Chapter 11: Trials

(October 4, 1991)

 (General POV)

 "You don't think he was serious when he said we could die in these trials, right?" Helga asked fearfully to her three friends. "Given who exactly it is we're dealing with, it's a very real possibility." Salazar answered calmly as they all made their way to the third floor of the castle.

It was the day before the unveiling of Savrin's new trials for the school, and by their misfortune, they were sentenced into suffering through the first test run so Savrin could fix any little hiccups before the rest of the students got to try them out.

"Come on! This might be fun, so let's not look at it like a punishment!" Godric said cheerfully, however he looked anything but cheerful. It was obvious he was trying to not let himself get put down, even if he was marching to his death.

"Only you, Godric, could act like an imbecile in this situation. Truly, I envy your stupidity sometimes." Salazar remarked just as they crossed the threshold onto the third floor.

 "Oh good. You've all arrived. About time too, because it won't be long now before the rest of the students get to experience this for themselves." The voice of Dumbledore spoke from the shadows, however none of them were fooled to believe that the old man standing before them was anyone but the demonic entity they knew and feared.

"What are you talking about? It's 5:00 am. Everyone else is still sleeping. And it's a whole day before they even have to suffer through these!" Rowena said, not understanding just what Savrin was talking about.

"Ah, that is true. However, everyone is curious, some more so than others, and for the last month, I've had to place enchantments around the place to keep some children out of here. Those Weasley Twins have come almost daily to try and get in. If I didn't enjoy seeing the new ways they attempted to get past me, I would have probably killed them ages ago." Savrin said nonchalantly, acting as though getting rid of two teenagers wasn't a big deal.

"You wouldn't really kill them would you?" Godric asked, wondering if Savrin was actually serious, or if he was just joking.

"No, I'd most definitely kill them. At the very least I would cripple them to the point where they couldn't do magic. I instructed them to stay away, and they disobeyed me. Rules are there for a reason, and if you can flaunt them without punishment, what kind of message does that send to everyone else? No, death would be a good lesson for everyone else to listen to my instructions." Savrin answered, earning loud audible gulps from all four of the children.

They'd at least hoped Savrin would have some compassion, but it seemed they'd forgotten just what kind of monster they were dealing with.

 "Now then, let us begin the testing." Savrin said happily, ignoring the grim atmosphere he had created only moments earlier. Leading the four of them down the hallway, they found themselves standing in front of seven large doors, and from left to right, they were numbered from 1-7.

"I've read through the course materials for each subject for each year, and I think I've managed to create a few trials that will better prepare the students, or at the very least, open their minds to the idea of change. A student can only enter the door for whatever year they are in, which I think is pretty straight forward. As for the trials themselves, they range to all sorts." Savrin explained, intriguing the four of them.

 "There are Practical trials, however they are relatively simple for first and second years, but once you get to third year and on, one is able to enter the combat trials, and will be able to increase the difficulty of the trials if they so choose to better test themselves, and for better rewards."

That was good to know, however Rowena wasn't sure how Savrin was going to teach all of this to hundreds of children in a day without someone getting hurt in the trials. There were bound to be those who just went into the trials without a whole lot of thinking, and injury or death was a very strong possibility.

 As if reading her mind, Savrin said, "If one has questions about how the trials work, one need only ask. I've set up a communication relay that is very similar to the A/C devices, however this one has a mind of its own. Sort of anyway. It can be programmed with knowledge, and can answer questions regarding any information that it knows, up to some degree of course. One thing however, it can't learn on its own."

It was like a magical A.I. that was limited to the trials, and could only answer questions that it had information on, or questions relating to the information Savrin programmed into it. For instance, they couldn't get answers on the whereabouts of certain people or get information relating to certain people either.

If the question someone asked wasn't taught at Hogwarts or relating to the subjects taught at Hogwarts, the A.I. probably wouldn't be able to answer, and if one kept trying to fool the A.I., it would automatically eject them from the trials.

 "Incredible! How does it work?!" Rowena couldn't help but ask. "All in good time, Rowena. If in 10 years you are still alive, I'll show you the enchantments behind A.U.R.A. and how it is possible to make it better." Savrin answered, getting a confused look from all four of them.

