The Admiral of Hogwarts

"You shouldn't have stopped me." Ron looked somewhat annoyed after Hugo used a Vanishing Charm to make the potion bottle in his hand disappear completely. "I heard Skele-Gro is really effective."

"You're right, but the problem is, a pint of genuine Skele-Gro costs 30 Galleons and needs to be brewed by a Master-level Potioneer, so it's always in short supply on the market."

Hugo sighed, then looked helplessly at Harry and Ron, who both looked disappointed. "Let's not even consider whether he has the ability to brew this potion. Even if he does, why would he sell it to you for 1/3 of the price?"

"You mean the potion is fake?" Harry, who had lived with his aunt's family since childhood, reacted much faster than Ron, so he understood something as soon as Hugo spoke.

"It's not entirely fake either." Hugo thought for a moment and said, "We Ravenclaws usually don't go too far. For example, that bottle probably contained a stimulating potion with a bunch of spices added."

"But you can buy a big bottle of that stuff for 2-3 Sickles. It's obviously not worth it if you have to spend 12 Galleons for a pint. It's just paying an intelligence tax."

"Actually, there's a lot of this kind of stuff lately." Hermione, who was looking at a notebook borrowed from a female upperclassman beside her, looked up from the file and said, "For example, I saw Harold Dingle from Hufflepuff selling Dragon Dung."

"Dragon Dung? I've heard of that." Ron said, "It's surprisingly effective, it really can improve your memory. Your brain is especially sharp for a few hours—"

"And then for three times as long, your brain will feel like it's full of glue and can't move, unless you increase the dose of Dragon Dung again. That's why this kind of thing is a banned substance." Hermione said to Ron and Harry with a serious face.

"More importantly, Dingle is actually selling dried Flobberworm mucus, which not only won't help improve your brainpower, but will also land you in the hospital wing for a while, wasting valuable review time."

In addition to all kinds of potion sales, the castle was also filled with farewell emotions during this time, especially for some seventh-year students and their younger lovers.

As the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall informed the fifth-year students of various details about the OWL exams in her Transfiguration class.

"As you can see," Professor McGonagall said as the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students in the classroom copied the exam dates and times from the blackboard.

"Your O.W.L. exams will last for two weeks. You will take the written exams in the morning and the practical exams in the afternoon. Of course, your Astronomy practical exam is scheduled for the evening."

"Now, I must remind you that your exam papers are all subject to the strictest anti-cheating charms. It is strictly forbidden to bring automatic answering quills into the exam hall, as well as Memory Balls, detachable cheat cuffs, and auto-correcting ink."

"I'm afraid I have to say that at least one student seems to think they can evade the regulations of the Wizarding Examinations Authority every year. I only hope that Hogwarts this year does not have such a person. Our new—Headmaster—"

Professor McGonagall's expression when she said this word was like someone with a cleanliness obsession looking at a particularly stubborn stain.

"—requires the Heads of Houses to inform their students that cheating will be subject to the most severe punishment—because, of course, your exam results will directly reflect the new system implemented by the Headmaster—"

"What does severe punishment usually mean?" Just as Professor McGonagall finished speaking, a Hufflepuff girl raised her hand to ask.

"According to tradition, cheaters in the OWLs exams will not only have all their exam results invalidated, but will also be expelled from Hogwarts and put on record." Professor McGonagall looked at the students in the classroom with a serious face.

"Of course, this is just the handling method for simple cheating. If this cheating involves bigger things, then it will be sentenced to imprisonment in Azkaban for six months to 15 years."

"So no matter what, I hope you can do your best and resolutely abide by the rules." At the end, Professor McGonagall sighed. "You all have to think about your future."

After hearing what Professor McGonagall said, everyone was frightened, because this kind of punishment sounded really terrible, so it wasn't until several minutes later that Hermione raised her hand and asked another question.

"Excuse me, Professor," Hermione said, her hand in the air, "When will we know our scores?"

"You will receive them in July by owl," Professor McGonagall said.

There was a relaxing exhalation below. Obviously, these latecomers can relax a little before the holiday, so that the whole holiday will not be bad.

On the last Sunday before the exam, Hugo, who had originally planned to slack off and rest for a day, spent an extremely fulfilling last day before the exam.

Having finished reviewing and having nothing else to do, he agreed to help his sister review on Sunday, but as a result, he was dragged by Hermione to help her review all day long.

And during the review, Hermione seemed a little nervous, always snatching the textbook back from his hand to check whether her answers were correct, and even almost slapped the book on Hugo's face.

"Why don't you just use the Admiral Network to review?" Hugo looked at his sister helplessly and said, "Directly conduct a memory check, which will be faster and will not miss any problems."

"It always feels like this is like cheating, but at this time—" Hermione heard Hugo's words and fell into thought, but soon put down the book, closed her eyes and connected to the Admiral Network.

And this is an important manifestation of the deepening of Hermione's ship girl transformation, because she began to regard the Admiral Network as a part of her life, rather than something that is like cheating to ordinary people.

At dinner time that day, the hall was unusually quiet, and everyone was quietly eating the things in front of them, without doing anything else.

Just as they were eating, Umbridge walked in nervously with a small group of old and decrepit witches and wizards. No matter how arrogant she was at school, when facing these elders with transcendent status in the magic world, she could only talk to them respectfully.

For example, Old Griselda Marchbanks, whose face was covered with wrinkles like a spider web, repeatedly said that Hogwarts' decision to let Headmaster Dumbledore leave was an extremely stupid move.

Umbridge looked as ugly as if she had swallowed a big mouthful of foul juice, but she didn't dare to say a word. This made most of the students feel very relieved when they saw it.

Come to think of it, to be able to be an examiner for the now one hundred and twelve-year-old Dumbledore, and to be an examiner for so many years, the level and connections of this old wizard can be imagined.

Not to mention that these examiners do not even belong to the jurisdiction of the Minister for Magic, and they have enough strength and connections to ignore the instructions of the Ministry of Magic.

For example, the examiner who examined Harry's Defense Against the Dark Arts in the original text did not pay any attention to the Ministry of Magic's intention to suppress Harry.

So facing these people, Umbridge had to endure even if she was criticized in various ways. Otherwise, if she dared to talk back today, she would probably have to get out of the Ministry of Magic tomorrow, and even Fudge wouldn't be able to protect her.