Chapter 599 A Real Dream

Hermione did not comment on Ron's self-deception, but just snorted in response. They returned to the common room for a short rest, and then returned to the hall to have lunch.

During lunch time, the four school tables appeared again.

Hermione asked at the table: "By the way, you were almost late this morning, what happened?"

"You mean that," Harry wolfed down mashed potatoes, his mouth full, "overslept."

"Everyone overslept?" Hermione seemed surprised. Are these boys so calm? There are many people in the girls' dormitory who have insomnia all night.

"Yeah." Harry said vaguely, and moved the pumpkin soup to his side. Ron also waved a sausage in response.

Although forgetting to set the alarm clock was not a smart move, given that it was a sudden decision, the five people in the dormitory decided to forget about it. At least they got enough sleep and were full of energy when they woke up the next day. Harry thought that was enough, wasn't it?

Neville's scream woke up the others immediately, which was proof.

Professor Hepple did not show up for the afternoon spells practical exam. . .

"He's teaching the fourth-year students," said Terry Boot, a fifth-year Ravenclaw student, to Harry and the others. "I saw it when I passed by."

The students preparing for the exam in the entrance hall were making their final struggle.

Ernie Macmillan and his friend Justin Finch-Fletchley were testing each other on the knowledge points of the more common spells. As they chanted the spells, they made quick casting movements, which looked like some kind of funny dance. Parvati Patil and her twin sister stood on either side of Lavender Brown, staring and muttering. Lavender looked like she was on the verge of a mental breakdown, her face pale, and she was holding a talisman tightly in her hand.

Every time Professor Flitwick came out to call away a small group of people in alphabetical order, the students in the entrance hall would look up in panic, as if Flitwick was going to take them to some terrible and dangerous place.

Harry's exam order was sandwiched between Hermione and Ron. When his name was called, he followed the Patil sisters and walked straight inside. As a result, he was pulled by the short Professor Flitwick at the door. "Professor Tofty is free, Potter." Flitwick, who was almost knocked down, panted.

Harry hurriedly apologized and trotted in.

The layout of the hall was different from that in the morning. There were seven or eight tables in the center, and an examiner sat behind each table. Harry knew Professor Tofty. He had just met him in the morning, so he walked to the wizard who looked the least hair. Professor Tofty raised his large glasses from the list and looked at Harry carefully.

"Is it Potter? The famous Potter? Now, I would like you to let this egg cup perform a few side flips for me..."

Outside the hall, Ron and Dean huddled together and whispered.

Their names were all at the end of the alphabetical order, almost the last batch. As the number of people continued to decrease, neither of them had the mood to look through the notes.

"I wonder what the test will be about? No one who went in has ever appeared again. It's really strict."

"Probably some basic spells, like Levitation, Summoning, and making teacups grow legs."

Dean glanced around quickly, and after making sure that no one noticed them, he lowered his voice and said to Ron, "I heard... if you perform well, you can get extra points."

Ron perked up, "Tell me about it in detail!"

"I'm not sure," Dean said uncertainly, "I heard from others... If you have mastered some particularly advanced magic, you can take the initiative to show it, and the examiner will give you extra points at his discretion."

Ron sighed and said pessimistically, "That's a right only good students have."

"Right," Dean agreed with this point of view. He looked at Ron sympathetically: "Hanging around with Harry and Hermione, you must be under a lot of pressure, right?"

"Yeah... wait, what do you mean?" Ron blushed.

"Oh, uh," Dean raised his hand after realizing that he had said the wrong thing, and whispered to comfort him, "You actually performed better than most people, but it doesn't show up when you're always with Hermione and Harry... One of them is the top student in each subject, and the other can't find an opponent in practical classes."

Ron's face lightened up a little, and he muttered, "Actually, I'm not that good... cough!" Although he said that, his eyes were shining with excitement, and he looked at Dean expectantly, as if silently urging him to say more.

The pressure now shifted to Dean, and he changed the subject abruptly, "By the way, do you think Illumination is a plus point? That's ancient magic-"

Ron looked a little disappointed, but he couldn't force Dean to brag about himself.

He shook his head, "Maybe not, everyone in the Magic Club can do Illumination. Remember the day when the Inferi army attacked the school? How many balls of light were above our heads at that time." He said with emotion:

"If it was two years ago, it might be possible, but now? I bet there are at least a hundred students in the school who can do this magic."

After Ron finished speaking, the two became even more depressed.

There were not many people left in the entrance hall. They stared at Zacharias Smith who was talking loudly in front of the hourglass of Hufflepuff College. Dean couldn't bear to see it and said, "I really want to punch him in the nose."

Ron grinned, "Man, I've wanted to do that for a long time."

Zacharias Smith was of course unaware of Ron and Dean's criticism. He was talking in an arrogant and sarcastic tone: "Oh, come on, how difficult is this exam?"

"Come on, he didn't even master the Patronus Charm." Ron said contemptuously. He looked at Dean whose expression suddenly became stiff and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

"You just said, said--" Dean asked in an extremely weak tone.

