Harry Potter and the Way of Reason

1992. 6, 4

Daphne Greengrass is writing a letter to her lord mother in the Slytherin common room (although she does not exercise control within Hogwarts at all, she is surprisingly stubborn in refusing to share power).Just then, she saw Draco Malfoy staggering through the portrait door with perhaps a dozen books in his arms, followed by Vincent and Gregory, each holding With more than a dozen books.The Auror who was in charge of escorting them poked his head in for a look, then disappeared into nowhere.

Draco looked around for a week, seemed to have thought of a brilliant idea, and staggered towards her, followed by Vincent and Gregory.

"Can you read these books for me?" Malfoy asked, his voice a little breathless, as he approached.

"What?" The lessons were over, all that was left was the exams, and when did the Malfoys ask the Greenglasses for homework?

"These," Malfoy said solemnly, "are the books that Miss Granger checked out from the library between April 4st and April 1th. I want to go over them in case I miss any clues, It didn't occur to me until just now: since you know Miss Granger better, maybe you can help."

Daphne stared at the books, "The general read all these books in two weeks?" She felt a twinge in her heart, but she held it back.

"Ah, I don't know if Miss Granger has read them all," said Draco, holding up a finger cautiously, "actually, we don't know if she's read any of them." Books, or whether she actually checked them out. I mean, we just observed that the library records said she checked them out—”

Daphne held back a howl.Malfoy had been talking like this for weeks.Some people obviously shouldn't get involved in a murder mystery because it does weird things to their heads. "Mr. Malfoy, even if I don't do anything all summer, I can't finish reading all these books."

"Let's go through it a bit, then, okay?" Malfoy said, "especially those, you know, cryptic sentences written in her handwriting, or bookmarks in books, or—"

"I've seen that kind of drama too, Mister Malfoy." Daphne rolled her eyes, "We don't have Aurors to deal with--"

"We're screwed!" screamed Millicent Burst, rushing from the lower room into the Slytherin common room.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to her.

"It's Professor Quirrell!"

The atmosphere suddenly became tense due to everyone's concentrated attention, because the long-standing controversy was finally about to be settled. "Ah, it's finally here," someone said while Millicent was trying to catch his breath. "He has a few days left, maybe ten days, should he be bad?"

"Eleven days," said the gambler's seventh grader.

"He's getting better all of a sudden and he's about to call all the first graders for the defense final exam! Pop test! It's in 50 minutes!"

"End of Defense?" Pansy said blankly, "but Professor Quirrell never gave us a test."

"It's the Ministry of Magic Defense Test!" Millicent screamed.

"But Professor Quirrell didn't teach anything in the Ministry of Magic textbook!" Pansy protested.

Daphne had fled into her room, running to the first-grade Defense textbook she hadn't touched since September, screaming curses in her head.

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At a desk behind her, someone was weeping, their low sobs becoming the background chant of despair in the classroom.Daphne glanced back, expecting to see a Hufflepuff and hoping it wasn't Hannah, only to find that it was a Ravenclaw, which surprised her at first (although after a moment of thought she no longer in this way).

Before them lay parchment papers, back side up, waiting for the bell.

Five 10 minutes is not enough prep time at all, but at least it's better than nothing.Daphne felt ashamed at this point because she hadn't thought of sending Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Gryffindors a warning.Three days ago, in early June, they resumed awarding house points to the houses, but the Auxiliary Guard Special Committee should still continue to promote inter-house solidarity.

The other Ravenclaw, four desks to her left, was also crying.That was Catherine Dong from Dragons -- if she recalls correctly, she'd seen her one-on-one against three Sunshine Soldiers without flinching.

After the first few minutes of frantic reading, Daphne calmed down.It's just an exam, not a murder or anything.If all the first-year students turned in near-zero papers, it would make sense that no one would be ashamed.But the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs might not see it that way - Daphne could understand them, though not yet to the level of sympathy.

"He's an evil man," said another Ravenclaw witch in a trembling voice, "a [-] per cent dark wizard to the bone. The Dark Lord Grindelwald wouldn't do that to children. He's more mysterious than People are even more terrifying."

