Chapter 495 The Last Day
June 23, morning.
The practical exam for potions ended at 10 a.m., and the young wizards who walked out of the classroom looked a little dazed.
Professor Snape's teaching content this school year was not complicated, and the focus was on the identification of different types of poisons and the configuration of antidotes. During class, he threatened Gryffindor students a lot. On Tuesday, he told Neville that he would use the toad Lev to test poison, and on Thursday, he said that he would poison Harry's Halloween and Christmas dinners...
What no one expected was that the final practical exam topic was endurance potion, and some students from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff who were obsessed with guessing the topic said they were fooled.
Loren did not go to the library to review with Hermione, but made an appointment to meet in the hall later, and he stayed to help Professor Snape.
After the students' potions were brewed, they were put into slender glass bottles. According to the color, layering state, and viscosity of the potions... Loren first roughly divided the potions into three boxes, one box for unsuccessful, one box for barely passing, and one box for excellent.
Professor Snape picked and chose, and filled in the grades on the parchment according to the labels on the bottles. Sometimes he would unscrew the corks and take a sniff.
These exam works have different final destinations. The best batch will be handed over to Ms. Pomfrey as reserve medicine; the inferior ones will flow into the market and be distributed through different channels, and the proceeds will be used for teaching in the next semester; another type will be poured into the toilet and flushed into the Black Lake through the sewer.
"Don't worry, look carefully, the color of the endurance potion is similar to July grass juice, not too light or too dark, this bottle is so thick that it is black. The viscosity is slightly higher than that of water, but lower than that of olive oil, and the flow state needs to be observed...
"Sometimes it is difficult to judge with the naked eye, so you can use a small stick to dip some.
"After the fourth-grade endurance potion is marked, there are potions for other grades. You can help tomorrow if you have time. You can just mark the potions for the lower grades directly. There is no need to classify them."
Loren felt like he was being drafted. He wanted to ask if the assistant teacher of potions had a salary, but after looking at Professor Snape's face, he still couldn't ask.
"Okay, professor."
"Are there any exams later?"
"There is also the history of magic, the last subject. After the exam, watch the game." Loren replied.
Every year, the history of magic seems to be put last in the exam. He reasonably suspects that other professors bully Professor Binns without human rights. It is definitely campus bullying.
"Watch the game..." Snape's eyes were slightly rippled, "Just stay in the audience and don't do anything unnecessary."
Loren glanced at him suspiciously.
Professor, you seem to be hinting at something...
"Go back and review."
"Okay, professor."
Snape threw the potion in his hand into the third box casually, and the glass bottles touched each other, making a crisp jingle.
Loren left the classroom silently. Professor Snape looked a little gloomy, probably because Harry Potter didn't take the exam.
He walked upstairs quickly and came to the hall.
Harry was sitting next to Ron, flipping through his notebook boredly, with a melancholy expression.
Because he didn't have to take the exam because of his status as a warrior, he sat with the invigilator every time he took the exam, and occasionally chatted about the strategy of dealing with the maze.
During the last Care of Magical Creatures exam, Harry and Hagrid wandered around the grounds together. After the exam, he found Loren and others to discuss some strange questions, such as how to deal with the blasting-tailed skrewt, how to answer the questions of the manticore, how to avoid being entangled by the devil's vine...
Loren had a new understanding of the dark side of the Goblet of Fire.
Ron was worried about the upcoming History of Magic exam. He clearly knew what the test points were. Hermione and Loren had highlighted the key points for him, but knowing that the knowledge would be tested did not mean that he didn't have to remember it. The goblin rebellion lasted for decades, and each knowledge point was enough to be expanded into a paper.
Analysis of the situation before the war, the time and place of the war, the significance of victory or defeat in the war, in addition, what role did the magic used in the war play, what problems were exposed, and how was it improved in later generations?
If he had to recite it all, Ron would rather help the blasting-end skrewt take a bath.
Hermione sat opposite the two of them, her lips moving, and she kept reciting the paragraphs she had memorized.
Loren walked quickly to sit down beside Hermione, glanced at her densely packed notebook, and was immediately attacked by a mysterious force. He immediately turned around and chose to slack off: "Tsk, Harry, what are you thinking about with a sad face, worried about how to chat with Professor Binns later?"
