Hogwarts and the New Headmaster

7. Preliminaries

Pussmaid led them across the castle to a section of the school Viridis remembered as being little more than a dead end, a dusty corridor with nothing but spiderweb-filled storage rooms on either side. Certainly nothing large enough to accommodate the hundred or so candidates following her. So Viridis was flabbergasted when Pussmaid halted in front of a large set of double doors he was certain hadn't been there ten years earlier.

The wooden doors were massive, reinforced with heavy iron fastenings. Unfamiliar arcane symbols were carved deep into the wood. Two large men with somber faces and deep-set eyes stood on either side of the entrance, their arms crossed in front of their chests. At a nod from Pussmaid, the men seized the wrought-iron handles and hauled the doors open, their muscles straining at the effort.

The scent of sulfur drifted out into the corridor as the doors parted to reveal a circular room every bit as large as the Great Hall. Windowless stone walls rose high above the floor, curving inward to form a domed ceiling far above their heads. Viridis felt as if he were about to enter a huge, upside-down soup bowl.

Wooden stands ringed the room, ten rows high, reminding Viridis of the seats surrounding a Quidditch field. A dozen witches and wizards, dressed in the same purple robes as Pussmaid, sat in the stands at regularly spaced intervals. In the center of the room were small desks arranged in nice, neat rows, complete with quills and ink.

The two men who'd been guarding the doors ran their wands over each candidate as they entered. Cory elbowed Viridis in the ribs. "Searching for cheaters, I bet."

"Cheaters?" Viridis laughed. "No one is going to—" He was interrupted by a sudden commotion at the front of the line. A book had been discovered hidden beneath the robes of a gray-bearded wizard.

"I can explain," the man pleaded as he was escorted out of the room. Cory winked at Viridis.

When everyone had been searched to the men's satisfaction, the candidates were directed to choose a desk. Pussmaid flicked her wand and thick stacks of parchment appeared on each desk, the pages wrapped in bright yellow ribbon. The letters "B.A.T." were prominently display on the top. Several wizards groaned. Cory leaned over to Viridis and whispered, "Brutally Awful Tests. Ten times worse than NEWTs."

Pussmaid spun her wand counterclockwise and a four-foot high hourglass appeared on the table to her left. Viridis and Cory exchanged looks, then Cory raised his hand.

"How long is this exam?" he asked.

"Five hours," Pussmaid replied, eliciting gasps from several of the candidates.

"Will we be finished in time for lunch?"

Pussmaid glared at Cory until he lowered his hand, then motioned to the two guards. They flipped the hourglass over.

"You may begin now. Good luck."

There was a moment of stunned silence, followed by the sudden tearing of ribbons and rustling of paper, along with a few curses as one of the wizards knocked his stack of pages to the floor. Viridis thumbed through the test. Fifty pages of multiple choice, thirty pages of fill-in-the-blank, and another twenty pages devoted to essay questions. He drew a deep breath, grabbed his quill, and dove into the test.

It was the most oppressive test Viridis had ever taken. Proctors paced back and forth along the aisles, their wands out, glaring at anyone who raised their heads too far. The people in the stands peered down at them like vultures, searching for any signs of cheating. A deathly quiet soon settled over the room, broken only by the scratching of quill pens and the occasional rustling of papers, along with the intermittent sniffling from someone who apparently suffered from a cold.