"What is A.U.R.A?" Helga was the first to voice what they were all thinking. "It is the name for the program. Or the shorthand name of it. AURA itself stands for:

 Ask

Understand

Refine

Act

 "You ask it a question, or multiple questions so you can hopefully understand whatever the hell it is you're trying to figure out, then refine your way of thinking or actions to better fit the situation, then act accordingly. It made sense for its purpose, and no one ever bothered to try and find something better, even after a thousand years of it being improved upon." Savrin finished, and though he answered the question, he gave them all hundreds of more questions they wanted to ask him.

Rowena wanted nothing more than to sit down with Savrin for a year or two just to pick his mind so she might better understand how magic really worked.

 "Anyway, should the trial be too difficult for someone to complete, they simply run out the hour that each trial is allotted, or they say, "I GIVE UP THIS TRIAL!". If by some chance they fall unconscious, that will also force them out of the trial, but you'd have to be pretty stupid for that to happen." Savrin said, which made them all subconsciously let out a breath of relief.

They actually thought they might really die in these trials, so knowing that they could get out by uttering a simple phrase was a weight off their shoulders.

 "You said at the ceremony that there would be rewards for completing the trials. What kind of rewards are they?" Godric couldn't help but ask anxiously.

"Well, it differs depending on which year you're in. For instance, a first year could get a silver Sickle or two for doing extremely good on a challenge, whereas a seventh year, if he or she completed the tasks like a true mage should, they could get anything ranging from a new broom, a sack of gold, a new wand, new clothes, or they can request help in certain areas where they feel they are lacking. It all depends on what the trial gives them."

The way Savrin explained it, it was like the trial itself would judge the student entering, and based on how well they performed, it would decide what reward best suited them, which honestly, was exactly the case.

 "Alright now, we'll start each of you on the first year, then work your way up." Savrin said happily, which confused Godric and the others. "But you said we could only enter the trial for our year. How are we going to go through the other doors?" Salazar asked.

"The magic keeping the students from entering the doors above or below their years works by reading their magic and their bodies as they touch the doors. Given how your magic goes back over a thousand years, and how your bodies are that of eleven year-olds, I'd say you'll be able to enter all of them." Savrin informed them all, smiling as he did so.

 "So which of us is going to go first?" Rowena asked, looking pointedly at Godric. Salazar and Helga were also staring at Godric, however before he got a chance to say anything, Savrin spoke up once more.

"You seem to misunderstand something here. Ten students can take each trial at any given moment, so seventy students in total could take the trial at the same time. Otherwise it would take days or weeks for students to be given the opportunity to test their abilities. It was all I could work out on such short notice while not sacrificing the qualities of the challenges, but next year I'll be able to work around the limit, while hopefully being able to refine the challenges."

None of the four seemed all that happy that they didn't have to wait to go into the trial, but at least they didn't object to it.

 Jumping up and down on the tips of his toes, Godric psyched himself up a bit, then moved for the door with a big number 1 printed above it. 'May as well get this over with.' Salazar grumbled internally as he moved to follow Godric. Helga and Rowena both looked far less inclined to enter the door, however they eventually did so.

 -------

 (Salazar POV)

 Entering the room, Salazar expected to see Godric, who entered only a second or two before him, however he found himself standing alone in an extremely bright white room. It was honestly hard to tell where the walls or ceilings were, and after looking behind him, he realized that he couldn't even find the door he had just entered.

Turning back to the white expanse, Salazar saw a pedestal a few feet in front of him, and hovering above it were numbers counting down. At the moment it was at 59:58, and after remembering how Savrin said one could wait out the hour that each trial was given, he realized that was most likely what it was, meaning that once it reached 00:00 he would be ejected from the trial whether he had finished or not.

 Moving over to the pedestal, Salazar looked at what appeared to be a screen with two different buttons. The top button had the word 'Theoretical' written on it, while the bottom button had the word 'Practical' written on it. Choosing the safer of the two options, he pressed the top button, and suddenly the screen changed.