"I can't go to the examination room with you." Harry sighed even more melancholy, "Professor McGonagall told me that the relatives of the champions have been invited to watch the finals, and the champions will meet with their relatives in the afternoon."
"What's there to worry about?"
"You don't think the Dursleys will come?"
"Well...where's your godfather?"
"Sirius has been busy, and he probably can't come."
A picture emerged in Harry's mind-other champions met with their relatives cordially, and he was left alone beside them. He couldn't help but sighed. Fortunately, the reporter lady was not there, otherwise he would see himself on the headlines in the Daily Prophet tomorrow.
Ron buried his head in the history of magic textbook, his eyes rolling non-stop.
After lunch, they sat in the auditorium for half an hour.
"Harry, let's go take the exam first. If there are any extra papers, I'll ask Professor Binns for a copy and bring it to you this afternoon to help you out." Loren left after saying that. He put his arm around Hermione's shoulders and leaned over to teach her some tips on taking the exam. "Don't panic when you encounter questions you don't know how to answer during the exam. Read the questions first to see what the questions involve. Write down everything you can think of. Write it down! Whether you are right or not, Professor Binns might be confused and give you more points..."
Hermione looked helpless, but Ron pricked up his ears and listened seriously.
Watching them go away, Harry's smile slowly faded. When he turned around, he met Viktor Krum's somewhat disappointed eyes. He was sitting next to the Slytherin table and seemed to be looking at Loren and the others just now.
Krum retracted his gaze and lazily got up and went to the meeting room at the back of the auditorium, where relatives met. Fleur Delacour, Cedric of Hufflepuff, and Graves, who were sitting at the table of Ravenclaw, left one after another, and the hall gradually became deserted.
Just when Harry was about to go to the library to study some spells, the door of the conference room opened, and Cedric stuck his head out: "Harry, come on, they are waiting for you!"
...
The bell rang for the end of the exam, and Ron immediately couldn't sit still. He dragged Loren to the conference room in the side hall of the hall. Hermione chased after them with light steps, asking them the last few questions on the test paper while running.
"Are you also in a hurry to look up the names of the goblin generals? To be honest, their naming method is too weird. I can't remember their middle names."
Pushing the door and entering the conference room, they immediately understood the reason for Ron's hurried steps.
Cedric and his parents stood by the door, talking and laughing about the first two projects, and Mr. Amos Diggory was laughing so hard that his mouth was about to split.
Viktor Krum was speaking fast Bulgarian with his black-haired mother in a corner of the room, while his father stood silently beside him, his hooked nose humming from time to time, with pleasure and pride.
Fleur and Gabriel stood beside a gentle and beautiful lady, chattering in French. Graves stood upright in the corner, his parents' black and white skin forming a sharp contrast.
The most eye-catching thing was the family in front of the fireplace, all with red hair, as if the flames in the fireplace had jumped out. Molly and Bill took Harry to ask about their well-being, and when they saw them push open the door, they waved to them with a smile.
"You didn't expect it!"
Molly hugged each child warmly, and did not forget to lean over and kiss their cheeks, "Come to watch Harry's game, and see you before your summer vacation, dear..."
Loren and Hermione were slightly shy.
Bill smiled and shook hands with them. The braids and earrings with fangs on his head did not match his gentle smile at all: "How are you? Charlie wanted to come, but he had to stay in Romania to take care of the female dragon. The dragon egg broke and the female dragon suffered from depression."
Hermione's face showed some entanglement. She felt sad for the dragon and curious at the same time. She couldn't help asking: "Can dragons also be depressed? What are the symptoms of their depression?"
"..."
Loren noticed a burning gaze coming from not far away. Fleur Delacour looked at Bill with interest over her mother's shoulder, and seemed to be interested in those fashionable accessories.
Back to Hogwarts, Molly and Bill's eyes were shining, as if they had endless things to say.
"I haven't seen this place for five years. Is the portrait of the mad knight still there? I think his name is Sir Cadogan?"
"It's still there. She quarrels with freshmen every semester."
"How is the Fat Lady?"
"Still the same."
"How was the exam today?"
