7. PRELIMINARIES
Pussmaid led them across the castle to a section of the school Viridis remembered as being little more than a dead end, a dusty corridor with nothing but spiderweb-filled storage rooms on either side. Certainly nothing large enough to accommodate the hundred or so candidates following her. So Viridis was flabbergasted when Pussmaid halted in front of a large set of double doors he was certain hadn't been there ten years earlier.
The wooden doors were massive, reinforced with heavy iron fastenings. Unfamiliar arcane symbols were carved deep into the wood. Two large men with somber faces and deep-set eyes stood on either side of the entrance, their arms crossed in front of their chests. At a nod from Pussmaid, the men seized the wrought-iron handles and hauled the doors open, their muscles straining at the effort.
The scent of sulfur drifted out into the corridor as the doors parted to reveal a circular room every bit as large as the Great Hall. Windowless stone walls rose high above the floor, curving inward to form a domed ceiling far above their heads. Viridis felt as if he were about to enter a huge, upside-down soup bowl.
Wooden stands ringed the room, ten rows high, reminding Viridis of the seats surrounding a Quidditch field. A dozen witches and wizards, dressed in the same purple robes as Pussmaid, sat in the stands at regularly spaced intervals. In the center of the room were small desks arranged in nice, neat rows, complete with quills and ink.
The two men who'd been guarding the doors ran their wands over each candidate as they entered. Cory elbowed Viridis in the ribs. "Searching for cheaters, I bet."
"Cheaters?" Viridis laughed. "No one is going to—" He was interrupted by a sudden commotion at the front of the line. A book had been discovered hidden beneath the robes of a gray-bearded wizard.
"I can explain," the man pleaded as he was escorted out of the room. Cory winked at Viridis.
When everyone had been searched to the men's satisfaction, the candidates were directed to choose a desk. Pussmaid flicked her wand and thick stacks of parchment appeared on each desk, the pages wrapped in bright yellow ribbon. The letters "B.A.T." were prominently display on the top. Several wizards groaned. Cory leaned over to Viridis and whispered, "Brutally Awful Tests. Ten times worse than NEWTs."
Pussmaid spun her wand counterclockwise and a four-foot high hourglass appeared on the table to her left. Viridis and Cory exchanged looks, then Cory raised his hand.
"How long is this exam?" he asked.
"Five hours," Pussmaid replied, eliciting gasps from several of the candidates.
"Will we be finished in time for lunch?"
Pussmaid glared at Cory until he lowered his hand, then motioned to the two guards. They flipped the hourglass over.
"You may begin now. Good luck."
There was a moment of stunned silence, followed by the sudden tearing of ribbons and rustling of paper, along with a few curses as one of the wizards knocked his stack of pages to the floor. Viridis thumbed through the test. Fifty pages of multiple choice, thirty pages of fill-in-the-blank, and another twenty pages devoted to essay questions. He drew a deep breath, grabbed his quill, and dove into the test.
It was the most oppressive test Viridis had ever taken. Proctors paced back and forth along the aisles, their wands out, glaring at anyone who raised their heads too far. The people in the stands peered down at them like vultures, searching for any signs of cheating. A deathly quiet soon settled over the room, broken only by the scratching of quill pens and the occasional rustling of papers, along with the intermittent sniffling from someone who apparently suffered from a cold.
Despite the overbearing conditions, Viridis remained in relatively good spirits. He'd always been good at taking tests, and as he worked his way through the exam, his competitive juices began to stir. It was no longer about taking the test for Murmann's sake; it was about scoring the highest possible grade, and while many of the other candidates seemed to wear down over the course of the test, Viridis felt himself growing stronger.
The first part of the test covered a wide range of generalized magic with an emphasis on charms, enchantments, and curses. Then the questions became more specialized, focusing on jinxes, transfiguration, and spell components.
The essay questions, as usual, were the most difficult, with question such as, "If you were stranded on a desert island, which five potions would you want with you, and how would you produce them using only coconuts, sand, and dodo eggs," or head-scratchers such as, "Give five reasons why eye of newt is the most important component in the production of potions" immediately followed by "Give five reasons why eye of newt is the least important component in the production of potions."
