The sound of "innocent" resonated, and the young wizards surrounding him burst into celebration. During the time Tom was flying, these young wizards had already discovered the details of the matter. The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students, brought by Newt, had clear preferences: on one hand, there was the kind and amiable Hagrid, and on the other, the contemptible Lucius Malfoy. Wasn't it obvious whom to support?
With the roar of cheers in his ears, Lucius's face turned pale. He didn't expect his case to actually be reexamined.
Seeing the exultant crowd of young wizards, Lucius seethed. Every laugh felt like a slap in the face. He shrugged off his cloak and left without saying a word.
"Alright, everyone, back to your classes," Dumbledore said with a smile as he bid farewell to the Ministry of Magic officials. He reminded them to return to their classes.
As for Tom and Hermione, they naturally returned to the castle to rest.
"Colin, what are you doing here?" Tom suddenly realized before parting ways with his fellow students. Colin Creevey was a year younger than him; how could this kid be here? He wasn't old enough to take elective subjects yet.
It turned out that Colin was almost of age to choose elective subjects. Faced with the choice of subjects, Colin had a very simple solution. Unlike Hermione, who had chosen all the subjects, he had found time to attend several classes at Hogwarts as an observer.
"So, do you have any ideas?" Tom was interested in Colin and casually asked him.
"Actually, I'd like to take Photography classes, but there aren't any at Hogwarts... I can't take Muggle Studies; Divination is too mentally demanding, and I don't plan on choosing it. Currently, I'm thinking about Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures," Colin said with a bashful smile. "By the way, Tom, would you recommend taking Divination class?"
Of course, Tom wouldn't recommend it. Divination required talent, and it made no sense to waste time there without any talent.
"Thank you, Tom. I'll send you the photos once they're developed!" Colin raised his camera in his hand and hurried off to join the larger group.
The commotion caused by Tom was spreading throughout Hogwarts. By lunchtime, almost everyone knew that someone had flown on a Hippogriff. However, due to the lack of information, most young wizards didn't know which two students were responsible for such an impressive feat.
However, just as Tom's peers were beginning to fret, Dumbledore stood up. The young wizards fell silent instantly and looked at their headmaster, waiting to hear his speech.
"Before this delightful meal turns your brains into mush, I have something important to announce..."
Dumbledore scanned the audience and, once he was sure everyone was listening, continued, "We have just witnessed how Tom Yodel and Hermione Granger voluntarily cooperated with the Ministry of Magic in a dangerous experiment to absolve an innocent soul of an injustice. Therefore, I have decided to award Ravenclaw House fifty points in recognition of Yodel and Granger's astonishing bravery."
Although praising the bravery of Ravenclaw students sounded somewhat unusual, that didn't stop the Ravenclaw table from erupting into warm applause. The fifty points earned today allowed them to further distance themselves from the other three houses and solidify their lead. They also heard some good news after class: Gryffindor had lost another twenty points, widening the gap even further between the two competing houses for the House Cup. Only a slim chance remained for Slytherin.
Speaking of taking points from Gryffindor, the most hated professor was Snape, and surprisingly, the second most hated turned out to be the Gryffindor Head of House, Professor McGonagall...
But justice was in people's hearts, and Professor McGonagall's strict punishments earned the respect of all students and teachers. Practically no one would question her punishments, except for the little lions of Gryffindor who lamented their fate.
Tom didn't care much about the points, but seeing Hermione's smile, he was also pleased. For him, apart from Hermione, there was nothing else in this world worth caring about. Hermione seemed to have become everything to him.
After Dumbledore mentioned Hermione, she felt a bit embarrassed. After all, she had been passively dragged into this experiment. But then she realized that she had indeed participated in the experiment, as experimental material. Therefore, she accepted this honor without regrets.
Hermione realized that, after spending a long time with Tom, she had become more shameless. However, what she didn't know was that, without realizing it, she had also brought many changes to Tom. They could only say that they had influenced each other.
The applause took a while to die down. But Dumbledore seemed to have finished his speech, which was good. Meanwhile, the table was filled with delicious dishes: large, oily roasts, pots of stew, mountains of fresh fruit, salad plates, and silver jugs filled with the most popular magical beverages.
But none of these delicacies could satisfy the curiosity of the young wizards, who didn't even look at them.
Dumbledore, however, had a puzzled expression on his face. "The food is already served, why aren't you eating?" he said as he observed the table. "Go ahead and enjoy; I've already tasted today's food, and it has an exceptional flavor-!"
"Professor Dumbledore, so it was Yodel and Granger who flew around the castle today?" Fred couldn't contain his curiosity any longer and stood up directly to ask Dumbledore. He wanted to get concrete proof from Dumbledore and hear more details.
Dumbledore was in a dilemma. Of course, he knew the details of the incident, but he also had his own concerns: if he revealed the truth publicly, would it hurt Draco's feelings? In this story, the Malfoy family was clearly the villain...
Well, let Tom deal with his own mess. Dumbledore's gaze settled on Tom's face.
Under Dumbledore's gaze, Tom stood up and answered candidly, "Yes, this morning, I flew around the school with Miss Granger riding a Hippogriff. I wanted to show the Ministry of Magic that Hippogriffs are not cruel and insensitive beasts but magical creatures with feelings, just like us wizards..."
