the Library?" Hermione asked curiously.

Harry explained helplessly, "If I don't carry it with me, Neville will forget where he put his things, and it will be more troublesome to find them."

"He now spends all his time memorizing, afraid that his Grade Report will disappoint his grandmother."

Fortunately, thanks to the study plan Hermione had set up for them earlier, they didn't have to be so rushed.

"Shall we go to the Abandoned Classroom on the Fourth Floor to practice our duels again tomorrow?" Loren asked.

"Oh!" Ron closed his eyes in anguish, wanting to say no, but under the threatening gazes of Harry and Hermione, he swallowed his words.

Since the last Forbidden Forest incident, they have been practicing duels in an abandoned classroom on the Fourth Floor whenever they have time.

Harry and Ron mainly practiced the Shield Charm, one attacking and the other defending, constantly casting spells at each other. When they got tired, they stopped and watched Loren play tricks on Hermione in a magical duel, only to be taught a lesson by Hermione in a physical duel.

The two kept muttering about some inexplicable score.

With Flamel's help, Loren's strength was subtly taking the lead among the four. Hermione had an initial advantage, but Harry was catching up quickly.

Only Ron remained firmly at the bottom of the class. He had rebelled and worked hard, but faced with two teammates who were exceptionally gifted and a diligent but lazy student, he simply couldn't catch up. He could only resign himself to being at the bottom.

Although there were only four people, the club was ultimately named the Duel Club. Among Ron's suggestion of "Weasley and His Friends," Loren's "Far Eastern Day-Napping Magic Club," and Harry's "Whatever, I'm fine with it," Hermione made the final decision and chose the more conventional name.

They chose the Fourth Floor because it would be convenient to keep an eye on Fluffy's situation. They were convinced that Quirrell had succumbed to Snape and that they were about to make their move on the Sorcerer's Stone.

But Snape seemed more patient than they expected, and remained silent for a long time.

After the heavy rain, the temperature rose rapidly, and the weather became muggy. The final exams arrived amidst this muggy heat.

Some subjects only require answering questions, while Transfiguration Class, Charms Class, Potions class all require practical application.

In the stuffy classroom, Professor McGonagall, with a stern face and serious expression, said, "Don't try to cheat. Even a P (fail) or a D (terrible) is better than cheating. Character is more important than grades!"

Blank parchment and silver-tipped quills were distributed to the young wizards. The quills were specially designed for exams and were inscribed with Anti-Cheating Charm. The blank parchment served as the exam papers.

The bell rang, and a series of test questions appeared on the blank parchment. The young wizards kept their heads down, and the only sound in the classroom was the scratching of quills as they scribbled on the parchment.

The author of "The A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration" is ( ).

Magic school has questions like this!

"(Emeric Sweech)" Loren wrote quickly, and although it was somewhat off-topic, it was all very basic content.

Influenced by some distant memory, Loren thoroughly enjoyed the scene of answering exam questions. He became more and more excited as he wrote, and wrote faster and faster. The cursive strokes of the words drew the shape of ivy vines on the parchment.

Loren flipped through the exam paper with a loud rustling sound; while everyone else hadn't even finished half of the first page, he had already turned the page.

Sitting next to him was Dean, who was almost in tears, his heart screaming: Professor McGonagall! This person is attacking me with soul magic.

"The branches of Transfiguration include (Transfiguration), (Disappearance), (Summoning), and (Revelation)."

After finishing the last question, Loren casually tossed his pen into the inkwell, looked up and stared straight at Professor McGonagall, his face clearly saying, "I'm handing in my paper (to show off)."

Be the first person to finish the exam and leave the exam room. Especially if the exam time is not yet halfway through, this will put a lot of pressure on the young wizards who are still answering questions.

Professor McGonagall strolled over to Loren, glanced at the ivy-like cursive handwriting on the exam paper, and then at Loren, who looked smug and ready to cause trouble.

Her slightly aged fingers tapped lightly twice on the edge of the exam paper. The ink on the parchment seemed to come alive, and all the words Loren had written quickly moved toward the spot where Professor McGonagall's fingers had tapped, eventually coalescing into a single ink dot.

Professor McGonagall tapped the exam paper again, and the ink blot extended into a sentence: "The handwriting is too messy. Answer again."

Loren looked at Professor McGonagall with disbelief, his expression vividly accusing her: You're targeting me!

Professor McGonagall wiped her finger, and the ink stain and the words disappeared. She looked away from Loren and turned back to the podium.

"Although the answers are all correct, there are more than a dozen spelling errors, and the handwriting is simply illegible." Professor McGonagall gave a barely perceptible smile; she wanted to help Loren calm down and focus on the exam.

As soon as the exam ended, all the parchments folded themselves in half, flew up, and landed neatly on the podium. Professor McGonagall took the exam papers and left.

Dean immediately stood up, his expression filled with grief and indignation. "Loren, take this [Colloportus]!"

He was driven to despair by the sound of Loren flipping through the exam paper. He couldn't remember several questions, and the more he thought about it, the more panicked he became, leading to even more questions he couldn't recall. He was sure he had failed the exam.

The practical exam begins with the Charms Class.

Professor Flitwick found an empty classroom and had the first-year wizards enter one by one to take the test.

Hermione was one seat ahead of Loren. She went in nervously and came out with a long face, looking aggrieved and angry. "I must have failed the test."

"Is it really that difficult?" Loren was very puzzled. How could Hermione fail the exam with her abilities?

Hermione stared at the culprit in front of her with her bright brown eyes, but then, remembering that it was his turn to take the exam soon, she silently suppressed her anger and remained silent.

Loren entered the classroom with doubt in his mind.

Professor Flitwick stood behind the table, with a thick stack of books under his feet to barely get onto it. On the table was a pineapple.

"Loren!" Professor Flitwick greeted him warmly. "Come on, let this graceful pineapple tap dance from this side of the table to the other side."

Loren was still puzzled. This shouldn't be difficult for Hermione, so why did Hermione say she failed the test?

"Okay, Professor."

He waved his wand, and Pineapple seemed to come alive, clumsily twisting its waist and swaying its plump body. After its warm-up, Pineapple became agile and began to move forward, tap dancing.

"Perfect!" Professor Flitwick looked very satisfied, his mustache bristling with a smile. "I have to add a few points to your warm-up."

"You have excellent taste!" Loren thanked him and left the classroom.

Hermione was waiting for him outside, her eyes blazing with anger. "It's all your fault! You argued with me before that Grape shouldn't do ballet, but should do street dance."

At this point, the little Witch's voice was filled with sorrow, "I made Pineapple dance ballet, and only corrected her halfway through. Professor Flitwick will definitely give me a 'P'.