Chapter 19
There were no untoward occurrences to disrupt the return of the majority of the students for the final term of the year, and the term was soon under way with, perhaps predictably, a diversion from the Weird Marauders to cheer everybody up.
They had been researching a potion which they had brewed at home over the holidays – Walter excepted since he was at school revising – and proceeded to give an impromptu concert at which they drank their potions, promptly grew feathers all over, and proceeded to sing every song they knew about birds.
It was a piece of unmitigated silliness that went down very well, though Ingram Scrimgeour was heard to remark that the lower school got more foolish every year.
"Notice you don't eschew the foolishness of a trip to the beach" said Wendy Waffling cynically "Which, may I remind you, was a lower school stunt. And one that YOU couldn't pull even now. Like I doubt you could duplicate their potion. You're a pompous tick, Scrimgeour and you DESERVE to work in the ministry."
Scrimgeour blinked.
"I WANT to work in the ministry" he said.
"Like I said; you're one sick puppy" said Wanda.
Scrimgeour was confused and slightly hurt. Well Wanda and her set were almost as lawless a set of elements as Marauders having a gang like that; what she thought was immaterial.
It may be said that Ingram Scrimgeour was not an intimate of the Society Against Slavery or their associates.
oOoOo
The spring and early summer were warm, though Bella complained that Argyllshire was experiencing more rainfall than usual whereas almost all the rest of the country had it dry. Her fellows thoughtfully tripped her into a puddle – they were out for a walk at the time between recurrent falls of Scots Mist – for being defeatist.
"Besides Bellabuttons" said Mimi "Soon when you're in India where it's either parched or flooded a little gentle British rain will seem heavenly."
Bella extracted herself from a wet and peaty puddle and applied drying and cleaning charms with an absent wave of the hand; and as Isabel said, it was worth mussing Bella just to see the elegant way she dealt with it.
"It's the prerogative of any true Brit to moan about the weather whatever it is" Bella said severely.
"Well I for one am quite happy for a change from New Zealand even if it is a little damp underfoot" said Drusillina "Not that I ever thought I'd say that; I love the beach but sometimes one just longs for the familiar."
"Well that's why we're here not New Zealand" said Bella patiently "And I only said it would be even nicer if it didn't rain so flipping much."
Bella was left with the last word; life was easier that way when the subject they were arguing about really did not matter!
oOoOo
It was not long until the NEWTs were upon them!
Ancient Runes was the province of Mimi, Mafalda, and the Malfoy-Tobak twins; Griselen and Genavka had the advantage of Lucius' extensive library and moreover liked to take an interest in those subjects their stepfather held dear. Unlike their brother they were taking a safe five NEWTs like Bella, Maud and Drusillina. Isabel was sticking on four; Mafalda Prewett was taking six; and Mimi was being – as Bella said – a typical Snape and going for eight.
The texts for the Ancient Runes exam were creation myths, one in Finnish from the Kalevala; one in hieroglyphs; and one in ancient Hebraic which was at least a well enough known story to guess wildly at any parts that were unknown. It was followed by short questions which were no worse than usual.
"I am uncomfortable with this Jewish Ritual" giggled Mimi afterwards whistling the Indiana Jones theme. The twins poked her.
oOoOo
Arithmancy was another exam Mimi was taking together with Mafalda, this time joined by Drusillina and assorted Ravenclaws.
There were no surprises in the complex four hour exam and they worked steadily, finishing with the calculation for the engulfing charm at Gringott's bank; once they had the orientation and location explaining what this long equation represented was easy. Mimi thought so anyway and if Mafalda's agreement was a little tepid in its enthusiasm and Drusillina called her a swotty moo and the Ravenclaws scowled that was just the way of life.
oOoOo
Nobody was taking Art; so the next exam was Chanting.
Lucius was still running around Europe examining other people who had not yet got their own examiners; but as Chanting at this level was still only very much the province of Marauders, Bella, Maud and Mimi who were the Marauders taking the exam would at least be spared the practical having been deemed to have covered it in the twelve hour chant to free European house elves from the compulsion to self punish. Griselen was the only other candidate – her twin had not found it so easy – and Lucius had asked that she be tested by the Broomstick Boys who were registered to examine music exams. They would go directly to Austria to undertake music exams there, but for one candidate happily accepted the assignment.
Lucius had provided a cursed broomstick to un-curse by chanting; and Griselen was in no wise penalised since at NEWT level each candidate went individually for their practical test anyway; or, as Bella said, the Marauders studying chanting would have joined her to give her moral support. Griselen was grateful for the thought; the Marauders were decent.