"What?" Ron said in confusion. At this time, a silver magic spread out from the hall, and a huge beam of light completely engulfed the students who were still in the entrance hall with a sweeping momentum.

He saw Dean first open his mouth in surprise, and then the pessimism that remained on his face was swept away.

Ron probably had the same expression. "It's Harry's super Patronus!" He said in an exaggerated and excited voice, while tiptoeing to look into the auditorium. It seemed very quiet there. Just when Ron was surprised that the Patronus Charm couldn't win the applause of the whole room, there was finally a noisy commotion inside.

"It seems that the Patronus is still effective." Ron said contentedly, listening to the examiners' exclamations with pleasure, "I almost forgot that I can do this magic."

...

"The test was interrupted for ten minutes because of you."

After the exams were over, Ron said to Harry, who had left early, in the common room, "But thanks to your Patronus, I was in great shape during the exam." He frowned, "It's a pity that the annoying guy also got some benefit."

"Who are you talking about?" Ginny, who was preparing for the final exam, asked.

"Zacharys Smith." Ron said without hesitation.

"It's him." Ginny remembered, and she pouted, "There were several club activities where he kept pestering me and Luna, asking questions, with a haughty attitude, and even laughed at Luna's decorations."

Harry seemed very conflicted. He admitted that Luna had a strong personality, but he couldn't compliment her aesthetics. However, who made him think Zacharias was annoying? So he agreed, "Yes, he is really annoying, that's right."

They were preparing for the Transfiguration exam the next day. Harry's mind was full of complex spell models and theoretical analysis. He could not understand one question: why can turning a toad into a mouse fill up a whole chapter of the textbook? Moreover, Hermione had more than a dozen pages of notes extracted from the textbooks, and she could even take out three papers she had written in the past.

So when he heard someone shouting at the door, "Harry - someone is looking for you -", his first reaction was that he could finally go out for some fresh air. When he passed by Fred and George's table, the two of them were playing wizard cards with Lee Jordan and discussing in a low voice.

Fred waved lazily at Harry as a greeting.

"Aren't you going to review?" Harry asked.

"We know our true level." George said.

Really, Harry thought unconvinced, then you must not know that Mrs. Weasley would ask about the twins every time she wrote to Ginny. He pushed open the door with a depressed mood and heard the Fat Lady chatting enthusiastically with a familiar voice.

"Yes, I've seen it... Hehe... That painting is huge, I guess it's twenty feet long... Violet and I have seen it, the students did a good job, it's very spectacular... Dumbledore is worthy of it, he beat the Dark Lord into a panic... Hehe..."

After Harry went out of the hole, he glanced back at the portrait of the Fat Lady. As expected, he saw some bottles piled under her portrait. Her face was ruddy, and she seemed not to realize that someone came out, and she was mumbling.

"... But I can't understand why there is a Niffler inside, and it's standing so conspicuous..."

"Professor?" When Harry saw the person at the door clearly, he shouted in surprise.

Felix nodded at him, "Come with me, Harry."

Harry followed the professor nervously. He secretly racked his brains, but he didn't find that he had made any serious mistakes that would make the lazy Professor Hep come to his door. He guessed that there might be something serious. They came to a dark corridor, and the professor who was walking in front stopped.

"Your performance today has shocked the examiners collectively." Felix said with a smile, "The strength of that Patronus is far beyond their cognition."

"Well--" Harry didn't know how to respond.

"I need your help." Felix said bluntly.

"Okay." Harry nodded, "What is it?"

"For some reason, I hope to collect some emotions, your emotions." Felix tilted his head at him, "The specific method is that you use your unique Patronus, remember not to let the magic burst out like you did during the day, that would be too noticeable... Summon it quietly, and leave the rest to me."

When Harry returned to the common room, the shock on his face had not subsided.

"What's wrong? You look like you failed the exam--" Ron said.

"That's Hermione." Harry subconsciously retorted.

Hermione raised her eyebrows and glared at him, and Harry immediately changed his words: "Slip of the tongue." Ginny and Ron laughed so hard that they fell over.

"Professor Happ came to me," Harry described what happened to them after they calmed down. "He said he needed my Patronus..."

After several people listened quietly, Ron said in disbelief, "You mean Professor Happ put your Patronus in a glass bottle?"

"Shh." Harry said hurriedly, "Keep your voice down."

"Didn't he tell you why?" Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head. "No." He said honestly.

"That's strange," she rubbed her forehead gently with one hand, "With the professor's personality, if it was some kind of magical experiment, he would be happy to tell you the cause and effect, and maybe even pull you into the research, unless it must be kept secret."

"That's what he told me," Harry said immediately, "Keep it secret for now."

"Maybe he doesn't want to distract us. There are exams tomorrow." Ron guessed.

"But the professor asked me to go to him every night and use a patronus on him during this period." Harry said. Under normal circumstances, if he took the initiative to cancel the magic, the patronus would dissipate by itself, but the professor used some method that he could not understand to preserve this emotion and magic - Harry guessed that it might be something like a Dementor capture cage - he felt strange when he thought that in a few days, there would be a row of his patronus in the professor's office.

