Chapter 77: Ravenclaw

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C did not personally enchant the Penny Farthing, never rides it and merely wishes to keep it 'for sentimental reasons' as it was her grandmother's. Do you report her?

"The Obliviator people might get involved if a Muggle sees them, but if C isn't going to ride it and only wants to keep it for sentiment, no Muggles will probably see it," Harry muttered before writing down no. There was a chance that this could be a wrong answer, but he had to follow his gut.

The next one was a multiple choice.

3. Which of the following should be most SEVERELY punished by the Wizengamot?

a. The injury of three Muggles due to a poorly performed Forgetfulness Charm

b. The death of a chicken due to a poorly aimed Bat-Bogey Hex

c. The use of the Cruciatus Curse on a shark about to attack a Muggle

d. The use of the Imperius Curse on a Muggle mugger

Harry promptly dismissed (a) and (b). The others involved Unforgivables. Unsure of the comparison between cursing an animal and cursing in self-defense, Harry guessed (d) and moved on to the next one.

4. Which of the following does NOT require a Ministry of Magic license?

a. Crup ownership

b. Sale of magical artifacts

c. House-elf ownership

d. Apparition

Harry knew Apparition did and rationalized that there must be some sort of trade license in the wizarding world. Tossing a mental coin between (a) and (c), he chose (c).

5. Which of the following wizarding laws, in your view, stands in most urgent need of change?

a. The detection of underage magic in all-magic households (currently impossible)

b. The ban on goblin possession of wands (ought to be lifted)

c. The re-classification of centaurs and merpeople (ought to take their views into account)

d. The guidelines on house-elf welfare (need to be enforced)

e. Definitions of 'Muggle-baiting' (needs to be made less stringent)

'Oh.'

Harry suddenly realized what this was.

The ministry diplomats (Harry was willing to bet that Malfoy Sr. was one) were using these tests to vet upcoming young aspiring politicians and their views.

Furthermore, they knew Harry Potter was going to be giving the test, so they wanted to know what he thought about the Wizarding world and how aware he was of it. They wanted information on him so that they would know what buttons to push when he'd enter the political arena.

Harry could bet that his answer to this question was going to be read at the ministry more times and by more people than any other.

"Smart, but about as subtle as a bull in a china shop," Harry muttered and put in the answer they'd expect an eleven years old to put. Option (a) was bubbled.

Ping!

Quest Alert!

Mislead the people at the Ministry who think they can spy on you! The NERVE of those people!

Rewards,

1000 exp

Failure,

Death

WARNING: This quest's acceptance renders Quest: 'Score high in the WOMBAT' null and void.

YES/NO?

That was a yes for sure.

After that Harry carefully nitpicked his answers, doing everything to make it look like an answer sheet written by a ten-year-old muggleborn child who didn't know anything about the wizarding world.

He did answer all the factual questions correctly though. He had to make sure not to sound too childlike, so he made sure to match the Ravenclaw stereotype of memorizing everything.

When he was done, the answer sheet had all the factual questions correct and most of the 'insightful wizarding knowledge' questions entirely wrong. Any outsider who read it would only see it as the answers of a first year Ravenclaw, nothing special.

Answering 'the Kneazle is known to have the ability to detect suspicious or unsavory characters' at number 14 and 'Mercury' to an Astronomy question at number 15, he submitted the answer sheet, which rolled up, magically scored him at 47/60, and flew off to Professor Sinistra, who was collecting and writing down the scores against the student's names.

Just like that his first magical test was done.

Ping!

Quest Completed!

Mislead the people at the Ministry who think they can spy on you! The NERVE of those people!

Rewards,

1000 exp

And just as Harry was reading the message, Professor Sinistra looked up from where she was noting down the scores.

"25 points each to Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy and Terry Boot for the top three scores."

Harry smiled. This was going to be an interesting game. The Ministry had made a move, and Harry had countered and disguised his own attack as a feint. Now all that was left to be done was wait and watch.

Everything returned to normal; or at least what passed for normal at Hogwarts; after that interesting little class. On Friday after finishing up his work and leaving Hedwig to sleep on his bed, Harry left at midnight to go explore the castle.

He had spent a lot of time thinking of the Founder's clues and when he'd start working on it, but he hadn't had the time until this point.

"Oh well, no better time than right now," he told himself as he slipped into an empty ID and made his way over to the entrance hall. What better way to start than the still portraits of the Founders themselves that hung in the Entrance Hall?

The magical processes of preserving a person's essence in a magical portrait hadn't been invented in their times, but the still-portraits hadn't been moved from the entrance hall ever since they'd been put there on the day of the establishment of the school. So if there was any clue to be found, it would be there.

He had slipped out of his ID and had just started scrutinizing the frame of the Ravenclaw portrait when the click-clack of boots filled the entrance hall. Believing it was some teacher or Filch, Harry slipped behind the statue of the one-eyed witch and kept an eye out for whoever was coming.

It wasn't any Professor, nor was it Filch. It was a black-robed figure, around whom the darkness and shadows seemed to coil together, almost as if writhing in agony. Harry stilled as he felt the figure's magic unravel and whip around him.

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