Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 397 The exam is in progress

The difficulty of Owls's theory exam on spells was not high, and most of it was about the taboos on the use of various spells and the reactions that would occur under various specific conditions.

For example, when using the Flying Spell, you need to clearly read the name of the object you want to make fly and at the same time imagine the specific image of the object in your mind, and you also need to wave the magic wand accurately.

The first two of the above three points are relatively good. If done incorrectly, it will only result in the failure of releasing the Flying Spell.

But the last item is different. If there is an error in the amplitude of waving the magic wand, the summoned item is likely to get out of control.

The consequences of losing control are quite terrible. In history, several famous wizards were killed because of mistakes when using the Spell of Summoning, which caused the summoned objects to be too fast.

In addition, when using lethal beam spells such as the petrification spell, you must ensure that you are in an open environment. Otherwise, if the launched magic wand fails to hit the target, it is very likely that it will continue to bounce back in a small environment and accidentally injure other people.

These things were what Professor Flitwick had repeatedly emphasized in class, and they were the kind of content that you could thoroughly grasp as long as you took careful notes and memorized them well. So to be honest, as OWLS's first exam this year, strictly speaking, the officials of the Ministry of Magic's Wizarding Examinations Department had already given Hogwarts a favor and deliberately lowered the difficulty of the exam.

These things were naturally nothing to Mike, who had excellent grades in Charms class. He completed the exam almost smoothly and handed in the test paper without stopping.

"Oh? Have you finished writing?"

The white-bearded wizard at the top took Mike's test paper with an indifferent look on his face.

Generally speaking, few people will hand in their papers early for such an important exam. Even if they have finished it in advance, candidates will use the remaining time to check it repeatedly.

You know, this exam will affect the rest of their lives!

But there are also people who hand in their papers early. This white-bearded wizard has seen quite a few of them.

Without exception, these students who submitted their papers early either gave up on themselves or underestimated the importance of this exam.

As for the rest of the students who are extremely confident in themselves and have abilities, he has really never seen any of them.

Are you kidding me? Where do all these geniuses come from in this world?

Thinking of this, the Whitebeard Wizard looked at Mike with a bit more contempt and pity. In his opinion, Mike should be the same as those stupid students mentioned above.

"That's right." Mike said with a smile, "Can I go now?"

"The exit is over there. Please be quiet when you leave."

Mike nodded and left the hall under the envious gazes of the Ravenclaws.

It was not until Mike walked away completely that the white-bearded wizard sneered, shook his head and looked down at Mike's test paper.

But just looking at it, he was shocked.

The reason was simple, because the test paper submitted by Mike was actually filled with answers, and as one of the test setters of this exam, the white-bearded wizard took a glance and saw that most of the questions on the test paper were answered correctly!

The white-bearded wizard raised his head almost immediately and looked at the wizard who was in charge of supervising Mike's area.

The latter had also been paying attention to the situation on the Whitebeard wizard's side, and immediately stepped forward to inquire about the situation upon seeing this.

But after asking about the situation, he said slowly:

"I was watching him the whole time during the test just now. I can guarantee that he didn't cheat."

The white-bearded wizard let out a long breath, thinking about Mike's test paper and nodding continuously.

He did not have the stupid idea that Mike must have cheated. You know, this auditorium is equipped with the most advanced anti-cheating facilities in the world. He would rather believe that Mike is really a genius student.

And even if Mike really cheated, they would still acknowledge the other party's score.

Otherwise, by questioning Mike's test results, they would be denying their own abilities as invigilators.

The invigilator at the side seemed to want to emphasize the accuracy of his words. After thinking for a while, he whispered in Whitebeard's ear:

"The student just now is called McTownley. He seems to be Mr. Flitwick's last disciple."

Whitebeard raised his eyebrows and a smile suddenly appeared on his face.

"I see. This is indeed a good student." Whitebeard said, "Mr. Flitwick is lucky to have found such an outstanding student. It's great."

