Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts (TL) Chapter 597

Chapter 597: The Real Dream (2 in 1)

Hermione was unfazed by Ron’s self-deception and simply grunted in response as they returned to the common room for a short break before turning back to the great hall in ti for lunch.

During the lunch hour, the four House tables reappeared.

Hermione asked after they settled down at the table, “By the way, why were you nearly late this morning?”

“You an that,” Harry wolfed down his mashed potatoes, his mouth stuffed full, “overslept.”

“Everyone’s overslept?” Hermione looked surprised, were these boys in such a good state of mind, the girls’ dormitory was full of people who had insomnia all night.

“Yeah.” Harry said vaguely, moving the pumpkin soup near him in passing, and Ron responded by waving a sausage.

While it was true that forgetting to set the alarm wasn’t a smart thing to do, but given how spontaneous it was, the five of them in the dorm decided in unison to forget that it had even happened, and at least they got plenty of sleep and woke up the next morning with tons of energy, which Harry believed was more than enough, wasn’t it the case?

The fact that Neville’s scream was the first thing that woke the others up was proof of that.

Professor Hap did not turn up for the afternoon Charms Practical exam.

“He’s lecturing the fourth years.” Terry Boot, a fifth year Ravenclaw student, said to Harry and the rest of the boys, “I saw it when I passed by.”

The students in the entrance hall preparing for their exams were putting up their final struggle.

Ernest Macmillan and his friend Justin Finch-Fletchley were quizzing each other about common incantations, reciting them as they made rapid spell-casting gestures that looked like so sort of comical dance; Parvati Patil and her twin sister stood left and right on either side of Lavender Brown, staring blankly and mumbling, Lavender looked like she was on the verge of a ntal breakdown, looking pale with an amulet clutched tightly in her hand.

Every ti Professor Flitwick ca out to call a small group of people away in alphabetical order, the students in the entrance hall looked up in a panic as if Professor was taking them to so horrible and dangerous place.

Harry’s exam order was sandwiched between Hermione and Ron, and when his na was called, he followed the Patil sisters straight inside, only to be pulled back by the short Professor Flitwick at the door. “Professor Tofty is available now, Potter.” Flitwick, who nearly fell backward with him, said under his breath.

Harry hurriedly said sorry and trotted inside.

The great hall was not decorated as it was in the morning, with only seven or eight tables arranged in the centre with an examiner sitting behind each one. Harry knew Professor Tofty, he had just t him in the morning, so he walked up to the old male wizard with the least visible hair, and Professor Tofty lifted his wide glasses from the roster to scrutinize Harry.

“Is that Potter? The famous Potter? Now, I’d like you to make this egg cup to do so flips for …”

Outside the great hall, Ron and Dean ca together to chat in whispers.

They were both fairly far back in the alphabetical order by na, almost last in the group, and neither was in much of a mood to look over their notes as the crowd continued to decrease.

“I wonder what will be on the test? The people who went in never showed up again, it’s really strict.”

“Probably so basic spells, levitation charm, summoning charm, make a teacup grow legs, that sort of thing.”

Dean glanced quickly from side to side to make sure no one was paying attention to them before he lowered his voice and said to Ron, “I’ve heard that … you can get extra points for good performance.”

Ron’s spirit perked up, “Tell more elaborately!”

“I’m not really sure,” Dean said uncertainly, “I heard from soone else … that if you master any particularly advanced magic, you can take the initiative to show it and the examiner will give extra points at his discretion. ”

Ron sighed and said pessimistically, “That’s a privilege reserved for good students.”

“True,” Dean agreed, and looked at Ron sympathetically, “Hanging out with Harry and Hermione must be a lot stressful in general, right?”

“Yeah … wait, what do you an?” Ron turned red.

“Oh, uh,” Dean, who realized that he had slipped a tongue, held up his hand and whispered soothingly, “You actually do better than most, it just doesn’t stand out since you’re always with Harry and Hermione … one is first in every subject from the year one, and the other one can’t find a rival in practical class.”

Ron’s face cald down a little, and he grunted, “Actually I’m not that good … cough!” Despite saying this, his eyes glowed with excitent, and he looked at Dean expectantly, as if silently urging him to say more.