The written exam which followed involved the evolution of a number of chants to cover a number of problems including the minimising of the use of sun symbology, which obviously referred to Achille Crouch Villeneuve's ambitions. Griselen applied Ancient Runes, Mimi applied Ancient Runes AND Arithmancy and Bella and Maud applied instinct and what Lucius later described as Assimilative Correlation by brazen cheek.
oOoOo
The two Care of Beasts exams appeared more or less in alphabetical order so there was no likelihood of it involving Mackled Malaclaws. Only Drusillina from the Marauders was involved, and she was taking the Care of Domestic Beasts exam. She cheerfully saddled and rode a flying horse, checked its hooves for chizpurfles and curried it. She demonstrated how to amputate the second tail from a crup and spoke of minor ailments.
The written covered various pets from horses through dogs to nifflers. Drusillina felt she had done fairly well on the whole.
oOoOo
Charms was the preserve of Mimi, Mafalda, both Malfoy-Tobak twins and sundry others; and Lilith. The long essay was on locomotor charms and Mimi strayed a little in writing about the use of Finnish naming magic to facilitate these as well as writing too many arithmantic notes on the energy required to lift any given weight by a given height and getting technical on circular motion and Waffling's laws of locomotion. It may be said that Lilith wrote hardly any less or was any less arithmantic.
There were questions on memory charms and barrier charms and the protean charm, none of them long or complex.
The practical was as standard as always with the obliviation or confundment of a muggle who had seen Buckbeak; and, as locomotor charms had been the long question it was no surprise that the Protean Charm was required as a practical demonstration. Mimi, feeling perverse, put the dark mark on the forearms of chocolate frogs making them all jump when one was activated. Being Mimi she made it too complex so that any frog could activate any other, a refinement well past NEWT level. Lilith used muggle collectable cards of breeds of dogs which barked when patted which was also somewhat advanced. Everyone else stuck to changing details of coins or collectable cards.
oOoOo
Comparative magic was the favoured subject of Hogwarts tiger fans; which was Bella, the faithful Maud and Mimi. A few others had stuck the course too. A long question on Rangoli, Kolams, and other protective patterns formed the basis of the exam which was, as Mimi said, jolly nice. There were of course other disparate questions but as Mimi said, a long essay question on patterns was a gift to the arithmancer. Maud and Bella tickled her until she squealed for pax.
oOoOo
Defence against the Dark Arts was always going to be an exam at which any Marauders expected to excel. Lilith was taking this too and looked upon it as 'good fun'.
The written exam involved protective spells which had those who intended teaching straying into the post NEWT regions of Wards Major. Mimi's masterly summation of the protective wards to be used if attempting demonology was well outside the province of the exam although technically covered by the question as it was phrased; and the other marauders and the twins also touched on demonology and the fey even if only in passing. Lilith surpassed herself with a demonstration that arithmantically it made sense to have the protective charms tattooed onto one's own skin if stupid enough to want to raise demons.
The practical posed no problems at all; they all had solid shield charms and well trained wills; and the examiner consumed quite a lot of mandragora in being restored from stone.
oOoOo
None of the Belle Marauders were taking either Enchanting or Geomancy; nor were any of them taking Herbology so they were able to take a few days off and point and giggle at other students frazzled from their exertions. This was something that was not amusing for those unfortunate Herbology students carried sleeping from the greenhouses after being affected by the spores of Yawning Toadstools. And the Marauders had every sympathy for those who failed the Herbology practical and thus forfeited the whole exam and would not have pointed or giggled at such, even had they been awake to notice.
"Plants are vicious" said Drusillina with feeling. She had had a run in with Ludmila Yaxley's Sagittarius spinifora earlier.
"Yes and worse than dragons even because you don't expect it until they attack" said Bella who had been a regular victim of the amorous Sagittarius plant.
They went into Hogsmead to buy consolation chocolates for the victims.
oOoOo
Lilith took both Enchanting and Herbology; she wrote enthusiastically of Assimilative Correlation by association when describing the choices to be made when enchanting objects; and for the practical she cored a wand and made a sieve float in the lake, and rowed the examiner about in it, getting bored enough with such pedestrian transport to remark gaily that hydroplaning would be more fun and proceeding to demonstrate exactly what this was to the examiner with arithmantic asides that would have made the poor woman seasick had the motion not already managed to achieve this effect.
