The Pacifist Necromancer of Hogwarts

Chapter 342: Defense Against the Dark Arts Exam
While OWLs and NEWTs were going on, other professors were able to teach other grades as usual, which Anthony found quite admirable.

He especially admired Professor McGonagall, because she had just finished a Transfiguration class for the third grade, and had to deal with Fred and George who were caught by Filch, and then she got the news that Umbridge had put Colin Creevey in detention; after that, she also severely reprimanded and comforted two or three students who were almost collapsed because of the exam, and rushed to the school hospital without stopping, and learned that they had fought again because Draco Malfoy made a vicious joke about house elves, Muggle-borns and having no parents to Harry, Ron and Hermione. Madam Pomfrey angrily told Professor McGonagall that everything could not be smoother thanks to the famous Professor Gilderoy Lockhart who was the first professor to arrive at the scene.

By the time Anthony went to invigilate the written exam for the Defence Against the Dark Arts OWLs, he could hardly believe that exam week was finally coming to an end.

The chief examiner was Professor Tofty, who was introduced by Professor Flitwick. The old wizard appeared in the hall almost silently, threw the box of test papers on the table in the front row, and then looked around the empty hall, nodded to Anthony who was standing in front of the staff seat, and asked him to distribute the test papers to each single table.

Anthony walked through the aisles, feeling Professor Tofty's gaze lingering on his back. When he had distributed all the test papers, Professor Tofty waved his wand, and pieces of parchment flew out of the box, landed beside the test papers, and then slowly rolled themselves up.

"Let them in," said Professor Tofty, sitting down in the staff seat. His voice was hoarse and more vague than Anthony had imagined, with an old man's tremor at the end of each word.

"Okay, Professor Tofty," Anthony said, opening the door to the auditorium.

The fifth year Hufflepuffs were called into the Great Hall first, followed by Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.

"Please make sure you do not bring anything into the examination room that may violate the Wizarding Examinations Authority," Anthony said as they rustled into their seats. "The written examination will be from 9:30 to 11:30, with a practical examination at 2:30. Please write your answers on parchment, not on the examination paper..."

After a while, everyone was quiet. Professor Tofty turned over a large hourglass on the staff seat - several students were startled and seemed to notice him only then - and the exam began.

Anthony stood beside the staff seat for a while, unsure whether he should sit next to Professor Tofty and look down at the students answering questions like him, or patrol the examination room like an invigilator. In the end, he walked quietly from one end of the auditorium to the other, passing over the students' hairy heads, curiously peeking at this year's OWL test questions.

The first question is: 1) List three environments where Boggarts are likely to exist; 2) Describe the five characteristics of Boggarts; 3) Write a spell to expel Boggarts.

Anthony stopped behind a student who had taken Muggle Studies and watched him write on parchment: "Boggarts tend to live in particularly dark places." Then the student pondered for a while and added, "For example, cabinets, including cupboards, wardrobes and bookcases."

He paused, then rigorously added the numbers "one, two, three" in front of "cabinets, wardrobes, and bookcases."

Anthony walked away.

Ian Williams answered "where moss grows, where foxes grow, and where those black and white elves grow." He drew a very sloppy annotation for "black and white elves." Anthony identified it for a while, but still couldn't be sure whether this elf really had five heads.

While Ian was drawing, a student next to him whom Anthony did not know had already finished answering the question, "How to fight against the weak-foot curse." Anthony paused for a moment beside the student, admiring how the small and neat words flowed quickly from the tip of the quill.

As he reached the center of the hall, he saw that Anne Scott had answered even faster than that. While her classmates were still racking their brains to come up with a recipe for hinkypunk, she had already started to "list nine dark creatures that live native to Britain and how to resist them." Anthony stood behind her and watched for a moment - he deliberately studied her spelling of "funny funny" to confirm that it was the same as he remembered. The answers of the others almost made him doubt that he had made a mistake. It was not until Anne turned around and glanced at him with dissatisfaction that he continued to walk forward.

The hall was filled with the rustle of quills on parchment. Light shone in from the tall windows, dividing the tables in the staff seats into warm light brown and dark brown in the shadows. A student sitting in the sun scratched the back of his sunburned neck irritably and pulled his wizard robes up to block out the bright light.