The pressure now shifted to Dean’s side, and he changed the subject stiffly, “By the way, do you think illumination counts as advanced magic? That’s ancient magic-”

Ron looked a little disappointed, but he couldn’t force Dean to complint himself.

He shook his head, “It probably doesn’t count, everyone in the Magic Rune Club knows illumination, rember the day the army of Inferi attacked the school? How many balls of light were above our heads then.” He lanted.

“It would have been the case two years earlier, but now? I bet there are at least a hundred students in the school who know this magic.”

The two n beca even more downcast as Ron finished.

There weren’t many people left in the entrance hall now, and they stared at Zacharias Smith, who was talking loudly in front of the Hufflepuff House Hourglass, so mont later Dean looked away and said, “I wish I could punch him in the nose.”

Ron grinned, “Man, I’ve wanted to do that for a long ti.”

Zacharias Smith, of course, was unaware of Ron and Dean’s prickly comnts, he was speaking rhetorically in an arrogant sarcastic tone, “Oh co on, is this test even difficult?”

” Damn it, he hasn’t even mastered the Patronus Charm.” Ron said contemptuously, looking at Dean, whose expression had suddenly beco rigid, so he asked curiously, “What’s wrong?”

“You just said, said-” Dean asked in an extrely weak tone.

“What.” Ron was puzzled over the comnt, when a silvery magic spread out from the great hall, a huge pillar of light completely engulfing the students still in the entrance hall with a sweeping montum.

He saw Dean’s mouth open wide in surprise at first, then the pessimism that still lingered on his face was swept away.

Ron reckoned he had the sa look on his face. “It’s Harry’s Super Patronus!” He said in a sowhat exaggeratedly perky voice, pivoting on his toes as he peered into the great hall, which appeared very quiet, and just as Ron was surprised that the Patronus Charm had failed to garner the full attention, there was finally the sound of chaotic commotion heard from inside.

“Looks like the Patronus works after all.” Ron said contentedly, listening with pleasure to the exclamations from the examiners, “I almost forgot, I know this magic too.”

…

“The exam was interrupted for ten minutes because of you.”

Ron said to Harry, who had left early, in the common room after that day’s exam was over, “But also thanks to your Patronus, I was in great shape for the exam.” He furrowed his eyebrows halfway through the sentence, “Too bad that bugger got a dose of it too.”

“Who are you talking about?” Ginny, who was preparing for her final exams, asked.

“Zacharias Smith.” Ron said without thinking.

“Oh, him.” Ginny pouted as she rembered, “He’s been pestering and Luna about a few club events, asking questions with a condescending attitude and making fun of Luna’s adornnts.”

Harry looked conflicted, he acknowledged that Luna had a lot of individuality, but he wouldn’t praise her aesthetic, but who made him find Zacharias repulsive too, so he agreed, “Yeah, he’s really annoying for sure.”

As they prepared for their next day’s Transfiguration exam, Harry’s mind was filled with complex spell models and theoretical explanations, and he could never understand one question: how could turning a toad into a mouse possibly occupy an entire chapter of the textbook? Moreover, Hermione had managed to compile a dozen parchnt of notes from the textbook, and she had even managed to pull out three essays she had written in the past.

So when he heard soone at the door shout “Harry – there’s soone looking for you -“, his first thought was that he could finally get so air. As he passed Fred and George’s table, the two of them were playing wizard cards with Lee Jordan and discussing in whispers as they played.

Fred waved lazily at Harry in a gesture of greeting.

“Aren’t you guys going to review?” Harry asked.

“We have a clear understanding of how good we truly are.” George said.

Well, Harry thought unconvincingly, then you must not know that Mrs. Weasley would always ask about both of you incidentally whenever she wrote to Ginny. He pushed open the door with a stifled feeling and heard the Fat Lady chatting enthusiastically with a familiar voice.