Lilith dealt with her yawning mushrooms by the expedient of casting the engulfing charm on them to collect their valuable spores; indeed she cast the charm and then prodded quiescent toadstools into developing far enough to yawn and thus expel perfectly ripe spores.
The written, dealing largely with soil types and manures and how to nurture different plants was, Lilith thought, quite straightforward.
oOoOo
Isabel was taking History, as was Genavka Malfoy-Tobak. This was a question of choosing four essays from eight. Isabel chose to 'chart the changes in the muggle world leading to the institution of the Statute of Secrecy' for one of them; and picked further 'Explain the significance of the exploitation of muggles by Gellert Grindelwald and the Odessa' for another; 'Consider the muggle belief that witchcraft constituted heresy and draw parallels with the suppression of Lollardy in the 15th century' and to finish up with 'outline the development of wizarding governance from early informal movements to the formation of international agreements'. She felt that she had done quite well; she knew her subject.
Lilith was the only candidate in the school taking Muggle Studies. It was rarely taken to NEWT and then usually only by those wishing to enter the Muggle Office of the ministry or to research muggles or teach muggle studies. The essay questions were similar in some respects to those for the OWL but with more complexity; and too a piece of coursework had to be submitted which included analysis of muggle literature or media entertainment with reference to either the desire most muggles had not to know, or a study of how fantasy and science fiction genres led to the concept that some muggles realised that there was more than they knew and either wished for greater knowledge or wished to displace their feelings in something that could be dismissed as mere fiction.
Lilith had written, with reference to muggle works of philosophy, that it was the nature of all humans to seek for some power outside themselves which led to religion as well as to science fiction and fantasy. She had used 'Alice in Wonderland', the 'Chronicles of Narnia' 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Star Wars' as her texts, comparing them with Shakespeare's 'Tempest' and noting that it had been remade as a Science Fiction film as 'Forbidden Planet' which if anything made it even more tosh, but at least psychologically revealing tosh.
Her written exam required only three essays to back up the coursework; and she wrote about the psychology of the average muggle confronted by an anomaly caused by magic; got very technical about the significance of telecommunications; and discussed the disruptions caused by chizpurfles in computers and the explanation of quantum physics to cover the frequent unexplained equipment failures common to computers. Lilith was no more knowledgeable about quantum physics than any muggle taking 'A' levels but produced the brilliant suggestion that as quanta were unstable, the presence of chizpurfles actually caused quantum anomalies rather than being directly to blame for computer error.
Lilith was now done.
oOoOo
The Belle Marauders felt refreshed returning to do Potions; and Madam Hardbroom sighed ruefully and smiled good luck when they all kissed her affectionately. She had never broken them of calling her Great Aunt Connie; and indeed as the practice had spread to all the girls in Slytherin House – in house only – it was one of those things she must just gracefully accept.
And she would miss these five girls when they had left.
The prepared potions were passed over; and the students went individually into the truncated practical that tested knowledge of ingredients and how to prepare them.
The written covered Golapott in great detail and the candidates unravelled what a potion might be and what, if anything, was missing by observing printed Malfoy lines; a blended poison's lines were also printed and they had to suggest ingredients and a methodology in the brewing. Nobody had any serious difficulty.
oOoOo
Last was transfigurations; again the Belle Marauders were all involved, and Mafalda too, who had also been taking potions. The long essay required a discussion of why energy and matter might be considered to be fundamentally the same; and they were all on solid ground there, it being one of those things that they had debated for fun. Gamp's Law and its exceptions and Assimilative Correlation in its various forms covered the bulk of the remainder of the questions and Mimi, Drusillina and Mafalda were unduly arithmantic throughout. Mimi strayed into the realms of Muggle physics in her answers regarding the matter of matter, but otherwise the answers were not too far out of the realms of standard NEWT answers.
The practical followed standard lines though Bella had to be slightly scolded for producing a Bengal Tiger from her fiddle – even if it was only a cub – and had to be persuaded to change the creature's form. The kitten she produced was an astonishingly vivid marmalade cat with very dark markings. The rest of the Marauders stuck to ordinary cats except Mimi who produced an Egyptian Mau and explained that a cheetah was taxonomologically dubious as a cat. Mafalda made a handsome kneazle.
oOoOo
The NEWTs were now over; and though Assim Khan was staying long enough to encourage his OWL students, he and Bella were preparing to leave for India. The other Belle Marauders made much of Bella for the few days that they had her left to them.
oOoOo
OWLs covered the compulsory subjects first; Potions, Charms, Transfigurations, DADA. It had been decided to keep the choice of Herbology or Care of Beasts in alphabetical order with the rest.
