A day at Hogwarts.

Chapter 589 Additional Questions

"Let it float."

Professor Marchban's sharp eyes fixed on Charles as he posed the second question.

Without the slightest hesitation, Charles skillfully waved his wand, pointing steadily at the eggshell on the table.

The empty shell rose slowly and floated steadily at Professor Marchban's eye level without the slightest tremor.

This level of control stood in stark contrast to the student next to him who nearly flung an eggshell up to the ceiling.

"Add some color to it, the more colors the better."

Professor Machiban then posed the third question.

This question was equally easy for Charles.

With a flick of his wrist, he pointed his wand again, and the pristine white eggshell surface instantly appeared as if an invisible color printer had sprayed ink onto it, revealing a set of vibrant color charts with rich and distinct colors.

"Excellent!" Professor Machiban's face showed approval, clearly very satisfied. "Then, can you make a small flame appear inside it?"

"Note that you must not damage the eggshell itself."

Practical exams typically consist of four challenging questions, with an additional bonus question added based on student performance.

The difficulty of this fourth spell is obviously increased. Making the flame burn inside the eggshell is not too difficult. The real challenge lies in precisely controlling the energy and position of the flame to ensure that the fragile eggshell remains undamaged.

Charles took a deep breath and focused intently as he swung his wand again, sending a precise shot of magic towards the suspended eggshell.

With a "poof" sound from inside the eggshell, a warm and bright orange-yellow fireball appeared out of thin air, dancing merrily, while the eggshell itself remained intact, without any burnt smell.

"Good, very good, excellent!" Professor Machiban's eyes were filled with the same satisfaction as Ruby eating garlic ribs, and he kept nodding.

She decided to give a final bonus question, saying, "Charles, how much do you think can fit inside this eggshell at most? Show me."

The Unseen Stretch Charm was incredibly easy for Charles, as natural as breathing; he had even successfully used it to trick Dumbledore once.

He began casting the spell with great confidence.

Professor Marchbank was extremely satisfied with Charles's overall performance. If it weren't for the long line of students waiting to take their exams, she would have loved to spend a full fifteen minutes praising Charles.

That evening, the atmosphere in the Gryffindor common room was even more somber than the previous two days, filled with anxiety and unease, occasionally punctuated by desperate cries of despair over the exam.

To escape the oppressive atmosphere, Charles slipped away to Fleur's dormitory to focus on studying for his Transfiguration exam the next day.

The next morning, during the Transfiguration final exam, Harry and the others habitually looked for Charles, only to find his seat empty once again.

With the exam about to begin, they exchanged a helpless look and decided they must get to the bottom of it during lunch.

Just then, they suddenly realized how familiar this feeling of "Charles is gone again" was.

The exam officially began, and Charles received the exam paper and quickly glanced at the questions.

The first question requires you to write down the name of a spell that can make an object disappear and to describe in detail the proper way to wave a magic wand.

The Vanishing Charm sounds simple on its own, but it's something you don't actually learn until fifth grade.

Charles's lips curled into a slight smile. Thankfully, this wasn't a problem for him. He wrote down the answer smoothly.

At noon, Harry and the others forgot to ask Charles why he hadn't taken the exam.

The afternoon's transfiguration practical exam also took place as scheduled.

Professor Marchban raised an eyebrow at Charles, as if to say that he had deliberately acted as his proctor.

The exam questions mainly revolved around the transformation between living and non-living things. Charles completed both the four main questions and the bonus question with ease and passed smoothly.

Just when he thought the exam would continue smoothly and without incident, he encountered an unexpected problem at the last moment of the Defense Against the Dark Arts practical exam.

Professor Marchban said to him with an expectant smile, "Charles, I believe you should have already mastered the Patronus Charm, right? To earn some extra points, show me?"

"I bet your guardian spirit is something extraordinary, like... a phoenix?"

She used Dumbledore's example to think about and judge what Charles's patron saint was.

Charles's face darkened instantly. His guardian spirit was different from other wizards. If he really released a ship girl guardian spirit, it would be the front page headline of the Daily Prophet tomorrow.

“Professor,” he lowered his voice, trying to negotiate, “could we change the question? This one is a bit personal.”

He paused, then said, half-jokingly and half-seriously, "How about I go beat up Grindelwald to prove my strength?"

Professor Marchban burst into laughter upon hearing this, clearly believing that Charles was using a joke to cover up the fact that he did not yet know the Guardian Charm.

“Oh, young man, you’re quite confident.” She smiled and shook her head. “If you can really get Gellert Grindelwald to write me a letter before all the exams are over, proving that you beat him, I’ll not only give you extra points, I’ll give you a lot more!”

That evening, Grindelwald looked at the parchment spread out on his desk and the quill dipped in ink, then glanced at Jack across the table, who was meticulously polishing his wand. In the end, he could only grit his teeth, grumbling indignantly as he reluctantly began to write a letter.

"I'm so angry!" Grindelwald slammed the tip of his quill onto the parchment. "That little rascal Charles! Just to show off, he went and took that damn Common Wizarding Level Exam when he was only in fourth grade!"

"Now look what's happened, they actually want to use me, Grindelwald, as a stepping stone to gain points!"

"This is simply unreasonable!"

That was all he could do, since he had indeed been genuinely beaten by Charles.

It's not a bad thing to be a stepping stone for Charles. Grindelwald isn't so petty as to hold a grudge against a junior. This is not because he's afraid Charles will hold a grudge and trip him up in the future. It's purely about promoting an outstanding junior!
He believed this story himself.

The real problem is that Dumbledore will absolutely, definitely, and 100% find out about this.

Grindelwald couldn't even imagine the smug, sarcastic look that guy would give him when he laughed at him.

Jack continued wiping his wand, not even glancing at him, and said calmly, "Not convinced? Then go pick up a gifted grandson and train him."

Grindelwald's lips twitched violently, and he said defiantly, "Hmph, if I'm going to pick someone, I'll pick a smart and pretty girl, raise her well, teach her to seduce Charles, and then eat Charles's food and spend Charles's money..."

"One isn't enough, I'll go pick up three. Then three sixteen-year-old girls will have him completely infatuated, spend all his money, and then trick him into stealing your pension!"

Upon hearing this, Jack stopped what he was doing to maintain his wand, looked up in surprise, and stared intently at Grindelwald. After a moment of silence, he said in a statement of fact, "It's too late. Charles prefers older women. You'd be better off finding one forty-eight than three sixteen-year-olds."

(End of this chapter)