A student's sacred duty is to take exams

The next day, Tver slept in unusually late. Fortunately, he had no classes that morning.

After an immature yet exquisite Transfiguration duel the previous night, he had ultimately lost.

Because Dumbledore had shamelessly brought out the Elder Wand!

He had already been stronger than Tver to begin with, and with the wand's enhancement, even if Tver's teacher had come, he would not have been able to withstand it.

Afterward, he and Dumbledore discussed things until very late. It was almost dawn by the time he returned to rest.

Though really, it had mostly been Dumbledore teaching while Tver learned.

Transfiguration was actually quite simple. By their seventh year, students could generally master three techniques: the Switching Spell, the Vanishing Spell, and the Summoning Spell.

Tver was exceptionally proficient in this area.

But to perform truly exquisite Transfiguration, achieving transformations even more powerful than ordinary spells, required further study.

For instance, controlling magical power to give transformed objects greater flexibility;

Or the magical properties of Transfiguration—adding spells on top of a transformation could allow transformed objects to produce effects similar to those spells.

And in these areas, Dumbledore was even more skilled than Tver's own teacher.

That was not to say his teacher was bad.

After making a small attempt to salvage the situation, Tver headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.

There were not many students in the Great Hall at that hour, but the moment he entered, they all turned their attention toward him.

Before long, curious young wizards crowded around him, asking about Durmstrang.

"Durmstrang requires everyone to get buzz cuts. I wonder if you could handle that, Mr. Malfoy?"

"We have fur cloaks and blood-red robes, depending on the weather."

"Yes, the weather is cold most of the time, though some particularly sturdy students go without cloaks."

"Here's a fun fact: Quidditch is an international sport, so we have Quidditch teams too. They are not divided by House, though—we form several separate teams."

"All right, students, question time is over. I still need to teach my classes."

It was only close to class time that Tver finally managed to escape the crowd of students.

It seemed that, upon hearing Professor Foley was in the Great Hall introducing Durmstrang to everyone, nearly every young wizard without class had gathered there.

Still, he was happy to answer their questions. He could take it as a way to ease the fatigue from last night's studying.

"I wonder when Professor Foley will get here."

"I heard he was surrounded by students in the Great Hall. He is not going to be late, is he?"

"But we came so early. Doesn't that mean we will not get to see the professor's roll-call magic?"

"I don't care about that! I learned several spells specifically so I could duel Professor Foley!"

The second-year students eagerly discussed the upcoming lesson, filled with anticipation for the battles that might take place.

After a full day of anticipation following yesterday's events, they had been looking forward to the afternoon class since early that morning. At noon, they had hurriedly filled their stomachs before coming to this classroom to wait.

"The professor's here!"

Someone shouted, and the classroom instantly fell silent as everyone stared brightly toward the door.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, the elegant Tver strode in, carrying a paper bag in his hands.

He was a little surprised to find the classroom already filled with students who had clearly been waiting eagerly for him.

He looked back to confirm that this was indeed his classroom, then happily walked up to the podium.

"To be honest, if the bell had already rung, I would have thought I was late."

The students cooperatively broke into proud, cheerful laughter.

But roll call could not be skipped. Tver flicked his wand, and names appeared one by one above the students' heads.

Then, amid their exclamations, the golden light above them flowed into the class roster in his hand.

"Very good." He glanced over the parchment. "I do not think anyone would be bold enough to skip my class."

Tver put away the parchment and faced the expectant gazes below.

"Though you have probably already learned who I am, I should still introduce myself."

"I am Tver Foley, your Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. I am indeed from Durmstrang, but I hope you will not discuss my alma mater again during class. That is a rule of this course."

"As for your first lesson, I think you all have a pretty good idea of what it will be."

Cheers immediately erupted.

"But pay attention," Tver raised his voice, drowning out the cheers, "before we can fight, you will need to go through a step that is not quite so fun."

As he spoke, he waved his wand at the paper bag. Sheets of test papers flew out one after another, landing precisely in front of every student.

"A test."

The students immediately slumped, their faces filled with disappointment.

"Don't worry. The battle you want will come after this. This test is so I can get a more detailed understanding of where you all stand."

Tver conjured a huge hourglass for them, making it easier to keep time.

"You'll have half an hour. Don't put too much pressure on yourselves; just write down what you know. Even if you don't know it now, I can teach you over the course of this year."

The hourglass flipped over, and the timer began.

Everyone immediately threw themselves seriously into the test.

Meanwhile, Tver went behind them and tried out the Transfiguration techniques he had learned yesterday.

He had based the questions on last year's textbook, compiling them into a summary test.

After all, he had noticed in yesterday's class that the previous teachers had basically covered the entire textbook, but how much the students had actually learned was another matter.

A battle could only reveal one aspect, which was far from comprehensive.

That was why he had specifically prepared this test: to see how much knowledge they had learned in Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Half an hour passed quickly. The questions really were not difficult; those who knew the answers had finished long ago, while those who did not could scratch their heads all they wanted and still come up with nothing.

After waving his wand and collecting all the papers, Tver finally said the words everyone most wanted to hear.

"Battle. I know you've all been looking forward to this, so get up. And remember to bring your wands!"

Woohoo!

The students eagerly packed away their textbooks and, in a flurry of activity that was somehow still orderly, grabbed their wands and ran to the back.

To their surprise, there were suddenly three Professor Fawleys.

Triple the fun?

Once they had lined up, Tver explained.

"After yesterday's lesson, I realized that you—well—still have plenty of room for improvement. If I were your opponent, you wouldn't be able to bring out your full strength."

He pointed his wand at the other two identical "versions" of himself. They immediately seemed to come alive, taking up fighting stances.

"You'll split into two teams. Each team will protect one of me, then do your best to defeat the other me!"