Sextus was not exactly NERVOUS but he was excited with a sort of hollow feeling inside with it.
Lilith kissed him firmly and told him that he would be fine.
Sextus was almost more overcome by being firmly kissed than by taking five OWLs a year early. Lilith regarded him critically and said,
"I say, Sec, I haven't half made an impression on the dynamics of your robe…. I suggest you either teach something down there to speak Parseltongue or put it away."
"I'm TRYING!" Sextus flushed fierily. "It has a mind of its own…. I don't mean that exactly… I mean it likes you and I like you but you're a brat of tender years."
Lilith giggled.
"I'll grow up soon enough to like it well enough I expect; but I AM a little young for its attentions just yet. Shall we just christen it impatient and try to ignore it?"
"Yes" said Sextus tersely.
Growing up was a very embarrassing process!
oOoOo
The Potions practical called for the confusing and befuddlement draught and a suitable counter; and Sextus might be confused and befuddled by adult sort of feelings but in a potions dungeon brewing antidotes he was perfectly at home. He balanced the fwooper down with jobberknoll feathers and wrote notes on the subject, taking the fluffier down from the base of the feathers for a better balance. He mentioned assimilative correlation in the notes as well, and proceeded to concoct an antidote that was drawn from both wit sharpening potion and memory potion but which was clearly a different potion yet. The Pepperingye Marauders were working steadily too, though Isambard and Wanda struggled. They were sticking to the Wit Sharpening potion as a counter in dire hope. Charis made some attempt to combine the two as did Tobala; and Nathan, U-May and Jingjie were actually enjoying themselves. Walter Crabbe managed to write down the use of the feathers to balance the first potion and produced some kind of blend; and most of the class were glad to be released from the ordeal.
The written called for the citing of Golapott's first two laws and completing the description of the ingredients and methodology of a number of potions and the suggestion of antidotes to a couple of poisons. This was all fairly straightforward and even Isambard and Wanda declared that they might have passed after all.
oOoOo
Transfigurations started with the written exam, the long essay being on switching spells this year. Sextus was on solid ground here; and wrote steadily, finding the short questions easy enough, about simple conjuration, and cross species switches among other things. He absently wrote about Assimilative Correlation and would have been genuinely astonished to find that it was a NEWT level concept. The whole of the Stripy Marauders had been applying Assimilative Correlation in a number of ways since their first year. None of the Marauders had much trouble with the theory though some undoubtedly wrote more than others. Walter, U-may and Jingjie were the star transfigurationists; and when it came to the practical they had no troubles at all with any of the tasks set. Sextus had no troubles either, and marvelled that Wanda had issues and that her watch still had antennae and legs. To Sextus, turning a death watch beetle into a plain pocket watch was so easy! His own was, of course, a duplicate of Colonel Mortimer's watch in 'For a Few Dollars More' because it was cool; and the chased silver and addition of musical chimes added good marks.
oOoOo
Charms was the next compulsory exam; Sextus had not entered that. Professor Fraser had said he might take any five OWLs; and he had picked the ones that seemed easiest. The rest of the Marauders were fairly solid on charms, even U-may who reckoned it one of her weak subjects. This was to say, she was an 'E' average student.
There was an essay question on water affecting charms – most of the marauders strayed into NEWT level concepts – and a long question on locomotor charms. The practical had no surprises and though Wanda and U-may stilled their dancing teacups a little slower than the others, all stacked them neatly. Walter hoped he would make up some of the marks he had discovered he had lost for misreading a question in the written; and shaded his rat in a delicate use of colour charm to leave it almost black at the tail tip with a shading through the spectrum of blue to almost white at the nose. Isambard was feeling creative and his rat was in two shades of blue in a damask pattern. The examiner was, fortunately, moderately used to the creative urges of students by now and merely murmured that it was very decorative and not entirely in keeping with the usual mode according to rats.
Isambard grinned and declared that most rats weren't blue either.
They all voted it an 'all right' exam and went off to find chocolate while little Professor Flitwick pacified a nearly hysterical Samuel Carmichael who had been able to see what Isambard was up to and could not cope with such flippant use of colour charms.
oOoOo
The last totally compulsory class was DADA, which Sextus was also taking. No marauder, or even member of the MSHG would expect to get anything but an 'O' grade for the excellent grounding they had. Here the practical came first; and boggarts were banished with style, Patronuses demonstrated for extra marks and curses resisted all with finesse and aplomb.