Where once there were two buttons, there were now seven words written, each word being one of the first-year subjects. Charms was at the top of the list, and it was also the first class he took since the year started, so he concluded it would probably start with charms.

After it was DADA (Defense Against the Dark Arts), Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, Astronomy, and finally History of Magic. 

 A few seconds after pressing the 'Theoretical' button, and moments after reading the list of subjects, the pedestal quickly sank into the ground before the room began to shift. Where once was all white, was now a classroom, though it was a bit different compared to the ones in Hogwarts.

The floor was a marble gray with a small table in the middle of the room with a chair next to it. The room was large, with shelves filled with books and trinkets, however one important thing it did not have was a door.

Walking over to the one window to the left of the room, Salazar peered out, and to his surprise, he saw the grounds beneath the castle, which was confusing to say the least. While he knew the sun shouldn't have risen just yet, there floating high in the clear blue sky was the bright ball of light shining down on him.

 Salazar marveled at the room for a few seconds before moving to the shelves, then tried to pull one of the books off of it, however the books refused to budge. It took a minute before he realized that everything in the room was fake, and that he was in the middle of a trial. Moving to the chair, Salazar took a seat and at once words began to appear on the white-board at the front of the room.

 {What is the incantation for the lighting charm?}

 Finding the question to be rather simple, Salazar looked around for something to write on, but after not finding anything, he spoke, "Lumos". The question on the board disappeared and was replaced with another.

This went on for a little more than five minutes with Salazar answering the questions just as quickly as they came. Before long the subject changed to DADA, and a few minutes later it changed to Transfiguration.

There were no questions he couldn't answer, however he felt like some of the questions that were being asked were muddling his mind, which was weird considering he knew he was answering them correctly. He supposed he would need to ask Savrin about that after.

 Towards the end of the trial when the questions were all about History of Magic, Salazar finally began to not be able to answer some of the questions, but it wasn't so bad because when he found that he didn't know a question, he could just call out, "PASS!" and a new question would appear.

Sure he had to get a new question more often than not, but he wasn't doing too bad considering he didn't know shit about most of the History for the last one thousand years.

 One thing he took note of relating to the questions for Potions and Herbology, the answers from Savrin's revised books also got him a check mark on the questions, and when he did answer with Savrin's corrected notes, the feeling that was muddling his mind didn't happen, but was actually replaced by a warm feeling in his chest.

He wasn't sure if the trial was causing those feelings, but he knew he could ask Savrin about it after. One thing this told him about the questions, there was more than one right answer to them, and hopefully some answers would be better than others, but he would have to wait until the rewards before he could ask about that.

 Salazar had been in the room for about 50 minutes when the classroom shifted back to being the all white expanse. Looking at the pedestal with the timer on it, Salazar saw that it was at 10:26, which meant that he had hopefully completed the trial. He watched as the numbers on the pedestal changed, showing the subjects floating above it.

 Charms- (O+) Outstanding

DADA- (O) Outstanding

Transfiguration- (O) Outstanding

Potions- (O+) Outstanding

Herbology- (O) Outstanding

Astronomy- (O) Outstanding

History of Magic- (D) Dreadful

Total score- 91%

Overall rating- (E) Exceeds Expectations

Looking at the rating for each subject, Salazar was quite proud of himself, that is, until saw his score for History of Magic. Having his overall rating reduced so much because of one subject was ridiculous, but seeing as how he couldn't do anything about it, he decided to drop the matter.

Waiting patiently, while grumbling about how stupid History of Magic was, Salazar watched the screen shift once again, only the words on it dramatically brightened his mood.

 {Calculating rewards:}

 -8 points to Slytherin House

-6 Sickles

-1 bag of assorted candy from HoneyDukes

-1 chocolate frog

As far as rewards went, it was fairly good considering this was just the First-Year trial. The house points and candy would have been good enough of an incentive for most children, but the Sickles were like icing on the cake.

Salazar wagered that most students, no matter which year, would do the trials as many times as they could while they attended Hogwarts because it would be a good way for them to earn some money.

Hell, if one was smart enough they could earn enough money to really set themselves up for when they finished school or if they were coming back the following year, they could buy all of their next-year's school supplies with the money they earned.

