A few days before the exams, Ladon finally returned to Hogwarts.
When Kael returned to the common room after dinner, he immediately saw Ladon standing on the windowsill.
It looked exhausted, with drooping eyes and visibly thinner, its once beautiful feathers now dull and grayish.
Upon seeing Kael, Ladon lifted its head, flapped its wings, and tried to fly over, but halfway through, it began to fall due to exhaustion.
Kael hurriedly stepped forward to catch it.
"I remember this is your owl, right."
Beside him, Cedric looked at the sleeping Ladon in Kael's arms in confusion, "How many letters did you make it deliver to get this weak."
"Just one... but I think it misunderstood what I meant."
Kael carefully placed Ladon on the nearby sofa, then took an envelope from its claws.
It was a reply, and the handwriting on the envelope was Newt's.
Apparently, Ladon didn't follow Kael's instructions to return after delivering the letter to Dorset, but flew directly to find Newt, no wonder it took so long to come back.
Kael shook his head in helpless amusement... This silly bird.
Tomorrow was the final exam, and to ensure they were in good mental condition the next day, the young wizards went to bed early.
Kael rubbed the feathers on Ladon's neck, sat down beside it, and opened the envelope.
Inside was a brief reply.
"Kael:
I was surprised to receive your letter from such a distance. I've thought about what you said. The venom of a Swooping Evil has no corrosive properties and only affects the brain, not plants.
However, I examined the piece of wood you sent; it does have the venom of a Swooping Evil, which is a significant discovery. Once things here are settled, we'll head to Hogwarts immediately.
(Your father asked me to tell you to stay away from dangerous things, let Dumbledore handle them.)
— Newt Scamander."
After reading the reply, Kael sat quietly, eyes closed, pondering.
Hagrid went to the Forbidden Forest that night not because he discovered their nightly excursions, but because of someone else.
When he went deeper into the Forbidden Forest, he likely found that person and even fought with them, explaining the two sets of messy footprints left by the tree.
But unfortunately, the other person had a Swooping Evil, and due to the venom's effects, Hagrid forgot about it.
He forgot he went to the Forbidden Forest and forgot all that happened during that period, which is why he didn't deliver the Christmas tree to the auditorium on Christmas day as scheduled.
In his memory, Halloween had only just passed.
Now, everything made sense.
And that Swooping Evil was probably the one the Ministry of Magic had been searching for.
The only remaining mystery was who poisoned Hagrid.
Was it one of those wizards with hidden identities at the Hog's Head Pub? Or a certain rat lurking in the castle...
Half an hour later, with no leads, Kael decided to give up.
Nothing in this world is difficult if one gives up.
As the letter said, Dumbledore can handle everything, and soon it'll be his holiday, why worry about this?
Kael stood up, carrying Ladon back to the dormitory.
...
The next day, the exams began.
First up was the theoretical Magic exam, the so-called written test.
To prevent cheating, no one was allowed to bring their own quills or ink; they had to use the school's unified stationery.
But that didn't stop the young wizards from thinking about cheating.
Gryffindor's Katie Bell nervously entered the classroom, and shortly after she sat down, Professor McGonagall walked over and pulled the big red hairpiece from her head, coldly saying:
"Miss Bell, that's not how you use a Transfiguration Spell."
The hairpiece squirmed in Professor McGonagall's hand and quickly transformed into a piece of parchment covered with small writing.
Witnessing the whole process, Kael clicked his tongue, silently giving a thumbs up.
Cheating with Transfiguration in front of Professor McGonagall... this maneuver is quite explosive in the Magic Realm.
Just the courage to do it surpassed ninety-eight percent of young wizards, as expected of Gryffindor.
Those who wrote cheat sheets on their clothes also couldn't escape... Professor McGonagall just did a round in the classroom and caught them all.
As a senior professor and vice-principal who has been at Hogwarts for over thirty years, Professor McGonagall didn't need any tools. She could tell who was guilty just by their expression and catch them with certainty.
When everyone started answering questions, she was quietly complaining that Dumbledore shouldn't have assigned her to the first-year exam room.
It was too unchallenging here; Professor McGonagall felt she should supervise students above fifth year, where the cheating methods were more varied.
Magic potions, Alchemy Tools, Gesture Spells, you name it.
Especially potions... Bafe Awakening Potion and Awakening Potion were just the lowest level; it was said that during last year's N.E.W.T, some students even used Felix Felicis, but she hadn't seen it.
Additionally, people attempting to use Polyjuice Potion and Disillusionment Charm to sneak into the exam room were not uncommon either.
So supervising students above fifth year for examinations was like fighting a war without smoke for the professors.
For other professors, it might be torture, but not for Professor McGonagall; she absolutely loved the challenge of matching wits with students.
Unfortunately, she was assigned to the "novice village" this year.
An hour later, watching the group of earnest-looking freshmen below, Professor McGonagall complained again: "Albus really... why must he have me come to the first year... even the third year would do."
After the written exam, there was a practical test, where Professor Flitwick let the students enter the classroom one by one to see if they could make a pineapple ride a broomstick around the room.
Of course, the so-called "broomstick" was just a wooden stick with feathers on it.
For Kael, this was not difficult; he not only completed the task perfectly but even maneuvered the stick to perform a classic Quidditch move.
Professor Flitwick gave him a perfect score on the spot.
Professor McGonagall required them to transform a rabbit into a brooch, and the nicer the brooch, the higher the score; if it still had rabbit traits, points would be deducted.
Kael remembered he had a brooch, a Christmas gift from Mikel, so he made an identical one.
Professor McGonagall also gave him a perfect score.
As for the Magic Potion, it was the Boil Potion, one of the simplest potions. Kael brewed the perfect potion but couldn't guarantee he'd get high marks.
During the test, Snape almost always stood behind him, shaking his head constantly, clearly intending to find excuses to deduct points.