The written too was standard; the definition of a dark creature, and details to be written about a given list of dark creatures. The question on recognising dangerous sigils was harder for those not versed in ancient runes, though Professor Lupin did cover sigils of harm and sigils of protection fairly thoroughly. Sextus, U-may and Jingjie were well away on this question and expanded on it considerably; and the rest of the marauders at least had picked up enough runes to almost be able to scrape a pass in that subject, had they entered, even those who had not studied it. They had no sympathy for others of the class who whined that it was hard to tell the sigils apart.
"And I'm not studying runes to this level yet either" said Walter in response to much self pity in the Slytherin common room "But y'know, when it's a case of 'this sigil kills you and this one can save you' it really is an incentive to learn to recognise which is which. It's not like we were tested on the sigils of protection necessary to raise demons, is it?"
"How to make friends and influence people" grinned Nathan "Studying to take runes at OWL next year old man?"
"I'll say" said Walter "The more one learns the more ignorant one discovers one is; and the more there is to learn."
oOoOo
Ancient Runes was the next exam; which was also Sextus along with U-may and Jingjie. The three long passages were in cuneiform – to a collective groan – Ancient Greek, and Latin. The basic languages Latin and Greek might be supposed to make up for cuneiform. However, translating the cuneiform lightened the mood when it turned out to be a couple of quotes from a Convolvumort speech. The Greek was a diatribe against the iniquities of Government – Sextus added a quite unnecessary aside that these old sages really knew their onions and had evidently used their oracle to good effect – and the Latin had all the students who read Asterix doubled up at the phrase 'you know me, Asterix – I'm not a misogynist and I'm not xenophobic but I don't like that foreign woman'. There were short questions too on the importance of various runes and logograms such as the eye of Horus to the Egyptians and the N-rune to the Norse and the Eihwaz rune to the Germanic peoples and a second part to that question about how Voldemort had slipped up in not studying ancient runes. All knew that his wand had been of Yew and so the Eihwaz rune, signifying yew and protection might have given him greater power had he adopted that rather than Morsmorde and wrote enthusiastically straying into the use of Eihwaz in merkstave.
oOoOo
Sextus and Walter were also taking Arithmancy as were all the Pepperingye Marauders who managed to approach the subject with a moderate degree of enthusiasm, even U-may and Charis, rather than with the grim determination of the Belle Marauders. The paper carried no surprises; the use of numerology and the punning names of several witches to suggest using different bases; the calculation of energy to open a given region of wizarding space, the calculation of several factorial numbers and the completion of various number sequences, which included the Wenlock series, prime numbers and so on. The worst question was a bit of waffling logic over which of two paths to take where two guardians stood there, one which only told lies and one which only told truth. This was Sextus' last exam so he was free to rejoin his fellows and make scornful comments at such exam students who were still hot and bothered; largely because it was fun and they could hardly comment since he and Lilith had also been taking exams.
oOoOo
Lucius Malfoy blew in to examine the chanters – which did not include Walter or Sextus this time but covered the Pepperingye Marauders and sundry others. It took most of the day, including time for Lucius to make notes between batches, to cover all of them in batches of four; and they would sit the written paper the day after. Meanwhile they might sleep secure in the knowledge that tree frogs were never likely to menace the great hall.
"Even giant miniature tree frogs" joked Charis.
"Giant…. Charis, mate, are you quite well?" asked Jingjie.
"Well it made sense somewhere in my fevered brain" said Charis.
"Giant miniature SPACE tree frogs!" suggested Nathan "She's Captain Bucky O'Hare…. We ARE the crew of the Righteous Indignation….let's croak us some toads!"
"Lucius should never let him watch muggle cartoon shows at Mr Dursley's house" said Wanda.
oOoOo
When they had taken their electives, Care of Domestic Beasts had been a compulsory subject so all the Pepperingeye Marauders were taking that, none of them having any taste to substitute Care of Beasts, however much they might like Hagrid. The written was fairly straightforward; the descriptions of various types of magical horses, dogs and other pets and a brief section on common ailments. The practical involved the removal of chizpurfles from an owl, paring the hooves of a flying horse and trimming its flight feathers – where trimming meant checking that they were at the right angle, not clipping them – and giving a pill to a kneazle. This posed no problems though none of them shone save Jingjie who shone in every class he took being, as Nathan said, a Chang, which was quite almost as bad as being a Snape.
oOoOo
All the Pepperingeye Marauders were also taking Comparative Magic as necessary to Marauding skills though only U-may and Jingjie were 'O' average students; the rest mostly weighed in at 'E' with occasional flashes of brilliance. The three essays from which the candidates had to pick one were 'Discuss the impact of the fey on magical tradition; show at least three cultures'; 'compare and contrast literal numerology with Finnish naming magic'; and 'discuss the importance of knots and knotwork with reference to Russian protective phylacteries and Celtic protective patterns."