Only one wizard was caught cheating, a tall man with wild, frizzy hair who'd enchanted his left arm into a magical cheat sheet. No announcement was made. His desk simply began sinking into the floor, carrying the surprised wizard along with it.
"Please remain in your seat until someone comes to retrieve you," Pussmaid told him, her voice stern with disapproval. "Should you see any movement, I strongly advise you to remain perfectly still and avoid eye contact," she added, just before the horrified wizard disappeared from view.
So when the last grain of sand fell to the bottom of the hourglass, Viridis was hardly the only one who let out a sigh of relief. Even so, he felt pretty good about his performance. He was especially pleased there hadn't been a single question on runes.
"Thank you for participating," Pussmaid said. "You will be informed of the results after lunch."
The candidates trudged back to the Great Hall to find it empty, the students having already eaten. They picked at their food in silence, except for Cory, who couldn't stop talking about the test.
"What about that question on the uses of dragon's blood?" Cory asked as he helped himself to thirds of a dessert no one else seemed interested in eating. "How many did you remember?"
"Seven." Viridis said, pushing a cold piece of potato around his plate with a fork.
"Seven?" groaned the wizard next to him. "I thought there were five."
"No," Cory said. "It's five applications of unicorn horns."
"What?" cried another wizard. "I thought that was three. Would you please stop discussing the test!"
"Sorry." Cory leaned next to Viridis and lowered his voice. "Kinda sensitive, aren't they? Hey, did you hear that guy who kept sniffling during the exam?"
Viridis nodded. "It's no fun taking a test when you've got a cold."
Cory chuckled. "He didn't have a cold. He was crying."
Viridis looked up from his plate. "Are you serious?"
"Yep. Felt bad for the guy, too. His tears kept smearing his answers."
Pussmaid entered the hall, tapped several candidates on the shoulder, and led them out of the room without a word. A minute later, she returned and led a few more away. The already subdued hall turned even quieter.
"Do you think it's good or bad to be taken?" Viridis whispered.
"Don't know," Cory said as he popped a last bit of cream puff into his mouth. "But the first guy they picked was the one who'd been crying, so I'm betting on the latter." Viridis watched the portly witch from the previous night snag a platter full of donuts before being escorted out.
After a half dozen more such trips, Pussmaid marched to the center of the hall and addressed the remaining candidates. "Congratulations on having passed the written part of the exam. If you would be so good as to follow me, we will proceed on to the next round."
She led them to a different part of the castle, to another set of massive double doors Viridis didn't remember. When they were opened, however, he was shocked to discover they were back in the same dome-shaped room as before. The desks had been replaced with dozens of dark purple tents and the air smelled of cinnamon.
Pussmaid cleared her throat and gestured toward the tents. "Within each of these enclosures, you will find an object that has been created with magic. You will have ten minutes to duplicate them to the best of your abilities. Your score will depend on how closely your version matches the original. No detail is too small to ignore. The sixteen candidates with the highest combined scores will pass on to the next stage of competitions to be held tomorrow morning."
"I hope you've made your travel plans for this evening," whispered a voice behind Viridis. "I expect you'll be leaving Hogwarts right after this test is over."
Viridis turned to find the green-cloaked wizard smirking down at him.
"He's not going anywhere," Cory said, moving to stand beside Viridis.
The man laughed and walked away, but Viridis's throat tightened. He'd forgotten all about that little problem. What would he do if he didn't pass this round of tests and was asked to leave?
Each candidate was assigned a number and Viridis was told to report to tent number six. Four judges waited inside, one in each corner, their faces impassive. In the center of the tent stood two stone pedestals, one of which held a small fire. The flames danced through the colors of the rainbow.
As if by some prearranged signal, the judges leaned forward in their chairs, their quills poised over leather bound notebooks. Assuming this meant he was to begin, Viridis took out his wand, considered a few options, and then cast a spell. A blue fire with streaks of red appeared on the empty pedestal, flickering for a few seconds before fizzling out in a puff of smoke. The judges began writing furiously.
