After discovering the trick, Bellatrix intentionally stopped following the textbook content completely when brewing Potions; of course, this was mainly targeted at healing Potions alone.
During regular classes, she still studied step-by-step in an orderly manner.
But perhaps human energy is limited; while she diligently studied healing Potions, her talent in other courses no longer seemed extraordinary, and could only be described as excellent.
In fact, at the very beginning, she had also thought about starting from Charms to explore the mysteries of magic.
If she were in Ravenclaw, that would have been a matter of being close to the water and getting the fish first, a logical step, but she was in Slytherin.
Ignoring her own house Dean, who was also a senior Potion master, and instead asking the much younger Professor of Charms Class, wouldn’t that be somewhat like dropping the watermelon to pick up sesame seeds?
Besides, as a member of the House of Black, excessively deviating from Slytherin was not a good thing either.
Although she seemed to have found a direction, actually researching and producing results was not all that easy.
Somewhat different from Charms, in Potion brewing, one had to care about both the reaction of the materials and the fluctuation of the flames—meaning at least having the ability to multitask, which was easier said than done.
Perhaps because Bellatrix’s talent in Potion was not top-notch to begin with, near the end of the school year, she finally saw some hope of success.
Then why not make progress from the perspective of Dark Arts?
On one hand, Hogwarts itself was quite wary of Dark Arts, and coupled with being a member of the House of Black, although people didn’t say it aloud, everyone paid close attention to her, especially Dumbledore.
Perhaps due to her excessive nervousness, she seemed to have “accidentally” encountered him a few times outside the Room of Requirement.
He seemed to have casually chatted with her about some things without any awareness, or perhaps he was inspecting something.
However, after he sensed the heavy Potion scent on her a few times, he seemed to have let go of some of his worries and vigilance.
Bellatrix still remembered once when Dumbledore talked to her about something that seemed completely unrelated.
“Child, young people should try more different things; otherwise, when the future comes, you will always encounter times when you cannot avoid making a choice.”
Bellatrix didn’t know whether he meant choosing between him and Lord Voldemort, or something else, but none of that mattered—after all, exams were here.
The final exams of this school year had arrived, which also meant that the studies of the first school year were coming to a temporary close.
Bellatrix felt that time passed very quickly; perhaps magic had its own charm.
The Charms exam required using the Levitation Charm to move a basin of water from one end of the classroom to the other.
This was a very simple matter for many people, but unexpectedly, some people still managed to drop the basin during the moving process, resulting in water splashing everywhere and soaking themselves like a drowned rat, which contributed the most classic joke of the exam.
Some people’s basins shook incessantly during the movement, and in the end, only an empty basin was left, which forced Professor Flitwick to give him a D (Dreadful).
Of course, that fellow earlier who splashed water all over himself got a T (Troll).
After all, the basin of water he moved almost smashed entirely onto the Professor.
The Herbology exam was much simpler; they only needed to take a written test.
Professor Sprout displayed several pots of plants they had learned about this year in the examination room, and they just needed to write down their habits and characteristics.
If they could write out the cultivation methods, they could even get extra points.
Facing the written test, some people began to think of ways.
After all, in their view, Professor Sprout was a gentle Witch and a good person, but perhaps lacking in strength… so they thought she wouldn’t notice them cheating.
One by one, holding purchased Self-Writing Quills and cheating ink, they wanted to get a high score in the Herbology Class.
But Bellatrix was never so naive.
On one hand, she wasn’t afraid of exams and was confident in achieving good results; on the other hand, she held Professor Sprout in high regard.
You must know that some magical plants naturally possessed extremely strong aggressiveness.
Without sharp vision, cautious thinking, and extraordinary strength, they might have died countless times already—they were simply foolish.
As expected, the Professor saw their seemingly covert actions in her eyes, then waved her wand, and all their cheating tools were transferred behind the plants.
“Alright, children, exams must be done by yourselves, time is running out.”
These people had no choice, and could only hurriedly borrow things from others, then started writing while scratching their ears and cheeks in anxiety.
As a result, some things they originally knew were almost completely forgotten due to momentary nervousness, and Herbology unexpectedly became the subject with their lowest average score.
As for the Transfiguration exam, the young Professor McGonagall also didn’t let the students wave their wands recklessly.
After all, as a very complex subject, first-year new students were prone to underperforming due to nervousness and other reasons.
Therefore, she thoughtfully designed a written test.
And because of Professor Sprout’s methods, they didn’t dare to seek shortcuts anymore, otherwise… This story is hosted at g.com.
Thus, one by one, they buried their heads in writing the dry content with heavy huffs and puffs.
What are the categories targeted by Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration?
What are the types of Transfiguration included?
…
These were all very simple contents.
As long as one had listened carefully in class, they would know that Professor McGonagall emphasized them more than once in almost every lesson.
Due to the simple questions, plus everyone being much more serious, Transfiguration almost became the highest-scoring subject among all their subjects.
As for the Potion exam, the content set by Professor Slughorn was not that simple.
He brought out a Potion learned close to the exam for testing, and instead of the daily group-of-two mode, it was now one person per group.
This exam was not difficult for Bellatrix, but during the exam, the Professor stood nearby and watched her with some surprise.
After everyone finished, he kept Bellatrix behind, and then said to her pleasantly surprised.
“The Handmaiden Black, now it seems you have found the trick. It’s truly amazing; you must know that many people only reach this step by the 4th year, amazing talent…”
Hearing the Professor’s praise, Bellatrix made no expression, just nodded slightly.
After all, only she herself knew that she hadn’t just found the trick, but was already just one step away from success.
Among all the exams, the one she hated most was the flying exam.
Riding a dirty broomstick and flying into the sky without protection, coupled with her slight fear of heights…
Goodness, this was simply a matter that completely did not conform to her aesthetics.
And this also became the only subject where she didn’t obtain an O (Outstanding).
Fortunately, the Black Family didn’t care about this tiny flaw.
After all, her grades were already enough to prove her excellence.