“Yes, I went to see it … giggle … The painting was huge, I guess it must be about twenty feet long … Violet was with when I went, and the students did a good job painting it, it was very grand … as expected of Dumbledore, he beat the Dark Lord into submission … giggle …”

Harry glanced backward at the Fat Lady’s portrait as he exited through the round cave like entrance and unsurprisingly saw so bottles of alcohol piled underneath her figure inside the portrait, her face flushed as she seed unaware that soone had co out, and mumbled under her breath.

“… I just can’t figure out why there’s a Niffler standing so conspicuously in it …”

“Professor?” Harry exclaid in surprise when he saw the person at the entrance.

Felix nodded at him, “Co with Harry.”

Harry followed the professor with so anxiety, secretly rumming through his mory for any serious mistake he could have made to get the ever lazy Professor Hap to find him at the door. He guessed that there might be sothing serious going on, and they ca to a dark corridor where the professor, who was walking ahead of him, stopped.

“You have shocked the examiners collectively with your performance today.” Felix smiled, “That Patronus was far more intensive than what they knew.”

“Well-” Harry didn’t know how to respond.

“I need a favour from you.” Felix said bluntly.

“Okay.” Harry asked with a nod, “What is it?”

“For a certain reason, I’m hoping to gather so emotions, your emotion.” Felix inclined his head towards him, ” To do that, you need to use your unique Patronus, rember not to let the magic burst out like it did during the day, it would draw too much attention … summon it quietly and leave the rest to .”

When Harry returned to the common room, the shock on his face had not subsided.

“What’s wrong? You look like you aced an exam-” said Ron.

“That was Hermione.” Harry retorted subconsciously.

Hermione raised her eyebrows and glared at him, and Harry imdiately corrected his words, “Slip of the tongue.” Ginny and Ron burst out laughing.

“It was Professor Hap who called ,” Harry described to them what had happened when they had settled down, “He said he needs my Patronus …”

The few of them listened quietly, and after he finished Ron asked incredulously, “You an Professor Hap put your Patronus in a glass jar?”

“Shhh.” Harry said hurriedly, “Keep your voice down.”

“Didn’t he tell you why?” Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head. “No.” He said honestly.

“That’s odd,” she rubbed her head softly with one hand, “given the Professor’s character, if it is for so sort of magical experint, he’ll be more than happy to tell you the circumstances and maybe pull you into the research, unless it has to be kept secret.”

“That’s what he said to ,” Harry instantly said, “Keep it a secret for now.”

“Probably doesn’t want to distract us, we’ve got exams tomorrow.” Ron guessed.

“But the Professor asked to go over to him every night for a while and use the Patronus once.” Harry comnted how normally the Patronus would dissipate on its own if he actively cancelled the magic, but the Professor had preserved the emotion and the magic in so way he couldn’t understand – Harry guessed it was probably so kind of device like a Dentor capture cage – -he felt strange at the thought of having a row of his own Patronus in the Professor’s office for a few days.

“If it’s like what you described, it must be serious and urgent.” Hermione said with certainty.

They spent a bit of ti guessing the reason why the professor is doing this, but there were too few clues available at hand.

“Could it be sothing to do with the person He … Who Must Not Be Nad?” Ginny interjected in a whisper.

Harry’s heart pounded, but there was little support for this speculation, and they ended up going back to their boring revision, Harry yawning as he flipped through Hermione’s Transfiguration notes, the clarity of mind that had been brought on by witnessing Professor Hap scooping up his Patronus using a wide mouth bottle reverting to hazy state.

After the Transfiguration test, the third day was devoted to Herbology, followed by Defence Against the Dark Arts. Sirius stood at the door cheering each of them on. “What if we don’t do well on the test?” A student asked timidly after giving Sirius a high five. “Don’t worry, I won’t be your professor by the ti you get your results,” Sirius said as he bared his teeth, ” No need to worry that I’ll be chasing after your arse chanting hexes.”

After Friday’s Ancient Rune exam, Harry and Ron talked privately and both agreed that they would get at least two ‘Outstanding’.

One in Defence Against the Dark Arts and one in Ancient Rune.

“That’s a good start, I’m sure you’ll be more confident for the next week’s exams.” Hermione said calmly as she leafed through her book.