 After grabbing his rewards that appeared atop the pedestal, Salazar found himself back out in the corridor where the doors for the seven trials were. He wasn't at all surprised to see Rowena standing there, and judging by how she was munching on a bag of candy, he assumed that had also been one of her rewards from the trial.

"You did the Theoretical Trial too, right?" He asked her, getting a nod in response. "What score did you get, and what was your reward?" He couldn't help but ask. "I got a total score of 95% with an (E) for my overall rating. For my rewards, I was given 9 house points, 6 Sickles, a bag of candy, and a chocolate frog. What about you?" Rowena said.

 Salazar was annoyed that Rowena had done better than him in the trial, but to be fair, she had always been smarter than the rest of them, intellectually anyway. When it came to interacting with creatures or people for that matter, Rowena was kind of an idiot, and that was putting it nicely.

"I got a score of 91% with an (E ) for my overall rating. As for rewards, 8 house points, 6 Sickles, a bag of candy, and a chocolate frog." Salazar admitted unashamedly. "You failed History of Magic too, huh?" Rowena asked. "Yeah. Granted the year's just started, so it's understandable that we wouldn't know it, but it's still annoying." Salazar grumbled.

 The two of them stood there in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Helga suddenly appeared between them. "Where's Godric?" Was the first thing she asked after seeing them. "Still inside. Knowing him, he most likely took the Practical Trial." Rowena said. "Ah, that does sound like something he would do. So I assume both of you took the Theoretical Exams too?" Helga asked them.

After telling her their scores, Helga said, "I didn't do too bad. I got a total score of 86% with an overall rating of (E ). As for my rewards, I got 8 house points, 6 Sickles, and this delightful bag of candy. I got a chocolate frog too, but I assume it came from the bag of candy."

 It wasn't until the hour had come to a complete end before Godric appeared, looking kind of disheveled. "What in Savrin's name happened to you?!" Helga asked with widened eyes. "If you're like this after the Practical trial, how does Savrin expect a normal student to pass?!" Rowena practically shouted.

Instead of overreacting right away, Salazar, who knew Godric better than anyone in the world, simply asked, "What did you do this time?"

 Looking between them all, Godric began to recount his trail.

 -----------

 (Godric POV)

 Entering into the room, Godric found that he was alone in the all white expanse, however he didn't dwell on it for more than a second before he moved over to the pedestal where he saw the numbers counting down from an hour.

Seeing the two buttons, Theoretical and Practical, he didn't hesitate in the slightest before pushing the button that read 'Practical'. As smart as he thought himself to be, he would much rather be moving about instead of sitting at a desk all day.

 After choosing the practical trial, the screen changed, showing a list of the first-year subjects taught at Hogwarts. He didn't care much which order it went in, so hoping to hurry it along, he touched the spot on the Pedestal that read "CHARMS" and at once the pedestal sank into the ground and the room began to shift, Godric merely waited for what was coming next.

Where once was the white expanse was now replaced with what looked to be a stage, but the odd thing was that it was outside. There wasn't a building around, and the sky above him was clear blue without a cloud in sight. There wasn't even a breeze.

 Looking to the other end of the stage, Godric saw a wooden training dummy with a fake wand in hand. Focusing on it, he saw words appear above its head.

 {Levitation Charm}

 Shrugging his shoulders, Godric waved his wand at the dummy before it began to rise into the air. Just because he could, he moved it around for a few seconds in a figure-eight pattern before he returned it to the ground. As soon as the dummy touched the floor, more writing appeared above the dummy.

 {Reach the top using only the Levitation Charm.}

 He wondered what the hell he was supposed to do when he looked around and saw that the surroundings had changed somewhat. Or that something had been added would be more correct. At the far end of the stage there was a circular pillar of stone that was about 70 feet in height, and all around him on the ground were boulders and boards lying around.

Having been instructed to only use the Levitation Charm, Godric waved his wand around to all the objects, and at once they all began to float upwards, creating a floating staircase of sorts. It didn't take him very long to climb the stairs and reach the top, but as soon as his foot touched the top of the pillar, he found himself standing back on his side of the stage and the pillar and the objects were gone.