"Wait," Viridis protested. "I'm not finished yet." The judges continued scribbling, so Viridis turned his attention back to the flame, trying to remember his fire-based magic. For a few frightening seconds, his mind went blank. All he could see was Greencloak's face, laughing at him.
He closed his eyes and ran his hands over his face, forcing himself to concentrate. As simple as it sounded, he knew of no spell that could create flames with so many colors. Now that he thought about it, he realized it would probably be easier to—
Click.
There it was. The old familiar sensation he'd always felt inside his head whenever he figured out the answer to a trick question. Like a key turning in a lock. He'd learned to trust that feeling during his years at Hogwarts. It was one of the reasons he did so well on exams.
The secret, he now realized, wasn't to create a fire that changed colors. The trick was to use colored lights to form a fire. And the Peacock's Tail, an old alchemical spell, would do the trick nicely. With a few waves of his wand, Viridis conjured a flame that cycled through the appropriate range of colors. The judges quit writing and sat back in their chairs, almost seeming disappointed. Viridis spent a few more minutes tweaking the spell until the two flames matched perfectly, then stepped back and announced he was finished. The judges jotted down a few more notes and told him to wait outside.
"How many of these tests are there?" Viridis asked.
"Sixteen." The judge grinned. "Hope you weren't planning on going anywhere this afternoon."
Viridis exited the tent and found several candidates waiting outside, having already finished their challenge. Feathergill was sitting off to the side, his face buried in the day's copy of the Daily Prophet. The Greencloak was nowhere to be seen. Several minutes later, Cory popped out of another tent.
"How did you do?" Viridis asked.
"Shhh!" Pussmaid hissed. "No talking until all the tests are over."
During the next several hours, Viridis faced a dizzying array of challenges—a floating fishbowl with fish, but without the bowl; a self-heating cauldron; a mirror that showed the back of your head when you faced it. The tests blurred together after a while. Occasionally, a candidate had to be dragged from their tent, pleading for "just one more minute." Once Viridis spotted a tent on fire.
Each time Viridis completed a test, he found Feathergill already finished, usually reading a newspaper. He seemed almost bored by the whole process, as if the headmaster's job were already his. On the other hand, Greencloak almost always finished after Viridis, and as the afternoon progressed, the wizard grew ever more angry whenever he spotted Viridis.
When all sixteen tests had been completed, Pussmaid led the exhausted candidates back to the Great Hall in time for dinner with the students. Professor Murmann led the hall in applause as they entered. Some of the candidates waved back wearily. Viridis collapsed into the first empty seat.
Cory plopped into the seat next to him and snatched up a goblet of water. "I'm going feel a little more sympathy for my students after this." He emptied the goblet in one long, noisy swallow. "Did you see how much some of those wizards were sweating? It's scary to think how much of this stuff you forget after you leave school."
Viridis said nothing, wondering if Murmann would let him stay the night if he failed to qualify for the next round of tests.
A student appeared next to them. "How did the test go, Professor Cory? Did you make it to the next round?"
"I don't know yet, Mister Jefferson. The winners won't be announced until after dinner. But thank you for asking."
After the student returned to his seat, Cory turned to Viridis. "My students are rooting for me to make it to the next level, because then I'll have to cancel tomorrow's class. I think a few of them believe if I win the headmaster's job, class will be canceled for the year." He waggled his eyebrows mischievously. "I have no idea where they got that idea from."
After dessert, Pussmaid stepped to the front of the room carrying a sheet of parchment.
"I will now announce the names of the sixteen witches and wizards who will continue on with the competition. I ask each candidate to stand when I call their name so that they may be recognized."
She consulted the list. "Abner Lewington."
A tall balding man at the far end of Viridis's table stood to polite applause.
"Louisa Bickenhill."
A woman in scarlet robes stood and waved.
Pussmaid called out several more names before announcing, "Corydon Geber." A frenzy of cheers erupted from the student tables.
"My students love me," Cory said as he hopped up on top of his seat and performed a little jig.
