On the penultimate day of exams, the afternoon tranquility was shattered by the Potions practical exam. The dungeon was thick with the scent of various herbs and Potion ingredients as first-year students busily and nervously prepared their concoctions.
Adelaide sat in her place, her eyes focused intently on the cauldron and jars before her. She skillfully added various ingredients to the cauldron in precise proportions; as time passed, the liquid inside began to roll and bubble, gradually emitting a strange aroma.
Before long, Adelaide successfully brewed the Forgetfulness Potion. The transparent liquid shimmered with a mysterious luster under the sunlight, as if it contained endless magic.
She nodded with satisfaction, carefully poured the Potion into a glass vial, and stood up to submit her work.
Adelaide walked toward the submission table with a light step. As she passed Professor Snape, who was patrolling the exam room, she had to carefully sidestep to avoid his greasy hair and quickly placed her finished Potion on the table before he could notice.
After completing the exam, Adelaide didn't linger for a moment. She quickly packed up the jars on her table and turned to stride out of the dungeon.
By now, most of the first-year subjects were finished, with only tonight's Astronomy practical and tomorrow's History of Magic written exam remaining.
When the words "Astronomy practical" surfaced in her mind, a pained expression appeared on Adelaide's face for the first time.
She had practically given up on Astronomy this year. Those overlapping star charts and the irregular orbits of planets always gave her a massive headache.
To compensate for her weakness in stargazing and charting during the Astronomy practical, Adelaide had specifically focused her revision on the theoretical points of the Astronomy written exam, hoping to get as high a score as possible there to balance out the low score she might receive for the practical.
After dinner, she and Cho Chang arrived at the Astronomy Tower early for the exam. The view through the telescope made Adelaide lose all hope—the night sky seemed to be deliberately working against her, a chaotic mess that made her head spin.
She widened her eyes, trying hard to distinguish the stars that actually existed in the night sky, but no matter how much she looked, she couldn't be sure.
As the minutes ticked by, Adelaide had no choice but to rely on her memory of the general positions of stars from previous assignments, marking them down haphazardly before hurriedly handing it in.
Fortunately, she had the great Merlin behind her. Even if this stargazing session was pure guesswork, with her status as the Chosen One and her luck, she might just manage to scrape a passing grade!
The final exam subject of the term was History of Magic. Unlike other courses, History of Magic had no practical component and only required a written exam.
When the crisp, pleasant sound of the bell signaled the end of the exam, Adelaide put down her quill with a sigh of relief, declaring herself finally liberated from her heavy studies for the time being.
Next, she would have an entire week of leisure time while waiting for the exam results to be announced.
And after that, it would be the long-awaited summer vacation!
At that time, everyone would take the train back home to enjoy a warm and cozy holiday life.
Without the heavy pressure of exams, the habitually diligent Cho Chang no longer spent all her time in the library studying and pushing herself as she usually did.
On the afternoon of the day after exams finished, Adelaide, Cho Chang, and Alice sat leisurely on the soft, green grass by the shore of the Black Lake, letting the breeze brush against their faces as they chatted about all sorts of interesting topics.
Adelaide rested her head comfortably on Alice's slender lap, lying lazily under the thick shade of the trees. From time to time, she opened her mouth to eat the cream ice cream Cho Chang thoughtfully fed her, squinting as she enjoyed the cool, sweet taste of the ice cream melting in her mouth.
As dinner time approached, Cho Chang seemed to suddenly remember something important. she turned her head slightly and asked Adelaide softly, "Adelaide, do you have any special plans or arrangements for this summer? My parents are planning to take me back to HK—if you haven't set your schedule yet, why don't you come with me?"
"HK is very close to Guangdong Province. We can also stop by my hometown to visit my grandfather. My hometown not only has countless delicacies but also many wonderful and rare plants that you can't see here. I'm sure it will be an eye-opener for you!"
Before Adelaide could respond, Alice impatiently cut in, "Adelaide probably won't have time to go to HK this summer—my brother still hasn't fully recovered, so the task of looking after those Hebridean Black Dragons in Romania this summer can only be handled by me alone... but I think taking care of Dragons by myself might be a bit too much, so I was just about to invite Adelaide to come with me to look after those lovely Dragons!"
Hearing this, Cho Chang narrowed her eyes slightly, her gentle and refined voice sounding again: "Alice, I'm not particularly familiar with the habits of Dragons, but as far as I know, taking care of Dragons is quite dangerous, isn't it? After all, Dragons are recognized as the highest-level dangerous magical creatures. I suggest you invite Professor Rosier to accompany you instead."
Alice's face instantly turned bright red, and she hurriedly argued, "Going to HK is what's dangerous for Adelaide! Those despicable Death Eaters are currently searching everywhere for her. At least Romania is within Europe; if any emergency occurs, both the Wizengamot and Professor Dumbledore can provide timely help. But HK is in far-off Asia!"
Cho Chang retorted, showing no sign of backing down, "I don't think so. Do you really think the current Death Eaters have the power to reach as far as Asia?"
The two went back and forth, refusing to yield, and it looked like a heated argument was about to break out.
Seeing that things were going south, Adelaide quickly intervened to stop them, "Alright, alright, stop arguing, you two! Dumbledore has already arranged an important task for me, so whether it's Romania or HK, I can't go to either."
"Oh, and I have some news for you. Armandina plans to spend the summer visiting her grandfather in Austria, so she probably won't have time to accompany Alice to Romania either. In my opinion, Alice, you might as well apply to Dumbledore and see if he can help you find someone reliable to go with you."
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