The invigilator heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that Whitebeard had no intention of continuing to question him, and the two of them then started chatting again.

At this time, Mike was looking helplessly at Professor Flitwick who was stopping him.

Professor Flitwick looked extremely panicked at this moment. He had been waiting outside the door since the exam began, ready to be the first to greet his student after the exam was over.

This is what he does every year, and this year is no exception.

However, there seemed to be some unexpected events during this year's exam-accompanying activity, because his favorite student, Mike, came out early!
"Mike, why did you hand in your paper early?"

Looking at Professor Flitwick who looked a little panicked, Mike smiled and said:

"Yes, I think those questions are very easy."

"Then you shouldn't have handed in the paper early! Wouldn't it be better to check it a few more times?" Professor Flitwick grabbed Mike's arm and was about to push open the door of the auditorium. "Come on, I'll take you in again. Go check it carefully a few more times!"

Mike was confused, and it took him a while to react. He said hurriedly:

"Forget it, professor. The invigilators won't agree, and I think I did pretty well. Otherwise, why don't you just check the questions with me!"

Hearing this, Professor Flitwick paused, and after thinking for a while, he finally agreed to the proposal.

Since Professor Flitwick still had to wait for other students to come out, the two did not leave the auditorium too far, but chose an open space not far away to start discussing the questions.

To be honest, Mike actually hates checking questions, because in his opinion, there is no point in checking questions after the exam. After all, the exam is already over. What does it matter even if you know your approximate score in advance?

If your grades are okay, everyone is happy, but what if your grades are not ideal?
Isn't this just adding to the trouble?

But compared to his aversion to the question-checking, Mike enjoyed the process of getting along with Professor Flitwick more. When they were only halfway through the question-checking, the smile on Professor Flitwick's face was already beyond words, because judging by the result of the question-checking, Mike's grades would definitely not be bad!

At this time, the door of the auditorium was opened again, and this time all the examination students came out.

The owls written exam for Charms has officially ended.

Professor Flitwick came forward with a big smile on his face, greeting his students warmly, hugging and celebrating with those who were excited, and giving sincere encouragement to those who were obviously in a bad mood.

Mike was looking at Professor Flitwick in the crowd with a smile not far away. No matter from which perspective, Professor Flitwick was definitely an outstanding professor!

"Mike!"

A familiar voice sounded from the side. Mike looked over and saw that Harry and his group of three had already appeared beside him.

Both Harry and Ron looked quite excited and seemed to be doing well.

But what surprised Mike was that Hermione next to them had her head down, looking unhappy.

"Hello you all."

"Very good indeed!" Ron answered quickly, "I feel like I did well in the exam. I answered most of the questions correctly. It looks like I should be able to get the OLWS certificate in Charms."

Harry on the side also laughed when he heard this:
"This is all thanks to Hermione and Professor Flitwick. The questions they predicted two days ago were very accurate!"

Mike smiled and congratulated him, then looked at Hermione and said:
"Hermione, what's wrong with you? Did you do poorly on the test?"

"I feel terrible. I'm not sure if I got the last question right." Hermione's eyes were red and even her voice was crying. "If I really got that question wrong, then I won't get full marks!"

Mike was suddenly speechless, and Harry and Ron beside him also looked embarrassed.

They had imagined many reasons why Hermione might be upset, but they never imagined that Hermione was upset because there was a high possibility that she would not get full marks.

How can Harry and Ron, who are still excited about the high probability of passing the exam, survive?
"Heh... Heh, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's go eat." Mike forced a laugh and said, "There is also a practical exam for spells in the afternoon. Let's go and rest after we finish eating and replenish our energy."

Harry and Ron, who were in an awkward situation, quickly agreed, and everyone dragged Hermione, who was still very sad, to the temporary restaurant.

I don’t know if it’s because of the visit from the Ministry of Magic leaders, but the food at Hogwarts today is exceptionally sumptuous. Although it’s not as good as the Christmas dinners in previous years, it’s not much different.

