Chapter 426: Most Promising Newcomer Award
Chapter 426: Most Promising Newcomer Award
That night, the feast in the Hufflepuff common room continued until the early hours of the morning to celebrate their triumph.
And due to their victory, several Hufflepuff students made surprising progress at the end-of-the-month D.A. meeting.
Even before the club meeting ended, Connor summoned her full patronus.
As expected, her patronus was a butterfly.
It was beautiful, and as its wings fluttered, it scattered silver light like stars throughout the Great Hall, dazzling everyone present.
Professor McGonagall watched the silver butterfly above the Great Hall with genuine joy for Connor.
She felt that this was the most fitting patronus for Connor.
Professor McGonagall still remembered how Connor had been when she first arrived at Hogwarts—tentative, shy, and silent. She had always seemed to be alone and never took the initiative to interact with others.
But now, Connor was not only cheerful and confident but had also forged sincere friendships.
She had transformed just like a butterfly, little by little.
"What a pity that such a good student isn't in Gryffindor," Professor McGonagall sighed inwardly, feeling a twinge of envy for Professor Sprout.
Perhaps spurred on by Connor's achievement, a few minutes later, the silver mist in front of Cedric began to condense.
The next second, a goose appeared in the Great Hall.
Cedric, wand in hand, jumped and shouted in excitement.
"Well done," Professor Lupin said with a smile. "You've really given me a wonderful surprise. I always thought that students below the sixth year would have to wait until the end of the year to succeed, but it seems I underestimated you.
"As a reward, Hufflepuff will receive fifty points... fifty points for each of you!"
With the additional one hundred points from Professor Lupin, along with the points from winning the Quidditch Cup, Hufflepuff soared into first place, more than eighty points ahead of Slytherin in second place.
And now, with only a month left until the end of the school year, the House Cup seemed within reach.
It was a shame that Kyle's patronus didn't earn any points; otherwise, they would have been even more secure.
With the House Cup in sight, Hufflepuff's good mood lasted a long time, and even the weather seemed to be celebrating with them.
As June approached, the days became exceptionally clear and hot.
This kind of weather was perfect for enjoying a few butterbeers by the lake, fishing, or playing a few rounds of Exploding Snap.
But no, with exams approaching, the students couldn't loiter outside. They had to stay in the castle and force themselves to memorize the contents of their textbooks.
Even Fred and George, who usually loved mischief, started to study hard, rushing to the library whenever they had free time.
The fifth-year students had to take their O.W.Ls (Ordinary Wizarding Levels)
, and their future freedom to research Weasley joke products depended on their performance in this exam.
Kyle wasn't any more relaxed than his classmates.
It wasn't because of the exams, but because he finally received a response about the essay he had written for Transfiguration Today during the holidays.
After such a long wait, Kyle had assumed that his essay had been rejected.
But after a Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall revealed that his final evaluation would be on the day of the exam.
If he passed, his essay would be published in the latest issue of Transfiguration Today.
So, recently, Kyle had been studying books related to Transfiguration.
In this tense atmosphere, a month quickly passed.
During exam week, the castle was unusually quiet, and at lunchtime, many students complained about the difficulty of the exams.
Especially for Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall had asked them to transform turtles into rabbits...
"The rabbit I transfigured couldn't run at all. How scary..."
"Yours is still better than mine. Mine still had the turtle shell. I'll definitely lose marks for that."
After lunch, everyone immediately went back upstairs for their Charms exam.
However, Kyle had just reached the second floor when Professor McGonagall called him over. She looked somewhat agitated.
"The professors have agreed that you don't need to take the upcoming Charms and Herbology exams," Professor McGonagall said. "Come with me. You have something more important to do now."
"Did someone from Transfiguration Today come?" Kyle asked as he followed.
"Yes," Professor McGonagall replied. "The exams for the fifth and seventh years won't start until three in the afternoon, so they have time now."
"Are you nervous?"