 Shrugging his shoulders, Godric looked to the dummy that was back on the far end of the stage. A new charm was written above it.

 (Wand Lighting Charm}

 'Lumos!' Godric mentally commanded, and an instant later the tip of his wand lit up. Looking back over at the dummy, Godric saw his next task.

 {Find the puppet.}

 Again Godric wondered what he was supposed to do, but suddenly his whole world turned black, like someone had snuffed out the sun and stars, making the only way he could see was by the light at the end of his wand.

Realizing that this was a test, he immediately got to work. Using a little trick, he shot the lighting spell in directions all around him, however they would only go about 20 yards before they fizzled out, but it was still enough light for him to see in all directions for a good distance.

After casting his sixth ball of light, Godric saw a shadowy figure not too far off to the right of him, and without pause he rushed over, and sure enough he found the dummy.

 Godric went through all the charms that he guessed were going to be all the charm spells taught to the First-Years over the course of this year. None of the charms were all that difficult, and it all went by fairly quickly, the longest charm taking him only 2 minutes to complete.

That wasn't a big deal, though if the other courses all took as long as this one, there was very little chance he would be able to get through them all. DADA and Transfiguration went by just as quickly as Charms, however when it got to potions, Godric was surprised when a table appeared with eight cauldrons atop it.

 {Identify each potion}

 The words appeared above the table, and without hesitation, Godric stepped forward and began to examine each potion. The first one was easy, it being Wiggenweld Potion that any wizard or witch with half a brain would know.

The next one was a Herbicide Potion, one that Professor Sprout had shown during the last Herbology Class. Honestly if Godric had to rely on Snape to teach him any of this then he would have been doomed, which was sad considering every other Student at Hogwarts did rely on the bully.

 Once he had identified each potion, the training dummy from before appeared next to the table, only instead of standing, it was laying on the ground. The dummy itself was an enchanted piece of wood, so it alarmed Godric when he noticed boils begin to form on its face.

Without even thinking, he grabbed the Cure for Boils Potion then administered it to the dummy. It was something else entirely to watch a wooden object suddenly lose its boils.

 Before he could celebrate having cured the wooden puppet, it began to convulse and a white foam began to come out of its makeshift mouth, which again was weird, but Godric didn't let that deter him.

After a grueling few minutes of saving the poor dummy with all of the potions he had identified earlier, Godric watched it disappear with a full set of hair, compliments of the Hair-Raising Potion. Honestly he felt the poor dummy got the short end of the stick, having to suffer all those poisons to only get a head of hair as its reward. "So long you brave piece of wood." Godric said with his head bowed low in respect.

 When the planter boxes appeared, Godric had to identify each plant, which wasn't so bad. However when the wooden dummy with a full set of hair appeared, Godric felt his stomach drop. Mortified about what was coming next, Godric sighed as he moved to save the poor struggling piece of wood from the Devil's Snare.

"It'll be alright Woody! Hang in there!" Godric cried out as he held the puppet's hand while at the same time his wand moved to cast the Lumos.

 When the trial moved onto Astronomy, Godric was relieved that things would be far less hectic, however just as he was about to identify a constellation, the room suddenly shifted back to the all white expanse.

"SAVRIN YOU DICK! How the bloody hell am I suppose to complete the whole fucking trial in just an hours time?!" Godric cursed aloud. To his surprise, he actually got an answer to his question, however it wasn't from Savrin.

 {You have completed the trial in the allotted time. What is your confusion?}

 The words floating in the air a few feet in front of his eyes were alarming at first, and it was only then that he remembered about AURA, as Savrin had called it. For some reason it said he completed the trial, but he knew he didn't make it through all the subjects on the list.

Not wanting to go back and forth with some weird A.I that wouldn't give him a straight answer, Godric decided to wait and ask Savrin about it.

 Sighing, Godric took what felt like the first deep breath since this trial started, then ran his fingers through his hair to wipe away some of the sweat. He had been moving quickly so as to race against the time limit, and had really tired himself out. Moving over to the familiar pedestal, Godric looked at the writing on the screen.