Daphne reflexively looked at the place where Professor Quirrell was sitting, his body slumped to one side, but his eyes were alert; she felt as if she saw the defense professor's smile for a moment.No, that could only be her imagination, the Defense Professor couldn't have heard those words just now.

The bell rings.

Daphne turned the parchment over.

The top is stamped with the seals of the Ministry of Magic, the Hogwarts Board of Trustees and the Department of Magical Education, as well as runes to detect cheating.Below that was a horizontal line for her name, a list of exam regulations and a picture of Lindsay Gagnon, Head of the Department of Magical Education, waving an admonishing index finger at everyone.

In the middle of the test paper is the first test question.

The topic was: Why is it important to keep children safe from strange creatures?

There was a pause.

A student started laughing, which she thought was from the Gryffindor area.Professor Quirrell didn't stop, so the laughter spread.

No one spoke, but the students all looked at each other, exchanging glances as the laughter faded.As if some silent agreement had been reached, they looked together at Professor Quirrell, who was smiling benevolently at them.

Daphne leaned over her paper with a defiant, evil smile that would have made Godric Gryffindor or Grindelwald proud.She wrote: Because my Stunning Charm, my Ancient Sword and my Patronus are not immune to everything.

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Harry Potter turned to the last page of his Defense paper.

After reading the first real question ("How do you quiet a screeching eel[1]?"), even Harry needs to work down a little tension, a little bit of fear from his childhood.Professor Quirrell's course spends next to zero time on some startling, yet worthless, trivia that some idiot's imagined "defense class" should teach.Theoretically, Harry could have used the Time-Turner to read through his first-year defense textbook after learning about the pop exam, but that would have unfairly skewed someone else's grade curve[2].After staring at the question for a few seconds, Harry wrote down the "Silencing Charm" and then added the casting technique in case the Ministry of Magic graders didn't believe Harry could cast it.

The exam went much faster when Harry decided to just get every question right.The most practical answer to more than half of the questions is "Stunning Curse", and the optimal answer to many other questions is almost "Turn around and go in the other direction" or "Throw away the cheese and buy a new pair of shoes". .

The final question on the exam was "What should you do if you suspect a goblin snake[3] under your bed?" The answer in favor of the Ministry of Magic, which Harry remembers reading through the textbook for the first time at the beginning of the year , is to tell your parents.Harry realized the problem as soon as he saw the answer, which is why Harry can still remember it now.

After some deliberation, Harry wrote:

Dear Ministry of Magic grader: I'm afraid the real answer to this question is a secret, but rest assured: a goblin snake will give me no more trouble than a troll, a dementor, or You-Know-Who.Please inform your superiors that I think your standard answer is biased against Muggle-born wizards, and I hope this error can be corrected before I further directly intervene.

Sincerely, The Boy Who Lived.

Harry signed his name in cursive on the last piece of parchment, turned it reverse side up, put down his quill, and sat up straight.

Looking around, Harry saw that Professor Quirrell seemed to be looking in his general direction, although the Defense Professor's head was already tilted to one side.Other students are still writing hard.Some people are weeping silently, but they are still writing.Constant struggle is also a lesson taught by Professor Quirrell.

After what seemed an infinitely long time, the official exam time was over.In Professor Quirrell's place, a seventh-grader walks from desk to desk collecting test papers.

When the last parchment was collected, Professor Quirrell sat up straight.

"My young students," he said softly.The seventh-year student pointed her wand at the Defense Professor's mouth so that his voice sounded in the students' ears, "I know...that might be scary for some of you... ...unlike facing a wand of the enemy...you have to overcome the two fears separately. So I...tell you now. The custom at Hogwarts...is to grade the grades in the second week of June. But As far as my situation is concerned... I think they can make an exception." The defense professor smiled a familiar dry smile, this time with an expression that seemed to hold back pain, "I know you are worried... ...you guys are not ready for this exam...worry my course didn't cover it...and I forgot to mention...the exam is coming...although you should know...it's coming. But I just Checked with magic... on that special, very important final exam... the answers you gave... of course, although the Ministry of Magic gave the official grades... and gave the semester's total grade including this grade ...and magically wrote your total grades on the parchment paper," Professor Quirrell tapped the stack of parchments by his desk, "and will now send them to you...a wonderful Curse...isn't it?"