Kyle shook his head.
He had been preparing for a month, and as long as they didn't deliberately make things difficult for him, there was nothing to be nervous about.
Inside the room, three people were sitting and chatting merrily.
Two middle-aged wizards in their fifties and a stooped, elderly witch sat between them.
Despite her advanced age, the witch looked surprisingly spirited, although her face was full of wrinkles.
Upon the door opening, she first glanced at Professor McGonagall before her eyes quickly shifted to Kyle beside her. "Minerva, I presume this must be Kyle, right?"
"You are correct, Professor Marchbanks," Professor McGonagall replied, turning to Kyle. "Kyle, this is Professor Griselda Marchbanks from the Wizarding Examinations Authority..."
"Wrong, Minerva, wrong!" Professor Marchbanks interrupted with a smile. "I'm not here for the fourth-year exams. For the next hour, I am the editor-in-chief of Transfiguration Today."
She then turned to Kyle and said, "You know why you've been summoned here, right, Miller?"
"Yes," Kyle replied. "It's for the assessment of the Most Promising Newcomer Award for Transfiguration Today."
"That's right," Professor Marchbanks said. "No need to be nervous. If you truly wrote that essay, this assessment will be simple and quick—it could be over in as little as ten minutes..."
"However, before we begin, I must explain something," she said, pausing briefly before continuing. "We've been busy with something else very important these past few months, so the assessment that was supposed to take place during the Christmas break had to be postponed until now."
Kyle nodded, indicating his understanding.
Moreover, if she had come during the Christmas holidays, she probably would have made the trip for nothing.
At that time, he had been at Nick's house, which was not easy to find for most people.
...
Without further ado, Professor Marchbanks cut straight to the chase.
She took out a stack of parchments from a box on the table.
"First, please summarize the main core of your essay."
"The stage differences between partial transfiguration and multiple transfigurations..." Kyle replied without hesitation.
A few minutes later...
"Very good," Professor Marchbanks nodded, pointing to a teacup on the table. "Now, please transfigure this teacup three times... This is to confirm whether you truly possess the ability to perform those experimental proofs."
"No problem," Kyle said as he drew out his wand and pointed it at the teacup.
The teacup first transformed into a wine goblet, then into a slipper... a teapot... a quill... and finally, a piece of parchment.
In total, he performed five transfigurations, two more than what Professor Marchbanks had asked for. Although the final parchment looked a bit off, resembling a block of hardwood, it was still enough to astonish the others.
The two middle-aged wizards even stood up in surprise.
"Are you really just a fourth-year student?" one of them asked incredulously.
"I can vouch for that," Professor McGonagall assured them.
"Remarkable," the other wizard exclaimed. "I dare say that even most outstanding graduates wouldn't be able to perform five transfigurations."
As they spoke, Professor Marchbanks had already put away the parchments back into the box.
"Congratulations, young man. You've passed the assessment," she said with a smile. "Now, off you go to your exam. You should still have enough time."
Kyle was a bit taken aback. Was that it? Had the assessment really ended in less than ten minutes?
However, he was relieved to have passed, so he simply thanked them and turned to leave the room.
As Kyle's back was to the room, Professor Marchbanks seemed to suddenly remember something. She called out, "Wait..."
Kyle turned around at the door.
"You'll be in your fifth year next year, won't you? Can you tell me when your birthday is?" Professor Marchbanks asked.
"End of July," Kyle replied.
Professor Marchbanks nodded without saying anything further.
After Kyle left the room, she turned to the other wizard and asked, "Audrey, what was the age limit they decided on? Seventeen?"
"It hasn't been decided yet," Audrey replied thoughtfully. "Most people lean towards sixteen, but last week, someone suggested that fifteen would also be fine, and they gained support from a portion of the group. Now they're hesitating."
"Oh, they changed it again? Who suggested that..."
"Chris," Audrey said. "He's the deputy director of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."
...
(End of Chapter)
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