A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

Chapter 294 Mock Exam

The next morning, Felix was having breakfast in the auditorium.

"Puff puff puff!"

A newspaper owl landed on his table. He gave the owl a nut, opened the newspaper, and before he could even read the contents, a second and a third owl hopped down beside him, jostling and stomping, making the dishes rattle.

"Congratulations, Professor Heap," said Lupin, sitting beside him, pointing to the headline of the open newspaper—"Youngest recipient of the St. Mungo's Medal of Honor!"

Felix said politely, "Thank you—oh!" He dodged the beak of a grumpy owl and pulled the letter from its leg, but soon seven or eight more owls came, flapping their wings and staring at Felix menacingly, urging him to hurry up and take the letter.

He drew his wand, tapped the rim of his cup, and letters from over a dozen owls flew over. He nimbly caught them and said to Lupin, "Actually, the badge was sent to me a while ago, but it's only being announced now."

The owls drank some orange juice, stole two cookies, and flew away, leaving the table in disarray. Felix stopped eating and gathered the letters together.

He glanced at the Daily Prophet, which showed a picture of himself receiving the St. Mungo's Medal of Medicine, standing with a group of elderly-looking healers in the background, with the emblem of the St. Mungo's Society of Magical Healing displayed.

He stood in the middle of the crowd, smiling gently, holding a blue-green shield-shaped badge with a caduceus in the center and the letter 'M' in light green on the background. Dorothea Bohem stood beside him.

Felix then began to open the letters one by one. Most of them were from the therapist community, some were greetings from new therapists, and some were invitations to communicate from established therapists. He put these letters away and prepared to reply to them one by one when he had time.

One of the letters, with a grey cover, caught his attention; it was an official letter from the Ministry of Magic. Upon opening it, he was awarded the Order of Merlin, Second Class, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the treatment of memory impairment.

At the very bottom of the document was a long list of signatures, all current members of Wizengamor. He saw many familiar names—Amelia Burns, Barty Crouch, Tiberius Ogden, Gershard Machiban, Albus Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge…

"Secondary Merlin Badge, not bad," Felix said, having assumed Fudge was behind it all and had dragged the matter out indefinitely.

The awarding ceremony was scheduled for two weeks later, giving him ample time to make arrangements.

Emerging from the Great Hall, Felix saw a short, plump witch in pink. He frowned but said nothing. Umbridge didn't come often, but she was impossible to ignore; her presence was even greater than that of Tonks and another male Auror who were regulars there.

Many young wizards knew that a high-ranking Ministry of Magic official who loved wearing pink clothes had appeared at the school. Sometimes he was accompanied by two Aurors, and sometimes he was alone. He smiled like a little girl.

Umbridge kept a low profile, standing with Filch. When Felix looked over, Mrs. Lorris ran over and rubbed against his feet.

"Lorice, you look good," Felix said. The cat's once rough fur was now smooth, and it had gained some weight, making its eyes appear less protruding and strange.

"Meow~"

Mrs. Lorris called out lazily, her voice as eerie as ever.

Umbridge turned around and saw Felix. She immediately turned away and whispered to Filch, who replied in a gruff voice, "Professor Heap...you've come to the right person. He's a really good man..."

"Keep your voice down!" Umbridge shrieked, turning around guiltily to see Felix smiling at her. She quickly handed Felix a bag, gave him a few instructions, and left.

"What did she ask you to do?" Felix asked as he walked over.

Filch spat. "You were asking around about the professors at the school, and you too, acting all sneaky. You asked me to put some detectors near the school, and when I asked her whose orders it was, she wouldn't say."

"Give it to me, Mr. Felch," said Felix. "I'll go ask Minerva. By the way, does Mrs. Lorris have enough tonic?"

"That's enough, that's enough, there's still some left over," Filch said, beaming. "I even asked Mrs. Pomfrey to make a new batch, worried I might make a mistake... Look how beautiful Mrs. Lorris is now, none of those errant little wizards will escape her clutches!"

"Ahem!" Felix coughed twice. "If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I have to go now, I have class..."

……

A seventh-grade class on ancient magical texts.

Felix scanned the students below the stage. "Try to concentrate, students. We are simulating the NEWTs exam. Although you have learned well over the past few months, you still need to have a sense of awe."

The wizards below the stage chuckled until he reminded them, "There are still ten minutes left." Only then did the students begin to busy themselves with the final checks.

Sunlight streamed through the tall windows, creating dappled patterns that shone on their exam papers. The tall Marcus huddled at a narrow single table—a format modeled after the NEWTs exam. His head was bowed low, his eyes rapidly scanning the entire paper, occasionally correcting his answers with a quill pen, while his other hand struggled with the acne on his face.

Jeffrey, Penelope, and Percy finished the test early, but Percy was still frowning as he checked it until the very last moment, when he finally relaxed and smiled with satisfaction.

"Time's up. Everyone—stop writing, the exam papers are coming."

Dozens of exam papers flew towards Felix, who placed them on the podium. A palm-sized magical puppet immediately jumped onto the papers, holding a golden quill pen, and began grading them.

Penelope sighed, "Every now and then, we see obvious progress; the professor's magical puppets are now able to grade papers in his place."

Percy nodded. "You know how powerful my advanced magical puppet is. It has only stored a little over a hundred books so far, but it can immediately give me feedback on whatever I ask it to look up."

Penelope said regretfully, "It's a pity I didn't sign up for the dueling tournament. I'll miss this opportunity, and I'll graduate next year."

"Alright, students, we need to wait a few minutes," Felix said, looking at everyone. "I'm glad to see that you've all finished the exam. Normally, this exam would take all morning, but this mock exam only lasts two hours... less than that."

"Because of your Mind Classroom!" Wood exclaimed. He had every reason to be excited, having gone from being a terrible student of ancient magic literature to finishing the exam ahead of schedule in just a few months.

Moreover, at the very least, he can get an E, and if he's lucky, he can even get an O.

Wood's speech was met with applause, and two boys whistled and cheered.

Felix waited until the classroom quieted down, then smiled and said, "The knowledge is there, but not everyone will learn it. We can chat for a bit more time... What are your plans after graduation? Have you thought them through?"

"I want to help out at home," Jeffrey said.

"The Ministry of Magic," Percy whispered expectantly.

"Uh, I haven't decided yet... but Woodmere United did send me an invitation to be a reserve Quidditch player, and I've been hesitating." Woodmere scratched his chin.

A significant number of people are still undecided; they are referring to their ideals.

"I want to go to Gringotts!"

"I think traveling around would be nice, experiencing magic from different countries..."

A few minutes passed quickly. "Alright, let me see your scores." Felix picked up the test papers and flipped through them one by one. "Hmm..."

The students stared at Professor Hyp; the classroom was so quiet that there wasn't even the rustling of pages turning. They listened intently to every word he spoke.

Felix announced the results: "Everyone met the standard! No one scored below E, and as for O, there were a total of twenty-three."

A Hufflepuff wizard exclaimed, "It's not impossible for everyone to get O's on the exams, Professor! A new legend is about to emerge at Hogwarts!"

Felix couldn't help but chuckle and said, "Legend...is it you guys, or me?"

"Of course...all of us!" the boy said with a wink, instantly filling the classroom with a cheerful atmosphere.

(End of this chapter)