Harry and Ron were playing wizard cards, which they had borrowed from the Weasley twins, the wizard cards had been modified by the two, and when Harry used a ‘Disarming Charm’ card, an illusory red light sent Ron’s knight’s armour flying.

While Ron was drawing his cards, Harry leaned forward and took the exam titable from the table, “Let’s see what’s on the schedule for next week – Monday, Potions; Tuesday, Care of Magical Creatures; Wednesday, er, that’s a bit of a tough day, with an Astronomy theory exam in the morning and a Divination class exam in the afternoon, and it’s not over yet. … There’s a Practical Astronomy exam at 11 pm.”

“I’ve always wondered why you guys haven’t given up on Divination class yet. Even if Trelawney can make prophecies on extrely rare occasions, there’s no denying that what she usually teaches is rubbish.” Hermione asked pointedly.

“Listen to , Hermione – oh, Weather-Modifying Charm, Harry, you are lost.” Ron said after a mont of silent reminiscence of victory, “We made up nonsense for three whole years just to score a spot to the Divination class O.W.Ls exam-”

Seeing Hermione trying to interject, he said quickly, “If you’re in luck, this class will add an O.W.Ls certificate for you – even if you didn’t know anything about it, I seriously an it!”

Harry hadn’t expected Ron to make so sense out of it, and he thought hard for a mont; a large part of the reason he was still taking Divination class was due to habit, and another small part was because he had personally heard the prophecy that Trelawney had made.

Despite the low probability, Harry had a glimr of hope: what if he could hear another real prophecy? But if there is a next ti, he hopes that Trelawney will be more precise in her descriptions, without being too vague, such as giving the exact date of Voldemort’s death …

The days passed and the students finally went to their last exam.

Harry opened the History of Magic test sheet on the single table and skimming through the questions according to his usual habit, his head imdiately buzzed. The stack of History of Magic notes he had borrowed from Hermione in the morning was desperately trying to slip away from his mind, and he didn’t bother to look at the back, as he tried to write a few more questions before he forgot all the complicated nas and dates.

He glanced hastily at the lectern, where Professor Hap was slouching in his chair, seemingly distracted.

‘It certainly is a good day to be lazy.’ Harry thought with indignation.

After another ten seconds or so, he realized that he hadn’t finished a single question, so he quickly looked down to answer the questions. As Harry had predicted, he ran into trouble with the ti and the nas of historical figures and events – especially the nas of the Giants, Goblins, Trolls, and Centaurs, which were both tongue-twisting and lengthy, and Harry suspected that the historians of that ti had been lazy and translated them directly from their grunts and groans.

For almost two hours Harry fought against his drowsiness.

When Professor Tofty, who was already very old, slowly told them that there were only thirty minutes left, Harry sighed in resignation and stopped thinking about what had happened in the dispute between Liechtenstein and the trolls and flipped the question sheet to the front, where a few questions remained unanswered.

He stared at the fourth question – ‘In your opinion, did the wand regulations contribute to or helped to better control the Eighteenth Century Goblin Rebellion?’

Harry struggled to get his numb brain to function, the sand from the ti keeping hourglass on the lectern leaked down unhurriedly, the sun was shining just right outside, it was a perfect June-ish weather, but he had to sit in a stuffy great hall and think about the Goblin Rebellion… Harry’s consciousness was growing fuzzy, his head dropping uncontrollably towards the table, the corners of his mouth leaking suspicious water stains … He found himself looking at Headmaster Dumbledore’s face, which was no longer gentle, and the dark blue eyes behind the half-moon shaped lenses did not have a spark of joy that he had seen in previous days. He looked gloomy and solemn.

He waved his wand wildly, and the power of the spell made Harry’s heart skip a beat as rows of stones ca towards him with masses of grass and mud like the whole earth was being dragged and slamd into him.

But Harry didn’t flinch.

A dazzling green light poured from the wand he held in his hand, with ghostly silhouettes forming in the green light. He could feel his face reveal a hideous grin as he spoke in a tone that filled with overwhelming excitent, “The curse is not pleasant, is it, Dumbledore?”

“Show what else you can do, or you’re dead today!”

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