Bring a fairy tale to Hogwarts!

Chapter 91 Final Exam

When Victor returned to the small room the next day, the Mirror of Erised had vanished. Clearly, Dumbledore had moved it to another location he had suspected.

But Victor soon lost track of the Magic Mirror, as Hogwarts' final exams week began.

The annual final exams are a very important event for young wizards, because in addition to the two standardized exams, 0.WLs and NETW, their grades will also be one of the materials they use for job applications after graduation.

Of course, grades in grades one through three are not taken into special consideration because of the students' young age, but this does not prevent professors from using this as an opportunity to increase students' anxiety and force them to do well on exams.

Victor had overheard Professor McGonagall scaring the first-year students at least two or three times, claiming that if they didn't study hard, they might end up like those unemployed, idle wizards wandering Knockturn Alley, eventually going to extremes and spending the rest of their lives in Azkaban—

Upon hearing this, Victor unconsciously quickened his pace, wanting to escape the terrifying atmosphere.

However, his teaching duties weren't exactly easy. The third-year final exams were predicted by a crystal ball, so he had to sit idly in the exam room all day, waiting for the students to come up with some wildly imaginative conclusions—as the saying goes, you never know what kind of nonsense the students have learned until the exam.

Fortunately, George's reaction on Friday afternoon brought him some comfort.

"What did you see inside the crystal ball?"

In the divination classroom exam room, Victor sat behind a table, impatiently making a small sign stand up in front of him, revealing a pre-written passage.

He didn't want to repeat himself to every single student.

George walked in somewhat dazedly. He sat down stiffly, straightened his head, and looked at the crystal ball for a while.

"...I saw a dark shadow—right in the center of the crystal ball, it looked like—the shape of a person."

With a creak, another wooden board stood up in front of Victor: "Please describe in detail the characteristics of the shape you observed."

And it is interpreted according to the definition in "Seeing the Future Through the Fog".

"...—The figure is shaped like an inverted triangle, blurry overall, with what appears to be a long, black line extending beneath its feet—. This likely means I might be imitated by someone soon—"

"This should mean you should read more of 'Seeing the Future Through the Fog' and use the right approach to find the answer."

Victor finally spoke, offering a lukewarm assessment.

"What about the shape and transparency of the figure? Are there any cracks on the crystal ball? Also, you need to tell me a second interpretation of this image—because the interpretation of a crystal ball is not singular."

George fell silent, staring at the crystal ball for a while, seemingly trying to figure out what it was showing—but judging from his blank focus, he didn't seem to see anything.

He ultimately only said:

"The shape of the figure—perhaps the shadow at the bottom is longer, which might represent the shadow's desires devouring the person? Crack—a crack runs through the figure's waist, which might represent misfortune—"

George stammered, managing to squeeze out only this much in the end.

"Alright, you can go now."

Victor stared at George for a moment, then gently waved his hand, shooing George out of the examination room. At the same time, he reached for a quill and casually drew an "E" on the parchment in his hand.

Although George's performance was less than satisfactory, and he needed to be reminded several times to finish the dialogue, Professor McGonagall specifically reminded him before the exam not to give the student too low a score.

The reason is that at least 10% of the students in a grade need to get a 0, 50% need an E, and the rest need an A or P. A P represents very poor, so students are usually not given a score of this or lower.

In a time when academic performance is increasingly devalued, employers in the magical world are used to students applying with scores of four or five zeros. A P on a transcript is considered a minor blemish, let alone a traditionally easy subject like Divination.

Watching Yangzhi slowly walk out of the classroom, Victor finally felt satisfied as his proctoring duties came to an end.

All that's left is to wait for the results from those 0.WLs test takers. Fifth grade exams don't start until next week, so we'll have to wait a while.

As Victor packed up his things to leave the exam hall, he happened to run into Quirrell, who was wandering in the corridor. Quirrell had his head down, looking like he had just escaped from the exam hall, with a hint of lingering fear on his face.

"Professor V. Victor, you just finished the exam, right?" He smiled slightly nervously. "How did the students perform?"

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"Not so good. If Professor McGonagall hadn't told me beforehand, I wouldn't have gotten a single E," Victor said calmly.

E = Eceedepectation (exceeding expectations), but this student didn't exceed his expectations at all, so who can give him an E?

An A is already Cedric's exclusive level. George should normally be classified in this tier too—and all the rest of the guys who looked at the crystal ball and said they saw roasted sweet potatoes should get a P!

"Relaxing is an important lesson from the professors, Viktor. I bet you've never had to take a P exam before, right?" Quirrell then laughed twice, leaving everyone wondering what his joke was.

Victor shook his head and prepared to walk past him to get something to eat in the auditorium.

Quirrell didn't seem inclined to say much, his pale face revealing a hint of nervousness. After casually telling Victor, "My teacher is still waiting for you, but we'll talk next week," he headed straight for the stairs, his movements seeming somewhat furtive.

Victor watched his figure disappear behind the stairs.

This action lasted less than a few seconds, because Snape's chilling voice quickly came from behind him: "When did you get along with that guy?"

Victor turned around and saw Snape, his hair greasy, standing in front of him, glaring at him darkly. Snape seemed to be in a worse mood than usual, and he was carrying a stack of parchment—presumably the students' grades.

Victor shrugged. "Is it alright? It's nothing special. Exams are all around this time, so everyone's walking around in the hallways, right? We just happened to bump into each other and chatted for a bit."

"I think it's more than that," Snape said sarcastically. "I heard you treated him before?"

"Oh, you mean that?"

Victor shook his head and said firmly, "I only did him a small favor. He must be very grateful to me, which is why he often tries to talk to me."