Chapter 100: The Test
Chapter 100: The Test
At eight o'clock that evening, a row of young Wizards stood in the office of the Ancient Runic Script.
Felix leaned against the table, one hand stroking his chin, "Hmm..." He sized up these mischievous troublemakers.
There were quite a few familiar faces.
Out of the nine young Wizards, four had red hair: Ron, the twins, and Ginny.
The other five were Luna, Graham Montague, Marcus Flint, Eddie Carmichael, and Stebbins.
"Fellows from all four houses, not a single one missing", Felix began.
"Let me think... Fred, George, Graham, Marcus, you four, fighting on the Quidditch pitch;"
"Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, sneaking into the Forbidden Forest to feed creatures;"
"Eddie Carmichael, selling illegal potions;"
"Stebbins", Felix gave him a surprised look, "writing love letters to the same girl, over a hundred of them;"
"And of course, Ron Weasley, misbehaving by shoving a professor."
Felix walked up to them, each one a character in their own right.
"Professor, they started it", Fred said.
"You were spying on our team's practice!" Graham Montague retorted. He was in the same year as the twins, a Chaser for Slytherin.
"You were doing the same! Don't tell me Warrington was just out for a stroll!"
The other young Wizards either watched the commotion or kept their heads down. The two youngest, Luna and Ginny, reacted differently. Luna fiddled with her Butterbeer cork necklace, her eyes wide with interest as she watched the argument. Ginny, on the other hand, remained silent and kept her head lowered.
"Quiet", Felix said, "arguing won't change the fact that you're standing in front of me."
"I've called you here today to conduct some tests. I need you to help me identify any potential issues with it."
He glanced at everyone, "I think this will be much more interesting than copying notes or weeding the garden."
Felix waved his wand, and nine pieces of parchment flew to the young Wizards.
Fred examined the parchment in his hand. It was exquisitely crafted, shimmering with a magical glow. The edges were adorned with intricate patterns, but the center was blank.
"Oh, right, you'll need some temporary desks and chairs", Felix said, drawing his wand and making the items on the table transform into small desks and chairs.
The nine young Wizards sat down at the professor's gesture. Marcus Flint, the largest of the group, looked like a troll sitting on the ground, so Felix had to adjust the height of his desk and chair.
They all stared at the blank parchment.
"Professor, what do we need to do?"
Felix explained, "The parchment in front of you is my new teaching tool. Your task is to answer the questions on it. First, you need to activate it. To do that, touch your wand to the parchment and say, 'I like Ancient Runic Script.'"
The young Wizards looked at the professor with blank expressions.
The twins exchanged a glance, their faces full of mischief.
Ron raised his hand, "Professor, I haven't studied Ancient Runic Script... and neither have Ginny and her friends."
Felix smiled gently, "That's fine. The version you have is a test version, and the questions about Ancient Runic Script are minimal. Most of them are common knowledge in the magical world."
He then addressed everyone, "You'll find that all the questions are multiple-choice. You just need to tap your wand on the answer you think is correct, and it will give you feedback."
"This process will be quite interesting. Go ahead, young Wizards."
Among the young Wizards, Luna seemed the least concerned. She happily took out her wand and tapped the parchment, "I like Ancient Runic Script."
Under the watchful eyes of the surrounding young Wizards, the Parchment emitted a soft, glowing light, followed by a line of text appearing in the blank space.
"Welcome to the Answering Space."
A few seconds later, the text disappeared, and the first question appeared.
'Do you prefer leaves or thorns?'
Luna happily tapped the 'leaves' option.
'Do you prefer exploring, protecting, or serving?'
Luna's wand tapped the 'exploring' option.
'Do you prefer thinking, touching, or feeling?'
Luna thought for a few seconds before choosing the 'feeling' option.
The other young Wizards suddenly realized it wasn't that difficult and eagerly began to try it out.
In the middle of this, Fred used his wand to tap the Parchment and instinctively said, "I solemnly swear—"
But he was immediately interrupted by George.
"—Oh, uh, I prefer ancient Runic Script." Fred quickly recovered.
Ron, who was watching from the side, looked somewhat puzzled. You like ancient Runic Script that much? You had to swear?
But regardless, everyone started answering the questions.
Soon, they discovered that the questions weren't fixed. Some were very simple—asking about feelings or basic magical knowledge—while others were quite difficult, involving knowledge from various subjects.
Moreover, the Parchment gave different feedback for different types of questions.
For example, Ron faced a question: 'When encountering a Basilisk, how should you respond?'
He confidently chose the 'defeating it' option and showed it to Ginny. The Parchment then displayed a few large, blood-red words:
"Your fate is lamentable. If there's a next time, run faster."
Luna, who had leaned in to see, burst into a series of owl-like laughs, struggling to catch her breath. Ginny patted her back to calm her down.
Ron looked a bit unhappy.
Marcus Flint mostly faced questions about ancient Runic Script. The earlier questions were relatively simple, and the Parchment's feedback was always positive: "You're amazing", "You're the next Runic Script expert", "Incredible victory."
Then he missed seven questions in a row, and the Parchment's feedback steadily declined to "A bit disappointing", "Did you really study?" "What am I facing, a troll?"
His face visibly darkened.
But the next question was about the History of Magic: 'When did the International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy come into effect?'
Marcus agonized over it for a while and chose the first answer, '1637,' purely guessing.
The Parchment displayed a few exaggerated stick figures, showing several people beating up a large, troll-like figure.
Alongside the figures was an explanatory text: 'The Statute of Secrecy came into effect in 1689. If you don't want to be mistaken for a troll, remember it!'
Marcus pursed his lips. Who memorizes this stuff for no reason?
Eddie Carmichael answered questions mostly about the consequences of selling illegal potions.
'In 1927, Dark Wizard Campos sold substandard Brain Boosting Potion. What happened next?'
He looked at the options: 'He was killed by another Dark Wizard while buying supplies,' 'He was sent to Azkaban and sentenced to ten years,' 'He retired safely and made enough money.'
Eddie Carmichael hopefully chose the last option.
The Parchment suddenly displayed blackish-red text, as if written in dried blood.
'Campos was attacked by his partner while buying supplies and was later captured by Ministry Aurors, sentenced to ten years of imprisonment.'
Eddie swallowed hard, but it didn't end there. The next line read, "Campos served only seven years in Azkaban and then died."
The other young Wizards encountered various detention-related questions, and many were sweating by the end.
Behind the desk, Felix leaned back in his chair, looking at the elegant scroll in his hand, smiling contentedly.
(End of Chapter)
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