Chapter 76: Sinistra

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Fawkes perked up and soared out of the open window.

'A friend of his perhaps?' Dumbledore thought as he rose and went over to the window, where his eyebrows climbed up his wizened forehead as he watched Fawkes and a pure white phoenix fly straight into the window of the Ravenclaw tower that he knew to be the nearest to Harry Potter.

Turning around, he quickly cast a Patronus with a flick of his wand and spoke a message to it.

"Elphias, I regret to intrude my friend but I have to ask you to send me the Mirror of Erised. I will answer any of your questions when I come over to pick it up. Say hello to little Emily from me."

Sending the Patronus away, he went on to write the last of the letters to his teachers, each detailing the final series of traps to be set for the Philosopher's stone.

Although he was apprehensive about Quirinus's trolls, he felt sure that the alerting charms on them would allow him to quickly save Harry if he couldn't handle that part of the traps.

Besides, Quirinus had assured him that they were the most docile trolls he had ever seen, and Dumbledore had no reason to doubt his old friend and employee.

The Philosopher's stone had always been meant to be a test for Harry Potter's strength of magic and knowledge, but the Mirror would add a necessary test for his character as well.

Dropping into his Occlumency barriers, Dumbledore started planning out when and where he would drop the clues for Harry to get him interested in protecting the stone.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of the next week passed without any real excitement.

Most of the class was still stuck with transfiguring needles and matchsticks back and forth, so Harry's transfiguration skill hadn't leveled up anymore. Neither had his Charms skill.

Due to excessive amounts of schoolwork and research, he had relegated all the grinding and training to weekends. He had learned many new spells though and considered that a good flip side to all this.

Thursday night brought with itself some interest and relief from the boring rhythm that Harry had fallen into.

Astronomy was famous for being one of the most mediocre classes in all of Hogwarts. Not too good and not too bad. Rarely anything interesting ever happened.

Thus, Harry was quite surprised when in his second class, instead of just Professor Sinistra standing on the podium, there was another witch in black robes standing with her.

And what's more, all first-year students from all houses were there, waiting impatiently for whatever big announcement they had all been gathered for.

Intrigued, he sat down near the front and looked forth with interest.

After the entire class settled down and the buzz of curious murmuring ceased, Professor Sinistra spoke, "Welcome, welcome. You spent most of your first class here memorizing and learning the basics of the Astronomy class. Incredibly boring, I know, I know."

Some of the students chuckled, clearly agreeing.

"But I'm afraid it was necessary. For any of you to understand how today's class could impact your magical education, you needed to be well versed in the basics. I'll let Professor Vector take it from here."

The witch in black robes stepped up to speak, "All of you here have been aware of the magical world for at least a month now. In this time, you have done your research and seen the various cultures and traditions of the wizarding world.

The reason why you were taught the basics of Astronomy in such a hurried manner is that today, your second Astronomy class, is scheduled to be your first Ministry approved W.O.M.B.A.T test."

A nervous chattering filled the entire class. The chalk rose from the teacher's desk without any volition and started writing.

Wizards' Ordinary Magic and Basic Aptitude Test.

A test; a surprise test; by the Ministry! While Harry knew that while he was smarter than most people in the room, even he couldn't help but feel a bit nervous about this test.

Ping!

Quest Alert!

Score the highest in the WOMBAT!

Rewards,

1000 exp

25 house points

Failure,

Loss of reputation in Ravenclaw

YES/NO?

Harry pressed YES.

"Now fear not," Professor Sinistra assured the nervous students, "The test will only ask questions about the basic knowledge of the Wizarding world and the very basics of the subjects you have covered at Hogwarts in the past two weeks.

Think hard before answering and do not guess your answer. A wrong answer will have a negative marking of 1 mark, a right one will get you 4 marks and an unanswered question will get you none. Do. Not. Cheat. This exam will affect your end of the year grade, so be careful."

"And as an added incentive, since this exam is being conducted much earlier than usual this year, the highest three scorers will earn 25 points each for their house." Professor Vector added with a smirk, "You have five minutes to prepare yourself, you will be provided with quills and answer sheets so please put all your belongings in your bags."

There was a shuffle as students rushed to put everything away. Professor Vector waved a wand and all the students' bags flew and piled onto Professor Sinistra's desk. Another wave and any bits of paper or anything in the students' pockets came flying out. They were pretty strict on the no cheating policy.

A final wave and the exam papers appeared on the students' desks.

"Good Luck. There are 15 questions and 30 minutes. Begin."

Harry quickly flipped to the first question.

Part One - Magical Law

Which Ministry of Magic department(s) and/or committee(s) would you contact to resolve each of the following dilemmas? (Questions 1-3)

1. Your neighbour is concealing a stash of flying carpets, some of which he is allowing to fly loose around his back garden.

This one Harry knew. He quickly wrote down 'Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office'.

2. Your friend C possesses a Muggle Penny Farthing (old bicycle) that has been enchanted to skim an inch above the ground, achieving speeds of over 100mph.

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