"Atticus Woodfeather," Hibbitt said, doing her best to ignore Cory's antics.
"Nigel Feathergill." Thunderous applause erupted across the hall as Feathergill stood, tipped his hat, and bowed with a flourish.
After several more names, Pussmaid announced "Infestus Blunt."
The green-cloaked wizard stood and gave Viridis a nasty grin. With a start, Viridis did a quick count and realized there were only three names left to call. His mouth went dry. What if he wasn't called? He glanced up at the enchanted ceiling. The sky was clear and bright from the nearly full moon, with no sign of clouds. He peered at Murmann, looking for some sign he might know Viridis's fate, but the headmaster was speaking with Professor Limbeck.
"Perenelle Lemalf," Pussmaid announced. Viridis's throat tightened.
"Herkimer Clubfoot". His pulse quickened.
"And the final spot is awarded to…Viridis Olwyn."
The air rushed out of Viridis's lungs in a whoosh, as if a hippogryph had kicked him in the stomach. He struggled to rise on legs that had lost all feeling, and it was all he could do to keep from falling when Cory clapped him soundly on the back. Dawn leapt from her chair and whistled. Blunt scowled and turned away.
Once the students left the hall, Viridis, Dawn, and Cory gathered together at the faculty table, trading stories about the day's tests and watching Feathergill strut around the hall, once again surrounded by a mob of admirers.
"Anyone but him," Dawn said. "Anyone. Do you know he was quoted as saying that Care of Magical Creatures was a useless class, only taken by Quidditch players who needed to keep their grades up?" Dawn's eyes smoldered. "Who is he to talk? I checked the records and he barely managed to pass the class."
Viridis smiled and said nothing, content with having made it this far. He'd lasted longer than he'd expected and hadn't embarrassed himself. That should be more than enough to satisfy Murmann. Best of all, he'd get to spend one more night at Hogwarts.
Dawn stood. "I have to go and prepare for tomorrow's class. You get plenty of sleep tonight, Vir. I want you well rested for tomorrow."
Viridis wandered back up to the storage room that served as his quarters and sat on his bed, eyeing the exhibits lined up along the shelf. A few of them seemed mildly interesting—a glass box that held a small bolt of lightning that bounced endlessly around inside, an hourglass filled with metal balls, a top that never stopped spinning, but he mostly ignored them. Normally he wouldn't have been able to resist studying such unusual objects and figuring out how they worked, but for once he wasn't in the mood. No point in wasting his last night at Hogwarts.
He walked to the Ravenclaw common room and peered inside. To his surprise, all the beds had been removed and the furniture returned to their usual places. Apparently, he was the only Ravenclaw still left in the competition.
Several students sat curled up in armchairs, busy reading textbooks, and they looked up when Viridis entered. "Is there something you need, sir?" one of them asked.
"No," Viridis said, "just looking around. I have a lot of great memories of studying in here.""
The students stared at Viridis as if he were somewhat mental, then returned to their books. Viridis's eyes swept the room hungrily, taking in every detail—the familiar stains in the carpet, the series of cracks in the ceiling that resembled a dragon if one squinted at it from just the right angle, the scorch mark he'd accidentally left on one of the walls after a botched spell, the spiderweb that apparently still held the unofficial Ravenclaw mascot.
He longed to rush to the windows and drink in one last look at the castle grounds in the moonlight, but the very thought sent shivers through him. He settled for dragging one of the high-backed armchairs to the fireplace and sitting in front of the fire, running his fingers over the well-worn armrests and watching the flames dance in intricate patterns until he fell asleep.
He dreamed of being on a boat out in the middle of the lake. The water was a deep purple, and bright green fish swam around the boat in mesmerizing patterns. He found this oddly calming until tentacles rose up from beneath the surface of the water and tried pulling him under. He woke screaming to find half a dozen students staring at him.
"Sorry," Viridis mumbled as he rose and hurried back to the his bed. He crawled under the sheets and stared up at the dusty ceiling for an hour, dreaming up plausible reasons why Murmann should allow him to use the floo network to return home.