Charms- (O+) Outstanding

DADA- (O+) Outstanding

Transfiguration- (O+) Outstanding

Potions- (O+) Outstanding

Herbology- (O) Outstanding

Astronomy- (T) Troll

History of Magic- (T) Troll

Total score- 500%

Overall rating- (O+) Outstanding

Godric wasn't sure how he did so well considering he failed not just one class but two, but he hoped to figure that out once he was outside of the damn trial.

{Calculating rewards:}

-58 Points to Gryffindor House

-2 Galleons and 16 Sickles

-5 Bags of assorted candy from HoneyDukes

-5 Chocolate frogs

He had no idea how the hell Savrin could justify giving a reward like that for a First-Year trial, but he wasn't going to complain about it. The House points would be a good addition, though given how Snape took points from Gryffindor House daily for simply breathing, he doubted they would last very long.

The money was nice, and if children were getting paid to take the trial, Godric figured there wouldn't be any difficulty in getting them to do the trials. The candy was a good touch too, though Godric wondered why the Chocolate Frogs were separated from the bags of candy.

 Hoping to get a break before the next trial, Godric grabbed his reward off the pedestal, then suddenly found himself back outside the room where the others were all waiting for him. 

 ----------

 (General POV)

 "Well done! I must say, I was impressed with all of you!" Savrin said after materializing in front of them, still looking like Albus Dumbledore. As soon as he appeared he looked over to Godric, then slapped him upside the head. "Insulting me will not gain you any favors. Besides, you had nothing to complain about."

Evidently, Savrin had heard Godric insult him, as well as watch the entire trial. "Now that you've all completed the first trial, are there any recommendations or changes you would suggest I make before tomorrow's opening?" Savrin asked them.

 Salazar, Rowena, and Helga didn't have anything to add or remove from the Theoretical trial, however Godric had quite a few things to say.

"First off, there isn't a human being, let alone a First-Year student alive who could complete the Practical trial within the time limit. I was racing as fast as I could for most of it, and I barely made it to the Astronomy portion. Secondly, maybe give a description about what each trial is going to entail at the beginning so students aren't lost when the lights shut out on them, or you know, when a puppet starts convulsing on the ground. A little too realistic there, wouldn't you say?" Godric said, giving his two knuts on the matter.

 "Godric, when you entered the trial, did you even bother reading the words on the pedestal before you started the trial or did you just rush in?" Savrin asked exasperatedly. "I read every word that appeared on the pedestal. It just said either 'Theoretical' or 'Practical', then showed me a list of the subjects the test would be on." Godric answered.

"No, that's how the 'Theoretical Trial' works. The 'Practical Trial' has you choose the subject you want to be tested on. If you complete the subject before the end of the trial, it moves on to other subjects so you can get bonus marks, however you can simply tell A.U.R.A that you want to be done and be removed from the trial. You chose Charms first, and completed the trial in just over ten minutes. Everything after was a bonus score, hence why you got 500% instead of just 100%. Had you actually waited for the words to show instead of clicking buttons before they even finished forming, you might have known that."

 Godric simply stared at Savrin for a moment as he processed the new information he had just been told, and only then did he shrug his shoulders.

"Alright, fine. Yeah, a First-Year should be able to get through all, if not most of a subject in an hour's time. But you should have A.U.R.A let whoever is taking the trial know when they finished, and maybe have the words already be there above the pedestal so they don't just begin pushing the buttons." Godric said, not dwelling on the fact that he had been a little too eager to begin the trial.

"That can be arranged. A description at the beginning of each task isn't a terrible idea either." Savrin said, agreeing with Godric on two matters.

 "Can you get rid of Snape? I feel as though anyone else would be able to prepare the students better than that moron. Had I not read your book, I might have actually failed the Potions portion." Godric finally said, getting nods of agreement from the others.

Sure he was being a little over dramatic, but he wasn't completely wrong. Snape was a problem, one that definitely needed to go if the whispers around the school were anything to go off of. Savrin hadn't actually sat in on one of Snape's lessons, but given how every student besides the Slytherins hated his guts, then there had to be some truth to it.

