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Hermione was very annoyed.
Too many people were coming to her seeking answers, and she was feeling overwhelmed by the pressure. If it were just one or two people looking for answers, Hermione could easily use her wit to outsmart them, but what if it was twenty or more people wanting to know about the exam content? And the worst part was, she still hadn't seen Tom.
At that moment, she felt an itch in the palm of her hand, and a small beetle crawled into her hand, transforming into a piece of paper. Hermione glanced at the note and discovered it was from Professor Lockhart.
It read: "Just tell them the answers, no need to mention the questions."
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. If Professor Lockhart had sent this note, it meant he already had a plan. However, she couldn't help but find his handwriting awkward and stiff.
Hermione started recalling her choices and wrote down the answers on a piece of parchment. The parchment quickly circulated, and many students utilized their lunch break to memorize the letters.
"Heh, Professor Lockhart, are you adjusting the order of the exam questions?" Professor McGonagall immediately sensed Lockhart's intentions and chuckled. She glanced at the edge of the long table, "Looks like some students are in for a tough time. I wonder which house will have more unfortunate souls?"
"Those who can be tripped up by such tricks are probably hopeless fools, don't you think, Milerva?" Snape, sitting nearby, instantly caught McGonagall's hidden meaning.
"Indeed, Severus. I wonder which house will have more of these brainless fools."
The tension among the faculty increased, and Professor Sprout finally intervened to diffuse the situation. "Alright, it seems our students in the Herbology house might be more susceptible to this. They're too honest, and we do have more students."
Suddenly, Professor Flitwick spoke up, "Professor Lockhart, do you have classes in the afternoon?"
"Two, one for each house," Lockhart replied.
"Excellent." Snape sneered. "The answers will be revealed soon. Remember to send me a copy of the grades."
The other three heads of houses also reserved copies of their respective houses' grades. During lunch, as Tom was eating, a note slipped into his pocket, and the side dishes on his plate transformed into a sentence. When Tom finished his meal and left, he coincidentally encountered Snape outside.
The three individuals, through different means, were all focused on one thing: including the grades of the other three houses when distributing the results.
Both professors and students had a fulfilling lunch. The first afternoon class arrived in the blink of an eye.
Tom distributed the exam papers and instructions just like in the morning. As soon as the papers were handed out, several young wizards, without even writing their names, started writing feverishly. Within a minute, they had completed the entire paper. After finishing, they continued to pretend to write and draw, attempting to conceal the fact that they had already finished.
The students thought they were clever, but Tom sneered. These individuals, he thought, needed special attention in the future.
He took out the morning papers from his bag, retrieved an auto-grading quill, and began marking. Meanwhile, he read a borrowed book.
The Slytherin and Hufflepuff houses shared the class with Ravenclaw. Draco Malfoy was scrutinizing his paper.
Question 1: Regarding Grindelwald, which statement is incorrect? (__________)
A. Grindelwald was a famous dark wizard in the first half of the 20th century, ultimately defeated by Dumbledore.
B. Grindelwald was highly aggressive, attacking both wizards and Muggles.
C. Grindelwald liked to eat fish and would attack those who fell into the water.
D. Grindelwald lived in lakes across England and Ireland.
Question 2: In July of this year, regarding werewolves... The correct statement about werewolves is: (__________)
A. There is no difference between werewolves and regular wolves.
B. The Ministry of Magic rates werewolves with five stars.
C. Werewolves cannot choose whether to transform and will forget their identity after transformation.
D. Werewolves, after returning to human form, can recall everything experienced during the entire transformation process.
Malfoy also obtained a standard answer sheet. The source of the answers was Hermione Granger, the Mudblood bookworm from Ravenclaw. Although Malfoy despised Hermione's bloodline, he admitted that her grades were excellent. His father, Lucius Malfoy, even scolded him for not being able to surpass a Mudblood. Malfoy ignored his achievement of being Slytherin's top student; his father completely ignored it.
He had filled in the remembered answers. However, out of caution, he reviewed the questions. At first glance, the questions seemed fine. The first question played on a pun, and the second one mentioned the Wolfsbane Potion, though it had no connection to the potion.
But Malfoy, while looking at option C in the first question, began to ponder. This sentence seemed correct! In the stories he heard as a child, there were often tales of wizards being attacked by Grindelwald while swimming, only to successfully escape.
He scrutinized it carefully. This question required selecting the incorrect option, and he found himself deep in thought. Could that know-it-all Granger have made a mistake? He continued to read, and when he reached the werewolf question, he immediately broke into a cold sweat. He remembered clearly that during the discussion, someone mentioned the Ministry of Magic rating on werewolves. However, in the morning exam, the stars mentioned in the question were four, but in the afternoon, it was five!
Professor Lockhart had altered some details!
Malfoy immediately started redoing the paper. The previous answers were all invalid; he had to do it from scratch.
Tom, on the platform, was feeling triumphant. Altering details? It wasn't that simple!
He not only played with words in the options, changing "won't" to "will," and "four stars" to "five stars," but also adjusted the order of options. Some questions even had changes in the phrasing of the stem. What was more interesting was that he deliberately made subtle adjustments to the questions with distinctive features, creating strong confusion.
Simultaneously, students who detected the problem were not few in number. As they progressed through the test, Hermione's reputation underwent a subtle change.
When copying their names onto the paper, Hermione was "the embodiment of wisdom in human form." After the first question, she became "the clever, knowledgeable, and kind little angel." By the third question, she had transformed into a "careless bookworm who had read a few books." After five consecutive mistakes, Hermione, in their eyes, had become "a witch of no learning or talent."
Of course, after completing all the questions, even the slowest students realized something was wrong. It was impossible for Miss Granger to get all twenty-five multiple-choice questions wrong!
They raised their heads, looking at "Professor Lockhart" reading a book on the podium. Their eyes revealed a mix of sorrow and anger. This scoundrel had changed the
questions! This professor was too cunning! Was he really a graduate of Ravenclaw? Why did his actions and behavior exude a Slytherin vibe?
Time was up. In the complicated gazes of the students, Tom collected the papers.
"Class dismissed!" Tom assigned some homework and left nearly ten minutes early this time.
Malfoy immediately stood up and walked over to his familiar roommate, Theodore Nott—compared to Crabbe and Goyle, Malfoy was too lazy to communicate with them. In front of Theodore, he said, "There's a problem with the questions! The answers, um, are incorrect!"
Without waiting for Theodore's response, Malfoy, as if fearing Theodore might drag him into trouble, walked away. Snape observed this scene, and a hint of a sneer appeared on his face.
What could they do? They could only read more books seriously.
The students from Slytherin and Hufflepuff exited the classroom, heading to the next class. When they approached the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, they heard a commotion in the distance. Out of curiosity, they rushed over.
The noise originated from the Astronomy Tower. By now, it was already crowded to the point of bursting. Even Draco, standing on his tiptoes, couldn't see the situation inside.
"What happened?" He asked a familiar senior. However, before the senior could reply, Fawkes forced his way through the crowd, creating a passage. Following him was Filch, who pushed his way inside.
"Tom!" Hermione's eyes teared up like a broken string of pearls, and she ran toward Tom as if she wanted to throw herself into his arms. If not for Dumbledore and Professor Lockhart stopping her, she would have collapsed onto Tom.
She sat on the ground, silently shedding tears. Lockhart knelt in front of her and took out a white silk handkerchief from his pocket to wipe away her tears.
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