Hogwarts: A Chinese-Style Professor

Chapter 144 The Suspicious Examiners

The unforgettable party has come to an end.

Although the air in the castle still seemed to be filled with the aroma of butterbeer, the tense month of June, which signifies exam week, had arrived.

Fortunately, thanks to the lingering effects of a day of freedom, the young wizards were no longer tense—they even seemed a little overly relaxed, and could go to the library together in groups to read books, or sit by the Black Lake to practice their problem-solving skills.

But for older students, it's a completely different story.

The auditorium, which serves as the examination venue for OWLs and NEWTs, was decorated in a solemn and dignified manner.

An eerie silence fell over the entire first floor of the castle; the sounds of chasing and playing in the corridors had completely vanished.

In the auditorium, all the long tables were removed and replaced with rows of small single tables, spaced far apart, to prevent any form of "cooperation".

Inside the examination room, the quill pen made a rapid, scratching sound on the parchment, like a sudden summer rain.

The examiners sent by the Bureau of Witchcraft Examinations patrolled the examination hall with steady steps.

But what gradually appeared on their faces was an undisguised surprise and confusion.

Unlike the suffocating panic of previous years, this year's exam atmosphere was strangely calm amidst the tension.

The examiners were surprised to find that almost every student was confident.

And their performance was unbelievably good.

They exchanged glances, both seeing the surprise in each other's eyes.

When lunch break arrived, they all chatted quietly in the faculty lounge.

"Unbelievable. I've been proctoring exams for twenty years and I've never seen such a high level of performance from top students. It's so exaggerated it's unbelievable. This year's students are just too outstanding!"

I secretly peeked at several students' spellcasting exam papers, and their accuracy rate was unbelievably high!

A female examiner walked into the break room, elegantly crossed one leg over the other, and quickly joined the conversation.

"It is indeed a bit strange. Did all the students focus on the theoretical exam this year? I feel that they are all very confident. I even saw one student start to chuckle halfway through the exam."

"The students' condition is indeed worrying. In previous years, there were always students who were so nervous that they underperformed during the exams. I even saw a student break his quill pen the year before last, but this year..."

"Yes, I noticed that too—these students are too calm, so calm that they don't seem to be taking an exam, but rather completing a familiar task."

At this point, their gazes sharpened.

Although this possibility is extremely rare, the students' behavior this year has indeed been quite bizarre.
The examiners exchanged glances and fell silent, an eerie atmosphere filling the air.

"Were this year's questions too easy?"

Someone tentatively asked.

"Absolutely not, the difficulty level this year is the same as in previous years."

"Could it be that the exam questions were leaked?"

Another, more unsettling speculation has been put forward.

“You’re aware of the Ministry of Magic’s secrecy measures,” the chief examiner, Toford, who oversaw everything, slowly shook his head. “Moreover, leaking the questions cannot explain their heartfelt understanding and confidence in the application of magic, which is not something that rote memorization can achieve.”

"Perhaps they underwent specialized training?"

"I'm more inclined to believe that something happened at the school that we don't know about—perhaps related to the big news that Hogwarts has made recently."

"In short, the exam week has just begun. Since the children are performing so well, we examiners shouldn't panic—we'll wait until all the results are in before making a decision."

The examiner, Topherdy, delivered his final verdict. The slightly scorching sunlight fell upon Li Wei.

He yawned somewhat boredly, lazily watching the students in the examination room—only twenty minutes had passed, and some students had already put down their pens and made eye contact with him.

"Professor—may I hand in my paper early?"

A Ravenclaw boy's clear voice broke the silence of the exam room.

"can."

Li Wei waved his hand and casually beckoned his exam paper to him.

Having received permission, the first-year student proudly raised his chin, circled almost half the classroom, and just walked out of the examination room.

The students who passed by him stopped working on their problems and stared at his back with displeasure until he completely left the classroom.

Li Wei casually graded his paper—all the multiple-choice and true/false questions were correct, and the short-answer questions were also answered quite well—it was hard not to give him an "O".

It looks like next year's exam will be more difficult?

"Professor—I want to hand in my paper too!"

"Professor, me too!"

Students kept standing up.

Whether it was a competition in secret or not, in the end, all the first-year students actually finished the exam ahead of time, and not one of them stayed until the final bell rang.

To their disappointment, their performance failed to elicit any emotional response from Li Wei.

Li Wei calmly finished grading the last paper and nodded.

He turned to look outside the door and saw that the students, who had finished their exams, were still peering at him through the door.

Li Wei waved his hand and called everyone in again.

"You guys got 36 O's and 4 E's in the theory exam, not bad. I hope you can do the same in the practical exam."

Upon receiving their results ahead of time, the students erupted in discussion, debating who those four embarrassing "E"s were.

This would undoubtedly be a gratifying achievement for second or third graders, but at this moment, it is just as bad as the worst grade (T) in their eyes.

"Alright, that's just theory. If you still can't get this result even with my problem-solving guide, it means you haven't put any effort into studying at all."

Li Wei waved goodbye to the group of mischievous kids and headed to the next test center.

While the younger students were having a great time, the first week of June came to an end—which meant they were completely free.

Except for a very small number of students who are worried about the embarrassment of not getting an "O", most students have already started to have a great time.

And they soon learned some good news—their great, supreme, all-powerful Professor Levi was not planning to assign any homework during the summer vacation.

"You all study so hard during the holidays, so you don't need to study during the holidays. Go home and figure things out on your own. When school starts, I'll have plenty of ways to train you."

This extreme contrast drove the students almost to madness.

The school was filled with laughter and joy, except for the fifth and seventh graders who were still working hard to prepare for the OWL and NEWT exams.

The first week of theoretical exams is over. The following week will be the practical exams, which are the real highlight!
　I'm asking for monthly votes in the new month! The better the results, the more motivated I'll be to update!

　　By the way, I'd like to recommend this book by a fellow member of our group.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)