"Hmm… We'll see. I don't want to get rid of him before I find a replacement for him, so at the very least you all might have to stick it out for the year." Savrin told them. 

 "I have a question. During the trial, sometimes when I answered a question I would get a muddling sort of feeling in my head but other times I would get a warm feeling in my chest. There were times where I wouldn't feel anything at all, and I'm curious if that was all in my head or if it had something to do with the trial?" Salazar asked.

"Ah, yes. You see, I programmed a multitude of different answers for some of the questions because some those are the answers that the teachers are currently teaching the students. However, some answers are better than others, as you well know in potions. That muddling wave that you felt was because there was a much better answer that you could have given. The warm feeling was whenever you gave the best possible answer to the question at hand, and nothing happened at all when you answered satisfactorily, being neither too wrong, nor too correct." Savrin explained, putting Salazar's mind at ease.

 "I have a few questions about the trials." Rowena said. "How does the grading system work in the trials, and who judges them? You're not seriously going to watch every single person who enters the trials right? Finally, how do you decide what rewards to give out?" It was clear by how everyone nodded at her words that they too were interested in the answers.

 "Well, it's funny you should ask those questions. First of all, I do not judge the trials, nor do I intend to watch everyone who enters. I merely watched you four to see how you handled the trials. As for why Godric got such a high score, I believe you should ask her." Savrin said as he gestured to the wall behind them.

They all turned to see a young woman with hair that looked like dancing white flames and eyes that looked like the night sky. She wasn't very tall, but gave off a domineering aura. Her skin was a pale blue, and she was wearing a Hogwarts school uniform, though rather than have a sigil or house emblem on it, the uniform bore the crest of Hogwarts itself.

 "I'm so glad you're all alright!" The woman cried as she stepped quickly towards them before they all somehow found themselves being squished in a group hug. How the little girl managed to pull them all together was one thing, but who she was was the more pressing question.

"Who are you and why are you hugging us?" Salazar asked, though he made no move to get away from her. On the contrary, something about the girl felt familiar and he got that same warm feeling he felt during the trial in his chest just being near her.

"You all created me, Salazar. Can't you tell who I am?" She asked, smiling so warmly at them it was as though the sun's rays were touching them.

 "You gave the school a body?!" Rowena shouted at Savrin, who was merely watching the interaction between them all. "Sort of, yeah. I mean she's still bound to the castle, but she can interact with people if she chooses to." Savrin admitted calmly.

"Incredible." Helga whispered in astonishment. "When and why did you do this?" Godric asked, finding the situation to be a little alarming.

"I did it the night I stole your magic from the school. The school didn't have a way to operate the enchantments without your magic being present, so I gave it the ability to do so on its own." Savrin answered regardless of the fact that he didn't have to.

 "She had nothing better to do during the day besides watch the students, and asked if she could be a part of the trials." Savrin finished. There were a few more questions that were of no importance before Salazar finally asked one that was worth asking.

"What is your name?" Neither the spirit of the school nor Savrin had bothered to ever broach the subject of a name, but now that Salazar brought up the topic, it seemed kind of important. "I don't have one." The spirit admitted.

 Before anyone had the chance to suggest a name, the sorting hat on Godric's head came to life for the first time since the Sorting Ceremony, then shouted, "HER NAME IS ELYSIA!"

 Everyone was quiet for a few minutes as they processed what the hat had said, until finally Godric asked, "Lector, why did you call her Elysia?" Rather than the sorting hat answer the question, the last person/thing any of them expected to answer spoke up.

"The castle has always been Elysia, and it always will be!" Peeves of all things stated as he floated into the corridor. "Elysia! Elysia! It's so goodies to see ya!" Peeves cackled madly. Just then, over a hundred little creatures appeared in the corridor with looks of reverence on their faces.

 """MISS ELYSIA"""

 The house elves all chorused at once, which was again weird. Somehow they all knew what was going on, and all knew to show up at this exact moment.

"Lector, explain!" Godric demanded. "Eternal home and refuge for magic is what she is. Can't be not but Elysia, Master Godric." The hat said, which did nothing to help Godric's understanding about what the hell was going on. The spirit of Hogwarts for her part looked flustered and just as confused as Godric was.

