The Weasley twins' Hogwarts Wizard's Chess Challenge was surprisingly well-organized.
Held in an abandoned second-floor classroom, it drew about twenty young wizards who came to watch or compete. Notably, there wasn't a single Slytherin in sight; the crowd was entirely made up of lower-year students from the other three houses.
Richie hung back, watching the matches and picking up quite a bit of knowledge about Wizard's Chess.
In the end, two Gryffindors took first and second place, while the Ravenclaw kid who had invited Richie snagged third.
Saturday night passed in a relaxed, easygoing vibe.
First thing Sunday morning, Richie woke up, got ready, and immediately climbed down into his trunk study to dive into the second-year curriculum.
What he didn't know was that bright and early, Professor Flitwick had made three magical copies of his exam scroll. The original "masterpiece" was now proudly pinned to the notice board in the Ravenclaw common room, while the three copies were hung up in the other house common rooms.
Naturally, the flawless string of seven "Outstanding" grades had been perfectly replicated for all the students to marvel at.
Before long, the castle started waking up.
Ravenclaw Common Room
"Hey, what's this?" A young Eagle wandered over to the notice board.
"Is this... an exam? It's huge!"
Another student drifted over. "Oh, is the house organizing a study session? It looks like first-year material... all seven subjects?"
A crowd quickly began to form.
An upperclassman chimed in, "Ravenclaw doesn't have a tradition of organized group study. Everyone has their own finals to worry about; nobody has the time for that."
Someone pointed to the corner of the parchment.
"Hey, look! There are grading marks and a date! This is... yesterday's date. Someone actually took an exam?"
"Oh, Merlin. One, two, three... seven O's! Seven Outstandings!"
"Whose test is this?! This is insane!"
"Seriously impressive. The answers are rock solid—every single one hits the exact mark."
"Wow, I've already forgotten half of this stuff!"
The crowd around the board kept growing.
Just then, Terry pushed his way to the front. Completely out of the loop, he assumed the crowd was looking at the results of some massive Quidditch data calculation and started craning his neck to see.
An older student who knew him called out, "Hey, Terry, take a look at this. Is this the handwriting of someone in your year?"
"An exam?"
Terry blinked and leaned in closer. The chatter around him slowly died down as people waited for an answer.
Terry scanned the handwriting, his eyes going wider by the second. Having lived with the guy for months, there was absolutely no way Terry wouldn't recognize Richie's handwriting. Staring at the seven 'O's, he finally couldn't hold it in and shouted.
"Richie is literally Merlin reincarnated!"
"Richie?!"
"The first-year? Richie Harland?!"
"Our Seven-Pointed Star?!"
The crowd completely erupted.
The second term was barely halfway over, and a first-year had already flawlessly aced the final exams?!
Just then, another student sprinted into the common room from outside.
"Hey! What happened yesterday?! Our house points just jumped by twenty!" This particular Eagle was obsessed with the house cup standings and checked the hourglasses every single morning.
"It was Richie. It had to be," Terry said with absolute certainty. "The professors definitely gave him points for getting a perfect score."
The Ravenclaws exchanged ecstatic looks before diving right back into the heated discussion.
"The Seven-Pointed Star!"
"Do you have any idea how many points he's earned us this year? He is the ultimate Ravenclaw!"
"Absolutely unreal!"
"What the hell am I even doing with my first year?!"
Gryffindor Common Room
The buzz had spread to the other common rooms, though it wasn't quite as explosive as in Ravenclaw.
Several young Lions were clustered in small groups around their notice board.
"Unbelievable. Whose paper is this?"
"Seven O's... man, if I had grades like that, getting into the N.E.W.T. level classes would be a breeze."
"Give it a rest. All you do is play Wizard's Chess. If Snape heard you talking about getting good grades, he'd laugh you out of the room."
"Speaking of Wizard's Chess..."
The group slowly dispersed, leaving Hermione standing alone in front of the board.
She was staring hard at the exam, her brows furrowed, her arms gripping her books tightly against her chest.
"Do you think Professor McGonagall put this up? Like... as a study guide for us?"
Ron wandered over in his pajamas, sleepily rubbing his eyes. "I'm going to copy it down. Do you want me to make an extra copy for you?"
Hermione completely ignored him. She whipped around and stormed out of the common room. Her bushy hair smacked directly across Ron's nose, making him let out a massive sneeze.
"Hey! What is her problem now?!" Ron groaned, violently scratching his head. He hadn't even done anything to annoy her recently!
Unfortunately, his best mate Harry was still fast asleep, so there was no one around to explain it to him.
Slytherin Common Room
"Heh. Just some show-off desperately begging for attention."
A few older Snakes glanced at the exam on the notice board and sneered dismissively.
"There's a small gathering tonight at..."
"Oh, possibly. I've heard some rumors leaking out of the Ministry..."
"If you're interested, I could make an introduction, but..."
The older students strolled out of the common room. Once they were gone, two heavy-set boys lumbered over, ripped the parchment right off the board, and carried it over to the sofa area.
Draco was lounging with his legs crossed, reading the Daily Prophet. He was staring at a magical photograph of his father shaking hands with Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge.
A Dance of Ancient Glory and Governance: The Malfoy Family Joins Hands with the Ministry to Write a New Chapter for the Wizarding World "Hmph. At least those bureaucrats know what's good for them," Draco smirked, lowering the paper. "If it wasn't for my father's investments, they wouldn't even dream of meddling in Irish affairs."
"Boss, you gotta see this."
Crabbe and Goyle each held one end of the long scroll, presenting it to Draco.
"If we just use this, we won't have to worry about finals at all, right?" Crabbe gave a dopey grin.
"You idiot. If it's posted on the public notice board, there is zero chance the professors will use these exact questions on the actual exam!"
Draco rolled his eyes, snatching the scroll from them to inspect it.
"Seven O's?"
"Not bad."
"You two, find out who wrote this."
"That so-called Seven-Pointed Star didn't know what was good for him, but someone out there will definitely appreciate the sheer privilege of being backed by the Malfoy family."
Draco waved them off, and Crabbe and Goyle nodded enthusiastically.
They were just about to leave with the parchment when Draco suddenly barked, "Wait!"
"Just thinking about that guy pisses me off. Come on, we're going for a walk."
Draco shoved past his two lackeys and stormed toward the exit.
Crabbe and Goyle exchanged excited looks. They casually dropped the perfect exam scroll right onto the floor, deliberately stepped all over it, and hurried after Draco with nasty, scheming grins.
The flawless test was left lying quietly on the cold stone floor of the Slytherin dungeon, covered in muddy footprints.
Hufflepuff Common Room
When the Badgers spotted the exam on their notice board, they were mostly just curious: Who took this test, and how did they get such an insane score? Every first-year Hufflepuff immediately whipped out their notebooks, crowded around the board, and started frantically copying down the answers.
"This is premium study material! We can't let it go to waste!"