The Admiral of Hogwarts

After Professor Dumbledore announced all the scores, the Ravenclaw table erupted in thunderous cheers and stomping, with even some of the older students abandoning their usual restraint, banging their cutlery against other utensils or the tables.

At the same time, applause broke out at the other house tables. Hufflepuff and Gryffindor were celebrating Ravenclaw's success in breaking Slytherin's seven-year winning streak for the House Cup, while Slytherin was politely offering their applause.

“Yes, yes, well done,” Dumbledore said. “However, some recent events must also be taken into account.” The Great Hall became very quiet, everyone stopping what they were doing and looking at Professor Dumbledore. Veneto looked a little nervous, worried that Professor Dumbledore might be too biased towards Harry and his friends.

This worry was only slightly related to the House's honor; what occupied most of Veneto's mind was concern about the extent of the plot changes. After all, if Gryffindor ended up winning the House Cup, the Fate Points they could obtain this time would definitely be much less.

“Don't worry, the headmaster may be biased, but he still has a moral bottom line,” Hugo said to Veneto through the Admiral Network, while reaching out and taking her hand on the table. “I think the headmaster will give them points, but he will also fairly give us points.”

“Er, er,” Dumbledore cleared his throat, “I have a few last points to award. Let me see. Ah, yes…“First – Mr. Ron Weasley…” Ron’s face flushed red, looking like a sun-dried carrot. “…He won the most brilliant game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, and I award Gryffindor House fifty points for that.”

The Gryffindors’ cheers nearly blew the enchanted ceiling off. The stars above seemed to tremble slightly. Percy could be heard loudly telling the other prefects: “That’s my brother, you know! My youngest brother! He got past Professor McGonagall’s giant chessboard!”

Hugo could feel the tension rising among the Ravenclaw students at their table, as this suddenly added 50 points to Gryffindor. However, trusting in the headmaster's character, Hugo himself politely applauded.

“Second – Miss Veneto Vittorio… Whether facing Devil's Snare or rooms with curses, she can calmly think and take the most appropriate measures to solve the difficulties encountered, so I will award Ravenclaw House 50 points.”

The Ravenclaw students, hearing the headmaster's words, swept away their previous tension, and smiles returned to their faces. Several familiar girls stood up and gently patted Veneto's shoulder or back, praising her loudly.

“Third – Harry Potter,” Dumbledore said. The Great Hall became exceptionally quiet. “He has shown great daring and courage, and for that, I award Gryffindor House 60 points.” The noise was deafening. Those students who could still calculate scores in their heads while shouting knew that Gryffindor now had 517 points – successfully surpassing their old rival, Slytherin.

Dumbledore raised a hand. The Great Hall gradually quieted down again. “Courage comes in many forms. Facing enemies, we need great courage. And admitting our shortcomings and seeking help from others also requires courage, so I will award the Granger siblings 30 points.”

As soon as Dumbledore finished speaking, enthusiastic applause and cheers erupted from the Ravenclaw table. At first, everyone really thought that the victory they had in hand was about to be given away, but they didn't expect that Hugo and his friends also added valuable points to Ravenclaw in this matter, allowing them to hold onto the House Cup.

Gryffindor also cheered at this time. In any case, after seven long years, they had finally surpassed their old rival, Slytherin, so even if they didn't win the House Cup, it was enough for them to celebrate. And the Hufflepuffs, who had always been stable in the rankings, were also satisfied after watching such an exciting show.

Perhaps only the Slytherins were not very happy, but considering the Slytherins' character, as long as they were not first, any other ranking was irrelevant to them, so they did not react much to Gryffindor surpassing them.

Next was the time to enjoy the end-of-year banquet's delicacies. This banquet could be said to be one of the highest-level banquets at Hogwarts. Not only were there traditional British dishes such as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, but also some Indian dishes such as Indian butter chicken.

In this regard, Hugo found a commonality between the British wizarding world and the ordinary human world, that is, in various banquets, besides the local cuisine, the most popular is Indian cuisine.

It could be said that tonight was another happy night. In addition to these delicious dishes that were usually difficult to eat, the difference in the House Cup's ownership from the original text also earned Hugo 2.5 Fate Points.

The reason why there were not many Fate Points was because this change originated from Hugo and his friends' previous actions, so naturally, it was impossible to repeatedly obtain Fate Points on the same matter. And these 2.5 Fate Points were only for the series of events that led to the change in the final House Cup ownership.

The exam results were announced early the next morning. Veneto undoubtedly obtained first place in the year, followed by Firefly. Hermione and Hugo obtained third and fourth place respectively. This small change in ranking earned Hugo 0.5 Fate Points.

Ravenclaw performed well overall in this exam, but perhaps because first-year students had a lighter academic burden and the content they learned was simpler, the other houses' students of the same grade did not perform badly either. Even Crabbe and Goyle, who were usually at the bottom, successfully passed the final exams.

Harry and Ron unexpectedly received high scores. Considering that practical operations accounted for a large portion of the score in Hogwarts exams, Hugo could confirm that Harry and his friends were at least very talented in learning magic. Of course, this was also related to them hiding in the library and studying hard when they were ostracized by their classmates.

It seemed that suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, and everything was packed into trunks. Hugo and Veneto returned all the books they had borrowed from the library. Notices were sent to each student, warning them not to use magic during the holidays.

“I was hoping they’d forget to send these to us,” Fred Weasley said regretfully to Hugo. “After going home, Mum will strictly control our use of wands. It’s not as convenient to use wands at school after all.”

“Stop complaining, we can only put away our wands during the holidays,” Hugo said. “We’re much worse off than you in this regard.”