As Tom spoke, Draco's face turned liver-colored. Upon hearing Dumbledore mention the Ministry of Magic and the word "Hippogriff," Draco felt that things were not looking good. But when Tom spoke, it was directly confirmed that there was a significant connection between the Hippogriff case and him.
The glances of the students around him made Draco wish he could find a hole in the ground to hide in, but his instinct told him not to make any moves. So he remained still, not even blinking.
On the edge of the Ravenclaw table, Tom briefly explained the events. The students applauded once again. To them, that action was cool! Some third-year Ravenclaw girls clapped their hands while exchanging excited glances with their friends.
They were very aware of a hint of something: the scent of love in the air! It seemed like a young witch was in for a good teasing session!
After lunch, Hermione was cornered by several roommates who interrogated her for details. But that will be set aside for now. After the end-of-year recruitment at Hogwarts, the days seemed to pass by faster.
June had come and gone in the blink of an eye, and young witches donned fresh summer clothing. The hot weather made everyone want to carry a jug of cold drink and spend the whole day doing nothing, sitting in the shade of the trees by the Black Lake.
But they could only think about it.
Why? Because final exams were approaching for regular students. For fifth and seventh-year students, the problem was even greater: the O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. exams were on the horizon.
Everyone had to restrain their desires and lock themselves in common rooms or libraries to study, even the Weasley twins were studying seriously.
Tom felt that Hermione was getting more and more nervous. The stress of preparing for twelve subjects had nearly overwhelmed her.
People who take exams frequently know that the study efficiency before exams is usually the highest one or two days before the exam. The two exam formats that students hate the most are: four exams in four days and four exams in one day. Of course, there are also the inhumane Saturday exams. In the final exam week, if your last exam is on Saturday, it's a true nightmare.
Tom and Hermione had a tough time too; they had one exam every week, with a considerable number of exams each day. Let's take Monday as an example, Tom and Hermione had Arithmancy and Transfiguration at 9 in the morning, and then at 1 in the afternoon, they had Charms followed by Ancient Runes.
Not only Hermione, even Tom felt like he was going crazy.
However, under tremendous pressure, there are also some good things... for example, when Tom and Hermione finished studying, it was already late at night, and the common room was empty. Ending the day with a kiss was quite a good option.
So, Tom began his exam week in a state of both pain and happiness. The Monday Arithmancy exam was normal, except for not having a calculator, there wasn't much to complain about. Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class was a disaster zone; one of the questions asked them to transform a teapot into a tortoise. This involved turning an inanimate object into a living being! Even Tom failed once; the tortoise he created wouldn't move, so he had to transform it again to bring it to life.
Therefore, when Tom heard Hermione complaining that her tortoise looked like a sea turtle, he didn't even bother to pay attention.
If I say one more word to Hermione today, I'll be a dog. Tom thought resentfully during lunch.
In the afternoon, Tom: "Woof, woof, woof."
Hermione was truly amazing; she managed to ace the Cheering Charm on the Charms exam right before the exams. Since that was the subject of the exam, everyone left the classroom with smiles on their faces, regardless of whether their grades were good or bad. If your partner couldn't keep up, you were in trouble. Some people, because their partners made somewhat clumsy moves, burst into uncontrollable laughter and almost missed the exam.
It was rumored that the Care of Magical Creatures class on the second day had an extremely high difficulty level, but it turned out to be fake news spread by Professor Scamander. The exam questions were extremely easy; Newt had prepared a group of Fire Salamanders for the students, and they had to work together to ensure the salamanders remained alive after an hour.
As for the Potions exam on Tuesday afternoon, Snape asked everyone to prepare a Confundus Potion. It was a potion that could cause confusion in people. The main ingredients were Sneezewort, Bouncing Bulb, Thermic, and Bicorn Horn, and the crucial part was whether they could thicken the potion. If they couldn't do that, "Outstanding" was out of reach.
The Astronomy exam took place at midnight. It can only be said that fortunately, it was summer, and the night was not cold but rather cool. History of Magic was scheduled for Wednesday morning, and Herbology for the afternoon. These two exams, apart from the heat, didn't leave a lasting impression on people.
Tom's Defense Against the Dark Arts exam was quite special: he became a part of the exam...
Normally, Hogwarts exams are only written and practical, but Lupin's was different; he conducted an adventure-type exam. This is something that countless young wizards will talk about in a few years, especially the fact that one young wizard from each year is chosen by Lupin to be part of the exam.
The third-year student chosen by Professor Lupin was Tom.
After dinner on Wednesday, Professor Lupin stopped Tom and took him away. He conducted a series of tests with Tom to show that he was adequately prepared for the earlier parts of the exam, and then informed Tom of what he had to do the next day.
So, the next day, Tom disappeared without a trace.
"Alright, everyone, let the exam begin!" Lupin checked the number of students and, once he was sure everyone was present, announced the start of the exam.
The test was straightforward: an outdoor cross-country trek in which young wizards had to navigate a series of obstacles set up by Lupin to reach the finish line. Various magical creatures awaited them, as well as individuals with malicious intent...
The less time it took, the more points they would receive. Furthermore, for the third-year students, Lupin had allowed them to go in pairs, for a very simple reason: he believed that third-year students faced much greater difficulties than those in other years.
Tom's disappearance naturally caught the attention of others, but with Professor Lupin's assurance, no one paid much attention to it.
After sorting the groups, the exam began in this manner.