"It means Heaven. Hogwarts is a sanctuary for magical beings, plants, and animals, and most have probably called it Elysia since its founding. Given how the House elves are bound to the castle, I'd say they revere it as their master, hence the reverence in their eyes. Also, considering the fact that a Poltergeist like Peeves should have ceased to exist a long time ago, I'm betting that the castle itself is the reason he's still alive." Savrin explained before shrugging his shoulders. "Very well then. From this day forth, you shall hereby be known as Elysia."

 Godric the others might have argued the name with the hat, Peeves, and the elves, but none of them were willing to argue against Savrin, so after he said it was so, it was accepted by all, including the spirit herself.

"Now that the name is taken care of, I still want to know how you scored the trials, and the reward system you used." Rowena said, getting back onto the topic at hand. As impressed as she was about the spirit of the school getting a body, they were on a time crunch, and as far as she was concerned, they could talk to it- her later. 

 The house elves and Peeves disappeared, while the Sorting hat went back to pretending to be a regular hat, then Elysia turned her full attention onto the four children.

"The 'Theoretical' and 'Practical' Trials are graded very similar, yet very different. For instance, being able to complete it is worth the largest percentage, and completing it before the timer ends will earn you bonus marks. As for house points, in the Theoretical Trial, for every (O+) you were awarded 2 points, and for every (O) you were rewarded 1 point. Anything below (O) is not rewarded house points because as the Headmaster explained, it just isn't impressive, and mediocrity should not be encouraged or rewarded. For every (O) or (O+) one is given 1 Sickle, because again, anything below that is just not noteworthy. As for the bag of candy, so long as a student can get an (A) or above in three or more subjects, I felt they were deserving of some form of reward. And finally, because I'm not a heartless monster, I decided that if a student enters the trials, they will at least be rewarded with a Chocolate Frog." Everyone nodded along, having understood what she said thus far.

"For the Practical Trial, one is simply expected to complete one subject, therefore each subject is worth more than in the Theoretical trial. For every (O) one is rewarded 10 House points and for every (O+) one is rewarded 12. Godric was able to cast every spell wordlessly. That's Sixth and Seventh Year magic, hence the (O+) in every subject he completed with spells. If one is able to get an (O) in a subject, it is deserving of 10 Silver Sickles. Getting an (A) or higher is deserving of a bag of candy. And finally if someone enters the trial, it shows that they at least want to test their abilities or practice, so I decided to reward them with a Chocolate Frog." 

 No one wanted to point out the fact that children could just enter, give up, get the chocolate frog, then do it again and get as many chocolate frogs as they wanted, but they knew it would probably come up in the future. For now they were all satisfied with the grading system, but if they needed to change things in the future, then it wouldn't be too hard.

"Students from fifth to seventh year will only require one subject for the Theoretical trial because they will be going over everything they learned up to that point to better help prepare them for the O.W.L.'s and the N.E.W.T.'s, so they will naturally be graded different. It will actually be very similar to how the Practical trial is graded, only with better rewards." The spirit finished with a smile. 

They all probably would have argued more points, if for no other reason than to kill time, but they had to get finished by the end of the day, and they still had six more trials to undergo. "Well, onto the next one." Savrin ordered, getting sighs from all of them.

 -----------

 (A.N.)

 I know most of you know this already, but I figured it couldn't hurt to say it again. The grades are as follows.

Passing Grade-

O= Outstanding

E= Exceeds Expectations

A= Acceptable

Failing Grade-

P= Poor

D= Dreadful

T= Troll

O.W.L.'s (Ordinary Wizarding Levels)

N.E.W.T's (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test)

Theoretical Trial Grading for First-year

 O+= 2 points Most is 14 or 7. She gave bonus points for having the improved answers, however most students will not reach this score.

O= 1 Point

O or O+ = 1 sickle Most is 7 sickles

Candy for A or above in three or more subjects

Chocolate frog for playing the trial

Practical Trial Grading for First-Year

 O= 10 points

O+= 12 points

O= 10 sickles

A or higher = bag of candy

1 chocolate frog for playing