Chapter 333: School-year examinations

Unlike Hermione, Ginny and Luna, Cho Chang was a sentimental girl.

Besides magic and Quidditch, she also cared about a lot of things, like an ordinary Muggle girl, not a wizard.

She told Ivan a lot, words that Hermione would never say.

This feeling was very special. It deeply impressed Ivan, making him feel some affection for the beautiful girl.

But Cho Chang visited him only once. Hagrid came often. Because of the Acromantula business, he had been in a bad way recently. He looked haggard and always shouted without warning.

He was back to the way he looked before Buckbeak was condemned.

Until now, he was the only person who insisted that Aragog was harmless.

In Hagrid's words, Aragog was different from other Acromantulas. The attack was not his intention, but his children acted on their own.

Ivan did not know how to comfort Hagrid, but he kept his promise to deliver Aragog to him. Without the help of dark energy, this old spider could not live long at all.

After seeing Aragog in the bottle, Hagrid cried again with Ivan in his arms, thanking him endlessly for saving his "friend".

Dumbledore had told Hagrid that Aragog's lair had completely collapsed.

He thought Aragog died inside, and didn't expect Ivan to get him out.

To thank Ivan, Hagrid went to the school hospital many times after that, and brought him Aragog's latest news, as well as homemade rock cakes and fruit pies.

What these cakes had in common was that they were all as hard as rocks.

Ivan would never touch them, because he wasn't trying to get rid of his teeth.

In fact, he no longer cared about Aragog and the Acromantulas. After this incident, the Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest also suffered severe damage.

The number of surviving spiders was very small, and Ivan estimated that they would not be able to recover their losses for the next ten years.

Due to the surge of magic, Ivan remained in the infirmary for a long time.

With the help of the strange ability contained in the Slytherin locket, his current magic level was very close to that of Sirius and Snape.

Considering his magical and practical skills alone, he could easily graduate from Hogwarts.

In Dumbledore's words, besides Tom Riddle, Ivan was already the best student at Hogwarts for centuries. Dumbledore allowed Ivan to leave the hospital after checking that there was no problem and repeatedly warned him to use his power carefully.

By then, it was already June.

Now, the days became clear and casual, and what everyone wanted to do was stroll around the gardens and flop on the grass with several pitchers of ice-cold pumpkin juice, perhaps playing a casual game of Gobstones or watching the giant squid's tentacles appear across the surface of the lake.

But they couldn't. Exams were about to arrive, and instead of lounging outside, the students were forced to stay inside the castle, trying to bully their brains into concentration as the tantalizing waves of summer air rushed in through the windows.

The party that greeted Ivan outside the hospital was also much smaller than expected.

Everyone drank a few glasses of juice in the common room and Percy kicked them out.

Percy was getting ready to take his É.X.T.T.A.S.S.I.S, the highest qualification Hogwarts offered.

Everyone knew he wanted to get into the Ministry of Magic.

Therefore, he needed top grades. He was becoming increasingly nervous, and would severely punish anyone who disturbed the tranquility of the common room in the evenings.

Because of the upcoming exam of the school year, everyone was nervous and busy. Even Fred and George didn't have time to do their pranks; the new product research was on hold.

They could only be seen studying; they were about to take their T.I.M.O.s (Indispensable Degree in Ordinary Magic).

Led by Hermione, Ivan, who had just been discharged from the hospital, quickly entered a state of intense study.

He was surrounded by Harry, Ron, Colin and others with the same sad faces.

Exam week began and an unnatural hush fell over the castle.

The first exam in the second and third years was Transfiguration. The third year started first. His task was to turn a teapot into a turtle.

Having just arrived in the Transfiguration classroom, Ivan saw that the third years came out of the Transfiguration class, dejected and with pale faces.

They were comparing results and lamenting the difficulty of the tasks they had been assigned.

"Well, Hermione?" Ivan saw Hermione come out inside.

"Not so good, my turtle looked more like a tortoise," Hermione said with a great fuss, "Professor McGonagall will deduct points from me..."

"You're already so good, Hermione!" Harry said weakly, "At least you have the turtle. If I could have the same, I'd be satisfied. Mine still had a tail nozzle, what a nightmare..."

"Were turtles supposed to breathe steam?" said Ron, "Let's hope so."

"Unless Professor McGonagall is under a confusion spell, she won't believe it." Hermione waved at Ivan, "See you in the Great Dining Hall later. We're going to take the incantation exam."

After saying goodbye to Hermione, Ivan went to class with the other second year students.

Professor McGonagall stood solemnly at the side of the podium, and exuded an invisible pressure.

She gestured and asked everyone to turn the beetles on the table into buttons.

It was also the content of first-year Transfiguration, which was much easier than turning a teapot into a turtle.

"Just concentrate, wave your wand gently and think about what you want to do in your mind." Ivan finished just as Professor McGonagall's voice dropped.

She turned the black scarab in front of her into a delicate bronze button with exquisite and intricate decorations.

"Well done, Mr. Mason!" Professor McGonagall's face wore an uncharacteristic smile, very proud of her student. "With all the notes, no problem."

The other young wizards looked enviously at Ivan and the button in front of him before waving their wands. No one could do it as well as Ivan. Transfiguration was the hardest of all the courses in the lower years. Colin spent a lot of time there, working out with the beetles.

The beetle ran around the table, hiding from the wand and couldn't point it at him.

A Hufflepuff student was even more unfortunate. When he grabbed the escaping beetle, he accidentally squashed it.

Professor McGonagall was not happy that she had to ask for another one.

At that moment, many people began to admire Ivan's strength.

During the remaining time, Ivan, who had nothing to do, took out the History of Magic textbook and looked through it for a while. His second exam was History of Magic.

Professor Binns' questions were always very difficult. Even Hermione, who had memorized the entire contents of the book, wasn't sure if she would get top marks.