"If it's like what you said, it must be very serious and urgent." Hermione said affirmatively.

They spent some time guessing why the professor did this, but there were too few clues at hand.

"Could it be related to... He who must not be named?" Ginny whispered.

Harry's heart was pounding, but there was no basis for this guess. In the end, they began to review boringly again. Harry yawned while flipping through Hermione's Transfiguration notes. The clear mind that was originally brought by witnessing Professor Happ using a wide-mouthed bottle to take away his patronus became chaotic again.

After the Transfiguration exam, the third day was the Herbology exam, followed by the Defense Against the Dark Arts. Sirius stood at the door to cheer everyone up. "What if we don't do well in the exam?" A student asked timidly after high-fiving Sirius. "Don't worry, I won't be your professor by the time you get your results," Sirius said with a grin, "Don't worry that I will chase you and curse you." After the

Ancient Runes exam on Friday, Harry and Ron chatted privately, both thinking that they could get at least two "excellents".

One was Defense Against the Dark Arts, and the other was Ancient Runes.

"This is a good start, I think you will be more confident in dealing with the exam next week." Hermione said calmly while flipping through the book.

Harry and Ron were playing wizard cards, which they borrowed from the Weasley twins. The wizard cards were modified by the two of them. When Harry played a "Disarming Curse", an illusory red light knocked Ron's knight armor away.

While Ron was drawing cards, Harry leaned forward and took the exam schedule from the table. "Let me see what's scheduled for next week - Monday, Potions; Tuesday, Care of Magical Creatures; Wednesday, uh, that day is a bit tough, with an astronomy theory exam in the morning and a Divination exam in the afternoon, and that's not over yet... there's an astronomy practical exam at 11 o'clock tonight."

"I've always wondered why you haven't given up Divination? Even if Trelawney can make predictions in extremely rare circumstances, it's undeniable that what she usually teaches is rubbish." Hermione asked sharply.

"Listen to me, Hermione - oh, Hurricane Curse, Harry, you lose." Ron silently recalled the taste of victory and said, "We have been making up lies for three years just to get a ticket to the Divination OWLs exam -"

Seeing Hermione wanted to interrupt, he quickly said, "If you are lucky, this course will give you an OWL certificate - even if you don't know anything, I'm serious!"

Harry didn't expect Ron to be able to make a point. He thought about it seriously. The reason why he was still taking Divination classes was largely due to inertia, and another small part was that he had heard Trelawney's predictions with his own ears.

Although the possibility was very low, Harry still had a glimmer of hope: What if he could hear a real prophecy again? However, if there was a next time, he hoped that Trelawney would be more accurate and not too vague, such as giving the exact date of Voldemort's death...

Time passed day by day, and the students finally ushered in the last exam.

Harry opened the History of Magic test paper on the single table and glanced through the questions as usual. He immediately felt overwhelmed. The knowledge in the pile of magical history notes borrowed from Hermione in the morning was desperately slipping out of his mind. He didn't bother to look at the contents at the back, just wanted to finish a few more questions before he forgot all those tongue-twisting names and complicated dates.

He glanced at the podium quickly, and Professor Happ was sitting lazily in his chair, as if his mind was wandering.

'Today is indeed a good day to be lazy.' Harry thought indignantly.

After more than ten seconds, he found that he hadn't moved a word, so he quickly lowered his head to answer the questions. As Harry expected, he encountered trouble with time and historical names - especially the names of giants, goblins, trolls, and centaurs, which were both tongue-twisting and long. Harry suspected that the historians at the time were lazy and translated them directly according to their humming sounds.

For almost two hours, Harry was fighting sleepiness.

When Professor Tofty, who was already very old, slowly told them that there were thirty minutes left, Harry sighed resignedly. He did not think about the entanglement between Liechtenstein and the troll, but turned to the front of the test paper, where there were still a few questions left.

He stared at the fourth question - 'In your opinion, did the Wand Regulations contribute to or help better control the goblin riots in the 18th century? '

Harry tried to make his numb brain move. The sand in the hourglass on the podium leaked slowly. The sun was shining outside. It was a pleasant June, but he had to sit in the stuffy hall and think about the goblin riots... Harry's consciousness became more and more blurred, and his head drooped uncontrollably towards the table, leaving suspicious water stains at the corners of his mouth... He found himself seeing the face of Headmaster Dumbledore. That face was no longer gentle, and the deep blue eyes behind the half-moon lenses did not have the joyful sparks he saw in the past. He looked solemn and his temperament was solemn.

He waved his wand wantonly, and the power of the spell made Harry tremble with fear. Rows of stones, carrying a lot of grass and soil, rushed towards him, as if the whole earth was dragged and smashed towards him.

But Harry was not afraid.

Dazzling green light poured from the wand in his hand, and ghosts were dim in the green light. He could feel a hideous smile on his face, and he spoke in an extremely excited tone: "It feels bad to curse, Dumbledore?"

"If you have any other skills, just show them, otherwise you will die today!"