The atmosphere in the cafeteria was much more relaxed than in the morning. Many students were taking advantage of the lunch opportunity to review questions with their classmates, including Hermione.

Meanwhile, officials from the Wizarding Examination Department were chatting and laughing with the Hogwarts professors in the faculty seats.

They live in Hogwarts for two weeks almost every year and have long been familiar with the professors at Hogwarts.

As for Umbridge, although she also wanted to join in this lively banquet, she had no choice but to do so because almost none of the older officials were willing to pay attention to her, except for a few young people with ulterior motives in the Wizarding Examination Department.

After lunch, Owls had his practical exam in spells, which was held in a large spells training ground dedicated to spells classes.

As for Newl's Charms practical exam, it is held in the arena previously used for the Hogwarts Dueling Competition. It is spacious enough and far enough away from Hogwarts for the graduates to freely display their magic.

The officials supervising the exam, including Mike, were still the same ones from the morning, but the difference from the morning was that this time they all changed into neat protective gear.

And Mike also found that their eyes would always fall on him from time to time, and there was kindness in their eyes. Mike knew that it must be Professor Flitwick who greeted them, so he also responded to their eyes with a smile.

Smiling friendly at Mike again, the white-bearded wizard said:

"Students, this time our exam is divided into two parts. The first part requires you to skillfully use spells such as 'Burning Flames', 'Thunder Explosion' and 'Fainting' to hit the target."

Whitebeard pointed to the puppet targets about 20 meters away and continued:
"The second part requires you to use spells like the Flying Spell. Of course, due to time constraints, each of you only needs to use two spells, but the spells to be used need to be drawn. Do you understand?"

Most of the students who were originally very nervous breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. This practical exam in magic was much less difficult than they had originally expected.

But Mike was not surprised by this. You know, the OWLS exam is only the lowest level of academic qualification in the wizarding world. This exam is mainly used to screen out those wizards who are qualified to study newl advanced courses, and the difficulty must not be too high.

Seeing that the students' expressions had relaxed, the White Bearded Wizard nodded with satisfaction, and then gave the order to begin the drawing of lots.

The drawing of lots is done using a huge white cloth bag with countless slips of paper inside. These slips of paper are cast with magic and will move irregularly in the pocket until they are caught by someone. In order to ensure the fairness of the drawing of lots, the huge cloth bag is made of fire dragon leather. The powerful magic resistance of fire dragon leather prevents most cheating methods from happening.

It was not known whether it was lucky or unfortunate, but when Mike took the note out of the cloth pocket, he was surprised to find an "I" clearly written on it in black ink, which meant that he was the first person to take the test.

Seeing this, many people looked at him with sympathy. Being the first to take an exam like this would undoubtedly be a huge pressure.

Mike didn't care too much about it. After all, he had absolute confidence in his spell.

It would be better to say that taking the first exam was what he wanted, because this way he could be the first to leave the examination room and would not have to endure the long waiting time.

"Come on, Mike." The white-bearded wizard said kindly, "Your test is to use the fire spell to hit the target over there and use the flying spell to summon the parchment in my hand. I will give you a minute to prepare. You can use this time to observe the parchment in my hand carefully so that you can remember its appearance completely."

"No, sir." Mike said confidently, "I'm ready and can start anytime."

Upon hearing this, White Beard was stunned, but did not say anything. Instead, he stepped aside and made a gesture of invitation.

Mike chuckled and took out his wand. These two tests were not difficult at all for him, so he prepared to do something.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Mike didn't even chant any spells or wave his wand, he just pointed directly at the target in the distance.

The next moment, a miniature fireball appeared in the air and flew towards the target in the distance at an extremely slow speed.

Seeing this, many people instinctively took a step back. You know, Mike's fire spell is well-known, and no one thought that the little fireball in front of them, which was flying extremely slowly and even shaking, would be as weak as it looked.

Many people are even prepared for a huge explosion.

However, when the fireball actually hit the target, everyone was stunned.

(End of this chapter)