A few students on the Ravenclaw side looked a little aggrieved, but most looked relieved, and some Slytherins were chuckling.Had it not been for the pain of watching Professor Quirrell gasp out the words, Harry would have laughed along with them.

The seventh grade student standing next to Professor Quirrell pointed to her wand and said a Latin-like spell.The parchment rose, floated in the air, and flew towards each student separately on the way.

Harry waited for his parchment to fly to his desk, then opened it.

The parchment says EE+, meaning better than expected.This is the second highest grade of achievement - the highest being Distinction.

In another world, a world gone and gone, a little boy named Harry would cry out indignantly about getting the second highest grade.This Harry sat quietly, thinking.Professor Quirrell is making a point with this score, and accurate grades are useless in other ways.Is Professor Quirrell trying to say that Harry is doing relatively well, but hasn't reached his full potential?Or was the grade to be taken literally and Harry had actually exceeded the Defense Professor's expectations?

"All of you...passed." As the students looked at their final grades, there were sighs of relief from the desks, and Lavender Brown clutched her parchment victory When the ground was held high, Professor Quirrell said, "All the students in the first-year combat magic class passed...except one."

Some students looked up in sudden terror.

Harry sat quietly.He knew it right away, and even if it was a wrong view, he knew that never, never would anyone be able to convince Professor Quirrell not to say it.

"All of you in this classroom...have at least achieved a 'Pass' grade. Neville Longbottom...had taken this exam at Longbottom's home...and received a 'Distinction' grade. But another A student who wasn't there...got a 'terrible' grade on her record...for failing the only test that mattered...the test she had this year. I should have given her a lower grade ...but that would be indecent[4]."

The classroom was quiet, although many students were staring angrily at the professor.

"You may feel that the grade 'poor' is...unfair. Because the exams Miss Granger faced...her courses...are insufficiently prepared for her, or because she wasn't informed about the...test That day will come."

The Defense Professor drew a shaky breath.

"That's the reality," said Professor Quirrell, "the only exam that matters... could happen at any time... you guys are better prepared than she is... and as for the rest of you... got 'exceeded expectations' Students with grades or above... will receive a letter of recommendation from me...to certain organizations outside the UK...where you will be able to complete your training. When you are old enough...if still worthy... ...if you don't fail an important exam...they will contact you then. Remember...start today...you must hone yourselves...you can't rely on...future defense professors. Your first year My combat magic class is over... class is over."

Professor Quirrell sat back with his eyes closed, seemingly oblivious to the excited cacophony erupting around him.

After most of the students had left, one student stayed and kept a distance from the defense professor.

The defense professor opened his eyes.

Harry held up his parchment with EE+ written on it, without saying a word.

The Defense Professor smiled, a smile that stretched across his tired eyes.

"Same grades... as I got in my freshman year."

"xi, xi, xi," Harry couldn't say the thank you, the words stuck in his throat.The defense professor tilted his head and looked at him questioningly, so Harry bowed staggeringly and left the classroom.

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[1] Screeching Eels, from The Princess Bride, made into a film in 1986

[2] A grading system, students' grades are calculated with relative scores, not absolute scores, so HP is worried that if he does too well in the exam, it may have a bad impact on other students' scores

See: en.wikipedia/wiki/Grading_on_a_curve

偏度，zh.wikipedia/wiki/%E5%81%8F%E5%BA%A6

[3] Bogeyman's stalk, see en.wikipedia/wiki/Bogeyman

[4] In the original, the lowest score worse than "terrible" is "Troll".After Hermione was killed by a troll, a netizen on Reddit once said, "Ah, Hermione got a troll." The author EY sighed below, "This is the saddest comment I've ever seen."