Chanters to a man, all the Marauders plumped for writing about Finnish Naming Magic.
oOoOo
Walter and Tobala were alone amongst the Marauding group to take enchanting. The practical involved enchanting the candidate's choice of a musical instrument to play, a needle to sew or a pen to perform some appropriate action. Marks were given on complexity of the charm; the music was looked to be contrapuntal, the needle to perform complex embroidery and the pen to undertake some subtle task like write to dictation.
Walter had learned enough about music from Chrys Lockhart to feel fairly confident in adding a complex harmony that charmed any listener's fingernails to turn green when they listened to his harp; and Walter explained that the assimilative correlation of the use of fingernails normally on harp strings was what had suggested the idea.
U-May enchanted a needle to sew a nice even blanket stitch around minute mirrors that constituted some of the decoration on Indian costume. As she explained, it was a process that felt as though it required three hands without enchantment.
The written covered wand woods and broom woods and a question where they had to link a list of quills to the appropriate enchantments to prefer those specific feather types. It went well enough.
oOoOo
Geomancy was the province of Isambard and Wanda; and they drew in the principle ley lines of England, wrote a brief essay on unplottability and answered questions on the various common ways to travel. Being taken with their brooms to a location from which they had to find their way home by ley line travel they arrived back in good time, Wanda at a very fast speed indeed.
oOoOo
Only Jingjie of his fellows was taking Herbology. The practical involved the usual repotting of a fanged geranium and gathering bubotubers and pruning shrivelfig; standard fare. Jingjie had no trouble. The written required the listing of self-motile plants which again presented no problems for Jingjie who studied all things as potential enemies – or useful allies, animal or vegetable.
oOoOo
Jingjie was also alone of the Marauders in History. There was one long essay to be chosen from three and a paper of short answers. Jingjie chose to write about reasons behind the goblin rebellions and wrote with fair minded clarity.
oOoOo
The penultimate exam for some of them – and the last for many – was Metalwork. The exam had been revised from its first inception; now only one masterpiece was made during the year preceding the exam, but the entrants were required to perform a longer practical, not merely tempering a partially completed knife and setting a self sharpening charm on it, but demonstrating that they had understood the principles of the coefficient of magical expansion by making a simple expanding tool or key from prepared metal, and enchanting metal that was being forged to be ready for such a charm. They had all made masterpieces with more or less use for marauders; and Charis had insisted on making a bedknob to replace the one that had been confiscated by the ministry to impart the power of flight to any brass bedstead. Nathan made a metal peahen enchanted to attract peacocks to give his father a bit better chance of controlling them; U-may made pipes that would translate speech into Parseltongue; Jingjie made an origami folding machine; Tobala made a necklace that operated as a foe glass, save that it shouted when enemies were near; Wanda made a brooch of automatic hovering charm in case of falling; and Isambard made an ingenious grabbing hand based in idea on the devices marketed to disabled muggles, save that with the use of the coefficient of magical expansion his started off very small, could go round corners, and would pick up anything to command without any ineffectual wiggling of levers. It was a remarkably useful marauding tool. He had already had an offer to purchase the rights to manufacture it by the Weasley Twins.
The written exam required answering questions about the history of smithing, and on techniques like smelting, tempering and annealing and to draw up charts for the proper times to introduce enchantments in various common artefacts, and note the patterns of beating to tie in an enchantment when hammering the metal. They also drew the internal workings of a simple clock and wrote about the proper manufacture of springs
oOoOo
The last exam of all which included Walter, Nathan, Charis and sixth formers Damian and Ludmila, was the new quidditch exam. The practical involved nothing more nor less than demonstrating broom control because really knowing if a candidate could jink, U-turn, broomover and sideslip more or less covered most aspects of flying; and extra marks were awarded for style and panache. It was the least part of the exam which was really about knowing the game.
Most of the questions were on the rules, some of them on how to deal with sport injuries – as it was an initial exam for coaches this became important – and how to check brooms for illegal charms or jinxes. All felt that they had done fairly well.
And then the exams were over!