HP: Fantastic Beasts And The Right Way To Use Them

The atmosphere in the Care of Magical Creatures examination hall was extremely tense, as if the air itself was about to freeze solid.

But this tension seemed to have nothing to do with the usual exam atmosphere.

"There's quite a conflict between these two students, isn't there?" Newt remarked with curious interest as he watched the two female students facing off in the examination hall.

Clearly, Evans beside him was even more confused than he was.

"I remember their relationship was fine before?"

In the center of the venue, two female students stood facing each other confrontationally. Each held a Chameleon Ghoul in her arms, their movements fluid and gazes sharp, occasionally making eye contact and sparking intense friction.

Although these two female students' procedures were perfectly correct, their rough movements made it seem like they were about to scrub sparks off those two unfortunate Chameleon Ghouls.

Moreover, Evans could vaguely hear the two girls muttering something under their breaths.

"Tch, didn't you eat? Why is your scrubbing so pathetically weak?"

"As if you're scrubbing hard. Come on, let's compete on speed?"

"I'm not afraid of you!"

The two girls looked at each other with fierce determination and simultaneously intensified their scrubbing of the lizards, preparing to compete on who could complete the exam faster.

Evans could clearly see that the two Chameleon Ghouls in their arms had somewhat pained expressions, but this pain seemed mixed with some unexpected pleasure.

They seemed to have never experienced such detailed back-scrubbing before, and for a moment they actually seemed to... enjoy it?

What masochistic lizards!

Whatever, since that was the case, he wouldn't deduct points from these two girls.

But exam discipline still needed to be maintained.

Although he really didn't want to be the bad guy, Evans still had to remind these two girls, who were clearly getting carried away.

"No talking during the exam."

The muttered curses stopped immediately, but the two girls still glared at each other, sparks flying between their gazes from time to time.

Shaking his head, Evans stopped paying attention to those two competitive girls and instead focused on surveying the entire examination hall.

The O.W.L. exam items were generally quite simple. Whether it was caring for Chameleon Ghouls, soothing nursing Nifflers, or feeding and cleaning a Fire Crab without getting severely burned, none had any major difficulty.

The most troublesome creatures among these were the Fire Crabs, but even Fire Crabs were only Class XXX creatures. Although their flames could burn through half-giant skin, the total amount was really too small to cause incurable damage.

Although severe burns were a serious problem in the Muggle world, they weren't a big deal in the wizarding world.

After all, who hadn't blown up a few cauldrons during their school days? If there weren't specialized countermeasures, probably quite a few people would die in Potions class every year.

In the examination hall, most students were still stuck on the step of scrubbing the Chameleon Ghouls' backs. Due to the Chameleon Ghouls' ability to grow and shrink at will, their backs always accumulated all sorts of inexplicable debris that needed careful cleaning to remove.

Only two people had moved on to the next step.

One was a girl named Penelope whom he thought highly of, a fifth-year Ravenclaw prefect who treated magical creatures very gently. You could tell she was a good child very suited for this subject.

Newt beside him also had a good impression of this child and had even asked him for her name. It seemed her future didn't need much worry from him.

And the other one...

After drawing a check mark next to Penelope's name, Evans looked toward the distance at a red-haired figure who was trimming a Chameleon Ghoul's nails with precise movements.

Watching that child's steady movements, a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes.

He had actually been paying attention to this boy named Percy. Compared to Fred and George, he seemed to be at the opposite extreme.

If Fred and George had taken Charlie's hint of rebelliousness to the extreme, then Percy before him had completely embodied Bill's steadiness.

He never spaced out during class, completed all assignments according to regulations, and you couldn't find a single error even in his punctuation.

He was like a precise machine. Although he wasn't the most talented or outstanding in the class, you couldn't find a single fault with him.

Speaking of which, the Weasley children all seemed to have quite different personalities?

Bill was steady and easygoing, Charlie was humorous and witty, George and Fred were complete troublemakers, Percy was as steady as a rock, and then there was Ron, scattered and insecure, yet loyal enough to follow his friends into any danger... How did one family end up with so many different personalities?

He remembered Bill mentioning he had a sister. Wouldn't she have yet another different personality?

However, Percy's progress was quite impressive.

In this short time, he had actually completed caring for the Chameleon Ghoul and entered the next examination area, picking a less aggressive Niffler to begin soothing.

His movements remained very standard, without a single flaw to pick at.

But as he watched, Evans's expression became somewhat strange.

He remembered those two girls over there seemed to be competing on who could finish the exam first, and one of them was Percy's romantic interest.

If Penelope finished first, that would be fine, but if he finished first, wouldn't that be bad for his romantic development?

Wait, didn't O.W.L.s not consider speed? Why was everyone rushing like this?

Weren't they afraid of losing points?

Fight! Fight!

Watching those two confrontational female prefects, Wood scrubbed his Chameleon Ghoul while his face showed an interested expression.

He loved watching dramatic confrontations.

But as he watched, he suddenly noticed something wrong.

A red-haired figure in the distance seemed to have put the Niffler back in its cage and was steadily advancing to the next exam item.

Wait, Percy, what are you doing?

He saw Percy first carefully approach a Fire Crab, then catch it off guard and begin standard procedures.

Cleaning the back, dodging flames, polishing the Fire Crab's pincers smooth, and then feeding sections of cooked shrimp into the Fire Crab's mouth.

His movements were so fluid, without any hesitation, even a level faster than that always-serious Ravenclaw female prefect.

Before long, he raised his hand, indicating his exam was finished, and even showed a gentle smile to those two competing girls.

Wood felt Percy's gesture was far too mocking, so much so that he didn't dare look at those two girls' expressions.

Just sensing the suddenly chilled atmosphere around them was enough to know their expressions weren't very good.

However...

Looking at the lazy Chameleon Ghoul in his hands, then at Percy, who had completed all items and looked completely confident, Wood's expression gradually stiffened.

Seeing how nervous you were before the exam, I thought you weren't confident and was planning to comfort you after the test.

So you were secretly grinding behind your brothers' backs?