"There is still one hour left before the exam ends." Professor Tofty said.

There was the sound of flipping papers. Everyone was checking how many questions they still had to complete. After that, the rustling of quills became noticeably more rapid.

Anthony returned to the staff room, found a chair by the side, and sat down. Professor Tofty looked at him scrutinizingly over the top of his pince-nez and turned his head away. Anthony had a strange feeling: the old wizard was still looking at him.

But this was impossible, because it was now Professor Tofty's turn to walk down from the staff seat and walk around the seats. Anthony could see him with his hands behind his back, his head down, studying a student's ink bottle. The student was so nervous that his whole body was stiff, but he still found a clever gap between Professor Tofty's nose and the mouth of the ink bottle, put his quill pen in, and dipped it quickly.

Professor Tofty nodded encouragingly, turned around and left.

The two-hour exam was over quickly. Professor Tofty used a very accurate Summoning Charm to collect all the parchments and left the school without saying anything to Anthony. Although he was reluctant to admit it, Anthony had to say that he was indeed relieved.

Several students who had become familiar with him stayed in the hall to ask how they were doing. They all saw Anthony wandering around, studying their answers. Anthony had a hard time getting them out.

The auditorium finally became empty again.

"It's almost lunch time." Anthony said to the tables as Professor Sprout instructed.

There was a snap, and a dozen house-elves suddenly appeared in the corridor. They bowed to him merrily and immediately set to work happily.

The tables and chairs staggered up into the air and suddenly turned into hundreds of candles. The ink spots and footprints on the ground were swept away like a strong wind. The magic that displayed the weather outside reappeared on the ceiling, and the long tables corresponding to the four colleges suddenly appeared in their usual positions. Then, the benches fell from the sky and hit the side of the long table, and then quickly straightened up under the command of magic. As the elf raised his arms, countless plates appeared on the long table.

"Be careful, Professor Anthony!" warned a house-elf.

Anthony stood still, watching the rows of silver knives and forks swimming around him like fish, landing next to his plate with a clink, sparkling in the sun.

"That's amazing." he exclaimed.

But the elves were not done yet. They adjusted the magic on the ceiling so that the simulated sunlight would only shine warmly on the tables and chairs, not making people feel uncomfortable. At the same time, they placed a bowl of cheese salad every few seats on each table as a summer appetizer, and quickly wiped all the benches with water to make them shine beautifully in the sun.

Just then, someone knocked on the auditorium door.

"Not ready yet!" Anthony shouted out the door. The house-elves sped up their movements. The napkins flew in the air, making people dizzy.

The knocks on the door became more rapid, louder, and more impolite. Anthony walked to the door with some concern and unlocked it. The house elves completed their arrangements with amazing speed, bowed to him again, and hurried away.

Bang! The door was knocked open.

Anthony was startled and took a half step back. A magic wand was pointed directly at his nose.

"What—" He said halfway, and then he saw three people standing outside the door. The owner of the wand was a scary wizard with gray hair, scars all over his face, a crooked mouth, and a nose that seemed to have been gouged out. But the most terrifying thing was his eyes: one of his eyes was very small, staring at Anthony sternly, and the other bright blue eye was very large, turning around in its eye socket frantically, scanning the surrounding environment.

"Good afternoon, Professor Henry Anthony," the wizard said gruffly. "It looks like you won't be able to have lunch for a while."

Anthony looked behind him and realized that it was Scrimgeour. Scrimgeour looked stern, met his gaze, and coughed twice in embarrassment. Anthony turned his eyes and found another person who looked familiar, but he could not remember who he was for the time being.

"What happened?" Anthony asked, looking at Scrimgeour.

At the same time, the man whose name Anthony could not remember said, "Well, Alastor, put your wand down for a moment. We both know it's useless."

The wizard who had pointed his wand at Anthony turned his head in annoyance and looked at his companion, his blue eyes still fixed on Anthony.

"Come with me, Professor Anthony," Scrimgeour said stiffly. "We'll find an empty classroom. You're charged with suspected possession of an unregistered Dark item - and theft."

(End of this chapter)