In an atmosphere of anxiety and panic, June has arrived. Exams are just around the corner. During this time, teachers of all subjects stopped giving homework to 5th and 7th graders and, instead of teaching new material, devoted all class time to review. The 5th and 7th graders spend almost all their time in the library. Review took up all their time after class; even Wood cut back on his Quidditch practice.
Good thing the Quidditch Cup had been decided before exams started; otherwise, Wood would have faced the hardest decision of his life.
Gradually, the students' chatter turned to daily reviews and gossip.
Percy seemed to be a bit of a maniac and habitually asked the others how long they were studying, and if he discovered that they were studying more than he was, he became anxious and decided to study for an extra hour in the afternoon. Of course, he also wanted to dispel any rumors about exams. For example, if you were friends with the examiners at the Magical Examinations Court, you could get them to "give you a hand."
Tom, as a teacher, was also busy summarizing points, betting on questions, drafting warm-up papers, and....
"Meyer! Hand over what you've got." Tom stopped two furtive students in the hallway. When they called his name, Gus Meyer panicked and tried to hide a jar, but Tom snatched it away with a summoning spell.
"What did he tell you this was?" Tom looked at another student, a fifth-year Hufflepuff boy, as he remembered.
"Dragon Claw Powder, Professor," he said, tilting his head, "You said in class that this powder improves memory and makes the mind extra sharp for a few hours."
Gus Meyer also sneered that last year he'd gotten eight honors on the selectivity exams precisely because he'd taken the memory-enhancing powder when he reviewed.
Tom nodded, introduced this magic powder.
Tom glanced at the jar of powder, made a disgusted face, and said to the prospective candidate, "Then you should have the most basic ability to distinguish, and you should be able to tell that this is the dried excrement of foxes. Although it is not poisonous, but I don't think you can strengthen your memory by eating it."
Candidate: ???
The anger in his eyes almost turned to substance.
Tom confiscated the jar of powder and dumped it down the drain.
It was just a small detail of his daily routine.
The day before the exams, the examiners from the Court of Magical Examinations also arrived at Hogwarts before dinner.
Dumbledore led all the professors out of Hogwarts to greet the examiners, who were on average over eighty years old. They had arrived on brooms. At the head of the group was a small, hunchbacked witch, with wrinkles like cobwebs, like an old witch from a fairy tale.
Dumbledore smiled kindly as he saw her, "Griselda, welcome back to Hogwarts! Did you have a good trip?"
Professor Marchbanks seemed a bit deaf, as she answered Dumbledore in a surprisingly loud voice.
"It's been a good trip!" She said with a smile, "It's been a long time, Albus, it seems like only yesterday you were taking exams!".
She then proceeded to tell her colleagues about the time when Dumbledore had sat for exams N.E.W.T. Back then, when Dumbledore had taken his final exams, she was the examiner for Transfiguration and Charms, and Dumbledore had done things with the wand that she had never seen
Tom wondered on the sidelines, Dumbledore was born in July 1881, he was 17 when he took the exam in 1898, it was now 1993, Griselda Marchbanks was at least 113 years old, and if you take into account the special nature of her position as an examiner, she was most likely over 120 years old! And she has been with the Court of Magical Examinations for over a hundred years.
A hundred years!
Who can last in a job for a hundred years? over a century! When she joined the Magical Examining Board, there was Czarist Russia, and now that the Soviet Union, heir to Czarist Russia, is dead, she's still working for the Examining Board!
Later in the conversation, Tom also learned that this Marchbanks was also a high-ranking member of the Wizengamot. The Wizengamot had existed before the Ministry of Magic, a combination of court and parliament.
After seeing Professor Marchbanks, Tom suddenly understood why the magical world was so at odds with the non-magical world: the magical world itself was slow-paced, with long-lived wizards like Griselda still retaining their early 20th century ways, while at the same time Muggle technology was advancing at a breakneck pace, pitting Muggles and wizards against each other. This separated Muggles and witches within a generation.
Who would have thought that in just fifty years technology would have advanced so much?
Fifty years ago, who would have thought that people could talk long distance through two disconnected boxes?
Griselda Marchbanks was interrupted by a Wizengamot senator, Tiberius Ogden, who, along with his friend Professor Tofty, shouted, "Griselda! Don't you repeat that phrase every year you see Dumbledore? We've heard it dozens of times."
Griselda took no offense at the interruption and followed Dumbledore into the school.
Professor Tofty quickly caught up with Tom and shook his hand. As he introduced himself, Tom learned that he was the examiner for this year's practical exams in Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Astronomy.
"I hear you're this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" He gave Tom a critical look, "I've seen your papers in the Office, they're interesting; I hear you also have a self-combat Alchemy puppet."
Tom chatted very patiently with this interesting old man. When they entered the Great Hall, dinner had just begun. The Great Hall was silent, everyone was eating quietly, and everyone walked to the staff table, attracting the attention of most.
Tonight, countless young wizards had stayed up all night. They were all trying to make the most of their last hours of revision, hugging Merlin's feet in the hope that Master Merlin would bless them, but no one seemed able to win Merlin's favor.
Finally, one by one, the young wizards drifted off to sleep in a state of anxiety.
After breakfast the next day, the little wizards from other grades went to class as usual, the fifth and seventh graders stayed in the hall, and after a while, they would go to the examination room.
According to the schedule, there was a written exam in the morning and a practical exam in the afternoon.
At nine o'clock, Tom and Professor Flitwick were in the foyer for their final pre-test check.