"Oh, it was okay. I couldn't remember the names of all the rebellious goblin generals, so I made up a few."
"That's right. I couldn't remember this when I was in school. They were all called names like Long Beard and Sloppy Ghost Lala. Who can remember them? I can only make them up."
"..."
As he was talking, green flames suddenly burst out of the fireplace, and black coal dust rose around. Accompanied by a choking cough, a tall and thin black-haired man stepped out of the fireplace, and his striking gray eyes kept blinking due to the smoke.
"Ahem... Professor McGonagall told me that this fireplace is clean, but it's really unreliable."
"Sirius! You're here too!"
Harry came closer in surprise. Molly and Sirius were also acquaintances. She pulled Bill forward to reminisce about the past. The warm and joyful atmosphere between the few people was even more vigorous than the fire next to them.
Loren and Hermione stood in the back, looking at Sirius Black, whom they hadn't seen for a long time, from a distance. His loose long hair was trimmed to only the length of a knuckle, his thin cheeks were plump, and his chin was covered with a layer of blue-black beard. He was dressed in a casual jacket and looked much more energetic.
As if he felt his gaze, Sirius looked up and looked over. As he walked in, the smile on his face gradually faded, and finally stood in front of Loren.
Harry didn't know what happened. Looking at Mrs. Weasley who had fallen silent beside him, he was a little confused.
After a moment of silence, Sirius said softly, "I haven't had a nightmare for a long time."
"Yeah." Loren looked at him expressionlessly, the scarlet bloodshot in his eyes had indeed dissipated, leaving only slightly turbid whites of his eyes.
"Now..." Sirius stared at those eyes, trying his best to resist the urge to look away, and asked carefully, "Can you forgive us?"
He heard his heart pumping blood faster, and thin sweat oozed out of his pores and evaporated quickly. The lost heat made him feel cold all over, and he almost wanted to shiver.
"..."
No one spoke, Hermione clenched the hands of the people around her, tightly, and some of her skin turned pale because of the strong squeezing.
Sirius's face turned pale, and after a moment of silence, he forced a smile: "Then, can I invite you to my wedding, this summer, probably in August."
"Wedding!"
Harry and Ron exclaimed from behind, and they immediately wanted to ask, but Molly held them tightly, constantly winking at them.
Loren's heart moved, and he nodded slightly. He clearly saw the glimmer of joy in Sirius' eyes, and the smile on that pale face was much more sincere.
"I think you have a lot to say." Loren said softly, "I won't disturb your reunion."
"Thank you, thank you..."
...
The stars are bright on a summer night.
It has been almost two weeks since the last full moon, and the moon is only a narrow crescent. Without the suppression of moonlight, the other stars have room to play, with different colors and brightness. Some are bright but only a little, and some are dim but light red like small fragments.
Loren lay on the railing of the astronomical tower, his eyes reflecting the brilliant galaxy.
Hermione accompanied him, feeding him a few biscuits from time to time. She looked up at the stars and sighed: "Mr. Morgan, if you don't cheer up, my snacks will be gone."
Loren was a little embarrassed: "I have some here, I'll let you eat enough!"
Hermione reached out and patted his shoulder, with a little helplessness in her gentle voice: "I know you have some, but I think you are lying to me about feeding you snacks. I've been lying for an entire afternoon."
"How can there be an entire afternoon? The exam was over, and we went to the conference room to chat for half an hour. It was only half an afternoon." Loren's voice gradually relaxed, and he inhaled the cool evening breeze blowing through the tower on a midsummer night into his lungs, and exhaled a long breath, as if all the heat and depression were gone.
"Yes, half an afternoon, my snacks are not enough." Hermione nodded.
Loren tilted his head, and sadly found that he was taller than the little witch, and he had to bend his knees to do this action, which was no longer comfortable as before.
Hermione pursed her lips and held him in her arms: "Are we really going to that summer wedding?"
"Go ahead. Although I don't like him very much, I'll do it for the sake of Headmaster Dumbledore..."
"What does this have to do with Headmaster Dumbledore?"
"Then do it for the sake of Voldemort."
"What does this have to do with Voldemort?"
"You'll know when the time comes."
"..."