Chapter 155
The compound is crowded with young wizards, who looked at the group of Invigilators from afar with awe.
A few of the seventh-year students exclaimed outright as soon as they saw Marchbanks’s wrinkled face.
“There she goes again!”
“Pretty much the same people.”
“Honestly, every time I come, I’m treated like a troll by onlookers,” Tofty muttered.
Felix smiled and said, “These people are anxious to come to see their Goddess of Fate.”
“I’m not the Goddess of Fate, we’re wizards.”
It’s bound to be a long day, especially for the fifth and seventh-year students, but Felix did what he had to do, and the rest is up to them.
At 9:30 the next morning, the wizard grading exams officially began.
The spacious great hall got turned into an examination hall for the students to take the theoretical exams; several small rooms next to the great hall were set aside as rooms for the practical exams.
Theory in the morning and practical in the afternoon, the whole process lasted for two weeks.
Felix took the time to glance at the entire great hall, except for the sound of quills rubbing against parchment, there was only the sound of sand slipping through the hourglass. He turned back to his class for the 6th year Wizards.
Felix strides into the classroom, clutching a pile of parchment.
“Today it is time for us to announce your grades.”
The Model student, led by Percy, Penelope, and Geoffrey, did not dare to breathe, as if waiting for their fate to be handed down.
“A total of 33 papers, 12 outstanding, 17 good, and 4 Pass.” Felix read out the overall results, “Congratulations!” Then he handed out the test papers.
The male and female wizards offstage applauded violently, exchanging pleasantries with each other.
“Of course, I must mention one more thing-”
The students quieted down and looked at Professor Hap on the stage.
“This grade is excluding the practical extra credit portion, and if you count these extra marks … I think I need to correct it: 15 outstanding and 18 good.”
On their papers, a new line of handwriting appeared, that is the bonus mark for the practical part, it is about the application of ‘practical runes’. The evaluation grade on the paper changed accordingly.
The male and female wizards were ecstatic, and the classroom erupted into a huge celebration.
“In this class, in which we will discuss the test papers, the practical class will continue in the next class.”
…
With two fewer classes in the curriculum, Felix had a lot of extra time, which he spent entirely on the library.
It isn’t until the weekend morning that he saw his assistant in the flesh.
She is working on a thesis.
“Is there any professor who is so inhumane? Leaving assignments at the end of the term …” Felix speculated in his mind as he watched the busy head.
There were less than two weeks until the end of the school year, and for the lower year students, professors were usually exempt them from assignments.
In the evening, he solved this confusion.
The young witch said to him excitedly, “Professor, didn’t you suggest me to look up about the relationship between wands and wizards? And recommended to me a book entitled ‘The Wizard and the Wand’?”
“Indeed,” Felix replied.
“I looked through it briefly earlier and found it interesting, in fact, I was fascinated by it. It was until finals were over, and I finally had the time.”
Hermione said to him, “I want to write a thesis on it, not for publication – just as a pastime.”
Felix asked with interest, “Have you finished writing it?”
” Only part of it, a lot of it is information I’ve transcribed and haven’t developed a complete thought.” She pulled a stack of parchment from her book bag and handed it to Felix. “It’s got my scribbles and annotations and scattered thoughts and stuff, so it might be messy …”
“That’s okay.”
Felix said, “You can do something different for now, like watching a film.” He picked up this ‘half a thesis’ and looked at it.
On the other side, Hermione skilfully turned on the small projector, rummaging through the small box, picking out the desired film.
After a few moments of hesitation between Whistling Woods and Tom and Jerry, Hermione finally decided to watch something lighter, the former is too heavy for her.
Felix put some earplugs on himself and read slowly, and he soon discovered that it’s truly a thesis for amusement, containing data on the wands of some friends around the little witch.
Harry Potter’s wand, for example – eleven inches, holly wood, phoenix feathers, soft and flexible.
The note given by the little witch is: ‘Holly wood, rare wand material, the general view that this material has protective properties, representing patience and endurance, but also a symbol of death and rebirth, suitable for people who need to overcome irritability and emotional impulsiveness.’
”Phoenix feather, difficult to tame.”
She drew two lines on ‘overcoming irritability and emotional impulsiveness’
‘But Hollywood wands also often choose wizards who experience danger together and have strong spiritual quests, the specific manifestations of which will be matched with the wand core material.’
‘Wands of holly wood with phoenix feathers are extremely difficult to make, and they can create great conflict due to their different characteristics. But once this pairing is formed, no matter what, nothing can stand in its way.’
Hermione underlined the last sentence, put a question mark, maybe in disagreement, may also be because of the existence of doubt.
It also contains Ron Weasley’s wand – fourteen inches, willow wood, unicorn hair.
The little witch’s note reads; Willow wood, an equally rare material with healing powers (?), suitable for casting silent spells.
Unicorn hair: strongly rejects dark magic, very loyal, usually most compatible with the first owner.
She underlined ‘very loyal’ and ‘most compatible with the first owner’ and wrote a small line next to it, ‘matches Ron and Neville’s case, Ron’s old wand came from his brother Charlie, Neville’s old wand inherited from his father. From his father, the wand core material is unicorn hair.’
Seeing this, Felix felt a little surprised that there were still people besides Ron Weasley using old wands these days?
And from two famous wizard families, respectively?
What did their parents think?
Longbottom family members are not average characters, although not pure-blood representatives, but also produced a number of outstanding wizards, and they have always had a good reputation.
The paper also included Hermione’s own wand: fourteen inches, grapevine wood, with a wand core of dragon heartstrings.
The following is a slightly scrawled note: ‘Grapevine wood wands are usually chosen by wizards with lofty goals and visionary ideas, who tend to do things that shock their friends who think they know them.’
Felix chuckled softly, it looked like Miss Granger was not in a very calm mood when she wrote this paragraph.
He then flipped through the following examples, both from her classmates and those transcribed from the book The Wizard and the Wand.
Somewhat surprisingly, he also saw Hermione’s speculation about his wand: Professor Hap, around twelve to fourteen inches, ebony, wand core unknown, possibly a phoenix feather or dragon heartstring.
Next to it were very tiny two-letter initials, which Felix guessed might mean Dark Magic, so that ruled out unicorn hair?
‘With its impressive appearance and reputation, the ebony wand is perfect for offensive magic and transfiguration and will choose people who have the courage to be themselves, who don’t follow the crowd, who are eccentric, or comfortable with the status of outsider. Their owners tend to ignore external influences and have strong beliefs.’
She marked heavily on ‘ignoring external influences and having strong beliefs’.
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