Michael Brown

After my conversation with Luna, time flew by relatively quickly.

With no further attacks from the monster and no real plans on my part, the rest of the school year proved to be rather uneventful. Since I tried to keep my head down after 'defeating' Lockhart, something that unfortunately drew a lot of attention to me, I spent the rest of my time at Hogwarts mostly just learning new things in classes and hanging out with Luna. The only events that would break my typical routine were the occasional lectures we held and the sudden encounters with Granger in the wild. Other than that, I couldn't think of anything significant happening in the last months of school.

Before I knew it, the school year was over and the final exams had arrived. While I would normally be quite indifferent to unimportant things like grades and house points, I was actually quite motivated to pass all the exams with a good score. Partly because I wanted to test Luna's wild theory, and partly because I had promised Tom that I would learn as much as possible during my Hogwarts education. Therefore, instead of looking out for potential assassination attempts and traps waiting for me, I approached the exams with the proper motivation and readiness to pass them. Unfortunately, as I was not attentive in most classes during the year, the results of my attempts varied.

Some exams went better…

Charms class

"Exceptional, Mr. Brown, simply exceptional!" Professor Flitwick exclaimed enthusiastically, looking with admiration at the result of my work "Of course, you've already proven your brilliance with that curious device of yours called a 'camera', but I'm delighted to see that creating it was not just an accident!"

The criteria for passing the Charms exam was simple. All students had to cast a spell of their choice and demonstrate adequate proficiency in its use. The least ambitious students cast Lumos, while most chose to cast Wingardium Leviosa and move things around a bit. I, on the other hand, decided to enchant an ordinary object and make it move on its own. This was not due to any particular ambition on my part. I simply realized that... I have more experience in enchanting objects than in casting real spells.

It was…kind of sad when I thought about it.

Flitwick, however, seemed to disagree with this, as he looked at the mug I had enchanted with genuine admiration. It was quite weird to see an elderly gnome staring at an ordinary, simple mug with such intensity, you know? Not knowing what to do in such a simulation, I coughed into my hand.

"So did I pass, Professor Flitwick? I asked hesitantly. Hearing me, the man looked away from the cup and blinked several times, only now realizing that everyone was waiting for him to grade me and move on to the other students.

"Ah, yes! Of course you passed, Mr. Brown. You passed with flying colors!" Flitwick exclaimed, "In fact, I decided to give ten points to Ravenclaw, as you demonstrated mastery of a spell far beyond the first-year curriculum!"

"Actually, Professor Flitwick, I don't need any..." I started to reject the teacher's reward, not very interested in obtaining the means to perpetuate the cruel system of control, but stopped when something hit me in the back of the head.

When I looked behind me, surprised by the sensation, I noticed Marcus standing at a distance from me, holding a piece of chalk in his hand and looking at me threateningly.

What? What did I do?

Herbology class

Despite my worries, it turned out that the Herbology exam was fairly easy too. Instead of dealing with potentially lethal plants, we were simply supposed to transfer a grown dittany from one pot to another without damaging the plant. This seemed almost ridiculously easy, especially given my own experience with mandrakes, so I was quite surprised. Then again, first-year exams probably weren't supposed to be difficult. A firstie repeating a class would probably just make most teachers feel bad. Except for Snape, who would just be amused.

Nevertheless, given the simplicity of the exam, I finished my task relatively quickly. Seeing this, Professor Sprout decided to approach me and evaluate the results of my work.

"It looks like you've finished your work, Mr. Brown. Let's see the results" She said before looking at my plants with an evaluating gaze. After a few seconds she nodded, apparently satisfied with my work, and turned back to me with a smile on her face. "Everything seems to be fine. You passed, Mr. Brown."

"Thank you, Professor Sprout" I replied, not sure what else to say. It was just moving a plant from one pot to another.

"You seem to have some talent in handling plants, so I'm looking forward to helping you cultivate it next year." Sprout said and started to turn away, only to stop after seemingly remembering something "Oh, but next time please don't borrow plants from the greenhouse without permission. If you want to train with plants on your own, all you need to do is ask."

After saying that, Sprout walked away to grade other students, leaving me stunned and scared. She knew that I was the one who had been borrowing mandragora all along?! Eco-terrorists were truly terrifying!

…Some went worse…

Potions class

"What do you think you're doing?" Snape suddenly asked in a venomous tone, looking at me with utter contempt in his eyes. Surprised by his arrival, I dropped the ingredients I was moving to the cauldron, making them fall to the floor.

"I... am brewing a wiggenweld potion?" I asked hesitantly, not quite sure what he had a problem with. Everything I was doing was in accordance with the instructions I found in the textbook.

"I can see that!" stated Snape cuttingly, clearly not satisfied with my answer. Angered, he pointed to my cauldron, which was currently on the other side of the classroom, with a snarl on his face "What I want to know is, why in Merlin's name are you using wingardium leviosa to brew the potion instead of making it yourself?!"

"Because it's safer that way?" I replied simply, confused by his anger. The Potions exam was the perfect time for me to be assassinated by the Ministry's spies, so it was obvious that I would not interact directly with any ingredients or final products, as this could be extremely dangerous to my health. Fortunately, I found the perfect solution to bypass that problem! All I had to do was brew the potion remotely!

Snape didn't seem to like my idea though, as he threw me a look of utter disgust and walked away. Still, he didn't make me stop and eventually gave me a passing grade, albeit barely, for my potion, so I considered it a victory.

Flying class

For so long I thought Dumbledore was the most evil faculty member, but it turned out that it was my flying instructor who really deserved such a title.

"Everything you did on the broom, whether it was posture or grip, was wrong. You were shaking all the way to your destination, almost falling off your broom five times. Frankly, if it weren't for the fact that flunking you would have meant spending more time watching your desperate struggles, I wouldn't have given you a passing grade." Hooch stated, looking at me with a strange mixture of pity and frustration "However, I have a suspicion that simply letting you pass would lead to more problems for me down the line, so I will only allow you to pass on one condition. You will not attend my classes in the second year."

"W-what, why?!" I asked, completely devastated by Ms. Hooch's words. Why would she do that?! Was she really going to take away one of my only interesting classes?!

"Because your utter lack of talent is only equaled by the strange pleasure you derive from your attempts. So I suspect that you will try to join my classes, something I really don't want to happen. Now, do you accept my proposal, or will I have to see you at the make-up exam?"

...in the end, I accepted her offer. I spent the rest of the day feeling dead inside. SHe truly was a demon in disguise.

…and some exams were utterly unremarkable.

There wasn't much to tell about the other subjects. Our transfiguration exam involved turning matches into needles. It was something that most of us had already learned during the first semester, so I managed to pass without any complications. It actually bothered me a little that a precise rearrangement of matter was so easy that most eleven-year-olds were able to do it. History of magic and astronomy were even easier because they only required textbook knowledge.

Surprisingly, we didn't have a DADA exam. It took a while, but eventually someone pointed out that Lockhart had not been able to teach us anything during the six months he spent as a teacher, so we knew almost nothing about the subject. Someone in charge probably thought it would be a bit cruel to force us to take the exam, so it was decided that we wouldn't have to do it this year. It felt a bit questionable for me, for the school to cancel the exam for one of the core subjects at Hogwarts, but in the end I decided that I should just be happy that I didn't have to prepare for the additional test.

All in all, I managed to pass all six exams, which meant that my first year at Hogwarts was almost over. All that remained was the year-end feast.

Only two chapters left for this year.

I also wanted to mention that I have changed the chapter "Lockhart's Swan Song". It now includes an additional part about Marcus' bravery and Luna saving Michael. Feel free to read it.